Actually can't! As the leader of the peasant uprising army, some people say that Zhang is a murderer, while others say that he is a hero who led troops to resist the Qing army.
In my opinion, if you want to know how cruel Zhang is, you should use a dialectical eye to analyze what good and bad things Zhang did before his death. Besides cruelty, what other unknown aspects does he have?
First, Zhang worked for the imperial court twice, was dismissed once, and was jailed once. Later, he followed Zhang, who was born in poverty in the early days of the rebel army. However, he was clever and stubborn, and later found a job as a policeman in the government, but it wasn't long before Zhang was fired for something.
In desperation, he thought about being a border guard again. Maybe Zhang had bad luck in his early years. He was almost sentenced to death for being bullied in the military camp. Then, in view of his meritorious military service, the final treatment was to play 100 club, probably prison.
Later, in the first year of Chongzhen, famine occurred continuously in all parts of Shaanxi, and even severe drought and insect disaster occurred, and seedlings withered and starved to death everywhere. Moreover, the imperial court laid off a large number of border soldiers and rear soldiers. These laid-off border soldiers and post-soldiers have a hard life, and some people have begun to take risks and rebel.
As a result, peasant riots broke out in the rebel army led by Wang Jiayin and Wang Zi. Within a few months, dozens of rebel teams of hungry people, border guards and post soldiers in northern Shaanxi raised the banner. It was also in this way that the ranks of the insurgents developed rapidly, and the flood of the great uprising in the late Ming Dynasty began to form.
Besides, after Zhang and Zhang were released from prison, influenced by the environment at that time, a team of village farmers gathered in their hometown to actively respond to the riots and called themselves "Eight Kings".
Since then, Zhang has fought with the refugees in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Sichuan and other places, and has repeatedly made meritorious military service. And his team has grown from thousands to tens of thousands, becoming the most powerful force. Therefore, as Zhang did in his early years, this is also a helpless move for the government to force the people to rebel and the people to live in poverty!
Second, wherever Zhang goes, he will seek welfare for the people. One day in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang and Li Zicheng, under the leadership of the king, marched eastward in order to break through, because various peasant armies in Henan were besieged by loyalists.
Subsequently, Zhang led his men to surround Fengyang City in the early morning. In less than half a day, 20,000 loyal ministers guarding Fengyang were annihilated, and Yan Rongxuan, the magistrate of Fengyang, was captured alive, so that he could count his past crimes in front of the people and was sentenced to death. Not only that, Zhang also distributed the victory products and the grain in the granary to the local poor people one by one.
In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang saw that the peasant army was pursued by the loyalist Zuo Liangyu troops in Huangling City, Kaixian County, so he took out a good soldier and attacked around the loyalist rear. Zhang led Sichuan and led his troops to Xiangyang.
As we all know, Xiangyang belonged to the military town at that time in the Ming Dynasty, so the money for military supplies was gathered in the city. Therefore, the first thing Zhang did after the city was broken was to divide the money he received into 100,000 yuan to help the hungry and put Xiang Wang and Guiyang Wang Zhu to death. And Zhang's move was supported by everyone and cheered.
In the first year of Shunzhi, Zhang proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu and established the Daxi regime. In the process of consolidating the regime of Daxi, Zhang Cai took a series of measures to benefit the people, such as exempting three-year rent tax and starting enterprises.
Therefore, here, we can actually see what Zhang Zhongxian has done to the people in his many struggles with officers and men, which can be regarded as a good leader in the eyes of the people.
Thirdly, Zhang's "Earth Ship Incident" left a deep and cruel image for most people. In fact, not long after the establishment of the Daxi regime, they encountered the entry of the Qing army and the establishment of the Nanming court. Especially for the establishment of the court of Nanming, a large number of gentry in Tahiti district where Zhang was located took refuge in Nanming. As insurgents organized by the peasant class, they are not afraid of their own violence and cruelty, just as the slogan that Zhang Jun has been promoting is: "If you are sincere, the vegetation will not move, if you resist, the old and the young will not stay."
It was under the feudal system that farmers were always treated unfairly. They became insurgents not because they were full of blood, but because they were hungry.
About Zhang's "Earth Ship Incident", some people think that it is Zhang Qian's, while others think that the literati of the Qing Dynasty dare not accuse the Qing Dynasty, so they left the pot to Zhang.
According to the relevant materials such as History of Ming Dynasty, Land Bridge, Record of Guilt and Guilt, it can be known that Zhang did slaughter in Sichuan, but if we want to distinguish the separatist forces in Ming and Qing Dynasties from the bandits' slaughter in Sichuan, the reason for the sharp decline of Sichuan's population in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties may still be natural disasters and wars.
To sum up, I personally think that although Zhang killed many people in order to establish and consolidate political power, when he led troops to attack Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places, he cracked down on corruption within the Ming Dynasty and promoted the development of history. Later, Zhang also went north to fight against the Manchu army. At least Zhang has stood up for the country's righteousness!