Text/Evening wind and twilight rain
Human nature is complex and multifaceted, and it is difficult to judge it in terms of simple good or bad, especially some historical figures.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there was such a person: in order to inherit the title, he did not hesitate to kill his uncle; in order to expand his power, he spared no effort to suppress dissidents, which can be described as extremely bad, but he has always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty and vowed to die to resist the invasion of the Qing army until the last moment of his life.
He is Liu Kongzhao, the sixth generation of the Ming Dynasty.
Liu Kongzhao (Chinese: 刘孔昭; pinyin: Lī Kongzhao), a descendant of Liu Bowen, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, inherited the title of Count of Chengyi, who was conferred by his ancestors.
But his title came from an improper source, and it is said that he took it after killing his uncle.
The Title of Count of Chengyi, a descendant of the Liu clan, was suspended during the Yongle period, and was not allowed to inherit it again until the Jiajing period, so Chengyi Bo inherited several generations less than other titles in the Ming Dynasty.
When the fourth generation of Chengyi's uncle Liu Shiyan (i.e., Liu Kongzhao's grandfather) died, his concubine Liu Laichen (Liu Kongzhao's uncle) was still underage, and the title was temporarily inherited by his eldest son Liu Xingchen (Liu Kongzhao's father).
The history books record: "Shisun Laichen was young, and his brother Xingchen borrowed it. ”
In the first year of the Apocalypse, Liu Xingchen was appointed to take charge of the governor's office of the Right Army in Nanjing, and soon after, he was also appointed as the viceroy of Nanjing, Cao Jiang, and also in charge of the patrol of the river.
Liu Xingchen died in the second year of the Apocalypse, and according to the regulations, the title should be "returned" to his younger brother Liu Laichen, but the title was taken away by Liu Kongzhao.
There is only one simple sentence in the Ming History of this matter: "Xingchen pawn, Laichen attacked, and The Xingchen son Kong Zhao restored it." However, there has always been a rumor that Liu Kongzhao killed his uncle to seize the title, and this kind of thing should not be empty.
After the attack on the lord, Liu Kongzhao was ordered to sacrifice the tomb of Emperor Jing in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, and since then he has been ordered to sacrifice the mausoleum many times.
During the Chongzhen period, Liu Kongzhao proposed to the imperial court to increase fiscal revenue, "please raise the mining, salt law, money law, tun tian various proposals, in order to replenish the country", although it was not adopted, but was praised by the Chongzhen Emperor, and later awarded the "Shaobao", successively leading the Nanjing Right Army Governor's Palace, The Viceroy Cao Jiang and Patrol river defense and other positions.
Liu Kongzhao was close to Wen Tiren, a famous traitor of the Chongzhen Dynasty, and at his behest, he wrote a letter attacking Ni Yuanlu, the overseer of the State Son, to make him automatically request to be removed from his post.
Ni Yuanlu was a member of the Donglin Party, and Liu Kongzhao's move was tantamount to being an enemy of the Donglin Party, so in their articles, notes, and history books, Liu Kongzhao's image was very obscene.
After the jiashen rebellion, because Liu Kongzhao was both a nobleman and held military power (admiral Cao Jiang), he became the object of Ma Shiying's efforts to win over.
Eventually, Ma Shiying and Liu Kongzhao, along with other military generals, jointly supported the ascension of Zhu Changxun, the Prince of Fu, to the throne as Emperor Hongguang.
When Ma Shiying broke up the relationship between the Hongguang Emperor and Shi Kefa, Liu Kongzhao pushed and was attacked by the official Shangshu Zhang Shenyan.
Liu Kongzhao was furious, and in the courtroom, he angrily scolded Zhang Shenyan as a traitor and an evil villain, and also scolded Wu Yong recommended by Zhang Shenyan for "violating the Constitution, and the true traitor is also a traitor!" ”
From the day the Hongguang regime was established, officials divided into two factions and began an endless infighting.
Soon, the Qing army marched south, captured Nanjing, captured the Hongguang Emperor, and the Hongguang regime collapsed, and Zhejiang and Fujian successively established the "Lu Jianguo" regime of Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, and the Longwu regime of Zhu Yujian, the king of Tang.
Liu Kongzhao, who had fled from Nanjing, still possessed military strength that could not be underestimated, and he planned to defect to the Longwu regime, and Emperor Longwu was naturally willing to use his power to strengthen his own strength, but was opposed by Lu Ruoteng, the shangshu of the military department.
Lu Ruoteng said, "How is Fu Kong Zhao like a man?" As the minister of Caojiang, Hu rode across the river, held his head and scurried, and was the general of the defeated army and the doctor of the subjugation of the country, which was not shared by the hearts of the people. ”
Liu Kongzhao had no choice but to switch to Lu Jianguo.
When the famous generals Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan entered the Yangtze River, Liu Kongzhao set out with them to capture Jingkou and retake Chongming, and on the way, a group of anti-Qing rebels were recruited to return.
Zhang Mingzhen, Zhang Huangyan and Liu Kongzhao led 500 soldiers up the Golden Mountain to the famous Golden Mountain Temple.
Zhang Mingzhen, dressed in the official clothes of the Ming Dynasty, went to the direction of Nanjing, and then wrote a poem "To Receive the Qin Clan Master Po Jinshan Yaobai Xiaoling with Feelings and Endowments", the poem:
Ten years of cross-sea a lonely minister, jiaqi bell mountain look at the truth.
The Quail Head Righteous Banner is out of Chu, and Yan Yun Yu has passed through Fujian.
Wang Shihuan drummed his heart and liver choked, and his father and old pot pulp wept and kissed.
Look south at Xiaoling BingMusu, and see that it will be a big dragon.
In the year of Meng Chunyue, the Marquis of Dingxi, Zhang Mingzhen, wrote a book with sincerity.
Soon after, Liu Kongzhao participated in the joint operation of Lu Jianguo's department and Zheng Chenggong, entered the Yangtze River again, climbed Jinshan, and "won the former rebel Jin Yunyan's stakes to sacrifice the dead in Zhoushan." Spiral up the golden mountain, pan storage millet and return. ”
After Zhang Mingzhen's death, the Qing army invaded the south and attacked the Zhoushan base of the State of Lu, and Liu Yongxi, the son of Liu Kongzhao, did not want to be captured, committed suicide by diving, and Zhoushan fell.
After losing the base, Liu Kongzhao's subordinates disappeared while sailing at sea on a ship, and there was only a simple sentence in the history books: "Navigation is missing."
Regarding Liu Kongzhao's ending, there is also a saying that he became a monk.
No matter which one is true, Liu Kongzhao never appeared on the anti-Qing battlefield again.
Liu Kongzhao's lawlessness, arrogance, and even his titles were obtained by extraordinary means, and it is absolutely difficult to call himself a good man, but he insisted on resisting the Qing And had no loss in the great national righteousness, so the evaluation of historical figures must be comprehensive and objective, not only to suppress their evil, but also to show their goodness!
References: "History of Ming", "Chongzhen Shilu", "History of southern Ming", "Hongguang Shilu Banknote"