In life, we often meet the Lord who bullies the weak and fears the hard, pitiful and hateful. In the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, a big reason why several emperors did nothing, in addition to their own lack of political quality, was that they could not control the military forces they relied on. And these seemingly powerful military forces are actually a bunch of poor worms who bully the weak and are afraid of the hard. Zhu Yousong, with the support of the four towns in Jiangbei, was able to form the Hongguang regime. After becoming the emperor, he first promoted the pro-Dai forces to officials, especially the warlords who led the troops. These warlords had been self-respecting in their own arms, but after gaining greater power, they intensified their competition for their interests. In the face of the Manchu army that was constantly moving south, he didn't think about the north, and got by in the luxurious life of the fish and meat people. Let's talk about Gao Jie in the four towns first, this eldest brother was originally Li Zicheng's fellow countryman and general, because he seduced the boss's wife, he was afraid of reprisals, so he fled from the rebel army with his cronies and surrendered to the Ming army. In order to express their determination to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, Gao Jie and Li Zicheng's troops often fought each other, causing great trauma to Li Zicheng's troops. Li Ziyuan hated him to the core, and Gao Jie was also afraid of the peasant army, so every time the two sides went to war, they knocked each other to death. The Dashun peasant army has always wanted to kill Gao Jie, but every time he escapes, the team has grown bigger and bigger. 
Gao Jie. In an environment where he was afraid of the Qing Dynasty, Gao Jie also developed a great fear of the Manchu army, which had never fought before, for fear of weakening his own power after the battle. After Shi Kefa was forced to supervise the division in Yangzhou, in the face of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's pressing step by step, Shi Kefa was suffering from the fact that he had no troops that could be directly mobilized, so he begged the four towns to resist in a low voice. Under his painstaking persuasion, Gao Jie reluctantly agreed to lead the army to the Northern Expedition, but before he could go on the expedition, he was killed by Xu Dingguo, a subordinate bribed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. After supporting Zhu Yousong, Gao Jie's biggest achievement was the civil war with Huang Degong, who was also a member of the Four Towns. In order to seize Yangzhou and other rich places, I have fought many times, and you attack me, so it is not lively. It has suffered Shi Kefa and the people. Liu Liangzuo, who was also a general of Li Zicheng with Gao Jie in the four towns, rebelled again and again, first surrendering to the Ming army, and later leading his troops to surrender to the Qing army. When Liu Liangzuo was in Li Zicheng's army, he was known for his corrupt discipline and brutality and bloodshed, which was incompatible with Li Zicheng's original people-oriented thinking. After surrendering to the Ming army, the power gradually grew, and when Zhu Yousong's cronies and eunuchs found him and asked him to support Zhu Yousong as emperor, Liu Liangzuo smelled a political opportunity and did not hesitate to join the team that supported Zhu Yousong. After Zhu Yousong ascended the throne, he was awarded the title of Doctor for his meritorious service, and since then he has regarded himself as a leader with three other ministers. Liu Liangzuo is a famous fugitive general in the four towns, whether it is against the peasant army or the Manchu army, the stunt of the war is to run, and the use of the art of war is superb. But he treats the common people as well as several others, and exerts his ability to kill the people to the extreme. After the Qing army attacked the garrison, under the guidance of his younger brother Liu Liangchen, he surrendered without moving a knife or a gun, and later captured Zhu Yousong in Wuhu, which directly led to the fall of the Hongguang regime. Zhu Yousong was responsive to Liu Liangzuo's requests at that time, but he didn't expect to end up in his hands and raise a white-eyed wolf, which was full of regret. The brutal national policy of the Manchu Qing provoked fierce resistance in the land of China. Under the leadership of Yan Yingyuan, the people of Jiangyin rose up to resist and composed a tragic scene that could be sung and cried. After the Qing army broke through Jiangyin, it created a tragic massacre of the city, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and Liu Liangzuo was an active participant in this tragedy. Liu Zeqing in the four towns is as good as the first two in bullying the soft and fearing the hard. In the face of the Qing army's attack, what came to mind was not to organize troops to resist, but to retreat and beg for peace. The Manchu generals at that time were greatly despised, and in the end, when they didn't even have the opportunity to beg for peace, they surrendered to the Manchus without hesitation, without a trace of mud and water. After Liu Zeqing surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he finally rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately it was exterminated without causing a splash. Hi, dry for nothing. 
Huang Degong. Huang Degong was the only warlord who was ordered to fight against the Qing army and died on the battlefield, and he was also the highest knight among the four towns. After Zhu Yousong came to power with several other people, the most he did was to compete with Gao Jie for the rich Yangzhou and other places, and fought many times. After Gao Jie's death, he tried to annex Gao's subordinates and territories, but he was barely stopped by Shi Kefa's coaxing.
Years of exploitation and infighting have made the people in the jurisdiction worse than dead and miserable. At the time, people called the four towns robbers, which was too gentle. Another leader of the Hongguang Dynasty is Zuo Liangyu, who is stationed in Wuchang. Zuo Liangyu is not Zhu Yousong's cronies, but he is a force he dare not offend. Zuo Liangyu, who came from a family of military generals, fought all the way from Liaodong to Wuchang, first against the Manchu army, and then against the peasant army. But his record is indescribable, and he has been defeated repeatedly, which is very suitable for Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu is not good at fighting, but pulling the team is first-class. From the earliest leader of a few thousand troops to the last hundreds of thousands, there were more than a dozen soldiers under the direct jurisdiction, becoming the strongest local armed force in the late Ming Dynasty. After the Hongguang regime established the capital of Nanjing, Zuo Liangyu, who was stationed in Wuchang upstream, saw that the four towns were so favored, and David's eyes were red. Taking advantage of the party struggle of the Hongguang Dynasty and Ma Shiying's dictatorship, he went east along the river in the name of the Qing monarch's side, and the troops were directed at the capital Nanjing, trying to force Zhu Yousong to give him greater rights. 
Zuo Liangyu. Hearing that hundreds of thousands of troops were directed at Nanjing, Ma Shiying and Zhu Yousong panicked, and hurriedly sent Huang Degong and Gao Jie to block the attack, and the soldiers defeated Zuo Liangyu's forward troops. Zuo Liangyu's eastward expedition to Nanjing was carried out with great selfish interests, and after the troops left Wuchang, he actually ordered the burning of Wuchang City, so that this famous city by the Yangtze River was destroyed by fireworks, and the people in the city were displaced.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Liangyu, who had hundreds of thousands of troops at that time, did not dare to confront Li Zicheng's peasant army, nor did he dare to fight against the Manchu army, and even used the target of attack on the already fragile Hongguang regime. It was this most powerful army at that time, and after Zuo Liangyu's death, his sons and subordinates all surrendered to the Manchu nobles. The Lord who bullies the soft and is afraid of the hard, what the hell?
In the Hongguang Dynasty, its territory still had most of China, and its army still had millions of people, but the Wenchen led by Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng were busy with party disputes, and the military generals led by Sizhen and Zuo Liangyu were keen on internal fighting, and they also had a muddy master, and it seemed reasonable to perish quickly.