There have been countless peasant uprisings in history, and when they first started, they were often more disciplined, did not commit any crimes in the autumn, and were welcomed by the broad masses of the toiling masses, but in the later period, once the number of people joining the army increased, the discipline would become worse and worse. Because of the problem of the personal quality of the leaders, when they encounter resistance and are on the verge of failure, they will do some strange things and stand against the people.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng's peasant army and Wu Sangui's army, as well as the Qing army, were defeated in a stone battle at Shanhaiguan, and were forced to withdraw from Beijing and retreat to Shaanxi, along the way, because the people in the occupied areas rebelled one after another, Li Zicheng killed indiscriminately in anger, completely lost the people's hearts, and finally even lost the Shaanxi base area, and on the way to the south, he was killed by a peasant.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, during the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it encountered fierce resistance in Cangzhou, and the main general Lin Fengxiang chose to slaughter the city after capturing the city, and tens of thousands of victims died. After this battle, the Northern Expeditionary Army completely lost the hearts of the people in the north, completely fell into isolation, and was surrounded and intercepted by the Qing army, and finally the entire army was destroyed.
In the early years of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, a large-scale peasant uprising, known as the Chuanchu White Lotus Uprising, was fought in the five provinces of Hubei, Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Gansu, which lasted for 8 years. The main leaders of the rebel army included Wang Sanhuai, Wang Cong'er and others. One of the most legendary is the female leader Wang Cong'er.
According to later legends, Wang Cong'er was a beautiful girl with strong martial arts. Relevant historical records record that Wang Cong'er was a xiangyang native, who lost his father at an early age, once sold art with his mother for a living, and later married a wife named Qi Lin in Xiangyang, so he was also known as the Qi Wang clan.
Later, Qi Lin was arrested and killed by the government, and the White Lotus Sect members were led by Wang Cong'er and called "Qi Widow." ”
In 1796, the first year of Jiaqing, 19-year-old Wang Cong'er led a revolt from Hubei into Sichuan, and soon there were 145,000 people.
The following year, Wang Sanhuai, Wang Cong'er, and others led the White Lotus Sect army out of Luoyukou from Chenggu and Yang County in southern Shaanxi and entered the Guanzhong region, wanting to take the opportunity to besiege Xi'an, and sent two generals to inquire about the enemy's situation. One of the two generals was killed, the other escaped, and told Wang Cong'er the news.
Wang Cong'er was furious and led an army to attack Jixian Village. Villagers armed with various agricultural tools fought a bloody battle with Wang Cong'er's rebels. In the end, the villagers were outnumbered and defeated. The White Lotus Rebel Army invaded the villagers and killed people when they saw them, and the entire village was killed by 4799 people, and the blood flowed into a river, while some women did not want to be humiliated and chose to throw themselves into the well.
Some sources also record that in the second year of Jiaqing, Wang Cong'er led tens of thousands of people from Henan to the west to Zhen'an to support Yao Zhifu, the leader of another rebel army, and when passing through Liangjiawan and Yaojialouzi villages in Shangnan County, he fought a fierce battle with the local township heroes led by the Yao brothers. One group of rebellious peasants who are not afraid of death meets another group of peasants who are also not afraid of death. One side is forced to choose to loot food and other resources in order to continue the rebellion, while the other side is desperately trying to protect its resources from being robbed and its homeland from being destroyed in order to survive.
This fierce battle is destined to be thrilling, with countless villagers killed, bones strewn across the field, and rivers of blood.
The year after these two massacres, Wang Cong'er was in Yunxi County, Hubei Province
According to information on the Internet, in 1786, before the White Lotus Uprising, the population of the Qing Dynasty was 391.1 million, and after the failure of the uprising, the population dropped to 275.66 million. Some people have concluded that the White Lotus Sect uprising lost more than 100 million people.
Personally, I think this information is not credible, but the losses of both sides of the White Lotus Sect uprising are very heavy, which is not controversial. In the entire war, more than a dozen senior generals such as admirals and general soldiers were killed, and more than 400 middle-level generals were killed.
Summary: Wang Cong'er and others are also low-level people, under the oppression of the rulers, they rose up to resist, which was no problem, but after the uprising, they burned and looted, which is also a stain that they cannot wash away.