At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the storm was turbulent, and as a key figure in the ming and qing dynasties, Hong Chengzuo was a figure that was difficult to describe.
He was the commander of the Ming Dynasty to support the overall military situation, and he was the most trusted person of the Chongzhen Emperor, and under his leadership, he once effectively blocked military strikes from the east and west for the Ming Dynasty.
It can be said that Hong Chengzu was the last reliance and life-saving straw of the Ming Dynasty, in order to reward his outstanding contributions, the Chongzhen Emperor also promoted and rewarded him again and again, the monarch was progressive, the courtiers worked hard, for the precarious Daming Jiangshan, each contributed, everything seemed to be very beautiful.
However, Hong Chengzu later surrendered, turning to the Qing army that he had sworn to drive them out of the Central Plains, and Hong Chengzu perfectly interpreted the practice of a dynasty of heavenly sons and courtiers, and after surrendering, he wholeheartedly served the Qing.
Later, with the influence he had accumulated when he served the Ming Dynasty, he began to recruit Jiangnan for the Qing soldiers, and later made a good start for the Qing soldiers to march into the southwest.
Hong Chengzu's surrender can be said to have directly inserted a knife into Chongzhen's heart, he was not willing, but helpless, he had no face to face the ancestors under the Nine Springs, he shouted "The ministers mistook me" and ended his life with a foot of white silk.
I think Chongzhen must have hated Hong Chengzu, after all, if it were not for his surrender, Daming might still have a chance to turn around, but what Chongzhen did not know was that Daming's subjugation was already doomed, and Hong Chengzu could not save Daming, and what he did not know was that Hong Chengzu also went on hunger strike many times after being captured.
So why did Hong Chengzuo surrender later, this is because there was another Han man by Huang Taiji's side, named Fan Wencheng, who inadvertently discovered a small move of his when he went to persuade Hong Chengzuo to surrender, and then he asserted:
Hong Chengyu was not far from surrendering.
So what exactly did Hong Chengzuo do to make Fan Wencheng have such an assertion?
Let's take a look.
The rise of Hong Chengyu
Born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, Hong Chengzu dropped out of school at the age of eleven to help his mother make dried beans at home due to his family's poverty, and later was appreciated by Hong Qiyin, a talented son of a local school- school, and he tried his best to cultivate Hong Chengzuo.
When Hong Chengzuo was 23 years old, he won the lift, and then entered Beijing to participate in the examination, and then won the jinshi, after which Hong Chengzuo's life ushered in the soaring yellow Tengda.
After Chongzhen became emperor, a peasant revolt broke out in northern Shaanxi, and Yang He, who was on three sides of Shaanxi, was sent to quell the uprising, but he had no generals under him, and in a hurry, he let Hong Chengzu, who was still participating in politics at the time, lead the troops to fight, which made him famous.
In the years that followed, Hong Chengyu fought all the way to suppress the rebellion of the peasant army, almost winning consecutive battles, and Chongzhen, who was trying to save the Ming Dynasty, was naturally very important to him.
In 1634, Hong Chengzu served as the prince of Daming, Taibao and Bingbu Shangshu, and the military affairs of the five provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan, and became the main military commander of the Ming court to suppress the peasant rebellion.
During this period, Hong Chengzu had many fierce generals under his command, including Jiang Ou, Zuo Liangyu, Bai Guangen, Liu Fangming, Dong Xueli, Chen De, Nan Yikui, He Zhen, Tan Wen, and so on.
Their opponents were Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Wang Guangen, Gao Jie, Lin Yangcheng, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, Ma Jinzhong, Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli, Liu Zhong, and others.
Interestingly, 20 years later, Hong Chengzu once again served as the prince of the Qing Dynasty, the prince of The Taibao and Shangshu of bingbu, and the military affairs of the governors of Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan.
At this time, his subordinates included Jiang Ou's general Wang Fuchen, Zuo Liangyu's general Daniel Zhang, Gao Jie's generals Li Benshen and Hu Maozhen, as well as Bai Guangen, Liu Zhong, Liu Fangming, Dong Xueli, Chen De, nan Yikui and others.
His opponents were Li Zicheng's nephew Li Laiheng, Zhang Xianzhongyi's descendants Kewang, Li Dingguo, and Liu Wenxiu, Wang Guangen's younger brothers Wang Guangxing and Wang Guangtai, Lin Yang's subordinate Zhang Guangcui, and Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, Ma Jinzhong, He Zhen, Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli, and Tan Wen.
That is to say, Hong Chengyu was still fighting around, or that group of people, but some people became opponents from his subordinates, and it was really a creation to make people, of course, this is the last word.
Hong Chengyu became a prisoner
In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Qing army outside Guanwai decided to take advantage of the fierce battle between the Ming army and the rebel army to send troops south, and with the advantage on horseback, the Qing army was invincible all the way, and Chongzhen had no choice but to transfer Hong Chengyu from Xi County back to the defensive beijing division.
A big battle has been on the string and has to be sent.
In the autumn of that year, Emperor Taiji led his troops to capture Yizhou and used it as a springboard to attack Jinzhou, which was the military town of the Ming Dynasty, and Hong Chengzu naturally knew the stakes and confronted the Qing army here.
However, in the end, Hong Chengyu failed to resist the attack of the Qing army, not only burying the Ming Dynasty's army, but also becoming a prisoner of the Emperor Taiji.
Of course, this can not all blame Hong Chengzu's lack of ability, the Chongzhen Emperor can not escape the blame, in the face of the Qing army's long-term siege of Jinzhou, Hong Chengzu proposed a step by step battalion, and the strategy of fighting and defending, but Chongzhen did not adopt, he suspected that Hong Chengzu had different intentions, so he repeatedly urged him to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army as soon as possible.
However, the quick battle and quick decision were so simple, the Emperor Taiji soldiers made a surprise move, cutting off the Ming army's grain route, and directly cutting off Hong Chengzu's return route, at this time Hong Chengzu insisted on fighting to the death, but did not get the support of others, what they advocated was to withdraw to the south, and finally the resistance army that the Ming Dynasty had organized so hard collapsed due to political inconsistencies.
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army attacked Songshan City, and Hong Chengyu became a prisoner, and the last straw of the Ming Dynasty was gone.
Hong Chengzuo's true thoughts
After Hong Chengzu was captured, Emperor Taiji felt that he was a talent and would help him to go south in the future, so he repeatedly persuaded him to surrender, but Hong Chengzu ignored him at all, and even scolded the people who persuaded him to surrender.
In order to show his loyalty, Hong Chengyu even went on hunger strike many times, but such an iron-boned man finally bent over.
Although Hong Chengzuo went on hunger strike many times, he did not choose to commit suicide wisely, which made Emperor Taiji never give up his surrender, and later sent his most trusted minister Fan Wencheng to persuade Hong Chengzuo to surrender.
Fan Wencheng was a wise man, he did not persuade Hong Chengzuo to surrender, but talked with him about the past and the present, and in the middle of the conversation, a piece of dust suddenly fell on the top of the cell, which fell on Hong Chengzuo's body.
While Hong Chengyu spoke, while slapping the dust that fell on his body with his hands many times, Fan Wencheng smiled darkly, and then resigned, and reported to Huang Taiji, saying:
The domain is not dead. Chengzu still cherishes our robes, but how is his body?
This means that Hong Chengyu did not have the wise determination to die, he would not seek death at all, he cherished his worn clothes extremely, and naturally he would cherish his life very much.
After this, Fan Wencheng also suggested that Emperor Taiji give preferential treatment to Hong Chengzu, and later when he personally received Hong Chengzuo, he also took off his own mink coat and draped it on his body, and Hong Chengzuo was grateful and bowed down to him, and since then the national festival has disappeared.
Hong Chengzuo surrendered, and Emperor Taiji was also very important to him, Hong Chengzuo began a new life, and Daming went to extinction.
If we think about it carefully, Fan Wencheng's statement is indeed very reasonable, if a person is bent on death, how can he still care about the dust on his body?
Hong Chengzuo's repeated refusal to surrender may be just to give himself more political capital after surrender.
Do you agree with that?
References: Ming dynasty, Kiyofumi, etc.
(Figure net, invasion and deletion)