The DaShun army invaded the city of Beijing, and Li Zichengman thought that he had destroyed Daming, but he did not know that local armed forces throughout the country still recognized the signboard of "Daming", and successively supported four ming dynasty disciples to launch a war to restore the Ming Dynasty.
Although it shows that the ming regime that left Beijing can only be called "Southern Ming", neither Li Zicheng nor the Manchu Qing Emperor can completely cut off the incense of the old Zhu family. Speaking of which, what made Nanming completely lose hope of recovery was a small border country, Myanmar.
The Gui king Zhu Youluo, supported by his courtiers, took over the heavy responsibility of supporting the orthodoxy of The Ming Dynasty and established the Yongli Dynasty. Unfortunately, the fallen phoenix was not as good as a chicken, and Zhu Youruo did not have many available soldiers in his hands, and was beaten out of Guangdong by the Qing army three times five divided by two. Zhu Youluo retired to Yunnan with the widow of Daming and built a capital in Kunming, intending to make a comeback here.
But what caught them off guard was that Wu Sangui, the former commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, was mixed up under the Manchus and was now leading a large army to kill his old master. The Qing army was fierce, and Zhu Youluo had no idea. In order to save his life and continue the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youluo could only continue to flee with his ministers until he fled the country and arrived in Burma.
The Burmese king saw Zhu Yuyu hurriedly coming and said that he could provide shelter for the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, but he made a request for the Ming army to disarm. There was no way, after all, it had already left the border, and it was natural to ask guests to follow the lord on the territory of the people, and Zhu Yuluo ordered the soldiers to unload their weapons. As a token of gratitude to the Burmese king, Zhu yuluo offered most of the belongings he carried.
Although the Burmese king warmly welcomed the arrival of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he was secretly dissatisfied. Prior to this, the Ming Dynasty was a heavenly kingdom, and Burma, as a small border country, naturally could not afford to provoke, and it was natural to submit to it. But to this day, Nanming is like a lost dog fleeing, still maintaining the style of a suzerainty, which really annoys the Burmese.
In fact, the dissatisfaction of the Burmese people is well known to Zhu Yuruo. As early as their transit, Burmese officials along the way repeatedly harassed them. If it were not for Mu Tianbo, the commander-in-chief of Yunnan, who took out the seal of general Zhengnan and confirmed the identity of a group of people, I am afraid that they would not even be able to see the king of Burma.
At first, the Burmese king's dissatisfaction with Nam Ming was only hidden in his heart and did not show it. In his impression, the Ming Dynasty was a behemoth, the so-called skinny camel was bigger than the horse, although Emperor Zhu did not have too many soldiers around him, but there were still many anti-Qing and Ming forces in the Central Plains, and these forces were nominally dispatched by the Ming Dynasty. Because the war situation in the Central Plains is unknown, no one can guarantee whether the Ming Dynasty can restore orthodoxy. With such an idea, the Burmese king always treated Nanming with courtesy and did not dare to offend.
The following year, civil unrest broke out in Burma, and the burmese king's brother Mang Bai, with the support of a private party, overthrew his predecessor and established himself as king. After the death of the old king of Burma, the war situation in the Central Plains took a sharp turn for the worse, and many anti-Qing forces were suppressed by the Qing army. Seeing that there was no hope of the restoration of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the new king of Burma's attitude towards the Southern Ming took a one hundred and eighty-degree turn. On the day the new king came to power, he sent an invitation to the old man of Nanming to watch the ceremony, but only a few ministers could attend, and Zhu Youluo did not show up at all.
This move made the new king firmly believe that Zhu Yurong despised himself. In fact, it is not that Zhu Yurong does not want to come forward, but that he cannot come forward. At this point, everyone wanted to curry favor with the Burmese king, but Zhu Yuluo originally had no money, basically used to honor the old king, where is the money to do a congratulatory gift for the new king? Unfortunately, Mang Bai did not feel so, he firmly believed that Zhu Yuluo still had a lot of money, but he just didn't want to give it to himself.
Since then, Mang Bai's attitude towards Nanming has become worse and worse, and he feels that the Nanming regime has long existed in name only, and since it is impossible to squeeze out surplus value, it is better to eliminate it as soon as possible.
Ignoring the etiquette, Mang Bai sent emissaries to ask Zhu Yourong for a congratulatory gift. However, Zhu Youluo is already very poor, where can he get the money? Therefore, the emissary returned to Mangbai with a gray face, saying that Zhu Youruo could not get a single penny.
Mang Bai was furious and asked the emissary to bring a message to Zhu Youluo: "Although you don't even have territory, but at least you are an emperor, you eat and live in our country, we have provided for you for several years, should you show it?" When you first came, the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu said that they would kill you to avoid the consequences, but at that time, I tried to save you. I still think that you are not bad people, we can be friends, but your attitude is really not like repaying friends. ”
Zhu Yurong had a hard time speaking, and could only send people to the Burmese court many times to say good things. However, without seeing the actual benefits, Mangbai simply could not listen to these meaningless words.
In July of the same year, Mang Bai saw that Nanming was really unwilling to pay for it, and decided to make a chicken killing to scare the monkey and squeeze out the last shred of value of Zhu Youluo. To this end, Mang Bai sent someone to the inn to invite Zhu Youluo to cross the river, saying that he had prepared spell water by the river, as long as Zhu Youluo drank the spell water, Mang Bai and the Southern Ming Emperor would be eternal friends, and the two countries would conclude an alliance and hate each other. If Zhu Yuluo refused to attend the appointment, Myanmar would sever ties with Nanming.
At this time, the relationship between the two sides was already very tense, although it was not to the point of being irreconcilable, but the Minister of Southern Ming at that time felt that it was not a good idea for Zhu Yurong to come forward to meet the Burmese king at this time, who could guarantee that there was no poison in the spell water prepared by the Burmese?
The Burmese emissaries came several times, and the ministers of the Southern Ming dynasty could not make up their minds.
Mu Tianbo said to the messenger, "The land we live in today was given to you by the Ming Dynasty a few years ago. Today, we are staying in Burma, and the king deserves to come here to meet us. Even if the king refuses to condescend to meet us, there is no need to coerce us, right? I know that today is different from the past, our strength is not as strong as yours, but don't forget, there are still many remnants of the Ming Dynasty in the Central Plains, if we encounter accidents in your country, someone will definitely come to you to settle accounts. Even if the dynasty changes, the country will not be a country, but the Han people will not be able to kill. ”
Although Mu Tianbo spoke more bluntly, not every Southern Ming minister was so backbone. A group of ministers thought about it and thought it would be better to send a few people to deal with the scene, after all, now everyone is sending people to the fence, and the etiquette must be passable. Zhu Yuluo felt that Ma Jixiang of Wen'an Hou and the eunuch Li Guotai were good candidates, but both of them expressed their intention to accompany General Mu Tianbo. The reason is very simple, Mu Tianbo has been in the southwest frontier for so many years, befriending the ethnic minorities in the southwest, and his influence in the local area is very large. With Mu Tianbo coming forward, it is estimated that the Burmese king will be in awe of three points.
No one expected that what awaited the Minister of southern Ming was a catastrophe.
The next day, two ministers and Mu Tianbo arrived at the shuishui River with hundreds of Ming troops, leaving only a dozen guards to protect the emperor. After arriving at the agreed place, Mu Tianbo and the others did not see the Burmese king, only to see more than 3,000 heavily armed Burmese soldiers in the tower, and pounced on them with great momentum. Mu Tianbo saw the situation and cried out that it was not good. It seems that these Burmese have no intention of returning to them alive.
Since the Ming people had been disarmed before, they could only be slaughtered, Mu Tianbo snatched the knife from the enemy's hand, played with the Burmese soldiers, and finally killed nine enemies. The others picked up the stone sticks around them and fought the Burmese to the death, but they could not defeat the heavily armed Burmese, and they died one by one under the burmese knife.
When the bad news came, Zhu Yu was in chaos. He consulted with the queen next to him, and now that there was no way out, it was better to hang himself a hundred times, so as not to be insulted by the Burmese. Seeing that the emperor wanted to seek short-sightedness, the guard Deng Kai said: "The empress dowager is old, and Your Majesty has left the empress dowager to seek short-sightedness and filial piety, what face does she have to see the former emperor under the Nine Springs?" After hearing these words, Zhu Yurong's face was red and his ears were red, and he dispelled the idea of committing suicide.
Not long after, Burmese soldiers came and swept away Zhu Yuluo and a group of ministers in the house. Because the female relatives of the Southern Ming Royal Family were insulted by the Burmese, many women and ministers were humiliated, and more than a hundred people, including two nobles and several ministers, committed suicide.
After sweeping away the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Burmese officials who led the troops also said to the soldiers around them: "Don't hurt Shengshang and Mu Gong, they are our country's noble guests." In fact, this sentence is just a reassuring pill to prevent Zhu Youluo from committing suicide, and Mu Tianbo has already died in the previous battle.
Zhu Youluo, who had become a prisoner of the order, completely lost hope of restoration. He said to Deng Kai next to him: "Now that the empress dowager is frightened and sick, I don't think her body can support it for long." If fate is irreversible, and I will eventually die at the hands of the Tatars, let me die at their hands, and you must bring the bones of me and the empress back to my homeland. ”
The Burmese did not kill Chu Yu-ryū, but put him under house arrest. The reason why they did not harass Zhu Youluo was not because they were kind, because Wu Sangui's army had already entered Yunnan. The Burmese saw the strength of the Qing army and realized that they could not compete with it with their weak strength, and could only find ways to please the Manchu Qing. Mang Bai felt that with Zhu Youluo in his hand, the good villain was also a chip, and the Qing court would not act rashly.
Sure enough, although Wu Sangui repeatedly coerced Burma, because Zhu Youluo was always controlled in Burma, the Qing army did not fight after all. After ensuring the safety of Burma, Mang Bai handed over Zhu Youluo and other Southern Ming widows the following year. Wu Sangui was fierce in his heart, and after "picking up" Zhu Youluo and other Nanming widows to Kunming, he immediately killed them and cut off the incense of Nanming.
In fact, from the moment Zhu Yuluo decided to withdraw to Burma, the end was already predetermined. Even the local armed forces loyal to the Ming Dynasty could not be relied upon, and what about the clan relations that were not very reliable in the first place? In the end, the Burmese king did not betray the suzerainty of Nanming, forcing Zhu Youluo to a dead end with the "difficulty of spelling water".
Resources:
【History of the Ming Dynasty" and "History of the Southern Ming Dynasty"】