On March 17, 1777, Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself at Coal Mountain, and died with only a personal eunuch, Wang Cheng'en. Chongzhen looked around before he died, but found that no one in the vast world was willing to come to save him as an emperor.
Ironically, when Chongzhen was suffering from no one to use and no army in his hands, Zuo Liangyu, the general who Chongzhen had pulled up, had hundreds of thousands of troops, but he never moved and watched the Chongzhen Emperor die.
When the news of the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide reached Wuhan, Zuo Liangyu wept bitterly, and it seemed that his cries were all from true feelings. However, after crying, Zuo Liangyu turned his head and came to the "Qing Jun's side", preparing to attack the Southern Ming regime.
Yes, this is Zuo Liangyu, who has lived with cunning all his life, and has not been able to achieve a good reputation before dying.
Zuo Liangyu's life is more miserable, he lost his father at an early age, he did not even know his mother's surname, it was his uncle who raised him. During the Xuzhou Mutiny, Zuo Liangyu's family was killed again, leaving only one son, Zuo Menggeng, with him.
Zuo Liangyu initially served as a minor official in Liaodong, during which time he befriended Hou Qian, a senior member of the imperial court, and served under him. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army tapped the border, and Zuo Liangyu replaced the general soldiers guarding the imperial tomb to resist the enemy and made battle achievements. This battle made Hou Qian begin to weigh Zuo Liangyu heavily and support him vigorously.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu, who was the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, was completely annihilated in the battle against the rebel army. This matter is not to behead others, at least it will end up with a dismissal and investigation. However, due to Hou Qian's care, Zuo Liangyu received several thousand elites and was able to make meritorious contributions.
Perhaps it was this time that Zuo Liangyu lost the backbone and courage of a soldier, and since then, he has become more and more timid and afraid of the enemy in battle, and he is the first to go up, and he is the first to run when he encounters a strong enemy. Other generals in the army looked down on Zuo Liangyu and called him a "general who escaped."
Zuo Liangyu threw away his face and did not want it, in the chaotic world, surviving is the first priority, and having soldiers in his hands is the last word. In order to control the soldiers, Zuo Liangyu also indulged his men, allowing them to burn and loot and oppress the people. When fighting against the rebel army, Zuo Liangyu's soldiers exploited the people even more cruelly than the rebels, bullying women, robbing property, and killing Liang Liang. Zuo Liangyu's military discipline was so bad that the people were even more frightened when they heard that the officers and soldiers were coming than the thieves.
With such a general, the soldiers under him are naturally very "loved". However, an army with such poor military discipline wants to win a battle and gnaw hard bones.
When Yang Sichang's commanders and soldiers surrounded and intercepted Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and other rebels, as an important force, Zuo Liangyu never contributed. Zuo Liangyu controlled the speed of the march and did not make contact with Zhang Xianzhong's army, as soon as Zhang Xianzhong's army withdrew, Zuo Liangyu would immediately take over and declare that he had "recovered the lost land."
Zhang Xianzhong and the others were in a state of confusion, and when they saw that Zuo Liangyu was unable to send troops, he was naturally very happy. So the two sides maintained a tacit understanding and swept the people along the way together.
Of course, if there is a chance to grab the credit, Zuo Liangyu will be a different face. After the defeat of Li Zicheng and Liu Guoneng, Zuo Liangyu saw that Zhang Xianzhong was the only one left, and immediately led his army to pounce on Zhang Xianzhong, killing Zhang Xianzhong in a big defeat. If it were not for Zhang Xianzhong's defection to Xiong Wencan, saying that he could surrender, Zuo Liangyu would have chopped Zhang Xianzhong with a knife.
Later, Zhang Xianzhong re-raised his troops, and Zuo Liangyu was like a lazy donkey, and he did not have the slightest strength. Yang Sichang, as the core of the control of the whole army, was surrounded by rebels, and Zuo Liangyu did not go to the rescue, watching Yang Sichang commit suicide in defeat.
After Yang Sichang's death, the Chongzhen Emperor was very angry, and he ordered he renlong to be killed, but he still left Zuo Liangyu alive and let him lead the army. For Zuo Liangyu, it didn't matter whether he was guilty or not, anyway, his men only recognized zuo Liangyu and not the Chongzhen Emperor, as long as he was still alive, he had soldiers on his hands. With soldiers in hand, you can dominate in a chaotic world.
Therefore, when Lu Xiangsheng fought desperately, Zuo Liangyu cowered; when Yang Sichang was besieged for help, Zuo Liangyu saw that he was dead and could not be saved; when Li Zicheng surrounded Kaifeng, Zuo Liangyu was the first to retreat.
Staying in Qingshan without worrying about firewood, Zuo Liangyu knew that under Chongzhen's hands, it would be okay if he didn't make meritorious contributions, and if he had soldiers in his hands, Chongzhen wouldn't be able to do anything, but if you lost the battle, even if you were loyal to the king and patriotic, Chongzhen would settle accounts, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting and others.
However, avoiding the battle was conditional after all, and when Li Zicheng hit the bottom of his eyes, Zuo Liangyu couldn't run if he wanted to. In the battle of Zhu Xianzhen, Zuo Liangyu was almost completely destroyed by Li Zicheng, and his elite was destroyed.
Zuo Liangyu did not dare to fight with Li Zicheng anymore, so he ran hundreds of miles with his cronies, threw down all the troops, and ran to Wuchang himself overnight. When they arrived in Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu asked the King of Chu for money to recruit soldiers and buy horses, but the King of Chu did not give enough, and Zuo Liangyu plundered in Wuchang and then fled.
Chongzhen was very angry about this, and he was eager to slash Zuo Liangyu with a thousand knives. However, at this time, the Ming Dynasty had no one to use, even Sun Chuanting was dead, who else could Chongzhen rely on?
The Chongzhen Emperor could only use dead horses as live horse doctors, and in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, he made Zuo Liangyu the Son of Ningnan, promising that as long as Zuo Liangyu sent troops to serve the king, he would let him guard Wuchang for generations.
At this time, Zuo Liangyu had 800,000 troops, known as a million, and his barracks were all over the Wuchang Mountains, and flags were planted everywhere. However, Zuo Liangyu's hundreds of thousands of troops were all rabble-rousers, including remnants, hooligans, and thieves from the north who had come to their aid. Zuo Liangyu's men could no longer be called officers and soldiers, and compared with him, Li Zicheng's army was more like a regular unit.
In the face of the Chongzhen Emperor's repeated urging, Zuo Liangyu turned a deaf ear and kept stalling for time. After the news of the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide came, Zuo Liangyu pretended to cry a lot, as if he really was loyal to the king and patriotic. However, when his men asked to go south to join Nanming, Zuo Liangyu killed them all and set up cannons on both sides of the Yangtze River, cutting off shipping.
Soon after, Zuo Liangyu decided to send 200,000 troops in the name of "Qing Junfang" to attack the Southern Ming court. As a result, Zuo Liangyu fell ill and died on the way, and his son led an army to surrender to the Qing army. After that, the Qing army broke through the defense line of the Yangtze River in the south Anding, almost all of which were left by Zuo Liangyu.
Because of Zuo Liangyu's behavior, some people issued an exclamation such as "Those who have died in the world, Zuo Liangyu is also". Of course, the demise of the Ming Dynasty was not the responsibility of Zuo Liangyu alone, but a general like Zuo Liangyu undoubtedly pushed the Ming Dynasty into the abyss again.