Li Zicheng (1606 ~ 1645)
Leader of peasant uprising army in late Ming Dynasty. Formerly known as Hongji. Wanli was born in Liqianji Village, Mizhi County, Yan 'an District, Shaanxi Province on August 2 1 September 22, 606. When I was a child, I herded sheep for the landlord. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626), he served as a post in Yinchuan and studied riding and shooting hard. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, peasant uprisings surged. In the third year of Chongzhen (1630), Li Zicheng was laid off. In Mizhi, he called on the hungry people to revolt, led all the people to vote for the leader of the peasant army without touching mud, and then voted for Gao Yingxiang of the eighth team. In six years, after Wang Zi, the leader of the peasant army, died of illness, he recruited more than 20,000 people. Later, Zhang Huishi, the leader of the peasant army, defeated Deng Gui, the general commander of the Ming Dynasty, in Linxian County (now Linzhou), Henan Province, killed his Ministry, and then moved to Shanxi and Shaanxi. In seven years, Lianke was defeated by Zuo Guangxian, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, in Chengcheng, Shaanxi, Ganzhou, Gansu (now Ganxian) and later Gaoling and Fuping. In eight years, I got together with the leaders of various peasant armies in Xingyang, Henan Province (once said that there was no such meeting) to discuss the strategy of dividing troops and orienting with * * *. Then he moved to Jiangbei, Henan and Shaanxi, and killed Ai Wannian, the deputy commander of Ming Dynasty, in Ningzhou (now Ningxian, Gansu). Spin in Zhenning (now southwest of Zhengning) and defeated the Ming army, forcing Cao Wenzhao, the company commander, to commit suicide. Nine years later, he was captured and killed in Gao Yingxiang, and he was promoted to king. Leading the people to "defect to the enemy", they adopted the tactics of introducing from the east to the west, avoiding the real and attacking the virtual, and even connected Longzhou (now Wudu, Gansu), Longzhou (now Longxian, Shaanxi), Ningqiang (now Ningqiang) and other States. Soldiers entered Sichuan in three ways, and defeated the Ming army repeatedly in (now southwest of Guangyuan), Jianzhou (now Jiange) and Mianzhou (now Mianyang), killing Hou Liangzhu, the general of the Ming Dynasty. In the winter of ten years, the siege of Chengdu failed for many days. Later, Zitong, the defeated teacher, confronted Zuo Guangxian, the company commander of the Ming Dynasty, and Cao was defeated by a wide angle. So they parted ways and went back to Shaanxi and moved to Tongguan, where they were ambushed by the Ming army and suffered heavy casualties. He led Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu and others 18 to ride in Shangluo mountain area of Shaanxi province. Soon, I went to Gucheng (now Hubei) and got Zhang's support for the Ming court. In 12 years, Zhang joined hands with Zhang, who made a comeback, to break the Zhuxi River and cut off the route for providing foodstuff for the Ming army. Later, he helped Luo Rucai defeat Yang Shien, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty in Xiangyouping. In thirteen years, Zuo Liangyu, the company commander of the Ming Dynasty, was defeated in Fangxian County, re-entered Henan Province, broke Yongning (now Luoning) and beheaded Wan 'an Cai? . Fighting the local peasant army leaders, hundreds of thousands of people conquered Yiyang. Go to Lushi, get Niu Jinxing, give advice and use it as a counselor. The policy of exemption from land tax has won the support of the people, and there is a ballad "Welcome the King, Don't Receive Grain" (biography of Li Zicheng in Ming Dynasty). In the spring of 14th year, when he moved to Luoyang, he was defeated by the defenders and executed Zhu. Revolving troops surrounded Kaifeng, failed to attack several times, and reached Dengzhou in the south, where they would learn from Luo Rucai, who had left Zhang. Later, the Ming army took the fourth road to gather in Xincai and Xiang, Henan Province, and sent soldiers to ambush on the way, which caused the Ming army to flee and killed Fu and others in Xiang. In fifteen years, he and Luo Rucai besieged Kaifeng with 200,000 people and fought fiercely for more than twenty days. Li attacked Xiangcheng, Henan Province, and captured the governor of the Ming Dynasty and the leader of the peasant army alive. After Chen Zhou (now Huaiyang), he joined the local peasant army and returned to Kaifeng. First of all, we wiped out the third battalion Ming army that raided the city. Later, he sent troops to attack Zhengzhou, Xingyang and Shangcai to clear the Ming army strongholds around Kaifeng. Ming Governor Ding and company commander Zuo Liangyu led more than 100,000 troops into Zhuxian Town (now southwest of Kaifeng, Henan). Li Zicheng continued to attack the city with some troops, and occupied the favorable terrain of Zhuxian Town with the main force, winning the melee and capturing tens of thousands of Ming troops. Revolvers open Kaifeng, dig city walls, fill explosives, and dig the Yellow River levee to fill the city (a description of the army digging the levee to fill the peasant army). In order to prevent Sun Chuanting from splitting the Ming Dynasty, he led his troops to the west and attacked jia county, where the situation was unfavorable, so he moved to the village (now Nanyang). On the way, they abandoned a lot of armor and wealth, and lured the Ming army to compete and make a mess. So, they led the troops to counterattack successfully, beheaded more than 70 prisoners, rode a thousand troops, and won a great victory in the persimmon garden. Into Runing (now Runan), shooting around the city, climbing the city by ladder, arresting inspector Yang of the Ming Dynasty, patrolling Wang Shizhen and so on. He marched south, bypassed Baima Beach and built a pontoon bridge, forcing Zuo Liangyu to abandon the water village and escape, and occupied Xiangyang (now Xiangfan, Hubei). The textile army even broke Yiling (now Yichang) and Jingmen counties. /kloc-in the first month of 0/6, I returned to Xiangyang with the slogan "No levy for three years, no killing for one citizen". Xiangyang changed to Xiang Jing and established Dashun regime. Known as the civil and military marshal who worships righteousness in Fengtian, he called Luo Rucai the general who helps the people on behalf of heaven, appointed Zhang Guoshen as a photojournalist, Niu Jinxing as an assistant, Liu Zongmin as a general of power, and Yan Li as a general of control. Subsequently, Gu Junen, the counselor, made a strategy to take Guanzhong first, then attack Shanxi and then Beijing. He led an army north to Henan, annihilated more than 40,000 Ming troops in the battle of Ruzhou, and forced Sun Chuanting to flee Shaanxi. Take advantage of the situation to pursue roadside mountains, destroy the Ming army in Tongguan, kill Sun Chuanting, and occupy Tongguan and Xi 'an. Revolving troops pursued the remnants of the Ming army, connecting Yan 'an, Hanzhong and Yulin. In the first month of the seventeenth year, the title of Dashun, Jianyuan built Yongchang, was called Dashun. Xi 'an changed to Xijing, established a military system and rewarded heroes. Then he led the troops across the Yellow River, eastward into Shanxi, and even broke Fenzhou and Taiyuan. The soldiers were divided into two ways, and Liu Fangliang led the South Road Army to attack Daming (now Hebei), so it was settled (now Zhengding). Since Liu Zongmin led the main force northward, he fought a bloody battle with the Ming army in Wuguan (now Ningwu, Shanxi) for several days, killing Zhou Yuji, the company commander of the Ming army. Later, they successively occupied Datong, Fu Xuan (now Xuanhua, Hebei) and Changping (now Beijing). On March 17th, the two armies joined forces at the gates of Beijing, and the city was broken on the 19th, forcing Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian to hang himself in Jingshan Park (now Jingshan), thus overthrowing the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Change the commander-in-chief of the fifth army to the fifth army, change the title of military commander, set the level and improve the military system. In order to disintegrate the remnants of the Ming army, he repeatedly sent envoys to surrender to Wu Sangui, the company commander of the Ming army, but all failed. On April 13, he led an army of about 654.38+ 10,000 (60,000) to attack. The battle of Shanhaiguan was defeated by Wu Sangui and Regent Dourgen of the Qing Dynasty, and tens of thousands of soldiers were lost. They retreated to Beijing, and Dashun army turned from prosperity to decline. On the 29th, he proclaimed himself emperor, and left Beijing for the west the next day, so that Liu Zongmin could organize troops to fight back along the way for the coach. At that time, the internal contradictions of the peasant army intensified, and the troops retreated one after another, unable to station troops in Shanxi and Shaanxi, so he led the troops to retreat to Huguang through Shaanxi. In the second year of Dashun Yongchang (the second year of Qing Shunzhi 1645), he was killed by the landlord in Jiugongshan, Tongshan County (now Hubei Province) in May, at the age of 40. He said that when he became a monk, he died in the Kangxi period. Li Zicheng fought for more than ten years, attaching importance to strict management and training troops; Pay attention to close public relations; Being good at grasping the initiative in the battlefield, he often made a surprise victory with flexible tactics and wrote an important chapter in the history of China peasant war.
1In March, 944, Guo Moruo published "The Three Centennial Festival of Shen Jia" in Chongqing, exposing the darkness of the rule in the late Ming Dynasty, and discussing Li Zicheng's arrogance and extravagance after entering Beijing, as well as Wu Sangui's choice. The Kuomintang thought that this article alluded to the corruption of the national government at that time with the Ming Dynasty; * * * The producer used this article in the rectification movement to remind party member not to make the same mistake as Li Zicheng.
From July in the first year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty (1628) to March in the seventeenth year (1644), Li Zicheng, Zhang and other peasant armies grew up from small to large, from scattered to concentrated, from guerrilla mobile operations to mobile operations, and finally overthrew the war in Ming Dynasty.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, political corruption, rural bankruptcy, intensified oppression and exploitation, and drought in Shaanxi made people unable to live. In July of the first year of Chongzhen, Wang Jiayin, Liu Yang and Wuyan Mud held high the first banner of righteousness in Fugu, Shaanxi, and all Shaanxi responded. From the first year of Chongzhen to the third year of Chongzhen, Zhang and Li Zicheng rose up successively, and Shaanxi Rebel Army 100 people. Thousands of loyalist border soldiers mutinied because of insufficient pay, and joined the rebels and became the backbone. At this time, the rebels spontaneously fought blindly. The Ming court ordered Yang He, the commander-in-chief of the three sides, to adopt the strategy of "suppressing and caressing at the same time, giving priority to caressing". But the Ming court was unable to feed a large number of hungry people, and those who had comforted them began to rise again. Yang He was jailed for this, and Hong Chengchou followed the governor of Shaanxi and adopted the policy of "suppressing first, then soothing" to concentrate his forces on attacking the Shaanxi rebel army. Various rebel armies moved eastward one after another, and in 1946, the activity center moved to Shanxi. The fighting has also evolved from extreme dispersion, fighting in isolation to relative concentration and mutual response. , Zhang,,, Luo Rucai and other departments have more than 200 thousand people, known as the 36 th battalion, which once destroyed Daning, Xizhou, Zezhou and Shouyang. In the winter of six years, more than 65.438 million people from 24 battalions, including Gao Yingxiang, broke through the encirclement of loyalists and moved to western Henan and northern Chu. With Yunyang as the center, divisions were interspersed between Henan, Chu, Sichuan and Shaanxi, taking advantage of the weakness of loyalists' short division to defend their territory and not cooperating with each other to carry out guerrilla mobile operations. In order to change the passive situation of "a sudden emergence of a new army, watching each other", the Ming court changed its policy to "concentrate its forces and make an all-round encirclement and suppression" in seven years, taking Chen Qiyu as the governor of five provinces, commanding Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Sichuan and Huguang loyalists in a unified way, and converging attacks from all directions in an attempt to annihilate all the rebels in one fell swoop. The rebels turned to Hanzhong in succession, and the encirclement and suppression failed. Zhu Youjian of Ming Dynasty withdrew from Chen Qiyu and succeeded Hong Chengchou as the governor of five provinces. When it mobilized loyal ministers to enter Shaanxi and reorganize the siege, except Li Zicheng who still insisted on moving from Shaanxi to Gansu, other ministries turned to Henan again. Hong Chengchou led the main force to chase after the Commissioner. At the beginning of August, the insurgents entered in three ways: all the way back to Shaanxi, all the way north to Shanxi, and all the way east to Fengyang (see the battle of Fengyang) to burn the imperial tomb. When Hong Chengchou Army arrived in Henan in March, most of the insurgents were concentrated in Shaanxi. Hong Chengchou hurried back to Shanhaiguan. Li Zicheng annihilated loyalists in Ningzhou and Zhenning, defeated Xianyang, and matched Xi 'an. , Zhang, etc. were pinned down by loyalists and entered Henan three times. The Ming court realized that it was impossible to succeed in the all-round encirclement and suppression under the situation of the rebel army's mobile operation, and turned to the policy of taking responsibility by districts and focusing on attack. Taking Lu Xiangsheng as the governor of five provinces, specializing in the Central Plains; Hong Chengchou specializes in the northwest, with his own responsibilities and mutual cooperation. In the winter of that year and the spring of 1999, Zhang failed in Henan one after another, and the troops lost more than half, and the remnants returned to Shaanxi. At this time, Li Zicheng also lost many times in Xingping and other places. In order to strengthen the offensive in Shaanxi, the Ming court ordered Sun Chuanting to attack Hanzhong Gao and Zhangzhu, and Hong Chengchou to attack Shaanxi Li Zicheng and other departments. In July, Gao Yingxiang was captured and killed in the whole town (now Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province), and the rest was returned to Li Zicheng. At this point, the Qing army entered the customs and broke Changping and other cities 16. Zhu Youjian sent Lu Xiangsheng to help, thus reducing the pressure on the Central Plains. Zhang seized the opportunity to recover, joined Luo Rucai and other departments with more than 200,000 people, moved eastward along the river, and scattered activities in Huoshan area. 10 years later, Zhu Youjian appointed Xiong wencan as the prime minister of five provinces, and sent 1200 imperial troops to organize a new round of encirclement and suppression. Li Zicheng marched into Sichuan and once breached more than ten cities, but when he returned to Shaanxi in eleven years, he was attacked by troops from Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting in Taohe River, and was defeated by Zhou Min. At the same time, Zhang was defeated by the fifth army in Wan, and was wounded and retreated to his old city. Xiong Wencan then changed encirclement and suppression to Zhaofu. Liu Guoneng, Zhang, and Luo Rucai successively descended or settled down. Li Zicheng led the remnants to move in the mountainous area at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and the peasant uprising fell into a low tide. In September, the soldiers of the Qing army entered the frontier in two ways, the capital was under martial law, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting led the troops to settle in, and the northwest loyalist decreased. Twelve years, Zhang,, Luo Rucai, etc. Rise again and again, defeat Fangxian and Baokang, and annihilate the Zuo Liangyu Army in Luohoushan. Zhu Youjian killed Xiong Wencan and sent Ministry of War Minister Yang Sichang to suppress the warlords. At the beginning of 13th year, Luo Rucai defeated the government troops in Xiangyouping, but soon he was defeated by Agate Mountain and Kuizhou successively with Zhang, and was forced to move to Sichuan. Yang Sichang led the main force into Sichuan. Li Zicheng flew into Henan in 1 1 month, and rapidly developed to tens of thousands of people. From the beginning of the peasant army to this time, the superior government troops have been in a strategic offensive position, while the peasant army is in a position of fighting against encirclement and suppression and seeking survival. All ministries cooperate with each other to find gaps and weak points to attack, so as to mobilize the exhausted enemy, form local advantages in campaigns and battles at favorable opportunities, unexpectedly weaken the enemy, and preserve and develop themselves in the battle. After 13 years of guerrilla mobile warfare, it gradually concentrated, and by the end of 13, it merged into several peasant armies headed by Li Zicheng, Zhang and Luo Rucai. In the repeated ups and downs of war practice, it gradually matured. Li Zicheng, in particular, absorbed the opinions of intellectuals and began to implement the strategy of "winning the hearts of the people by acting righteously" and "taking the world according to Heluo". Politically, the policy of "white grain", "protecting the people" and "buying and selling the flat" was implemented, and the propaganda work of disintegrating the enemy was vigorously carried out, forming a situation that "the whole people attached thieves but not soldiers". Militarily, mobile operations were carried out and mobile attacks on the strategic points of the blind army began. At the beginning of 14th, Luoyang fell. The joint forces of Zhang and Luo defeated the loyalist in Huangling, Kaixian County, Sichuan Province, and got rid of the loyalist pursuit at a speed of 300 miles a night. In February, they returned to Chu and attacked Xiangyang (see the battle of Xiangyang). Yang Sichang committed suicide. Luo Rucai left Li Baicheng because of disagreement. Zhang Jun was defeated in Xinyang and transferred to Anhui. During the fourteen to sixteen years, Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng three times (see the battle of Kaifeng), wiped out the main forces of loyalists five times and attacked Xiangyang. The battle of Ruzhou wiped out Sun Chuanting's main force: breaking through Tongguan, entering An, occupying the whole territory of Qin and Gansu and the Xishan area of Shanxi, and incorporating most of the trilateral loyalists. At this time, Zhang has also captured Hanyang and Wuchang. The strategic situation has undergone a qualitative change, and the peasant army began to turn into a strategic offensive. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, Li Zicheng entered Beijing after establishing Dashun regime in Xi 'an. He entered Shanxi in February, only in the first world war of Ningwu, that is, breaking Taiyuan and other places. In March, Datong, Fu Xuan and Juxi successively fell and were forced to the capital at the gates. 17, three loyalist battalions fell first. On the 18th, the eunuch guarding the city opened the door to offer the city. 19, the imperial city was breached, and Zhu Youjian hanged himself. The rule of the Ming Dynasty was finally overthrown by the peasant uprising. In August of the same year, Zhang captured Chengdu and established the Daxi regime.
After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he was faced with the situation of how to eliminate the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, the strongest of which was Wu Sangui, the general of Ningyuan who occupied Shanhaiguan. Wu Sangui should have surrendered to Dashun. At the beginning of April, he suddenly heard that Dashun Army arrested Minister Ming Xunqi in Beijing, tortured him to help pay for it, and his family was detained. After that, he beat Tang Tong away, deployed defense, and asked the Qing army for soldiers outside the customs. Unite with the Qing army to suppress the insurgents. In April, Li Zicheng led an army to attack Wu Sangui and fought fiercely in Shanhaiguan (see the Battle of Shanhaiguan). Under the joint attack of Manchu and Han armies, Li Zicheng failed and retreated to Beijing. On the 29th, he hastily proclaimed himself emperor, achieved great success in founding the country, and withdrew from Beijing the next day. After Li Zicheng returned to Beijing, he made a strategic retreat in a planned way and entered Xi 'an via Pingyang and Hancheng in Shanxi. In the first year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (1644), the Qing army divided its forces and attacked Xi 'an in winter. In February of the following year, Tongguan fell, and Li Zicheng entered Wuchang from Xi 'an via Xiangyang. In May, Li Zicheng was attacked by a landlord in Nanjiugong Mountain, Tongshan County, Hubei Province, and died heroically. In the third year of Shunzhi (1646), the Qing army entered Sichuan from southern Shaanxi and attacked the Daxi army. Zhang left Chengdu in July the following year, went north to fight the Qing army, and died in Phoenix Mountain (now the north of Nanxi County, Sichuan Province) in November. After Li Zicheng and Zhang died, the rest of the peasant army continued to fight. Dashun peasant army is divided into two roads, one led by Hao and Liu Tichun, and its activities are in the east of Dongting Lake. Another route is led by Gao, whose activity scope is west of Dongting Lake. Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo led the peasant army of Daxi to Sichuan and Guizhou, and persisted in the struggle against Qing Dynasty. The Qing army concentrated its forces to suppress the insurgents and died. Gao, Liu Tichun and Hao died, fell, and Li Dingguo was defeated. By the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), the remnants of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty had completely failed.
After more than 30 years of repeated contests between the peasant uprising army and the Ming and Qing armies at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it overthrew the Ming Dynasty and hit the Qing Dynasty, which played an important role in the history of China peasant war. The most typical tactic of peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty was mobile warfare, which had great advantages. The rebel army moved at the wind and was inseparable, which made the Ming army exhausted. Although the Ming army is superior in number, it is often defeated because of the contradiction between the governor and the military attache, the political and military corruption, and the army has no fighting capacity. In specific battles, it is often only a fraction of the rebel army. The peasant uprising army used the strategic strategy properly, and Mianchi broke through and completed the strategic shift. Later, from mobile warfare to positional warfare, we avoided unfavorable conditions and turned passivity into initiative. The rebel army has strict military discipline and strong fighting capacity, which is in sharp contrast with the Ming army. However, the lessons of the failure of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty are also very profound. Like all failed peasant uprisings, it has no far-sighted strategic vision (such as Chen Guang Uprising, Greenwood Uprising, Red Eyebrow Uprising, Yellow Scarf Peasant Uprising, Late Sui Peasant Uprising, Huang Chao Uprising, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement). After entering Beijing, military leaders were corrupted in thought, mishandled in politics, relaxed in military discipline and reduced in fighting capacity, and were defeated by the Ming and Qing armies. But the soldiers of the peasant army are not afraid of sacrifice, and their revolutionary spirit and unyielding revolutionary integrity inspire future generations.