When Zicheng was born, his real name was Li Hongji, and his ancestors had been farming for ten generations. His great-grandfather Li Shifu, his grandfather Li Hai and his father Li Shouzhong, namely Li Yin and Wu Li, have been handed down from generation to generation. His mother Lu is a simple and hardworking person. When he was a grandfather, his family was poor. He entered school at the age of eight, but he was forced by his livelihood. Fortunately, he once became a monk, and his name was Huang Lai.
Zicheng, together with his nephews Li Jin and Liu Guo, learned martial arts from Teacher Luo, learned to ride a horse and shoot arrows with one hand, and was killed with one knife. Zi Chengli is so powerful that he can clean and jerk the 73-pound iron furnace around the temple with one hand, and even walk around the temple with one hand. At the age of 20, my father died, so I couldn't make a living. Zicheng had to apply as a messenger at Mizhixi Xiechuan Station, receiving 25 copper coins every day and often starving.
In the spring of the third year of Chongzhen (1630), there was a serious famine in northern Shaanxi, but at this time, the court ordered the abolition of redundant staff in the station. After being fired, he suddenly lost his source of livelihood. To make matters worse, his wife, Han Jiner, had an affair with the county magistrate Gaihu and killed Han Hegai in a rage. In addition, he always knew and hated the local gentry Ai, so he was quickly arrested and brought to the street with a torture cangue. He gathered people to destroy the instruments of torture, rescued him, and then promoted him to the leader. So he and messengers and hungry people formed an uprising team to go to Zhang Cunmeng, the rebel leader of Xichuan. When he got there, he called himself the "Eighth Team" and gradually became famous. In April of the following year, Zhang Cunxu led an army that was unfortunately defeated by Mizhi and was killed in Suide, becoming one of our own.
On May 12th, the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), he led an army to conquer Liaozhou (now Zuo Quan). In November of six years, he led an army south, flew over the Yellow River from Maojiazhai, breached Mianchi, Henan, and finally joined Li Jin and Gu Junen as one army, further strengthening his strength. Spring of seven years (1634).
January in the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635) was an important moment. General A * * 13 of the 72nd Battalion held a big party in Xingyang, Henan Province to discuss the strategic trend of the rebels since then. At this meeting, he put forward the strategy of "dividing the troops and setting the direction", which was unanimously agreed by the participants.
In the autumn of the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636), the old "King Chuang" Gao Yingxiang was ambushed and killed by the enemy in Heishuiyu, and Li Zicheng was acclaimed as the new "King Chuang" and started a new journey.
The following summer, he fought fiercely with Sun Chuanting, an expert of Ming army, for 7 days and nights, and finally had to retreat to Qin Zhou (now Tianshui, Gansu). In the case of being caught between Scylla and Charybdis, he rushed out of the tight encirclement, marched into Sichuan, conquered more than 30 counties all the way, and arrived at the gates of Chengdu in less than 20 days. Under the pursuit of the Ming army, he retreated to the north again. Eleven years (65438. Heavy casualties. At this time, part of the peasant army was recruited and part of it was hidden. It just held high the banner and prepared to fight Tongguan and enter Henan in the east. In October, he led the army eastward, and to the south of Tongguan, the whole army once again fell into the encirclement of the Ming army. After several days and nights of bloody fighting, tens of thousands of rebels died. He only rode 18.
In the summer of the 12th year of Chongzhen (1639), Li Zicheng rebelled in Gucheng after learning that Zhang Zaiming had fallen, and raised the banner of righteousness again. He was busy gathering thousands of people to support Zhang in the fight against the Ming army in Luohoushan. In September of the following year, he was besieged in Wuyushan, Sichuan, but with firm confidence, he led his troops to fight to the death and finally broke through the blockade, crossed Hubei into Henan, joined the Henan peasant army and played a new role.
In the 14th year of Chongzhen (164 1), in January, he led his own army to attack Luoyang, beheaded Zhu, the favorite of Emperor Wanli, and seized tens of thousands of stones and hundreds of thousands of gold and silver from palaces and rich households, and distributed them to the people. At this time, Li Zicheng was the most popular, and his team further expanded, rapidly developing to more than one million people.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), in the first month, it was announced that Dashun State was established, Xi 'an was changed to Xijing, and the title was "Yongchang". The organization was improved, and a department was opened to recruit scholars, exempt the poor from taxes, and ordered bureaucratic landlords to help pay, resettle refugees, reward reclamation, cast money for Yongchang and establish Li Jiashen. In February, he led an army to fly from Longmen to Jin. Accept the surrender of the defenders of Datong, Fu Xuan and Juyongguan in Ming Dynasty. Soldiers along the way strictly carry out the order of "those who enter the field will be beheaded". The people support this peasant army that "does not kill people, does not love money, does not commit adultery, does not plunder, buys and sells equally, and does not want food or money". He arrived at the gate of Beijing on March 16, and fought fiercely with Liu Zongmin the next day. Anyone who dares to hurt a person will be beheaded. "In the afternoon, the eunuch Cao Huachun opened the door and surrendered. At midnight, the army invaded the inner city. Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Jingshan Park (now Jingshan). /kloc-On the morning of 0/9, he wore a white felt hat, a blue light green cloth arrow suit, rode a horse, and led a large group of people to enter the palace from Deshengmen, eventually overthrowing the Zhu Ming dynasty which ruled for 276 years. People burn incense and tie colored knots along the way.
However, Dashun Army made a major strategic mistake soon after it entered Beijing: they ignored the threat of the Qing army outside Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui refused to surrender. In April, Zicheng led an army eastward, and a stone was accidentally attacked by Wu Sangui and the Qing army, and he was defeated. He ascended the throne hastily in Beijing on the 29th, left Beijing on the 30th and returned to Shaanxi through Guguan.