In ancient Chinese history, the rise and fall of almost every dynasty has the shadow of peasant revolt behind it, and in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, they also did not die from the number one enemy Hou Jin, but instead the large army led by Li Zicheng, the king of the Ming Dynasty, broke through the capital of the Ming Dynasty, which also corresponds to the sentence: "The strongest fortress is attacked from the inside." ”
However, in this struggle between the peasant army and the Ming army, the leaders of the two sides, Li Zicheng and Chongzhen, also had a close exchange, which could not help but make people pay attention.
In January 1644, Li Zicheng established the capital in Xi'an as emperor, the state name Dashun, and at the same time continued to lead the Northern Expedition, at this time the Chongzhen imperial court, already in a stormy situation, urgently ordered the various armies to carry out a crusade, but in April, Li Zicheng, still in April, advanced to the position of Juyongguan, directly approaching the gate of Beijing, and by May, Li Zicheng's peasant army was directly approaching the southern suburbs of the fuxingmen in Beijing. However, Li Zicheng suddenly decided to send du xun, a eunuch who had surrendered, and the Chongzhen Emperor to conduct secret consultations and negotiations.
According to the "Supplementary Examination of the XiaoYi Chronicle", Li Zicheng unexpectedly requested submission, and put forward the following suggestion: "Break into the people and horses to strengthen the masses, discuss the division of the northwestern region and reward the army with millions, and retreat to Henan ... Since he was enthroned, he was willing to suppress the group within the imperial court, especially to help suppress the Liao Domain with strong troops. But not commandments and ears. ”
These demands made by Li Zicheng showed that as long as Chongzhen made himself emperor of the northwest, he was willing to submit to the subordination, and at the same time was willing to help the Ming army resist the threat of the Qing army in the north. From the perspective of the Ming court at that time, this seemed to be a perfect choice, not only to avoid the fate of extinction, but also to alleviate the critical situation in the north.
This also makes people wonder, Li Zicheng is about to take Beijing, and seeing that he is done, why did he suddenly ask Chongzhen for submission? In fact, if we combine the situation at that time, we will understand the reason.
The first thing to explain is that the Ming dynasty was close to collapse, but Li Zicheng was not happy, in the Battle of Ningwuguan on April 7, the death and wounds of the peasant army reached a terrible 70,000, so that most of Li Zicheng's elite suffered heavy casualties, which is also mentioned in the history book "Record of Crimes": "After the thieves trapped the Beijing Division, there were many brothers and sisters, all of whom were through the battle of Ningwu Wu. ”
It must be explained that Li Zicheng not only had to directly face the main force of the Ming army, but also had to consider the movement after the capture of the city of Beijing, because at Shanhaiguan, the front line of the Ming army, there was still a 100,000-strong army led by the general Wu Sangui, and in li Zicheng's rear, Zhang Xianzhong, who was divided, also opened up a base area in Sichuan, established the Great Western regime, and looked at the tiger. Li Zicheng faced the dilemma of attacking from both sides. His concern was not unreasonable, because later when Li Zicheng fought directly with the Qing army, Zhang Xianzhong not only did not help, but also really sent troops to plunder his territory from behind.
On the other hand, the materials of the peasant army were also very tight, and in those years, people originally fought wars because they did not have enough to eat, but after such a long period of war and chaos, food shortages, the military's morale was also shaken.
However, as for what happened later, I believe everyone knows that Chongzhen refused Li Zicheng's request, mainly because Chongzhen's hands could not actually take out the cost of the labor army, on the other hand, he still had illusions, hoping that the reinforcements of Wu Sangui and others could arrive in time. If this agreement is reached, then the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties will be completely rewritten.