Chapter 70 12. Epilogue

On the Ching Ming Festival in the 19th year of Qianlong, Mr. Niu Cizhang erected a tombstone for his ancestors. Through the words and related records on this tombstone, we can read the epitome of an era through the fog of history. Niu Quan, the son of Niu Jinxing, was captured and surrendered in the Battle of Fuchikou, and was immediately appointed by Azig as the first prefect of Huangzhou Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty. Niu Jinxing separated from Li Zicheng in Jiugong Shanyin, and Li Zicheng died immediately. The Dashun army had no leader, and either surrendered or killed each other.Niu Jinxing felt disheartened by this, and secretly fled back to his hometown Baofeng, Henan.However, the Qing army is now clearing out the remnants of bandits and local bandits, and he has too many acquaintances in his hometown, so he can't stay.After learning that his son was an official in Huangzhou, Niu Jinxing fled to Huangzhou to join his son.He probably died at the end of the sixth year of Shunzhi, at the age of fifty-eight.When he was dying, he told his son: "Lai Mi's seam is a coincidence. If you can't anoint the thorns, you can't rely on it. If I die, I will be buried in the sun of Xiangshan Mountain. I will teach my son not to come out again."

Niu Quan obeyed his father's words and never went out to be an official again.In the ninth year of Kangxi, he died at the age of fifty-five and was buried next to his father's tomb. When his wife passed away, the family was too poor to carry out the burial. After fifty years of delay, it was just a "painted funeral". It was not until the seventh year of Qianlong that his grandson Niu Cizhang moved his grandparents to the ancestral tomb, leaving only Niu Jinxing alone in the sun of Xiangshan.In the 19th year of Qianlong's reign, Niu Cizhang Yi's family was in decline, fearing that future generations would not be able to find his ancestor's tomb, so this inscription was erected in front of Niu Quan's tomb during the Qingming Festival of this year.

After Song Xiance was captured, his whereabouts are unknown.Some said that he was killed, and some said that Manchurians valued his physiognomy and lived a good life-that was an era that was turned upside down, who knows whether it is true or not? Liu Zongmin was captured and killed. Tian Jianxiu was recruited by Nanming He Tengjiao in July of the second year of Shunzhi. In August, he sent Qing general Tong Yanghe to the north. After Li Guo went south, he led his troops to join Li Guo.At the beginning of the third year of Shunzhi, he surrendered to the Qing army again, and Dorgon immediately ordered "those who surrender and rebel repeatedly will be executed."Anyway, I haven't seen his name since.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong accepted Nanming's consolation and fought against the Qing army.In 1649, Li Guo died of illness.Gao Yigong was attacked by Sun Kewang, the remaining subordinate of Zhang Xianzhong, and died in battle. Li Laiheng led the rest of the Dashun Army to continue to fight in the mountainous area at the junction of Sichuan and Hubei, known as "Kuidong Thirteen".In 1659, when the Qing army marched southward to attack the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty in the southwest, they once besieged Chongqing to share the pressure for the Southern Ming Dynasty. In 1663, the second year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army besieged the Thirteen Houses of Kuidong.Li Laiheng refused to guard Jiulianping on Maolu Mountain, and the Qing army relied on traitors to lead the way and climbed to the top of the mountain from the back mountain.Seeing that the situation was over, Li Laiheng sent his old mother away and set himself on fire with his whole family.

And just like that, an era is over... In this article, I did not mention Li Yan (originally named Li Xin, renamed Yan after the uprising) at all. Because he is quite suspicious. It is said that he was from Qi County, but the county annals of Qi County in the early Qing Dynasty did not admit such a person at all; Zheng Lian, a native of Henan who had personally participated in the Dashun Army, also vehemently denied the existence of such a person, but he did not deny the existence of Niu Jinxing.It was not far away at that time, so there is still nothing to doubt about it; It is said that he was a member of the Yimao imperial examination, but the name "Li Xin" could not be found in the title of the township examination.Among the Yimao imperial examination candidates, only Liu Zhao was from Qi County. There is no Li Xin's name in "Jin Gentleman Records";

As for the same "thief", and even the more "criminal" Juren Niu Jinxing, we can easily find out his family background, fame, experience, and fate from these materials... According to legend, he is the son of Li Jingbai, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, but Li Jingbai is not from Qi County, nor does he have such a son; Legend has it that he had a brother, Li Mou, who rebelled with him in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.Li Mou is a person in the history books, but this name appeared as early as the "Mianchidu" incident at the end of the sixth year of Chongzhen, and he was Gao Yingxiang's subordinate, so he didn't seem to be from Henan;

Legend has it that he was captured by the red lady and married, but the red lady was nowhere to be found; Legend has it that Hong Niangzi broke into Qi County to rescue him and killed Song, the magistrate of the county. However, thirteen years ago, there was no record of Qi County being breached by "traitors", and there was no such "Song magistrate" who was killed... (Luan Mr. Xing has a detailed textual research on this in his masterpiece "The Mystery of Li Yan"). Li Yan is a tragic figure in accordance with the Chinese tradition, but it is true that he never really existed.

The fate of life is like this, when the world is full of tears and blood, the experience and whereabouts of the heroes of the dragon war are not so important. The important thing is that we have an extra braid of a foreign race on our heads, which means nearly three hundred years.