The seventh person, the traitor Hong Chengchou in the late Ming Dynasty, 74 in force, 94 in command, 95 in intelligence, and 92 in politics;

In the twenty-first year of Wanli (1593), Hong Chengchou was born in Nan'anyingdu, Quanzhou, Fujian. He studied at the Xiyi Museum as a child. Due to his poor family, he dropped out of school at the age of 11 and helped his mother make dried tofu at home.

At that time, Hong Qiyin, a talented son of Xixuan Changfang, ran a village school in Shuigou Pavilion, and Hong Chengchou often listened to lectures outside the school hall in addition to selling dried tofu, and occasionally helped students make pairs. Hong Qiyin found that Hong Chengchou was extremely talented and ambitious, so he accepted Hong Chengchou as an apprentice for free and returned to school.

Hong Chengchou studied hard and read a lot of books. Hong Qiyin's "Historical Records", "Zizhi Tongjian", "Three Kingdoms", "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and other books were borrowed by him to study carefully, and he showed his desire to govern the country and level the world since he was a child, which was greatly appreciated by Hong Qiyin. Hong Qiyin once commented in an article by Hong Chengchou that "the family is thousands of miles, and the country is ten thousand stones". After Hong Chengchou studied in the Shuigou Museum for five years, he went to Quanzhou Chengbei School to study.

In the forty-third year of Wanli (1615), 23-year-old Hong Chengchou went to the province to participate in the township examination, and was the nineteenth person in the Chinese style of the Yimao Branch. In the forty-fourth year of Wanli (1616), Hong Chengchou went to Beijing to take the examination, and even Jiedengke, who was the fourteenth in the second class of the Bingchen Branch Palace, was born as a Jinshi.

Hong Chengchou was first appointed as the director of the Jiangxi Qing Officials Department of the Criminal Department, and served in the Criminal Department for six years. In the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), he was promoted to Zhejiang to study and study, and the talents selected were all handsome and strange, and they were valued by the imperial court. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Hong Chengchou was promoted to the Senate of Shaanxi Province.

In July of the first year of Chongzhen (1628), a peasant uprising broke out in northern Shaanxi. The Ming court ordered Yang He, the governor of the three sides, to "suppress and appease at the same time, and focus on appeasement".

In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the peasant army Wang Zuohang and Miao Mei led troops to attack Hancheng. Yang He, the governor of Shaanxi, had no generals in his hands, and in a hurry, he ordered Hong Chengchou, who was still participating in politics at that time, to lead his troops to battle. Hong Chengchou killed 300 enemy soldiers, relieved the siege of Hancheng, and immediately became famous.

In June 1630 (the third year of Chongzhen), Hong Chengchou was appointed as the governor of Yansui. Wang Zuo surrendered and rebelled, and was killed by Hong Chengchou. As a cadre under Yang He, he should have supported his boss's appeasement policy, but Hong Chengchou vigorously suppressed the bandits. And not only to suppress the bandits, but also to kill and surrender. At that time, tens of thousands of surrendered rogues were killed by him.

In fact, if you read the history of the "thief army" at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to find that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have deceived and surrendered many times, and then rebelled after recuperating for a period of time. The Ming Dynasty repeatedly suppressed the "thief army" without dying, and it was because of this kind of deception. It can be seen that Hong Chengchou was quite prescient in this regard. The Ming court was unable to feed a large number of hungry people, and they had already appeased those who rose again. Soon he and the general soldier Du Wenhuan defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Qingjian County.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Yang He, the governor of the three sides, was dismissed and imprisoned, and Hong Chengchou succeeded him as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi. Hong Chengchou changed Yang He's policy of "suppressing and appeasing (luring and surrendering)" to "excavating and suppressing with all efforts" and "suppressing and appeasing with strength, first suppressing and then appeasement", and concentrated his forces to attack the Shaanxi peasant army.

In the spring of the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), a peasant army broke through to Qingyang because it could not withstand the pressure of the official army. Hong Chengchou personally went to Qingyang, commanded the battle, and encircled and suppressed the peasant army together with the general soldiers Cao Wenzhao and He Huchen. The two sides fought fiercely dozens of times in Western Australia, the peasant army suffered heavy losses, the leader Ke Tianfei was killed, and the general Bai Guangen surrendered. Cao Wenzhao also suppressed the thieves in Yaozhou Awl Mountain, the thieves killed the lone wolf and surrendered, Hong Chengchou ordered the slaughter of 400 people, and the rest were dismissed.

In the winter of the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), the peasant army moved to northern Chu, western Henan, where the Ming army was weak, with Yunyang as the center, and its divisions were interspersed between Henan, Chu, Sichuan and Shaanxi, carrying out guerrilla mobile operations. In order to change the passive situation, Hong Chengchou surrounded the central area of the uprising with heavy troops and carried out key attacks, and Gao Yingxiang's righteous army was successively defeated in Queshan, Zhuxian Town (now southwest of Kaifeng City, Henan) and other places, and was forced to move to the western mountainous area. In order to change the passive situation of "different powers and mutual wait-and-see", the Ming court changed to the policy of "concentrating troops and comprehensively encircling and suppressing".

In December of the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), Ming Sizong Zhu Youzhen removed Chen Qiyu, who failed to encircle and suppress, and Hong Chengchou still served as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, but with the title of prince Taibao and the secretary of the military department, the governor of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan provinces, became the main military commander of the Ming court to suppress the peasant uprising. When he mobilized the official army into Shaanxi and reorganized the siege, there were more than 200,000 peasant troops gathered in Shaanxi at that time, among which Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, and his subordinate Li Zicheng were the most powerful. Hong Chengchou ordered the general soldiers He Renlong and Zuo Guang to send troops to attack first, and the righteous army broke through the siege and went east, turning into Lingbao and Bishui (both in Henan).

In January of the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), Hong Chengchou led the main force out of Tongguan and prepared to carry out large-scale military encirclement and suppression of the rebel army in Xinyang, Henan. Seeing that the situation was not good, the peasant army rushed back to Shaanxi, Zhang Xianzhong also plundered Fengxiang, and Gao Yingxiang converged, and the deputy generals of the Ming Dynasty Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen were killed. Cao Wenzhao suppressed bandits from Ningzhou, and his general Cao Bianjiao defeated the peasant army in Hutou Town, and was ambushed by the pursuit of victory, Hong Chengchou could not be rescued, and Cao Wenzhao committed suicide and died. Hong Chengchou's jurisdiction was too wide and difficult to take into account, so Lu Xiangsheng was the prime minister of Jiangbei, Henan, Shanxi, and Chuanhu military affairs, and managed the Ming army outside the Guan, while Hong Chengchou was in charge of the soldiers in the Guan.

At this time, the Qing army entered the border, broke Changping 16 cities, and Zhu Youzhen urgently transferred Lu Xiangsheng to lead the army to help, and the pressure on the Central Plains was reduced. Zhang Xianzhong took the opportunity to recover, united with Luo Rucai and other more than 200,000 people, marched eastward along the river, and scattered activities in Qizhou and Huoshan.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Zhu Youzhen ordered Xiong Wencan to be the governor of the five provinces, and sent an additional 1,200 forbidden troops to organize a new encirclement and suppression. Li Zicheng marched into Sichuan, once broke more than ten cities, and conquered Ningzhou and Qiangzhou in Gansu, and entered the Qipan Pass, but when he returned to Shaanxi in the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), he was attacked by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting's army in the Taohe area, and was defeated in Minzhou. At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong was also defeated by Zuo Liangyu's army in Nanyang, and was wounded and retreated to Gucheng. Xiong Wencan then changed the encirclement and suppression to appeasement. Liu Guoneng, Zhang Tianlin, Zhang Xianzhong, and Luo Rucai successively descended or were caresed. Li Zicheng led the remnants of the army to operate in the mountainous areas on the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi.

In October of the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), Li Zicheng, the last "thief army" in Shaanxi, was intercepted by Hong Chengchou and Zuo Guangxian on the way to the route. Li Zicheng returned to the east of the division, Hong Chengchou ordered Cao Bianjiao Pass to set up an ambush to invite attack, Li Zicheng was defeated, and only 18 horses were left to enter the Shangluo Mountain in southern Shaanxi, and the peasant uprising fell into a low ebb.

In September of the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), the Qing army went south on two roads, and the Beijing division was under martial law. The Ming Dynasty, which was attacked on both sides, had to transfer the commander Hong Chengchou from the Western Front and lead the army with Sun Chuanting to defend it. In the autumn of that year, Huang Taiji led his troops to capture Yizhou and used it as a base to launch a siege of Jinzhou. Emperor Chongzhen also tried his best to strengthen the defense of Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou.

At the beginning of the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), Hong Chengchou was transferred to the governor of Jiliao, led the Shaanxi soldiers to the east, and joined forces with the two towns of Shanhaiguan Make and Ningyuan Wu Sangui. Jinzhou has three cities, Songshan, Xingshan and Tashan, which are horns of each other.

In the winter of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), the Qing army attacked Jinzhou and Ningyuan, and Hong Chengchou sent troops to help, but was defeated in Tashan and Xingshan.

In the spring of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), in order to save the crisis in Liaodong, the Ming court sent Hong Chengchou to lead the Xuanfu general soldier Yang Guozhu, the Datong general soldier Wang Pu, the Miyun general soldier Tang Tong, the Jizhou general soldier Bai Guangen, the Yutian general soldier Cao Bianjiao, the Shanhaiguan general soldier Ma Ke, the former tun guard general soldier Wang Tingchen, the Ningyuan general soldier Wu Sangui and other so-called eight general soldiers and horses, led 130,000 elite soldiers and 40,000 horses to help, gathered Ningyuan, and fought with the Qing soldiers.

In March, Huang Taiji sent troops to adopt the policy of besieging Jinzhou for a long time, which was bound to be defeated. Hong Chengchou advocated slowly approaching Jinzhou, setting up camp step by step, fighting and defending, and not fighting lightly. However, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, promoted the war, and when Emperor Chongzhen also wanted to hold on to it, he adopted the policy of quick battle and quick resolution. In August, Huang Taiji learned that the Ming reinforcements had arrived, so he personally led a large army from Shengjing to come to help, stationed between Songshan and Xingshan, and deployed in the south of the Ming army.

Hong Chengchou advocated a decisive battle to the death, while the commanders of the various ministries advocated retreating south, and finally gathered to break through the mountain. In the end, tens of thousands of people collapsed. In January of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Hong Chengchou heard that the imperial court reinforcements had arrived, and sent 6,000 men and horses out of the city to attack at night, but were defeated by the Qing army. Songshan has been besieged for half a year, the food in the city is exhausted, Songshan deputy general Xia Chengde asked the Qing army, willing to take his son Xia Shu as a hostage to surrender.

In March, the Qing army was invited to attack at night, Songshan City was broken, Hong Chengchou and Governor Qiu Minyang were captured, and the general Cao Bianjiao and other generals were killed. After Hong Chengchou was captured, Zu Dashou, the general of Jinzhou, walked out of the inner city and led the crowd to surrender. Tashan and Xingshan also fell into the hands of the Qing army one after another, and the Jinning defense line of the Ming army actually ceased to exist.

Hong Chengchou went on a hunger strike for several days and refused to surrender. Huang Taiji sent all the people who could be used to persuade him to surrender, but they were all scolded and returned. Huang Taiji still did not give up, and Fan Wencheng, the most favored official of the Ministry of Justice, went to persuade him to surrender to see if he had the determination to die unyieldingly. Fan Wencheng arrived, Hong Chengchou roared loudly, and Fan Wencheng endured in every possible way, did not mention the matter of surrendering, talked with him about the past and the present, and at the same time quietly observed the words and feelings.

During the conversation, a piece of dust fell from the beam and fell on Hong Chengchou's clothes. Hong Chengchou was talking while "wiping it repeatedly". Fan Wencheng remained silent, said goodbye, and replied to Taizong: "Cheng Chou is immortal." Cheng Chou still cherishes the robe, but what about his body? Huang Taiji accepted the professional opinions of Fan Wencheng, Zhang Cunren and others, and took care of Hong Chengchou with kindness and courtesy. The next day (May 4), Huang Taiji came to the temple in person, and Hong Chengchou stood without kneeling. Huang Taiji asked for warmth, and saw that Hong Chengchou's clothes were thin, so he immediately took off his mink fur and draped it on Hong Chengchou's body.

After Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Qing Taizong ordered him to be subordinate to the Yellow Banner Han Army, which was generous to him on the surface, but in fact did not relax his precautions against him, so that he was at home and was not allowed to enter and leave at will. In the end of the Taiji Dynasty, in addition to consulting, he did not hold an official position.

On the ninth day of the first month of April in the first year of Shunzhi (1644), Hong Chengchou led an army of 100,000 from the Prince of Rui Dolgon to attack the Ming Dynasty, and went to the Liaohe River on the 11th.

After the Qing soldiers entered Beijing, Emperor Shunzhi attached great importance to Hong Chengchou, and appointed him as the crown prince Taibao, the secretary of the military department and the right capital of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty, and entered the inner court to manage military affairs, awarded the secretary of the academy of scholars, and became the first Han prime minister of the Qing Dynasty.

In May of the second year of Shunzhi (1645), Duoduo led his division to capture Nanjing, and Dolgon issued a "head shaving order" to provoke the people of Jiangnan to revolt. In the midst of the crisis, Dolgon hurriedly sent Hong Chengchou to replace Duo in the sixth month of the leap month, and gave him a cheap deal.

In the fourth year of Shunzhi (1647), Hong Chengchou returned to his hometown to guard the system due to the death of his father. In April of the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648), he was summoned to return to Beijing and re-entered the inner courtyard to assist in the maintenance of machinery. The regent Dolgon, who was so pleased with him that he summoned for several days to inquire about the need for reform in all provinces, and all his suggestions were accepted.

In the second month of the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), Hong Chengchou was also in charge of the imperial history of the left capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, and screened the imperial history as the sixth rank, some were raised, some were transferred or transferred, and some were deposed, offending a group of court officials. Yushi Zhang Xuan and others impeached Hong Chengchou and Shangshu Chen Zhixuan repeatedly gathered to discuss the Fire Temple and plot rebellion, and did not ask for an order to send his mother back to Fujian.

Hong Chengchou defended: The assembly of the Fire Temple is to screen the imperial history, etc., and there is no other reason; Sending his mother to his mother without first asking for a decree, he was willing to admit his sin. Edict: "There is no need to suspense in the temple to discuss matters; It is understandable to be willing to commit a crime for relatives. He still stayed in office to see the after-effects. In May of the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), Hong Chengchou's mother was mourned, and he was ordered to live in private and wear clothes as usual.

In the tenth year of Shunzhi (1653), hundreds of thousands of peasant rebels led by Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo attached themselves to Zhu Youlang, the king of the Ming Dynasty, in Yun and Guigui, and there was a new upsurge in the resistance to the Qing Dynasty. In May, Hong Chengchou, who had already served as a scholar of the Inner Hanlin Hongwen Academy, a scholar of the military department and the right deputy of the Imperial History of the Imperial Procuratorate, an assistant to the machine affairs, and concurrently the president of the "Records of Taizong of the Great Qing Dynasty", was appointed as "the Taibao and the prince and the prince, passing through the five provinces of Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, and the governor-general of military affairs and managing food and salary."

At this time, Hong Chengchou was 61 years old, and before leaving, Emperor Shunzhi set up a banquet and gave a BMW and a sword. In May of the twelfth year of Shunzhi (1655), Sun Kewang attacked Yuezhou (now Yueyang, Hunan), set up an ambush for Hong Chengchou and was defeated, and withdrew to Guizhou. In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi (1657), when Hong Chengchou passed through Hunan, he was stationed in the Ming Dynasty Ji Domain's Four Generals' Mansion (now the Youth Palace) in another village, Huangxing North Road, Changsha, and built a Jisi Hall. There is Zhenwu Palace in the east of the department, and the Mingji domain was built. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Zhenwu Palace became a prison for those who "opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty", and the famous scholar Tao Runai was imprisoned here.

Later, because of the case of "Dongting Incident", more than 300 celebrities from Zhulian Lake and Hunan were tried in Zhenwu Palace. It was only when Hong Chengchou went to Changsha that the case was settled. In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi (1657), there was a conflict within King Gui's Yongli regime, and Sun Kewang was defeated in the civil war with Li Dingguo, and he was destitute and surrendered. On the one hand, Emperor Shunzhi ordered Hong Chengchou to lead his troops to advance, and on the other hand, he ordered Wu Sangui, the general of Pingxi, to march from Sichuan, and Zhuo Butai, the general of Zhengnan, to march into Guizhou from Guangxi. In February of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), Shizu ordered Doni, the king of Xinjun, to be the general of Anyuan Jingkou and lead the army to the south. In September, the Qing soldiers entered Yunnan from all directions.

In the first month of the sixteenth year of Shunzhi (1659), the Qing army captured Kunming and Yunnan was pacified. Hong Chengchou Shangshu said that Yunnan is far away, there are many ethnic minorities, and it is not easy to govern, so it is necessary to leave troops in the town, so Shunzhi took Wu Sangui as the king of Pingxi and stayed in Kunming. Seeing the barren people in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, he asked for relief from the internal treasury to help the poor, and suggested that the march to the remnants of King Gui, who had fled to Burma, be postponed, so that the social order in the Yunnan-Guizhou region after the war gradually stabilized and production began to recover. In August, Hong Chengchou asked to return to Beijing due to old age and frailty and aggravated eye disease; In the first month of the following year, he was relieved and returned to Beijing for recuperation.

In the first month of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), Emperor Shunzhi died, and his son Xuanye (Kangxi) became the heir. At this time, Hong Chengchou was 69 years old and still a university scholar, but he felt lonely and took a break in May. After several debates in the imperial court, Kangxi awarded the third-class Adaha Haha Fanmu (Qingche Duwei) hereditary fourth.

On February 18, the fourth year of Kangxi (1665), Hong Chengchou died in the private residence of Dumen at the age of seventy-three.