History has too many accidents, and perhaps a small event of a sudden event has become an inflection point in history. Had it not been for Li Zicheng's capture of Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor's self-hanging on the coal mountains, the Manchu Qing would not have been able to enter the Central Plains. If the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not enter the Central Plains, it would be very likely that China would move toward modernization through constitutional monarchy.
The peasant revolt at the end of the Ming Dynasty, although it lasted a long time and was very large- However, the peasant revolt at the end of the Ming Dynasty was not caused by the erosion of the government, it was caused by the famine in northern Shaanxi in the early days, and the fire in the later period due to the great famine in Henan. Compared with the large nationwide uprisings of the late Qin, Sui, and Yuan dynasties, the peasant uprisings of the late Ming Dynasty had a distinctly territorial nature. Therefore, although the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty was fierce, it was not impossible to appease or suppress it.
The early peasant army was not strong in combat and could not confront the Ming officials head-on. Therefore, it can only rely on the state-and-county-style plunder to maintain its survival, and it is impossible to establish a solid base area. Li Zicheng's rebel army was also almost suppressed by the Ming dynasty officials twice. The first time was in 1634, Li Zicheng's rebel army was besieged by the Ming army in Che box gorge, the four sides of the car box gorge are steep, easy to enter and difficult to exit, and the only exit is intercepted by the Ming army, history record: .. Zicheng and others fell into the Carriage Gorge of Xing'an. It will rain heavily for two months, the horse will die a lot, the bow and arrow will be taken off, and the self-made (Gu) Jun En scheme, bribe (Chen) Qiyu around, and cheat. Qi Yuyi was a light thief, Xu Zhi, and Zhu Zhu would not be killed according to the soldiers, and the prefectures and counties they passed would be teleported for The Qi Yu. However, as soon as Li Zichengjun came out of the boardwalk, he immediately rebelled again.
The second time was in 1638, according to history: in the spring of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the officials and soldiers defeated the thief Zi Tong, and they became self-made and ran out of white water. (Hong) Chengyu and (Sun) Chuanting attacked Yu Tongguanyuan together, and broke it. After killing himself, he rode alone with Liu Zongmin and Tian Mixiu and other eighteen horsemen to ambush Shang and Luoshan. In his year, (Zhang) surrendered loyally, and became a self-defeating trend.
But just when the peasant army was about to be completely wiped out. The Qing army went south in two directions, and the imperial court had to dispatch Hong Chengyu, who was encircling and suppressing the peasant army, to resist the Qing, but it gave the peasant army a chance to breathe.
In the summer of 1639 , Zhang Xianzhong rebelled again at Gucheng ( 谷城 ; present-day Xiangfan , Hubei ) . Li Zicheng was overjoyed and gathered thousands of men and horses to kill from the Shangluo Mountains, but was defeated by Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi. Li Zicheng led the remnants to Yi Zhang Xianzhong, who plotted to murder Li Zicheng and annex his troops, but Li Zicheng detected it and fled. Yang Sichang oversaw Yu Yiling and summoned the peasant army, but Li Zicheng spoke a rumor and was besieged by the Ming army in the mountains of Brazil and Yufu. Li Zicheng was once again forced to a desperate place, however, Li Zicheng's desperate life this time was based on divination.
Shi Zai:.. The officers and soldiers surrounded themselves in the mountains of Brazil and Yufu, became themselves into great difficulties, wanted to be self-reliant, and the adopted son was persuaded to stop. Thieves will descend more. Liu Zongmin, the Lantian forger, is also the most courageous and also wants to surrender. Zi Cheng and walked into the Cong Ancestral Hall, Gu Er sighed: "People say that I should be the Son of Heaven, and I am not lucky, and I will cut off my head to descend." "Zong Minnuo, Sanbu Sanji." Zong Min also killed his two wives, saying that he had become a self-made person: "I died from Junyi." "When the brave men in the army heard about it, they also killed many wives who wished to obey. Self-made is to burn heavy, light riding by Yun, all go to Henan.
After Li Zicheng entered Henan, Henan was in a great famine and was full of hungry people. Li Zicheng took the opportunity to take in the hungry people and responded to them. At this point, the peasant army showed a trend of burning.