Wu "mourned the loss of his six armies and became a beauty." At the end of Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui, the general of Guanning Army, was molded into a man with great feelings. This is the last barrier in the north of the Ming Dynasty. Is it really to surrender to the Qing Dynasty for women?
What happened between Beijing and Shanhaiguan in the spring of 1644? Between Dashun and Manchu, Wu Sangui obviously wavered repeatedly. What is the basis of his final choice?
To judge historical phenomena, the personality of major historical figures is an important starting point. From Wu Sangui's bravery as a teenager to the rebellion of Emperor Pingxi in Kangxi Dynasty, considering his status as a child of the military commander group in western Liaoning and referring to the life of his uncle Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui was an out-and-out selfish warlord in the late Ming Dynasty.
His political decision will not be affected at all because his country hates his family. The lack of the pattern of Li Chuang clique and the extortion of the old ministers in the Ming Dynasty showed the irreconcilable contradiction between the peasant armed forces and the vested interests of the landlord class. In Wu Sangui's view, this contradiction is above the Manchu-Han ethnic contradiction, which may be the main reason for Wu Sangui's anti-Qing.
1. Wu Sangui's own logic: Mazhuang is the son of heaven.
Wu Sangui was the last patron of the imperial court in the north in the late Ming Dynasty. He and his core forces were indeed the main force of resistance in the Qing Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty in Wu Sangui, we can't forget this. Hong Chengchou, Governor of Hebei and Liao Dynasties, descended to Qing Dynasty. When his uncle was in a hostile camp, although Wu Sangui frequently contacted Huang Taiji, he did not take a crucial step.
Is this Wu Sangui loyal to Daming? Obviously not. After Yuan Chonghuan was executed in Chongzhen, the Ming military commanders on the northern front generally saw something. Wu Sangui is the cleverest among them, and his 50,000 chosen men are his greatest weight. He wants to fight for the brightest road for his brothers. All the measures behind Wu Sangui have not been greatly rebounded by Guan Ningjun, which in itself speaks volumes.
The army is the last capital. The ambiguity of Manchu Dynasty and the slow southward movement under the express telegram of Chongzhen all show Wu Sangui's cunning. Would such a person settle down for a prostitute? Even if he has a brain problem, those GuanNingJun officers are prodigies.
2. Power worship
Wu Sangui-born military commanders in western Liaoning epitomize the dark attributes of ancient warlords. These characteristics of Wu Sangui Group are: eating empty salaries, killing good people to get credit, cracking down on crowding out friendly forces, privatizing the national army, corrupting the life of officers and pursuing material wealth.
But Wu Sangui himself led twenty servants to rescue his father's dutiful son under the crazy attack of the elite late Jin army. His later anti-Qing dynasty was also full of twists and turns in the early days. Such a person, such a growing environment, had a blind worship of strength, integrity, friendship, feelings between men and women are insignificant in the eyes of people like Wu Sangui.
3. Look at Chen Yuanyuan's influence from his attitude towards his father.
If what Wu Sangui did in 1644 was influenced by emotion, then the only influence was his father Wu Xiang. After he decided to submit to Li Zicheng, after receiving a letter from his father, after talking to Tang Tong about Li Zicheng's policy, and after discussing the future with the generals of Guanningjun collectively, Wu Sangui thought that he could gain status and wealth in the court of Li Zicheng.
However, things have changed. Wu Sangui got some latest news, changed his decision during the March, and returned to Shanhaiguan to defeat Tang Tong. Continue to wait and see the situation and contact Dourgen more urgently. Li Zicheng was furious and threatened his son with the former Jinzhou company commander Wu Xiang.
Wu Sangui's answer is full of the spirit of loyal ministers in the Ming Dynasty. He thinks that his father was unfaithful before, and he can be unfilial after. Wu Xiang did influence Wu Sangui's decision-making, making him lean towards Li Zicheng, but another factor made Wu Sangui completely give up the cooperation plan with Li Chuang. His father and his family were abandoned as abandoned children. What made Wu Sangui change his decision? Is it really Chen Yuanyuan? Does this warlord who values family above all else really take such a fancy to that beautiful woman?
1. Li Chuang's first impression
Many Ming Dynasty generals, such as Tang Tong and Jiang Qian, were highly valued by Li Zicheng Group and were favored by Wu Sangui. These strengths are far less than the courtesy received by his military leaders, which makes Wu Sangui see the hope of continued prosperity. More importantly, without the pay of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui and his 50,000-strong army would be rootless water. Wu's total control of the army is directly proportional to his wealth. In a sense, Li Zicheng's forty-two thousand silver really hit the soft spot of the warlord leader.
Wu Sangui can regard Li Chuang as another emperor who didn't have much influence on the north. As long as he has a salary, he can help the man in Beijing fight against Qing Dynasty. It doesn't matter who that person is. If Li Zicheng can fully accept the cast of the Ming Dynasty, he will be recognized by Wu Sangui. He has a tacit understanding of the rules. Wu Sangui is willing and eager to continue playing under the abnormal rules in the late Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, the south was controlled by the Ming dynasty, and the world was in chaos. Wu Sangui has soldiers, so if there is food and money, why not fight for it? At this time, Wu Sangui regarded himself as a partner of Li Chuang.
2. The pattern of peasant army affects the historical trend.
Dashun, who explicitly restrained the army before entering Beijing, lost control of the army in less than 10 days, starting from1March 27, 644. Li Zicheng himself gave a big banquet in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, indulging in debauchery.
There are fish lanes for heroes and shrimp lanes for shrimps at the bottom. They contracted the elderly in the Ming Dynasty according to their official positions, and everyone booked the amount of silver they paid and began to exploit them in an organized way. This is the embodiment of the true nature of the peasant army class. In the end, Li Chuang failed to turn this army into a pillar in dynasty change. The uprising is just for eating and drinking. The old people in the cabinet live in good houses and have such young concubines. I fight for the king, why not indulge?
Just like Tik Tok Liu Bei's joke now, I have been fighting for decades, can't I enjoy it? The loss of control of the peasant army and the scattered people in Beijing sent a message to Wu Sangui that Li Zicheng's attitude towards the former Ming Dynasty officials was probably a trap. He is a mountain king who kills the rich and helps the poor. Will his kindness to Wu Sangui be just a banquet?
Rushing into Beijing, his 50,000 men may immediately give jiaozi to more than 100,000 peasant troops! Wu Sangui and a large number of GuanNingJun officers must also have real estate families in Beijing. Undoubtedly, these things have also been hurt by the peasant army.
The author also thinks that Wu Sangui saw Li Zicheng's behavior of treating Beijing as a fat sheep, which shows that Li Chuang Group is incapable of establishing a stable financial system. Is the key factor of salary reduction a big problem? Don't let GuanNingJun and Li Chuang forces to unite, roast other people's feet to blackmail?
1. Wu Sangui declined with the development of the war.
After recovering Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui and Li Chuang were obviously in direct opposition. No matter how Guan Ningjun is, he is also a beneficiary of the old order. You want to break up the mess and build a new world, which is the foundation of Guan Ningjun's existence. Wu Sangui returned to Shanhaiguan, defeated Li Zicheng, who was guarding Shanhaiguan, and the army that surrendered to Li in Ming Dynasty, and began to eagerly seek the intervention of Manchu.
Please note that according to historical records, Wu Sangui was defined as a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty at this time, and his contribution by borrowing soldiers was dozens of cities in the north. At this time, Wu Sangui still regarded himself as an equal with the Manchu army and the Li Chuang army.
His surrender was made when Dourgen's two white flag troops were in a wait-and-see state, and Ning Guan fighters were repelled by Li Chuang's army, which occupied an overwhelming number in Shanhaiguan.
1644, everyone is accurate except Li Zicheng, an idiot. Wu Sangui wants to make great contributions with the knife of Qing Dynasty, but Qing Dynasty wants your country. In the case of heavy losses of GuanNingJun, Wu Sangui agreed to all the conditions of Dourgen, and his reconciliation was staged, the result of historical oppression, not for Chen Yuanyuan's head.
2. From Wu Sangui's track after the Qing Dynasty, we can see the absurdity that rushing to the crown and anger are beautiful.
Wu Sangui's Qing Dynasty, together with the Manchu Dynasty, had an ambiguous attitude towards Nanming after Li Zicheng's crushing defeat. However, the pattern of Manchu dynasty can't compare with that of peasant army. He didn't take care of Guan Ningjun immediately. For this elite army that slaughtered countless soldiers and civilians at the end of the Jin Dynasty, Manchu made the best use of it, and on the basis of full monitoring, let them focus on monitoring Li.
Then he entered Sichuan, where the army was wiped out, went to Wu Sangui to see the situation clearly, and killed Li Yong, the last hope emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in Myanmar, and became the greatest warlord in his life. Later, he rebelled in his later years. Did this man really sacrifice his father's supremacy for Chen Yuanyuan and pacify the warlord leader of the Qing Dynasty? This is just a daydream of an overly imaginative scholar.
Chongguan is a beauty, as if a brothel woman had influenced the course of history. China literati's specialty is to replace historical facts with reverie and kowtow to Wu Sangui.
I don't think Wu Sangui will really object to such a statement. After all, real history is too dirty and cruel. Guan Ningjun, a former general who indirectly killed his father and directly killed the emperor, was a man standing in the dark. A trace of pink on him artificially added a little more false love to the history of the late Ming Dynasty.
Wu Sangui himself was a victim of the times. He can't get out of the historical fate of his children in western Liaoning. Chongzhen regards military commanders as dirt. For the killing of a large number of military commanders, these people have learned to protect themselves cunningly. You can't ask everyone to shed blood and tears. Behind the downfall of a large number of Ming generals is deep resentment against Chongzhen and Ming Chengzu.
In essence, the fact that Wu Sangui has fallen to the Qing Dynasty is only that Xungui chose to yield to the latter in class struggle and national opposition.
References:
Qing history
Mingshi
Man Wen Lao dang