In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng's rebel army captured Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian hanged himself at Coal Mountain. When the Qing army entered the Central Plains, most of the Ming Dynasty clan and civil and military ministers fled to the south, and half of the rivers and mountains south of the Huai River resisted the Qing forces, including the Hongguang regime, the Lu Wangjianguo, the Longwu regime, the Shaowu regime, the Yongli regime, and the Ming Zheng dynasty.
It can be said that during the Southern Ming Dynasty, although Emperor Longwu had great ambitions, he had no real power in his hands and could only be controlled by others. After thinking about it, Emperor Longwu decided to march on the throne to enhance his prestige. In order to ensure the tranquility of the rear, he ordered his fourth brother Zhu Yuyue to stay in Fuzhou before the expedition. Under the fierce offensive of the Qing army, The Longwu Emperor was gradually defeated and retreated. In the second year of Longwu (1646), the Qing army captured Fuzhou, and Zhu Yuyue fled to Guangzhou. Soon after, the news of Emperor Longwu's death came, and the people of Nanming were saddened.
In order to calm people's minds, the Southern Ming ministers Qu Shiyan and Ding Kuichu supported the Ming dynasty imperial family Zhu Youluo (later the Yongli Emperor) to oversee the state in Zhaoqing. However, at the time of national calamity, the southern Ming ministers, instead of huddled together and hated each other, they fought for power and profit from each other and conspired to fight with each other. After emperor Longwu's death, he opposed Ding Kuichu's approach, insisting on "brother to brother", and advocating that Emperor Longwu's younger brother Zhu Yuyue succeed him.
In November of that year, he supported Zhu Yuyue as the "supervising state" in Guangzhou, in order to compete with Zhu Youluo. In order to prove Zhu Yuyue's orthodox status, after three days of supervision, Su Guansheng could not wait to ask Zhu Yuyue to hold a enthronement ceremony and change yuan Shaowu. Seeing that Zhu Yuyue had actually claimed the title of emperor in front of him, Zhu Yurong's side could not sit still. In less than half a month, Zhu Youluo also ascended the throne with the support of Ding Kuichu and others, and was called emperor: Yongli Emperor.
Since then, the Southern Ming Qunchen quickly divided into two factions: one faction sided with Emperor Shaowu and the other on the side of the Yongli Emperor.
At the present moment of the great enemy, the two factions are still fighting in the same party and arguing endlessly, which is really regrettable. What was worse was that Su Guansheng on the Side of Shaowu only remembered his personal vendetta, and actually ordered the beheading of the envoys of the Yongli Emperor. Since then, the two sides have become more tense and clashed. The Yongli Emperor was furious and sent Lin Jiading, the right attendant of the army, to attack Emperor Shaowu. Not to be outdone, Emperor Shaowu sent the general Chen Jitai to Zhaoqing in a tit-for-tat manner. After Lin Guiding and Chen Jitai met, the soldiers of the two sides quickly launched a fierce battle.
Lin Guiding was a pioneer and killed more than 800 Shaowu soldiers, and Chen Jitai, who had fought directly, was defeated and retreated. Seeing that Shaowu's army was so vulnerable, Lin Guiding decided to take advantage of the situation to pursue and take Guangzhou directly. Emperor Shaowu saw lin Guiding coming menacingly and was so frightened that he didn't know what to do. Su Guansheng advised Emperor Shaowu not to panic, and suggested that Lin Cha lead more than 10,000 pirates to fight Lin Guiding. Lin Guiding saw that it was Lin Cha, and his heart was relaxed. Because the two were old friends before, Lin Guiding was very trusting of Lin Cha.
However, at this time, Lin Cha had already supported Shaowu's side with all his heart. He saw that Lin Guiding was not very defensive about himself, so he lied that he was ready to surrender to Emperor Longwu. Lin Guiding did not have any doubts after hearing this, so he bypassed Lin Chajun and prepared to take Guangzhou directly. Lin Cha took the opportunity to set up an ambush in the middle of the road, directly killed Lin Guiding, and almost completely annihilated the Longwu sergeant. Seeing that his side had won a great victory, Emperor Shaowu was overjoyed and thought that he really had the Mandate of Heaven, so he decided to hold a heavenly sacrifice and a military parade, and wantonly rewarded and arbitrarily gave officials.
However, the Qing army was overjoyed after receiving the news of the infighting in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and took the opportunity to go south to prepare to reap the benefits of the fishermen.
When the two armies of Yongli Shaowu were engaged in a bloody battle, the Qing army led by Li Chengdong captured Zhangzhou and Chaozhou under the leadership of the southern Ming general. Seeing that their emperor was busy fighting among themselves, the Southern Ming generals who guarded the city often surrendered the city without resistance. When Emperor Shaowu was still celebrating the military parade, Li Chengdong was already about to hit Guangzhou. In order to be able to win a surprise victory, Li Chengdong ordered local officials to write to Emperor Longwu, saying that there was no war around him. Therefore, Emperor Longwu thought that the Qing army was still far away and did not make any preparations.
In the second year of Longwu (1646), Li Chengdong sent 300 elite soldiers to attack Guangzhou at night. In order to hide their eyes and ears, more than a dozen Qing troops dressed up as Gong Gong and marched from the waterway. The soldiers in Guangzhou were unguarded and let them go ashore. After they boarded the ship and went ashore, they immediately took off their disguises, raised their knives and killed them, catching Emperor Shaowu by surprise. Emperor Shaowu and Su Guansheng and other ministers were still inspecting and studying in guozijian, when suddenly someone came to report that the Qing army had entered the city.
Su Guansheng also heard yesterday that Chaozhou was impregnable, and when he heard such a report from his subordinates, he thought it must be a lie. So he ordered that the messengers be beheaded and displayed in public to correct the hearts of the people. However, the Qing soldiers who entered the city soon killed the guards of Guangzhou City and opened the city gates widely. Li Chengdong's army entered through the gate, killed people when they saw them, and soon hit Emperor Shaowu and Su Guansheng. At this moment, Emperor Shaowu panicked and prepared to send an army to meet the enemy. However, Emperor Shaowu's main forces had gone to engage Emperor Longwu and had not yet returned.
Emperor Shaowu shouted for half a day, but only a few people were called. In desperation, Emperor Shaowu had no choice but to put on civilian clothes and flee in a hurry. However, by this time the Qing army had fully occupied Guangzhou, and Emperor Shaowu was soon captured. Li Chengdong effortlessly conquered Guangzhou and captured Emperor Shaowu. In addition to his joy, Li Chengdong ordered people to take good care of Emperor Shaowu and sent him delicious food. Emperor Shaowu was indifferent to all kinds of food, and Qing Bing asked him to eat, but he refused to accept it.
He said to the Qing army, "If I drink a spoonful of water from you, when I die, I will have no face to see the patriarchs!" At night, emperor Shaowu, who was unprepared by the Qing soldiers and regarded death as a homecoming, strangled himself with a belt.
After the fall of Guangzhou, Su Guansheng ran to his friend Liang Feng and asked Liang Feng what to do next. Liang Feng Dayi said to Su Guansheng in awe: "In addition to martyrdom, what else can we do?" After Su Guansheng listened, he was infected by Liang Feng's loyalty and righteousness, so he and Liang Feng agreed to die together and never surrender to the Qing army. The two entered the east and west rooms of the room separately and decided to hang themselves. Liang Feng strode into the room, but after closing the door, he just pinched his own neck and screamed.
In order to make Su Guansheng believe that he had committed suicide, he also deliberately let Su Guansheng hear the sound of him kicking over the stool. Su Guansheng saw that there was no noise in Liang Feng's room, and thought that Liang Feng had been martyred, so he generously died. Before committing suicide, Su Guansheng also wrote on the wall with a pen the bold words "Daming loyal ministers and righteous soldiers should die". Liang Wei waited in the room for a long time, and when Su Guansheng committed suicide, he immediately ordered his servants to carry Su Guansheng's body and surrender to the Qing army. He also claimed that he had sacrificed the university scholar of Emperor Shaowu and asked Li Chengdong to give him a reward.
Liang Feng first tricked his friend into dying, and then, with his friend's corpse, begging for a reward, was really an uncompromising villain, and it was really chilling to sell his friends and seek glory.
Resources:
[History of the Southern Ming Dynasty", "History of the Ming Dynasty", "History of the Ming Dynasty", " Lectionary 166