In 1644, a major battle changed the fate of both dynasties. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had fallen into decline, and the Qing Emperor Taiji died, and his son Fu Lin ascended the throne, assisted by his uncle, the regent Dorgon. At the same time, the peasant rebel army led by Li Zicheng established the "Great Shun" state in Xi'an, posing a threat to the Forbidden City. Faced with this situation, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen realized that he could not reverse the situation, and left a suicide note instructing Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, to "not hurt the people", and then hanged himself on the coal mountain with the great eunuch Wang Chengen. After Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, he was deeply saddened to find Emperor Chongzhen's suicide note, so he ordered a ban on the burning and looting of the peasant army, but soon after, he himself indulged in a life of luxury.
And just when Li Zicheng fell into pleasure, he didn't realize that the Qing Dynasty was already ready for the next move outside the customs. Regarding the imminent outbreak of the war, the contradiction between Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui became the focus. We have already understood the outcome of the Battle of Shanhaiguan, so what was the key to the victory of the Qing army?It was apparently Wu Sangui and his defenders stationed at Shanhaiguan. Shanhaiguan is known as "the first pass in the world", not because of the royal reward, nor because there have been any sages, but because of its unchanging geographical location for thousands of years, it is unique. From the topographical point of view, Shanhaiguan is bordered by Yanshan Mountain in the north and the Bohai Sea in the south, plus the Luocheng and Yicheng built around it, wrapping Shanhaiguan into an "iron city" that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is precisely because of such geographical conditions that Shanhaiguan can become a barrier against foreign invasion in the Central Plains.
Therefore, as the general of the garrison of Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui became the focus of contention between Dashun and Daqing. When Wu Sangui hesitated, not knowing whether to surrender to Li Zicheng or Dolgon, Li Zicheng actually used Wu Sangui's family in Beijing as a threat, making Wu Sangui feel that he was not a good person, especially after learning that his beloved concubine, Chen Yuanyuan, was taken captive, he was even more furious. So Wu Sangui decided to surrender to the Qing army, which is the origin of the story of "rushing to the crown and being angry". In Beijing, Li Zicheng, who had been at ease, hurriedly discussed countermeasures with civil and military officials after learning that Wu Sangui was going to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. After discussion, in order to win Wu Sangui again, Li Zicheng took Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, to Shanhaiguan to prepare for peace talks.
Li Zicheng led his army after several days of trekking, and finally reached the vicinity of Shanhaiguan. Perhaps carried away by successive victories, or perhaps out of nostalgia for the prosperity of the capital, he immediately issued an ultimatum to Wu Sangui to surrender after arriving at Shanhaiguan that day, but was refused. Faced with this situation, Li Zicheng did not intend to waste his words any longer, because the defenders led by Wu Sangui and the local villagers were only tens of thousands in total, while he himself came with an army of more than 100,000. If the Qing army arrives and take Shanhaiguan, you don't have to be afraid of Dolgon. Therefore, when the soldiers approached the city, what kind of ending did Li Zicheng's arrogance and arrogance bring to him?The two sides began a fierce battle, using their respective advantages to compete with each other.
Although there were victories and defeats, due to the great disparity in strength, the Dashun army fought fiercely with Wu Sangui's troops all night, and failed to enter another city except for the northern wing city. At the same time, the army led by Dorgon had arrived. After witnessing the combat effectiveness of the Dashun army, Dolgon decided to adopt the strategy of "fighting with the snipe and the fisherman", and waited for the opportunity. Sure enough, after a day and a night of fierce fighting, Wu Sangui could not continue to hold on, and led the light cavalry to break out of the encirclement and surrender to the Qing army camp. At the same time, Li Zicheng realized that it was no longer beneficial to siege the city, so he changed his strategy and concentrated all his forces in the area of Shanhaiguan, preparing for a decisive battle. Dolgon saw the opportunity and let Wu Sangui's troops serve as the right flank to meet the Dashun army, while he went around to the weak place of the Dashun army, waiting for the opportunity to annihilate it in one fell swoop.
At this time, Li Zicheng still did not understand Dolgon's intentions and thought that he had to fight with Wu Sangui to the end. Finally, at noon, the two sides fought bloodily until they were exhausted, and the corpses of the soldiers of the two armies were all around. Seeing this, Dorgon immediately ordered his troops to rush and kill. In the scene of thousands of horses and banners hunting, the Dashun army was already exhausted, and it was even more chaotic in the face of this scene. Eventually, in the afternoon of the same day, the Dashun army retreated and fled to Beijing. This battle caused heavy losses to the Dashun army, not only fifteen generals were killed, but the entire army of more than 100,000 people was finally left with just over 7,000 people. The Battle of Shanhaiguan ended in a complete victory for the Qing army, and from then on, Li Zicheng's elite was completely lost, and he was pursued and killed by Wu Sangui and the Qing army, and finally could not be restarted.
In the end, he died at the hands of farmers in Tongcheng, Hubei, and his fate was tragic. It was through this battle that the Qing Dynasty successfully entered the Central Plains and began its nearly 300-year reign. So, what exactly led to the Qing army's great victory in the Battle of Shanhaiguan?And why did Li Zicheng fail?The victory of the Qing army in the first battle of Shanhaiguan is undoubtedly beyond doubt. According to historical records, Dolgon led about 70,000 or 80,000 troops to Shanhaiguan, mainly composed of Mongols, plus the Shanhaiguan garrison led by Wu Sangui and local villagers, totaling more than 100,000.
In contrast, although the Dashun army led by Li Zicheng had more than 100,000 men, they were only peasant rebels in various places, and they were obviously dwarfed by the well-trained "Eight Banners" led by Dolgon. The second is the skill of the first-class soldier. Li Zicheng has roamed the Central Plains for many years, and although he has a certain ability to use troops, he lacks special training after all. On the contrary, Dolgon followed Huang Taiji in the northern conquests since he was a child, and was highly regarded by Nurhachi, who cultivated his ability to use soldiers. Therefore, in the war, he was able to flexibly adjust his strategy and formulate the most suitable plan for the use of troops. Finally, the attitude of the **. After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, although he had ambitions, he was confused by the prosperity of the capital and his mind was confused.
He did not make too many pre-war preparations, nor did he take the movements of the Qing army outside Shanhaiguan seriously, so he only knew how to attack rashly. In contrast, when Dolgon learned that Li Zicheng was leading a large army to arrive, he rushed more than 200 miles day and night, for fear of delaying the warplane. In addition, Li Zicheng did not pay attention to the issue of recruiting Wu Sangui. Knowing that the Qing army had arrived, he still insisted on going his own way, which could only lead to a tragic ending. In general, from Li Zicheng's failure, we can draw this conclusion: don't be greedy for pleasure, let alone despise your opponent, otherwise you will only fall into a quagmire and find it difficult to extricate yourself.