There are many famous "meals" in history, all of which are "drunkards do not mean to drink", such as Zhao Kuangyin's cup of wine to release the military power. These "dinners" are often full of dangers, and many of the invited people basically have no return.
In the long history of the mainland, this kind of "meal game" has appeared many times, and some even cruelly make people can't bear to look at it directly. During the Qing Dynasty, there was a bloody and cruel "dinner game", and the invitees were eight generals.
Illustration describing that dinner
Their hearts were full of expectations, and they happily sat down, without any defense at all, and as a result, the chopsticks were directly sent to Huangquan Road before they could move. It also became their last lunch, and they didn't know why they died until they died.
The Manchu Qing dynasty was weak, and the officials forced the people to rebel
In the late Qing Dynasty, the corruption and feudal system of the Qing government made the people's lives in dire straits. After the opium war broke out, it dealt a heavy blow to the Qing government, which was already worried about internal and external troubles, and the Western powers wantonly plundered and plundered the land of China, and paid all kinds of compensation for land cutting.
The Qing government did not resist, and also transferred the content of these land-cutting indemnities to the broad masses of working people, and intensified their exploitation and suppression, which also made the lives of the common people more difficult, the people were miserable, and even the most basic life was maintained. The Qing government began to accelerate its decline, its corruption, incompetence and inaction, so that the people were completely cold and desperate, and the peasants had to constantly launch uprisings in order to survive, in order to resist.
Among them, a vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement organized by Hong Xiuquan and others broke out among the people. In this movement, the peasant rebel army not only occupied the city of Nanjing, but also established its own Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime in Nanjing. The rapid development of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom was due to the fact that they knew the needs of the peasants and thought about what the peasants wanted, which was very advantageous in the beginning.
But it also has its limitations, in the face of the Qing army with the way of governing the army, only the strength of the insurgent army with a heart of blood is still very small, it is still not enough to resist in the long run, and there are constant internal contradictions escalating, and it begins to be unenterprising, arrogant and lascivious, and the late stage of the rebel army also begins to slowly weaken.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement
At that time, in order to maintain its own rule and protect its own interests, the Qing government began to change its policy and change its thinking, and found ways to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army. At this time, Zeng Guofan formed a local army in Hunan, the Xiang Army. The training method of the Xiang Army was very different from that of the previous Qing Army, and Zeng Guofan also learned from Qi Jiguang's approach and greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Xiang Army through reform.
Due to the repeated defeats of the Qing army, there was no counterforce to the attack of the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan had to personally lead the Xiang army to engage them, although at first the momentum was like a bamboo, causing a certain blow to the rebel army, but in the process the Xiang army also suffered heavy losses, lost the ability to continue fighting, and finally the Xiang army still failed.
At that time, most of the richer areas in the south were still occupied by the Taiping Army, and the Southern Suzhou and Hangzhou regions had always been the land of fish and rice, with rich property resources, where the Taiping Army was better developed and the ranks were constantly expanding. Empress Dowager Cixi was also very angry about this, feeling that the royal face had been violated, and had always been angry with the Taiping Army.
In order to maintain the face of the Qing Empire, Empress Dowager Cixi asked Zeng Guofan to lead the Xiang army to reclaim these areas at all costs, but Zeng Guofan also had his wisdom and was very shrewd. Because through many battles with the Taiping Army, he knew that the strength of the Taiping Army was very strong, and it was not a simple matter to take back these places, and the Taiping Army, which was forced to have no way out, might also make the Xiang Army have no return.
Zeng Guofan
Therefore, in order not to let his men lose their lives in vain, Zeng Guofan did not agree to Cixi, but suggested to Cixi: Let the soldiers rest and recuperate, and then take the initiative to attack when the time is ripe. Empress Dowager Cixi also did not understand military affairs, so she had to follow Zeng Guofan's advice. Cixi was dissatisfied in her heart, and she was helpless against Zeng Guofan, who held military power at that time.
Just when Cixi had no way to find anyone to confront the Taiping Army, Li Hongzhang stood up and took the initiative to ask him to lead troops to attack the cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and to make a battle achievement in defeating the Taiping Army in front of Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi was overjoyed to see that some people were willing to go to the south, so she immediately decided to send Li Hongzhang to recover it.
Li Hongzhang took the initiative to ask for help and went straight to the old lair of the Taiping Army
Li Hongzhang was also a capable man with a strategy, and his strength should not be underestimated; he was the initiator of the foreign affairs movement, and the famous idea of "mastering the art of mastering the art of mastering the art of mastering the art of controlling the yi" was put forward by him. When he was young, he traveled abroad many times, saw various advanced characteristics of the West, and had a deep study of the advanced production technology and weapon manufacturing of foreigners. It also has far-reaching significance for the foreign affairs movement he launched later.
Faced with such an unobtrusive war, Li Hongzhang had long been prepared not to fight an unprepared war, and before that, he had used a large amount of resources to recruit more than 6,000 brave and good soldiers in his hometown for special training. This army is what people call the Huai Army, and then Li Hongzhang found that it was not enough to have manpower, but also needed perfect weapons and equipment.
Li
He thought that the Englishman Gordon, whom he had met during his expedition to the West, would have been of great help to the war. So he went to ask for the support of the British, Gordon, and got the advanced weapons and ships of the foreigners from Gordon. So he set out with these weapons and effortlessly attacked all the way from the waterway to Shanghai.
Defeated the local Taiping Army on the outskirts of Shanghai, and then set out directly towards Suzhou, along the way he was invincible and chased after victory, successively capturing important places such as Taicang, Kunshan, Jiangyin, wuxi, and then leading the powerful Huai army directly to Suzhou, the base of the Taiping Army in southern Jiangsu. Li Xiucheng was fighting in Tianjing at that time, and when he heard the news that Li Hongzhang had arrived in Suzhou immediately, he hurriedly dispatched soldiers from Tianjing to Suzhou overnight.
In Suzhou, the Taiping Rebellion fought fiercely with the Huai Army led by Li Hongzhang, and because the strength of the army led by Li Hongzhang was too strong, the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom Rebel Army was seriously bruised. At the critical moment of the confrontation with Li Hongzhang, due to insufficient troops, Li Zicheng sent a request for support to the generals near Suzhou, who knew that they ignored Li Zicheng's request and did not send troops to him for support, resulting in Li Zicheng losing a mess.
Although Li Hongzhang was only one step away from victory, after a long battle between the Huai Army and the Taiping Army in Suzhou, Li Hongzhang also found that it was not easy to take Suzhou City, after all, Suzhou was the base camp of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they had a deep understanding of this, if they wanted to take Suzhou, it was bound to start a fierce struggle. Unless a hard battle is fought, his Huai army will also have to pay a heavy price.
Li Hongzhang's Huai Army
After Li Zicheng's crushing defeat, he led the rest of his men to evacuate Suzhou. Through the delay in supporting in the fierce battle, he found that although the eight generals guarded Suzhou with many soldiers, they were greedy for life and afraid of death and did not really want to fight with the Huai army, only Tan Shaoguang was relatively firm and had a deep patriotic belief.
Therefore, before Li Xiucheng left Suzhou, he told Tan Shaoguang to pay attention to these eight people and be sure to look after them in case they rebelled. No one can be left behind until the last resort. He was also persuaded to leave with him, because Li Zicheng knew that they would not come to their aid in times of crisis.
But Tan Shaoguang was a hot-blooded warrior, and he did not intend to leave Suzhou alive, as long as he would never surrender to the Huai army in one day, he would hold his position. In desperation, Li Zicheng could only leave alone, telling him to live well. In this tug-of-war in which both sides suffered heavy casualties, the Englishman Gordon suggested to Li Hongzhang that negotiations with the generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be negotiated by means of zhao'an.
Li Hongzhang felt that this idea was good, and decided to use this method. So he sent someone to first test the eight generals who were guarding Suzhou to see their attitude. Li Hongzhang thought that perhaps Zhao'an would encounter great difficulties, and he might not be able to avoid spending a lot of time, but surprisingly, the result was unexpectedly smooth, and the eight generals were very happy to agree, and they were very cooperative, as if it had been waiting for this day for a long time.
General of the Qing Army and General of the Taiping Army
As a negotiation expert, Li Hongzhang is naturally familiar with the road in the negotiation process. In the course of negotiations with the Eight Generals, Li Hongzhang proposed that if they were willing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, he would save their lives and seek an official position for them. Just when they were still a little hesitant and could not believe it, the Briton Gordon saw their hesitation and expressed his willingness to act as a guarantor for their negotiations.
He promised that as long as they could submit to the Qing Dynasty, li Hongzhang's promise to them would be fulfilled. Seeing that the foreigners had come out to vouch for it, their already uneasy hearts were relaxed, and they felt at ease, and they were also very satisfied in their hearts, and immediately decided to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. In fact, for these surrender moves of the eight generals, Tan Shaoguang also knew it through his letters with Li Hongzhang.
But he was still confident that with his ability he could make them repent, could impress them, and ultimately stand on the same side as himself. So Tan Shaoguang decided to play the emotional card with them and invited them to lunch to do ideological work for them. The Eight Generals also knew at this time that Tan Shaoguang might already know what they were thinking, and they went forward with a feeling of anxiety.
After the Eight Generals took their seats, he raised a glass with them to drink, and Tan Shaoguang first verbally praised and affirmed their contributions and spirit. It also explains the difficulties that Suzhou City is facing now, suzhou city is in danger, and the drunken man's intention to not drink shows that some of them have the tendency to defect to the enemy, hoping that he can get lost and return and defend Suzhou together.
Tan Shaoguang stills
After he said this, the Eight Generals decided to strike first, so Wang Jun'an, the King of Kang, suddenly stood up from his seat, and took out the dagger prepared in advance and stabbed Tan Shaoguang's abdomen, and several other people looked at this situation and decided to go up together and cut off Tan Shaoguang's head. With the departure of Tan Shaoguang, the city of Suzhou at this time was all under the control of the Eight Generals.
Li Hongzhang set up a feast at the Hongmen Gate, and the eight generals were killed in Huangquan
According to the agreement in the previous letters with Li Hongzhang, after the Eighth Congress joined forces to get rid of Tan Shaoguang, the Eighth Congress happily dedicated Tan Shaoguang's first rank to Li Hongzhang as a stepping stone to win an official and a half-post, and also gave the city of Suzhou to Li Hongzhang. In this way, Li Hongzhang effortlessly gained the power of Suzhou City.
Li Hongzhang also kept his promise, according to the previous agreement, personally greeted their arrival at the door, and said that he had prepared official clothes for them, and only waited for the next day to set up a banquet for them to wear, telling them that this was a reward for them, and the eight people were very happy when they heard it. In fact, Li Hongzhang knew that they were not good people, and if they could betray their country for their own strength and official positions, then one day they would also betray the current Qing Empire.
Even after being recruited, these people who see the wind and make the rudder are not easy to control, and they are likely to be killed by them in the future when they encounter the same situation. Therefore, at the feast the next day, he was ready to kill all eight generals. In this way, the eight generals were still complacent, thinking that they were about to be promoted and become rich. As everyone knows, death awaits them.
The Qing army retakes Suzhou
The next day, the Eight Generals set out early in the morning, without any soldiers and horses, and went to the feast in the dust. This "Hongmen Feast" was also their last lunch. When they were seated, looking at the table full of good wine and good food used to entertain them, they were even more convinced that the road of surrender was the right way, and they were even more full of joy when they looked at the eight sets of official uniforms placed in the center of the banquet.
When they were preparing to raise their glasses of congratulations at the banquet, Li Hongzhang suddenly asked people to take down their official clothes, saying that they would be rewarded immediately. The Eight Generals were even more excited to see this move, so they all came forward to prepare to put on their official uniforms, and the soldiers who had been prepared in advance immediately took out their daggers and rushed up to surround the Eight Generals, and the eight people did not have the slightest defense, so they were slaughtered, and the soldiers quickly ended the lives of the Eight Generals with their swords in their hands.
At the last moment of their lives, they didn't know why they died here. After the end of the lives of the eight generals, Li Hongzhang began to plunder and kill the remaining Taiping Army forces in Suzhou, killing a total of more than 20,000 Taiping army soldiers.
epilogue
Throughout the ages, those who betrayed the country for the sake of profit did not have a good end. They abandon the country for their own sake, and they will be abandoned by the state afterwards. When the Eighth Congress will turn its back on its own country, it should be able to think that it will not have a good end. This act of seeking glory by their sellers is something we despise, and they are not sorry to die, and they will not gain any sympathy at all.
The Qing army in Suzhou surrendered
For anyone, loyalty is what everyone has to have, and people who lack loyalty cannot be called people, such people are traitors. Without loyalty, there is no dignity of oneself, and there is no point in such a person living, and his life is like a pool of stagnant water. Although Tan Shaoguang was unfortunately killed, he died as he deserved, and he had the backbone that the Eight Generals did not have, which is worth learning from us.
Like Sister Jiang during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, she is our idol and deserves our admiration. In the face of the cruelty of the enemy, she always firmly believed in her faith, held on to her loyalty, and preferred to die unyieldingly. Heroes like Sister Jiang, there are thousands of heroes in Chinese history, they are like Wen Tianxiang's poem "Whoever lives since ancient times has not died, keep Dan's heart and take care of Khan Qing", leaving only innocence in the human world. Worthy of oneself, worthy of one's own country. But it will always be remembered and praised by us.