At this time, the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. Can Wu Can, San Gui, 30,000 Guan Ning fighters block Li Zicheng's millions of Dashun troops? Wu Sangui should live and die with the Ming Dynasty. And even if you die, should you rush over? The imperial edict was sacred and inviolable, so he led his troops to Beijing. Li Zicheng quickly captured Beijing. Chongzhen committed suicide and the capital changed hands. At this time, who should Wu Sangui be loyal to? Wu Sangui's military strength is only tens of thousands.
He had three choices at that time.
One, lead the troops back to Beijing, strive to recapture the descendants of Ming Chengzu, then rely on their own military talents to keep one side's territory, and then hold the power for a while and reach the peak of personal politics. But the first question is: Can he beat Li Zicheng? There are too many differences in military strength. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty was eyeing the Commissioner, and he was caught between Scylla and Charybdis in Wu Sangui. Is this possible? If you want to live, you must fight against Dashun, even against Dashun. Otherwise, you will die.
Second, surrender to Manchu. Switch immediately and join hands with Manchu to attack Li Zicheng. Why didn't Wu Sangui do it? This is also obvious. Wu Sangui can't bear the name of traitors. Besides, Wu Sangui knew the decay of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng had strict military discipline and had the intention of surrendering.
Third, surrender to Li Zicheng. To be honest, it is not easy to do this. Wu Sansan is the satrap of Daming, who has just been destroyed. He didn't want to serve the country, for fear of attracting a lot of criticism, and immediately went to the "anti-thief". But from a strategic point of view, it is impossible to choose between Scylla and Charybdis, and it is impossible not to cope with such great changes in China. Since the option of surrendering to the Manchu Dynasty was ruled out, it naturally fell on Li Zicheng. After all, we are all Han Chinese, which can guarantee that the country will not be invaded by foreign enemies, and it is also an explanation for ourselves and the families of soldiers in Beijing. Wu Sangui is a big star. He saw that in such a situation, defected to Li Zicheng is the best choice. It is said that Wu Sangui handed over Shanhaiguan to Dashun Army, and led his troops to Beijing to meet Li Zicheng. However, Li Zicheng let Wu Sangui down. On the way back to Beijing, Wu Sangui heard the news that Li Zicheng's men rushed into his private house, seized his property, robbed his family and took away his beloved concubine Chen Yuanyuan. Wu Sangui flew into a rage. Judging from this news, Wu Sangui can understand that Li Zicheng turned a deaf ear to Wu Sangui's kindness, and this unfriendly attitude made Wu Sangui unable to trust Li Zicheng. Imagine losing Wu Sangui's family, let alone those of the border guards. Suddenly, the enemies of the country and the family became one. Wu Sangui immediately returned to Shanhaiguan and began to contact Dourgen in Qing Dynasty, with the intention of saving the country by borrowing troops. Soon, Li Zicheng's army attacked Shanhaiguan, and the Qing Dynasty unexpectedly attacked Li Zicheng and defeated Li Zicheng. Qing soldiers naturally entered Beijing and established the Qing Dynasty.
If analyzed in fact, is Wu Sangui really a red face?
Chen Yuanyuan was bought by Wu Sangui and has arrived in Ningyuan in the south of Jinzhou, which is now Xingcheng. When Li Zicheng entered Beijing, Chen Yuanyuan was no longer in Beijing, but in Ningyuan. But Wu Sangui's parents and family (about 30 people) are still in Beijing. Don't Wu Sangui want to think about the lives of his parents and his family? Isn't Wu Sangui thinking about the Millennium honor? Is it possible to be a traitor just for a prostitute? No Moreover, in ancient times, filial piety to parents was much higher than today. Today, we regard Manchu as a brotherly nation, but not in the Ming Dynasty. There is national opposition between the Ming regime represented by Han nationality and the Qing regime represented by Manchu! At that time, people who didn't talk about brothers were uncomfortable. Is it true that Wu Sangui, a Han Chinese, was bullied by Liu Zongmin as a prostitute, regardless of his parents, and his relatives were killed at the age of 30, which is still a thousand years' honor and has fallen into the name of a traitor? Do you think he will? This is a very simple question. In feudal times, it was a great shame for you to take away his wife. You want to take away his aunt, which is not a problem, and you can even give it away. I'll give it to you if I like it, so there is a saying that "I can change horses." I took a fancy to a good horse, which is very good. I have no money to buy it. Ok, change concubines. If Wu Sangui really knew that Liu Zongmin had robbed him of Chen Yuanyuan, the rich boy was born as a company commander, the black sheep in his twenties, and he would think, forget it, give him Chen Yuanyuan to Liu Zongmin. On the other hand, if Wu Sangui is really a traitor, then Liu Zongmin and Li Zicheng will flatter him and give him a generous gift from Chen Yuanyuan. This problem is easy to handle. There are many profound reasons for this war. Political reasons, class reasons, military reasons ... historians of science should explore the essence of things from these reasons. Only an idealist will let go of the essence of this period of history and attribute such a big life-and-death struggle to a concubine. This truth is untenable, what's more, Chen Yuanyuan is not in Beijing at this time.
On the other hand, when Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, Chongzhen was a respectable man. His personality and tragic character prompted him to decide that he would not run away as long as someone objected. According to China's words since the Spring and Autumn Period, it is called "the country where the monarch dies". It is orthodox for a country's emperor and king to die for their country. What do the garrison troops rely on not to escape? Only by Beijing's army? Beijing's army is corrupt and unable to fight. Only Wu Sangui's elite soldiers can, which determines the transfer of Wu Sangui's army. As soon as Wu Sangui's army changed its tune, the Great Wall was given. What if you don't give up? Some people have made a high-profile statement that this city cannot give up the land left by its ancestors, and this city will be scolded by future generations. Chongzhen wavered again. Yes, since I am a wise emperor, I can't give up a piece of land in the northeast. Later, I had no choice but to switch to Wu Sangui. This place has been abandoned, and everyone should be taken to the mountain pass. As soon as Wu Sangui set out, he took hundreds of thousands of people behind him, which is said to be 500,000 people. Maybe there are not so many figures, walking dozens of miles a day. Ordinary people don't take so much, so they are suitable to move forward. Wu Sangui is dominated by cavalry, and will arrive in Beijing in a few days. If Wu Sangui had arrived in Beijing, Li Zicheng would never have succeeded in attacking Beijing, but Wu Sangui left his hometown with hundreds of thousands of ordinary people and walked dozens of miles a day, which delayed the time. Li Zicheng to Juyongguan, Wu Sangui to Shanhaiguan, so far. Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, which was impossible to prevent, and entered Beijing on the 3rd. And Wu Sangui himself went to yutian county, and it was so far. It's very serious. We can't move forward. Beijing has been occupied and there is no way out. Outside Shanhaiguan, it was occupied by Qing army. Together with ordinary people, he has more than fifty thousand elite soldiers. Where do the materials come from? With the emperor here, there are ways to replenish supplies, but without the emperor, what should we do? So Wu Sangui lost the choice of advance and retreat at this moment. In this situation, he refused to surrender to Li Zicheng. Why not? We must solve this problem first. Wu Sangui's father is the company commander, and Wu Sangui tenderness is the company commander. The company commander is a general, a first-class officer and a first-class officer. Wu Sangui's uncle had several company commanders, and his uncle Zu Dashou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. His relatives, friends and uncles formed an armed group in the northeast. Wu Sangui's family is called a military commander's family. He is a military commander from generation to generation. His father is a company commander. When he was old, he became a company commander. This family is at odds with "rogue" Li Zicheng. So some people say that Wu Sangui originally wanted to surrender to Li Zicheng. Later, he heard that Chen Yuanyuan was taken away by Liu Zongmin, and he didn't surrender. He did not study the class situation and class struggle at that time. He was a general of the Ming dynasty for two generations, and there were squadron leaders, deputy squadron leaders, guerrilla generals and so on under the company commanders. These are even more, forming an armed group that belongs to Ming Chengzu. Of course, he refused to surrender. He didn't write to Dashun Emperor saying that he would surrender, and Dashun Emperor sent someone to handle it. Why? He wants to find out, because he has no base, no rear, and no military and financial resources. At this time, there is a good topic of political hype: if he can get the prince, support him to ascend to the throne and call on the whole world to support him, he will be one of the greatest heroes in reviving the Ming Dynasty. At that time, he asked for the prince, but this time he didn't come because he asked for the Qing army.
Let's put this end down for a while and talk about the third end and the Qing soldiers. Things are complicated. The first emperor of the Qing Dynasty was called Nurhachi. After the death of Nurhachi, the second generation emperor was called Huang Taiji, who was the emperor shunzhi's father, that is, the Qing Emperor Taizong. They are all Manchu, especially Huang Taiji, who poses the greatest threat to China. Looking at this issue from the perspective of the Chinese nation today, Huang Taiji is a hero and has made great contributions to the Chinese nation. It turns out that Manchu, a country with a place, a city and a small town in the north, is completely a tribal society. Through Huang Taiji, Manchuria was unified, and through him, most parts of Mongolia were unified. He unified the chaotic tribes in the north into a whole and brought them into the territory of China, so Huang taiji contributed a lot. Manchu was originally a nomadic tribe, which evolved into a slave society and gradually entered a feudal society. Huang taiji played a very important role. Of course, this is not desirable. He occupied Korea, so he went to war with the Ming Dynasty. A lot of food comes from North Korea, and some ships come from North Korea. Huang taiji died suddenly in August and September of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, leaving no will, which caused an internal power struggle. Dourgen is 28 years old and a big shot. Dourgen was advised to be emperor. Because he is Huang taiji's younger brother, he refuses to do it. He dealt a heavy blow to those who wanted to catch the emperor, killing several people and supporting Shunzhi as emperor. Shunzhi was a 6-year-old child at that time and supported him as emperor. The three became the king of Fuzheng. He is Wang Zhiyi, assistant minister, but this man is very skilled and has an army. Eight Banners, his three brothers took two flags, and Huang Taiji left one. He has an absolute advantage in strength and supports 6-year-old children to inherit the throne. As a result, he soon changed from the assistant king to the regent king. The name has changed dramatically, and he can truly represent the emperor. His position is gradually rising. After entering Beijing, he was the Regent's Uncle, and the word "Regent's Uncle" was added before the Regent. In fact, this street is equal to the emperor's father, the Regent. According to legend, the empress dowager Shunzhi's mother married Dourgen, and the empress dowager married. There are different opinions about whether she will get married or not. Dourgen is very resourceful. Li Zicheng attacked Beijing and immediately mobilized troops to enter the Great Wall. The troops were dispatched. The army deployed two-thirds of its troops from Manchuria and Mongolia to fight for Beijing. After his troops left for a few days, they didn't go from Shanhaiguan, because Shanhaiguan was occupied by Wu Sangui and he couldn't get in. He wants to come in from the west of Shanhaiguan, and now he is looking for the Great Wall in Huaihua area. Many times Manchuria marched from this area and threatened Beijing through the Great Wall. A few days later, they are still moving in this direction. Suddenly received a letter from Wu Sangui, asking the Qing army to send two generals to support him, that is, to borrow soldiers from him. Wu Sangui is borrowing soldiers, not surrendering. The letter reads: Li Zicheng entered Beijing and killed the emperor and queen. I am not strong enough to restore Beijing. Please send troops to help me, drive away Li Zicheng and restore Daming Mountain in the future. We will repay you in terms of land and money. This is Wu Sangui's fantasy. First of all, he wants to give some land to the Commissioner after the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, and then give some money every year, just like the Southern Song Dynasty gave it to the rulers. This is what Wu Sangui thought, that is, the Qing soldiers should not be allowed to enter the customs, and the area should be demarcated from where they entered the Great Wall.
He doesn't think dourgen is so powerful. Upon receiving this letter from Wu Sangui, he immediately decided to attack Shanhaiguan. Why does Dourgen have such a great skill? The first minister who put forward this plan was a Han nationality. Once upon a time, there was a man living in Shenyang, surnamed Fan, who was very capable. In addition, Feng Zhongshou, who helped Dourgen analyze the situation at that time, said that Wu Sangui was in a dilemma and took this opportunity to seize Beijing, but Wu Sangui had a bad attitude and wanted Wu Sangui to surrender. We are here to help the Han people avenge their deception and eliminate hooligans. Wu Sangui was nothing. He ordered the troops to change their route and go straight to Shanhaiguan, followed by artillery and cavalry.
At this point, Li Zicheng's troops also approached Shanhaiguan. When Wu Sangui saw this situation, he stopped borrowing soldiers, so he had to accept Dourgen's terms and welcome him to the customs. If I were Wu Sangui's aide, I would have a style of play. If Shanhaiguan can't hold on, retreat south to Tianjin or a little further south, you can represent the Ming Dynasty and call on the Han nationality and thousands of people across the country to restore Beijing. If you don't surrender your independence, it will become a confrontational situation. Well, further, Li Zicheng won't be busy holding the enthronement ceremony because Wu Sangui doesn't surrender. The date is pushed again and again. Later, he felt that this matter must be solved, and the more it was delayed, the more inappropriate it was. Only then did he decide to lead troops into the customs. At this time, someone stopped him. First, military adviser Song Xiance advised him not to go. He once said: "Your Majesty's going is not good for your Majesty; Wu Sangui is not good for Wu Sangui. " Don't let him leave Beijing. Where is this truth? Why is Wu Sangui so determined? Because he was a general in the Ming Dynasty, it is very important not to ignore the feudal name of Zhongjun. After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he made mistakes in strategy and strategy. Strategically, I arrested many officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty and tortured them for money. This practice is very bad. To enter the capital, we must first let the capital settle down. As for how to deal with these people in the future, take your time. Once in Beijing, everyone will feel insecure, including many places around Beijing. This is different from the world. There has been no such thing since ancient times.
You see, Han and Liu Bang entered Xianyang, the first step was to stabilize the situation, and the Tang Dynasty entered Chang 'an to ease contradictions and struggles. Zhu Yuanzhang came to Nanjing to ease the struggle and invite local celebrities to visit. As soon as Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he arrested people, tortured them for money, and some of them were killed. It's not like building the world. Many people were afraid of him at that time. Of course Wu Sangui was scared. Now you want me to surrender. After I surrender, aren't you the same?
Most of Li Zicheng's troops are from Shaanxi, and Shaanxi people are proud of themselves. They thought Lao Tzu was the master of the country, and you later surrendered. This has been shown in the attitude towards the troops of the Tang Dynasty. Of course Wu Sangui heard about it. This is a policy mistake. There is a serious mistake in strategy. Many books say that Li Zicheng has 200,000 troops in Beijing, which is a boast. The ancients used their troops badly, boasted and bluffed. How many people went to Beijing, 60,000 people, why not bring more? There are two reasons. First, I didn't estimate the strength of the Qing soldiers. I didn't expect the Qing soldiers to come in. It is no longer the Ming army but the Qing army that will compete with him for the country in the future. This has not been estimated.
Second, Li Zicheng does not have many troops. Legend has it that there are millions of troops. That's bragging. No, there are about hundreds of thousands of troops. This place is so big, south to the border of Hunan, most of Hubei, the whole province of Henan, Shaanxi, and now west of xi to Lanzhou, Ningxia and Qinghai. The troops were scattered around and sent to Shandong, so the troops dispersed. The other is economic conditions. The number of troops and the level of equipment depend on the economic base. In the areas occupied by Li Zicheng, production has never been consolidated and restored, production has been destroyed everywhere, people are starving everywhere, and there is no more money to raise more soldiers and equip them well. 60,000 to 70,000 people went to Beijing, and some of them surrendered on the way. So many horses are similar to Wu Sangui, and there are about 50,000 elite soldiers in Wu Sangui. Because Wu Sangui didn't know Li Zicheng's troops at that time, he always thought that he had 200,000 troops, so Wu Sangui was afraid and had no rear. Shanhaiguan is an ancient city, and Wu Sangui had to borrow soldiers from the Qing Dynasty because of its unfavorable strategic geography. However, Li Zicheng took 60,000 troops to Shanhaiguan, which was very unfavorable in strategy.
If Li Zicheng really brought 200,000 troops to Beijing, he wouldn't quit Beijing immediately after losing the Shanhaiguan War. Beijing can defend the city, not to mention the city. If we can hold the three strategic strongholds in the suburbs for a few months, the result will be very different. You soon lost the capital, and the whole country saw it, alas! You really have no son of heaven. You're finished. So where there is no mutiny, there is also mutiny. Because Beijing is a political city with serious problems, we should not lose Beijing as the political capital. If there are 200,000 troops, you can't lose them. You can continue to defend, because you can send reinforcements one after another. With only 60,000 troops, he will leave 1 10,000 troops, not elite troops, and let Lee Guo keep Beijing. We say that 10000 people are guarding such a big city as Beijing, but there are very few people. Li Zicheng led less than sixty thousand troops to Shanhaiguan, so Song Xiance strongly advised him not to go. He is determined to go. Why is he going? He must leave Beijing at once, and he will collapse to the end. Let's put all our eggs in one basket and fight together. However, he made two preparations. He took Prince Chongzhen with him when he went. He cherishes three boys, the oldest of whom is 16 years old, and the youngest is Wang Yong and Wang Ding, who are only teenagers. He took all three people away. And the captured kings of Jin and Qin. Go with Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, and leave a way out for the negotiation. We have to talk, talk to you, and ease the military confrontation. I didn't do any harm. I was very kind to your father. He didn't kill them, but took them away. This shows that Li Zicheng has prepared two hands, and he will not fight if he can.
Why did Song persuade him not to go? Because there are no successors behind, don't go into it alone. In China, people ask soldiers to go deep and hang them in the air. His rear is in Shaanxi, and there are no allies around Beijing. Although Liu Fangliang's troops are in Baoding, they also guard many places in southern Hebei. If this unit goes to Shanhaiguan, if it is defeated, it will never come back. Without the rear, it is strategically very unfavorable for the army to rest. But knowing that the strategy is unfavorable, I will go. If he withdraws from Beijing now, he will lose politically. Then he will lead this 50,000-60,000-strong army to Shanhaiguan and fight there, regardless of the outcome on the first day. Wu Sangui is very effective, just west of Shanhaiguan, fighting on a stone beach. After a day of fighting, Dourgen's army arrived. In fact, Li Zicheng's information about Dourgen's army is invalid. After playing all night, at dusk, Dourgen arrived a few miles away from Shitan and was stationed in Weiquan City. At this time, Wu Sangui took a group of people to see Dourgen in Weiquancheng. Dourgen was very angry. He regarded Wu Sangui as the future of surrender, and asked him to shave his head, braid his hair and refit Manchu costumes. Soldiers have no time to shave their heads. When they fight tomorrow, they will put a sign on their backs to show that they belong to Wu Sangui.
That night, the Qing army entered the customs. There are about 20 thousand cavalry, and the brigade is still behind. Continue to fight the next day, Li Zicheng didn't know that the Qing army was going to fight and entered Shanhaiguan. At this time, the Qing army was hidden in the Woods behind the battlefield. Li Zicheng didn't know that the war was fierce that day. Wu Sangui tried his best and Li Zicheng tried his best. After playing for a long time, a strange wind suddenly blew, flying sand and stones. The wind blew for a while and then stopped. The Qing army shouted three times, then the cavalry rushed down. At this time, Li Zicheng discovered the emergence of the Qing army and ordered to retreat. He left first. The overall command of this war is Liu Zongmin. In the melee, it is difficult for orders to reach all units. Dashun army was corrupt when it arrived in Beijing, but its fighting capacity was still very strong. Because this order could not reach all the troops, it became a solo operation, with serious casualties and almost total annihilation, and 50,000 to 60,000 people died on the battlefield.