Chapter 58 Chapter One

Although Wu Sangui is a well-known historical figure, if he is compared in the long history of Chinese civilization, he is obviously an inconspicuous character.He is not a politician, and lacks the foresight and foresight to control the overall situation; he is also not considered an outstanding military strategist. During his long military career, his personal martial arts are certainly strong, and he has won many victories, big and small. Playing mostly as an ordinary man's bravery, he had no outstanding military achievements, and in the later war of rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, he even made a command error and lost all the capital he had accumulated in his life; Qing turned against the Qing, capricious, regarded as a villain without shame and cast aside by all; he has nothing to do with cultural creation, a "villain" who doesn't even have moral beliefs, how can he have any unique ideological system at all? ...However, it was such a seemingly insignificant figure who played a very important role during the Ming and Qing dynasties.At that critical moment of changing circumstances, Wu Sangui was suddenly pushed to the foreground of history by fate, becoming a decisive weight that controlled the balance of history.

Wu Sangui was born in the family of a general in Liaodong in the thirty-ninth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1611).At that time, it was the decline of the Ming Dynasty, the rise of the Manchus, and the frequent wars in Liaodong.Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, was a military jinshi in the Ming Dynasty. He was promoted to the commander-in-chief because of his meritorious service in defending Liaodong.Uncles Zu Dashou, Zu Dale, and Zu Dabi were three well-known generals, and the "family soldiers" they led were the elites that the Ming court relied heavily on to fight against the Qing Dynasty.The battle of his parents had a great impact on Wu Sangui's childhood growth. The bloody environment cultivated his bravery, resoluteness and ruthlessness, and also determined his future life path.

Father Wu Xiang was a soldier, but he was tired of the bloody, cruel, turbulent, and unpredictable military life. He hoped that his son could live a stable and peaceful life, so he let him worship in the army. At that time, Dong Qichang, a well-known calligrapher and painter, was a disciple of Dong Qichang.Dong Qichang is rich in knowledge and proficient in all kinds of poetry, calligraphy and painting. If Wu Sangui can get the essence of it, he will have a great future in the literary world.However, since he was a child, he was attracted by his father's vigorous posture on the battlefield, and Wu Sangui, who was aroused by the stimulation of swords and swords, could not sit quietly in the small room and spend his youth and energy in the narrow paper and cramped area. passion.He doesn't have any great ambitions, but he is active and likes to wield swords.Wu Xiang had no choice but to let him abandon literature and practice martial arts according to his nature.Perhaps due to the inheritance of his father's genes, Wu Sangui seems to have an understanding and talent for martial arts that surpass ordinary people. Coupled with his hard work, he has practiced excellent martial arts within a few years: he is capable of all eighteen kinds of martial arts, Especially proficient in riding and archery.Even the Manchus and Mongols, who had high self-esteem and made a living by riding and shooting, had to praise him and look at him with admiration.

Wu Sangui's superb martial arts is his most proud personal capital, and it is also a prerequisite for him to become a "weight" in the future.In addition, he has another natural advantage that he can be proud of - handsome, graceful and suave.He is a typical handsome man. According to relevant historical records, Wu Sangui "beautiful and graceful, good at riding and shooting, not very big, but extremely brave, resourceful and resourceful, he admires himself for being romantic." "Sangui The huge ears are long and accurate, and there is no need to look forward, and the dignity is like a god." Wu Sangui was born in the north of the south of the Yangtze River, and he has both the strengths of the north and the south: he has the chic and handsome of the southerners, and the rough and unrestrained of the northerners.A handsome man naturally won the love and admiration of romantic women, let alone a wealthy, talented, and powerful general in the imperial court, so he would inevitably have some romantic affairs and a vigorous romance. love.It can be seen from this that when the historical development of the Ming and Qing Dynasties reached a decisive turning point, Wu Sangui's "weight" tilt of "rushing to the crown and becoming a beauty" had nothing to do with his handsome and beautiful appearance.

However, this handsome man who was praised by the poet Wu Meicun as "the youngest fair-skinned Marquis" has an unconcealable defect in his appearance-there is a deep knife mark in the middle of the bridge of the nose, and in the middle of the knife mark, somehow There is also a thin line of black streaks.For this very conspicuous knife mark, Wu Sangui was filled with a strange emotion: both love and hate, both pride and worry. The scar is not born with it, but a witness to a brutal war. That happened during the reign of Emperor Tianqi in the Ming Dynasty.The commander of the capital, Wu Xiang, was leading five hundred soldiers out of the city on patrol, when he was suddenly surrounded by the main force of the Forty Thousand and Eight Banners led by Qing Emperor Huang Taiji himself.Wu Sangui saw his father being besieged from a distance from the tower of Jinzhou City, so he was naturally anxious, and hurriedly asked his uncle Zu Dashou, who was the general soldier, to send troops to rescue him.At that time, there were only 3,000 soldiers in the city. If they went out to meet the enemy, it would be tantamount to killing themselves.Zu Dashou had no choice but to stick to the city.Wu Sangui suddenly knelt on the ground and begged: "I can't just watch my father being chopped into meat paste by the enemy and refuse to save him. Please allow me to lead my family soldiers to fight the enemy to the death." More than a dozen servants galloped out of the city on horseback, and rushed into the enemy's formation like a whirlwind.Wu Sangui brandished a broadsword and dashed left and right, roaring angrily and desperately moving forward, followed by more than 20 family soldiers, who seemed to be in no one's land for a while, and even opened a bloody road to the center of the siege.Suddenly, a general held high the red flag and led a group of soldiers to assassinate him. Wu Sangui hurriedly drew his bowstring and shot an arrow, and the opponent fell to the ground in response.However, just as he galloped forward to cut off the head of the enemy general, unexpectedly, with the last effort of courage, the general swung his knife and slashed at him.Wu Sangui was unprepared, unable to dodge in time, and hit the bridge of the nose with a knife.Being in such a critical situation, he didn't care about bandaging at all, he just wiped it off, his face turned red and his face was ferocious, and his fighting became even more brave.He finally reached his father's side, and couldn't help shouting loudly: "Follow me!" Then he turned around and led the remaining Ming army to fight back the way he came.

Qingqi with more than 20 people thrown into the 40,000 enemy line is tantamount to a piece of fat that was offered to the wolf's mouth.However, it was this sudden attack that did not conform to the conventional rules of war that made the scheming Huang Taiji suspicious. He was worried that the Ming army had set up a trick to lure soldiers, so he did not pursue him and let Wu Sangui and his son escape. Although he left a scar, Wu Sangui rescued his father with the spirit of dying together, and the reputation of filial piety and bravery spread far and wide.Even after Huang Taiji found out the truth, he was full of praise, praised him as a "good man", and sighed without regret: "If my family gets this person, why worry about the world?" Huang Taiji was even more regretful. I am afraid that the matter is still after death, that is, the sigh of not seeing him with his own eyes turned out to be a fact later, and Wu Sangui became the powerful eagle dog of the Qing court to seize the country.

Wu Sangui's emergence was of course more important to the increasingly powerful Ming Dynasty. First, he was allowed to inherit his father's position as an official commander; When he was young, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan who guarded one side and acted alone. It is this indelible scar that brought flowers and reputation to Wu Sangui. It is a symbol of loyalty, bravery, and filial piety, and it is also the beginning of his fortune.Therefore, he "cherished his own broom" to cherish this scar and was proud of this scar of honor.At the same time, it was another scar that made him worry and even hate him.It is nothing to affect his handsome appearance. The key is that a fortune teller secretly said that the scar on the bridge of his nose was a "failure" after looking at his "respect".He said that Wu Sangui's life was invaluable, but this scar was born abruptly, which broke the "feng shui" and was a "broken beam" ear.Broken beams, that is, the collapse of the beams and columns of the house, what happy ending and fate will there be?Wu Sangui didn't react too much when he heard this, he just smiled coldly.It is obviously a scar of fortune and glory, how can it ruin one's "feng shui"?He doesn't believe it.But in the depths of my heart, there is a hidden worry from time to time, and I wish I could use some "cosmetology" to wipe it off.Therefore, whenever important decisions and difficult matters are encountered, Wu Sangui always subconsciously moves his hands to his face to cover the scar on the bridge of his nose.

Wu Sangui first came into the eyes of historians and posterity because of his sacrifice to save his father: "In the beginning, he saved his father from the siege. He was filial to the nine sides, won the three armies bravely, and was honored and rich!" His later life path seems to be the same. Marked with this unique style of putting all one's eggs in one basket, putting it to death and then reviving. As a professional soldier, it is commonplace to conquer cities and conquer territories, and go through life and death.Whenever Wu Sangui goes into battle, he always takes the lead without fear.He didn't pay much attention to military strategy when he led troops to fight, and seemed to be head-to-head and reckless.

As the battle between the Qing court and the Ming court for the Liaoxi Corridor intensified, Wu Sangui, who was promoted by Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, to the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan, continued to strengthen his military strength.He strictly selected 1,000 fine armors from the more than 20,000 soldiers under his command, personally trained them and directly commanded them, forming a vanguard battalion similar to a death squad.This pioneer battalion is divided into twenty teams, each team has fifty riders, and one leader is set up.Wu Sangui engraved the names of each rider on bamboo sticks and inserted them into the boots.In an emergency, he drew out a lottery with someone's name engraved on it, and shouted loudly.The leader of the cavalry led the fifty elite cavalry of the headquarters and broke into the enemy's formation without looking back.Inspired by these fine cavalry charging into battle, the army's prestige was immediately boosted.Therefore, Wu Sangui's strange method of training and using troops greatly increased the strength of the Wu army and became a strong force for the Ming court to deal with the Qing court.

In the long-term battle with the Qing court, Wu Sangui gradually changed from a warrior to a smart, changeable, capable and mature man.However, since he has always been in a partial position, he only dealt with some specific combat affairs, so he lacked the courage to lead the overall situation and the macro strategy of an outstanding military strategist.Regardless of leading troops to fight or dealing with people, Wu Sangui's starting point is to first consider personal interests.At that time, he was favored, smooth sailing, and prosperous in life, which also contributed to this kind of personality traits of self-importance and supremacy.Deceitful, flexible, like to play tricks, and can use any means to achieve personal goals. These irreversible weaknesses not only doomed him to be difficult to become a "big hand" who "points out the country and scold Fang Qiu", but also foreshadowed his Miserable end of life.

As the saying goes, strong fire knows real gold, and toughness knows loyal ministers.At critical moments, Wu Sangui's personality weaknesses were involuntarily exposed. At the beginning of August in the 14th year of Ming Chongzhen (AD 1641), the battle of Songjin, which determined the fate of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, entered a fierce stage of decisive battle.Relying on the advantages of eight towns and 130,000 troops, Hong Chengchou, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army, approached the south of Jinzhou City with the momentum of determination to win, and launched a fierce attack on the Qing army surrounding Jinzhou.After hearing the news, Huang Taiji, who was in Shenyang, led a rescue army to the front line of Jinzhou, regardless of his recovering body, cut off the Ming army's retreat and grain roads, and seized the opportunity to seize the grain accumulated in Bijia Mountain.As a result, the situation was reversed, and the Ming army was suddenly in a disadvantage and dilemma where it wanted to fight and ran out of food.The morale of the army was low and morale was shaken, and the generals from all walks of life were considering how to retreat.And anyone with a little military mind will know that there is no way out except to fight the enemy to the death.Therefore, Hong Chengchou had to pin his only hope on the life-and-death decisive battle with the Qing army the next day. He said: "The current situation is that if you defend, you will die, and if you don't fight, you will die. There is only a decisive battle, or you can survive from desperation. In the past Everyone said to be loyal to the Ming court, now is the time." However, on that night, there was an unexpected incident in which Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, led his troops to escape suddenly.What was even more unexpected was that Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan, who was known for his bravery and skill in battle, also led his crowd to flee after Wang Pu. The escape of the general disrupted Hong Chengchou's overall plan. The Ming army had completely lost the awareness and ability to resist, so they had to order a breakout.This so-called breakout decided on the spur of the moment was essentially a rare defeat and escape.In the dark night, the soldiers couldn't tell the direction, the organization was chaotic, and they couldn't command. Countless people trampled on each other, fell into trenches, fell into mountain streams, and flocked to the seaside to drown. As a result, more than 50,000 people died in this defeat, which was impossible to fight and had nowhere to escape. As a result, the huge elite of the Ming court suffered a devastating blow. Because Wu Sangui followed Wang Pu and escaped first, he took advantage of the opportunity, and with the bravery of his troops, relatively speaking, he suffered little loss and basically preserved his own strength. If Wu Sangui had already started planning to escape, he might have been wronged a bit.Before that, he could be regarded as a bloody man who dared to fight and fight.On the eve of the fateful decisive battle between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially after hearing Hong Chengchou's lecture, Wu Sangui must have also thought about being loyal to the imperial court.However, Wang Pu's sudden escape broke down his psychological defense in an instant.Rather than saying that his close following is a purposeful premeditation, it is better to say that it is a momentary instinctive reaction, a natural expression of deep-seated personality weaknesses of preserving strength, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages.In other words, Wu Sangui's deeply hidden inferiority began to be fully exposed at the critical moment of life and death.