Shi Kefa, the great hero of the late Ming Dynasty, was once known as "Ming Dynasty Wen Tianxiang", with a high reputation, but in recent years he has been pulled off the altar.
Indeed, the premature demise of The Southern Ming and Shi Kefa have an unshirkable responsibility, and there is no need to give excessive praise.
In my opinion, Schopfa made the following major mistakes:
First, the northern capital was destroyed, and Shi Kefa, as the Shangshu of the Nanjing Military Department, was the head of the hundred officials who lived in the capital, and was in charge of the military affairs of the southeast corner, which was very important. However, when the news of the martyrdom of the Chongzhen Emperor came, he could not come up with a contingency plan at the first time, and he hesitated and wavered on the issue of supporting the Hongguang Emperor. The evil consequences of this move were twofold: 1. The legitimacy and authority of the Succession of the Hongguang Emperor were questioned, the hearts and minds of the army and the people could not be unified, and then Zuo Liangyu's 800,000-strong army was shunjiang xingshi in Nanjing, which was a concentrated and fierce malignant manifestation of this evil result; 2. The merits of the decision to support were handed over to Ma Shiying and the general soldiers of the four towns who were already flying and stumbling, Ma Shiying counterattacked successfully, and became the protagonist of the Southern Ming court, and the army was no longer owned by the imperial court, and the general soldiers of each town were independent of their own affairs, listening to the rules and not listening to the tune, causing the scene to get out of control. It laid the groundwork for the fall of Nanming.
Second, after Shi Kefa was squeezed out by Ma Shiying to see the situation in Jiangbei, he failed to discern the changing situation in the world, blindly supported the Southern Ming dynasty to go north to negotiate peace with the Manchu Qing, actively contacted Wu Sangui, Zu Dashou and other scum, mistook the enemies of the Southern Ming as friends, and shifted the focus of defense towards Li Zicheng, who had already become a drowning dog. As a result, when the Qing troops attacked Nanming, Nanming was ill-prepared and collapsed.
Third, Shi Kefa loves his reputation better than birds cherish their feathers, the four towns of Gao Jie is the strongest, gao jie was assassinated by the traitor Xu Dingguo, Gao Jie's wife deliberately let her son Gao Yuanzhao worship Shi Kefa as a righteous father, if Shi Kefa agrees, this army is enough for the Southern Ming court to use, but Shi Kefa is pedantic, and even dislikes Gao Jie's family from a lowly background, and politely refuses. As a result, Gao Jiebu later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and became a powerful force to suppress and kill the anti-Qing forces, which made people sigh.
Fourth, the troops, grain, grass, and shells in Yangzhou City were abundant, and the conditions were much better than zhang patrolling Suiyangli in those years, and if Shi Kefa's will to resist was a little more stoic, it would not be difficult to defend Yangzhou City. Later, the eighty-three days of Jiangyin defense war spontaneously launched by the people of Jiangyin was enough to prove that even if Yangzhou was ultimately not protected, it could still compete with the enemy for more than three or four months. However, Shi Kefa had no strategy in mind, no strategy, and before the great war had begun, he thought of martyrdom and seeking fame, resulting in the fall of Yangzhou City's offensive and defensive battles lasted only one day (the Qing army officially launched an attack on Yangzhou on April 24, the next day, that is, April 25, the first year of Hongguang, yangzhou city was destroyed and Shi Kefa was martyred). The population of Yangzhou City was only about 300,000 or 400,000 people, but the Qing army came south and burned along the road, and there were many refugees from all sides who avoided military disasters and entered the city. Under the order of Duo Duo, the Prince of Qinggong, almost all the residents of Yangzhou, except for a few who escaped before the city was destroyed and a few who were hidden deeply after the Qing army entered the city, were slaughtered, and "the corpses in the city were in a mess" and "the number of corpses in the book of incineration was recorded, counting about 800,000 before and after."
There's a thought-provoking line in the movie "Batman": the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.
Shi Kefa lacked ability, but he was in a high position of authority, and he should be condemned by history for all kinds of mistakes; but on the other hand, in the context of the destruction of the country and the death of the family, in the face of the hatred of the family and the country and the great righteousness of the nation, he did not lose anything in a big way, sacrificed his life for righteousness, repaid the country with his death, and set a due example for the current situation and future generations. History therefore spoke highly of him, and far covered up his dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty. In terms of Shi Kefa's status at that time, his one hand and one foot had a great impact on the people of The Southern Ming Dynasty.
It should be known that since the Ming Dynasty began the Liaodong War, the north has suffered nearly thirty years of war, the hero Haojie's vigor, morale, and backbone have been consumed and depleted, Hong Chengzu, Wu Sangui and other treacherous rats have appeared in groups, and many shameless people such as Gong Dingzi have appeared in the Shilin, such as Gong Dingzi.
The people's style in Jiangnan was not as fierce as that of the north, but the backbone was strong, and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives abounded, which was not unrelated to Shi Kefa's exemplary role; the Southern Ming government could still compete with the Qing Dynasty for seventeen years with the only remnants of the mountains and water, nor should it erase Shi Kefa's exemplary role.
History is just, and Shi Kefa has a great personality, which can completely cover up the defects and deficiencies in his own character.