In 1918, a British furrier stole a 150-ton tomb from China and shipped it to Canada. The person in the tomb is Wu Sangui's uncle Zu Dashou, and this tomb has become the treasure of the Canadian Museum.
At that time, the director of the Ontario Museum in Canada admired Chinese culture, and he paid a large sum of money to ask the furrier Crofts to go to China to get a complete ancient tomb and come back.
After Crofts came to China, he studied it and turned his attention to the grave of the Ming Dynasty general Zu Dashou in Yongtaizhuang, Beijing.
His cemetery is relatively complete, with stone tables, stone workshops, stone people, stone tigers, burial mounds, Shinto, all available.
Crofts approached Zu Dashou's descendants and gave him a sum of money to demolish the cemetery in the name of repairing his ancestors' mausoleum.
Subsequently, Crofts took out a sum of money, settled the government, and began to rob the tomb in a bright and bright manner.
Zu Dashou's grave was dismantled, packed into hundreds of boxes, and shipped from Tanggu, Tianjin, to Canada.
After the cemetery arrived in Canada, it was assembled and restored to its original state, so Zu Dashou's mausoleum was moved to a foreign country.
The last traces of Zu Dashou in China have been completely erased, but his vigorous but controversial actions at the end of the Ming Dynasty have remained in the history books.
Zu Dashou's life vividly embodies these two words.
He was originally from a famous family, received an orthodox education since he was a child, and had a deep-rooted idea of "serving the country with loyalty". If it is a peaceful and prosperous era, fighting on the battlefield and expanding the territory, how arbitrary and chic it should be!
It's a pity that in troubled times, the building will fall, no matter how willing you are to throw your head and spill your blood to guard the peace of the country. I don't know who this head should be thrown for, and who should this blood be sprinkled for.
Zu Dashou was loyal to Ming Sizong Chongzhen and led his troops to guard Liaodong.
In 1627, the Manchu Emperor Taiji personally led an army to besiege Jinzhou and attack Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning).
Under the leadership of his boss Yuan Chonghuan, Zu Dashou fought tenaciously against the Qing army. In the end, the Qing army suffered numerous losses and was forced to withdraw, which is known in history as this battle.
After Ning Jin's victory, Huang Taiji attached great importance to Zu Dashou and was determined to win him over. So, he wrote a letter to Zu Dashou, promising to be a high-ranking official and urging Zu Dashou to return to the Manchu Dynasty.
Zu Dashou ruthlessly rejected Huang Taiji, but Huang Taiji was not discouraged and still tried his best to win over Zu Dashou.
At the same time, Huang Taiji took advantage of Mongolia and approached the capital Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan transferred his army back to Beijing, and fought a fierce battle with Huang Taiji outside the Beijing city gate, defeating Huang Taiji.
However, Yuan Chonghuan's army was also heavily damaged and needed to find a place to recuperate. So, he proposed to Emperor Chongzhen that he wanted to enter Beijing to recuperate, but he was ruthlessly rejected by Chongzhen.
At that time, Chongzhen was embattled and had to act more carefully. He suspected that Yuan Chonghuan deliberately lured Huang Taiji to the city of Beijing as a threat to him to ask for more troops. And after Yuan Chonghuan supports his own troops, he will pose a huge threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Chongzhen's suspicion made Yuan Chonghuan's heart cold by half, and also greatly weakened the morale of the army.
Huang Taiji took the opportunity to buy off some Ming Dynasty officials and impeached Yuan Chonghuan in front of Chongzhen, saying that he had long colluded with Huang Taiji.
Chongzhen was furious, and after luring Yuan Chonghuan into Beijing, he decided to execute him Ling Chi.
Zu Dashou, who heard the news, was willing to guarantee Yuan Chonghuan with his family's life, but Chongzhen ignored it.
Yuan Chonghuan's death was very tragic, his whole body was cut into pieces, and the ignorant people actually rushed to buy his meat, such a tragic scene is embarrassing.
Zu Dashou was desperate, and finally decided to defend Liaodong, which could be delayed for a day.
In 1631, the Battle of the Daling River broke out, and Huang Taiji tightly surrounded Zu Dashou's army.
Zu Dashou tried to break through many times, but was defeated by the Qing army, and he could only sit and wait for rescue.
Dalinghe City was besieged for three months, and Huang Taiji used various means to persuade Zu Dashou to surrender, but Zu Dashou refused.
When the food in the city was finished, they killed the horses to eat, and when the horses were gone, they killed and cannibalized each other. Seeing that the common people are all eaten up as military rations, the soldiers will kill each other.
Zu Dashou couldn't wait for help, and was forced to be helpless, so he had to open the city gate and lead the crowd to surrender.
Huang Taiji led the ministers to solemnly welcome Zu's birthday, and the two sides swore to sacrifice to the sky and promised to be loyal to each other.
However, what Huang Taiji didn't expect was that Zu Dashou did not sincerely surrender, it was just a delaying tactic for him.
02 Zu Dashou surrendered to the Manchus for the second time
After surrendering, Zu Dashou said to Huang Taiji that his wife and children were in Jinzhou City, and while the news of his surrender had not yet spread, he was willing to take a group of soldiers and horses to Jinzhou, and serve as an internal response in the city to seize Jinzhou City.
Huang Taiji was overjoyed when he heard this, Jinzhou City was well defended, and a strong attack was afraid that it would cause a lot of damage. Zu Dashou's idea was to capture Jinzhou at the lowest cost, so he agreed to let Zu Dashou go to Jinzhou City.
To Huang Taiji's surprise, as soon as Zu Dashou returned to Jinzhou City, he organized a defense against the Qing army.
Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict three times, ordering Zu Dashou to enter Beijing to meet him, Zu Dashou did not want to repeat Yuan Chonghuan's mistakes, so he excused himself and always stuck to Jinzhou City.
Huang Taiji sent secret envoys to remind Zu Dashou not to forget the previous agreement, and immediately took Jinzhou City.
Zu Dashou prevaricated for various reasons, ignored Huang Taiji, and fought fiercely with the Qing soldiers many times, killing many Qing generals.
Huang Taiji sent troops to attack Jinzhou in turn, and cut off the food supply channel of Jinzhou City.
The city of Jinzhou was attacked and besieged for more than a year, with no external support and no food supply. The tragic situation of cannibalism in the city is repeated.
The scene of the Battle of the Daling River was re-enacted, and the result was similar. Zu Dashou opened the city gate and surrendered to the Manchus for the second time.
Zu Dashou, who survived in the cracks, was wrong no matter how he chose. Chongzhen was jealous of him, and he wanted to break him into thousands of pieces, he couldn't get close, so he could only stay away; surrendering to Huang Taiji did not conform to the idea of loyalty that had been deeply rooted in his bones since childhood; he led his troops to stick to one side, but did he have the strength to support him in the troubled times.
The lesser of two evils, if Zu Dashou doesn't want to die, he can only choose to surrender.
Huang Taiji did not reproach Zu Dashou for his rebellion, but personally stepped down from the throne and helped Zu Dashou who fell to the ground.
and comforted him and said that he understood his situation very well, so he would not kill him, as long as he did his best to assist himself in the future.
Huang Taiji admired Zu Dashou's talent, but this was not the reason why he repeatedly accepted Zu Dashou. The reason why he was able to forgive Zu Dashou for his betrayal was because Zu Dashou still had use value.
- The general army of Ningyuan, an important military town in the Ming Dynasty, was Wu Sangui, the nephew of Zu Dashou, who commanded the Ming army outside the pass, and Huang Taiji hoped to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender through Zu Dashou's relationship;
- Huang Taiji treated Zu Dashou like this, but also so that other Ming generals could see their benevolence, so as to dispel the concerns of those wavering Ming army generals, what could be more convincing than this living example?
- Zu Dashou's two sons, Zu Runze and Zu Kefa, had already surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the Battle of the Daling River and were reused, and Huang Taiji's move was also to show his way of gentleness.
After the second surrender, Zu Dashou was awarded the position of the chief soldier of the Yellow Banner of the Han Army. However, Zu Dashou did not do much since then, and slowly disappeared into the political situation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
After Zu Dashou surrendered, he was not spurned by the world, but received the understanding and sympathy of many people.
It's a dilemma that makes it difficult for anyone to choose. What's more, Zu Dashou has done everything he can to maintain the Ming Dynasty and fought to the death with the Manchu army.
The only thing that makes people criticize is that Zu Dashou did not repay the country with death. However, nostalgia for life is also human nature, and there is nothing wrong with it.
However, the level in Zu Dashou's own heart should be difficult to pass, the reality of the situation and the previous cognition have a huge conflict, even if he was forced to make the best choice at the time, it is difficult to fully accept his later self.
therefore
One of the reasons why Huang Taiji recruited Zu Dashou was to hope that Zu Dashou could persuade his nephew Wu Sangui to surrender. However, after Zu Dashou sent letters of persuasion to Wu Sangui one after another, Wu Sangui resolutely refused.
Until 1644, Wu Sangui announced his formal surrender before the Battle of Shanhaiguan, which had little to do with Zu Dashou.
Since then, Huang Taiji has never let Zu Dashou hold an important position, which is also due to several reasons:
- Zu Dashou repented after surrendering for the first time and lost the trust of Huang Taiji;
- When Zu Dashou surrendered, he was already 63 years old and very old. Not suitable for long-distance travel, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was mainly attacking, whether it was military experience or personal energy, Zu Dashou was probably difficult to meet the requirements;
- The situation changed abruptly, and the value of Zu Dashou's strategy declined. Since his ancestors, Zu Dashou has been working in the eastern Liaodong region.
- When the battlefield of the Ming and Qing dynasties was in Liaodong, Zu Dashou was a pivotal figure. However, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty quickly entered the customs, the value of Zu Dashou, who was not familiar with the peasant army, the Ming Dynasty officials in the Guannai, and the topography of the mountains and rivers in the Guannai, was greatly reduced.
Whether from Zu Dashou himself or from Huang Taiji's point of view, Zu Dashou is no longer suitable for taking on important positions in the Manchu government.
However, Zu Dashou's sons Zu Runze, Zu Kefa, and nephew Wu Sangui were all reused by the Qing court and spared no effort to serve the Manchus.
Those who know the times are junjie, the torrent of history cannot be stopped, and the collapse of the Ming Dynasty is an inevitable trend. It was also natural for people of insight to serve in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.