A crucial year in history, affecting China for 300 years.
Original: I am Ai Gongzi’s favorite history.
In 1644, it was the year of Jia Shen in the lunar calendar.
This year, the Ming Dynasty is about to come to an end. This year is about to become a key year that will affect the next 300 years, and the people in it are unaware of it.
Under the leadership of Li Zicheng, the peasant army in Shanhaiguan Pass has entered the first Francisco in the world-Xi ‘an (now Xi ‘an), which is one step closer to the political center of Daming.
Outside the Commissioner’s office, the Eight Banners, with a number of more than 100,000, are closely watching every move of the Central Plains under the leadership of Regent Dourgen.
▲ In 1644, the Forbidden City had three owners. Source: Photo Network
Sad Spring Festival
During the Spring Festival this year, Emperor Chongzhen, a "model worker of Daming", felt the tension and oppression before the building would collapse.
On that day, a sudden gust of wind roared in Beijing, and the yellow sand covered the sun. The streets that should have been decorated with lanterns and celebrated the New Year were sparsely populated and depressed everywhere.
On that day, the ministers who should have entered the palace to congratulate them were collectively "absent from work". Chongzhen was the only one left in the empty hall, trying to squeeze out a smile to welcome the New Year.
But he couldn’t laugh.
Previously, Yuan Chonghuan, a famous anti-gold star, was executed in the year because of his own change; Trilateral governor Zheng Chongjian, who did not lose a single soldier, was framed by the minister and killed because of his dismissal; Lu Xiangsheng, the leader of the Tianxiong Army, was killed by four arrows because he ran out of ammunition. Sun Chuanting, the leader of the Great Qin Jun, was forced to go to war frequently, so he lost his pass and died. Hong Chengchou, the overseer of Ji Liao, was forced to land because of poor food and grass …
Chongzhen understands that these factors are of course influenced by his indecision and suspicious personality, but the most serious problem is that now, he seems to have no future available.
A week later, the "death reminder" for Emperor Chongzhen was sent to the Forbidden City: Li Zicheng, who had invaded Xi ‘an, ascended the throne on the Spring Festival, established the Dashun Dynasty and changed to Yongchang.
Next, he will lead his troops into Shuntianfu (now Beijing) and be the king of this world!
Wu Xiang’s quotation
Chongzhen couldn’t sit still any longer. He had to force himself to make a decision as soon as possible.
It occurred to him that there are only two ways to save Daming again and save his own life.
Either transfer the Ning Guan fighters stationed at the Great Wall back to Beijing, or directly move the capital to Jinling (now Nanjing).
Ning Guan fighters, with a total force of 30,000 people, were built by Yuan Chonghuan, a famous gold fighter, and were one of the three elite troops in the late Ming Dynasty.
Previously, he beat Dourgen and cried Huang Taiji.
It is also the Daming "regular army" with the strongest fighting capacity so far.
Jinling City was once the capital of Daming, where Mao Zhu Yuanzhang announced the birth of Daming.
After moving the capital to Beijing, Jinling City still maintained a complete administrative department, in case something happens to the empire in the future, it can make a comeback.
If Ning Guan fighters were transferred to the customs, it would be equivalent to handing over a large area of Liaodong territory to the Eight Banners of Qing Dynasty, which was eyeing up the customs.
Since Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Dynasty, the ancestral tombs of Emperor Daming have all been near Beijing. If we move the capital to Jinling, wouldn’t it make our ancestors restless?
No matter which method is adopted, Chongzhen is doomed.
He remembered what his brother said before he died, "My brother should be Yao and Shun" and felt a little powerless to control the future destiny of the empire.
After several days and nights of deliberation, Chongzhen finally decided to transfer Ning Guan fighters into the customs.
He wants to save his life, but he doesn’t want to bear the stigma of betraying his ancestors. He can accept being a model of "the emperor guards the country and the king dies."
Ning Guan fighters commander, it is the famous Wu Sangui in the future, at this time his father Wu Xiang is in charge of the emperor’s security work in Beijing.
After receiving the order from Chongzhen, Wu Xiang quickly entered the palace.
Seeing Wu Xiang in Chongzhen was like seeing a benefactor. He took his hand and asked him kindly, Are you used to living in Beijing? Are you dressed warmly? What do you need? Just ask, I can do it.
Wu Xiang certainly understood the emperor’s intention to summon him urgently. Now that the emperor has spoken, he can "tell the truth":
I have a family of 3,000. Just like my own son, I usually use wine, fat sheep, silk and satin. When I give the order, they can do their best in war.
In addition, Wu Sangui, the son of a dog, has thirty thousand soldiers of Guanningjun who can be good at fighting, and is trying to resist the Eight Banners of the Commissioner.
However, if the emperor wants to mobilize them, according to my estimation, he probably needs the court to allocate 1 million and two thousand yuan for his expenses.
Hearing this, Chongzhen almost fell off his chin. Why do you want so much?
Wu Xiang said that besides the 30,000 soldiers fighting, we have to consider the military family arrangements for others. If we count the resettlement fees, these estimates are not enough.
Then, is Wu Xiang’s "quotation" exaggerated?
According to "Compilation of Rejuvenation through Economy" compiled by Song Yingchang in Wanli Period, the monthly salary of Ning Guan cavalry is 1.6 liang+half stone rice, so a year is 19.2 liang +6 stone rice.
At that time, the imperial court discounted 1 stone of rice ≈1 tael of silver, and it took at least 25 taels to raise a soldier a year. Therefore, according to the ration of 30,000 soldiers and the inflation situation in the late Ming Dynasty, Wu Xiang is telling the truth.
But Chongzhen was puzzled. In his heart, he hoped that Ning Guan fighters could defend themselves, but the price was too high for him and the whole Daming could not afford it.
He bluntly said that he had no money. Can he work first and then get money for the sake of military duties and missions?
Wu Xiang shook his head.
▲ The demise of the Ming Dynasty has been decided at this moment. Source: Photo Network
Time waits for no man.
As a generation of emperors, Chongzhen actually chose an unwise approach and turned to the minister for help.
He told ministers that at present, there is an army of Li Zicheng in the northwest, and the Eight Banners elite of Dourgen is eyeing it.
Due to years of war, Daming’s national treasury has little money. I even donated my own private money to the front. Can you spare some money this time and ask Ning Guan fighters to defend Beijing?
To tell the truth, this kind of help is hard to work.
Throughout the history of China, the traditional etiquette emphasizes "the monarch is the minister’s program". Ministers have always obeyed the monarch’s orders, and there is rarely a situation in which "minister power" is higher than "monarch power".
Chongzhen took the initiative to put the cart before the horse.
Seeing that the high-ranking emperor now "commands" himself with such a low-profile and almost pleading attitude, ministers probably felt that the dynasty was hopeless, so they chose silence one after another.
They think that if the capital changes its flag one day, it will still be a minister, and who will be the emperor will not be the same!
After all, Chongzhen made a choice, like the hesitation in moving the capital and transferring soldiers. After he tortured himself ideologically for a period of time, he decided to call Wu Sangui Pingxibo and let him transfer Ning Guan fighters to Beijing as soon as possible.
But time waits for no one. At this time, the Ming Dynasty was dragged to the end.
Save or not, the end is the same.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), on March 19th, a desperate Chongzhen climbed up jingshan park (now Jingshan Park) behind the Forbidden City and found a crooked-neck tree. Three feet of white silk, completed the "feat" of "the king died in the country."
At this time, Ning Guan’s fighters, who entered Beijing, arrived in Zhili (now Tangshan, Hebei), which was hundreds of miles away from Beijing.
If you have knowledge under Chongzhen Spring, will you regret the time you wasted silently?
▲ Chongzhen’s final decision has been controversial. Source: film and television stills
Li Zicheng along the way.
Looking back on the year of 1644, Li Zicheng will probably be so happy that he can’t sleep.
This year, thanks to God, he ushered in the peak of his life.
Never thinking of being an emperor, he actually had the opportunity to have an emperor addiction in Xi ‘an. The key is to work harder and be the master of the world.
At least that’s what he thought when he gave Chongzhen, who was far away in Beijing, the afternoon gauntlet.
In the first month of the first year of Dashun Yongchang (1644), just after the Spring Festival, Li Zicheng set off in the direction of Beijing with a mighty army.
In February, we captured Fenzhou (now Fenyang, Shanxi Province), Yangcheng (now Yangcheng, Shanxi Province), Puzhou (now Yongji, Shanxi Province), Huaiqing (now Jiaozuo, Henan Province), Taiyuan and other places, and had a smooth journey.
Li Zicheng thought that before long, the world would change hands.
How did I know that I met Zhou Yuji in Daizhou (now Xinzhou, Shanxi)? After a fierce battle, Zhou Yuji led his troops to retreat to Ning Wuguan (now ningwu county, Xinzhou) and refused to surrender.
After many unsuccessful attempts to surrender, Li Zicheng had to bite the bullet and storm, and finally won Ning Wuguan at the cost of more than 70,000 casualties. Cha Jizuo recorded this campaign in the Record of Crime:
"After the thief (referring to Li Zicheng) was trapped in the capital, there were many people who created it by hand and foot, and all of them were those who fought to win the war."
After the first world war, Li Zicheng was frightened. He didn’t expect the little Daizhou to almost beat himself back to his original shape.
And then the army will move to Xuanfu (now Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province) and Datong (now Datong, Shanxi Province), which are the strategic locations that Daming has always focused on defending, and there are naturally many more elite soldiers than Daizhou.
Can their own millions of peasant army brothers withstand the attacks of those two groups of people?
As it turns out, Li Zicheng thinks too much.
When the defenders of Xuanfu and Datong heard that Li Zicheng was coming, they opened the gates and offered to surrender. Wherever the army went, "the city was full of joy, and it was greeted with colorful incense."
On March 15th, Li Zicheng successfully arrived at Juyongguan, the gateway of the capital. There, the company commanders Tang Tong and the eunuch DUZH rank of the army had already opened the gates wide, waiting for the "King" to enter the city to review the troops.
On March 16th, Li Zicheng crossed Changping and arrived in Shahe.
On March 17th, they entered Gaobeidian and Xizhimen, bombarded the city with heavy artillery, and attacked Fuchengmen, Zhangyimen and Xizhimen in the afternoon.
At this point, he has arrived at the gate of Beijing with a great army.
Remembering his bitterness along the way, Li Zicheng decided to be "generous" once and stop attacking. Sent eunuchs to send a letter to Chongzhen, demanding that Northwest China be ceded to him, where he was king.
条件是，他可以率农民军帮助崇祯抵抗天下各路反贼，以及关外的多尔衮。
很显然，这种要求，对于早已做好“死社稷”的崇祯而言，一点儿诱惑力都没有。
三月十九日，李自成由太监王德化引导，从德胜门入，经承天门步入内殿，结束了明朝276年的统治。
▲李自成进入北京城，明朝灭亡。图源：影视剧照
紫禁城42日游
李自成进入京城后，立即下令以礼厚葬上吊的崇祯皇帝，在东华门外举行公祭。
同时约束进入京城的农民军弟兄，要求他们继续保持过去不打砸抢的优良传统。
虽然是自己的对手，但李自成挺同情崇祯的。
他不明白，偌大的大明帝国，为什么始终拿不出救命的100万两？到底是皇帝穷，还是大臣穷？
据《明季北略》记载，李自成入京师后，从宫中搜出内帑“银三千七百万锭，金一千万锭”，“旧有镇库金积年不用者三千七百万锭，锭皆五百两，镌有永乐字”。不过，这只是一种说法。另一些史料则表明，大明国库和内帑确实被掏空了，所剩无几。
那么大臣呢？
仍存疑问的李自成开始了他入主紫禁城后最大规模的“拷掠官员”行动。
拷掠官员，就是根据李自成设立的征税指标，对不同等级的官员实施强制征收银两。
Those who don’t want to cooperate, or those who pay less or fail to pay, are all arrested and beaten to the death. When to pay enough, when to let people go.
He is not Chongzhen, neither indecisive nor affectionate to these ministers.
From March 27, the peasant army began to raid the property everywhere, raiding all the ministers, rich families and aristocratic families of Daming. Among them, Wu Xiang, who previously asked Emperor Chongzhen to pay millions of dollars.
▲ Wu Sangui faces a choice. Source: film and television stills
At that time, Wu Sangui’s Ningyuan fighters were working in Yutian, Zhili (now Tangshan, Hebei).
Hearing that Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself and Daming perished, Wu Sangui lost his sense of proportion for a moment, and he didn’t know what to do with his troops.
The situation before Wu Sangui is that it is defeated by Li Zicheng at home and defeated by Dourgen at abroad.
Besides, at this time, because of his withdrawal, it is equivalent to giving Dourgen a direct customs clearance certificate to Beijing.
Heroic disputes in the world have existed since ancient times. Surrender to Li Zicheng is not unheard of.
However, when hearing that Li Zicheng sent someone to copy his home, arrested his father, and Liu Zongmin, the No.2 figure of the peasant army, occupied his "confidante" Chen Yuanyuan, Wu Sangui turned his horse’s head and led the army back to Shanhaiguan.
For these situations, Li Zicheng is not ignorant.
Growing up in the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, he has already developed a bold, stubborn and hard-hitting personality, which may be one of the reasons why he entered the capital smoothly.
Chen Yuanyuan, he thought, was a concubine, which was nothing compared with Liu Zongmin, who was as close as a brother.
Therefore, when he heard that his sworn brother Liu Zongmin had robbed Wu Sangui’s concubine Chen Yuanyuan, he did not immediately dissuade him.
Despite the serious situation, Wu Sangui turned around and turned back to Shanhaiguan.
He didn’t understand that Wu Sangui, a southerner (originally from Gaoyou, South Zhili, Wu Sangui, now Gaoyou, Jiangsu), would go out and return to Shanhaiguan for a woman, regardless of his father’s life.
At this point, I’m afraid Li Zicheng, who caused "bad consequences", summoned the left and right sides urgently, trying to "suppress and appease" and soothe Wu Sangui.
On April 13th, Li Zicheng ordered Liu Zongmin to lead sixty thousand troops to Shanhaiguan. On this trip, his original intention was to try his best to persuade Wu Sangui.
Because, Wu Sangui has the military power he has always wanted-Ning Guan fighters. If he can’t get it, he will turn against himself and become a menace.
But knowing that Wu Sangui and Liu Zongmin were "enemies", Li Zicheng let Liu Zongmin take the lead, which was a mistake.
In the end, this Daming Pingxibo can only be forced to agree to the conditions of Dourgen and become the king of the Qing Dynasty.
On April 23rd, the Eight Banners of Dourgen and Dashun Army led by Liu Zongmin fought for the world in front of Shanhaiguan.
According to the history, "this battle was fought in Ma Benteng, flying like an locust, and Dashun army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties".
On April 29th, Li Zicheng, who was crippled by Wu Sangui and the elite of the Eight Banners, angered and killed 34 Wu Sangui families. On the same day, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in the Forbidden City and started his "one-day tour of imperial career".
The next day, April 30th, Li Zicheng, who lived in the Forbidden City for 42 days before and after, decided to set a fire in the Forbidden City to make a heroic move for the peasant army that was about to withdraw from the west.
▲ Li Zicheng withdrew and the Qing army came. Source: film and television stills
The winner
For Dourgen, 1644 is even more worth remembering.
A few months ago, Huang Taiji, the founder of Qing Dynasty and his brother, lost his life. His nephew Fu Lin succeeded to the throne, but the actual master of Qing Dynasty was himself.
Since my father fought against the Ming Dynasty with the "seven great hates", my father and brother have not waited for decades to successfully cross Shanhaiguan and enter the Central Plains.
Now, because of the death of Daming, I and the children of the Eight Banners who have worked hard for decades behind me finally have a chance to realize their father’s and brother’s wishes.
Dourgen knew that the opportunity was hard-won, so from beginning to end, he did not easily send out a single soldier and step into the Central Plains, which had been turned upside down. He has been sitting on the sidelines.
Until Daming Ping Xibo Wu Sangui’s letters were put on his case.
▲ Portrait of Dourgen. Source: Network
In his letter, Wu Sangui earnestly requested Dourgen to send his troops to save him and Shanhaiguan. After the job is done, I am willing to "crack the ground to pay."
After reading the letter, Dourgen did not immediately send troops to help Wu Sangui. He knew that Wu Sangui could thank him for sending troops to help by ceding land, which showed that he still had room for retreat.
If we send troops rashly and help Wu Sangui now, there is no guarantee that he will not establish an emperor, re-establish Daming and drive himself back to his lair outside the Commissioner’s office after kicking Li Zicheng away.
But Fan Wencheng, an old minister, gave him a suggestion: "If Qin loses its deer, Chu and Han will chase it away, but I will not fight with the Ming Dynasty, but actually fight with the bandits.".
We should send troops at once, because the enemy we are facing now is Li Zicheng, not the Ming Dynasty, and there is no such thing as "learning from the unknown".
Besides, the fighting quality of our army is not comparable to that of the peasant army in Li Zicheng. However, we should pay attention to restrain the behavior of soldiers, and never make the mistake made by Li Zicheng again.
Dourgen listened to Fan Wencheng’s advice, but decided to stay put.
He has to wait, wait for the right time.
On April 13th, Li Zicheng Liu Zongmin led an army of 60,000 troops to Shanhaiguan to suppress Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui at this time, already anxious like a cat on hot bricks. He sent messengers again and again to ask Dourgen to send troops to Shanhaiguan to fight against Li Zicheng’s Dashun Army together with himself.
But Dourgen is not stupid. Why should I jointly crusade against Li Zicheng with you? I want the world, not to defeat Li Zicheng.
Before Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, although Dourgen was very close to Shanhaiguan, he remained quietly.
April 21st, the eve of Shanhaiguan War.
Wu Sangui, who could not bear the pressure, finally let go and promised to Dourgen, and decided to settle down in exchange for the Qing army to send troops to Shanhaiguan to help him drive away Li Zicheng.
On April 22nd, Li and Wu fought in Shanhaiguan.
Wu Sangui, who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, led Ning Guan fighters to a decisive battle with Dashun Army under the orders of Dourgen.
Both sides suffered heavy losses in this battle. Ning Guan fighters, on which Daming relied, declined in history.
As Dashun Army was about to capture Shanhaiguan, it was only when Dourgen made Duo Duo and Azig each lead 20,000 chosen men to attack Dashun Army from the flank and enter Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop.
In 1644, the shrewd Dourgen became the final winner.
Upside down, the dynasty changed, and history turned and turned in this year.
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References:
[Ming] Ji Liuqi: A Brief Introduction to the North in the Ming Dynasty, Zhonghua Book Company, 1984.
[Ming] Cha Jizuo: The Record of Crime, Beijing Library Press, 2006.
[Ming] Song Yingchang: A Brief Compilation of the Revival of China, National Library Document Miniaturization Center, 2003.
[Qing] Zhang Tingyu: Ming History, Zhonghua Book Company, 1974.
[Qing] Xu Nai: An Examination of Xiao Tian’s Chronology, Zhonghua Book Company, 2010.
Qin Guojing and Yuan Hongqi: The Forbidden City: A Panorama of Royal Life, Current Affairs Press, 2006.
– END –
Author: Datang Liang Jinwu
Editor Ai Gongzi
Original title: "A crucial year in history, affecting China for 300 years"
Read the original text