At the end of the Ming Dynasty, natural and man-made disasters occurred continuously. The Ming government faced the threat of Emperor Taiji outside the border, saving money, increasing taxes and servitude. In Shaanxi, however, there was a drought, and the people could not live, so they had to take risks. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Li Zicheng launched a peasant uprising in northern Shaanxi.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng Peasant War was the longest-lasting, largest-scale, most acute struggle, and most far-reaching peasant war in ancient Chinese history.
However, history is merciless, and throughout China's history, there are very few successful examples of relying on peasant uprisings to seize power, and only two cases have succeeded, namely Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty.
History has determined that the specific subjective and objective reasons for the failure of the peasant uprisings in the past are different, but the common fundamental causes are due to the limitations of the peasant class. As a representative of the peasant class, Li Zicheng naturally has the defects of short-sightedness, lack of strategic vision, and lack of the concept of great unity.
In the early days of The Uprising, Li Zicheng's righteous slogan of "Equalizing Fields and Free Grain" was warmly welcomed and supported by the broad masses of peasants, and many officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty were forced to submit to the peasant army due to the situation. Therefore, in the early stage of the uprising, Li Zicheng was like a bamboo, destroying the decay.
By the beginning of 1644, Li Zicheng established the Dashun regime in Xi'an. Subsequently marching into Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian lost his position in despair and hanged himself, and the Ming Dynasty fell.
At this time, Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty's Shanhaiguan, was still guarding Shanhaiguan in lonely towns. Outside the Pass, the Manchu Qing Iron Cavalry led by Dorgon was eyeing the Guannei Tiger.
For a time, the three forces of Li Zicheng, Wu Sangui, and Dolgun will compete in wisdom and courage. Among them, Wu Sangui had the fewest troops and the weakest strength. And Li Zicheng and Dolgun also understood that Wu Sangui only surrendered, and the strength of the side that could get Wu Sangui would be greatly strengthened, so both sides tried to recruit Wu Sangui, and Li Zicheng took Wu Sangui's family as hostages to threaten Wu Sangui to surrender.
For Wu Sangui, it would not have been difficult to choose. The contradiction between Li Zicheng and the Ming Dynasty belongs to the contradiction within the nation, as long as Li Zicheng can treat Wu Sangui kindly, then surrendering to Li Zicheng is nothing, not to mention that for the safety of his family, Wu Sangui should also surrender to Li Zicheng. However, the contradiction between the Manchu Qing and the Ming Dynasty belongs to the contradiction between the two nationalities, and if the Manchu Qing surrenders, Wu Sangui will certainly be condemned by public opinion, and the crime of "Han traitor" will also be left in the history books in the future. Therefore, Wu Sangui initially intended to surrender to Li Zicheng.
Just as Wu Sangui was about to lead his troops to Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng, who was in Beijing, made a foolish act. Li Zicheng's Dashun regime has just been established and has not yet been stabilized, and it is reasonable to unite the forces of all sides and stabilize the regime. However, as soon as Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he assumed the posture of a victor, suppressed the local bureaucrats and aristocrats, robbed the people's wealth, burned and plundered all kinds of evil deeds, and caused the people's hearts to be lost. Even Wu Sangui's father was severely tortured by Li Zicheng and his property recovered.
When Wu Sangui got this news, he hesitated again. Li Zicheng's behavior is basically a reckless bandit, unpopular, and it is impossible to go too far. Surrendering to him is likely to send sheep into the mouth of the tiger, and the fierceness is more auspicious. Thinking about it again and again, Wu Sangui asked Dolgun to enter the pass to jointly attack Li Zicheng, on the condition that after the matter was completed, the two sides would divide the north and south with the Yellow River as the boundary. Dorgon made up his mind and readily agreed. As a result, Wu Sangui was released, and the Qing soldiers were able to enter Shanhaiguan.
After that, Wu Sangui and Dolgun attacked Li Zicheng at Shanhaiguan, and Li Zicheng retreated and killed Wu Sangui's entire family to vent his anger. Eventually had to withdraw from Beijing and was killed on the way to escape.
After defeating Li Zicheng, Wu Sangui reneged on his promise to "divide the north and south". In the face of the powerful Qing army, Wu Sangui had no choice but to bow down and be a vassal, but he was accused of "traitor" in vain. As for Wu Sangui's rebellion against the Qing Dynasty later, the "Han traitor" was also upgraded to become a "big Han traitor" for ten thousand years. The Manchu Qing Dynasty, also with the help of Wu Sangui, expanded from local power to national power, and was able to establish the Qing Dynasty to rule the Chinese nation for more than two hundred years.
The Han chinese were forced to cut their hair and change their clothes
Li Zicheng should never have been overwhelmed as soon as he entered Beijing. Here, the limitations of the peasant class are vividly reflected in Li Zicheng, who has no far-sighted strategic vision and lacks political skills, and he will never appreciate the political wisdom of "blackmailing the son of heaven to order the princes" like Cao Cao. If they could unite with Wu Sangui, they would be able to keep the Manchu Qing out of Shanhaiguan. However, history has no ifs. Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui have thus become sinners in the hearts of the Han people, and it is they who make the Han people suffer the humiliation of "cutting off their hair and changing their clothes".