Text | Laugh at Shi Yunyan
Edit | Laugh at Shi Yunyan
In the long history of China, the Ming Dynasty is particularly unique, juxtaposed with the ancient Han and Tang dynasties, and its glory and end are extremely dramatic.
This is an era of rich culture and art, prosperous handicrafts and commerce, and even in the war-torn years, it also gave birth to heroes such as Yuan Chonghuan and Lu Xiangsheng.
Some people say that when the Ming Dynasty fell, if he existed, then history could have been changed.
01
Not only did the Ming Dynasty stand shoulder to shoulder with the ancient Han and Tang dynasties, but it also demonstrated the pinnacle of China's maritime power in Zheng He's voyage to the West, and the spectacular scale of its seafaring contingents is still breathtaking today.
However, this once glorious dynasty had a difficult start in the 16th century, and its national power was declining.
In this eventful autumn, the Liaodong Army was prominent for a while, and Yuan Chonghuan's Guanning Iron Cavalry was particularly prominent, becoming a great wall of steel to resist external troubles.
However, the emperor Chongzhen at that time failed to correctly identify and employ people, and actually beheaded Yuan Chonghuan by mistake, which became a turning point in the fate of the Ming Empire.
As a result, the Guanning Iron Cavalry was torn apart, and some of them even later became the help of the Qing army's entry into the customs, which is a historical turning point full of irony.
In the middle of the 17th century, China faced a great social upheaval and political crisis.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty, known as the Weisu system, has been declining due to long-term corruption and mismanagement, which has led to repeated defeats of the Ming army, and the once military power has only a shadow left.
In this context, Emperor Chongzhen was in despair, so he ordered Hong Chengchou to be given a famous general at the end of the Ming Dynasty and more than 300,000 troops, in order to turn things around.
In 1639, the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty intensified its oppression of the people, resulting in displaced and starving people spreading throughout the country, and the flames of revolts burning throughout the country.
At this time, Li Zicheng, the leader of the rebel army with deep mountains and old forests as his base, grasped the crisis in the country and raised the slogan of "free grain for all fields"; almost by fate, the natural disaster of the great drought in Henan further aroused the dissatisfaction of the people, and Li Zicheng's army quickly grew to 500,000.
Lee's strategy is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, he raised military funds by robbing the rich and executing corrupt officials, and on the other hand, he showed great tolerance in his treatment of the poor, not only not taking their property, but also imposing strict military discipline and strictly prohibiting the troops from killing innocent people.
This image of justice and benevolence attracted a large number of people to join or support his army.
At the same time, Hong Chengchou laid an elaborate trap in Chuzhou.
He used 50,000 defenders to attract Gao Yingxiang's rebel army to attack, and then surrounded it with 300,000 elite troops.
The ploy succeeded, Gao Yingxiang was captured, and Li Zicheng had to retreat into the mountains with the remnants of his troops to avoid the pursuit of the Ming army.
02
Li Zicheng's life is the epitome of social contradictions in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, he was born in 1606, and experienced all kinds of social injustices in the late Ming Dynasty since childhood.
His hometown was plagued by foreign enemies and bureaucratic oppression, coupled with successive natural disasters, which made the people's lives difficult.
Li Zicheng's parents sent him to the temple in desperation, hoping that he would escape the fate of poverty.
But even the temple could not escape the invasion of famine, and Li Zicheng had to witness the death of his parents one after another.
In order to fulfill his last filial piety to his parents, Li Zicheng, who was only a teenager, was in debt and burdened with usury.
Unable to repay his debts, he was forced to go to prison. With the help of his friend's life and death, Li Zicheng escaped and joined the army under a pseudonym.
In the army, he won the appreciation of the leaders for his outstanding martial arts, but the deduction of military salaries and continuous oppression made him completely disappointed in the Ming Dynasty government.
In 1629, Li Zicheng heroically murdered an official who had oppressed the people, officially opening the revolt.
In the following decade, Li Zicheng's army raised troops in Gansu and swept all the way through Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Huguang.
His team was mainly composed of poor peasants, and with the slogan of "equal land and free taxation", he won the support of the people.
In 1639, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself king in Henan, known as "King Chuang", and after entering Henan, he opened a warehouse to help the poor, greatly expanding his power.
In the battles of Kaifeng and Luoyang, Li Zicheng won with the support of the people.
By 1644, Li Zicheng had established the Dashun Dynasty and, after Emperor Chongzhen's hanging, captured Beijing, marking the eventual collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
03
The Dashun army broke into the capital and reached the depths of the Forbidden City.
The courtiers fled, and in the face of irretrievable defeat, Emperor Chongzhen chose to end his own life.
In this situation, Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation, proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an, and established Dashun.
He did not reach the top by accident, but seized the opportunity of the right time, place and people.
However, after entering the capital, the behavior of the peasant army began to have problems, although Li Zicheng explicitly forbade plunder, but the military discipline was lax, and the soldiers soon began to act recklessly, and the officials in the city suffered a terrible situation, and Liu Zongmin even invented sticks to torture prisoners.
The image of the original benevolent and righteous army has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and the prestige of the Dashun army has also collapsed.
Coupled with the lack of economic resources, the proposed policies could not be implemented, and they had to rely on plunder to maintain military spending, which further exacerbated their contradictions with the people and the gentry.
In the flames of war at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army led by Li Zicheng became a ray of hope for the displaced people. He opened a warehouse for disaster relief, strictly forbade soldiers to loot civilian property, and put forward the policy of "exempting land from taxation", which won the hearts of the people, as if confirming the saying "those who win the hearts of the people win the world."
Ming officials were targeted, and the Dashun army captured and tortured them at will, with Liu Zongmin's invention of the clamp stick, which became a notorious torture tool.
The Dashun Army was seen as a savior and gradually degenerated into villains in the eyes of the people.
On the other hand, the promise of "exempting land from taxation" became difficult to fulfill due to a shortage of resources, and the army lacked logistics, so it had to rely on the expropriation of the property of the landlords and gentry to sustain itself.
Such behavior naturally offended a large number of officials and gentry, and the prospects of the Dashun army became more and more bleak.
In such a context, Wu Sangui, a Ming Dynasty general from a military family, witnessed the tragedy of Yuan Chonghuan and felt the injustice of Guan Ningjun, and these experiences may have laid the groundwork for his later choice.
The death of Emperor Chongzhen left him without support and forced him to look for a new way out.
Huang Taiji and Li Zicheng of the Qing Dynasty extended an olive branch to Wu Sangui, who had a heavy army.
In the face of Li Zicheng's solicitation, Wu Sangui was shaken in his heart, and even decided to join the Dashun Army for a time.
However, a certain turning point eventually changed his mind and caused him to abandon the decision.
04
As one of the four gold medal generals, Wu Sangui controlled the military position of Shanhaiguan, and the two sides competed to win him over to gain a strategic advantage.
Li Zicheng attacked first and sent Juyong to guard Tang Tong to recruit Wu Sangui.
Tang Tong had some personal relations with Wu Sangui, and successfully brought the news that Li Zicheng treated Wu Sangui's family in Beijing.
Seeing that great achievements were in sight, the morale of the Dashun army was greatly boosted.
At this time, Li Zicheng's commanded Liu Zongmin occupied Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan, and also imprisoned Wu Sangui's son Wu Xiang. Wu Sangui was furious when he learned about it, and he turned his face with Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng could not ease the conflict, so he had to let Liu Zongmin do nothing, hoping to continue to win over Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui secretly communicated with the Qing court and joined forces with Dolgon to deal with Li Zicheng.
Dolgon didn't believe it at first, but after being persuaded by Hong Chengchou, he changed his mind and promised to support Wu Sangui.
During the wrestling between the two sides, Li Zicheng's march was slow, giving Wu Sangui more time to plan countermeasures.
Li Zicheng wanted to fight a quick battle on the one hand, but on the other hand, he was afraid of Liu Zongmin's face; Wu Sangui sent people to negotiate to delay time, and on the other hand, he built fortifications to strengthen the defense.
On April 21, the Dashun army surrounded the Wu army under the city of Xiluo and gained the upper hand.
Just when Wu Sangui was on the verge of despair, Dolgon finally led the Qing army to Huanxi Ridge outside Shanhaiguan, but he just watched and did not help.
Wu Sangui had no choice but to personally see Dolgon to persuade him, and Dolgon ordered reinforcements.
On the night of April 22, the Qing army suddenly attacked the Dashun army, and the Wu army, which had been besieged for a day and a night, rekindled hope.
Li Zicheng was invincible, so he had to order a retreat, and a crucial decisive battle ended, Wu Sangui successfully defected, reversed the situation, and opened the door for the Qing army to enter the customs in the future.
The reason for Lee's success or failure can be found in his decision-making mistakes.
He underestimated the Qing army and lost his vigilance against Wu Sangui, which made him passive in the decisive battle.
Liu Zongmin's unreasonable actions angered Wu Sangui and ruined the opportunity to win over, and the slow marching speed gave Wu Sangui a chance to breathe, which eventually led to failure.
Wu Sangui's choice made the Manchu Qing Dynasty and rewrote the course of Chinese history.
If Li Zicheng could quickly take Shanhaiguan and annihilate Wu's army, perhaps Beijing would be able to hold on for a long time and the Dashun regime would be consolidated.
Many key nodes in history also contain great possibilities, and a slight difference in the pool can open up a different situation.
05
As time passed, Li Zicheng's power was gradually eroded by his new opponent, the Qing army.
The strong invasion of the Qing army not only gradually reduced the sphere of influence of the "Great Shun", but also defeated Li Zicheng's army on the battlefield again and again.
The leader of the peasant uprising, once a symbol of hope, began to suffer setbacks.
His regime was short-lived, and after all, he failed to resist the powerful attack of the Qing army, and finally had to admit the reality and accept the demise of the "Great Shun" forces.
In this way, the "Dashun" regime crossed the sky of history like a meteor, leaving behind a dazzling but short-lived light.
Li Zicheng's defeat not only marked the end of his personal destiny, but also heralded the end of an era.
The fall of the Ming Dynasty paved the way for the rise of the Qing Dynasty and opened a new chapter in Chinese history.
The rule of the Qing Dynasty not only ended the centuries-long native rule of the Han Chinese, but also profoundly affected the trajectory of China's development for the next 300 years.
This historical turning point was not only a radical political change for the Ming Dynasty, but also a profound change in China's traditional social structure and culture.
The establishment of the Qing Dynasty changed the fate of China and rewrote the history of the Chinese nation.
The rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty is like a magnificent picture, slowly unfolding in the long river of history.
It was a unified dynasty completely established by the Han people themselves, and it once made China once again the world's super-empire.
However, just as the moon was finally cloudy and sunny, the Ming Empire finally failed to escape the cycle of history and went into decline.
All of this is a reminder that even the most glorious times have their ups and downs, and that history is a complex web of unpredictable choices and opportunities.