It is said that in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were natural disasters on the inside, various powerful uprisings, and qing people snooping outside, and frequent troops invading the territory.
The chongzhen emperor of the last emperor of the Ming Empire, in addition to quan castration (Wei Zhongxian) internally, and externally used Nengchen (Yuan Chonghuan), vowed to turn the tide of the tide and destroy the enemy yu Zhengrui! It can be said that it is a painstaking effort to promote talents in an eclectic manner!
In the ups and downs of the late Ming Dynasty, I don't know how many Haojie predecessors and successors have been thrown into the torrent of historical change and change. One of them was born a humble and difficult life, he was the Ping Thief general hand-picked by Chongzhen, Ning NanBo Zuo Liangyu.
This Zuo general, known as the "living fossil of the late Ming Dynasty", experienced the Liaodong resistance to Jin, the suppression of the rebellion in Guannei, the arrow shot by Zhang Xianzhong, and the defeat of Gao Yingxiang, but he was put on the big hat of "the one who died in the ming world, Zuo Liangyuye".
01. Will, what kind of will
General Zuo was orphaned from an early age and raised by his uncle. But unfortunately, his uncle's family also died in the military turmoil, and he had to go to Liaodong to join the army.
Here, he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Right Battalion of Liaodong Che, equivalent to the commander of a military sub-district of the Liaodong Military Region. He fought against the Qing army in Hongqiao, Dayuanshan, Zunhua, Songshan, Xingxingshan and other places, although he did not say that he achieved any major victories, but in the Ming army at that time, he was also a general in the short zi, so he was promoted to deputy general.
Later, the peasant revolts in the Central Plains rose one after another, and Zuo Liangyu, who fought bravely, was transferred back to Guannei to suppress the rebel army. After playing Hardmode, the left general who came to play medium mode (simple mode is still behind) made a big fuss, and chased Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang to jump up and down, which was really mighty for several years.
At this time, Zuo Liangyu's strength soared by constantly absorbing the peasant army. He began to fight selectively, deliberately delayed when he encountered those who were not good to fight or did not want to fight, and chased after those who were easy to fight, so he was issued several edicts by the imperial court to let him "cut off his post and wear his sins and make meritorious atonement."
Once, Zuo Liangyu's superior, Yang Sichang, ordered him to send troops to intercept Zhang Xianzhong, because Yang Sichang had promised others to "take Zuo Liangyu and replace him", and he held a grudge and stood by, Yang Sichang sent nine consecutive letters to Zuo Liangyu, and he did not move. So Zhang Xianzhong was able to calmly leave the river, and because of this, Yang Sichang was so angry that he went on a hunger strike and died.
In fact, it is needless to say that when it comes to this, the support of the soldiers in the back is self-respecting, the forced conscription of the people, the refusal to send troops to save Beijing, and even the attack on the Southern Ming court in the name of the Qing Junfang in his later years, this is a chaotic warlord who has escaped from the land, and there is no loyal and famous general at all.
02. Soldier, what kind of soldier
Many historical sources record that Zuo Liangyu had an army of 800,000 under his command when he was stationed in Wuchang. Let's not say that ancient wars liked to use "so-called", even if it was a real number of troops, most of them counted the conscripted civilians. Let's first look at Zuo Liangyu's source of soldiers and horses.
In the early days, Zuo Liangyu had always led the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, but after the frequent peasant uprisings in Guannei, the Ming court could not come up with more money to pay, and basically relied on the generals to raise their own funds, so that the so-called army also became the private soldiers of the generals.
Zuo Liangyu's fortune was precisely in the process of pursuing the rebel army, through continuous surrender, to expand the strength of the army. As for the food for the salaries of the soldiers, it is natural to take food on the spot.
Some officials once impeached Zuo Liangyu for the corruption of military discipline, and the people in the place where he led the army were "suffering from Zuo Liangyu's soldiers, and the people who lived and walked were not allowed to protect their lives", including Zhang Xianzhong, when advising him not to attack himself with all his might, he also said: "The gongshou department kills and plunders more, and the cabinet department guesses and specializes." No devotion, that is, the public annihilation will soon be over.".
After Zuo Liangyu entered Wuchang, he asked the King of Chu for 200,000 soldiers' salaries, but the King of Chu could not get it, so he plundered Wuhan with his troops, once again made a bloody fortune, and carried out a wave of expansion, of course, the expansion was all forced civilian husbands, and local hooligans.
It is conceivable from this that, not to mention whether Zuo Liangyu has an army of 800,000 (in fact, it is only about 100,000 at most), even if there is (counting the old, weak, sick and disabled), the combat effectiveness is also a miscellaneous army that is vulnerable.
03. Fight, how to fight
In fact, having said all this, such a speculative warlord who supports soldiers and respects himself in a chaotic world, such a group of miscellaneous soldiers who oppress civilians and are fierce and fierce, and who are stagnant on the battlefield. The army of intruders who want them to go to Beijing to fight like a bamboo is nothing more than a fool's dream, and only Chongzhen, who is in a hurry to go to the hospital, will hope for this so-called "eight hundred thousand" army.
In fact, Zuo Liangyu had already fought with Li Zicheng once in Zhuxian Town, he first led his troops to retreat from Kaifeng City, and then took the initiative to give up Xiangyang, and was still killed by Li Zicheng in Zhuxian Town, and his armor was lost. Only the remnants of the army fled to Wuchang and began their second career.
However, the "800,000 troops" under his command did exist, that is, in Zuo Liangyu's later years, he played the banner of "Qing Jun's side" and sent troops from Wuhan to attack Nanjing, where the Southern Ming Imperial Court was located, and as a result, because the various departments plundered everywhere, disobeyed military orders, and were killed by vomiting blood in anger (is there a feeling of reincarnation in the world).
His son Zuo Menggeng was pushed to be the leader, and as a result, as a result, he encountered wan Qing soldiers led by Azig, who had already conquered Nanjing. So under the leadership of Zuo Menggeng, the 800,000 troops all knelt down and begged for forgiveness and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Later, these soldiers and horses became the main force of the Qing Dynasty's attack on the Southern Ming, and personally buried the last side of the Ming Dynasty.
Zuo Liangyu went from an orphan to the high position of General Nanhou of Daming Ning and General Ping Thief step by step, which can be described as a hardship. In this process, he fought to the death, died and retreated, he defeated Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang and other leaders of the peasant rebel army, and was also killed by Li Zicheng, who abandoned his armor and abandoned the army and fled.
However, in the later period, he supported the army and respected himself, refused to support Beijing, and indulged military discipline for a long time, scourge the locality, and put many negative labels on this legendary figure. Especially after his death, his son's surrender to the Qing Dynasty is a stroke that can never be erased in the history books.