(The Woman Who Told History - No. 438) At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the land of China was once again full of smoke and flames, and the world was facing a reshuffle. Will the Ming Dynasty continue to linger, or will it change dynasties? If the dynasty changes, will the Han continue to rule Hainei, or will the Qing Dynasty administer Kyushu? If the Han people continue to rule the world, who is most qualified? All the suspense and all the mysteries will be completely solved in 1645.
In China at that time, in addition to the Qing Dynasty, there were several key figures. The first key figure is Li Zicheng. He swept across the Central Plains with his immense power, and then entered Beijing to eliminate the Ming regime. It can be said that Li Zicheng dug daming's heart. However, after he "dug his heart", he did not seize the opportunity, defeated shanhaiguan, and fled from the Beijing division, which can be described as self-destructing the future. The second key figure is Wu Sangui. He was forced by Li Zicheng to join forces with the Qing Dynasty, with hundreds of thousands of mercenaries to dominate one side.
There is also the Southern Ming Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong, of course, he is only a puppet, but as a representative of one side of the force, especially he still has the authentic lineage of Daming, the Jiangnan Imperial Court, and the Yangtze River, there is still a possibility of competing for the world. The hundred-footed worm is dead but not stiff, or the skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and it has a breather than it. If grasped, it is not impossible to resurrect again. However, 1645 became a turning point in history, and the world was quickly reshuffled. Two figures have also taken to the stage of history. It is two people with very similar names, namely Zuo Liangyu and Liu Liangzuo. What is the relationship between these two people? What's the difference between them? Many scholars believe that the two of them were the last two straws that crushed the camel of the Ming Dynasty, so between Zuo Liangyu and Liu Liangzuo, who was the first key person who led to the complete end of the Ming Dynasty? Today Xiaobian will talk to you about this topic.
First of all, make no mistake, Zuo Liangyu and Liu Liangzuo are not one person, but two people with a big difference. Let's start with Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu (?) –1645), courtesy name Kunshan, was a native of Linqing, Shandong. He is from the army, the culture is not high, but the personality is fierce, quite martial arts, can be said to be a generation of tyrants. He was originally a Ming Dynasty general, who once guarded Liaodong, and in the third year of Chongzhen (1630), he led his troops to fight with the Qing army in Hongqiao, Dawushan, Zunhua, Songshan, Xingshan and other places, and made many military achievements. After that, it existed mainly to suppress the peasant rebel army. In his battles against the peasant army, he repeatedly defeated cao cao (Luo Rucai's nickname) and the army of breaking the sky (the names of these two rebel leaders fell fiercely), and was famous for several major defeats of Zhang Xianzhong.
In the early days of the uprising, Zhang Xianzhong, like Li Zicheng, was a hero who ascended to a high position and gathered many people, but later he became arrogant and rampant, burning and looting. Similar to the thief Kou, so Zuo Liangyuping Zhang Xianzhong is often given the color of justice. Zuo Liangyu fought bravely and almost captured Zhang Xianzhong with his own hands. In the first month of 1638, Zuo Liangyu singled out Zhang Xianzhong in Nanyang, and Zhang Xianzhong was defeated. Zuo Liangyu shot two arrows in a row, hitting him in the shoulder, and then chased after him and slashed with a knife, Zhang Xianzhong could not resist, and was cut to the point of blood. Fortunately, his subordinates arrived in time to rescue him to save his life. Zuo Liangyu's reputation has been greatly shocked since then.
In 1640, the overseer Yang Sichang recommended Zuo Liangyu to have "the talent of a great general, and the soldiers can also be used", and worshiped him as a general of the Ping Thief. Subsequently, Zuo Liangyu fought Zhang Xianzhong in the Pingli area at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Zhang Xianzhong was defeated, Zhang Xianzhong's wife and concubines were arrested, and important generals of the peasant army were also killed. However, although Zuo Liangyu had a set of rules against Zhang Xianzhong, he was not a general who was always victorious, and he was once a defeated general under Li Zicheng.
In 1642, in order to kill Li Zicheng, Marquis Shangshu of the Ming Dynasty's court household department issued a reward of 500,000 yuan to Zuo Liangyu's subordinates, ordering him to attack the peasant army. Zuo Liangyu and Li Zicheng fought at Zhuxian Town, but Zuo Liangyu was defeated and retreated to Xiangyang. When it came to Kaifeng to fight again, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to face the battle. Li Zicheng then attacked Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu withdrew his troops to Wuchang, he asked the King of Chu for soldiers and grain, but he did not receive supplies, so he plundered Wuchang, including Cao grain and salt. Zuo Liangyu then marched into Jiujiang, supporting 200,000 soldiers to protect himself. However, after Zhang Xianzhong ke Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu attacked again, defeated Zhang Xianzhong again, and recaptured Hanyang. Zhang Xianzhong then fled to Sichuan, and Zuo Liangyu then sent troops to retake Wuchang.
It can be said that in addition to Li Zicheng, Zuo Liangyu had a very good set of peasant armies and was quite valued by the Ming court. Zuo Liangyu was able to kill the murderous demon king Zhang Xianzhong and hide in Tibet, but why not oppose Li Zicheng? Historians have analyzed that in addition to the factors of one thing dropping one thing, it is also a problem of governing the army. Zhang Xianzhong's army was similar to a thief, and his discipline was not strict and unpopular; Zuo Liangyu was still relatively strict in governing the army compared to Zhang Xianzhong, but compared with Li Zicheng before he entered Beijing, there was still a gap. After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, there was serious degeneration, and after he had no choice but to withdraw from the capital, Li Zicheng's army was actually on par with Zuo Liangyu's army in all aspects, and Li Jun's injuries were serious and his morale was greatly reduced. On the other hand, Zuo Liangyu's power gradually expanded, and he actually had an army of 800,000. In the battle against the peasant army, Zuo Liangyu began to become arrogant and arrogant, began to have ambition, and had the taste of supporting the army and self-reliance.
After the Southern Ming Hongguang Emperor established his government in Nanjing, it can be said that he gave Daming a breath of relief. When Zhu Yousong ascended the throne, Zuo Liangyu sat in Wuchang, in the upper echelons of Nanjing, holding strategic places, and the strength of his subordinates was relatively strong, and the Hongguang regime had to flatter him as the Marquis of Ningnan. When Zhu Yousong's edict of ascension to the throne was issued in Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu did not buy it at first, and only after the persuasion of Inspector He Tengjiao of Huguang and Inspector Huang Shu did he agree to read it and reluctantly expressed his support. However, his self-prowess was more pronounced than during the Chongzhen period.
Zhu Yousong promoted Zuo Liangyu to marquis, and Yin made one of his sons Jinyi Weizheng Qianhu, and together they made Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo officers of the four towns. The affairs of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were specially entrusted to Zuo Liangyu, and soon he was made crown prince. When Li Zicheng was defeated at Shanhaiguan, Zuo Liang took the opportunity to retake Jingzhou, De'an, and Chengtian in western Hubei. He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, and Yuan Jixian, the governor of Huguang, lived in Jiangxi, and they were both friendly with Zuo Liangyu, and the Hongguang imperial court used this area as a barrier. At this time, Zuo Liangyu can be said to be the holder of Daming's last breath. Not mentioned.
Let's talk about Liu Liangzuo. As mentioned earlier, after the Hongguang Emperor ascended the throne, Liu Liangzuo was among the four town officers who were sealed. Compared with Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo's power is the greatest. At the time he had an army of 100,000. At this time, it is entirely possible to assume that if Liu Liangzuo and others can cooperate well with Zuo Liangyu, Nanming will have almost a million troops, stronger than Wu Sangui's forces, and can almost compete with the Qing Dynasty. Don't forget that Nanming also has a heavy minister Shi Kefa. At that time, Li Zicheng self-destructed the Great Wall, and it was difficult to form a situation in which China's three kingdoms were standing, but it was not impossible to form a situation of confrontation between the north and the south with the Yangtze River as the boundary. If this situation is formed, who dares to say that after a few years, Daming will not be able to restore the country? However, the reality is the opposite.
But look at who Liu Liangzuo is. Liu Liangzuo (刘良佐), courtesy name Mingfu (明助), was a Datong man from Shanxi, known as Liu Hua (花馬 刘) because he often rode a variegated horse. His experience is similar to Zuo Liangyu's, and he is also famous for attacking peasant rebels. He had commanded troops to fight against the rebels in the areas of Susong, Luzhou, and Lu'an, and in chongzhen ten years, he had led his troops to defeat more than 200,000 people under the peasant army Cao Cao (Luo Rucai) who shook the sky (it seems that this shaking heaven was the same as the heavens and Cao Cao, who used his name to scare people); in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he defeated Zhang Xian, the general of Fengyang, and Zhang Xian's loyalty to Qianshan. However, Liu Liang's army was not as good as Zuo Liangyu's, and his army was basically similar to that of the thieves, often burning and looting, and his reputation was very bad.
After Li Zicheng destroyed the Ming Dynasty in 1644, Nanjing established the Southern Ming regime, when shangshu Shi Kefa of the army wanted to establish Zhu Changxun the Prince of Lu as emperor, but the power of Zhu Yousong, the prince of Lifu, was even greater, in addition to Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, and Gao Jie, there was also Liu Liangzuo. Liu Liangzuo, along with Huang Degong, Liu Zeqing, and Gao Jie, is listed as four towns. Liu Liangzuo was given the title of Guangchangbo, with jurisdiction over Feng, Shou and other places, stationed in Linhuai, and the manager Chen and Qi Yilu. During his time in shou county, because of his proximity to Henan, he sent troops to strictly guard the area around Taihe and Yingzhou to prevent the peasant army and the Qing army from entering. At the same time, he levied extensive taxes in order to amass wealth, recruited soldiers, bought horses, and expanded his army in an attempt to expand his sphere of influence, with the intention of supporting the army and standing on its own. In addition, he also extensively cultivated fields, built mansions, searched for beautiful women, and indulged in sex.
It is rumored that Liu Liangzuo had a subordinate who, in order to flatter him, found a beautiful woman for him, but unexpectedly this woman was occupied by a general soldier, and after this subordinate informed him, he was furious and ordered the general soldier to sacrifice the beautiful woman. After the general soldier brought the beautiful woman, Liu Liangzuo looked at it, and sure enough, it was extremely beautiful, so he shouted pity. The subordinates were puzzled, he said, "What others have used, will I still use?" Pull it down, chop it up! "It's just too cruel, you don't count, and kill it." At that time, the atmosphere in his army was extremely bad, and whether he was a pawn or a pawn, he degenerated into sex and extravagant and extravagant. I don't know that the country is in trouble, and I don't have any feelings of home and country. It was still far from Zuo Liangyu's Tyrant Qi. However, no matter what, he still had 100,000 people under his command, and the Southern Ming court was still very important to him.
Let's talk about Zuo Liangyu. This jun led the army in the early period was also a standard warlord temper, not much stronger than Liu Liangzuo, but after the southern conquest and the northern war, several ups and downs, especially after the defeat of Li Zicheng, he also learned some lessons, plus the age is getting older, the management of the army has improved slightly. At this time, he used 800,000 troops, known as millions, often trained people and horses, and was prestigious. Zuo Liangyu was recommended by Hou Ke (who had served as Hubu Shangshu and the father of Hou Fangyu, one of the four sons of fushe). Hou Ke was originally a member of the Donglin Party. After Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng came to power, they were worried that the Donglin Party would rely on Zuo Liangyu to embarrass themselves, so they verbally and hypocritically befriended Zuo Liangyu, but secretly hated him. At this time, it can be understood that Nan Mingyan can not be defeated? The ruling figures of Nanming were jealous of Zuo Liangyu, the decider of Nanming's last breath.
The Southern Ming court was controlled by the traitors Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, and the government was of course very bad. The overseer Yushi Huang Shu once confronted Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng in person, and the two of them remembered their hatred, so they sent Jinyi Wei to arrest Huang Shu, who defected to Zuo Liangyu and encouraged Zuo Liangyu to send troops to eliminate Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng from the emperor's side, but Zuo Liangyu hesitated and did not agree. Soon, the incident of the prince from the north occurred, and Huang Shu took this opportunity to arouse everyone's resentment in order to avenge his hatred, and summoned the generals of the thirty-six battalions to ally with him. So Zuo Liangyu decided to "Qing Jun's side".
In March 1645, Zuo Liangyu falsely claimed to be the prince of Fengxian Emperor to go to Nanjing to rescue him, and in the name of revenge against Ma Shiying, the whole army took a boat down the river to the east. On the first day of April, Zuo Liangyu went to Jiujiang and invited Yuan Jixian, the governor of Jiang, to meet him in a boat. Zuo Liangyu took out the secret edict of "Crown Prince" from his sleeve and forced Yuan Jixian to go to Nanjing with him to "save the prince". However, Yuan Jixian believed that Zuo Liangyu's move was not for the side of the Qing Emperor, but had the intention of opposing the imperial court, so he strictly refused. After Yuan Jixian returned to the city, he would hold on to Jiujiang and not allow the left soldiers to enter the city. Unexpectedly, the general Zhang Shixun had already secretly colluded with zuo Liangyubu general to set fire to the whole city at night, and there was chaos. Yuan Jixian, in desperation, prepared to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water, but was rescued by Zhang Yingyuan, a general sent by Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu felt that he could not stand Yuan Jixian, so he stopped his subordinates from plundering Jiujiang.
When the left army was preparing to march east from Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu suddenly fell ill and died on the fourth day of April. After Zuo Liangyu's death, his subordinate generals pushed his son Zuo Menggeng to be the commander,took Yuan Jixian captive in a ship, and continued to lead his troops eastward, successively occupying Pengze, Dongliu, Jiande, and Anqing, and sending troops straight to Taiping Province. The Hongguang court received a report that Zuo Liangyu was leading his division to the east, and was greatly panicked. Ma Shiying believed that Zuo Liangyu must have come to betray the imperial court, and decided that the Bingbu Shangshu Ruan Dacheng would organize a blockade together with Huang Degong, the Marquis of Jingnan, Liu Liangzuo, and others. Huang Degong's army was transferred to Taiping Province south of the Yangtze River, and Liu Liangzuo's army was deployed on the opposite bank north of the river. Most of the troops of the four towns in Jiangbei were transferred to meet the left army, and the Jianghuai defense line fell into emptiness for a while.
However, the Hongguang Emperor defended Zuo Liangyu at this time, believing that Zuo Liangyu was not a rebel, or that he should still hold Huaiyang with his troops to resist the Qing soldiers. Ma Shiying was furious and angrily shouted at the Hongguang Emperor: "The Qing army is coming, and it is still possible to negotiate peace." Zuo Liangyuzhi, my monarch died without a place to bury. It is better for Junchen to die in the Qing Dynasty than at the hands of Zuo Liangyu. "He even issued an edict ordering Shi Kefa to withdraw all the troops defending the river to prevent Zuo Liangyu. Therefore, the Ming army retreated from the Jianghuai line, and died to ensure that Nanjing was not attacked by the left army, but let the Qing army run across the country.
The Southern Ming army, with Liu Liangzuo as the main force and Shi Kefa as the supplement, opened a battle and prepared to fight against Zuo Liangyu's army. At this time, although Zuo Liangyu was already dead, Zuo Jun's secret was not mourned. At the moment when the Qing army was a great enemy, Daming was still killing each other in his last breath. It is as if an infighting of a million people is about to unfold. Then an accident occurred. The Ming Dynasty's last chance of internecine killing disappeared in an instant.
Don't think things are getting better. The two of them reconciled, and they could jointly deal with the Qing soldiers. Then history will be rewritten, and perhaps the Qing Dynasty will not exist. Unfortunately, at this critical moment, Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Menggeng led hundreds of thousands of troops to directly surrender! It's good not to kill each other, but it's a big mistake for you to surrender to a foreign enemy. At this time, Zuo Liangyu (perhaps he was a bit wronged) as the anti-water of Daming's last force, which directly led to Daming's demise. Therefore, some historians say that Daming was destroyed by Zuo Liangyu. If it were not for Zuo Liangyu's "QingJun side" this time, sending troops to the east, perhaps the latter things would not have happened; or if he did not die, perhaps his army would not have descended. In short, Zuo Liangyu became one of the last two straws that killed Daming's camel.
But there is another person, that is, Liu Liangzuo, what is he doing at this time? Shi Kefa they are all bluffing, there is no army, but doesn't Liu Liangzuo still have 100,000 troops? Can't you resist the Qing army for a while?
The answer is very simple: Liu Liangzuo also directly descended. He not only surrendered to Qing, but also helped Qing soldiers slaughter the city. At this point, it was equivalent to Zuo Liangyu dragging Daming into the mire, and Liu Liangzuo stabbed Daming in the neck. In short, these last two straws made Daming completely defeated. However, some people say that there is still Shi Kefa. But is there any use in Skofa? Shi Kefa's last resistance was nothing more than hitting the stone with a pebble, a crunching sound, the egg yolk egg white flowed to the ground, and the jade stones in Yangzhou City burned... (Text/Icelandic Ice)