At the same time, Zhu Youzhen vigorously eliminated the eunuchs. In November of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youzhen seized the opportunity to eradicate Wei Zhongxian's wings, leaving Wei Zhongxian in an isolated and helpless situation, and then issued an edict to belittle Wei Zhongxian Fengyang to guard the mausoleum, and ordered him to be arrested. After he hanged himself, he ordered his body to be buried in the river. [7] After that, more than 260 eunuchs were put to death, sent to war, or imprisoned for life, so that the arrogant eunuchs suffered a fatal blow. Redress the wrongs and reactivate the officials who were deposed during the Apocalypse. Yuan Chonghuan was appointed as the secretary of the military department, gave Shang Fang the sword, and entrusted him with the important task of recovering the whole of Liao. [8]

The Elephant of the Dead Country

The drought continued

Since the first year of Chongzhen (1628), there was a great drought in northern China,[9] thousands of miles of red land, and no grass grows. Five years of great famine, six years of great floods, seven years of autumn locusts and great famine, eight years of drought in Xixiang in September, slightly sunny and waterlogged, all the houses are gone. Nine years of drought locusts, ten years of autumn crops are completely gone, and eleven years of summer locusts cover the sky...... Thirteen years of drought...... Fourteen years of drought". Since the Chongzhen Dynasty, there has been a major drought in Shaanxi every year, and many people have been displaced. In May of the second year of Chongzhen, the northern Shaanxi post station was formally negotiated, and Li Zicheng, a post station soldier, was unemployed. In the third year of Chongzhen (1630), Shaanxi was hungry again, and Ma Maocai, the governor of Shaanxi, said in "Beichen Great Hunger" that the people fought for the grass in the mountains, and after the grass was eaten, the bark was peeled and eaten, and the bark was eaten, and they could only eat Guanyin soil, and they died of bloating after the most sloppy, [10] in the sixth year of Chongzhen, "the whole Shaanxi drought locust, Yaozhou, Chengcheng County, more than half of the people died."

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Lu Weiqi, the former military secretary who lived in Henan, wrote to the imperial court: "For several years, the ministers and townships have no years and no hardships, no months and no hardships, and no days and no hardships. Gengwu (Chongzhen three years) drought, Xinwei drought, Renshen drought. There is no grass in the wild, and ten rooms are empty. ...... There are no barking dogs in the village, but they still knock on the door of the conscription, and the trees have cries of cries, sprinkled with the blood of whipping. Huang'ai Chidi, the countryside is a few broken people, white bones and green phosphorus, night after night like hearing ghosts crying. If you want the poor not to become thieves, you will not be able to get them." The drought has led to locust plagues, which have exacerbated the situation. Henan in Chongzhen ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen years have locust drought, "cannibalism, grass and trees, soil and robbers", its hungry people mostly from the "king" Li Zicheng. In the thirteenth and fourteenth years of Chongzhen, "the north and the south are in great wilderness...... The dead abandon the child, and the river is blocked. ”

Plague outbreaks

In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Maodi urged Cao Yun, and said in the middle of the road: "The minister arrived in Linqing from Jinghai, and saw that the people died of hunger three times, three people died of epidemics, and four thieves died. Twenty-four taels of rice, stone and silver, people die to eat. But the Holy Ming remembers. [11] When Xu Biao, the governor of Baoding, was summoned to Beijing, he said: "The minister pushed thousands of miles from the river, and saw that the city fell into a solid emptiness, even if the city was finished, there were only four walls of the city god left, the material resources have been exhausted, the ravages are unrelenting, the road is full of basil, the chickens and dogs are silent, and they have not met a cultivator, and they have become the world of Lu!" At this time, the provinces of North China had another epidemic, and they died in the morning and night. "In one night the people fled and the city was empty",[12]

In July of the 14th year of Chongzhen, the epidemic spread from Hebei to Beijing, the disease was called "pimple disease", and in the 16th year of Chongzhen, nearly 40% of the population of Beijing died, [13] ten rooms and nine empty.

In August of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, there was an outbreak of pneumonic plague in Tianjin: "Heaven sent a disaster, and the plague was epidemic, and since August (September 15), the infection has been flourishing. There are those who die in one or two days, there are those who die in the morning and evening, there are no less than hundreds of people every day, and there are even those whose entire families die without leaving a single person, and none of them are saved. ”[14]

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Luo Yangxing, the military governor of Tianjin, said, "Last year, the plague in Beijing was great, and the death pillow was empty, and even the households were wiped out, and no one was restrained." ”

Jiangnan was flooded in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, and in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, there were drought and locusts, and drought and epidemic plagues continued to occur in the fifteenth year. The local society is in a very fragile state, bandits and displaced people have risen together, and civil uprisings have continued to break out in various places. [6]

Internal and external troubles

Main article: Peasant War in the late Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji

In order to suppress the liukou, Zhu Youzhen first used Yang He to take charge of the fuss, then used Hong Chengchou, then Cao Wenzhao, then Chen Qiyu, reused Hong Chengchou, then used Lu Xiangsheng, then used Yang Sichang, then used Xiong Wencan, and then used Yang Sichang, and frequently changed the generals of the encirclement army in the thirteen years. Among them, except for Xiong Wencan, the others have shown outstanding talents. However, there are doubts about the use of people, and even the responsibility is ineffective. Li Zicheng survived several catastrophes, and then went to Henan to gather people to develop. [8]

At this time, the northern emperor Taiji continued to harass and invade, the Ming court struggled with two-front warfare, and the annual military expenditure of "three salaries" was as high as more than 20 million taels, and the state finances had long been unable to make ends meet, and the shortage of salaries was widespread, which often led to internal riots and mutinies in the Ming army. Zhu Youzhen was eager to seek treatment, and "The Aftermath of Chunming Dream" recorded: "In November of the second year of Chongzhen, Shen Liang, the chief eunuch, lived in the nine gates of the commander and the imperial city gate, and the chief eunuch Li Fengxiang was the loyal and brave camp"; [15] Zhonghou Jin counter-plotted, self-destroyed the Great Wall, and unjustly killed Yuan Chonghuan. [16]

As the situation became more and more severe, so did Zhu Youzhen's indiscriminate killings,[17] seven of the governors were executed,[18] and eleven of the governors were killed. [19] Zhu Youzhen also knew that he could not fight on both sides, and privately agreed to negotiate peace. However, in view of the lessons of the Southern Song Dynasty, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty were ashamed to negotiate with the Manchus. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen has always been in a dilemma about the matter of peace talks, and he secretly agreed with Yang Sichang's proposal for peace, but Lu Xiangsheng on the side immediately told the emperor: "Your Majesty ordered the ministers to supervise the division, and the ministers only know how to fight!", Zhu Youzhen could only argue that there was no such thing as peace negotiations at all, and Lu Xiangsheng died on the battlefield after the most reluctance. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, it was between the dilemma of peace and war, and entered the road of destruction. [20]

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Songshan and Jinzhou were lost, Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen wanted to negotiate peace with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, was executed for leaking the peace negotiation, and the opportunity to negotiate peace with the Qing soldiers was also shattered. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), the Ming Dynasty was facing a catastrophe, and Zhu Youzhen lamented when he summoned his ministers: "I am not the king of the country, you are all the ministers of the country." I don't treat the scholars well, so far today, why don't any of the ministers obey?" Under the opposition of Chen Yan and Guang Shiheng, they failed to make up their minds to move the capital to Nanjing. [21－22]

die

Coal Mountain was martyred

Main entry: Jiashen national disaster, Qing army entry

The place where Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself

The place where Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself

In the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng was in Xiangyang, Jingzhou, De'an, Chengtian and other prefectures, Zhang Xianzhong was trapped in Qizhou, and Zuo Liangyu fled to Chizhou, Anhui. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), on March 1, Datong fell, Beijing was in danger, on the fourth day of the first month, Zhu Youzhen appointed Wu Sangui as Ping Xibo, and Feiyu Sangui entered the Weijing Division, and used Wu Xiang to supervise the Beijing camp. On the 6th, Li Zicheng fell into Xuanfu, the eunuch Du Xun surrendered, and on the 15th, the scholar Li Jiantai surrendered, and Li Zicheng's troops began to besiege Beijing, and the Ming Dynasty faced a catastrophe. The eunuch Cao Huachun said: "If the loyal and virtuous are here, the current affairs will not come to this." [23] The Ming army was repeatedly defeated in two-front battles with the peasant rebel army and the Qing army, and had completely lost its combat effectiveness.

On March 17, the peasant rebels besieged the capital. On the evening of the 18th, Zhu Youzhen and his personal eunuch Wang Chengen climbed the coal mountain (also known as Wanshou Mountain, now Jingshan, Beijing), looking at the sky-high beacon fire outside the city and in the area of Changyi Gate, just sighing and wandering speechlessly. Li Zicheng's army invaded Beijing. The eunuch Wang Lian urgently told the emperor, and Zhu Youzhen drank in the palace and sighed: "Bitter for my people!" The eunuch Zhang Yin persuaded the emperor to surrender and was stabbed to death with a sword. Zhu was ordered by the inspector to send the crown prince, Yongwang, and Dingwang to the family of Xun Qi Zhou Kui and Tian Hong. After returning to the palace, he wrote an edict and ordered Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, to lead the armies and assist the crown prince Zhu Cihong. He also ordered Queen Zhou, Yuan Guifei and her three sons to enter the palace, briefly told her sons a few words, and ordered the eunuchs to send them to their relatives' houses to avoid hiding. He cried again and said to Queen Zhou: "You are the mother of the country, and you deserve to be martyred." Queen Zhou also cried and said: "The concubine has followed you for 18 years, and Your Majesty has never heard a word of the concubine, so that there is today." Now that His Majesty has ordered the concubine to die, how dare the concubine not die?" After speaking, he hanged himself and died. Zhu Youzhen turned to Yuan Guifei and said, "You can also go with the queen!" Yuan Guifei cried goodbye and hanged herself. Zhu Youzhen summoned the 15-year-old Princess Changping again, and said with tears in her eyes: "Why are you born to the emperor's house!" After saying that, he covered her face with his left sleeve, pulled out a knife with his right hand and slashed her left arm, and then slashed her right shoulder, and she passed out. [24－25]

Zhu Youzhen hacked several concubines to death, and ordered the left and right to urge Empress Yi'an Zhang to commit suicide. Empress Zhang of Yi'an bowed to Zhu Youzhen a few times through the curtain and hanged herself. In the early morning of the 19th, Li Zicheng's rebel army entered Beijing from Changyi Gate. Then Zhu Youzhen held a three-eyed gun and dozens of eunuchs rode out of Donghua Gate, was blocked by random arrows, and then ran to Qihua Gate (Chaoyang Gate), Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen closed the door, and then turned to Andingmen, the defenders here have been scattered, the gate is deeply locked, and the eunuch can not split it with a sharp axe. At dawn on March 19, the flames broke out, and when they returned to the palace, the city was already full of fire. At this time, the sky will be bright, Zhu Youzhen rang the bell in the front hall to convene a hundred officials, but no one came, Zhu Youzhen said: "The ministers are mistaken, the monarch is dead, and the world is two hundred and seventy-seven years old, once it is abandoned, it is all mistaken by the traitorous ministers, so that it is so." Later, he hanged himself from a tree with a crooked neck in Jingshan, and when he died, he was wearing a red shoe on his left foot and his right foot. He was 33 years old. Only the admiral eunuch Wang Chengen accompanied him. [8] [26-27] Before hanging himself, he wrote a big book on his blue robe":

"I have been on the throne for seventeen years, and the traitors have approached the Beijing Division, although I have bowed down to the bandits, and the heavens are angry, causing the rebels to approach the Beijing Division, but all the ministers have mistaken me. When I died, I saw my ancestors in the ground without a face, and I took off my crown and covered my face with my hair. Let the thief divide the corpse, and don't hurt a single person. ”[28]

On March 21, the corpses were found, and the Dashun army removed the coffins of Zhu Youzhen and Empress Zhou from the palace and displayed them at Donghua Gate. The Azusa Palace is temporarily located by the river north of the Forbidden City. Local civilians buried him together in the tomb of Tian Guifei. After the Qing army entered the customs, he was moved to Siling and buried as Huaizong, and later changed to Emperor Zhuang Lie. The Southern Ming regime called him Emperor Sizonglie, and later changed his name to Yizong, and was also known as Emperor Chongzhen in history. [29－30]

After the death of Ming Sizong, the suicide officials included Ni Yuanlu, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Fan Jingwen, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Li Banghua, the imperial history of the left capital, Shi Bangyao, the imperial history of the left deputy capital, Ling Yiqu, the secretary of the Dali Temple, Wu Linzheng, the secretary of the Taichang Temple, Liu Lishun, the left Zhongyun, and Meng Zhaoxiang, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, etc., and the whole family of Gong Yonggu, the commander of the horses, committed suicide,[31] and hundreds of eunuchs committed suicide, and more than 1,000 people died in battle. More than 300 palace maids committed suicide. More than 700 people, including gentlemen and students, committed suicide with their families. [32] On April 4, Zhao Yigui, a magistrate of Changping Prefecture, and others buried Chongzhen and the Empress in the tomb of Tian Guifei in Changping County.

Ming rule in northern China was on the verge of collapse. After that, the Southern Ming Dynasty supported Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, to establish the Southern Ming regime in Nanjing. [33]

The temple number is the name of the temple

In November of the sixteenth year of Shunzhi, on the grounds of "the king of the previous generation of the Xing Dynasty, the ceremony is not called, and the number is not called the sect", he went to the Huaizong Temple and changed the name to Emperor Zhuang Lie, and the Qing Dynasty history books are mostly referred to as "Emperor Zhuang Lie".

The theme of Siling God is: Daming Qin Tianshou Dao Min Yi Dun Jian Hongwen Xiang Wu Ti Ren Zhi Xiao Zhuang Lie Chu Emperor, when the Qing Dynasty added the name of the whole word. [34]

There are also books as Shoudao Jingjian Kuan Wen Xiang Wu Ti Ren Zhi Xiao Zhuang Lie Chu Emperor or Guo Yi Dun Jian Hong Wen Xiang Wu Ti Ren Zhi Xiao Zhuang Lie Chu Emperor,[35] changed the temple name Qinzong [36], etc., and there are also temple names Lie Zong [37] or Jingzong [38], and the name Zheng Emperor [37].

Zhang Shenyan, the minister of Anzong of the Southern Ming Dynasty, initially proposed that the temple of Emperor Chongzhen should be called Emperor Liezongmin, and Gu Xichou proposed that the temple be called Ganzong or Qianzong[39]. But not adopted. Finally, in June of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Dingxian was named Shaotian Yidao, Gangming, Ke Jian, Wen Fenwu, Dun Ren, Mao Xiaolie, Emperor Xiaolie, the temple name Sizong, and in February of the first year of Hongguang, Bingzi changed the temple name to Yizong [40]. The Tang Dynasty was the Emperor of Weizong.

If Chongzhen crosses to the south, the result will definitely be very different, with Chongzhen's orthodox identity can avoid the situation that the Southern Ming Dynasty faced with several forces and dismantle each other, the strength of all parties will be relatively concentrated, and with Chongzhen's ability and experience, it should be able to quickly discover and mobilize the strong economic strength of the south of the Yangtze River, and then the army going south will regain its combat effectiveness after receiving material and economic assistance from the south, but the development of the situation depends on Chongzhen's judgment of the overall situation, for the Ming Dynasty, the best strategy after the southern crossing is to unite Dashun or Daxi, and the north is actively resisting the Houjin, and at this time Wu Sangui's Guanning army is likely to remain neutralIf Chongzhen has the right strategy, he will drive Houjin out of the pass, and then clean up the peasant army, and finally turn all the tables around.

Another possibility, if Chongzhen adopts the strategy of Lianjin to destroy Shun, it is estimated that Houjin will also buy it, but it will inevitably pay a huge price, Houjin will benefit in the process of exterminating Dashun and Daxi regimes, and Nanming will lose the opportunity to go north, and the most difficult result may really be to divide the river and rule, even so it is difficult for Houjin to destroy Nanming in one go, and it is possible for Nanming to continue to resist for decades, and if Houjin launches a "shaving order" When the unpopular policy causes a revolt in the north, the Southern Ming Dynasty will also take the opportunity to go on a northern expedition, and the future is unknown;

It's just that history can't be assumed, and what happened in Nanming later is exactly the worst of all possible!

On March 17, Li Zicheng's army had surrounded the city of Beijing, Chongzhen realized that the situation was irreparable, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the fate of being killed, but Zhu Youzhen, the emperor of Chongzhen, who loved his son, still thought that maybe his son could take advantage of the chaos to escape from the city and reserve some more blood for Daming. So that night, he called all his sons to him, asked them all to change into the clothes of ordinary people, and were sent out by the guardian to escape. He tried to get his son to escape from the city as soon as possible, go to the south to rebuild the king's division, and then make a comeback. So after dark, the three teenagers quietly slipped out of the Forbidden City. Early the next morning, Chongzhen got the news that the eunuchs defending the city had surrendered, and Li Zicheng's army had entered the city. Before he died, he also wrote a suicide note on his clothes, asking officials from all over the country to cooperate to assist the fleeing prince and revitalize the Ming Dynasty. Although he himself died, there was always a glimmer of hope for the restoration of the country when the prince escaped from the country, which was something he never forgot before he died. Emperor Chongzhen is really well-intentioned, but the Ming Dynasty has exhausted its energy, and he is a little too whimsical.

However, where did the fleeing crown prince and his two younger brothers go? On this question, the contemporaries and later generations have put forward several different theories. The first theory is that the three brothers of the crown prince did not escape from the city of Beijing, which was surrounded by Li Zicheng, and there was war everywhere outside, and the three of them had no choice, so they discussed it and decided to go to the house of Zhou Kui, the father of Empress Zhou, that is, their grandfather, to hide for a while, and then try to escape to the south when it was calmer outside. But because the situation outside is too chaotic. The prince didn't have time to go to the Chengguo Mansion, so he hid among the people, and King Ding and King Yong went to the house of Zhou Kui, the father of Queen Zhou. On March 19, Li Zicheng entered the city and ordered the search for the crown prince, King Ding, and King Yong. Unexpectedly, Zhou Kui saw that the situation was not good, and he was timid and afraid of things, for fear of causing fire, so in the early morning of the 20th, he handed over King Ding and King Yong to Li Zicheng. Later, the crown prince was also seized by Li Zicheng's army. From this, there was also a dialogue between the crown prince and Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang. The prince asked Li Zicheng and said, "Why don't you kill me?" Li Zicheng said, "You are not guilty, how can I kill in vain!" The prince said: "In this case, you should listen to me: First, do not disturb the mausoleum of my ancestors; second, bury my father and queen mother quickly; and third, do not kill my people." It is said that Li Zicheng accepted his suggestion, not only did not kill them, but also named the crown prince the king of Song, and the other two princes were also knighted and handed over to the general Liu Zongmin to take care of. Later, Li Zicheng received the news of Wu Sangui's rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, and on April 13, he personally led troops to crusade against Wu Sangui and took the three sons of Emperor Chongzhen with him, wanting to use them to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender. Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng's army was defeated and fled, and Chongzhen's three sons disappeared in the chaos. Since then, the whereabouts of the crown prince, King Ding, and King Yong are not clear, or it is said that they were taken away by Wu Sangui, or that King Ding was killed in the south of the city.

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The second theory is that after the prince escaped from the palace, he had nowhere to go and was adopted by a poor old lady. But the old lady's family was too poor, so she had to send him to the house of Zhou Kui, the national abbot. After Princess Changping, who was in Zhou Kui's mansion at that time, saw her, the two hugged their heads and cried. Princess Changping and the crown prince were both born to Queen Zhou, and they are sisters and brothers of the same mother. From this point of view, this crown prince may be real. Zhou Kui and his family saluted the prince and asked the prince, "Where have you been hiding?" The prince replied: "On the day of the fall of the city, I hid alone outside the gate of Dongchang. went out one day and night, sneaked to Donghua Gate, and was adopted by a poor old lady. Later, I was sent to a nunnery outside Chongwenmen, where I lived for half a month as an orphan pretending to be poor and helpless. However, because Zhou Kui was timid and afraid of things, he did not dare to take in the prince for a long time, the crown prince had no choice but to live on the streets, and was later arrested by the patrolling Qing soldiers for the crime of "committing a night" and handed over to the criminal department for trial, and the crown prince told the officials of the trial that he was the former crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, but the chief official of the criminal department thought that the crown prince would never say that he was the crown prince so boldly, so he judged it to be a fake prince. Later, because of his repeated claims, Qian Fenglan, the head of the Criminal Department, asked Wang Dehua, the former ceremonial eunuch, and others to come to identify him, and the result was that he was the crown prince. So Qian Feng read to the imperial court, and after the end, the regent Dolgon thought that if the crown prince lived in the world, he would be a banner of the Ming Dynasty's old and young virtues, so he decided to put the crown prince in prison, and was later executed in prison.

There is also a theory that the crown prince successfully escaped from Beijing, and he suffered a lot along the way, and finally escaped to the south. Later, the crown prince was taken to Nanjing by the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Before leaving, he also asked Li Jizhou, who came to pick him up, and said, "Welcoming me into Beijing, is it to make me the emperor?" Li Jizhou said: "The slave and maid don't know about this matter. Actually, this is just his naïve idea. Zhu Yousong, the king of Nanmingfu, was his uncle, and he was already a prisoner at this time. Just waiting to be crowned emperor. He heard that Emperor Chongzhen's crown prince came to defect, and this is okay, if it is proved that this young man is really the prince, he will have to return to the crown prince, then he will not be able to be the emperor. Therefore, after the crown prince arrived in Nanjing, he did not directly meet him, nor did he let him enter the palace, but was arranged to live temporarily in Xingshan Temple, and sent two eunuchs to meet the prince to argue with the truth. After the two met, they said that it was really the crown prince, and when King Fu learned about it, he was furious, and then executed two eunuchs and killed Li Jizhou, who went to pick up the crown prince. Later, he asked Lu Jiude, the eunuch of the former governor of Jingying, to identify it, but Lu Jiude did not dare to express his position in view of the lessons of the past, and only said that there were some similarities, but he could not recognize the truth. After the news of the crown prince's death in Nanjing, it triggered a political crisis in the Hongguang Dynasty. For this reason, the courtiers were divided into two factions, Zuo Liangyu and others in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River led an army into Beijing in the name of supporting the crown prince, and Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and other general soldiers in Jiangbei also asked for the prince to be treated well.

In order to keep his throne, King Fu tried every means to get rid of the crown prince whose true or false truth was unknown. He forced Wang Duo, who had served as the prince's speaker, and insisted that the prince was fake. and put the prince in prison for interrogation, and closed the case, saying that the fake prince's real name is Wang Zhiming. Later, the Qing army marched south, Nanjing was not protected, and King Fu and others also fled to Taipingfu. The people of Nanjing rushed into the prison and rescued the crown prince from the throne. It's a pity that a few days later, he fell into the hands of the Qing army again and was executed by Duoduo.

The fourth theory is that the crown prince was indeed captured by Li Zicheng at first, but on the way to Beijing, Liu Zongmin was seriously injured and relaxed his care, so he found an opportunity to escape from the army of King Chuang, and he was followed by his former teacher Li Shichun. Li Shichun was the editor of the Hanlin Academy of the Ming Dynasty, and served as the prince's lecturer, and was forced to accept Li Zicheng's official position after the death of the Ming Dynasty. Because Li Shichun was originally from Jiaying Prefecture, Guangdong, they fled all the way back to Li Shichun's hometown and became monks in Yinna Mountain, Jiaying Prefecture. They built a temple called "Shengshou Temple" in the inaccessible mountains, and the main hall was named "Ziji Temple", which shows the mysterious origin of the monks in the temple everywhere. It is said that after the death of the crown prince, the temple began to enshrine a shrine of "Prince Bodhisattva". This statue has always been retained, until after the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty collapsed, people know that the statue originally enshrined in Lu Dao is the fugitive prince of the Ming Dynasty. Li Shichun's descendants also claimed that their ancestors did save the prince in the chaos and brought the prince back to his hometown, and the two became monks together and spent the rest of their lives.

Early experiences

In the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618), he was named the king of Dechang County, and in the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626), he was named the son. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Luoyang was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant army, and Zhu Changxun was captured by the rebel army because of his fat body and inconvenience, and was soon killed. The prince of the world, Yusong, fled across the city under the protection of the minister. Soon attacked the king of fortune.

catch a break

On March 19, 1644, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide in the coal mountain. This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the ministers of the Ming Dynasty in the north and south of the river. At this point, the political role of Nanjing's stay in the capital, which was originally a foil, has become prominent. [1] Clearly, the first task facing the remaining ministers was to install a new monarch and organize the regime. When it comes to blood closeness, King Fu, King Gui, and King Hui have become the best candidates. And because King Fu was the oldest among the three feudatories, and he ran around like a headless fly, he streamed to the vicinity of Nanjing (Huai'an). Compared with the other two vassal kings who are far away in Guangxi, they naturally get the moon first near the water. However, it is not that simple. Some of the Donglin Party members among the Jiangnan gentry proceeded from their narrow selfish interests and resolutely opposed them in the name of King Fu's mediocrity. However, the hidden truth in the heart can be traced back to the Apocalypse Dynasty, in order to oppose the Jitong of Lao Fu Wang and Zheng Guifei, the mother of Lao Fu Wang, to interfere in politics, the Donglin Party has formed an indissoluble enmity with Fu Fan. In order to prevent Zhu Yousong from taking the opportunity to retaliate after ascending the throne. Headed by Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, and in the name of Lixian, an inexplicable heir was launched with great fanfare-King Lu.

King Lu's bloodline is remote, so he naturally lacks a reason to succeed. But his so-called virtuous name has won the sympathy and support of many people. To this day, many people who do not know the inside story still think that it is a regrettable. In fact, regardless of whether King Lu is really virtuous, the primogeniture inheritance system of the feudal dynasty has its own practical considerations. At that time, politics was in charge of the cabinet, and even if the emperor was mediocre, the responsible subordinates could still maintain the normal functioning of the political institution. In terms of the situation, all the ministers needed was a formal spiritual leader. And it doesn't have to be a virtuous gentleman. In history, Sima Rui was able to favor the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and he was just a cowardly and incompetent monarch. The key is for the subordinates to work together to maintain the crisis. Now in the name of Lixian, he puts aside King Fu. The Ming Dynasty was scattered all over the country, and there were many dragon sons and grandsons with a small reputation and ambition. Naturally, it is impossible for them to demand universal suffrage on a national scale, but there are always a large number of careerists who take advantage of the opportunity to make meritorious contributions. The situation in Nanming is bound to fall apart and get out of control.

When Nanjing's support meeting was in full swing, Zhu Yousong, who was far away in Huai'an, panicked. As one of the three popular candidates, no one has asked him to deliver a campaign speech or a political platform. There are very few who come to show their loyalty and engage in speculation. All this made Zhu Yousong feel that the situation was not good. In fact, Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying and other important ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty regarded the emperors they selected and prepared to support as clay puppets from the beginning. Whoever is the ruler is important, it is important that it does not prevent them from holding the power in their hands. From the bottom of my heart, the once majestic emperor was just a symbol and an ornament for these important ministers. Among the seven reasons why Shi Kefa pointed out that the Fu King cannot be established, one of them is "intervening in the division". Yes, it is an emperor who "intervenes" that is taboo for important ministers. To everyone's surprise, Zhu Yousong, who seemed to everyone to be fat and confused, actually made a clever move and defeated the self-righteous Gonggong in Nanjing in one fell swoop. According to the record of "Nandu Lu": "When the king (Zhu Yousong) heard this, he was afraid and could not stand, so he summoned Gao Jie, the general soldier of the Southern Channel, and Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo to conspire and support him. Liu Zeqing was cunning, and first attached to the Lu proposal, but then defeated the enemy with soldiers, and changed the plan to Congjie and others. Zhu Yousong actually understood the truth of power coming out of the barrel of a gun, and directly asked for help from the general army of the three towns in Jiangbei. Gao Jie, Huang Degong himself was originally an ambitious warlord, and seeing that there was a big deal to do with "making a decision and supporting it", it was really a good opportunity to have a lot of profits without roots. So they hit it off and got rid of their immediate boss, Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, who was secretly discussing with Shi Kefa. He became the father of the decision. When the news reached Nanjing, everyone was shocked. Ma Shiying is old in officialdom, and when he saw that his subordinates were in the nest, it was useless to fight. hurriedly confessed his heart to Zhu Yousong and became the first person from Long Wenchen. Shi Kefa was still in the dark at first, pointing fingers and disagreeing, and scolded Zhu Yousong for being stupid and confused in a letter to Ma Shiying. Unexpectedly, it became a handle in the hands of others. Immediately, Ma Shiying led the army to escort Zhu Yousong to Pukou, Nanjing. The general trend has been decided, and the remorseful Shi Kefa and the Donglin Party have no choice but to accept this reality.

Zhu Yousong turned to the warlords of the Three Towns to support him, which had a major impact on the subsequent changes in the situation. The most direct effect was to make his own wish come true and smoothly ascend to the supreme throne. The indirect impact is that the towns of Jiangbei regard themselves as "benefactors of the Son of Heaven" and "Conglong Yuanxun", and no one in Nanjing, from the emperor to the important ministers, can control this high-flying and domineering army. Since then, the Southern Ming warlord Xun Zhen has been indiscriminate. In fact, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, etc. are all brave men who came out of their own army, and their subordinates have their own hearts, but there is no shortage of good generals and warriors. If Zhu Yousong had a little experience in the power and strategy of his ancestor and the ancestor, as long as he controlled it properly, he could exert means and influence when relying on the support of the three towns, so that the three towns could be used for his own use. It's a pity that Zhu Yousong inherited Nai's father's wide heart and fat body, but he did not inherit Naizu's eloquence and martial arts. Turning to the three towns to get the throne can be regarded as his extraordinary performance, and he wanted to be the emperor, so he raised the price at the beginning and depreciated himself. The three towns also saw clearly that this person who "inherited the heavens and started the luck" was Adou. From then on, he no longer had a disdain for his authority.

Enthronement

On May 1, the king entered Beijing and took the inner garrison as the palace. The officials will meet at the court. So he imprisoned the country on the third day of the first month. On the 15th, he ascended the throne and changed the next year to the first year of Hongguang, which was for Emperor Hongguang of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Use Kefa, Yue Guang and Nanchu Gao Hongtu as cabinet ministers. Shenglu Daqi Zuo Shilang, Li Zhan Taichang Shaoqing, Guo Weijing Ying Tianfu Cheng, Jin Han Zan Zhou Si Li Jian Bingbi, Yu Jia En is poor. From Xu Shilin, the Imperial History of the Left Capital, Zhang Guowei, the assistant of the Ministry of Soldiers, Rong Zheng, Zhou Kangeng, the Ministry of Households, Gu Xichou, Huang Daozhou, He Kai, Zhang Youyu, Wang Xinyi, He Yingrui, Gao Zhuo, Xie Xuelong, He Shishou, Liu Shizhen, Hou Tongzeng, Zheng Jie, Xu Yuqing, each temple secretary. For a while, people hoped that the former officials such as Daoist Zhang Zhengchen, Xiong Kaiyuan, Jiang Cai, Zhuang Aoxian, Qiu Kai, Ma Zhaoxi, Yang Shihua, Zhan Erxuan, Li Mo, Zhang Jie, Zheng Youxuan, Qiao Kepin, Li Rifu, ** and other former officials were used. Xu?, Cao Xun, and Wu Weiye all served as Shaozhan and served as scholars. Promoted to the left Maodi Imperial History, Governor Ying'an, Tian Yang, Imperial History, Governor Huaiyang. Zheng Hongkui and Huang Fei were stationed in Zhenjiang, Zheng Cai was in charge of the water division, Wu Zhikui was stationed in Wusong, and Huang Binqing was stationed in Shangjiang. Imperial Shi Qi Biaojia and other branches appeased Jiangsu and Zhejiang. From Shi Kefa and others, it was divided into four towns of Huai, Yang, Xu, Si, Feng, Shou, Chu, and He, with the general soldier Liu Zeqing under the jurisdiction of Huai and Hai, stationed in Huaibei, Hai, Pi, and Jiangxi 11 prefectures and counties, and the manager of Shandong. Gao Jie governs Xu and Si, stationed in Lushui, and Xu, Si, Su, Bo, Feng, Dang 14 counties are subordinate to it, and the manager is open and returned. Liu Liangzuo has jurisdiction over Feng and Shou, stationed in Linhuai, Shou, Ying and other Kyushu counties, and the manager Chen and Qi are in the area. Jingnan Bohuang has the jurisdiction of Chu and He, stationed in Luzhou, Lu, Chao, and Wuwei eleven prefectures and counties, and the manager is Guang and Gu. There are 30,000 soldiers in each town, 200,000 natural rice, and 400,000 colored silver. Marquis of Jin Degong, Earl of Fengjie Xingping, Zeqing Dongping, and Liangzuo Guangchangju. Meritorious Su is loyal and brave, and he has made contributions to Hebei, and Ningnan Bozuo Liangyu has been sealed first. Liangyu restored Huguang and became the Marquis. [2]

pass away

Ma Shiying and others supported meritorious service, controlled the government, used the remnants of the eunuch party, bent the law for bribes, and confronted Gao Hongtu and other Donglin remnants. On the night of the eleventh day of the first month of the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Xingping Bo Gaojie was booby-trapped by Xu Dingguo, the Henan general soldier who secretly surrendered to the Qing army, in the old military department of Suizhou, Henan Yuan Keli Mansion, and the governor Yue Qijie, Yuan Shu and Chen Qianfu returned to Jinling alone. The Qing army quickly moved south, successively broke through Xuzhou, crossed the Huai River, and approached the city of Yangzhou. Three

Zhu Yousong called the coins issued by the emperor

Zhu Yousong called the coins issued by the emperor

In the month, Zuo Liangyu, the Marquis of Ningnan, said that he was under the secret edict of the prince, and entered the traitorous minister Ma Shiying to the side of the Qing monarch, starting from Wuchang and entering Nanjing. When the Qing army quickly moved south, successively broke through Xuzhou, crossed the Huai River, and approached the city of Yangzhou. On April 25, 1645, Yangzhou was lost, and Shi Kefa was martyred. When the news reached Nanjing, Emperor Hongguang was in chaos, and he didn't bother to inform others, so he fled with Ma Shiying and a few eunuchs in a hurry, all the way to Wuhu. The Wuhu guard is one of the four towns in Jiangbei who has made meritorious contributions - Huang Degong, who still knows nothing about the changes in the capital. When he knew that his "protégé of the Son of Heaven" was panicked and abandoned the capital. I was overwhelmed with emotion in my heart, but I still decided to repay the country with death and be loyal to this faint monarch to the end.

On May 15, ministers Zhao Zhilong, Wang Feng, Qian Qianyi and others surrendered the city of Nanjing. On May 28, under the pressure of the Manchurian heavy troops that followed, Huang Degong's generals Tian Xiong and Ma Degong plotted to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Caught off guard, Huang Degong was shot by a hidden arrow and then killed himself. Emperor Hongguang was captured alive by Tian Xiong, dedicated to the Qing army to invite merit, and was sent to Beijing, and the Hongguang regime was destroyed. According to Zheng Da's "Wild History Wuwen" record: At that time, Tian Xiong was carrying Zhu Yousong on his back, and Ma Degong was holding Zhu Yousong's feet tightly behind, for fear that this live baby would fly away, Zhu Yousong cried bitterly and begged the two, but to no avail, so he hated Tian Xiong's neck and bled all over his clothes. At that time, Zhu Yousong's remorse and resentment can be seen. But the king of the dead country always can't escape death. In May of the following year, this son of the Southern Ming Dynasty was executed in Beijing at the age of 40 on charges of misdeeds. [2]

2. Character evaluation

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As an emperor, Emperor Hongguang was very mediocre and decadent, only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, indulged in wine all day, ignoring the government of the dynasty, Hongguang first year (1644) Chinese New Year's Eve, when the Qing army went south, he sighed in front of the courtiers, "** is rare, there is no new voice in the south of the New Year", and ordered a wide selection of beauties. Because of his indulgence, he also ordered someone to catch toads for him to prepare aphrodisiacs, and the people of Nanjing called him "the son of toad". The politics of the Southern Ming Dynasty were very corrupt, and internal strife continued to occur, and in the stormy Hongguang small court, there were some court doubts, such as the Great Compassion Case, the Prince Case, the Tong Concubine Case, etc., which accelerated its demise. And Emperor Hongguang was surrounded by traitors and eunuchs who could only flatter, such as Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng, etc. He didn't care about the attack of the Qing army at all, and despite the loyal ministers of Shi Kefa, the revival of the Ming Dynasty was difficult to see. In 1645, the Qing army attacked Yangzhou, an important town, and Shi Kefa led the people in the city to resist the Qing army, and the Qing army besieged it for 100 days and suffered heavy losses. Shi Kefa hurriedly asked the court for help, but Emperor Hongguang ignored him, and finally because he was outnumbered, Yangzhou fell, the Qing army carried out a 10-day bloody massacre in Yangzhou, known as "Yangzhou Ten Days", and then the Qing army approached Nanjing, the Ming army defenders ran out of ammunition and food, seeing that Nanjing was about to fall, Zhu Yousong, who was drinking and having fun with his concubine, hurriedly entered the palace to convene the ministers to discuss, those traitors who usually only flattered did not say a word, and the Hongguang Emperor had to flee to Wuhu with his concubine, the Qing army chased after him, and the Hongguang Emperor had to fight with the Qing army. The Ming army couldn't hold it, so the rebel general Tian Weicheng betrayed Emperor Hongguang and his concubine. Emperor Hongguang was escorted to Beijing and beheaded. After his death, he was called "Emperor Cheng, Chengdao, Sincere Respect for Yingzhe, Zhangwen Beiwu, Xuanren, Filial Piety, and Emperor Jian", and the temple name was Anzong.

Zhu Yousong has always been known for his "loss of morality", and later generations called him the most mediocre emperor of the decadent dynasty, who only knew pleasure, did not care about political affairs, indulged in wine, and was extremely promiscuous. However, a careful examination of the historical books shows that the rumors are difficult to substantiate, and the reason for this is mostly caused by the prejudice of the Donglin Party members against the Fu family. However, his original experience shows the image of a politician who is not dull and has a lot of personality. For example, Li Qing's "Sanyuan Notes", "Nandu Lu" and "Jiashen Diary" in the Hongguang Dynasty were falsely accused of debauchery and indulgence. [3]

3 family members

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sibling

brothers

Yingchong King Zhu Youju, the original king of Yingshang County

Dehuai Wang Zhu Youhua

Consorts

Empress Princess

Empress Huang: that is, "Empress Xiaozhejian": Zhu Yousong is the concubine of King Shi Na of Dechang, and her father commands Huang Qirui. Huang died early, and after Zhu Yousong ascended the throne in 1644, he posthumously crowned his wife, Empress Xiaozhe. Emperor Yongli changed his name to "Empress Xiaozheyi, Zhuang Wen Zhengren, Jingyi, Tianzhao, Shengjian".

Empress Li (?-- 1641), that is, the "Holy Empress of Filial Piety": a native of Luoyang, Zhu Yousong was the step-concubine of Shi Na, the son of King Fu. On the twentieth day of the first month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), Li Zicheng conquered Luoyang, and Li hanged himself. In 1644, Zhu Yousong ascended the throne in Nanjing, and was posthumously awarded the title of "Filial Piety, Duanren, Su Ming, Chastity, Xitianyi, and the Holy Empress"

Jin Guifei

children

Son: Zhu Lianbi

Where the descendants go

In 1617, ten-year-old Zhu Yousong was named the king of Dechang County, and later became the son of King Fu. thought he could be like his father, clothed and fed, carefree for the rest of his life. Unexpectedly, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng's peasant army captured Luoyang, and Zhu Changxun, the old king of fortune, was killed. Princess Fu Zou and her son You Song, under the escort of the minister, escaped from Luoyang, crossed the Yellow River from Mengjin, and took refuge in Huaiqing Mansion (present-day Qinyang City, Henan Province). In 1644, when Li Zicheng captured Huaiqing, he fled to Huai'an with King Lu and others. In the autumn and July of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Zhu Yousong attacked the king of Fu. In May 1644, he was proclaimed emperor in Nanjing and established the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

When Zhu Yousong fled Luoyang, his son Zhu Lianbi first hid in the area of Mengkeng, the old city of Luoyang, under the protection of his homeland Zhang Jingming, and then fled to settle in Chenwan Village, Cangtou Township, Xin'an County. So far, it has been reproduced for 13 generations, and most of them have migrated with Xiaolangdi to Chenwan Village, Chengguan Town, Mengzhou City.

The Southern Ming Dynasty was a continuation of the Ming Dynasty. In 1644 A.D., Li Zicheng's peasant army broke through Beijing, and Zhu Youzhen of Ming Yizong hanged himself in the coal mountain, and died in the Ming Dynasty. Later, the Qing army entered the Central Plains, and the Ming dynasty successively established a regime in the south to resist the Manchu Qing. Including the Hongguang regime, the Longwu regime, the Lu Wangjian state, the Shaowu regime and the Yongli regime, a total of 18 years. In 1661 (the fifteenth year of Yongli), Wu Sangui led the Qing army into Burma, asking for the Yongli Emperor, in December the Burmese king handed over the Yongli Emperor to the Qing army, and in April of the following year, the Yongli Emperor and his son were executed by Wu Sangui in Kunming. After that, the Zheng regime continued to worship Yongli as Zhengshuo. In 1683, Zheng Kexuan, the king of Yanping County, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army occupied Taiwan, and Zhu Shugui, the king of Ningjing, committed suicide and martyrdom, marking the fall of the last regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

There is room for all the regimes in the Southern Ming Dynasty to rethink as a regime in exile. The so-called Nan of the Southern Ming Dynasty was added by historians, just as the Nan of the Southern Song Dynasty was also added by historians. These regimes were established on the territory of the original Ming Dynasty, but in fact did not meet the definition of a regime in exile, and it can only be said that the northern territory of the original Ming Dynasty was included in the scope of the Qing Dynasty, and was forced to move the capital and rebuild the regime. Just like the Song Dynasty, which lost its northern territories and was forced to move its capital, still called itself Song and the Southern Song Dynasty in history, and did not call the Southern Song Dynasty government a government-in-exile because of the relocation of the capital. Therefore, it is not strictly correct to call all the Nanming regimes a regime in exile. As for the Southern Ming Emperor after he was forced to flee to Burma, he met the definition of a regime in exile.

Rebuild the Ming Dynasty

In the first month of 1644 (the seventeenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty), Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an, founded the country "Dashun", and then marched to Beijing, conquered Beijing on March 19, Chongzhen Emperor Zhu committed suicide, and the Ming Dynasty clan and the remaining ministers turned to the south. At this time, Li Zicheng's "Dashun" regime generally owned the former Ming Dynasty's hometown north of the Huai River, Zhang Xianzhong's "Daxi" regime established in August was based in Sichuan, the Qing Dynasty regime was in the present-day northeast outside the Shanhai Pass and controlled the Mongolian tribes, and the remnants of the Ming Dynasty were in possession of half of the rivers and mountains south of the Huai River. [1－2]

At this time, some of the civil and military generals who stayed in Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, decided to support the vassal king of the Zhu family, rebuild the Ming Dynasty, and then wave their troops to the north; According to the order of brother to brother, the first person was chosen to be Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, while Shi Kefa advocated supporting Zhu Changying, the king of Gui, and Qian Qianyi and other Donglin party members were resentful because of the previous "national capital dispute" incident, and supported Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, in the name of Lixian[3-4]. But in the end, with the help of Lu Jiude, the Fu King Zhu Yousong won the support of Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, the main armed forces of the Nanjing regime, and Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, the central capital, and became the ultimate victor. On the third day of the fifth month, Zhu Yousong supervised the country in Nanjing, and on June 19, 1644 (May 15), he became the emperor, and changed the following year to Hongguang, which was the emperor of Ming Anzong. The Southern Ming era began from there. Emperor Hongguang's basic national policy was to "unite with the Qing army" and seek to unite with the Qing army to eliminate the peasant army represented by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. [1] [5－6]

Go from bad to worse

Before and after the Ming Dynasty's southern crossing, Dashun had been defeated by the Qing Dynasty, and Li Zicheng lost Beijing and Xi'an successively and retreated to Hubei. 16

The history of the martyrdom of Yangzhou Ten Days Middle City

Shi Kefa, who broke the martyrdom of Yangzhou Ten Days Midtown[7]

In March of the 45th year (the first year of Hongguang), Dolgon shifted his military center of gravity to the east and ordered Duoduo to move to the south. At this time, there was a fierce party struggle within the Hongguang regime, and the prince case broke out, and Zuo Liangyu, who was stationed in Wuchang, was unwilling to fight Li Zicheng head-on, and in the name of "Qingjun's side", he went east along the Yangtze River to fight for the Southern Ming regime. Ma Shiying was forced to urgently transfer the four towns of Jiangbei to meet the left army, causing the Jianghuai defense line facing the Qing army to fall into emptiness. Although Shi Kefa had the name of a superintendent in Yangzhou, he was really unable to mobilize the troops of the four towns. In January, the Qing army broke through Xuzhou, crossed the Huai River, and approached the city of Yangzhou. [6]

On April 25, the Southern Ming Military Department Shangshu Shi Kefa led the people to resist the Qing soldiers in Yangzhou. After the city of Yangzhou was broken, the Qing army slaughtered the city, and the people of Yangzhou died 800,000, known as "Yangzhou Ten Days" in history, and it was the first tragedy at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Subsequently, the Qing army crossed the Yangtze River and Zhenjiang in Kejingkou. Emperor Hongguang went out to Wuhu. On May 15, the ministers offered Nanjing to surrender to the Qing army, and on May 22, Emperor Hongguang was captured and sent to Beijing to be executed. [8－9]

After the fall of Nanjing, Zhu Changshu (1645), the king of Lu in Hangzhou, Wang Zhiming (1645), the prince of Weizong in Yingtian, Zhu Ciqi (1645), the king of Yiwang in Fuzhou, and Zhu Hengjia (1645), the king of Jingjiang in Guilin, and other prison regimes were established successively, but they were only short-lived and ended in a few days. [10]

In 1645, the Ming Dynasty had no decent army, and there were many anti-introverts, and the Qing army entered the customs for the common people to resist spontaneously. Among them, Jiading (now Shanghai) and Jiangyin are the most. Qian Qianyi, Zhao Zhilong, and others of the Southern Ming Dynasty offered advice to Duoduo and said: "The people of Wuxia are weak, and the flying pillars can be determined, and there is no need to use soldiers. However, "the shaving order is facing downward, and it is sad to take care of each other." The three Wu boiled at the same time, and they rebelled one after another. ”[11]。 The sworn resistance of the people of Jiading was met with the retaliatory "Three Massacres of Jiading" by the Qing army. "Jiangyin fought to the death for 81 days, and the history records that Jiangyin was killed in the battle, "no one surrendered", the cities with the most developed commodity economy in the south of the Yangtze River flowed into rivers of blood one by one, and the budding capitalism at the end of the Ming Dynasty was completely destroyed.

In 1645 A.D. leap June Tang King Zhu Yujian in Zheng Zhilong and others under the support, in Fuzhou, Fujian Province called the emperor, that is, Emperor Longwu, and quickly recognized by the provinces, Emperor Longwu is the most effective emperor in the Southern Ming Dynasty, hard work, care about the suffering of the people, wash away the disadvantages of the predecessors, the basic national policy changed to the "imperial captive", but was supported by the Zheng group that succeeded him, and was subject to Zheng Zhilong everywhere. In February 1646 (the second year of Longwu), the Qing army began to conquer Fujian and Zhejiang. In August, Emperor Longwu was shot and killed in the lobby of the Tingzhou City Government while fighting with the Qing Dynasty's pursuers (one said he was captured and killed). [12－13]

Due to the isolation of the news, about 40 days after Zhu Yujian supervised the country, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, supervised the country in Shaoxing, the occupied area, in 1646 (Longwu

From 1647 to 1648, anti-Qing activities were carried out in various places

Anti-Qing activities in various places from 1647 to 1648[14]

In June of the second year, King Lu was defeated and fled to the sea under the protection of Zhang Huangyan. At this time, the Qing Dynasty once again announced the Nagifa Order, and the anti-Qing struggle against Nagifa was set off in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Qing army was in turmoil in the rear, and it was unable to continue to advance south for a while. However, the serious partisan struggle and local power within the Southern Ming Dynasty were dominant, and Emperor Longwu and the regime of King Lu not only did not take advantage of this favorable situation to develop the struggle against the Qing Dynasty, but instead fought for the orthodox status among themselves, so when the Qing army went south again in 1646, it was successively destroyed by the Qing army. [15]

After Emperor Longwu was killed, Zhu Youlang, King of Gui, according to the edict of Emperor Longwu in Zhaoqing on the tenth day of October of that year, was proclaimed emperor on November 18, which was Zhaozong, and the following year was the first year of Yongli. On October 20, Zhu Youlang fled to Wuzhou. This kind of behavior is tantamount to abandoning Guangdong, resulting in the Yongli Imperial Court losing the hearts of the people in Guangdong. On the fifth day of the first month of November, Zhu Yulu, the younger brother of Emperor Longwu, invoked the "brother and brother" to stand on his own in Guangzhou, changed the Yuan Shaowu, the two sides could not unite in order to earn orthodoxy, and even fought against each other, Emperor Shaowu was captured by the Qing army in only 41 days and died of hunger strike, and was later privately called Wenzong by Zhu Changqing, the king of Huai. On November 15, Zheng Zhilong ignored Zheng Chenggong's bitter advice and went north to Fuzhou to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Zhu Youzhen (1647), the king of Yiwang of Jieyang, and Zhu Rongfan (1649), the king of Chu of Kuizhou, claimed that the state of Jianguo was in contention with the Yongli Emperor. Zheng Chenggong also once established Zhu Changqing (1648), the king of Huai, as the superintendent of the state in South Australia, and was later deposed. Emperor Yongli fled into Guangxi under the pressure of the Qing army. [16]

The Peasant Army joined

Just as the Nanming regimes were falling one after another, and the situation was extremely critical, the remnants of the Dashun peasant army appeared at the forefront of the anti-Qing struggle and saved the crisis. Since Li Zicheng died in 1645 in Jiugong Mountain, the rest of his division was divided into two branches, led by Hao Shaoqi, Liu Tichun, Li Guo, and Gao Yi, respectively, and entered Hunan successively, and joined forces with He Tengjiao, the governor of Minghuguang, and the governor of Hubei, Du Yinxi, to resist the Qing Dynasty. [17] In 1647, Hao Shaoqi's guards fled to Liuzhou, the residence of Emperor Yongli in Guangxi, and attacked Guilin. At the end of the year, the Qing army was defeated in Quanzhou and entered Hunan. In the following year, the remnants of the Dashun Army, together with the troops of He Tengjiao and Qu Shiyun, won successive victories in Hunan, recovering almost the entire territory of Hunan. At this time, the anti-Qing struggle in Guangdong, Sichuan and other places resumed, and Jin Shenghuan, the governor of Jiangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Li Chengdong, the governor of Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, Geng Xianzhong, the governor of Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Ping, the general of the Qing Datong Army, Wang Yongqiang, the general of the Yan'an battalion in the Qing Dynasty, and Mi Layin, the deputy general of the Ganzhou Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty, returned to the Ming Dynasty one after another,[18-19] and the anti-Qing forces in the rear of the Qing army also launched an extensive offensive. For a time, the area nominally controlled by the Yongli regime expanded to the seven provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, as well as the coastal islands of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu in the north, as well as the coastal islands of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the southeast. [20]

However, there were still many contradictions within the Yongli regime, the political forces of various factions attacked each other, and the peasant army was also greatly excluded and could not unite against the enemy, which gave the Qing army a chance to breathe. From 1649 to 1650, He Tengjiao and Qu Shiyun were captured and killed in the battles of Xiangtan and Guilin, and the Qing army reoccupied Hunan and Guangxi. [21] Soon, Li Laiheng, the son of Li Guo, and other peasant army generals led their troops to break away from the Nanming government and move to the Jingxiang area of Badong to form the Kuidong Thirteen Army to resist the Qing Dynasty independently. This force held out until 1664. [22]

From 1645 to 1651, the Southern Ming army fought against the Qing army, losing more than winning less, and a large number of Southern Ming troops surrendered to the Qing Dynasty one after another. It has successively lost Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Liangguang, Lianghu and other territories, and lost all its territory. It wasn't until the Great Western Army, led by Sun Kewang, joined that the whole situation changed again.

After Zhang Xianzhong died in battle in 1646, he was the remnant of the Great Western Army dominated by his righteous descendants Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, Ai Nengqi and others

Zhang Huangyan of the late Southern Ming Dynasty and Zheng Chenggong against the Qing Dynasty

Zhang Huangyan of the late Southern Ming Dynasty and Zheng Chenggong against the Qing Dynasty[23]

Since 1647, the ministry has occupied Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. In 1652, the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty accepted the proposal of Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo to unite against the Qing Dynasty and set the capital of Anlongsuo. Soon, the Southern Ming Army, with the remnants of the Great Western Army as the main body, launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Qing army. Li Dingguo led an army of 80,000 troops east out of Hunan, won a great victory in Jingzhou, and recovered most of Hunan; then went south to Guangxi, won a great victory in Guilin, killed Kong Youde, the king of southern Qingding, and recovered the whole province of Guangxi; and then went north to Hunan to win a great victory in Hengyang, and killed Nikan, the prince of Qing Jingjin, and the world was shaken. At the same time, Liu Wenxiu also attacked Sichuan, won the victory of Xuzhou, the victory of stopping the river, and recovered the south of Sichuan and the east of Sichuan. Sun Kewang also personally led the army to win a great victory in Chenzhou in Hunan. [24] The anti-Qing armies of Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong on the southeast coast also took the opportunity to launch an offensive, and successively won a series of victories in Cizao, Qianshan, Xiaoyingling, Jiangdongqiao, Chongwu, and Haicheng, and accepted the title of Yongli. For a time, the area nominally controlled by the Yongli regime was restored to all of the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, most of the two provinces of Hunan and Sichuan, and one of the four provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Hubei. [25]

After that, Liu Wenxiu lost his troops in Sichuan and was lucky to win by Wu Sangui in the Battle of Baoning. However, Sun Kewang was jealous of Li Dingguo's great victories in Guilin and Hengzhou, and forced Li Dingguo away, but his own army was defeated in the Battle of Baoqing. [26] Zheng Chenggong on the southeast coast was also defeated at the Battle of Zhangzhou. [27] Therefore, the Ming army failed to expand its gains in the three battlefields of Sichuan, Hunan, and Fujian, and fell into a situation of stalemate with the Qing army. After Li Dingguo contacted Zheng Chenggong, he led his army to march into Guangdong twice in 1653 and 1654, and agreed to join Zheng in Guangzhou to recover Guangdong in one fell swoop, but Zheng's army repeatedly missed the appointment date, coupled with the plague epidemic, resulting in the Zhaoqing Campaign and the Xinhui Campaign were unsuccessful. [28] However, Zheng Chenggong's troops did not sit idle, and in 1656, Zheng won a great victory in Quanzhou, and in 1657, he won a great victory in Huguoling. In the same year, Wang Xing led his troops to achieve a great victory in Wencun.

Towards perdition

In 1656 (the tenth year of Yongli), Sun Kewang secretly plotted to usurp the throne, which triggered an internal war in the Southern Ming Dynasty

Zheng Chenggong, who persisted in the struggle against the Qing Dynasty on the southeast coast

Zheng Chenggong who persisted in the anti-Qing struggle on the southeast coast[29]

Infighting, Li Dingguo embraced Emperor Yongli to Yunnan, and defeated Sun Kewang the following year, and Sun Kewang was poor and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. [30] After Sun Kewang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the military intelligence of the southwest was provided to the Qing court, and the reality of Yungui was known to the Qing army. In April 1658 (the twelfth year of Yongli), the main force of the Qing army attacked Guizhou from Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangxi. At the end of the year, Wu Sangui invaded Yunnan, and in the first month of the following year, he went down to Kunming and entered Yunnan. [31] At this time, Zheng Chenggong took advantage of the Qing army's main force to attack the southwest, led more than 100,000 troops to the north, and successively won the victories of Dinghaiguan, Guazhou, and Zhenjiang. The Qing army sent a large army to besiege Xiamen in an attempt to annihilate Zheng Chenggong in one fell swoop, but Zheng Chenggong responded calmly and won a great victory in Xiamen, stabilizing the situation on the southeast coast. [32]

In 1661 (the fifteenth year of Yongli), Wu Sangui led the Qing army into Burma, asking for Emperor Yongli, the king of Burma handed over Yongli to the Qing army in December, and in April of the following year, Emperor Yongli and his son were executed by Wu Sangui in Kunming. In July, Li Dingguo learned of the death of Emperor Yongli in Zhenla, and he also died of grief. [33]

After the Yongli Emperor was killed, the only large-scale anti-Qing activities in the country were the Thirteen Kuidong and Zheng Chenggong in Taiwan, Penghu, Jinxia. In 1662, the Qing army began to strangle it, and in 1664, the Thirteen Families of Kuidong failed to resist the Qing Dynasty, and the leader Li Laiheng's family **, and the resistance movement of the Ming Dynasty in the mainland ended. [34] After Zheng Chenggong's death in May of the 16th year of the Yongli calendar,[35] Zheng Jing came to Taiwan from Xiamen to take over the business, and continued to use the Yongli era name, ostensibly still serving Zhu Shugui, the king of Ningjing of the Ming Dynasty, as the Zhengshuo, and welcomed Zhu Shugui from Fujian to Taiwan the following year. In 1663, the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Netherlands joined forces to attack Kinmen and Xiamen, the two islands of Jinxia fell, and the Ming Zheng Shi retreated to Taiwan. [36]

In 1673, the rebellion of the three feudatories broke out, and Zheng Jing accepted it

The Qing army encircled and suppressed the thirteen families in Kuidong

The Qing army's encirclement and suppression of the Thirteen Families in Kuidong[37]

Geng Jingzhong, the king of Jingnan, asked for help and led his army west to Fujian. After Zheng Jing recovered Xiamen, he took over Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Chaozhou, and then captured Huizhou, Guangdong. Later, Guangdong Pingnan Wang Shang Kexi, Fujian Jingnan King Geng Jingzhong successively for the Qing army to pacify, Yunnan Pingxi King Wu Sangui was also defeated, Zheng Jingshi was defeated and retreated only to hold Xiamen, in 1680 the Qing general Wan Zhengse sent people to lobby Zhu Tiangui, deputy governor of the Zheng Army's naval division, Zhu Tiangui (formerly Geng Jingzhong's general) led 300 ships, more than 20,000 soldiers surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Jing gave up Xiamen and returned to Taiwan, and then indulged in wine. [38] In 1681, Zheng Jing died of illness and left Zheng Kezhang to be the heir, Feng Xifan poisoned Zheng Kezang, supported his son-in-law Zheng Kezhang, and monopolized power. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty took advantage of the internal strife that broke out within the Ming Zheng regime, and began to conquer Taiwan with the rebel general Shi Lang as the commander of the navy. In 1683, Shi Lang defeated Liu Guoxuan and conquered Penghu, causing great military pressure on Taiwan, as a result, Zheng Kexuan shaved his hair and descended to the Qing Dynasty,[39] Zhu Shugui, the king of Ningjing, committed suicide and martyrdom with his five concubines,[36] and the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, the last of the country's anti-Qing forces, were destroyed.

2 Territories

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The scope of control of the Southern Ming was always changing with the battles against the peasant army and the Qing army.

Map of the extent of the territory

In 1644, Li Zicheng entered Beijing. At this time, the strength of the Dashun army has reached Luyu in the east, Jingchu in the south, Qinlong in the west, and Yanjin in the north, and almost the entire north is owned by it. The Southern Ming only controlled Jianghuai, Jiangnan, and most of the southwest. [40] In Sichuan, to the west, another peasant army led by Zhang Xianzhong was marching to Wanxian County, preparing to march towards Chengdu. [41]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in April 1644

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in April 1644

On April 22, 1644, the Dashun army was defeated by Wu Sangui and the Qin army. After the Qing army occupied Beijing, it immediately sent troops to pursue, and on the third day of October, the Qing army occupied Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi. [42]

Knowing that Li Zicheng was defeated by the Qing army, the Ming gentry in Shandong, Henan and other places flocked to the Ming Dynasty, and the regime of the Dashun army here collapsed one after another. By November 1644, the Qing government had sent envoys to pacify the three towns of Jinan, Shandong, and northern Henan. In the southwest, Zhang Xianzhong had captured Chengdu, taken over most of Sichuan, and proclaimed himself emperor in November, establishing the Daxi regime. [43] At this time, the scope of Nanming's control was further reduced.

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in November 1644

Southern Ming Territory in November 1644[41]

After Li Zicheng retreated from Shanxi to Shaanxi, the Qing army marched towards Shaanxi. In 1645, the Qing army occupied Xi'an, the capital of the Dashun army. [44] After defeating the Dashun army and occupying Shaanxi, the Qing army immediately divided its troops into three routes south of the Yangtze River: the Duoduo Department went out of Tongguan, went south through Guide to Sizhou and Yangzhou, and attacked Nanjing; the Azig Department followed Li Zicheng to Jiujiang, Jiangxi, and sent the Jin Shenghuan Department of the Qing Dynasty to collect Nanchang, and then went east along the river to join Wuhu with the Duoduo Army; and the Gushan Ezhen Zhun Tower, which was originally stationed in Shandong, went south to Xuzhou, and advanced by land and water, and collected Huai'an, Nantong and other places in the north of the Jiangbei. [44]

The Qing Dynasty army had entered the Jianghuai region, and the Jiangbei towns of the Southern Ming Dynasty were defeated in the face of the Qing Dynasty army, and they fled without surrendering. Yangzhou and Nanjing fell one after another. Emperor Hongguang was also captured. [44] On June 14, 1645, the Qing army occupied Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Ningbo and other places without much effort. In 1645, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty supported Zhu Yujian, the king of the Tang Dynasty, as the emperor in Fuzhou, with the year name Longwu, and began to confront the Qing Dynasty. [44]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in June 1645

Southern Ming Territory in June 1645[45]

In February 1646, the Qing Dynasty sent a large army to the south,[46] breaking through the Ming army's defense line in one fell swoop, capturing Shaoxing, Jinhua, Dinghai and other places in eastern Zhejiang. However, Zheng Zhilong of Fujian surrendered without a fight, and on August 28, the Qing army pursued to Tingzhou, and Emperor Longwu was captured and killed. On September 19, the Qing army entered Fuzhou, and Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Hongkui led their troops to take refuge in Gulangyu Island in Zhongweisu (now Xiamen). In October, the Qing army of Jin Shenghuan in Jiangxi captured Ganzhou, and the entire territory of Jiangxi also fell into the hands of the Qing Dynasty. [47]

In Sichuan, to the west, Zhang Xianzhong burned Chengdu in August and abandoned the city. In the southwestern frontier, in December 1645, Meng rebelled from Tusi Shadingzhou and seized Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, and Mu Tianbo, the prince of Qianguo, who was guarding Yunnan, was forced to flee to Chuxiong. By February of the following year, the whole of Yunnan, except for the west of Chuxiong, was annexed to Shadingzhou. [47]

On the tenth day of October 1646, Guiwang Zhu Youlang succeeded to the throne in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, at this time came the news of the fall of the important town in southern Jiangxi, Zhu Youlang fled to Wuzhou, Guangxi, at this time the Qing army Li Chengdong, Tong Yangjia Department was rapidly advancing from Fujian to Guangdong, the Qing army was Baotou with Bupa, pretending to be the Ming army, and attacked Guangzhou. [47]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in October 1646

Southern Ming Territory in October 1646[46]

In January 1647, Li Chengdong's Qing army marched west to occupy Zhaoqing, and after capturing Wuzhou, it was defeated in Guilin and retreated to Guangdong. At this time, the Qing army had gone north to occupy Shaozhou and crossed the sea to occupy Qiongzhou. In April, the ten prefectures of Guangdong fell to the Qing army. [48]

The Qing Dynasty sent Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi south from Beijing, took Hunan, and occupied Changsha in February 1647. After that, Kong Youde sent Geng Zhongming's troops to the north to attack Changde, and Shang Kexi's troops went west to enter Youxian County. By the end of the year, except for some Tusi in western Xiangxi, the entire territory of Hunan was obtained by the Qing Dynasty. [49]

In the southwest, in the first month of 1647, Zhang Xianzhong was shot dead by the Qing army, and the Qing army quickly entered Sichuan. The rest of the Great Western Army, under the leadership of four generals, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi, quickly retreated south, crossed the Yangtze River, entered Guizhou, and occupied Guiyang. The Qing army under the command of Haoge pursued to Zunyi, but because the place was dilapidated and barren, and the grain and grass were scarce, they had to withdraw from Sichuan to Beijing, and only possessed a corner of Baoning in northern Sichuan. [49]

In September 1647, the Great Western Army reached an agreement with Mu Tianbo and decided to "restore the country after the Ming Dynasty." So far, except for Shadingzhou, which is still guarding Mengzi, Amizhou, and Dongchuan Tusilu, the whole of Yunnan has been pacified by the Great Western Army. [49]

In July 1647, taking advantage of the return of the main force of the Qing army to the north, Lu Jianguo led his troops to conquer Fujian. By June 1648, the Southern Ming Righteous Army had once captured the land of 27 counties in three prefectures and one state in Fujian. [49]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in December 1647

Southern Ming Territory in December 1647[48]

In December 1647, the Qing army captured Quanzhou, opened the door to Guangxi, in the first month of 1648, Jiangxi general Jin Shenghuan announced in Nanchang to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, except for Guangxin, Ganzhou two cities, Jiangxi Province is anti-Qing and Ming. The Qing army has moved a large army south to suppress it. [50]

In March, the Gansu ** generals Mi Layin and Ding Guodong also launched an anti-Qing uprising, and the northwestern prefectures of Lianke[51] led troops eastward and broke through Lanzhou, which was greatly boosted, and the Qing Dynasty's rule in Gansu tended to collapse. In April and May, the Qing court recaptured Taozhou, Lanzhou and other places, and Milayin was killed in battle. In August, Ganzhou was also surrounded by Qing troops. [50]

On 15 April, Li Chengdong, the governor of the Qing Dynasty and Guangzhou, also announced in Guangdong that he would oppose the Qing Dynasty and return to the Ming Dynasty. That is, he led the troops to attack Ganzhou in the north, and then he was in the middle of the plan, and before he had a firm foothold under the city of Ganzhou, he was suddenly attacked and defeated. [50]

On the battlefield in Hunan, the Qing army learned that Jiangxi had rebelled and retreated to Yueyang, and the Ming army took the opportunity to counterattack: it successively recovered Changde, Chenzhou, Jingzhou, Liping, Wugang, Baoqing and other places; In November, Yongzhou was captured, Baoqing was recaptured, and the Qing army was defeated and abandoned Hengzhou. The twelve prefectures and counties of Changsha Prefecture have been captured by the loyal battalion, and Changsha has become a desperate place. At this point, the Ming army has recovered most of Hunan, and the Qing troops have protected Changsha and Yueyang. [50]

In December of this year, Jiang Xuan, the general soldier of Datong, was also in Shanxi to oppose the Qing Dynasty, and in April and May of the same year, Shanxi was occupied by the Restoration of the Ming Righteous Army except for the provincial capital Taiyuan and Pingyang, and the anti-Qing uprising spread to the north. Zheng Chenggong on the southeast coast attacked Tong'an, Fujian in April 1648. [50]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in November 1648

Southern Ming Territory in November 1648[50]

In the first month of 1649, the situation gradually deteriorated, the Qing army raided Xiangtan, Hunan Baoqing, Hengyang, Jingzhou and other places fell again, the gateway to Guangxi Quanzhou was also lost, and the Guanyinxi and Zhongzhen battalions were withdrawn from Chenzhou, Hunan to Nanning, Guangxi. In Jiangxi, the Qing army had besieged Nanchang for half a year, and the city was broken on the 19th of the first month. [52]

In the northwest, the Qing army captured Ganzhou in the first month, and soon broke Suzhou, and Ding Guodong and others were captured and killed. [53]

In February, Li Chengdong went north again to attack Ganzhou, and in early March, the Ming army was defeated by the Qing army in Xinfeng. [53]

On 15 February, following Jiang Huang's opposition to the Qing Dynasty in Shanxi, Wang Yongqiang also rose up in Yulin, Shaanxi, and went south to occupy Yan'an, restoring 19 prefectures and counties in northern Shaanxi. It was not until November 1650 that the Qing army pacified northern Shaanxi. [53]

In November 1649, the Qing Dynasty appointed Kong Youde, the king of Jingnan, Geng Zhongming, and the king of Pingnan, Shang Kexi, to go south again, Kong Youde attacked Guangxi from Hunan, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi took Guangdong through Jiangxi. [53]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in June 1649

Southern Ming Territory in June 1649[52]

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve in 1650, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao attacked Nanxiong in Guangdong from Jiangxi and captured Shaozhou, and in March, the Qing army besieged Guangzhou. Shang Ke was pleased to see that the city was difficult to break, and he sent troops to recruit Hui first, and the Ming army of Chao Erzhou. In June, Zheng Chenggong coveted the production of Chaozhou, and took advantage of the chaos to lead troops to attack Hao Shangjiu, who was stationed in the city, and at this time Huizhou to the west of Chaozhou had been annexed to the Qing Dynasty, and Chaozhou had been isolated in the Southern Ming Dynasty,[54] and was attacked by the "friendly army" Zheng Chenggong, so Hao Shangjiu surrendered to the Qing Dynasty again in a fit of rage. On the second day of November, the Qing army mobilized reinforcements and artillery to break through the city of Guangzhou, and Du Yonghe fled to Qiongzhou by water. [55]

In September 1650, Kong Youde's troops entered Guangxi, and the other route advanced south to Quanzhou, attacking Guilin from the north and south, and the Ming army was defeated. Li Yuanyin, the son of Li Chengdong, could not bear the whole province of Guangdong to fall into the hands of the Qing army again, so he went to Gaozhou and Leizhou to pack up the remnants and prepare to fight again. [55] By this time, Sun Kewang had already led his army from Yunnan to Tongren, Guizhou, and incorporated the warlords from all over Guizhou Province to prepare for war with the Qing army. In this year, Zheng Chenggong seized Xiamen, Kinmen, which he occupied. [55]

The territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty in November 1650

Southern Ming Territory in November 1650[54]

In 1651, the Qing Dynasty was peaceful, and the two feudal clans of Jing captured Leizhou and Lianzhou in Guangdong. [56] In December 1651, the Qing army, which had moved south from Liuzhou, captured Nanning. [57]

In March 1651, the Qing army took advantage of Zheng Chenggong's attack on Guangdong to send troops to attack his base in Xiamen; in July, the Qing army attacked Zhoushan occupied by Lu Jianguo in three ways: one route from Hangzhou to Shaoxing, one route through Quzhou through Taizhou -- the two route armies went to Dinghai together to take Zhoushan, the other route went north by boat from Taizhou, and the Wusong naval division went south by sea. In August, the Qing army defeated the Ming army in the naval battle, and landed in Zhoushan in September to break the city, Lu Jianguo and others were forced to go south, through the Wenzhou sea area to Fuzhou Haitan Mountain, in the first month of 1652, stationed in Xiamen, and Zheng Chenggong rendezvous. [57]

In the same year, the loyal battalion that was repeatedly excluded in Nanning and did not want to take refuge in Sun Kewang passed through Qingyuan under the leadership of Gao Yigong, and Dushan went north to Kuidong, where he joined Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tiren, Li Laiheng and other departments. [57]

Southern Ming territory in December 1651

Southern Ming Territory in December 1651[56]

In April 1652, Li Dingguo led the army into Hunan, even Kejingzhou, Wugang, to August, most of the prefectures and counties in Hunan were recovered by the Ming army, except for the Ming army in Chenzhou, the lonely city of Chenzhou, only Yuezhou, Changde two cities are still guarded by the Qing army. The Ming army broke through Guilin on the fourth day of the seventh month. [58] After conquering Guilin, Li Dingguo pursued the victory and recovered Wuzhou. [59]

After Emperor Shunzhi learned of the defeat of Xianggui, he hurriedly sent Prince Jingjin Nikan to lead the elite of the Eight Banners to aid Hunan. Sun Kewang learned that the Qing soldiers were about to go to Hunan, and urgently transferred Li Dingguo from Gui to Hunan, so most of Guangxi fell into the hands of the Qing army again. [59] In November, Nikan's army advanced to Xiangtan, Hunan, and the Ming army retreated to Baoqing. Nikan arrogantly rushed straight to Hengyang, but was ambushed and defeated by Li Dingguo's heavy army, and on the same day, the lonely city of Chenzhou was also conquered by Sun Kewang's army. [59]

In February 1652, Wu Sangui and Li Guohan had entered Sichuan from Hanzhong and quickly occupied Chengdu, Jiading, Chongqing, Xuzhou and other places. In August, Liu Wenxiu's army in Sichuan began to counterattack, conquering Xuzhou and Chongqing in one fell swoop. In September, the Qing army had retreated to Baoning, northern Sichuan. After Liu Wenxiu recovered most of Sichuan, he led the army to chase to Baoning, Zhongwu Sangui ambushed, the Ming army was defeated, and Liu Wenxiu was defeated and returned to Guizhou. In October 1652, Zheng Chenggong failed in his attack on Zhangzhou, Fujian. [59]