Among them, Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall, which is a mirror for Emperor Taizong to learn the lessons from the demise of the Sui Dynasty and create a prosperous time of Zhenguan. In "Emperor Fan", he explained: "So put on a mirror, study historical records, and collect its important words, thinking that it is close to warning." Is to warn Li Zhi to learn from the ups and downs of history, so that the state power can be consolidated and developed.
These words of Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin also warned us to "remember the past and learn from the future". The wheel of history is rolling forward and no one can stop it. It can be said that history can not only illuminate our way forward, but also let us know the history of social development, which is conducive to the cultivation of our own quality and spiritual quality. History exists objectively. No matter how a writer writes, it will exist in its own unique way and cannot be changed.
For example, the history of Ming and Qing dynasties can be inconsistent even if there are different opinions; But talented people have made unimaginable efforts, and through continuous research and textual research, this history has returned to the truth.
I believe many people have heard the story of Shen Wansan in the late Ming Dynasty. It is said that he is a rich man with a cornucopia, and even his hometown Zhouzhuang, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, is famous. However, according to the research of historians, it turns out that Shen Wansan died at the end of Yuan Dynasty and did not live to be established in Ming Dynasty. Also, some of his activities recorded in the history books during the Hongwu period are purely false.
The capable person who can verify this historical truth is Professor Gu Cheng, a contemporary recognized master of Ming and Qing history. Gu Lao's writings, based on historical materials and rigorous textual research, once attracted academic attention. In 1984, the History of Peasant War in the Late Ming Dynasty was created, which provided another empirical way for the study of peasant war history. Later, in 1997, she created a sister film "History of Nanming".
I was lucky enough to read the History of Nanming published by Beijing Daily Press, and I was deeply impressed by Gu Lao's historical attainments. This history of the Southern Ming Dynasty begins with 1644, full of sudden changes and waves, and presents us with a historical picture of three hostile regimes, namely, Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty, Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty and Dashun in Li Zicheng, fighting for the Central Plains together.
This set of books focuses on the anti-Qing struggle of Dashun Army, Daxi Army, Haikou Zheng Chenggong and other people, and runs through the rise and fall of the Zhujiajian Island court in the Southern Ming Dynasty. There is also a main thread that emphasizes that the Han people and people of other nationalities have resisted the brutal regime of Manchu nobles for twenty years. Unfortunately, the struggle ended in failure.
The reason for the failure lies in the internal contradictions of the Nanming regime, the administrative inversion and the deep selfishness of civil and military officials; And talented people are also self-respecting; These phenomena seriously dispersed and offset the anti-Qing forces, leading to the final sinking of Nanming in the long river of history. It can be said that reading this history will still make people sigh.
This book is a masterpiece of Gu Lao's nausea. He cited as many as 237 "local chronicles" and more than 320 other ancient books and archives in his book. Fine textual research, similar works are second to none. Gu Lao used reliable historical facts to re-describe this sad history of Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Qin Gui, a famous historian, once commented on this book: "It takes ten years to sharpen a sword" and "The bench will be cold in ten years, and the article will not be empty", which is not enough to describe the research process of this book. "
So, why is the history of Nanming embarrassing? How did you slowly fall from the hope of seeing the light again? To find the exact answer, you can only find it in books.
1644, 19 In March, the Dashun army led by Li Zicheng conquered Beijing and became the "Dashun Emperor". Zhu Youjian, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, hanged himself, which also marked the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the Dashun regime and the Daxi Army were emerging forces in the peasant uprising, and they were the main bodies of the Han nationality as well as the Ming Empire. But in essence, they did not complete the degeneration of farmers' thoughts, and still implemented the policy of cracking down on officials, gentry and landlords and protecting farmers' interests, which caused officials, gentry and landlords and Dashun regime to be in dire straits. Therefore, this situation is extremely unfavorable to the stability and development of Dashun regime.
It stands to reason that Li Zicheng inherited the "legacy" of the Ming Dynasty and should avoid repeating the same mistakes. First of all, we must win the support of all classes of the Han nationality (because since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry has become a decisive force in society); Then, the Qing court strengthened the defense deployment of Liaodong. Only by properly handling these two things can we gradually stabilize the Dashun regime.
Unfortunately, Li Zicheng didn't realize the importance of these two points, and attacked officials, gentry and landlords blindly, which led some officials and gentry to defect and turn to Manchu.
In terms of military deployment, Li Zicheng and other military leaders lack strategic vision. Since the end of Wanli, the military strength of Manchu nobles has been rising day by day, which has become a very difficult problem in the Ming Dynasty. In the course of this war, Li Zicheng and other peasant armies were intertwined with the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Li Zicheng should have overthrown the Ming Dynasty and turned to the Qing army.
However, the opposite is true. Li Zicheng hardly realized that the Qing army regarded him as the main rival for the world. After the Qing court surrendered to Wu Sangui, it breached Shanhaiguan and directly won Beijing, without even giving Li Zicheng a break.
Shanhaiguan Battle was a key battle that directly affected the development of the national situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it was of great significance to whether the Dashun court or the Qing court ruled the country after the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the significance of this campaign marks: first, the historical mission of Dashun Army changed from overthrowing the Ming Dynasty to opposing the Qing Dynasty; Second, the Qing court took a key step into the Central Plains. Thirdly, Wu Sangui, as an advocate, quickly formed a pro-Qing faction that can not be ignored among the officials and gentry of the Han nationality.
Dashun regime made a series of mistakes in controlling the surrender of Ming Dynasty. From 1644 to 1645, the old Ming generals who joined Dashun almost all defected to the enemy, which had a great influence on the reversal of the whole situation. It can be said that Li Zicheng was generous and less vigilant, and appointed General Ming who had just surrendered to take charge of the army, which eventually led to the collapse of the Dashun regime, and the lesson was very profound.
However, history has proved that the Nanming regime would never have lasted for nearly 20 years without the joint resistance of Dashun and Daxi peasant army.
Li Zicheng's Dashun Army captured Beijing, and the news of Emperor Chongzhen's suicide soon spread to Zhu Yousong, Zhu Changfang, He Hengwang, and Wang, who lived in Huai 'an because of fleeing. Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changfang therefore thought about the impact this incident brought to them.
The so-called country can't live without a king for a day. 1on April 29th, 644, under the leadership of Shi Kefa, the senior minister of Nanjing Ministry of War, Zhu Yousong and Axe King arrived in Yanji Jiu 'an, Nanjing by boat, and officials from all walks of life went to appear before the court. After the civil and military officials arrived in court, they discussed the establishment of the axe king as the prison army and issued orders to the world.
After Zhu Yousong was appointed as the supervisor of the country, Shi Kefa was appointed as a college student of Dongge and an official of does department to work in the cabinet according to the recommendation of courtiers. Ma Shiying Jiadongge University, Ministry of War Shangshu, and the right deputy are all censors and still serve as the governor of Fengyang. Other ministers and officials also made arrangements one by one according to the intentions of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zhang and others, trying to make "honest people" occupy the main areas, thus making the court look brand-new at the beginning of its establishment.
On May 15 of the same year, Zhu Yousong officially proclaimed himself, and the following year was changed to the first year of Hong Guang. However, Shi Kefa, once in power, failed to seize this fleeting opportunity to decide the national security plan, and the success of the decision fell into the hands of warlords. Although Hong Guang was established, no matter whether it was in Fuzheng or outside the governor, it could not change the situation that military commanders threatened the court and made no effort to make progress.
Therefore, Gu Lao said in his book: "The party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty was a manifestation of the intensification of contradictions within the ruling group, which ran through the life after Wanli and continued to Nanming."
This kind of party struggle and internal contradictions are intensifying. The most hateful thing is Shi Kefa's idea of "stealing the column", hoping to join hands with the Qing court to deal with Dashun army in the form of peace talks, and then let the Hong Guang court continue to steal Jiangzuo. So I dare not criticize Wu Sangui who has been cleared. Instead, he said in an appreciative tone in his reply to Dourgen: "I, General Wu Sangui, am a fake soldier in your country."
This reply revealed the psychology of stealing security from beginning to end, which made Dourgen, who received the reply, dispel his previous temptation psychology, thus arousing the arrogance of the Qing court to unify the whole country. This reply also reflected the basic policy of Hong Guang court in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and this stupid passive policy of avoiding war was also one of the important reasons for accelerating the downfall of Hong Guang court.
Facts have proved that both Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying are political mediocrities. Therefore, we have reason to believe that the reason why Dourgen and other Qing court decision makers dared to devote almost all their main forces to the northwest corner in a few months was precisely because they found out all the details of the Hong Guang court and finally used the divide-and-conquer method of internal disputes among Han people to make the Hong Guang court fall.
The rule of the Qing court was famous for its ferocity and cruelty, and it adopted the extreme practice of "those who obey me prosper and those who oppose me die". Even when the Han people resisted, they slaughtered or plundered the soldiers and civilians regardless of land.
Nurhachi slaughtered Han people in Liaodong, and Huang Taiji went deep into Jifu and Shandong for three times, which is clearly recorded in many local chronicles. Even Ji Yun, a royal scholar during the Qianlong period, disclosed what happened to his family under the butcher's knife of the Qing army in Notes of Yuewei Caotang.
Therefore, since the fall of the Hong Guang court, with the massacre of the Qing court constantly staged, coupled with the behavior of forcing Han people to shave their heads and change into Manchu clothes; Dourgen regarded the restraint and obedience of the gentry of Han officials as "disobedient bandits" and beheaded all officials and people who did not want to shave their heads. Such brutal atrocities are extremely rare in the history of our country.
Although the rulers of the Qing dynasty repeatedly advertised "the integration of Manchu and Han", they actually claimed to be conquerors and pursued the policy of worshipping Manchu and discriminating against Han people. As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. Therefore, in the face of the tyranny of the Qing court, local officials and people spontaneously organized against the Qing Dynasty.
1645 In June, with the support of a group of civilian military commanders, King Zhu of the Tang Dynasty left Hangzhou to be a supervisor in Fuzhou, and later became an emperor. From July 1 this year, the era was renamed as the first year of Longwu, with Fuzhou as the temporary capital and Tianxing House as the former political department of Fujian as the palace. This is also the second regime in the history of Nanming, known as the "Longwu regime".
Longwuge was established under the situation of rising ethnic contradictions in China, and its main feature is to fight against the Qing Dynasty and regain the sight. Therefore, unlike the Hong Guang imperial court's "suppression of peasant uprisings" (Pingkou), the Longwu imperial court changed to "resistance to the Qing Dynasty" (imperial conquest). Hong Guang imperial court made the pro-Ming forces finally realize that Manchu was the main threat to the survival of the country, but this lesson was painful.
Later, due to the betrayal of internal officials and the war of the Qing army, Emperor Long was forced to flee Fuzhou and was killed in Tingzhou. The time is1August 646, which is August of the third year of Shunzhi.
Later, the great scholar He Wu Kun wrote to Zhaoqing authorities to set up another monarch, with the cowardly Guifan Zhu Youlang as the supervisor, and then proclaimed himself emperor, and the next year changed to the first year of Li Yong.
The new emperor of Nanming, since he ascended the throne, was frightened and confused when he met with difficulties, and finally fled to Myanmar to avoid chaos. Because Wu Sangui asked the Qing court for soldiers to go to Myanmar, forcing Myanmar to hand over the emperor Li Yong, who was strangled by Wu Sangui with a bowstring.
Since then, the last emperor of Nanming has disappeared.
Professor Gu Cheng used the reliable Textual Research of the History of Nanming to present us with a real and embarrassing history of Nanming and the cruel fact that Ming and Qing Dynasties changed. The book also introduces many famous anti-Qing fighters, such as Shi Lang, Zhang, Li Dingguo, etc.
When we open this book, we can see through the absurdity of human nature from The Mourning of Nanming. And the painful price of "civil strife means death, and the country is also in civil strife"-the struggle between snipes and mussels, and finally let the Manchu take advantage of the fishermen.
The perpetuation of historical science is to teach future generations to "take history as a mirror" and avoid repeating the mistakes of history. The so-called wise reading of history, this "History of Nanming", also made the fashionable "historical crisis theory" rest from then on.
The History of Nan Ming, which won the 5th National Book Award, not only warned future generations to "learn from history", but also reminded us to draw nutrition from rich historical heritage and contribute to social development.