The last years of the Ming Dynasty were undoubtedly a turbulent era, Li Zicheng was a courtier of the Han family, but he buried the Han regime, after which Li Zicheng was beaten away, but the Qing army entered the customs again. The Ming Dynasty fell, and the Qing Dynasty ruled the world. Foreign civilizations are constantly in conflict with the Central Plains civilization, and there are many contradictions among the people.
In order to resist the arrogant demand of "keeping your head but not your hair", countless rebels swarmed up to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty and then defend the right to retain the Ming Dynasty's clothes.
Jiangyin City is one of them, and it has left its name in history because this small city created a myth of resisting 240,000 Qing troops.
Shaving order
In 1644, Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, saw the fall of Beijing City, and knew that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted, and he was powerless to return to the sky, so in desperation, he killed his children, queens and concubines, and cut off his daughter's arm with a sword, leaving a famous sentence: "Why did you give birth to my emperor's family!" After that, he hanged himself in the coal mountain and announced the end of the Ming Dynasty with his death.
Although the Ming Dynasty fell, the remnants of the Ming Dynasty would not give up easily, and in a hurry, Emperor Hongguang succeeded to the throne in the south, and the Southern Ming Dynasty was established as the legacy of the Ming Dynasty, attracting countless remnants to fight for it.
They fought against Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng was driven away, and caused a lot of trouble to the Qing army, but Nanming still followed in the footsteps of the Ming Dynasty and could not escape destruction.
Fireworks in March down Yangzhou, and Yangzhou in April was broken by the Qing army, after which the Qing army approached the city of Nanjing, where the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty was located, in the face of the Qing army iron cavalry that set off bursts of smoke and dust, the courtiers of the Hongguang court were terrified, and surrendered without a fight, and the upper echelons were willing to surrender, and there was naturally no spiritual pillar below, but in a few days, Nanjing also fell, and Emperor Hongguang became a prisoner.
After eliminating the hostile regime and unifying the world, it was time to subdue the people, and at the beginning of the south, the Qing army was obviously aware of the rebellious psychology of the people, and promised that the people would not be forced to change their hairstyles and clothes, and they could retain the folk customs of the Ming Dynasty.
Taking a fancy to this lenient condition, many cities in the south have surrendered, the Ming Dynasty has gone away, and keeping the Ming Dynasty is the last thing they can do.
At first, the Qing Dynasty kept this promise and there was nothing to do in the world, but as it advanced in the south, perhaps carried away by the victory, the Manchu regent Dolgon reversed course and issued a mandatory order to "keep your head without hair, keep your hair without your head", and took the initiative to overturn the Huairou policy adopted by the Qing Dynasty.
This move was to eliminate the people's attachment to the extinct Ming Dynasty, and to strengthen their recognition of Qing rule through homogenization, which did have its political significance. However, at this time, the world was initially decided, and the people's will was unstable, so it was too hasty to make this request.
Sure enough, it was difficult for the remnants of the Ming Dynasty who wanted to keep the clothes of their homeland to accept this move, and their minds changed, and they were determined to resist the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
The Jiangnan region reacted particularly violently to this order, and the resistance was strong, and many southern cities that had already surrendered waved the banner of rebellion. Among them is Jiangyin, a small city that resisted 240,000 Qing troops and showed the tragic moment of the Ming Dynasty.
Jiangyin rebelled
At that time, the Manchurian hairstyle was not the same as what we often see in TV dramas, not the kind of shaved in front and big braids in the back, but a small strand of hair left behind the head, which was relatively short and very slender, and could pass through the copper coin hole if it was tightened, so it was called "money rat tail".
Accustomed to the costumes of the Han people, at first glance when they saw the strange hairstyle of this ethnic minority, the people naturally found it difficult to accept, and now they are asked to wear such a rat's tail, isn't it whimsical.
Therefore, as soon as they heard about the newly promulgated shaving order, the people of Jiangyin were very angry and determined to protest against this matter.
Theoretically, Jiangyin was still under the rule of the Qing Dynasty at this time, so Jiangyin Zhixian sent troops to suppress it, but the suppression soon failed, and it was extinguished by the large number of rebel troops like a candle in the wind.
Jiangyin Zhixian, who was willing to be an eagle dog of the Qing Dynasty, was captured by the rebels and finally executed at the request of the people. At this point, the rebel army completely mastered Jiangyin City, and Chen Mingyu, as the leader of the rebel army, led the rebel army to hold Jiangyin.
The news of Jiangyin's rebellion reached the imperial court, and the Qing court was furious and asked the nearby Changzhou prefect to lead 300 soldiers and horses to attack the city. Jiangyin is a small city, and there is no regular army in the city, so it is not a light enemy, but, to their surprise, these three hundred men and horses have not returned, and before they have touched the gate of Jiangyin City, they were wiped out by Chen Mingyu and his people at the foot of Qinwang Mountain.
The Qing court paid attention to this small city, and sent troops and horses to gallop to Jiangyin, Chen Mingyu in Jiangyin City drove away the foreign enemy and began to take care of the interior, he encouraged the report, purged the internal traitors, and sorted out the materials, but this was not enough, he knew that the imperial court was defeated, and he would definitely send more people and horses, and his qualifications were not able to lead the subsequent battles.
On the 21st of the leap month, Qing Beile and the general Bo Luo ordered the general Liu Liangzuo to lead a heavy army to besiege Jiangyin City. On the 24th, Liu Liangzuo shot the letter of surrender into the city with arrows, which was unanimously opposed by the soldiers and civilians of Jiangyin.
36 counts out
On the first day of the first month of July, Liu Liangzuo, who had made sufficient preparations, began to attack the city, the Jiangyin rebels bravely defended the city, and the Qing army attacked with feather arrows, dense as rain. Jiangyin was in a bad situation, Chen Mingyu did not support him, he was not greedy for merit, but clearly realized his own shortcomings, he remembered Yan Yingyuan, the former warden in the city, and wanted to give way to him who had ability.
His proposal was opposed by the garrison Gu Yuanmi, and in the end it was not implemented, but in the subsequent battle, Gu Yuanmi was suspected of being a spy, and even found Qing military documents from his residence, and the indignant people killed Gu Yuanmi and his accomplices, at this time, Liu Mingyu's proposal about Yan Yingyuan was agreed.
Yan Yingyuan was indeed talented, and under his leadership, Jiangyin City held the city gate and resisted the enemy. Without him, this small city may not last so long, although the defenders of the city are at a disadvantage, but Yan Yingyuan skillfully used 36 tactics to resist the Qing army.
Yan Yingyuan once sent an old man in the city who knew the righteousness, falsely claiming that he was willing to surrender, and came to the Qing army camp in the name of sending a surrender gift, and the old man secretly carried gunpowder, and as soon as he came to the local camp, he detonated, killing more than 2,000 Qing officers and soldiers.
After that, Yan Yingyuan led a thousand warriors out of the south gate, hit the enemy by surprise, and when the Qing army reacted, they returned to the city when they planned to rescue, under this series of schemes, Liu Liangzuo was deeply in awe, and ordered the army to retreat and camp in Shifang'an.
The Qing Dynasty often sent reinforcements, including princes, but they all failed. Under the leadership of Yan Yingyuan, Jiangyin City achieved remarkable results, withstood the siege of 240,000 Qing troops, and even killed 3 kings and 18 generals in a row. However, in the end, Jiangyin was unable to defeat the steady stream of Qing troops, and the city was finally broken.
Brief summary:
In the face of the great enemy, he did not surrender, but held the city, I am afraid that some people will think that Yan Yingyuan's actions are senseless and ignorant. But Yan Yingyuan and many rebels used their lives to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty, perhaps the Ming Dynasty did not end up in the coal mountain, but finally in Jiangyin.