Chapter 61 Chapter Four

Wu Sangui led his Guanning iron cavalry to rush towards Shanhaiguan like a whirlwind, and launched a fierce attack on the unsuspecting peasant army. He quickly wiped out almost all the defenders and reinforcements, and Shanhaiguan fell into his hands again. Wu Sangui's reoccupation of Shanhaiguan is undoubtedly a "white paper" declaring a complete break with the Dashun regime, completely pushing himself against the Peasant Army.At this moment, Wu Sangui, standing on the Shanhai Pass, was no longer as complacent as before, but seemed restless and worried. What he was facing was an unavoidable life-and-death battle with the peasant uprising army whose fate was uncertain. fight.Although he incorporated more than 20,000 peasant uprising troops and recruited thousands of new recruits, plus the original more than 30,000 horsemen, the total number was more than 60,000. On the surface, his strength seemed to be considerable, but he was still unable to compete with the powerful peasant army. contend.In order to save himself, he had no choice but to attach himself to the Qing court.

However, he still didn't want to "recognize the thief as his father" and bear the eternal infamy of taking refuge in a foreign race, so he adopted Hu Youliang's "strategy of borrowing troops"-not to surrender to the Qing court, but to borrow the opponent's strength to "combine Li Thieves, if you succeed, you will be rewarded heavily." In the past, the Qing army lured Wu Sangui to surrender, but this time it was Wu Sangui who took the initiative to send a letter. To put it nicely, it was "borrowing troops" to ask for help, but a discerning person can clearly see that this is an act of selling oneself in a desperate situation.

Dorgon, the regent of the Qing Dynasty, received the letter and couldn't help being overjoyed.Two generations of father and brother have struggled to open the grand pass, but now the key to enter the pass has miraculously fallen into his hands. Why can't he be overjoyed like he has found a treasure?With almost no hesitation, the Qing court made a plan to send troops. Shanhaiguan is so important. In order to keep the victory he just won, Li Zicheng had to lead an elite army to rush to Shanhaiguan.At the same time, he also brought Wu Xiang and Prince Ming into the army, and recruited Wu Sangui again.

Li Zicheng arrived at Shanhaiguan before Dorgon and ordered Wu Xiang to write a letter to persuade him to surrender. Wu Sangui knew in his heart that the Qing army was rushing to the rescue at this time.He has no way out.For his own sake, he not only forgot the interests of the country and the righteousness of the nation, but even in the face of his elderly father, he lost the filial piety and kindness of the past, showing a heart of iron and stone that is rare in the world.He replied to his father: "Father can't be a loyal minister, can Gui Yi'an be a filial son? Gui and father's secret, please start today. If father doesn't plan early, even if the thief puts father's tripod beside him to lure Sangui, he doesn't care."

Thus, an inevitable war finally broke out. Wu Sangui's army was weak, so the peasant army naturally gained the upper hand, and Guancheng was about to fall into the hands of the peasant army.At this time, Dorgon's reinforcements had also arrived.However, Dorgon, who was resourceful and scheming, did not go into battle in time, but forced Wu Sangui into the trap: He asked Wu Sangui and his subordinates to shave their hair for the sake of identification, and changed the nominal borrowing of soldiers into substantive surrender. On the one hand, Li Zicheng's peasant army became more and more aggressive, and on the other hand, Dorgon threatened and pressured them.Wu Sangui couldn't advance forward, and couldn't retreat backward, so he had no choice but to "give in."Starting with him, all officers and soldiers shaved their heads, and those who were too late were slanted with white cloth to make the Qing army identify them.Then he opened the door and bowed to the robbers, and welcomed Dorgon's Qing army into the pass.Wu Sangui's so-called strategy of borrowing troops in order to achieve the best of both worlds has completely failed so far, and has become an out-and-out submission.

A major historical turning point was completed unconsciously in this way, but Li Zicheng was kept in the dark and didn't know it at all. The decisive battle began, and the cunning Dorgon turned against the guest, and ordered Wu Sangui to be the vanguard, while he hid on the sidelines to watch the battle, achieving the goal of killing two birds with one stone: not only to test Wu Sangui's sincerity, but also to reap the benefits of the fisherman when both sides are hurt. The Qing army joined hands with the Wu army, and the Shanhaiguan War ended with the disastrous defeat of the Dashun Peasant Army.

The god of luck passed away, and Li Zicheng's downfall was determined by this battle.Apart from the fate of escaping, failure and perishing, all he can do is to struggle desperately to delay the time of perishing. Before the gunpowder smoke permeated Shanhaiguan, Dorgon named Wu Sangui the King of Pingxi and ordered him to continue chasing Li Zicheng who had fled in a hurry. If it is said that Wu Sangui was still able to swing and choose in the middle of the balance when it was said that there was Shanhaiguan, then when he left the customs to welcome the Qing army to enter the customs, once the mission of the weight was completed, the rewriting of history was a foregone conclusion. The effect also began to decline.At that critical moment of decision, he was the one who was choosing and changing history; but now, he can only run left and right in the changed historical framework, with no power to turn back.

Wu Sangui followed the fleeing peasant army in hot pursuit, and Li Zicheng tried his best to get rid of Wu Sangui's entanglement like a vicious dog, so as to gain time, stabilize his position, and try to make a comeback.So, he once again sent envoys to recruit Wu Sangui.Wu Sangui not only refused to surrender, but also violated the "war treaty" since ancient times, beheading the envoy.Li Zicheng's last surrender failed. He was completely desperate for Wu Sangui, and he vented all his grief and anger on Wu Xiang, who had been detained in the barracks, and ordered him to be killed with a knife.When he returned to Beijing, he beheaded all the more than 30 members of the Wu family.Then hastily ascended the throne, sat on the throne like a flashback, and indulged in illusory satisfaction for a few days, then had to abandon Beijing in a hurry and retreat in the direction of Shaanxi.

Wu Sangui didn't stop, chasing Li Zicheng relentlessly, clung to Li Zicheng.Finally caught up with Li Zicheng between Wangdu and Zhengding, and took Chen Yuanyuan back. Is all this really for Chen Yuanyuan, a woman?For the sake of women, is it possible to give up the mountains and rivers, abandon the father's family, and disregard the righteousness of the nation? Doesn't this go against the traditional saying in Chinese history that "women are disasters"? However, Chen Yuanyuan is innocent.She is indeed tender and tender, but she did not cause any harm at all, and it is not her fault.

Ever since Wu Sangui was generous and unrestrained and spent a lot of money to hire her that night, Chen Yuanyuan completely entrusted her heart to Wu Sangui.Sometimes I would naturally think of Maoxiang, but I quickly suppressed myself, only treating him as my elder brother, and not thinking about the relationship between men and women.Regardless of her external status or deep down, she belongs to Wu Sangui.When Wu Xiang entered Beijing and took Chen Yuanyuan to the house, she couldn't help but let out a long breath, thinking that this time she had really achieved a "right result".However, she didn't expect fate to play another cruel joke with her.Her reputation was so great that after the peasant rebel army invaded Beijing, General Liu Zongmin came here admiringly and tried every means to capture her.Although Wu Sangui and Liu Zongmin are both generals, the former is handsome and unrestrained, like a breeze blowing through the forest; the latter is reckless, like a piece of rough that has not been polished.For Chen Yuanyuan, who was born in the south of the Yangtze River, is good at singing southern opera, and recites poems and poems, not only can she not accept Liu Zongmin's bandit-like robbery and possession, but she is also out of tune in terms of heart and emotion.Actually, she didn't spend a whole day with Wu Sangui in a serious way. After parting that night, Wu Sangui led the army back to Liaodong the next day.She can only outline the image of Wu Sangui in her long-term thoughts, and her imagination often portrays Wu Sangui as perfect.She longed for Wu Sangui, wishing she could fall into his arms immediately.

Wu Sangui "raged at the crown and became a beauty", and desperately snatched her back from Liu Zongmin. It stands to reason that Chen Yuanyuan should be so grateful that she could kneel at his feet, and her love could not be melted into his flesh and blood.However, when they met for the first time, a shadow that would never go away was planted in Chen Yuanyuan's heart—Wu Sangui was no longer the Wu Sangui he met for the first time. Although he was still so handsome, his attire had changed. She was dressed in full clothes that she could not recognize, her forehead was completely shaved, and there was still a pigtail-like braid on the back of her head.As a native of Jiangnan, the traditional concept of the distinction between Hua and Barbarians has long been deeply ingrained.She couldn't accept Wu Sangui in front of her, but she had to accept it.Although he was grateful, he lacked the unforgettable and dream-lingering admiration of the past, and there was even a hint of disappointment. If it is said that Wu Sangui's switch and surrender was a choice she had to make for her, then all subsequent actions made Chen Yuanyuan unbelievable.After the Manchus entered the customs, Wu Sangui became a loyal and docile hunting dog raised by the Qing court, who would jump at the opponent indiscriminately with just a soft call.Driven by Dorgon, Wu Sangui chased all the way to Shaanxi, and followed Li Zicheng's retreat, defeated the peasant army in Xiangyang, Wuchang, and Jiujiang, and won great victories in successive battles, causing Li Zicheng to be killed in Jiugong Mountain, Hubei (One said he became a monk in Shimen, Hunan).Then, he put down rebel generals in various places and tried his best to consolidate the rule of the Qing court.The most shameful thing is that he marched into the Yunnan-Guizhou area and spared no effort to wipe out the remaining forces of the Ming court who had been kind to him in the past—the Nanming Dynasty who had fled to the south.He drove the last emperor of the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Yongli, out of the country to Burma, and then took the opportunity to capture him and hang him on the spot.So far, the last gleam of the Ming Dynasty has completely disappeared from the horizon of history. Naturally, the Qing people would not forget his great achievements. They wrote in the "Reward Order": "Wang Dazhong worked hard, planned strategies, and dispatched well, so that the country's prestige spread far and wide, and the rebellion was pacified. It is a great achievement. It should be added. The ceremony is to show his relatives and reward, and he will be named a prince." The blood of the peasant army and the Nanming court stained his "Prince" throne red.In this regard, the historian wrote with an objective and fair attitude: "The death of the Ming Society was caused by trespassers, but it fell to Song Shiyashan, and it died at the hands of Sangui." The fact is exactly the same. The huge empire established by the Manchus in the Central Plains mainly relied on the power of the Han people, and Wu Sangui was just one of the best.French missionary Bai Jin wrote in the book "The Biography of Emperor Kangxi": "In the process of conquering the empire, the Tatars paid almost no price, but the Han people killed each other, and the bravest people among the Han people, instead For the Manchus to fight against their own nation." Another traitor!These national scum are always topics that we cannot avoid.There have been so many traitors in China since ancient times, which seems to be closely related to the feudal system, traditional culture and national character.The survival philosophy of Confucian culture, the slave personality caused by feudal autocracy, and the weakness and femininity of the national quality should be a suitable "hotbed" for the mass "breeding" of traitors. For what Wu Sangui did, Chen Yuanyuan must have advised him.But Wu Sangui is a typical profit-hungry person, and his "rage at the crown" towards Chen Yuanyuan was ultimately out of an irresistible personal possession.Human desires are endless. When Wu Sangui threw himself into the "embrace" of the Qing court, he completely pushed himself to the opposite of Dashun and Nanming. Nothing is more important than winning the favor and trust of his master.Therefore, if Chen Yuanyuan wanted to change his behavior by blowing on the "pillow wind", it would be as difficult as reaching the sky.At the same time, as his status continued to rise, he bought Jiangnan actors, selected harem fans, and Chen Yuanyuan got older and her beauty gradually declined, so he naturally left her in the cold. Chen Yuanyuan's feelings were also ups and downs, changing with the times, and experienced a 180-degree turn.She went from admiration for Wu Sangui at first sight to an unforgettable love, then to melancholy, disappointment, and then to resentment.From poverty to wealth, from desolation to hustle and bustle, from love to resentment... Chen Yuanyuan finally understood life through the ups and downs, saw through the world of mortals, and finally became a monk to worship the Buddha and became a nun. , green rolls, and loneliness accompany you until the end of your life. Another theory is that Chen Yuanyuan committed suicide in the end.If this is the case, then it must be that she has deeply despaired of Wu Sangui's actions, her own personal destiny, and the irreversibility of the general situation of the world, and then she took a resolute and resolute attitude as a weak woman can. A unique form of resistance. If it is said that Wu Sangui's loyalty and bravery in saving his father in the midst of tens of thousands of enemies when he was young is commendable, but later, he seemed to be a different person, completely disregarding the love between father and son and the way of filial piety, a typical hard-hearted and tiger-wolf It is really shameful; if it is said that in a feudal society where men are superior to women, returning to Shanhaiguan for one's beloved woman is somewhat manly, then the Qing court will be willing to chase and kill Li Zicheng and wipe out the remaining forces of Nanming. , then completely degenerated into the scum of the nation and the sinner of history.