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Why did Li Zicheng, who entered Beijing under the slogan of "Free Grain in Juntian," allow Liu Zongmin to act recklessly?
On the first day of the first lunar month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng was proclaimed king in Xi'an, and the country name was Dashun, and the Ming Dynasty finally came to an end in this year. On March 19, Li Zicheng attacked the imperial city, and Chongzhen chose to hang himself at Coal Mountain, and the entire city of Beijing fell into chaos and looting.
At first, Li Zicheng strictly forbade the harassment of the people, but within a few days, the capital became a purgatory on earth. The DaShun army looted property everywhere, insulted women, and killed innocents indiscriminately. Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's number one general, indulged soldiers in looting and seized a large number of officials to force them to hand over their belongings. Not only that, Liu Zongmin also robbed Wu Sangui's concubine, which directly or indirectly caused Wu Sangui to fall to the Manchu Qing, so why didn't Li Zicheng stop Liu Zongmin's misdeeds?
Liu Zongmin is Li Zicheng's nemesis
In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengyu and Sun Chuanting defeated Li Zicheng at Tongguan, and this time Li Zicheng was completely defeated, even his pants were lost, and only eighteen people escaped into the mountains. Because Chongzhen had always had the tradition of demolishing the western wall to make up for the eastern wall, and had not been exterminated, Li Zicheng was given a chance to breathe, and Liu Zongmin was one of these eighteen people.
The so-called hardships to see the truth, it is obvious that Liu Zongmin is not a wine and meat friend, just by following Li Zicheng into the ravine, this righteousness is enough to make Li Zicheng move his life.
Historical records:
"Liu Zongmin, the Lantian forger, is also the most courageous and wants to surrender." When he walked into the Cong Ancestral Hall, he sighed and said, "People say that I should be the Son of Heaven, and I am not lucky, and I will cut off my head and fall." 'Zong Minnuo, Sanbu Sanji. Zong Min also killed his two wives, saying that he had become a self-made person: 'I died from the king.' When the mighty men of the army heard of it, they killed many wives who wished to obey. ”
In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's predicament was still not lifted, although he had a lot of experience in pulling people's heads, and soon organized many people again, but there was Yang Sichang's pursuit and killing, and Zhang Xianzhong did not have good intentions and wanted to annex Li Zicheng's troops. At one point, Li Zicheng was almost forced to commit suicide, and only gave up under the persuasion of his adopted son and everyone.
Liu Zongmin was the number one general under Li Zicheng, brave and fearless in battle, he was originally a forging worker in Lantian County, and then followed Li Zicheng. The situation became so unfavorable, Li Zicheng took Liu Zongmin to the temple for divination, and the three times the guaxiang were realistic, Liu Zongmin returned and killed his wife, vowing to die to follow Li Zicheng.
Whether from the emotional level or ability, Liu Zongmin is Li Zicheng's right and left arm, so if this is the case, it is naturally "helping relatives and not helping", so even if Li Zongmin does something out of the ordinary, Li Zicheng will turn a blind eye here.
Li Zicheng could no longer control the beastliness of the army
Most of the so-called peasant armies were refugees who could not eat, and there were many bandits and thieves, including many surrendered in the Ming army, and Li Zicheng's Dashun army was complex in composition, and the organizational discipline was also not very strict.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it is not an exaggeration to say that the families of soldiers and bandits are not exaggerated, and the Ming army that crusaded against the peasant army often plundered everywhere, mainly because the imperial court did not pay grain, and since there was no money, it could only be robbed.
In addition, at that time, natural disasters were continuous, drought, flood, plague, locust plague kept playing out, Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong and other places for many years of disasters, so that the people were better off alive than dead, so Li Zicheng wanted to pull people's heads very easily, as long as the arm was raised, everyone followed the king to rebel.
Therefore, the quality of the peasant army's soldiers is not high, the composition of personnel is complex, and the number is particularly large, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng registered 400,000 infantry units and 600,000 cavalry troops. When they finally broke through the capital, they saw real money and silver, people's greed was unlimited, and these people also hated the Ming Dynasty to the bone, so the dark side of people's hearts was exposed.
Li Zicheng melted all the gold and silver utensils and looted gold and silver in the city of Beijing, boiled them into silver cakes, and minted tens of thousands of pieces, all of which were pulled back to Xi'an by Li Zicheng with a mule cart.
"Anfu Hutong, one night women died, more than three hundred and seventy people. The wives and concubines of demoted officials are not exempt. ”
Neither the people nor the officials of the Ming Dynasty could escape this disaster, and the Dashun army burned and plundered in the capital for many days, killing and injuring countless people. Perhaps Li Zicheng was restrained at first, but after that, he really couldn't control it, so he let it go.
Li Zicheng also hated corrupt officials
Li Zicheng is a rice fat man, originally a local postman, similar to our modern postman, mainly responsible for transmitting information, intelligence, and in Chongzhen three years, the Ming court in order to save money, the station was cancelled, which made many people lose their jobs, angry, plus no food to eat, Li Zicheng also embarked on the road of rebellion.
To a large extent, Li Zicheng did not have a good feeling for the officials, if the world is too peaceful and the people have food to eat, no one wants to risk their lives to rebel.
After Chongzhen committed suicide, Fan Jingwen and more than forty others died of martyrdom, and more than 200 people in the palace threw themselves into the river and died, but most of the Ming officials surrendered to Li Zicheng. A few days after Li Zicheng conquered the capital, the hundred officials who surrendered, led by Wei Zaode and others, entered the palace to pay tribute to Li Zicheng, who deliberately played tricks on these traitors, some people took off the hats of officials, and some people beat these officials in public, but the officials all fell on the ground and did not dare to move.
Li Zicheng did not assign all the officials to work, he only selected a part, and the other more than 800 people, such as Zhou Kui, Zhu Chunchen, Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, etc., were all handed over to Liu Zongmin.
All kinds of torture were used by these corrupt officials, burning their skin and twisting their bones and bones, and Liu Zongmin had only one purpose, to torture these Ming Dynasty officials who were originally high up in the sky, and to force them to hand over all their property.
Under the torture of Li Zongmin, these officials handed over tens of millions of taels of silver, so these officials do not deserve sympathy. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, corruption had become the norm, and even Chongzhen could not stop it, and most of the disaster relief money and grain issued by the central government were looted by officials at all levels, leaving little left in the hands of the people.
At the last moment, Chongzhen also engaged in a fundraising campaign, but these imperial court ministers had no one to donate, and in the face of the general collapse of the country and the shattering of the mountains and rivers, the ugly faces of the officials were undoubtedly revealed. Li Zicheng is hateful, but he has done things that many people want to do but can't, such as torturing these corrupt officials.
Li Zicheng was the leader of the peasant army, and the city of Beijing became a purgatory on earth, which was caused by Li Zicheng's connivance, and What Liu Zongmin did was also instructed by Li Zicheng.
summary:
Li Zicheng's overthrow of the Ming Dynasty is not false, but what he did is not even a tyrant, because his indulgence has caused hundreds of people in the capital to suffer tragically, countless people to die tragically, and people hanged everywhere, which is not the so-called rebel army at all. Li Zicheng was short-sighted and only wanted money, he simply did not have the courage and quality to strive for hegemony, moreover, the limitations of small farmers could not make him go further, if he wanted to achieve great things, there was no benefit in killing innocents indiscriminately, and if he plundered the royal family and high-ranking officials, he would not be able to gain the support of scholars, which was extremely unprofessional.
In any case, in Li Zicheng's recklessness, the Ming Dynasty still came to an end, but Li Zicheng did not get anything except a large amount of gold and silver and a lifetime of infamy, and soon became a cloud of smoke and was drowned in a silent wave.