In October of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Sun Chuanting's army was defeated in Ruzhou, Chuanting was killed, and the last Optimus Prime of Daming fell.
For Chongzhen, this was the last large army that could be commanded, and in the first month of the following year, Li Zicheng swore an oath in Xi'an and marched east, and took Beijing in three months.
It looks simple, but Chongzhen will not sit still. In fact, in the past five months, Chongzhen has been trapped in the beast, and he has still taken many measures to try to curb Li Zicheng's momentum.
Many later generations thought that Chongzhen was trapped in Beijing at a loss, which of course did not conform to common sense, the emperor of 17 years was not done in vain, when there was no measure at all, the emperor could not be 17 months.
Ordering officials to help pay, summoning the world's soldiers to serve the king, personally sending Li Jiantai on a campaign, and preparing for the southward migration, Chongzhen did all this in a few months, and the final result needless to say was naturally a failure, the reasons are very complicated, and there will be no discussion here.
Specific to Sun Chuanting's martyrdom, Chongzhen also reacted quickly, and he quickly ordered the engraving of a "General Of Langkou" seal, to whom? To Sun Chuanting's subordinate Bai Guang'en.
How heavy the "General Dangkou" seal is, in fact, it is very heavy.
In the Ming Dynasty, the general seal was not given casually, and the name given above the general belonged to a rare honor, generally only for meritorious generals, such as the famous general Yang Honghang Zhenshuo in the orthodox years, who printed out the ZhenxuanFu, and the general Wang Ji Peipingman who sealed the expedition to Luchuan.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, only one general was given the general seal, and that was Zuo Liangyu, who was awarded the title of "General of ping thieves" in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.
What is the weight of Zuo Liangyu, he was the premier important town at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with more troops than Sun Chuanting, sitting in Wuchang, leading the whole body. Of course, in the last few years, Zuo Liangyu had already shown signs of self-esteem among the soldiers, and it was difficult for both Sun Chuanting and Chongzhen to directly command him.
Bai Guang'en He Xuren, there is no legend in the "History of Ming", only appears in the biographies of others, although he is also in a high position in the general soldier, after all, he is a thief, sun Chuanting loves his Xiao Yong, so he let him command the important position of the train battalion. But in the Battle of Ruzhou, it was Bai Guang'en's train battalion that could not be overwhelmed first, shouting: The division has been defeated! Triggering the collapse of the Ming army, Guang'en did not save Gao Jie because of personal grievances, and if he was held responsible, Bai Guang'en should at least be dismissed from his post and imprisoned.
Bai Guang'en obviously could not be compared with Zuo Liangyu, and the reason why Chongzhen should give the imperial court name that could not be taken lightly to a general of a defeated army was not complicated, because Chongzhen was already panicked.
In the last few years of Chongzhen, the prestige of the imperial court was almost swept away, and in the thirteen years of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian could execute Xiong Wencan, the premier who "suppressed thieves and had no merit", and could also demote Zuo Liangyu, who had won the defeat and killed Liangyu, to the third rank. However, it didn't take long for Chongzhen to realize that it was inappropriate, it didn't matter if he killed Xiong Wencan, he was just an empty commander, and the consequences of belittling Zuo Liangyu were unpredictable, so he quickly re-encircled him and gave the Seal of General Ping Thief.
By the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian did not even have the courage to pursue Bai Guang'en, and he could only hope that Bai Guang'en could collect Sun Chuanting's defeated soldiers, regroup, and become a court vassal.
Indeed, although Chuanting died, there were still many remnants, and Bai Guang'en, Gao Jie, Chen Yongfu and other well-known generals still had a certain strength if they could close the remnants.
When news of Sun Chuanting's defeat reached Beijing, Chongzhen quickly ordered Bai Guang'en to be sealed and cast into a seal letter, but it always took time to make the letter, and Bai Guang'en's movements were faster than Chongzhen's. In the same month, Bai Guang'en surrendered to Li Zicheng in Guyuan, and the two shook hands and drank together, and Bai was given the title of Taoyuan Bo.
Naturally, this rare seal letter could not be delivered to Bai Guang'en's hands, and may have fallen into the hands of Bai Guang'en's relatives or subordinates in Beijing. A few months later, Beijing changed hands three times, from Ming to Shun to Qing, and the depositor of this seal fled to Nandu.
When the Qing army went south, the Hongguang Dynasty fled in a hurry, and the soldiers were in chaos, the former Imperial Seal Letter had become a useless thing, inconvenient and unsafe to carry, so it was discarded.
In 1964, the seal of General Dangkou was found in the silt at the bottom of the Yudai River in Nanjing, which was the royal river that remained in Nanjing.
This seal is silver, Fuhu Niu, square, 10.4 in length, 7.5 cm in height, and weighs 3.2 kg, which is completely consistent with the specifications of the General's Seal letter stipulated in the Ming Dynasty.
The seal of the willow leaf seal of the "General Seal of Lang Kou" is cast in one line and five characters. On the left side of the seal is engraved the yin script "Chongzhen ShiLu Nian Shi Yue Ri Li Bu Zhao", and the left edge of the seal is engraved with the Yin Script letter "Chongzi 捌百柒拾号".
General Dang Kou is now in the Nanjing Museum, which has become a historical witness to the great chaos in the world at that time.
Friends who are interested in this history of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, you can pay attention to the column of the small courtyard "The Wind and Clouds of the Late Ming Dynasty", which is the real history told, the human feelings are cold and warm, and the deceit is deceived, which is vividly expressed at this time.