In the Battle of Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng's elite was almost wiped out, and the 15th General was killed
In 1644, at the age of seven, Emperor Shunzhi did not anticipate that he would become the leader of the most powerful country in East Asia. His throne was actually obtained with the help of his uncle Dorgon.
If it weren't for Dolgon who led the Qing army into the customs that year, Emperor Shunzhi might not have been able to get to Beijing in his life. He is known as a key figure in the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains. Especially in the Battle of Shanhaiguan that year, Li Zicheng led 180,000 elite expeditions to the northeast, but he did not expect to be annihilated by Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry and Dolgon's Manchu Iron Cavalry in one fell swoop.
So, how did he break through the defense and wipe out Li Zicheng? All of this is related to Wu Sangui's defection back then.
In April 1644, Wu Sangui stood at the head of Shanhaiguan City, with the powerful Manchu iron cavalry in front of him, who were extremely brave and invincible. Behind them is the menacing Dashun army, they have just destroyed the Ming Dynasty, their morale is high, and they are eyeing Shanhaiguan.
In the face of these two powerful forces, Wu Sangui felt deep pressure. In fact, a few days ago, Li Zicheng sent someone to recruit Wu Sangui, promising that as long as he returned to Dashun, he could be promoted to **, and let him govern half of the northern country.
Wu Sangui was not indifferent to Li Zicheng's wooing, because both were attractive, but Wu Sangui's current situation made him not offended on both sides. In terms of the analysis of the strength of the three parties, first of all, Li Zicheng's Dashun army has a core strength of 180,000 troops, and these troops have followed Li Zicheng through many battles and have extraordinary combat effectiveness.
Li Zicheng's Dashun army was strong, not only the 150,000 surrendered Ming troops, but also 400,000 troops distributed in the four provinces of the Central Plains and the hungry people who constantly signed up to join the army.
They claimed to have a million male soldiers to deter Wu Sangui and the Manchu Iron Cavalry. The Manchu forces in the northeast should not be underestimated, the Manchu iron cavalry led by Dolgon had at least 150,000, plus the troops of Zu Dashou and Sun Chengzong who surrendered in the past, the Manchu Qing could use the battle force as high as 300,000, and they were all the real peak of combat power.
After analyzing the forces of Li Zicheng and Dolgon, Wu Sangui looked back at his own strength. At present, there are only 40,000 horses in Guanning Iron Cavalry under his command, although he has it"One Han is Wuhu"but if it is tough, it may not be advantageous.
In addition to the 40,000 Guanning iron cavalry, the remaining Ming army's combat effectiveness was really vulnerable, just like the defenders of the Forbidden City back then, it was about to collapse at the first touch. Therefore, Wu Sangui is very worried about the current situation.
However, there is always an opportunity in the crisis, and although Wu Sangui cannot compete with Li Zicheng and Dolgon, if he can join one side, the other side will definitely lose. Therefore, the question now is, which side does Wu Sangui intend to take refuge into?
After Li Zicheng proposed a large package of Zhao'an, Wu Sangui decisively decided to surrender to Li Zicheng. Considering the many years of grievances with the Manchu Iron Cavalry, surrendering to the Manchus was not a good option.
Although Wu Sangui has reservations about Li Zicheng, considering the current situation, Li Zicheng is the only person Wu Sangui can rely on. Therefore, after careful consideration, Wu Sangui decided to lead 40,000 Guanning iron cavalry from Shanhaiguan to Beijing to support the new king.
However, when Wu Sangui's army arrived in Beijing, they found that something had changed in Beijing.
In the process of entering Beijing, the peasant army led by Li Zicheng showed a complete lack of mercy and justice. When they saw that the young women in the city were beautiful, they wanted to take them for themselves.
In order to raise military expenses, Li Zicheng allowed his generals to rob the rich to help the poor. The target of this robbery was Wu Sangui's mansion. Liu Zongmin, the general of the Dashun Army, was attracted by the beauty of Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan, so he had improper thoughts and forcibly occupied her.
Fortunately, Fu Haishan, a member of the family, was agile and avoided Liu Zongmin's pursuit. Fu Haishan fled all the way from Beijing, rode a horse and galloped to Xishahe Station in Yongping, Hebei, where the Guanning Iron Cavalry was stationed at this time.
1.Wu Sangui was furious because his concubine was plundered, and led the Guanning Iron Cavalry to recapture Shanhaiguan and eliminate the enemy troops stationed there. Then he defected to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, intending to fight against Li Zicheng's court.
2.Knowing that Wu Sangui had defected, Li Zicheng reprimanded Liu Zongmin, but it was too late. Wu Sangui has become a member of the enemy. For this reason, Li Zicheng personally led the army, led 180,000 elite Dashun troops, and marched to Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui Group must be destroyed so that Li Zicheng can feel at ease.
3.Wu Sangui is like a nail, which always makes Li Zicheng feel uneasy, and only by eliminating the Wu Sangui group can Li Zicheng completely put his mind at ease.
Wu Sangui understood that his actions would provoke a counterattack from Li Zicheng, so he immediately contacted Dolgon and asked for his assistance. Dolgon has always been in Manchuria and has long had ambitions for the Central Plains, but he has always been blocked by the Guanning Iron Cavalry and cannot easily break through the Shanhai Pass.
Now, Wu Sangui took the initiative to come to the door, which was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Dolgon immediately agreed to his request, promising to help Wu Sangui in the event of a battle with Li Zihui.
With Dolgon's support, Wu Sangui had greater confidence. He began to order Guan Ning Tieqi to set up a formation at Shanhaiguan and prepare for a life-and-death duel with Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng knew that Wu Sangui had paid a lot of money for this war, so he maintained a high degree of vigilance for this battle. On April 18, 1644, the Dashun army arrived at Shanhaiguan, and the two armies were about to start a fierce battle.
Wu Sangui adopted a two-pronged strategy, sending 20,000 Guanning iron cavalry to block Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin respectively. The two armies fought fiercely, and rivers of blood flowed. However, as an experienced imperial trump card, Guanning Iron Cavalry held a forging knife, rode a war horse, and entered and exited seven times in the Dashun army array, killing countless enemies.
Of course, the Dashun Army is not a fuel-efficient lamp, especially Li Zicheng's descendant troops, the Shaanxi Dashun Army, known as the leader in the peasant army, and they do not flinch when they fight, as if the Guanning Iron Cavalry in front of them was their enemy in their previous life.
Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng looked at the devastated battlefield in front of them in a daze, unable to calm down in their hearts. I never thought that a battle could be so cruel, as if the entire Shanhaiguan was ruthlessly crushed by a huge meat grinder.
Seeing this, Dorgon smirked, and he knew that the opportunity had come. When the Dashun army and the Guanning iron cavalry were fighting fiercely, Dolgon led the Manchu iron cavalry to rush out from behind the mountain, holding a butcher's knife in hand, and mercilessly slaughtered the Dashun army.
In an instant, blood flowed like a river, and all fifteen generals of the Dashun Army were killed. The Dashun army was frightened by the sudden Manchu iron cavalry and collapsed in an instant.
Li Zicheng, who was strategically defeated, faced the enemy army with a huge disparity in strength, decisively withdrew his troops and led the remnants to retreat. In this battle, Wu Sangui and Dolgon successfully thwarted Li Zicheng's attack, and then Dolgon led the Manchu iron cavalry all the way south to take the city of Beijing.
Li Zicheng, who returned to Beijing, hurriedly led the troops back to his hometown in Shaanxi before he had time to catch his breath. After the Battle of Shanhaiguan, the Qing Dynasty successfully entered the Central Plains and expanded vigorously.
After Li Zicheng lost the strength to fight, he could only survive in Shaanxi, and finally the Qing Dynasty seized the world.
Why was the Qing Dynasty able to win the country so easily? Many people think that this is Wu Sangui's fault, because he impulsively let the Qing army enter the customs, just for a confidant.
However, is this really the case? In fact, the main reason why Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing Dynasty was because of money problems. As for whether Chen Yuanyuan was really taken away, Wu Sangui didn't care.
Therefore, we can say that the problem of money is the real reason why the Qing Dynasty was too easy to win the country.
As the commander of the empire who defended one side, Wu Sangui would never despise the army because of a woman. Chen Yuanyuan was indeed violated by Liu Zongmin, but Wu Sangui only used this as an excuse to attack Li Zicheng.
So, why did he attack Li Zicheng? In fact, as early as when Guanning Tie rode to Xishaheyi in Yongping, Hebei, Wu Sangui had already doubts about Li Zicheng.
Wu Sangui led the Guanning Iron Cavalry, left Shanhaiguan, and went south to support Li Zicheng. However, when the team reached the Xisha River Station in Yongping, Hebei, the military advisor reported to him the dismal news: food and military pay were not enough.
Since giving up the supplies at Shanhaiguan, the soldiers have always had problems with their logistical supply, and they are estimated to be poor when they arrive in Beijing. When Wu Sangui heard this, he understood in his heart.
If you join Li Zicheng's army like this, wouldn't you have to live a life of begging for food? In Shanhaiguan, he lived a rich life, and the warriors were well cared for, they were the trump cards of the empire and invincible.
If Li Zicheng's army is living a poor life every day, who will obey his command?
After observing Li Zicheng's years of warfare, Wu Sangui found that Li Zicheng's regime had a key problem, that is, the lack of tax collection capacity. You must know that taxes are an important fund to maintain the operation of the country**, Li Zicheng, as an inexperienced leader, cannot effectively collect taxes, how can he afford to raise such a large army?
Can it only be sustained by robbery? The army's predicament at the end of the Ming Dynasty was caused by tax problems, and the soldiers lacked fighting enthusiasm because they could not get enough money, and they collapsed in a fight.
Therefore, it is not advisable to join Li Zicheng's camp.
The Manchu regime excelled in taxation and **, operating the Northeast and successfully selling mink overseas, attracting purchases from the Tsarist nobility and the Korean nobility. In contrast, Li Zicheng's Dashun regime seems to be inferior to the Manchus in terms of feeding the Guanning Iron Cavalry.
Therefore, Wu Sangui, under the influence of psychological factors, did not hesitate to surrender to the Manchus and attacked Li Zicheng to prove his loyalty. Therefore, Li Zicheng's failure was not because of Chen Yuanyuan, but because of his own lack of taxation.
In terms of war strategy, Li Zicheng did show extraordinary talent. However, in terms of governing the country, he may not even be as good as Emperor Chongzhen. Therefore, Li Zicheng's defeat was inevitable.
In the end, the Battle of Shanhaiguan led to the complete collapse of Li Zicheng's army, and from then on he no longer had the courage to march north, and the world fell into the hands of the Manchu nobles. As for Wu Sangui, he just wanted to find an economic ** for his army, so he chose the Manchus as an ally.
It's not a question of justice or not, it's a simple economic one. After all, adult breakdowns often begin with financial stress.
Wu Sangui's fate no longer matters, his army has benefited from ample military pay, and retired soldiers may miss his kindness. In this three-way melee, Dolgon was undoubtedly the final winner, relying on the northeast as a base to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, waiting for Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng's sandpiper to fight, and then the fisherman profited.
When he breaches the Shanhai Pass, the whole world will belong to the regent Dorgon.