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In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng led an uprising peasant army to attack Beijing. Along the way, most of the Ming generals guarding Beijing retreated without a fight. In late March, the Ming Dynasty "traitors" who were guarding the city took the initiative to open the city gates, and Li Zicheng invaded Beijing.
The "History of Ming" says, "Ding Wei, Ming Shuang, the inner city fell." The emperor collapsed on The Banzai Mountain, and Wang Cheng'en died."
The Chongzhen Emperor died on the last day of mid-March, and he was supposed to die peacefully in the temple, but he hanged himself in Jingshan. The palace, which was supposed to be the most heavily guarded and safest, became a place where others wantonly trampled on it, filled with the panicked cries of palace people and courtiers.
The Ming Dynasty began with the peasant revolt and also died out in the peasant revolt.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty at that time was not powerless to resist Li Zicheng, and Zuo Liangyu in the south had an army of about 800,000. However, Zuo Liangyu did not go to the capital to guard Chongzhen. However, although he did not move, he was still called a loyal subject by later generations.
So why did such a person who clearly had the strength to deal with Li Zicheng not put into action at a critical moment? And why is he still considered a loyal subject? All of this has to start with Zuo Liangyu as a person.
Repeated military achievements
Although Zuo Liangyu later became an extremely popular subject, he was initially a small person with no name. But he is different from ordinary people. Zuo Liangyu has been fatherless and motherless since he was a child, and it was his uncle who helped pull him up. Because of his life, he was not less blinded, so he thought of making a career from an early age to pay tribute to one or two.
Kung Fu pays off, and he has made many military achievements with his own efforts and talent in leading soldiers in combat, and his official position is getting higher and higher, and his power is also getting bigger and bigger. In the ten years from the third year of Chongzhen to the thirteenth year, he went from a degraded official to a great general who was appreciated by the emperor.
In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu successfully resisted the sudden attack of the Qing army in place of You Shiwei. The following year, he was ordered to Henan to suppress the peasant revolt. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, he led his army to repeatedly repel the increasingly powerful peasant army. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, he and Zu Kuan pursued Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others, and won the victory. In addition, he captured a large number of peasant armies. In 1638, while pursuing Zhang Xianzhong again, he seriously injured him with his martial arts.
The "History of Ming" records that "chasing after it, firing two arrows, hitting him in the shoulder, swinging the knife repeatedly, and bleeding in the face."
However, although Zuo Liangyu had made many military achievements and made great contributions in the process of fighting against the peasant army, he did not win every time. The "History of Ming" also wrote, "Liangyu was defeated and returned, and the military seal letter was lost." In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, he was punished and demoted for his defeat.
Even if there are victories and losses, Zuo Liangyu is indeed a rare talent, and he himself began to be proud of himself.
Be complacent
Zuo Liangyu was appreciated, and he was promoted to a knighthood, and people began to be a little "fluttery".
The imperial court repeatedly ordered him to send troops to suppress the rebellion, but he ignored them, but was only bent on training his men and horses and strengthening his army. Zhang Guowei, Yang Sichang and others once asked him to send troops as soon as possible, but they were tragically "rejected."
Although Zuo Liangyu had great potential in fighting wars, he was not a person who wholeheartedly fulfilled his duties for the imperial court. This can also explain, to some extent, why he did not move in the first place. But that's just one aspect.
Standing still, still loyal?
Zuo Liangyu did not move, naturally he had his considerations. In my opinion, there are three reasons.
First, Zuo Liangyu's troops were greatly defeated by Li Zicheng's troops, and the loss of troops was very serious. Although he still had an army of 800,000 at that time, the moisture in it was very heavy. Although the number of people is large, the quality is worrying. Not only that, the journey from Wuchang to Beijing was long, and the soldiers were definitely short of energy. If such an army is used to resist the enemy, there is no doubt that the odds of victory are very low.
Second, Zuo Liangyu himself, his body left many dark wounds and hidden diseases in many conquests. In this way, he did not have the heart to fight against Li Zicheng, nor did he have full confidence that he could hit it with one blow.
Third, at this time, the Ming Dynasty had gone to great lengths, the peasant revolt was already very powerful, and it was facing the Houjin outside the Guan. Such "internal and external troubles" is really a lack of skill. In the absence of a 100% chance of winning the battle against Li Zicheng, staying in the south to develop and keeping half of the country for Daming may be the best policy at that time, and at the same time, it can maximize its own value.
As for why he is a loyal subject, there is actually only one point, although Zuo Liangyu was an extremely disobedient person and ambitious in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty loyalists at the end of the Ming Dynasty. But I have to admit that at the last moment before his death, he did not think of surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, but went all out to resist the Qing army moving south.
His ambition was only to stabilize the Southern Ming court in the future, and to strive for a more abundant status and value for his family. He is a bad person, but everything is still based on the bad of being loyal to Daming.
References: Encyclopedia entries "Li Zicheng", "Zuo Liangyu"