In April 1644, Li Zicheng led a million troops to capture Yanjing, and the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself at Coal Mountain, declaring the demise of the Ming Dynasty as a unified empire. Subsequently, Li Zicheng made successive mistakes and angered the Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui, who was attacked by the Qing army and the Wu army in the Battle of Yishi, and the Dashun army suffered heavy losses, the general Liu Zongmin was seriously injured, and Li Zicheng was forced to withdraw his troops.
After defeating Li Zicheng, The Prince of Rui, Dolgun, immediately led 100,000 elite eight banners into the pass, and hunted down and killed various rebel armies under the banner of "revenge" for the Ming Dynasty and captured the Central Plains. "Revenge" is just an excuse, and the seizure of the country is real. After the Qing Dynasty stabilized the situation, most of Zhu Ming's descendants were executed. In order to avoid being hunted down by the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants changed their surnames one after another and asked for a day's way. The protagonist of this article, Zhou Dawu, a fierce general of the Xiang Army, is a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, who fought for the Qing Dynasty for 41 years and was an official to the viceroy.
Zhou Dawu (1813-1895), a native of Ningxiang, Hunan, was a fierce general of the Xiang Army, an official to adjutant, from a military attaché of Yipin, with a rather prominent position. Zhou Dawu, surnamed "Zhou", how could he be a descendant of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang? According to the "Ningxiang County Chronicle", Zhou Dawu should have been surnamed "Zhu", but the ancestors of the last Ming Dynasty, King Ji, added a door frame to the word "Ji" and changed it to the surname of "Zhou" in order to avoid disasters, so that the clan could be preserved. After the victory of the Wuchang Uprising, Zhou Dawu's descendants wrote to the Hubei military government and changed it to the surname of "Zhu", such as Zhu Jianfan, a famous educator in modern times, and Zhu Zhongli, a famous doctor, all of whom were descendants of Zhou Dawu.
The Qing Dynasty "treacherous", not only seized the Ming Dynasty Jiangshan, but also hunted down the Ming Dynasty clan, as a descendant of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, why was Zhou Dawu willing to serve the Qing Dynasty and fight for 41 years? The reason is nothing more than two points: time can erase "hatred", more than two hundred years have passed, who cares so much. In addition, Zhou Dawu's family was poor, and joining the Xiang Army could get a generous salary and subsidize the family. In this way, Zhou Dawu went to the battlefield to fight for the Qing Dynasty, so that the family could survive in the chaotic world.
In 1854, Luo Zenan trained the Xiang Army, and Zhou Dawu came to defect, under the command of Li Xubin, the first general of the Xiang Army, and began a 41-year combat career. Defecting to the Xiang Army, Zhou Dawu was only a small soldier, but he fought bravely, often carried the flag to the front line, and was not afraid of death, so he was deeply appreciated by Li Xubin. Shi Zai: "Every time Dawu fell into battle, he waved a large banner in his hand, and continued to be different, so that the leader of the hundred people knew the letter of the battalion, often as a military front." ”
Li Xubin, the first fierce general of the Xiang Army, if he had not been killed in the middle of the battle, the Zeng brothers would not have the opportunity to seize the heavy responsibility of Jinling and would not be able to dominate the battle. Following Li Xubin and being deeply appreciated by his superiors, Zhou Dawu's future is bright. In October 1858, the Xiang army attacked Shucheng, and Zhou Dawu took the lead in climbing the city and was wounded in the left ear, but he still fought hard and finally conquered Shucheng. Shi Zai: "Dawu led the dead soldiers to ascend first, suffered a gunshot wound in the left ear, and stayed behind after Kecheng." ”
He was injured in his left ear and stayed in Shucheng, which was Zhou Dawu's greatest luck. Why? After the Xiang army conquered Shucheng, Li Xubin led 6,000 elites north and went straight to Luzhou. As a result, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in Sanhe Town, annihilating 6,000 elite Xiang troops, and Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua (brother of Zeng Guofan) were killed on the battlefield. Zhou Dawu did not go to Sanhe, so he escaped the disaster.
After the fiasco of Sanhe, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng took advantage of the victory to pursue and attack Shucheng, and Zhou Dawu led more than 1,000 people to fight back and fight fiercely with the Taiping Army. The Xiang army was small in number, but Zhou Dawu was not afraid, and lined up outside the city to engage the Taiping Army, but the Xiang army did not want to fight desperately, and the soldiers fled one after another, and Zhou Dawu once again fell into the encirclement of the Taiping Army. After a fight, Zhou Dawu broke through the siege, but was injured again, and had to return to Hunan to recuperate and recover.
In May 1859, just six months after the defeat at Sanhe, The Wing King Shi Dakai led 100,000 soldiers and horses to besiege Baoqing. The Taiping army invaded Hunan, and Inspector Luo Bingzhang asked Zhou Dawu to recruit soldiers and horses to fight in Baoqing, under the command of the general Liu Yuezhao. At war with Shi Dakai, Zhou Dawu was still brave and good at war, and he camped in the east of the city and fought continuously with the Taiping Army. Shi Zai: "From the prefect Liu Yuezhao aided Baoqing, guarded Dongguan, and repeatedly refused to fight thieves. ”
At the Battle of Baoqing, Shi Dakai was defeated and fled to Guangxi for refuge, while Zhou Dawu followed Liu Changjiang into Guangxi to pursue and kill Shi Dakai. Soon, Shi Dakai entered Hunan again, Zhou Dawu ambushed at Yongning, the Taiping army was defeated, and Shi Dakai had to run to Sichuan. Shi Zai: "Shi Dakai divided the party to commit Yongming and Zhaopai, and he broke through the battle and promoted the general soldiers." ”
In the battle with Shi Dakai, Zhou Dawu won several times and was awarded the post of chief soldier and the military attaché of Zhengerpin. Then, Luo Bingzhang entered Sichuan and gathered soldiers and horses to besiege Shi Dakai, and Zhou Dawu followed him all the way, but his main task was not to engage Shi Dakai, but to suppress the rebels in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, and isolate the Taiping army. In June 1863, Shi Dakai fell into a desperate situation on the banks of the Dadu River, and failed to take the initiative to "ask for surrender", and was executed by Luo Bingzhang Lingchi, and 2,000 elites were slaughtered.
After shi Dakai's defeat and death, the Peasant Revolt in Sichuan fell into a low ebb, and Zhou Dawu was transferred to Shaanxi and Gansu to fight and suppress the Taiping Army of Chen Decai, who was active in Guanzhong. Attacking Jiezhou, Zhou Dawu once again killed on the front line, braving the rain of bullets and bullets to break into the gap, hand-bladed more than ten people of the Taiping Army, and the morale of the Xiang army soared, and one by one they fought bravely to seize the city. Shi Zai: "The mines were unleashed, the city collapsed, four hundred people were selected to enter first, followed by the large army, Sui Ke Jie Prefecture, Cut Fu Cheng, Chang Ling." ”
In July 1864, the Xiang Army conquered Tianjing and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom collapsed. After that, Zhou Dawu mainly recruited the "Twist Army", the Southwest Rebel Army, and the Northwest Rebel Army to eliminate the remnants of the enemy for the Qing Dynasty. Because of his outstanding military achievements, Zhou Dawu successively served as the viceroy of Guizhou and the viceroy of Gansu, and the Qing Dynasty gave the post of knight lieutenant, and hereditary resignation.
In 1895, Zhou Dawu died of illness at the age of 82. From joining the Xiang Army in 1854 to his death in 1895 while serving as a viceroy, Zhou Dawu fought for the Qing Dynasty for 41 years, and the official to the viceroy, from a military attaché of Yipin, can also be regarded as a winner in life. In 1911, when the Wuchang Uprising broke out and the Qing Dynasty was crumbling, Zhou Dawu's descendants wrote to the Hubei military government, changing the surname of "Zhou" to the surname of "Zhu" and recognizing the ancestors and returning to the emperor. Zhou Dawu's descendants, the most influential are Zhu Jianfan and Zhu Zhongli, both of whom are modern figures.
Bibliography: Xiangjun Zhi, Ningxiang County Chronicle