The main purpose of Emperor Kangxi's withdrawal from the vassal was to strengthen centralized rule, because these powerful vassal kings formed an antagonistic relationship with the central government. For the sake of the long-term stability of the Qing empire, Emperor Kangxi, after careful consideration, formally implemented the strategy of withdrawing vassals. However, this exit was too sudden and a bit hasty. King Geng of Jingnan and King Shangkexi of Heping knew the intention of the imperial court and offered to retire from their hometown, but Wu Sangui, the king of the day, had to do so.
Although Wu Sangui asked to withdraw the bannermen, in fact, his actual purpose was to let the imperial court retain its own power. Of course, Emperor Kangxi was very clear about Wu Sangui's intentions. Kangxi knew that Wu Sangui would withdraw and oppose it, and he would oppose it if he did not withdraw. In this case, it is better to make plans early, so at least he still holds the initiative. Facts have proved that Kangxi was correct. In November of the same year, Wu Sangui killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan Province, claiming to be the "King of Zhou", who always led the marshal of the world's waterways, and put forward the slogan of "prospering Ming as Lu", and rose up!
Wu Sangui, King of the Day.
Wu Sangui has been operating in Yunnan for many years. After he started fighting, the whole southwest region soon fell into his hands. In addition, Geng, king of Jingnan, and Shang Kexi, king of Heping South, immediately responded to Wu Sangui's call and joined the rebel army, which was called "San Francisco Rebellion" in history.
In addition, many armed forces outside San Francisco also participated, such as Wang of Shaanxi, Rosen and Sun Tingling of Guangxi, Cai Lu of Hebei, Zheng Jiaolin, Wu Zhimao of Sichuan and so on. At this time, Wu Sangui's power became extremely powerful, and the form at this time was the most favorable for Wu Sangui. But in the end, Wu Sangui came to a tragic end.
So, how did Wu Sangui fail step by step under favorable conditions? The author attributed the reasons to four points.
San Francisco Rebellion in the Early Qing Dynasty
First, the strategic thinking is wrong. In other words, Wu Sangui could have won, or at least rowed the Yangtze River or the Yellow River for defense. If this is the case, then a new confrontation between the north and the south will reappear in history. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The main problem is that Wu Sangui has not won a stable military victory, and even some victories have not lasted.
His military failure was mainly caused by the mistakes of Wu Sangui's strategic thought.
As we know, the source of Wu Sangui's uprising was "Yunnan", and he quickly went straight to the south bank of the Yangtze River after the uprising. According to the truth, he should cross the river quickly before the Qing army gathers its troops. Entering the Yellow River basin, thus cutting off the grain transportation in the southeast, and calling on the former officials north of the Yellow River to respond. As long as the official response, people will naturally actively participate. At this time, the Manchu regime could be isolated. Then he will soon be able to go to Beijing and force Kangxi to abdicate.
Unfortunately, Wu Sangui didn't do it. Wu Sangui didn't attack, but chose to stop in Hunan.
This provided sufficient time for the Qing army to assemble. Wu Sangui has fallen into the abyss of conservatism militarily, and the negative defense policy has caused the morale of the troops to plummet. At this time, Kangxi took the first step to stabilize the Yangtze River defense line, resisted Wu Sangui's military pressure, attacked from the two wings, one by one, and finally concentrated all his forces to attack Hunan.
But Wu Sangui didn't realize it. At this time, Wu Jun was like a fish on a chopping board, being slaughtered by the Qing army.
Second, I don't know how to master the plan of fighter Kangxi. If this plan can be strictly implemented, it will not take seven years to quell the San Francisco rebellion. But the problem is that most of the coaches and generals appointed by Kangxi were cowards, and they didn't dare to attack Wu Jun at all, so they shirked and delayed the March for various reasons.
Originally, this was a huge fighter plane in Wu Sangui. If he can seize this golden opportunity in time, he will win soon. But he didn't make good use of it and lost such a precious soldier in vain.
Third, apart from his original headquarters, Wu Sangui's politically dispersed military groups include Geng, Sun Tingling, Wang and Zheng Maozhi. But these are only superficial alliances. In fact, they all have their own ideas. Wu Sangui later proclaimed himself emperor, and his title was not recognized by these military groups.
So in this way, the Wu Sangui Legion and the various alliance legions failed to form a centralized and unified command, but you hit you and I hit me. This is also an important reason for his failure.
An important plan to quell the rebellion in San Francisco
Fourth, personal factors Wu Sangui is a capricious person. Before taking refuge in the Qing Dynasty, he was the general commander of Shanhaiguan in the Ming Dynasty. But seeing that the Ming Dynasty was about to perish, Wu Sangui also found a funny reason to let the Qing army in and personally led troops to counterattack the Nanming regime. But not long after, he started the anti-Qing war as a general of the Ming Dynasty.
Wu Sangui is what kind of person, his allies also naturally know. Therefore, although Wu Sangui had great strength when he started the war, even Kangxi was no match for him, but such strength was obviously hollow. It is only strong on the surface, but in fact it is fragmented inside. One of the reasons why allies have different ideas is Wu Sangui's changeable personality!
Emperor Kangxi statue
Summary: Wu Sangui was very powerful before he started his army. If Wu Sangui can make good use of this powerful force, it is not impossible to fight in both capital city. If used wisely, the Qing dynasty is likely to be replaced. But unfortunately, history has no ifs, and all this is the general trend of history. Wu Sangui alone cannot change it.
Of course, there are many reasons for Wu Sangui's failure. In addition to the above four reasons, there are actually many others. But what we need to know is that Wu Sangui's failure is the result of many reasons, and none of them can play a leading role!