As a hero of the founding of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengzu was scolded by a sixteen-year-old scholar who was ashamed of himself

Text | Xia Yan (Columnist for Reading History)

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengzuo was a very important historical figure. He was originally a heavy minister of the Ming Dynasty, and he was the governor of Jiliao, and he made military achievements in the ming dynasty's wars with the peasant army and the Qing army. After the qing dynasty, he became an important strategist of the Manchu Qing Dynasty into the Central Plains, and played a vital role in the Qing Dynasty's unification of the whole country and the stabilization of Jiangnan.

However, from the standpoint of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengzuo was a founding hero and contributed to the country and the society; but from the perspective of the Military and people of the Ming Dynasty at that time, he became an accomplice of the Manchu Qing, a traitor without integrity, especially when facing those anti-Qing fighters who preferred to die, it was even more embarrassing to him.

As we all know, after the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty marched into Jiangnan, they forcibly implemented the policy of "shaving their hair and changing clothes", and the Han people were deeply influenced by the concept of "body hair and skin, by their parents", so many Han people rebelled. Among these righteous soldiers who resisted the Qing Dynasty, there is a teenager who deserves our memory, he followed his father to resist the Qing At the age of 14, and he was heroic and righteous at the age of 16, and he was famous in the world, he is the national hero Xia Wanchun.

Xia Wanchun was born in 1631 in Huating County, Songjiang Province (present-day Songjiang District, Shanghai), his father Xia Yunyi was a jinshi of the Chongzhen Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, a famous soldier in Jiangnan, and a famous anti-Qing general. Xia Wanchun studied under Chen Zilong, who was also a famous anti-Qing righteous soldier in the late Ming Dynasty.

Influenced by his father and mentors, Xia Wanchun was loyal and full of national integrity from an early age. Xia Wanchun was talented and intelligent, and from an early age, he was familiar with poetry, books, and history, and especially loved "Man Jiang Hong" and "Zhengqi Song". He also wrote good poetry, influenced by his mentor, and his poetic style or tragic and desolate, full of the ambition to serve the country.

The young Xia Wanchun had great ambitions and was full of passion for serving the country. If he hadn't been born in a troubled world, with his literary talent, he might have been the next Xin renunciation.

In the first year of Hongguang, the Qing army marched south into Jiangnan, and Xia Wanchun, who was only 14 years old, joined his father and teacher to fight against the Qing. After the failure of the anti-Qing rebellion, his father Xia Yunyi, in order to show his unwillingness to serve the Manchu Qing, committed suicide and martyrdom in public, and before his death, he also taught Xia Wanchun to be loyal to the country. As a son, Xia Wanchun witnessed his father's fierce death and strengthened his determination to repay the country with death.

After his father's death, Xia Wanchun continued to follow his teacher to resist the Qing, and unfortunately, his teacher Chen Zilong was also martyred after being arrested. The martyrdom of his biological father and his mentor gave this sixteen-year-old teenager a great shock to his heart, and also inspired Xia Wanchun's fighting spirit to resist the Qing Dynasty and restore his vision.

However, due to the disparity in strength and the betrayal of the traitors, the young hero was finally arrested. He was a felon wanted by the Qing court for a long time, so he was immediately taken to Nanjing for trial after his arrest, and the person interrogating him was Hong Chengzuo, a former Ming dynasty official.

Originally the governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengzu was quite successful in leading the Ming army against the Qing army, but due to the disunity of the Ming generals, Hong Chengzu was captured in the decisive battle of Songjin. At first, Hong Chengyu also went on hunger strike for several days and refused to surrender, but in the end he could not resist the sugar-coated shells of the Emperor Taiji and became a second minister thief.

However, at this time, the Chongzhen Emperor, who was far away in Beijing, did not know that Hong Chengzu had surrendered to Qing, thinking that Hong Chengzu had gone on a hunger strike and martyrdom, and the Chongzhen Emperor personally wrote a poem praising his integrity: "... Death is heavier than Tarzan, and the intention turns into a long rainbow. He also told the world to "learn from Comrade Hong Chengzuo", and Hong Chengzuo became a well-known hero.

However, at this time, Hong Chengzu, who was standing in front of Xia Wanchun, was already the Prince Taibao of the Qing Dynasty and the Shangshu of bingbu, and was responsible for recruiting Jiangnan. When Hong Chengzu learned that Xia Wanchun was a well-known "prodigy" in Jiangnan, he wanted to use softening means to make Xia Wanchun obey.

Hong Chengyu revealed a gentle look and said, "I see that when you are young, you may not be able to rebel, but you must be instructed by others." As long as you are willing to submit to the Qing Dynasty, I will guarantee you to be an official. ”

Xia Wanchun pretended not to know that it was Hong Chengzuo sitting on it, and said sharply: "I heard that there is a Mr. Hong Hengjiu (Hong Chengzu's character) in my dynasty, who is a big hero, and he was martyred in the Battle of Songshan that year." I admired his loyalty, although I was young, but how could I fall behind him when I killed myself to serve the country. ”

These words made Hong Chengzuo feel groundless, full of sweat, and at the moment he just wanted to find a crack in the ground to drill into. The soldier next to him really thought that Xia Wanchun didn't know Hong Chengzu, and reminded, "Don't talk nonsense, it's Lord Hong sitting on it." ”

Xia Wanchun sighed and said, "Who in the world doesn't know about Mr. Hong's sacrifice for the country." The Chongzhen Emperor once personally set up sacrifices, and Manchu officials wept and mourned for him. How dare you traitors pretend to be martyrs and insult your loyal souls! After saying that, he pointed at Hong Chengyu and scolded. Hong Chengzu was scolded to the point that his face was bloodless, his lips were straight, he did not dare to interrogate him again, and hurriedly asked the soldiers to pull Xia Wanchun out.

Xia Wanchun's words were like a soft knife, and the sentences were directly inserted into Hong Chengyu's heart, making him feel like a needle. No matter how much Hong Chengzu made to Daming, and no matter how much he was praised by the history of the Qing Dynasty, he could not change the fact that he, the second subject, had reneged.

During the eighty days of his detention in Nanjing, Xia Wanchun was passionate in prison and wrote many poems to express his feelings of loyalty to the country and regard death as a homecoming. The most famous one is Xia Wanchun's desperate poem "Farewell to the Clouds": "Three years of detaining travelers, today it is the southern crown." Infinite rivers and mountains tears, who says the heavens and the earth are wide? It is known that the spring road is close, and it is difficult to leave the hometown. On the day of the return of the spirit flag, the spirit flag is seen in the air."

In September 1647, the sixteen-year-old Xia Wanchun generously took up his righteousness in the West Market of Nanjing. When he was tortured, he "stood up and charged", and even the executioner next to him could not bear to kill him. After Xia's death, his friends transported his body back to Songjiang and buried it next to his father's tomb.

However, Hong Chengzuo was also a controversial figure, some people said that he was a more hateful traitor than Wu Sangui, and some people believed that he had done a lot of useful things for the reunification of the country and eased the contradictions between the Manchus and Hans, and that he had contributed to the country.