Li Yan was Li Zicheng's vassal. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638 AD), Li Zicheng's army was defeated like a mountain, leaving only Liu Zongmin and more than ten other people, hidden in the mountains of Shangluo, and made a comeback the following year. In 1640, Li Zicheng was again trapped in the Brazilian Fish Belly Mountain, and only broke out with fifty horses, entering Henan at the suggestion of Li Yan. Began an important turning point in his life.
At that time, the famine in the Central Plains was particularly serious, with disaster victims everywhere, people's grievances boiling over, and class contradictions being extremely acute. Li Yan of his hometown of Kaifeng, Henan, had already discovered this. So he suggested that Li Zicheng enter Henan to develop and expand the ranks of the rebel army.
After entering Henan, Li Yan gave full play to his local advantages, and there were countless echoes of his arm. Moreover, Li Yan promptly put forward to Li Zicheng a programmatic proposal of "equalizing fields and free grain," which was adopted by Li Zicheng. As a result, this measure is very in line with the local people's hearts and minds, and has played a huge and progressive role in organizing and developing the local people.
In order to better mobilize the masses, Li Yan compiled the song "Open the door early to meet the king, and the king does not pay for grain." The broad masses of the people sang simple and easy-to-understand songs and joined the ranks of the rebel army. In less than three years, Li Zicheng's rebel army grew to a million, becoming the largest peasant uprising in history. Li Yan had both culture and martial arts, and also put forward a programmatic construction theory for Li Zicheng. It can be said that without Li Yan, Li Zicheng would not have the opportunity to enter Beijing.
Therefore, Li Yan is the most effective strategist under Li Zicheng and the best talent of Li Zicheng Group. Unfortunately, Li Zicheng cut his wings and killed him.
"Heroes can't cut their wings"! Therefore, Li Zicheng is not a big hero. What is the root cause of Li Zicheng killing Li Yan?
First, Li Yan joined the rebel army with lofty ideals and firm beliefs, but most of the leaders of the rebel army were not like-minded with him at all.
Li Yan and Li Zicheng saw each other as they were, Li Yan learned to be rich in five cars, and had the heart to serve the country and save the people, but he had lost confidence in the decaying Daming. Li Zicheng's grandeur, envy and hatred, and righteousness for others all made Li Yan feel refreshed. Li Yan thought that he had to meet the Lord, and he thought from the bottom of his heart that he had found someone who could help him realize his dream in life. Li Yan is eager for a new regime to emerge, and he can fully exert his wisdom and wisdom to save the people of Li from the depths of the water. Li Zicheng may have been able to share the same spirits as him at first, but Li Zicheng has his own historical limitations. He still could not get rid of the economic ideas of small farmers. Li Zicheng did not fundamentally establish a new regime and a new system to benefit the people, but only believed that it was enough to let the people have land and food to eat. As for how many years there was food to eat and how many years to have land to plant, Li Zicheng did not think at all. Li Zicheng also did not change his role in time, from the role of rebellion to the role of governing the world. Li Yan's "measures such as applying strict military orders, restraining officers and men, showing mercy to the people, practicing benevolence and righteousness, prohibiting military fornication, and winning the hearts and minds of the people" put forward by Li Yan are actually the new thinking of ruling the country. These were not only not completely adopted by Li Zicheng, but on the contrary aroused Li Zicheng's suspicion.
Li Zicheng's approach at that time was to indulge the soldiers in order to gain the support of the soldiers. At first, Li Zicheng also partially accepted Li Yan's suggestion, and later Liu Zongmin said: "The emperor is up to you, what do we brothers who were born into death want?" ”
Figure what? Isn't it just a picture to enjoy? After the soldiers who had spent the rest of their lives in Beijing, they began to enjoy it unscrupulously. So these people who helped Li Zicheng fight the world also quickly made Li Zicheng lose the world.
Second, Li Zicheng gradually drifted away, but Li Yan continued to have illusions about him, remained foolish, did not consider self-reliance, and used his own strength to realize his grand ambitions.
Li Yan had 20,000 elite soldiers under him at that time. Although these 20,000 people were not victorious in every battle, they were also an outstanding team in the rebel ranks, and most of the disciples brought out by Li Yan were single-handed. They were loyal to Li Yan and dead-hearted. When the news came out that king Chuang wanted to kill Li Yan, some of the generals proposed that if king Chuang did not give Li Yan a chance to distinguish, he would be unique and break away from king Chuang to do his own thing.
At that time, the Da Shun army was acting recklessly and had already lost the hearts of the people. Li Yan's subordinates thought that if they followed the king again, there would be no future to speak of. When Li Yan took out Li Zicheng's handwritten edict, the edict read:
"The general Li Yan rebelled and wanted to establish himself as emperor, which was a great rebellion. That is, the Fa-rectification, the speed is not wrong. ”
The payment was Li Zisheng. The character was changed to Sheng, which proved to be Li Zicheng's autograph. All the generals under Li Yan shouted, "May I follow the general and fight to the death!" Some generals shouted, "Long live Grandpa teach us to oppose, we will really oppose!" The resourceful Li Yan killed himself in order to show his loyalty to the king of Chuang, and resolutely did not oppose it. Since it was all dead anyway, why didn't Li Yan try it? With more than 20,000 elite soldiers, the capital of entrepreneurship can also be used. It can be seen that Li Yan also has no clear ideas for the establishment of a new social order. Some of his proposals are nothing more than the values of a simple loyal and loyal general who benefits the country and the people.
Third, the rumors of the traitor Niu Jinxing prompted Li Zicheng to make up his mind to kill Li Yan.
It should be said that Li Yan's loyal words were not false, and Li Zicheng was able to realize that Li Yan was for him and for the Dashun regime at the beginning. But I can't stand the repeated tease of Venus the Bull. Niu Venus was the head of the Wenchen at that time, good at dancing and ink, and there was no big strategy. And many of Li Yan's suggestions are lofty and prescient, so Niu Jinxing is afraid that Li Yan will replace his position, so he is jealous and hateful of Li Yan, so he looks for an opportunity to attack Li Yan. It just so happened that Li Yan's prestige in the army was extremely high, and he was not good at protecting himself, which made a hole for Niu Venus. In the "History of Ming and Li Zicheng Biography", Niu Jinxing said this to Li Zicheng:
"Iwao Takeshi has a rough idea, and he can't go down for a long time." Henan, the hometown of Yan, if it is a large soldier, it will be uncontrollable. Eighteen sons of the truth, not rocky? ”
Li Zicheng was defeated at that time, and many of his generals surrendered to the Qing army. Therefore, Li Zicheng's suspicions and suspicions became more and more serious. Niu Jinxing's words were poking at the sore spot, and he no longer hesitated to order Li Yan to be killed.
That is to say, Li Yan's death is related to Li Zicheng's suspicions; Related to the rumors of Venus the Bull; It is also that he does not know that he has achieved success and retired, and he is not willing to be inseparable from Li Zicheng's court confrontation.
As the saying goes:
"The Tao is different, not conspiratorial!"
Li Yan was the greatest talent of the Three Greats compiled by Wei, didn't he understand this truth? Finding out that Li Zicheng is not the ideal lord, why not choose the lord or start another stove? It is necessary for the mother-in-law to play tai chi with Li Zicheng and other "enjoyment parties". How can he not be defeated as a scholar?