Since ancient times, where there has been oppression, there has been resistance struggle. In backward feudal society, the ruling class always exploits the peasant class on a large scale in order to safeguard its own interests. When this unrestrained exploitation has affected the normal survival of the peasant class, there will be a struggle against it, which is called a peasant uprising.
The peasant uprising has a long history in feudal society, the earliest can be traced back to the Great Qin Dynasty, the latest can also be as far as the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that the peasant uprising throughout the history of China's feudal dynasty for more than two thousand years.
I. Wu Sangui Uprising
As the last dynasty of China's feudal society, the Qing Dynasty existed in history for more than three hundred years, and it can be regarded as a dynasty that existed for a long time in the entire feudal dynasty. At the same time, the Qing Dynasty was not a regime established by the Han people, but a dynasty established by the Manchu people in the north who occupied the land of the Han people after entering the customs, so the exploitation and oppression of the Han people was very serious.
Once the exploitation of the lower classes by the upper classes reached a certain level, it was bound to cause dissatisfaction among the people at the bottom, so after the long-term exploitation of the Han people by the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty, the peasant uprisings in the Qing Dynasty continued endlessly.
Among them, the most significant response is Wu Sangui's anti-Qing restoration, which was originally a peasant uprising with a high success rate, and the ancients said: "Those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world." Wu Sangui's peasant uprising was originally in line with the people's will, and there were a large number of people to support him, but in the end it ended in a failed and tragic end.
Analyzing the reasons for the failure of Wu Sangui's uprising, in addition to the external factors of the Kangxi Emperor's Xiao Yong and good war, he himself also accounted for a large part of the responsibility, that is, he mistakenly killed a person during the peasant uprising, causing the loss of popularity, which led to the failure of his final uprising.
2. The Kangxi Emperor
When it comes to the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the most famous are the two emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, kangxi is the longest reigning monarch in Chinese history, reigning for as long as sixty-one years and ten months, and the Wu Sangui uprising is also a relatively large peasant uprising encountered during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor.
When Wu Sangui rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, although the Kangxi Emperor was young, the Kangxi Emperor had very outstanding political talents, and as early as when he crowned Wu Sangui as the King of Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty, he expected that one day Wu Sangui would rebel.
Therefore, when Wu Sangui rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor had already made preparations, and as early as the first time of Wu Sangui's rebellion, he made a series of measures, first of all, he abolished Pingnan and Jingnan Erfan, and isolated Wu Sangui politically, making Wu Sangui less politically supportive.
Then, just as the Jingshi ordered the execution of Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong and his cohorts, in order to deter the rear, so that those who wanted to support Wu Sangui threw themselves into the rat trap and did not dare to act rashly. After this series of measures, Wu Sangui's resistance was dealt with and to a certain extent, the rule of the rear was consolidated.
Then, the Kangxi Emperor adopted the strategy of breaking one by one, first sending troops to the northwest to defeat Wang Fuchen, thus quelling the rebellion in the northwest, and expanding the strength and equipment of the Qing army by using war to raise battles, so that the combat effectiveness of the Qing army could catch up with Wu Sangui's army in a short period of time.
Third, strategic mistakes
And Wu Sangui himself, at the beginning of the rebellion, was indeed strong and strong, but he himself did not have a strategic vision, after the uprising, did not first wave his division north, the army suppressed the territory, and used the strength of the army to blackmail the Qing rulers to gain political status.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty had just experienced the Battle of Shanhaiguan and Li Zicheng fought a battle, which can be said to be a serious injury to the vitality, so at the beginning of the face of Wu Sangui's anti-Qing restoration, there were not enough troops to suppress the rebellion, and Wu Sangui did not seize this biggest advantage, gave the Qing army the opportunity to develop, and thus missed the fighter.
In the later stages of the rebellion, the strength of the Qing army became increasingly strong, and Wu Sangui was old, and he no longer had the original intention of winning the Central Plains, and he wanted to become the king of Yunnan, to be a tu emperor, and to pass on the domain to future generations, thus losing the loyalty of some generals.
Fourth, the wrongful killing of a person loses the hearts of the people
Wu Sangui initially fought under the slogan of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and at that time it could be said that it was for the common people at the bottom of the society, so at the beginning of the rebellion, many old Ming Dynasty departments came to help Wu Sangui, because Wu Sangui's resistance at that time conformed to the people's will and was the trend of the times.
However, in the later period, because Wu Sangui had already betrayed the original intention of the initial rebellion, turned his back on the common people who supported him, and because Wu Sangui was used by Dolgun to suppress the peasant uprising when he was an official in the Qing Dynasty, various contradictions were stimulated at the same time, so that Wu Sangui lost the trust of most of the people.
After the death of the Chongzhen Emperor, the old Ming Dynasty also established a Ming dynasty regime in the south, supporting the Yongli Emperor as the emperor of the Southern Ming, and due to the frequent pursuit and suppression of the Qing army, the Yongli Emperor was forced to flee to other places for refuge. The local magnates saw that the Yongli Emperor was down and did not really help the Yongli Emperor, but instead imprisoned him.
However, Wu Sangui knew that the Yongli Emperor was behind, and immediately sent troops to rescue the Yongli Emperor, after which Wu Sangui got the Yongli Emperor as he wished. As the old tianzi of the former dynasty, or the identity of the Han people, this is a time bomb for the Qing Dynasty, and it is not known how to deal with it.
If Wu Sangui had emulated Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period, blackmailed the Heavenly Son to order the princes, gathered the old departments of the Ming Dynasty, and integrated all the forces, it would surely bring a fatal blow to the Qing Dynasty at that time, even if it was to restore the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
However, Wu Sangui killed the Yongli Emperor, and this matter was well known, this move, at that time, angered the old Department of the Ming Dynasty, lost the support of the old Department of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui's strength undoubtedly dropped by half, and made his initial "anti-Qing and restoration" a joke, but also made him completely lose the trust of the old Department of the Ming Dynasty and the Han people.
In the end, after Wu Sangui's death, he passed the throne to his grandson and let him rule the Yunnan region, however, such a hairy boy as the boss, how could those old generals obey, and Wu Sangui's grandson did not have a very outstanding talent and unique personality charm, three years after Wu Sangui's death, Wu Sangui's strength was overthrown, and the uprising was completely defeated.
summary
The Kangxi Emperor commented that Wu Sangui was "an ungrateful wolf," and indeed so. Wu Sangui was originally an old department of the Ming Dynasty, but for his family, he opened shanhaiguan to let the Qing army enter the customs and enter the Central Plains. This is a betrayal of one's own national righteousness. But the rescue of his family can also be said to have been favored by the Qing Dynasty.
However, in the later period, Wu Sangui was dissatisfied with the Qing Dynasty and began to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, rebelling under the slogan of "opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty", but eventually killing the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Yongli Emperor. This incident also caused him to completely lose the support of most people, which led to the complete failure of the Wu Sangui uprising, otherwise the uprising still had great hopes of success.