In the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), Hong Chengchou immediately became the governor of Jiliao. Since then, he has become the last governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty.
Hong Chengchou, a native of Nan'an, Fujian, was the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, and became famous for capturing and killing Gao Yingxiang, the "King of Chuang", and repeatedly defeating Li Zicheng.
In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), the Qing army besieged Jinzhou City. In July, Hong Chengchou led Wu Sangui and other eight general soldiers and 130,000 soldiers and horses to Jinzhou to relieve the siege. On the way, he received a suggestion from Zu Dashou, the general of Jinzhou, and suggested that Hong Chengchou walk slowly to Xingshan and Songshan, in order to take the camp step by step and attack steadily and save steadily.
Ming ** received a report from Hong Chengchou that Chen Xinjia, the new secretary of the military department, actually sent Zhang Ruolin, the superintendent of the army, to promote the war on the grounds of long-lasting food consumption.
It should be said that in the tug-of-war between the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hong Chengchou was not a knowledgeable general. Hearing the urging, he lightly left the grain and grass at the beacon post outside Ningyuan, Xingshan and Tashan, and then led 60,000 soldiers and horses to rush forward. As a result, Huang Taiji, who had already learned the information, turned back and took away the grain of Tashan.
Subsequently, Hong Chengchou's 60,000 horses were soon in the embarrassing situation of being ambushed by the Qing army in front and chased by the Qing army. In addition, at this time, Hong Chengchou did not have the heart of a decisive battle, but in a hurry, he killed 50,000 of his sergeants and scattered more than 60,000. In the end, there were only two general soldiers left (one was still injured) and more than 10,000 remnants, and they were besieged in Songshan City by the Qing army.
In January of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Hong Chengchou, who was trapped in the city, heard that reinforcements were coming, so he sent 6,000 soldiers and horses out of the city to attack at night, but was defeated by the Qing army again, and the defeated army wanted to retreat into the city. Hong Chengchou never dared to fight again.
Half a year later, the deputy general Xia Chengde took his son Xia Shu as a hostage and surrendered to the Qing army. The Qing army should attack at night, and Hong Chengchou also fell into the hands of the Qing army.
At this point, the only main force of the "border soldiers" in the Ming Dynasty was also buried in the hands of Hong Chengchou.
After Hong Chengchou was captured, as everyone knows, Huang Taiji sent people to persuade him to surrender in every way. At the beginning, Hong Chengchou went on a hunger strike and resolutely refused to fall. Later, Huang Taiji asked the Ming Dynasty people who descended to the Qing Dynasty, and knew that this person was very lascivious, so he finally sent the beautiful concubine Borzigit to persuade him. This persuasion really worked, and Hong Chengchou really fell.
However, Hong Chengchou has been reduced, but it has not really been reused. Huang Taiji never gave him a real official position. There may be two reasons for this: on the one hand, Huang Taiji does not trust him very much; On the other hand, deep in Hong Chengchou's heart, he was not willing to accept the surrender of Huang Taiji, and naturally he did not give Huang Taiji any truly valuable advice.
Hong Chengchou's real transformation was after the first year of Shunzhi (1644).
On the ninth day of April of this year, Hong Chengchou went south with Dolgon's army of 100,000 to attack Ming. On the 11th day of the Liaohe River, it was learned that Li Zicheng's Dashun army had captured the city of Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen had also hanged himself in the coal mountain. Hong Chengchou's attachment to the Ming Dynasty has really come to an end.
As a result, Hong Chengchou, who was familiar with the geography and military affairs of the Ming Dynasty, took the initiative to go to Shu Dolgon and actively offered advice to him. In the end, he also offered the strategy of "taking it by surprise, from Jizhou and Miyun near Beijing, and marching quickly", which was quickly adopted by Dolgon.
Subsequently, the Qing army went straight to Beijing and soon settled in the city of Beijing. Immediately afterwards, the Qing army went all the way south, and many policies were mostly planned by Hong Chengchou.
It can be seen that this figure, who was once dominant in the suppression of the peasant army, also began to buy his life for the Qing Dynasty in a down-to-earth manner after seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was dead and the Ming Dynasty had become a cloud of smoke.
Therefore, from this point of view, on the question of whether to let Li Zicheng peasant army win the world or let the Manchus win the world, he may have preferred the Manchus to get the world.
But in the end, I am afraid that only he knows best.