Why Zu Dashou of the Ming Dynasty was a rebel army was remembered by history

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-20

There were three Ming army factions in the history of Liaodong.

One is Li Chengliang, one is Mao Wenlong, and the other is Zu Dashou. In fact, the Zu Dashou faction also developed from Li Chengliang's department.

Later, however, with the death of the leader, the first two factions gradually declined. The only thing left is the Zu Dashou line.

Zu Dashou was a Ming Dynasty officer in Anhui, and later moved his family to Liaodong.

Zu Dashou's father was promoted by Li Chengliang, the chief military officer of Liaodong and Ning Yuanbo, and became the deputy chief soldier of Liaodong.

By the time of Zu's birthday, their ancestral lineage had reached its peak.

Zu Dashou was originally a subordinate of Governor Wang Huazhen, and after Yuan Chonghuan was promoted by the imperial court, Zu Dashou took refuge in Yuan Chonghuan's name.

Yuan Chonghuan was promoted to supervisor because of the great victories of Ningyuan and Ningjin, and Zu Dashou was also rewarded for his military merits, becoming the general of Liaodong Forward, and he was stationed in Jinzhou.

After Zu Dashou established himself in the Liaodong Army, he brought his brothers, sons and nephews into the army and made them hold important positions.

After Yuan Chonghuan's death, the front-line Guanning Army was mainly commanded by Zu Dashou, and at this time, this very important team in the Liaodong Military Group should be called the "Zujia Army" more appropriately.

The ancestral family played an important role in the Liaodong Army, and in addition, his personal connections were also complicated.

The ancestral family has close contacts with the Wu family, a large landowner in Suizhong, Liaoning, Zu Dashou's sister married Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang, Zu Dashou is actually Wu Sangui's uncle, Zu Dashou also married Wu Sangui's aunt, so to speak, Zu Dashou is still Wu Sangui's uncle.

Of course, that's all for later.

Zu Dashou is also a person with some ability, otherwise, in the past ten years, why did Huang Taiji repeatedly write letters to invite him to surrender to the Qing army.

At first, Zu Dashou was categorical and ignored it at all, but later, Zu Dashou began to waver, and in the end, he turned to the Qing army.

Even, he said with tears in his eyes that it was too late for him to surrender, and it was surprising that the same person had changed so much before and after.

I think that at the beginning, Zu Dashou made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, but later, why did he insist on lowering the Qing?

Everything has to start with the battle of the Daling River.

Huang Taiji attacked the Ming Dynasty several times, Beijing he could not break through, the four cities of Jingdong Yongping, Qian'an, Zunhua and lost, Huang Taiji thought again and again, decided to break through the Ming army's weakest defense line Dalinghe City.

Dalinghe City is more than 30 miles east of Jinzhou and is an important barrier in Jinzhou. If the Ming army wants to hold Jinzhou, it must repair the city of Dalinghe, and if the Qing army wants to attack the Ming Dynasty, it must not be able to break through the city.

Prior to this, Yuan Chonghuan had repaired the city twice, both times when it was destroyed by the Qing army.

After Yuan Chonghuan's death, according to Sun Chengzong's established plan, Dalinghe City had to be restored.

Unexpectedly, before the city could be repaired, Huang Taiji's men and horses came with murderous spirit, and at this time, Zu Dashou was in the city.

He decided to stay the course.

On the sixth day of August in the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Huang Taiji led two armies to surround Dalinghe City.

Huang Taiji knew that the defender of the city was Zu Dashou, and it was not easy to deal with. This time, he changed his tactics and decided not to attack fiercely, wanting to drag the soldiers and civilians in the city to death.

From the sixth day of August to the nineteenth day of September, Zu Dashou organized four breakouts, all of which failed, and he and his subordinates were besieged in the city for 48 days.

Except for a few high-ranking officials in the city, there were still one or two liters of rice left in their hands, and the rest had long been out of food.

There is nonsense about cannibalism in the city.

After hearing the emergency military report of Dalinghe, Sun Chengzong, a scholar and supervisor, sent troops to reinforce him four times, but the four reinforcements were intercepted by the Qing army, and a total of 40,000 reinforcements were annihilated. The Ming army has been unable to send reinforcements.

The soldiers and civilians in Dalinghe City held on for more than 10 days.

Beginning on August 11, Huang Taiji issued several letters of surrender, ordering Zu Dashou to surrender.

Zu Dashou flatly refused, he said: "You don't have to come again, I'd rather die in this city than surrender." ”

On October 25, Zu Dashou made up his mind and sent four of his subordinates to negotiate with Huang Taiji.

Soon after, Zu Dashou agreed to surrender.

He beheaded the lieutenant general He Kegang outside the city to show his sincerity.

At this time, there were more than 30,000 people in Dalinghe City, and only more than 10,000 people remained.

As soon as He Kegang died, hungry people swarmed up and snatched his body empty.

On October 28, the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Zu Dashou opened the city gate to welcome the arrival of Huang Taiji. At the banquet that night, Huang Taiji personally handed the gold cup to Zu Dashou's hand.

Zu Dashou said that his wife and children are still in Jinzhou, and he is willing to go alone, and join forces with the Qing army to capture Jinzhou together, and in order to gain the trust of Huang Taiji, he left his righteous son Zu Kefa as a hostage.

Huang Taiji agreed.

However, after Zu Dashou fled back to Jinzhou, he began to arrange anti-Jin matters and kept Dolgon's army out.

Huang Taiji asked him when he would be able to take Jinzhou, and Zu Dashou was hesitant.

Later, Huang Taiji couldn't get Zu Dashou's reply, so he could only demolish Dalinghe City again and return disappointed.

After Chongzhen heard about this, he did not blame Zu Dashou, but named him Zuo Du Lieutenant and asked him to guard Jinzhou.

Later, Sun Chengzong was ** by others in the imperial court and resigned from his position.

At that time, there must have been few generals in Chongzhen's hands who could really fight at this time, and he wanted to summon Zu Dashou repeatedly, but Zu Dashou prevaricated.

Zu Dashou may be afraid, or he may be ashamed, or he may have rebelled in his heart. He never saw Emperor Chongzhen.

In February of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Huang Taiji attacked again. Chongzhen originally wanted Hong Chengchou to go to support, but unexpectedly, Hong Chengchou was defeated.

Later, Huang Taiji attacked Jinzhou. This time, Zu Dashou was in Jinzhou, and was besieged for more than a year, and the grain and grass in the city were exhausted, and the scene of cannibalism was staged again in Dalinghe City.

In the face of the cruel reality, Zu Dashou chose to give in.

In front of Huang Taiji, he said humbly: "The crime of the minister, unlike Hong Chengchou, descended and rebelled, turned his back on Hong En, and deserved to die." ”

Later, he also wrote a letter to his nephew, Wu Sangui, the general soldier guarding Ningyuan, to persuade him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

In the first month of the following year, Wu Sangui replied "hesitant".

Hearing this, Zu Dashou couldn't help but scold, "Mr. Wu's crime is serious. ”

Many years later, Wu Sangui also knelt down under the steps of the Qing Dynasty, and he also learned from his uncle's original tone to scold himself for his sins and did not know what to do.

Of course, that's another story.

With the departure of Zu Dashou, there are almost no generals on the territory of the Ming Dynasty who can really fight for the Qing army.

There is a couplet at the ancestral stone workshop in Xingcheng, Liaoning, which reads:

A generation of famous generals, according to the outside of the customs, closed in the customs, can be called reciprocating loyalty; The two dynasties and the second ministers, against the former master, the latter master, are really not human inside and out."

It is no longer clear who wrote this couplet, but the person who said it was obviously Zu Dashou.

Perhaps, there will be many people who scold Zu Dashou for not having a backbone.

But think about it, at the beginning, when Zu Dashou was defending Dalinghe City, he also persevered for nearly three months.

Some people say that after he returned to Jinzhou, he had already surrendered to the Qing army, and some people said that he just faked his surrender.

His ancestor Dashou may not want to surrender to the Qing army, but reality forced him to surrender.

At the last moment, he was probably scared.

Zu Dashou will fall to such a point, how can it be his responsibility alone.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was torn apart, and Chongzhen couldn't sit in Guanzhong, how should he choose?

If you stand on Zu Dashou's side, it is actually difficult.

This is a ship that is about to sink, whether to jump down with it, or choose to go ashore.

From the initial killing of Yuan Chonghuan to the resignation of Sun Chengzong, many situations have been doomed.

The absurd Ming Dynasty has long been at the end of its rope and cannot be recovered.

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