What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In Yangzhou, there is a road, named "Shi Kefa Road", to commemorate shi Kefa who resisted the Qing soldiers and sacrificed his life. After his death, Yangzhou City ushered in a "great catastrophe", that is, the "Ten Days of Yangzhou" in history. According to historical records, the number of people slaughtered at that time reached 800,000.
Wang Xiuchu, author of the Ten Diaries of Yangzhou and a former aide to Shi Kefa, witnessed the massacre. The book records: "From April 25 to May 5, a total of ten days, during which all were experienced and witnessed by the eyes, so that the distant hearers did not carry it." ”
At that time, "smelling fishy for a hundred miles" was like a hellish situation. In addition, the book also records that the people at that time "did not dare to resist." A Qing soldier can "escort" 50 young adults and slaughter them at will.
According to the book, on April 18, 1645, Duoduo led his troops to break through the defensive line in the Jianghuai region, making Yangzhou an isolated city. Six days later, he began shelling the city of Yangzhou, and without the support of reinforcements, the next day, the city was destroyed and Shi Kefa was captured. After that, Shi Kefaning died and did not surrender, even if Dodo used the example of "Hong Chengyu" as an example to induce him to surrender, he did not give in.
Three days later, Shi Kefa was killed, and the Ming general Liu Zhaoji and others led the remnants of the city and the residents of the city and the Qing soldiers to fight in the alley. However, in this battle, the Qing soldiers suffered heavy losses, and three generals and one Baylor were killed, which caused the Qing army to retaliate against the massacre of the people in the city. In this regard, the historian Ji Liuqi of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties also described it, and the Ming Dynasty Nanluo records that the city of Yangzhou at that time experienced two massacres:
The first time was Gao Jie of the Ming Army;
The second time was the Qing army.
"In total, 800,000 people were killed before and after."
Next, let's analyze the deeper reasons behind this "washing the city".
First, suppress the resistance of the "Han nationality." At that time, although the Qing army was magnificent, it did not "unify" China. In order not to let the "anti-Qing" forces rebound, it is bound to take "retaliation" against the areas that resist the fierceness, so as to eliminate the "anti-Qing" forces. Therefore, the stubborn resistance of Yangzhou City gave the Qing army the heart of "extinction".
Although later generations have disputed the time of "ten days" and the term "seven days" or "five days" has appeared, the "accuracy" of this time can still be proved from some later poems. For example, Gu Yanwushi: "I am worried about the collapse of the three armies in Jingkou, and I say that Yangzhou is besieged for ten days." Wu Jiaji's "Mother of The Rapture" also mentions "killing people for ten days and nights" and "The yangzhou overseer can finally be punished, and the Tartars slaughter the city in ten days." The loyal soul has eight hundred thousand white bones, and the red blood reflects the sky red. ”
Of course, we can't find a single word in the official history books.
However, this does not prove that this incident did not occur, following the city of Yangzhou, the Qing army in southern Jiangsu, such as: Suzhou, Changshu, Jiangyin, Wuxi, Kunshan, Guangzhou, Sichuan and other places, created one "massacre" after another.
It can be seen that in order to better carry out the rule of China, the Qing army adopted a brutal and cruel strategy of exchanging "population" for "Taiping". Looking at the population figures at that time, this point has a clearer judgment. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the population was only more than 10 million, while the population of the Ming Guangzong Period was more than 51 million. Later, more historians believe that the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 100 million.
If we analyze this data purely, how many lives have been wrongfully killed by the qing army's butcher knife?
Therefore, in the eyes of the Qing army, these 800,000 are not "big data". Of course, many historians believe that why the Manchu Qing at that time could "win more than less", first of all, was its "discipline", that is, it would not "kill innocents indiscriminately". As a result, some people denied the "Ten Days of Yangzhou". But there is one point that everyone recognizes, that is, the "literal prison" of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. As long as the words that are related to "Ming" will almost always "disappear". This is also the reason why future generations will be suspicious, because there is no text about its record in the country, and this book was brought back from a foreign country by later generations.
Second, psychologically, it completely defeated the fighting spirit of the Southern Ming regime. Qing soldiers crossed the mountain customs and went all the way south, which can be described as "like a broken bamboo". However, when they arrived in Yangzhou, they were met with stubborn resistance for the first time. Although they won, they also realized that the power of the people who supported Nanming could not be underestimated. So, they adopted the most primitive way, "exterminating.".
One is to declare victory;
The second is to let the Southern Ming regime see that this is the price of resistance.
In fact, in The history of China and foreign countries, "killing" after large-scale wars is not uncommon. The "Ten Days of Yangzhou" was only known after more than 200 years, and the controversy continued. However, it is an indisputable fact that the Manchu Qing dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty and drastically reduced the population of this land. In addition, the "Poetry of Yangzhou Dynasties" contains no less than 50 works, lamenting that this prosperous city of several generations at that time was instantly reduced to hell. Nowadays, everything that is beautiful needs us to defend and protect. Only by being stronger can those turbulent years be kept away.
However, throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty and the conquest of the Later Jin, during the Nurhaci era, the Later Jin carried out many massacres of the Liaodong Han people. However, after the Manchus entered the customs in 1644, in the first year, the Manchus did not record large-scale massacres in the north.
So why would they expose such a brutal side in Yangzhou?
As we all know, the Manchu Qing dynasty has always been eyeing the mountains and mountains in Guannei, and has always wanted to enter the Guanxi to conquer the world, but it has never been given the right opportunity. Even if the Manchu Qing Eight Banners were very powerful, they did not dare to make enemies with the Han people in the Central Plains. In 1644, the Manchus finally waited for the opportunity. At that time, Li Zicheng attacked the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide in coal mountains, and Wu Sangui's defection made the Manchu Qing take advantage of the chaos to enter the pass and compete in the Central Plains.
Therefore, later generations analyzed that this should be related to its next strategy, the Qing army next marched into Jiangnan and other places, in order to prevent this situation from happening again, deter the Han people with a strong will to resist, in order to reduce the resistance of the future march.