What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
On March 17, 1644 (April 23, 1644), Li Zicheng led an army to attack the city of Beijing, and the next day attacked the city. Subsequently, the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself, and the Ming Dynasty's rule in the country, which lasted for nearly three hundred years, came to the end of history.
On August 26, 1643 (October 8, 1643), Emperor Taiji's ninth son Fu Lin succeeded to the throne in Shengjing (present-day Shenyang), with Prince Zheng Zilharang and Rui Prince Dolgun assisting in state affairs. The following year, he changed his name to Shunzhi. On the eighth day of the first month of the shunzhi era (May 13, 1644), the Shunzhi Emperor gave the prince of Rui, Dorgon, the "order of the great general" and ordered him to "rule the army on behalf of the people". The next day Dorgon ordered that all men between the ages of ten and seventy should join the army and march south with the strength of the Eight Banners.
After Li Zicheng led his army into Beijing, the rebel generals indulged in song and dance, and did not make the necessary military deployments in the Shanhaiguan area, and only sent the general Tang Tong to lead thousands of people to Shanhaiguan to take over the defense. Wu Sangui, the former general of The Liaodong Ningyuan Army, was ordered to enter Beijing, and when he arrived in Tongzhou, he heard a message from his family and returned to Shanhaiguan in anger. Shanhaiguan City was strong and heavily fortified, and although the Qing army had been approaching the city, it had never been captured. In view of this, Dorgon planned to detour to Jizhou, Miyun and other places into Beijing, travel to Wenghou (present-day Fuxin), receive a letter from Wu Sangui asking for help, and then transfer to Shanhaiguan. After Li Zicheng heard that Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing army, he personally led the army on the Eastern Expedition. When Li Zicheng's Dashun army engaged Wu Sangui's army on the line of the Shihe River in Shanhaiguan and inside and outside the city, Wu Sangui's side, although inferior, still struggled to support it. That night, the Qing army arrived at Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui rushed to it, willing to shave his hair and become a vassal. After the two sides converged, the Dashun army turned to an unfavorable position in the balance of forces, but the Qing army still waited for the fatigue of both sides before joining the battle, the Dashun army was defeated, routed and fled west, and the Qing army entered the pass.
After Li Zicheng's defeat and return to Beijing, he hastily took the throne at Wuyingdian on April 29 (June 3), and then withdrew from Beijing to return to Shaanxi. On the second day of May (June 6), Dorgon led a large army into Beijing.
Previously, the Eight Banners Army had also gone south several times, and in the confrontation with the Ming Dynasty army, it had always been more victorious and less defeated, and the Qing army entered the customs several times during the Qing Taizong period, and even approached the city of Beijing, but in the end because the time was not yet ripe, it had to negotiate peace. In the war against the Ming Dynasty army, the Qing (Later Jin) regime for a long time to the wealth, children as the main goal, often after the plunder to negotiate peace with the Ming government, the long period of war and chaos made the people fear the Roaring Eight Banners army.
There are many reasons for the formation of this mode of operation. First of all, the military strength and material reserves of the Qing regime were not sufficient, and the Qing regime at that time was not ready to advance into the Central Plains; secondly, the legacy of the nomadic peoples was still there, and the fertile soil and stable agricultural life in Guannei were not attractive enough to the eight banners, they enjoyed the material life brought by the agricultural civilization, but they did not intend to tie themselves to the land; at the same time, the completely different production lifestyles and foreign cultures also made them uneasy, and many Manchu Nobles were worried that even if they conquered a large area of land, There is also not enough power to control.
Nurhaci once proposed that Beijing, Nanjing, and other places should not be owned by one ethnic group and one person, but should be inhabited by Manchus and Han people in turn, which is quite a bit of a intention to chase after the Central Plains. However, after occupying Shengjing and other places, the kings baylor intended to continue to the south, but he stopped saying that in the past, the Mongols occupied the Central Plains, but they were influenced by the customs of the Han people and lost their fierce folk customs, so we might as well live east of Shanhaiguan and let the Han people live west of Shanhaiguan and not interfere with each other, isn't it very good? The influence of Nurhaci's thought can be seen in many Manchu nobles, whose feelings for the Central Plains are so complex, with reluctance, longing, and fear. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng led a peasant rebel army to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Wu Sangui was furious and chose to surrender to the Qing regime, all of which made the road to the customs particularly smooth, but after entering Beijing, there were still many Manchu Qing nobles who planned to retreat again.
After the Qing army entered Beijing, the question of whether to move the capital to Beijing and whether to continue to go south caused fierce debate among the kings and ministers. Many Manchu Nobles still lingered on the old living environment and did not approve of moving the capital, such as Dorgon's maternal brother Azig, who explicitly opposed it. He complained that there was no wanton killing when he captured Liaodong, which led to many Qing troops being killed by local residents, and suggested that he take advantage of the current power, slaughter the Beijing division, plunder as much as he wanted, and then "leave the kings to zhen Yandu, while the soldiers either still defend Shenyang or retreat to the mountains and seas, but there will be no trouble."
At the same time, another part of the people actively supported the relocation of the capital and suggested taking advantage of the situation to go south, and Fan Wencheng was one of the representatives. Before the Qing army went out, Fan Wencheng suggested that Dorgon change the practice of "only the children of the Golden Veil are the map", he believed that the Central Plains had been in war for many years, and the survival pressure of the people was very high, and he very much hoped that the Ming Lord could unify the world and live and work in peace and contentment from then on. Fan Wencheng suggested that the Qing army should be strictly disciplined, have no offenses in the autumn, "not slaughter the people, do not burn the houses, and do not plunder property", retain the Ming officials who are familiar with local administrative affairs, safeguard the daily life of the people, strive to win the hearts and minds of the people, stabilize the occupied areas, and prepare for the further capture of the Central Plains. Fan Wencheng was deeply valued by Nurhaci, Huang Taiji and others, and his influence can be described as the first among the wenchen. This proposal was far-sighted and played a key role in the further development of the Qing regime.
The regent Dorgon also disagreed with the conservative strategy of Azig and others to retreat to the Kanto region and the short-sighted practice of specializing in slaughter and plunder, believing that since Beijing had been occupied, the capital should be moved immediately and the political and economic center of gravity should be moved to Guannei in order to advance into the Central Plains. But at this time, did Dolgun or Fan Wencheng firmly believe that the Qing regime could unify China? Not necessarily. When Dorgon still regarded shaving and changing clothes as the criterion for submission or not, some officials said that forced shaving was not conducive to the great cause of reunification, dorgon replied, but "to get inches is inches, to get a ruler is a ruler", Fan Wencheng's book only said that "north of the great river" can be easily calmed, which shows that the Qing regime at that time did not yet form a perfect battle plan and action plan for the unification of the whole country, but just did it and looked at it.
On May 24 of the first year of Shunzhi (June 28, 1644), Dorgon decreed: "The decree of the regent, the decree of the kings and ministers, the emperors and ministers know that the heavens are blessed, the Central Plains are nurtured, and this is the luck of the scenery, and Er and others should do their duty, be loyal, have their own wealth and wealth, and if they do not have this intention, but for the sake of the present profits, or covet the goods, the law and discipline, or the secret bribery, the betrayal of the law, the day of merit, even if there is merit, do not record, is to stop for a temporary benefit, not for the sake of the children and grandchildren, special instructions." This order clarified the direction of the Qing army's advance and strengthened the pace of continuing to the south. In June of the first year of Shunye (July 1644), Dorgon and the kings and ministers agreed on the issue of moving the capital.
On the first day of October in the first year of Shunzhi (October 30, 1644), the Shunzhi Emperor held an enthronement ceremony at the Imperial Gate. On the tenth day of October (November 8), the edict of enthronement was issued, which covered rewards for meritorious service, tax reductions, and examinations for the imperial examination. While rewarding the Manchu nobles and the children of the Eight Banners for their meritorious deeds, they particularly proposed that all officials who had been attached to the Dashun regime be pardoned, that Ming officials should be given their due edicts, that examinations of literature and martial arts should be held regularly, that all Liao salaries, new salaries, and training salaries sent at the end of the Ming Dynasty should be exempted, and that widows, orphans, poor, old, young, widows, and widows should be given assistance, so that "officials will remain in their posts and the people will resume their work," so as to gradually win over the hearts of the people and stabilize the political situation. Although the Qing army did not establish a sound and long-term plan for the unification of the whole country at the time of entry, the ruling group headed by the regent Dolgun quickly adjusted its policies according to the changes in the situation, and set the throne of Beijing in a short period of time, laying the foundation for the completion of the final reunification.