Weeping for the Six Armies, Chong Guan was angry and blushed. - "The Circle"
In the history of the mainland, many people's cognition of Wu Sangui mostly stayed on the matter of Chong Guan's anger and red face. However, the real Wu Sangui was not like this, after all, he had almost destroyed the existence of the Qing Dynasty.
However, for various reasons, in the process of overthrowing the rule of the Qing Dynasty, he also appeared a lot of food, but in the end he lost everything, which can be said to be a fate!
So, in the process of opposing the Qing Dynasty, what mistake did Wu Sangui make that would make him lose his army like a mountain, and it would be difficult to become a climate?
The legendary life of Wu Sangui
Wu Sangui was born into a family of military generals, and his father was Wu Xiang, the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou. In 1644, Li Zicheng invaded the city of Beijing, killing Wu Xiang's family and occupying Wu Sangui's wife, Chen Yuanyuan.
Under these circumstances, Wu Sangui rebelled and opened the gate of Shanhaiguan to release qing soldiers into the customs. Not only was Li Zicheng's Dashun Dynasty defeated, but Wu Sangui was also crowned king of Pingxi for his outstanding military achievements.
During the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, because he was intimidated by the military power in the hands of Wu Sangui, he adopted a policy of "Huairou" towards him. However, after the Kangxi Emperor succeeded to the throne, he set out to reduce the power of Wu Sangui, which is what history calls "abolishing the three domains".
The cunning rabbit died, the lackey cooked, and in this case, Wu Sangui rebelled, and thus began a major mutiny during the Kangxi dynasty.
At first, Wu Sangui took Guizhou, Hunan and other places in one fell swoop, and the king of Jingnan in Fujian and the king of Pingnan in Guangdong also responded, and the rest of the feudal officials also rose up.
It can be said that in the early days of the outbreak of war, the Kangxi Emperor was attacked on many sides, and the situation was very favorable to Wu Sangui. At this critical moment, Wu Sangui made a very wrong decision.
Wu Sangui's rule by paddling the river was a turning point in the war
From the perspective of time, the timing of Wu Sangui's rebellion was just right, when the Qing Dynasty's talents withered away, and the powerful ministers Dolgun, Azig and Hauge all died, and Kangxi had no generals available.
At the same time, the impact of Wu Sangui's rebellion spread very quickly, from the long river basin to the Yellow River Valley, which was also the most difficult period of Kangxi.
If Wu Sangui could go further and control the Yellow River Valley, he could cut off the Qing Dynasty's ties with the south, thereby weakening most of the Qing court's living forces.
Unfortunately, Wu Sangui only had the ability to be a general, not an emperor. In the good situation, he actually chose to compromise with Kangxi, and also proposed "negotiations" and wanted to rule by drawing the river (Yangtze River).
In the war, there may be nothing wrong with "negotiation", but he brought two fatal effects to Wu Sangui, which led to his later defeat.
Negative impact of negotiations
Judging from the results, the negotiations went bankrupt, but he gave Kangxi a lot of buffer time. Taking advantage of this short opportunity, Kangxi quickly organized a group of living forces to stabilize the chaotic position in the early stage of the war and re-establish a defensive line around Hunan.
As the saying goes, the three armies fight, one drum, then decline, three exhaustion, because of this mistake of Wu Sangui, resulting in the rebels in the later stage of the battle repeatedly frustrated, laying a foreshadowing for failure.
Once, in order to encourage morale, Wu Sangui was proclaimed emperor in Hengzhou, but it was only a lingering struggle, and it could not solve the problem at all, because the time had been lost.
In addition to the lost time, Wu Sangui's negotiations also sent a "wrong" signal, causing the rebels to unite on the surface and disintegrate inside.
When Wu Sangui raised an army, the crusade against Kangxi required a large number of troops, in addition to himself, there were Geng Jingzhong and Shang Kexi, as well as other large and small feudal officials.
However, although these people have a large number of troops, they are a loose temporary alliance, and if the war goes well, then the alliance will be as strong as ever, and if the war is frustrated, the alliance will easily collapse.
When Wu Sangui negotiated with Kangxi, he undoubtedly expressed a signal to many alliance forces: "I don't want to fight", "I can't do it" and so on.
Among the many rebel armies, Wu Sangui's power is the largest, and the rebels see that Wu Sangui has the meaning of "showing weakness", and their hearts are naturally even more bottomless.
As a result, the hearts and minds of the military alliance began to split. In addition, after the negotiations, Wu Sangui's army suffered repeated setbacks along the Yangtze River, directly igniting the fuse for the collapse of the "Provisional Alliance".
As the saying goes, soldiers are fast, and the sooner the war is over, the lower the probability of defeat. Wu Sangui's rebellion was a pre-emptive strike, and naturally there was every preparation, while the Qing court was not prepared.
As the old saying goes, the three armies have not moved, and the grain and grass have gone first! When fighting a war, whether it is recruiting troops, buying horses, transporting grain and grass, or stockpiling medicines, it requires a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and it is difficult for heroes to lose a penny.
It was precisely at the opportunity of the negotiations that Kangxi seized a glimmer of life in the dangerous situation, and had the capital to fight against other separatist forces, forcing Wu Sangui to swallow the bitter fruit he planted.
It can be said that Wu Sangui's hesitation, as well as the lack of firmness of his own position, led to his failure. So that in the later war, they were gradually defeated and retreated, and there was not even a chance to overturn the game.
In the 17th year of Kangxi, perhaps anticipating his own failure, Wu Sangui chose to claim the title of emperor in Hengyang, which was considered to be the fulfillment of his dream of being an emperor.
At the same time, he also instructed his descendants to retire to Kunming, Yunnan, hoping that more powerful geniuses would appear among his descendants or the generals around him, and continue the glory of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Anyway, Wu Sangui's idea was ultimately Huang Liang's dream. After the situation was reversed, Kangxi did not hesitate, directly waved his army south, and hit Kunming with a single blow, Wu Sangui's power disappeared, and when he woke up, only the bloody red Shi Zhang was left.
Throughout Wu Sangui's life, he is a powerful and ambitious person, but his strategic vision is not long-term enough, especially in the face of the overall situation.
Earlier, Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing Dynasty once, and he betrayed not only the Ming Dynasty, but the world of the Han people. Now, he hesitated again on the edge of the Yangtze River, failing to grasp the weakest node of the Qing Dynasty to deliver a fatal blow, so that he suffered the bitter fruit of failure.
If he had been able to seize the opportunity to cross the Yangtze River and point his sword at Kangxi, then there was a real possibility that the world would change hands, and it would really be possible to "surname Wu".
A momentary hesitation and a wrong decision turned into an opportunity for defeat, a great war situation, and finally became a sigh, and also became Wu Sangui's last unforgettable memory.
Take history as a mirror and warn the world! There is no if in life, do not hesitate in a good time, you must seize every opportunity to fly to the wind outlet, otherwise regret is too late.