There are four main reasons for the final failure of the peasant war:
First, because the Qing army entered the customs, the Manchu and Han landlords gradually United, and the whole domestic situation changed adversely to the peasant army.
Second, the peasant army, especially Zhang's peasant army, has a serious style of bandits and does not attach importance to the construction of base areas and political power.
Third, the main generals of the Li Zicheng Department of the Peasant Army made the mistake of being proud after winning. After entering Beijing, they were disorganized and undisciplined, and their lives were corrupt. Many generals made serious mistakes, and some generals were carried away by victory, complacent and paralyzed, ignoring the danger of the landlord class's rampant counterattack.
It also breeds corrupt ideas, improper political handling, lax military discipline and declining combat effectiveness. It could not resist the erosion of money, wine and wine, and gradually disappeared the original revolutionary will. It is also a common historical phenomenon to oppose corrupt officials and not the emperor. Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant army, once claimed to be a descendant of Wen Jian.
Fourth, after the death of Li Zicheng and Zhang, the peasant army was unable to unite internally and struggled for power and profit, which greatly weakened its own strength.
Extended data:
Defeat campaign
Shanhaiguan Shoujiang Wu Sangui finally took refuge in the Qing army. Li Zicheng got the news of Wu Sangui's anti-Qing campaign in Beijing, and sent Amin commander Tang Tong to lead twenty thousand cavalry out of the stone (now north of Shanhaiguan, Hebei Province), cut off Wu Sangui's retreat around Shanhaiguan Pass, and led 200,000 troops north to crusade against Wu Sangui on April 13.
After receiving an urgent notice from Wu Sangui, the Qing army galloped overnight. On 2 1 day, the Qing army was defeated by Tang Tong and then entered the customs. The next day, the Qing army, Wu Jun and Dashun army confronted each other in front of Shanhaiguan. The commander-in-chief of the Qing army, Dourgen, first ordered the Wu Sangui army to engage Dashun army.
The two armies were at war until noon, and Wu Jun was surrounded by peasant troops, which was difficult to support. Covered in the array, the Qing army's elite cavalry suddenly attacked from the right wing of Wu Jun and stormed the left wing of Dashun Army. The peasant army suddenly appeared chaos, once broke up and retreated to Beijing. The Qing army followed closely and defeated Li Zicheng again in Yongping (now Lulong, Hebei Province).
After Li Zicheng returned to Beijing, the 18th Battalion of Lian Bing counterattacked the Qing soldiers who followed, and lost. At this time, the peasant army had difficulties in diplomacy and the situation was grim. Li Zicheng has no intention of attaching to the north. On April 19, after he hastily acceded to the throne in Wuying Hall, he abandoned Beijing and retreated to Xi 'an.
On the way to Dashun retreat, the Qing army defeated the peasant army in front of Baoding and Dingzhou (now Dingxian County, Hebei Province), and then attacked Shanxi. Bian Jiang, the prefect of Datong, surrendered, and Chen Yongfu of Pingyang (now Linfen, Shanxi) was captured. All the gold fell into the hands of the Qing army. At the same time, most areas of Hebei and Shandong were also occupied by the Qing army.
At the beginning of May, after the Qing army entered Beijing, the national military situation was divided. The Qing side controls Liaodong, Jifu, Shanxi, Shandong and other areas, the Dashun regime rules the whole northwest and parts of Shanxi, Henan and Huguang, Zhang's Daxi regime is being incorporated into Sichuan, and Daming rules the whole South China.
In this regard, the Qing court formulated a new military policy: first, "dispatch troops launched a massive campaign to win Shanxi and Henan", "set up a bureau in the southeast", and finally unified China. So the Qing army turned its main attack target to the peasant army and temporarily adopted the strategy of no war and no peace with Daming. To this end, the Qing court moved the capital from Shenyang to Beijing, claiming that the Qing Dynasty was the co-owner of the world representing the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.
/kloc-in October/October, the Qing army attacked Dashun Army in two ways: the north road was led by British kings Azi, Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi, passing through Datong, Yulin and Yan 'an, and the south road was led by Yu Duoduo and Kong Youde, passing through Henan, attacking Tongguan.
At the same time, the army led by Wang Wei has occupied some places in Henan and Shandong. In the first month of the following year (1645), Duoduo defeated Dashun Army in Tongguan, and Li Zicheng led the main force to evacuate to Xi 'an overnight.
Tongguan was occupied by the Qing army and drove to Shaanxi. After entering northern Shaanxi, the Qing army led by Azig troops besieged Dashun Army and Hegao, which were based in Yulin and Yan 'an, and led his troops south to An.
From then on, the retreat of, and Gao Huian was cut off, and they were forced to give up northern Shaanxi and enter Hubei via Hanzhong. Li Zicheng had to give up Xi 'an, take Shangluo and western Henan, and switch to Huguang Xiangyang.
After the Qing court occupied Xi 'an, it ordered a lot of people to go eastward to Nanjing to destroy the Hong Guang regime, and ordered Azig to continue to pursue Dashun Army. At this time, 500,000 Dashun troops have been distracted, lax in discipline and chaotic in command. Under the pursuit of the Qing army, they lost in successive 13 battles in Xiangyang and Jiujiang, and lost all their jurisdictions.
In May, when Li Zicheng led his troops back to Jiugongshan, Tongshan County, Hubei Province, he was attacked by local landlords, died unfortunately, and the Dashun regime collapsed. The remaining 300,000 troops later joined Daming under the leadership of Lee Guo and Li Laiheng, continued to fight against the Qing Dynasty, and finally failed in the third year of Kangxi (1664).
Baidu encyclopedia-Li Zicheng uprising
Baidu Encyclopedia-Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty