In July 2002, Li Zhiting, director of the Institute of History of the Jilin Academy of Social Sciences, received a ** from Guizhou, and the person on the other end reported to him a jaw-dropping news.
Why did this news surprise Director Li so much? It turned out that historical records show that all the descendants of Wu Sangui were killed by Kangxi, and Chen Yuanyuan was nowhere to be found.
Wu Sangui: The son of an official eunuch and the son of the general army of Liaodong. Wanli was born in the 40th year of Liaoxi and grew up in the Ming Dynasty's military region. He was well-educated and the envy of his peers with his martial arts.
However, in the battle of the Daling River in the fourth year of Chongzhen, his father Wu Xiang escaped from the battle, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army and was sentenced to prison. At that time, the emperor had a hot temper, and what happened to Wu Xiang was only part of it.
Although it is fair to say that Wu Xiang was not killed, it was already a gift, but Chongzhen did not kill him out of great mercy, but out of helplessness. Because Wu Xiang's brother-in-law, Zu Dashou, was the chief soldier of the Liaodong Striker and was responsible for guarding Jinzhou at that time, Chongzhen did not want to cause greater turmoil and affect the morale of the army.
Wu Sangui was already 19 years old, had passed the martial arts exam, became a brave general, and began to follow his uncle and father to fight in the north and south, and rose to prominence on the battlefield.
When Chongzhen was eight years old, Wu Sangui was already a general of the right battalion of the forward, and he was only 23 years old. Four years later, in the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), the 27-year-old Wu Sangui was promoted to the chief soldier of the Ningyuan regiment.
When it comes to regimental training, people may think of the local regimental training that suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but the regimental training of the Ming Dynasty was different from the regimental training of the Qing Dynasty, which was a militia and a local autonomous armed force; The former is a reserve force with fixed military personnel and is in the nature of a regular army.
The regimental training of the Ming Dynasty was a quasi-military organization, and Wu Sangui had at least 10,000 men under his command, which was equivalent to a modern army. The times create heroes, and in the environment of Li Zicheng's rebellion and the invasion of the Qing army, Wu Sangui has a broad prospect.
In the Battle of Shanhaiguan and the city of Beijing, Chongzhen only had Wu Sangui a trump card in his hand. Therefore, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Chongzhen, who was on the verge of extinction, entrusted the safety of the Ming Dynasty to this 32-year-old young man and named him Ping Xibo.
Speaking of which, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was stingy and rarely knighted in the later period, and only Li Chengliang was named Ning Yuanbo for decades of meritorious service.
During the Chongzhen period, he was extremely stingy with the knighthood, and only hurriedly rewarded him at a critical moment. He successively rewarded Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu, Tang Tong and Huang Degong. However, until the time of life and death, Chongzhen still only awarded them the third-class title.
When Li Zicheng besieged Beijing, Chongzhen ordered King Qin, but most of the newly sealed lords were disagreeable and refused to obey the edict, and only Tang Tong led his troops to go. Chongzhen's indiscriminate killing of innocents caused the minister to lose confidence in the imperial court and instead adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
Wu Sangui was stationed in Ningyuan, which was 100 kilometers away from Shanhaiguan, and the cavalry marched 50 kilometers a day, but he led the Guanning Iron Cavalry to walk for 13 days.
You can guess with your toes that Wu Sangui is already pessimistic about the future of Zhu Ming's company and wants to change jobs. His new owner will most likely be Daqing Company. Although some people think that Wu Sangui originally wanted to join Li Zicheng Dashun Company, don't forget one person - Zu Dashou.
He is Wu Sangui's uncle, and he has defected to the Qing army before. Zu Dashou also wrote a letter of persuasion to Wu Sangui. By the time Li Zicheng's army arrived, Wu Sangui might have already made up his mind to surrender to Dolgon and had already sent someone to ask him for help.
When the messenger for help returned to Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui sent a letter to Dolgon, asking him to "immediately organize an army and go straight to Shanhaiguan".
Wu Sangui contacted Li Zicheng just to delay time for the time being. The reason why he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty was mainly to stabilize his position and pursue the maximization of personal interests, and he had a weak sense of nationality and forgot that he was a courtier of the Ming Dynasty.
Many facts show that Huang Taiji and Dolgon were very generous to their employees and treated the Han Chinese who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in the early days. Prior to this, Zu Dashou, Hong Chengchou, Shang Kexi, Geng Jingzhong, Kong Youde and others had taken refuge in the Qing Dynasty, and they lived very comfortably in Dolgon.
On the issue of knighthood, Huang Taiji and Shunzhi did not hesitate and immediately became "kings", which was in stark contrast to Chongzhen's stinginess, and Li Zicheng could not be compared with it. Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's number one hero, was born and died in order to establish the Dashun regime, and he was only made a marquis.
Not only that, Li Zicheng is also a suspicious person, he has already started to kill people before he has conquered the country and sat on the dragon chair, and even killed his own think tank Li Yan, which makes everyone in the world feel cold.
By comparing the situation of the various bosses, Wu Sangui believes that compared to the generosity of Shunzhi and Dolgon, Li Zicheng is too mean, and there is definitely no future for working under him.
Many people believe that Wu Sangui's surrender to the Qing Dynasty was due to the influence of Chen Yuanyuan. It is said that when Wu Sangui went to Beijing at the age of 17 to take the martial arts examination, he met Chen Yuanyuan, who was alluring to the country and the city, and fell in love with her at first sight, which was unforgettable.
Wu Sangui expressed his determination to marry her when he became famous. Chen Yuanyuan also fell in love with Wu Sangui's heroism at first sight, since he left, she didn't think about tea and dinner, and lived like a year, just waiting for Brother Wu to marry her.
However, when Wu Sangui became the chief soldier of the regimental training and came to marry his sweetheart, Chen Yuanyuan was already famous, and was taken by Tian Hongyu, the father-in-law of Emperor Chongzhen and Concubine Tian, and took it for himself.
Tian Hong encountered power, and no one dared to provoke him. After Chen Yuanyuan arrived in Tianfu, although he lived a life of fine clothes and fine food, he was still worried, sullen, and washed his face with tears.
After many inquiries, Tian Hongyu learned that Chen Yuanyuan still admired Wu Sangui, and the two had sworn an alliance and made a private agreement for life.
Tian Hongyu is a womanizer, he sees Chen Yuanyuan as his plaything, not really loves her. He believes that giving away beauties is an investment, and if it can help you keep your status and wealth, then this investment is worth it.
In order to achieve this goal, he decided to give Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui, who had a heavy army at that time. Tian Hongyu didn't want to give Chen Yuanyuan away directly, he thought it would be too cheap.
So, he decided to plan an elaborate banquet. At the banquet, he asked Chen Yuanyuan to dance and accompany the wine, hoping that Wu Sangui would notice her. As a result, Wu Sangui recognized Chen Yuanyuan at a glance, and the two had mixed feelings and burst into tears.
When Tian Hongyu saw this scene, he was overjoyed. He knew that he had successfully sent Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui. He made his intentions clear to Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui gladly accepted.
In this way, Tian Hongyu gave Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui and arranged a grand wedding for them. However, before the wedding was over, Wu Sangui received a holy decree from Emperor Chongzhen, asking him to immediately return to Shanhaiguan to defend against the enemy.
Wu Sangui had no choice but to send Chen Yuanyuan back to Wu's mansion, and he said goodbye to her and left reluctantly.
When Wu Sangui received an invitation from King Qin and came to Shanhaiguan, Emperor Chongzhen had already committed suicide. He began to think about his future, but his mind was full of confusion and confusion.
At this time, Li Zicheng sent someone to send a rich gift, including 10,000 taels**, 1,000 taels**, 1,000 brocades, and a letter of appointment, enshrined Wu Sangui as the marquis.
When Wu Sangui saw the envoy, his heart was like a mess, and he began to carry out a fierce inner struggle: choosing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, although he would bear the infamy of a traitor, he might be able to make his name go down in history.
If you submit to Li Zicheng, although you are disloyal to the emperor, the Ming Dynasty has fallen at this time, and it cannot be regarded as a betrayal. Knowing the times as Junjie, Wu Sangui began to think about whether he should choose to surrender to Li Zicheng and jointly resist the invasion of foreign enemies.
The spy sent by Wu Sangui to Beijing brought back shocking news: Wu's mansion was copied by Liu Zongmin, and the old lady was also **. Still, Mr. Wu said none of these were problems and that he was confident that they would be resolved after returning to Beijing.
The spy looked at Wu Sangui, as if he still had important news to tell him, but after hesitating again and again, he only said one sentence, which was enough to make Li Zicheng perish.
As a big husband, if you can't protect your wife, what face do you have! I must destroy the Li thief and the Liu thief before I can become a human! He resolutely refused to carry out the policy of right and left, and wrote a letter to Dorgon to surrender.
We all know what happened next, Wu Sangui rebelled and became a traitor, and the Dashun regime collapsed. However, the price of betrayal was enormous, and Wu Sangui's parents, siblings, and other clansmen, a total of 38 people, were all executed by Li Zicheng.
Many years later, Wu Sangui lost its use value after pacifying the war in the west, and Emperor Kangxi ordered the cutting of the feudal domain in order to cut the grass and eradicate the roots. Wu Sangui had two hearts, so he betrayed the Qing Dynasty and raised troops to rebel, but in the end it failed, and the Wu family suffered another catastrophe and was beheaded.
In order to prevent Wu Sangui's descendants from threatening his rule again, Emperor Kangxi hunted down Wu Sangui's descendants nationwide. Therefore, general historians believe that the Wu Sangui family has been severed.
Although most of Wu Sangui's descendants were beheaded, some survived. According to historical records, Wu Sangui had three sons, namely the eldest son Wu Yingxiong, the second son Wu Yingqi and some younger sons.
However, the whereabouts of these "young sons" are unknown. Most of Wu Yingxiong's descendants were killed or committed suicide after Wu Sangui raised an army. Wu Yingqi was lucky to survive, and it is said that he was once succeeded to Wu Sangui's brother Wu Sanfeng.
When Wu Sangui was a general soldier in Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, he married his wife Zhang and took a concubine to Yang. The Zhang family gave birth to Wu Yingxiong, and the Yang family also gave birth to Wu Yingqi in the ninth year of Ming Chongzhen.
However, Yang contracted an illness during childbirth and died soon after.
Wu Yingqi was abused by his stepmother Zhang, and Wu Sangui had to send him to his brother Wu Sanfeng's house. Although little is known about this incident from the outside world, in 1678, after Wu Sangui was proclaimed emperor, he left his eldest son Wu Yingxiong in the capital as a hostage, but made his only adult son Wu Yingqi a general, planning to make him **.
However, Wu Yingqi is a dou who can't be helped, indulging in spending all day drinking, deducting military salaries, torturing subordinates, killing innocents indiscriminately, and doing all kinds of evil, which has aroused everyone's resentment and rebellion.
Wu Yingqi has a bad image in the hearts of the people of Yuezhou, as evidenced by a nursery rhyme: "The sun rises on the west wall and the tiger wolf, Wu Yingqi is ruthless and the tiger wolf; The moon shines on the earth of the Kangxi Lord, and the evil is done to the Kangxi Lord. ”
After Wu Sangui raised his army, Wang Fuchen, a capable general, did not respond, but revealed the news of the rebellion to Kangxi, of which Wu Yingqi could not escape the blame. Once Wang Fuchen invited Wu Yingqi to a banquet, and after three rounds of wine, Wu Yingqi said disrespectfully: "You are my uncle!" ”
Wang Fuchen's lieutenant reminded him if he had drunk too much, Wu Yingqi sneered and drew his knife, and blood splattered the banquet for a while. Wang Fuchen angrily denounced it as a "jackal ear".
Wu Sangui didn't know the truth and mistakenly regarded Wang Fuchen as true love. Later, someone revealed the truth, which disappointed him, and instead entrusted the responsibility of the ** person to Wu Yingxiong's eldest son and imperial grandson Wu Shifan.
Wu Yingqi was only named the king of Chu. In the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1678), Wu Sangui died of illness in the south. When Wu Yingqi led the army through Cengong County, he met Chen Yuanyuan by chance, and he told Chen Yuanyuan that he was Wu Sangui's biological son and asked her to take care of her health.
Chen Yuanyuan was both surprised and happy, and said meaningfully: "The general trend has gone, and the top priority is to preserve the bloodline of the Wu family." ”
Wu Yingqi listened to Chen Yuanyuan's teachings, and he escorted his nephew Wu Shifan to Kunming and successfully completed the task. When he left Kunming, he kept Chen Yuanyuan's words in mind and went to Cengong County incognito to start a new life.
Soon after, Kunming was breached by the Qing army, but Wu Yingqi and Chen Yuanyuan were nowhere to be found. There are different theories about the cause of Chen Yuanyuan's death. "Yao Yu" and "The Beginning and End of Wu Rebellion" believe that when Wu Sangui raised his army, Chen Yuanyuan had already died of illness.
Chen Yuanyuan's Complete Biography is inclined to her death in the spring of the sixteenth year of Kangxi, that is, when Kangxi had not yet ascended the throne. However, more people believe that Chen Yuanyuan died during the Qing army's attack on Kunming.
The most authoritative account comes from the Pingwu Lu, which records Chen Yuanyuan's suicide after the Qing army conquered Kunming. In addition, there is a similar record in "Wu Sangui Chen Yuanyuan".
The fact that Chen Yuanyuan died at the latest after the city was broken is confirmed by various accounts. However, as to whether she really died, since the Manchus had already ruled the world at that time, if anyone knew the news, the Qing emperor would definitely kill her immediately, so there is no historical record of this matter.
However, it was recently reported that some descendants of Wu Sangui were found in Majiazhai in Cengong County, Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou, and even Chen Yuanyuan's tomb. The basis for this information is that all the residents of Majiazhai have the surname Wu, and one of them, Ma Bao, was once a subordinate of Wu Sangui.
After receiving this news, Li Zhiting, an expert in Qing history research, immediately went to Majiazhai with other colleagues for investigation.
There are many villages in China with the same surname, but the village where the Wu family lives is called Majiazhai, not Wujiazhai. This is because Chen Yuanyuan adopted a strategy to hide the people surnamed Wu, and the character "Ma" is to commemorate General Ma Bao, who helped them back then.
According to the villagers, in order to protect Chen Yuanyuan, General Ma Bao took the initiative to lure the Qing army, but was killed by the Qing army. The architectural style of this village is Qing Dynasty, the layout is like a labyrinth, like a bagua array, and it is impossible to design it without a deep cultural heritage.
And in the tomb of the Wu family, there are actually the tombs of Chen Yuanyuan and Ma Bao.
Most of the villagers in Majiazhai are surnamed Ma, but mainly surnamed Wu. They claim that their ancestors are from Wu Sangui. As a controversial figure in history, Wu Sangui was regarded as a traitor and traitor in the Qing Dynasty, and his image was so poor that no one was willing to voluntarily admit that he was his descendant.
Even in the Qing Dynasty, a poet surnamed Qin wrote the verse "I went to the grave to be ashamed of my surname Qin". If it weren't for Wu Sangui's true descendants, who would be willing to bear such infamy?
There is a stone tablet in front of Chen Yuanyuan's tomb, which reads: "The tomb seat of the Nie family of the ancestor Wu Men", and the two sides are engraved respectively: "Filial piety man Wu Qihua, daughter-in-law Tu Shili; filial piety grandson male Shijie, Sloan, granddaughter-in-law Yang; great-grandson Dajing, Dachun; Filial piety great-grandson Wu Chaoda, election, kui, government, seal, pillar, phase, instrument. ”
The time of erecting the monument is: "Emperor Qing Yongzheng six years old Wushen midwinter moon auspicious day". Nie was written mainly for the purpose of concealment, in order to prevent retaliation from the Qing emperor. The inscription shows that Wu Qihua is actually referring to Wu Yingqi, who and Chen Yuanyuan are called mother and son, and the two have no ambiguous relationship.
Tu, needless to say, is his wife. Today, Wu Sangui's descendants have multiplied to more than 200 households in Majiazhai, with a population of more than 1,000. If it weren't for Chen Yuanyuan's perseverance and Wu Yingqi's selflessness, the Wu bloodline would not have continued to this day.