In the chaotic times of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Zhang Xianzhong led the peasant rebel army and gradually established his own power.
After invading Sichuan, he went on a killing spree and committed countless crimes, once forcing a monk to eat meat, but after the monk finished eating meat, he actually uttered a wise saying, which was passed down in the years to come.
Unstable footing, murderous tree power
Zhang Xianzhong had to rely on killing people to establish his prestige, which was related to the complicated situation in Sichuan and Shu and the intricacies of local forces in the Southern Ming Dynasty.
Located in southwest China, the Sichuan-Shu region is a complex topography of mountains, basins and plateaus, one of the most important economic and cultural centers in China, this region has a long history and rich cultural heritage, and has been an important node of political, economic and cultural exchanges since ancient times.
However, the situation in the Sichuan-Shu region is complex, geographically, the mountains, basins and plateaus in the region are intertwined, resulting in a situation of difficult terrain and inconvenient transportation, hindering political and economic development, and the Sichuan-Shu region belongs to the fringe of the cultural circle of the ancient Central Plains of China, and has long been in the struggle between the central power and local forces, which makes the political situation in the region very complicated.
The competition and contradiction of local forces is one of the main reasons for the complicated situation in the Sichuan-Shu region, and there have always been various local forces in the region, and these local forces compete with each other, compete for resources and spheres of influence, and it is difficult for Zhang Xianzhong to quickly gain a foothold.
Faced with the complex situation in the Sichuan-Shu region, Zhang Xianzhong went the other way, not by studying its geographical characteristics and buying people's hearts to promote political, economic and cultural development, but by killing people to establish prestige.
When Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan and prepared to attack Chengdu, he temporarily stationed himself at a temple outside the city.
There, Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinates enjoyed food and wine, and seeing that the monks in the temple were vegetarian, Zhang Xianzhong had a whim and wanted to tease these monks.
Zhang Xianzhong forced the monks to eat meat and drink wine like them.
At that time, a monk proposed that they could eat meat, but asked Zhang Xianzhong not to slaughter innocent people after he attacked the city.
Zhang Xianzhong agreed to the monk's request and promised not to slaughter the people in the city, so the monks tasted the meat while chanting the following sentence: "Wine and meat pass through the intestines, Buddha pay attention!" ”
Now this sentence is widely spread, but I didn't expect it to be forced under Zhang Xianzhong's butcher's knife.
Zhang Xianzhong's use of massacre to establish prestige is, in the final analysis, his pursuit of power, and as a peasant rebel army, the size of power is extremely tempting for them.
Zhang Xianzhong himself did not come from a prominent background, had no other power resources, and only expanded his sphere of influence through brutal means to gain more support and followers.
At the same time, he is well aware of the history and cultural traditions of the Sichuan-Shu region, the rebellion of the Sichuanese people, and the violence and massacre are unique means against the region.
But did Zhang Xianzhong really gain the authority he wanted through massacre?
During his reign in the Sichuan-Shu region, there were many rebellions, and the officials, soldiers, and even ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty almost followed suit.
Zhang Xianzhong's brutal rule had a profound impact on the history and people of the Sichuan and Shu regions, and his violent rule caused huge casualties and social unrest.
According to historical records, he killed tens of thousands of people in the Sichuan-Shu region, causing great damage to the local economy and society, and his way of ruling also affected the cultural and spiritual life of the Sichuan-Shu region, which directly affected the later population migration policy of Huguang and Sichuan.
An army sustained by "fighting for food"
Zhang Xianzhong established a regime in Sichuan called "Daxi", but the maintenance of this army and administration was indeed very primitive and barbaric.
The Great Western regime, as a peasant rebel army force in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, although it achieved certain results in a certain period of time, its limitations are also self-evident.
That is, there is no solid tax system, the regime's expenses are all sustained by the looting of "food", and once the military killing ring is opened, it is difficult to limit it.
First of all, due to the lack of systematic political and economic ideas of the rebels, the Onishi regime did not establish a stable tax system, but on the contrary, in order to maintain daily expenses, they often plundered resources from everywhere, which not only seriously disrupted the local social order, but also made the innocent people more difficult to live in.
And the local production activities have been seriously damaged, and the people cannot live and work in peace, that is, they are exhausted by society, and this is definitely not a regime that can survive for a long time.
In addition, there were serious problems in the management of the army by the Onishi regime, because the organizational structure of the rebel army was relatively loose, and the ideological education and discipline of the soldiers were often not strict enough, and it was difficult for the soldiers who passed the robber life to self-discipline when they entered the city.
Even if they became regular troops, they still bullied others, cleverly took advantage of them, and killed people at every turn, which not only damaged the reputation of the Onishi regime, but also put them at a disadvantage in the struggle against the later Qing government army.
Zhang Xianzhong's peasant uprising, which arose from political corruption, frequent natural disasters, and hardship in the Ming Dynasty, was initially a bandit leader operating in the mountains of Shaanxi Province, but later gathered a large number of people to revolt, and now captures several cities in southern Sichuan, including Chongqing, Fuling, Matjiang, and other places, and briefly proclaimed himself the "King of the Great Western Kingdom".
However, Zhang Xianzhong's peasant uprising also brought massive killing and destruction, and his troops often slaughtered cities after capturing them, killing many people and destroying them.
In 1646, the Qing army went south to the Sichuan-Shu region, and at the same time, Zhang Xianzhong also led his army from Chengdu to confront the Qing army.
In order to avoid his relatives being captured by the Qing army after his defeat, he took very cruel measures and killed his wife and concubines and young son. At the same time, Liu Jinzhong, who remained in Hanzhong, chose to surrender to the Qing army.
Finally, on January 2, 1647, Zhang Xianzhong was shot and killed by the forward of Haoge, Prince of Qingsu, while scouting in front of the Duobao Temple on Phoenix Mountain.
His emperor's dream is the same as Li Zicheng's, all of them are looking at flowers in the fog and pavilions in the air.
The teenager is poor and has a twisted personality
Many people are curious, why Zhang Xianzhong likes to kill people so much, even his relatives and friends do not let go, does he have an antisocial personality?
This question may start with Zhang Xianzhong's childhood.
Zhang Xianzhong's growth background and childhood experience have indeed had a profound impact on his character and outlook on life.
Born in Yan'an, during the chaotic era of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, he was surrounded by war, famine, and horrific scenes of "cannibalism".
In such a harsh environment, although Zhang Xianzhong's childhood experience greatly tempered his will, it also made his personality distorted and more prone to extreme behaviors and concepts.
In the era of war and social turmoil in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Yan'an, Shaanxi Province at that time, was the place where the Ming Dynasty set up border fortresses.
However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Yan'an became a battlefield full of smoke, and under the fires of war, the people's lives fell into extreme poverty and hardship.
Famine was raging, people did not hesitate to kill each other in order to survive, and even the tragedy of changing children to eat, coupled with the smoke of war everywhere, the people were exhausted and overwhelmed.
More seriously, the famine forced people to even kill each other in order to survive, and even devoured the flesh and blood of others, such a childhood experience, normal people go crazy, but Zhang Xianzhong planted the seeds of becoming a brutal warlord in the future.
Zhang Xianzhong's family is also in dire straits in the midst of the devastation, and his parents work hard every day to support the family, but the food harvested is far from enough to feed the family.
Zhang Xianzhong witnessed his loved ones being starved to the bone, arguing over a meager ration, and in his young mind, those painful experiences were as deep as a blade, becoming an indelible scar in his character.
As a child, Zhang Xianzhong, like other children, longed for happiness and love. However, in that environment, happiness seems to be a luxury, and only hunger and death are the norm.
Whenever night fell, Zhang Xianzhong huddled in a corner, the sounds of crying and moaning echoing in his mind. What made him even more unrelenting was that his peers, those who had played with him, only he was alive, and many of the other small fire companions starved to death.
In that harsh environment, Zhang Xianzhong's soul had long been worn hard as iron, and for him, survival had become a struggle, which forced him to learn to be strong and cruel.
In a world full of blood and death, Zhang Xianzhong made up his mind and gradually understood that if he wanted to survive, he must become stronger.
As he grew older, Zhang Xianzhong's personality became more and more distorted, and he began to be hostile and suspicious of the world around him, and he was closely guarded against anyone or anything that threatened his survival.
In such an environment, human nature has long been worn out, and those interpersonal relationships that should be full of love and warmth have become cold and alienated in his world, and it may be this distortion of personality that made Zhang Xianzhong choose a more radical path in adulthood.
That is to kill, to keep killing.
Sichuan does business, is bullied - sowing hatred
When the grain harvest in Yan'an, Shaanxi, failed, Zhang Xianzhong's father thought of taking his children to do some small business to make a living, and the country of Tianfu in Sichuan bordered Shaanxi, so naturally their father and son went to Sichuan.
At that time, he went to Sichuan with his father to sell dates, but he was bullied by local bullies. This experience not only left an indelible shadow on him, but also planted the seeds of hatred in his heart.
That year, Zhang Xianzhong was only ten years old, an ignorant age, and his father took him to Sichuan to sell dates, hoping to improve the family's economic situation.
However, in that strange place, they meet a local bully.
This bully had a well-known reputation in the local area, and everyone was terrified, and Zhang Xianzhong and his father encountered this bully when they set up a stall to sell dates at a market in Sichuan.
The bully taunted Zhang Xianzhong's father and insulted them for being poor and vicious outsiders, but he wanted to go around asking for food, which made Zhang Xianzhong and his father feel ashamed.
After that, the bullies often found Zhang Xianzhong and his father to blackmail them for various spurious reasons, and every time at this time, Zhang Xianzhong could only watch his father succumb to this bully, swallowing bitterness and humiliation fiercely.
The anger in Xiao Zhang's loyal heart was accumulating day by day, but he was still just a small child with little strength, unable to fight the big bully.
Gradually, Zhang Xianzhong was full of malice, anger and dissatisfaction with the people of Sichuan.
He hated the bullies who did evil and overrode the weak, and at the same time felt helplessness in life, in the process, the seeds of hatred gradually took root in his heart, and he secretly resolved that when he grew up, he must seek justice for himself and his father.
Years later, Zhang Xianzhong became the leader of a peasant rebel army, leading a powerful army and displaying amazing explosiveness.
However, hatred gradually distorted his personality, and in order to avenge his hatred, he killed his enemies and punished those he considered "bullies" with iron and blood, thinking that this was justice for the weak in an attempt to be embraced by the people.
Scorched earth policy - destroy what you don't get
When Zhang Xianzhong killed people in order to achieve his goal, he really did not consider the reputation behind him, and he could do things that let the monks eat meat for fun, and he knew that Zhang Xianzhong did not intend to establish a base in Sichuan, and he himself did not regard this place as his home.
Therefore, in order to prevent Sichuan from being occupied by others, Zhang Xianzhong decided to implement the "scorched earth policy".
Such behavior is no different from the "three-light policy" of the Japanese devils, of course, the Japanese will not take China's land as their home, so they wantonly burn, kill and loot, and Zhang Xianzhong, as a peasant rebel army, did such a thing, which is really short-sighted.
What he called the "scorched earth policy" referred to an extremely destructive tactic adopted in warfare, which was to burn all production facilities, military installations, population and resources in the theater of operations to prevent enemy occupation.
Zhang Xianzhong fantasized about using this policy to defend the Sichuan-Shu region, and its influence was not limited to the local area, but also had a certain deterrent effect on the surrounding regimes.
During Zhang Xianzhong's reign, he burned many cities and villages and destroyed many resources in the Sichuan region as a way to stop other regimes from invading the region.
In a short period of time, this strategy can effectively stop the attack of other regimes and weaken the enemy's combat effectiveness and morale, but for the local people, it is an act of knocking people's marrow.
This inactive strategy has damaged the local economic and social infrastructure and caused great harm to the lives of ordinary Sichuan.
The biggest harm may be the problem of people's hearts and minds, people have fled and will not join Zhang Xianzhong's team, so the Daxi regime is short of troops, and the team brought out of Shaanxi is quickly destroyed.
Zhang Xianzhong once conquered Xiangyang, burned the king of Xiang, Zhu Yiming, and also defeated Wuchang, and threw the king of Chu Zhu Huakui into the Yangtze River, slaughtered the Chu royal family, and killed all the people of Wuchang outside the age of 15~20, it is said that the Yangtze River could not even put the corpse, and the fish and turtles were smoked to death.
And this last conquered Sichuan, in addition to killing Zhu Changhao and Zhu Zhishu of the Ming royal family, but also brutally killing tens of thousands of people, such an "uprising" will also kill itself.
Bibliography:
1 Ma Yunyun. A brief review of Zhang Xianzhong's research in the past 60 years[J].Chinese Culture Forum,2010(04):82-86.)
2 HUANG Weidong. A new theory on the reasons for Zhang Xianzhong's Tu Shu[J].Cultural Journal,2015(08):231-233.)