Fei Xingjian, a prominent political figure in the early Min dynasty, once wrote "The Facts of Shi Dakai's Fall of the Enemy in Sichuan and His Murder" in the name of Wo Qiu Zhongzi, which mainly described some of Shi Dakai's experiences after he was captured.
The original intention of writing this article, Fei Xingjian confessed: "The kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ... The dissemination of political achievements and military achievements is extremely common, and there is no need to worry about literature. However, the Yi King's expedition to Sichuan and Yunnan was killed in Chengdu, and the road was very far away, and he and Luo Bingzhang, Chongshi Q&A, deleted and corrected most of them through Luo Mu Shen Yin. Those who consulted the Military Aircraft Department have been completely unrecognizable. And the Sichuan literati rarely pay attention to this, I am afraid that it is old, and it is not easy to trace one or two. In my previous life, I originally lived in Luo Mu, witnessed a lot of facts, and Xiang Zhi Taiping Historian Fang collected anecdotes, and especially wrote out a number of articles for the reference of the kings as far as I knew and had a real basis. ”
Fei Xingjian's father was an aide to Luo Bingzhang and was more familiar with the process of capturing and killing Shi Dakai, while Fei Xingjian himself was elected as a provincial representative by Sichuan Province during the reign of Li Yuanhong, and participated in the discussion of matters such as the formation of the cabinet, that is, he belonged to the leading figures in Sichuan, and it was easier to collect the former Qing dynasty. In addition, in 1897, Fei Xingjian copied out four confessions from the archives of the Military Bureau's printing room three times that year, Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan, and Shi Dakai, the general of Chengdu Chongshi; in addition, he also read a large number of public documents at that time. Therefore, the credibility of the article written is relatively high.
The most striking part of the article is Luo Bingzhang's interrogation of Shi Dakai, which was carried out three times.
First time:
Chongshi asked: Do you want to follow in the footsteps of the Shu Han and settle down in the Shu land? Shi Dakai ignored it.
Luo Bingzhang asked about the situation of the Taiping Army and his views on its future success or failure. Shi Dakai did not answer at first, Luo Bingzhang repeatedly asked, Shi Dakai asked rhetorically: "For example, in today's situation, there are Twister army in the north, there are Hui people's rebels in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Yunnan, and there are Miao righteous teachers and many desperate people elsewhere. Such a big rise and fall, success or failure has its own reason, you and I are difficult to say. (According to the report, when Shi Dakai asked him "can he kill everything?", Luo Bingzhang nodded and replied, "Difficult, difficult.") )
second:
Luo Bingzhang said to Shi Dakai that if he surrendered as he wished, not only would he be spared the death penalty, but he could also be given a martial post first, and after meritorious service, he could be promoted beyond promotion. And said, "Don't you see Admiral Don?" (Tang Yougeng), who had surrendered for less than six years, had already been an official to Yipin, and many of his subordinates, counselor generals, and guerrillas, were all thieves at the beginning. Your knowledge and everything are higher than Tang Yougeng, this dynasty is deeply benevolent and generous, never kill and surrender, you must not give up on yourself, lose this opportunity. ”
Shi Dakai replied, "There are still five hundred soldiers in my old department, all of whom have suffered together for a long time, and I cannot decide alone without consulting with them." Please let Tang Yougeng send them to Chengdu to meet them before making a decision. ”
Chongshi: There are so many five hundred people, how can they all come to Chengdu?
Shi Dakai: Five hundred people is too much for you, but where do I place thousands of soldiers?
Luo Bingzhang only then understood that Shi Dakai was deliberately teasing and implicitly sarcastic, and seeing that Chongshi still wanted to argue with Shi Dakai, he was busy signaling him not to refute it anymore. So he said a few other irrelevant words and hurriedly withdrew.
The third time (Luo Bingzhang's disease, Liu Rong, Yang Chongya's news) :
At that time, Shi Dakai already knew about the killing of more than two thousand people in Dashu Fort, so his tone was extremely strong, saying, "Didn't Luo Bingzhang say that 'this dynasty never kills and surrenders'?" And now what? There are many people in the world who have the ability to overthrow the Manchu Qing, and it is not necessary for me to open up Shi Da! Yang Chongya wanted to argue with him, and Shi Dakai actually raised his sleeves, and the two had to order someone to send Shi Dakai out.
Later, it was learned that the person who leaked the matter was Zhang Mou, who was originally from Jinling and had met with the author of the original text. According to him, the Taiping army did not burn and plunder jinling, far superior to the Xiang army, and could not bear to see the death of King Yi.
Regarding Luo Bingzhang's persuasion of Shi Dakai, Zhu Yisun was responsible for enlightening Shi Dakai in person. Afterwards, Zhu Yisun even called it obscure, saying that "the surrender was not persuaded, but it was not interesting to discuss the big deal." When asked why, he replied, "Shi Dakai told me, 'I met you in Hunan in the past, but I still don't know where you are?' I said it was a Yangzhou native. He asked me, 'Have you read [Yangzhou's] Ten Diaries?' Isn't that scolding me to my face? Until he was gone, I still felt a fever on my face. (Note: The Yangzhou accent is so special, Shi Dakai must have heard that he was a Yangzhou native, because he didn't want to bother with him on the matter of persuasion, so he deliberately blocked him back with this word, so that he could not say the words of persuasion.) And this person is so worried about this that he deserves to be scolded! )
It must be noted that Fei Xingjian also mentioned Shi Dakai's letter to Luo Bingzhang to discuss negotiations, but he stressed that if he himself had not read the original, "the manuscript of the Heavenly Kingdom of The Nearman cut its full text, and I do not know the basis." ”
Fei Xingjian's account should be in line with objective historical facts, according to records, Shi Dakai did write to Luo Bingzhang (a saying Tang Yougeng), but it is by no means the "Shi Dakai Zhi Luo Bingzhang Book" that is circulating now. Fei Xingjian mentioned that Zhang Xianzhou, who participated in the exhortation of Shi Dakai, had read the original letter, which contained "Gong Baosheng Horn, Stone Blossom, Nursery Rhymes Have Responded, and It Can Be Too Peaceful!" The "Book of Shi Da Kai Zhi Luo Bingzhang" that is circulating today does not, then the current edition of the "Book of Shi Da Kai Zhi Luo Bingzhang" is likely to be forged by later generations.
Zhang Xianzhou's statement that "Gong Bao sheng horn, stone blossom, nursery rhyme has been responded to, it can be too peaceful" is based on facts, at that time, Luo Bingzhang was appointed governor of Sichuan, secretly sent people to spread nursery rhymes in the folk "If you want to be happy with sichuan people, unless the stone blossoms Ma Shengjiao" ("horn" and "each" are harmonious, "Ma Shengjiao" is "Luo") to create a momentum for himself. Shi Dakai said, "Gong Baosheng horn, stone blossom, nursery rhyme has responded, its can be too peaceful" That is to ask Luo Bingzhang, "If you kill me, will Sichuan be "peaceful"?" This statement is the same as the tone of the interrogation that "there are many people in the world who have the ability to overthrow the Manchu Qing, and it is not necessary that I must be able to open up."
Tang Yougeng's younger brother Tang Youzhong, who was also one of the readers of the letter at that time, once recalled the contents of the letter, saying: "He (referring to Shi Dakai) was extremely tough, did not have a soft word, and also carried a little sarcasm. ”
In contrast, in this edition of the "Book of Shi Da Kai zhi Luo Bingzhang", the kind of "Heavenly Yes? People yeah? Labor is useless; when? Luck? Poor does not understand" and other sighing sentences, full of "soft words", where is the "hard gas"?
In addition, Liu Rong, who was also one of the readers of the letter at that time and a relative of Liu Rong, recalled that Shi Dakai's letter was to ask Luo Bingzhang to "not be happy to kill, please send him back to Gui, Xiang, and Qian provinces", which is a very different statement in this edition of the "Book of Shi Dakai to Luo Bingzhang".
In addition, this edition of the "Book of Shi Da Kai Zhi Luo Bingzhang" was once published by Tang Hongxue, the son of Tang Yougeng, in the compilation of the "Annals of Tang Gong" compiled for Tang Yougeng, and changed it to "Shi Da Kai To Tang YouGeng Book", the above paragraph is: Da Kai Dun first worship Ze Bo Junmen Ren Brother Comrade Your Excellency", the title is not the same, and the format of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom documents, the language of Shi Da Kai documents is not in line with. The date signed at the end of the letter is "the ninth day of the first month of May in the thirteenth year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". It should be noted that according to the "King Ding Jing Shun Characters" promulgated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, "Hai changed to use open characters". Then the "癸開" chronology of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom should never be written as "癸海". As one of the initiators of the Jintian Uprising, Shi Dakai could not have written the chronology incorrectly. In the first half month of the ninth day of May, April 23, in the "Instructions of the Wing King Shi Dakai to the Pine Forest Land ChiefTain Wang Qianhu", the date of the signature is very clear - "April 23, the thirteenth year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". Moreover, Shi Dakai was already captured on the ninth day of the first month of May this year, and it was impossible to write a letter negotiating the terms. The letter also reads, "If your excellency can play according to the book, please ask the Lord to be generous", which is another big mistake, because Shi Dakai cannot call the Qing Emperor "Lord". Moreover, if the Qing Emperor who really "went to play according to the book" in Beijing, the official documents went back and forth for at least a month, how could he solve the military situation of the two armies at that time? Even if Shi Dakai's head was already confused, he would not say such a thing.
Finally, the letter actually spent most of the time dissecting his own ideological problems, with infinite sorrow, great frustration, and a feeling of chagrin and regret. Such an emotion is clearly permeated with a strong idea of surrender.
Let's take a look at how Luo Bingzhang described Shi Dakai in his "Playing for Life to Capture the Head of rebellion and Eliminate the Rebellious Giant Stocks" played to the Qing Emperor: "The subjects and the Chengdu general Chongshi Governor Rao personally mentioned the news of the criminal in the provincial Sidao, and Shi Dakai confessed to himself and Hong Xiuquan and others from the Jintian Village in Guangxi, that is, the situation of the false king and the rat disturbing the provinces. ”
Huang Pengnian, who had accompanied The Sichuan envoy Liu Rong to the front line of the Dadu River to intercept Shi Dakai, wrote an article entitled "Li Ya Ji Xing", which mentioned that on the fifth day of the first month of May, Shi Dakai was sent to The Rongjing of Ya County by Tang Yougeng, "Liu Gong Chuanxun, the qi of Wu Jie, is seen in the color of words."
Huang Pengnian also wrote the "Manuscript of Liu Rong to Luo Bingzhang" by hand on behalf of Liu Rongzhi, which mentions: "According to the confession that since the Jintian Uprising, he and Hong rebelled against each other and worked together with the pseudo-party, disturbing the situation in various provinces, and the history is like a picture, and his strong spirit of the tyrant is seen in the color of words, and it is by no means a thief who can fake it." ”
Later, Liu Rong himself wrote a letter to Zeng Guoquan in the "Book of FuZeng Yuanpu Zhongzhong", in which he also said: "(Shi Dakai) confessed that since Jintian's trouble, all the rebellious situations have been like a picture, and his strong spirit is overflowing with face, and the tone of his words is not profane, and he does not wag his tail and beg for mercy." He said that he had been the king of the south for more than ten years, and he had slaughtered tens of millions of officials and people, and if he died today, I would not hesitate to die! At the time of the execution, he looked pleasant, and he was the most fierce person in the 'ugly' category."
Look, "the words are not profane, not humble, do not wag their tails and beg for mercy", where is the state of half a point of begging?! Moreover, "at the time of punishment, the look is pleasant", which is like a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death?
That is, the "Book of Shi Dakai to Luo Bingzhang" that has been handed down today, which is full of the idea of surrender, belongs to posterity to forge, and Shi Dakai is really a rare strange man and a great husband in the world!