Chapter 20 [Killing like grass without hearing a sound] -2

Don't look at Liu Zongmin's official title is just "General", not "Taiwei" or "Great Sima". In fact, he is almost on the same level as Li Zicheng, and he doesn't buy this buddy "Emperor" account at all. While chasing stolen goods, the first official to be plundered to death was Li Guozhen, a relative of the Ming Dynasty who led the soldiers of the three major battalions of the Beijing Camp to surrender outside Beijing and was the first to surrender.This traitor minister was the most favored courtier in the last period of Emperor Chongzhen.Normally, other ministers knelt down to discuss matters, but he stood beside the emperor majestically, showing no courteous etiquette.Therefore, from the list of people trusted by Emperor Chongzhen all the time, we can see that the Ming Dynasty is hopeless: Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru, Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, Li Jiantai, Li Guozhen.

Li Zicheng met Li Guozhen for the first time outside Beijing, and he didn't have a good impression of him. He scolded him and said: "You are entrusted by the emperor, and you trust and favor more than the White House. According to reason, you should die the country, and you have the cheek to surrender. What do you want to do? "Immediately have people tie him up tightly.Li Guozhen wept and begged bitterly.Li Zicheng scolded: "You want to live as a traitor for the country!" With these words, it was too difficult for Li Guozhen to want to live. Liu Zongmin tortured him first, burned him with a small fire, smashed the big board, tortured him all night, and finally made this master Li die of extreme pain.This is not over yet, peasant army soldiers broke into his house, hundreds of people gang-raped Li Guozhen's wife and all the women in the house, and then hugged Li Guozhen's wife naked on the horse, walking on the street and shouting: "Come and see all come Look, this is Li Guozhen's wife, Boss of Xiangcheng!" The soldiers shouted and laughed, pinching their breasts and poking their vaginas, "There is nothing more humiliating than this."

As for the two "big scholars" Chen Yan and Wei Zaode, they should also express themselves. Chen Yan is a "former bachelor" who was dismissed in early March because he lied about his military exploits.He originally wanted to escape from Beijing, but his family property was too much but he failed.Hearing that the Dashun Army was asking for silver, he took the initiative to send 40,000 taels of silver to Liu Zongmin first.Old Liu liked his "generosity" and did not punish him immediately.Later, his servants reported that tens of thousands of silver were hidden underground in his home.The peasant army dug it, and sure enough, there was silver all over the yard.

Liu Zongmin was furious, and began to torture and wait for the prince. He obtained hundreds of taels of gold by torture, and pearls became dendrobium.Even so, before Li Zicheng left Beijing, he still beheaded Chen Yan and a group of ministers. Wei Zaode, a bachelor, was born as the No. 1 scholar in the Ming Dynasty.He sees success by talking about soldiers, but after becoming prime minister, he didn't have any good ideas for Emperor Chongzhen, he only obeyed and remained silent.Originally, because of his high official status, he was imprisoned alone in a dark room.Master Wei urged him desperately, and begged through the crack of the door: "If the new dynasty wants to use me as an official, please release me, and don't lock me here."

This way, Liu Zongmin was reminded instead. Liu Zongmin, the funeral star, took Wei Zaode into the hall for interrogation in person. He was the first to be tortured and asked, "You are the first assistant. Why is the country so chaotic?" Wei Zaode answered while howling: "I am a scholar, and I don't know much about politics. The first emperor had no way, so I ended up here." Liu Zongmin was a rough man, and he was angry when he heard the words: "You were promoted as the number one scholar as a scholar, and you were promoted to the first assistant after three years as an official. How can Chongzhen feel sorry for you, how dare you falsely accuse him of being a senseless and stupid king!"

So, General Liu went down in person and slapped Wei Zaode dozens of times.Seeing this, the soldiers pulled their sticks violently, and Old Wei's ten fingers were broken. Under the panic and pain, Wei Zaode shouted: "I have a daughter, I would like to dedicate it to the general as a concubine!" Liu Zongmin was delighted to hear this, and ordered someone to take his daughter, raped her and sent her to the military camp, where the sergeants gang-raped her. However, Liu Zongmin was even more disdainful of the old Wei who offered his daughter, and ordered the soldiers to step up the torture.A total of "serving"

After six days and six nights, Wei Zaode's head was cracked by the punishment board, and his brains flowed out to die. Wei Zaode died, and the peasant army arrested his son to ask for silver.Xiao Wei kowtowed and said, "I really don't have any money in my family. If my father is still alive, he can still borrow money from his disciple Gujiu. Now that he is dead, where can I find money?" Hearing what he said, the little leader of the Peasant Army raised his hand and chopped off Xiao Wei's head. Poor officials such as Hanlin and Kechen in the Ming Dynasty were the most unlucky. They couldn't get enough oil and water from their homes, and most of them were tortured to death.

Liu Zongmin erected dozens of slashing pillars at the gate, and killed people without any time. Regardless of officials, rich people, or residents, as long as they look rich in their families, they will definitely be invited here to be tortured. The ridiculous thing is that Liu Zongmin and other military generals' offices were plundering torture day and night, and Niu Jinxing's "cultural governance" was flourishing there. , "Come to China and caress the barbarians", "From the blessing of God, there is no disadvantage".All of a sudden, Confucian scholars in Shuntian Prefecture begged for exams and filled the market.There are some unlucky ones, because of their bright clothes, they are captured by soldiers, tortured and robbed for money.

After several days of plundering, Li Zicheng's army obtained a total of more than 70 million taels of silver, all of which were remelted by workers into huge square silver plates with holes in the middle for easy transportation. Seventy million taels is really not a decimal.Emperor Chongzhen raised his salary and apportionment for more than ten years, but he got only 20 million taels of silver from the people. As a result, the people lost their hearts and the country fell.Li Zicheng squeezed 70 million yuan in silver in the capital. You can see how cruel it is, and it's no wonder he didn't die.Moreover, this huge sum of money was not only squeezed from the officials of the Ming Dynasty, but also from every household in Beijing.

After Li Zicheng entered the capital, he immediately uploaded a large group of actors and tailors into the palace, changed new clothes every day, and listened to ditties every day, which exposed the vulgar taste of this "great peasant leader".He is not very particular about eating, he only eats a little rice mixed with dried chili, served with strong wine, and there is no food.In terms of utensils, Li Zicheng always used crude military weapons from the old camp. He had a bad eye for the delicate utensils of dragons and phoenixes in the palace. Naturally, the soldiers of the peasant army did not cherish the "cultural relics". They used the exquisite and huge palace kiln vats in the palace as mangers, and dismantled refined wooden doors and windows for cooking.Seeing the rare and exquisitely carved rhinoceros horn cups in the inner library, the soldiers used the larger ones for pounding garlic, and the smaller ones for injecting soybean oil as lamps, without any hesitation.

Seeing that Liu Zongmin and other camps are rich, and Li Zicheng's "old camp" can only use coarse rice and horse beans as food, these "Long March" The old cadres complained a lot, and felt that "Chuang Wang" was not meaningful, so they secretly led out of the palace to plunder, and went to private houses to rob money and commit adultery.In Anfu Hutong alone, more than 300 women were gang-raped to death overnight.What can be said is that Li Zicheng himself is not very lustful, and has always disliked "doing that".In the palace, he was only lucky to be in charge of the court lady Dou, who was called "Concubine Dou" by the guards. Objectively speaking, it is nonsense to say that Li Zicheng did not do any serious business after he entered Beijing.At that time, all areas of Northwest China, North China, Shandong, and Henan, as well as most of Hubei and Jiangsu, were under the jurisdiction of the "Dashun" regime. While continuing to choose parties to realize real jurisdiction, Li Zicheng sent some troops south to prepare to completely wipe out the remnant army and rule the world.Moreover, in the first ten days or so when the Dashun Army first entered the city, discipline was particularly strict. Soldiers who committed robbery and rape were crucified and killed hundreds of people.Only later, as time went by, the military discipline of the peasant army became increasingly corrupt. In mid-April, Li Zicheng couldn't sit still when he heard that Wu Sangui "rebelled" in Shanhaiguan.He wanted Liu Zongmin and Li Jin to lead the army, but the two generals shook their heads because they were enjoying the pleasures in the capital.In desperation, Li Zicheng had no choice but to "conquer himself".At the same time, he ordered the execution of more than 100 ministers of the Ming Dynasty headed by the great scholar Chen Yan at Pingzemen, and sent troops to transport the whole vehicle of silver taels looted from Beijing to "Xijing" (Xi'an). On April 19th, Li Zicheng sent troops in the morning. He wore a velvet cap, a blue cloth arrow jacket, and was plainly dressed.Among the entourage, apart from 70,000 to 80,000 elite soldiers (claimed to be 200,000), there were also Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, and the three sons of Emperor Chongzhen, all of whom were strictly guarded. At the beginning of 1644, Huang Taiji was dead.Dorgon, who presided over the political situation of the Qing Dynasty, heard that Li Zicheng built "Dashun" in Xi'an , Immediately sent someone to contact, and proposed to "take the Central Plains and share the wealth and honor".Li Zicheng did not respond to this.At the beginning of March, when peasant soldiers approached the city, Wu Sangui received an order to abandon Ningyuan and move towards Shanhaiguan.Fan Wencheng, a "big scholar" of the Han Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty, quickly offered advice: first, he could enter the border and take Beijing directly; Doomed to perish, we must take advantage of this once-in-a-century opportunity to occupy the Central Plains, especially the Hebei region. Duo ErGun greatly agreed.He ordered the conscription of soldiers in the country. Men under the age of 70 and over 12 years old must join the army. It can be said that they came here with all their strength.At the same time, Dorgon also followed Fan Wencheng's suggestion to be strict in discipline, and force the soldiers to stop killing and looting as before after entering the border of the Ming Dynasty, and focus on appeasement. After Songshan's defeat, due to the desperate need for talents, the Ming court did not severely punish Wu Sangui who had fled, but only nominally demoted him to a third rank, and still sent him to guard Ningyuan.Wu Sangui knows how to repay his kindness. He trains soldiers all day long, strengthens the city defense, expands thousands of soldiers into tens of thousands, and renews his equipment.In the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643), he also led his troops to defeat the Qing army's attack many times, and repeatedly rejected his uncle Zu Dashou's "surrender" for the Qing army on his behalf. It is impossible to surrender because of his uncle, because his father Wu Xiang is in Beijing and is trusted by Emperor Chongzhen).Before Wu Sangui left Ningyuan, the Qing army had occupied Zhonghousuo (now Suizhong, Liaoning), Zhongqiansuo (now Suizhong Qiansuo) and Qiantunwei.Outside of Shanhaiguan, only Wu Sangui fought alone, defending the isolated city of Ningyuan. The Ming court issued an edict instructing Wu Sangui to abandon Ningyuan and return to aid the capital. He did hear the order and set off immediately.Before leaving, Wu Sangui ordered that all buildings in Ningyuan City be burned down to avoid capitalizing on the enemy.However, due to the total of 500,000 soldiers and civilians in Ningyuan City, there are many people and things, and it is very troublesome to move all of them into the customs.Walking in a row, they could only walk tens of miles a day, and they didn't arrive at Shanhaiguan until March 16th.Wu Sangui is really "benevolent" at this time, much like Liu Xuande was back then.Having said that, his move is also "the benevolence of a woman". The father is in Beijing and is in danger. The most important thing is to return to Beijing for assistance.But then again, he rushed to Beijing with tens of thousands of horses, and he was not necessarily an opponent in the face of an army of one million peasants. After Wu Sangui resettled the residents, he led his troops to rush into Wei, and arrived in Fengrun on March 20, but he heard that the peasant army had broken through the city of Beijing the day before.At this time, Wu Sangui was really in a dilemma for the first time in his life: alone and poor, he had to surrender to the Peasant Army or the Qing Dynasty.Not long after the ideological struggle, Wu Sangui made a choice: surrender to Li Zicheng.Firstly, my old father was trapped in Beijing and was detained by Li Zicheng; secondly, the Ming Dynasty was dead, and a new dynasty was just established, so he could be regarded as the founding hero.What's more, Tang Tong, Jiang Huan and others at the same level as him, who have soldiers, generals and cities, have already surrendered, and he, Wu Sangui, has surrendered. Of course, Li Zicheng paid attention to Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan. After entering Beijing, he sent people to appease him, saying that he "will not lose his position as a Marquis" after returning to Dashun. So, Wu Sangui walked all the way to Beijing, posting notices to Anmin: "This town will lead the troops to meet the new king (Li Zicheng), and there will be no crime during the autumn, so the scholars and people need not panic." Wu Sangui’s father, Wu Xiang, who lived in Beijing, was planning for his family’s life, and he also wrote a letter to persuade him “with earnestness and sincerity” (maybe forced by the peasant army): You use the emperor's special gift to get a special job. It's not true that you have accumulated military exploits. It's just because a strong enemy is in front of you. As soon as they see Han and Peng, they will give them a heavy responsibility, and it is like this.Today, you have only ordered the army, and you have chosen to wait and see, so that Li Bing will drive straight in. There is no plan to criticize and bully, and there is no power to restrain the situation.The opportunity is gone, the destiny is hard to return, my lord has passed away, and Erwen will be there for a while. ... For my own sake, it is better to hold the bi in my hand, carry the coffin and coffin, and surrender this morning. I will not lose the reward of Tonghou, and I will be named as a filial son.In case the disciples rely on anger and arrogance, have no restraint, the power of host and guest is different, and the number of widows is invincible, the city will be strengthened and wiped out in one day, making my father innocent and humiliated, and his name will be lost.It would be a great pain if all the courtiers were lost!The saying goes: "There is no one who knows a son like a father." I can't be Zhao She, but you are almost suspicious of (Zhao) Kuo Ye, so I am promoted to you. To order, to order! (There is also a saying that Li Zicheng first sent Tang Tong, a general of the Ming Dynasty, to lead troops with gold and silk to meet Wu Sangui and take over Shanhaiguan). Halfway through the journey, Wu Sangui learned that the Dashun Army had tortured Ming Dynasty officials in Beijing to chase their dirt. Many officials who escaped secretly complained, and Wu Sangui was greatly disappointed.When he learned that his father had also been kidnapped, he was extremely angry and decided not to enter Beijing, fearing that his father and son would be killed after being trapped.Later generations always exaggerate that Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan (Chen Yuan) was robbed and raped by Liu Zongmin as the main reason for his betrayal of Li Zicheng, but in fact it was only a secondary reason.In order to aggravate Wu Sangui's "crimes" in the future, the elders of the former Ming Dynasty and the scholars of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties deliberately used him as "a confidante who was angry at the crown" to contrast his disloyalty to the Ming Dynasty and his disfilial piety to his father. Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng were torn apart, so they naturally wanted to get close to the aggressive Man Qing behind them.But at that time, Wu Sangui did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty immediately, but as a lone minister and righteous man of the Ming Dynasty, he "borrowed soldiers to avenge" the Manchu Qing. Wu Sangui asked the Qing army to enter the border from Xifengkou, Miyun and other places, and he tried to keep the Shanhai Pass dangerous pass to contain the Qing army. At that time, most of the Qing army led by Dorgon did not go in the direction of Shanhaiguan.He followed Hong Chengchou's suggestion, fearing that Li Zicheng's peasant army would flee westward to Xi'an after burning the air and looting Beijing, and was marching in a hurry to attack Beijing from Jizhou, Miyun and other places.After receiving Wu Sangui's secret letter, Dorgon was overjoyed, and immediately changed the marching route of the main force and came straight to Shanhaiguan.At the same time, he wrote to Wu Sangui, promising to "crack the soil and seal the king", asking the other party to surrender instead of "borrowing troops". When Wu Sangui heard that most of the peasant army was coming to attack, he panicked, and immediately wrote back to ask the Qing troops to come to help the battle quickly. On April 21, the former army of the Qing army arrived outside Shanhaiguan, set up camp on Huanxi Ridge, and conducted a difficult "negotiation" work with Wu Sangui.Soon, the army came one after another, and a total of 140,000 Qing troops gathered outside the pass. When Li Zicheng heard that Wu Sangui was on the line with the Qing army, he did not dare to be negligent, so he dispatched generals Tang Tong and Bai Guangen to lead the cavalry to a rock in the southeast of Funing County, while he himself led the main force to deploy in Shihe (now Yansai Lake Reservoir, Qinhuangdao) ). At this time, Dorgon and his generals were all suspicious. The first was that they were afraid that Wu Sangui would deceive others, and the second was that the Qing army had never dealt with Li Zi, so they had no idea.Therefore, the Qing army first started training with Tang Tong's first army, and first defeated this group of mixed former "official troops" and peasant troops at a stone.In the Battle of Piece of Stone, although the Qing army won, it had nothing to do with the overall situation of Shanhaiguan. In a panic, on the morning of April 22, Wu Sangui himself went out of the customs and galloped up Huanxi Mountain to meet Dorgon. Dorgon took Wu Sangui's hand and said "heart-to-heart" words: "Your revenge for the old master is commendable. This time I led the army into the customs and strictly ordered the army to abide by the rules. If anyone dares to grab a grain of rice, dare to move." A single plant of grass will be executed by military law. Wang Jun told the people in the pass not to panic." Wu Sangui was "moved", and hurriedly made an oath with Dorgon to sacrifice horses and sacrifice to heaven and horses and cattle to sacrifice to the ground, saying that whoever breaks the contract will suffer a bad death (both of them will die a bad death). Dorgon was still worried, and asked Wu Sangui to shave his hair again.At the critical moment of life and death rushing to the wall, in order to get the help of the Qing army, Wu Sangui and several senior officers under him had to shave their heads immediately and become ministers.The 40,000 to 50,000 men in the Ming army did not have time to shave all their heads, so Dorgon asked them to wrap white cloth strips around their bodies as a mark.There was not enough white cloth, so Ming soldiers tore off the foot-binding cloth as a mark.Therefore, during the melee, the Qing army knew that the Han people wrapped in white cloth were "allies" and would not kill them. Therefore, Wu Sangui ordered the Shanhaiguan gate to be opened.The decades-long dream of the Qing army became a reality once, and it was done without bloodshed, without the cost of a single soldier. Wu Sangui was the vanguard, King Azig of England was on the left, King Duoduo of Yu was on the right, and Dorgon led the main force in the rear. The war begins. Li Zicheng, who had experienced many battles, didn't know that the Qing army had entered the pass at this time, and he underestimated Wu Sangui's military strength, thinking that he had only a few thousand elite soldiers.Therefore, Li Zicheng was very relaxed in spirit, riding on the high hill with the prince of Emperor Chongzhen, watching the battle leisurely. Wu Sangui's mourning soldiers shouted and rushed to kill.The peasant army has the "master" personally conscripted, and everyone takes the lead.The Han people fought together, beating each other to the death, regardless of the outcome. Fighting until noon, after all, the peasant army had the upper hand, Wu Sangui was a bit out of support, and was already in defeat. More than half of the Ming army had been killed, barely holding on. At the critical moment, the horns of the Qing army sounded, and 20,000 to 30,000 Qing army cavalry wearing bucket hats and braids suddenly came screaming and galloping. Li Zicheng was horrified and almost fell off his horse in fright. His reaction at that time was not to step up and direct the troops to fight, but to shout "The tartars are coming" in a low voice, turn his horse's head and run away. The peasant army, who had experienced many battles, was about to win, when they suddenly saw the strangely dressed Qing army approaching on horseback, screaming, and bursting with fear.Seeing that the "Master" ran away, everyone lost their hearts and immediately turned around and ran away. The army was defeated like a mountain.The Ming army and the Qing army joined forces, chasing and killing them all the way. Within twenty or thirty miles, tens of thousands of dead peasant soldiers were piled up. It is said that they could not clean up after three years. Looking at the majestic pass and the corpses of the peasant army everywhere, Dorgon immediately named Wu Sangui the "King of Pingxi" when he was happy. Li Zicheng had only a few thousand remnants left, and he was defeated and retreated to Yongping. To vent his anger, he ordered Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang to be killed, and his head was hung on a high pole.After taking a short breath, he hurried back to Beijing. Even at the time of this great victory, Wu Sangui still had the heart to restore the Ming Dynasty, and made people rush to Beijing to inform Beijing officials and people that they were ready to welcome the restoration of the Chongzhen Emperor and Crown Prince.Of course Dorgon didn't do it, and the matter was left alone. The officials and people in Beijing didn't know anything about the entry of the Qing Dynasty into the customs, and they all waited excitedly and nervously for the capital to return to the Great Tomorrow. Forty-two days of "Emperor's Dream" On April 23, news of Li Zi's success and failure was reported back to Beijing.Liu Zongmin and others hurriedly ordered the soldiers to carry weapons to the city wall, and demolished all the houses and Buddhist temples near the city.Soldiers of the Peasant Army gathered together one after another, and many of them burst into tears.Indeed, Gentle Township is too short, and catastrophe is imminent. On April 26th, Li Zicheng fled back to Beijing with his disabled soldiers.At this time, there were only a thousand cavalry left in the army, and all the infantry were killed in Shanhaiguan and along the way.After the defeated soldiers entered the city this time, all the Dashun soldiers in the city knew that the doomsday was coming, they completely lost their discipline, and began to burn, kill, rape and loot in the city of Beijing, preparing for extreme viciousness.Especially in the Xicheng area of ​​Beijing, the victims were the most severe. There are countless women who committed suicide after being raped. Needless to say, Wu Sangui's family, after Li Zicheng entered the city, the first thing he did was to have all 34 members of his family hacked to death, leaving no one left. Early the next morning, Li Zicheng held a formal "Enthronement Ceremony" in the Hall of Martial Arts, respecting the seven generations of his old Li family as emperors and empresses (it is estimated that he only remembered the last two generations).Then he wore a crown on his head and was congratulated by the "Hundred Officials". (Li Zicheng had proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an before, and he always called him "Zhen" on the way to Beijing). In order to facilitate his escape, he hastily concluded the ceremony, and then sent people to step up preparations outside the city, burning down all the palaces and nine gate towers in Beijing that night. Then, in the name of Xiaotian, he left Beijing in a hurry the next morning and fled westward.Before fleeing, the peasant army melted all the goldware and gold ingots in the palace and cast them into big cakes. Each cake weighed a thousand gold, and the mules carried tens of thousands of cakes and left with the army. During the chaotic escape, Chongzhen's three sons were all separated in the chaos, but Li Zicheng never harmed them. Seeing the defeat of the peasant army, the residents of Beijing cheered up. They searched the city for thousands of peasant soldiers or wounded soldiers who had not left, and killed them all. Li Zicheng was furious when he heard this, and immediately sent thousands of cavalry back, preparing to enter the city and massacre the residents before burning the city to nothingness.Coincidentally, Wu Sangui, whose family had been killed with 34 members, led his troops eager for revenge. He led his army to the south of the city. From entering the city to leaving Beijing, the "Dashun" regime existed for only forty-two days. On May 2, Dorgon led the Qing army to Beijing.The scholars and people were overjoyed, thinking that Wu Sangui had come to welcome the crown prince, they went out of the city to set up incense tables to welcome him.As a result, everyone was shocked to see a large group of Qing troops, but in the end they had to accept the cruel reality.As for the former Ming officials in Beijing, most of them were relieved when they saw the Qing soldiers.However, if Wu Sangui led the Ming army back, they would definitely be charged with "surrendering thieves". When the "Qing Dynasty" came, there would be no such worries.Therefore, in the future, most of the people who persuaded Dorgon to go south to eliminate the remnants, and made suggestions, were purely national scum. Of course, Dorgon absorbed the lessons of Li Zicheng's failure, and put up a list everywhere, saying that no matter who it is, as long as they submit to the Qing Dynasty, the official will be restored to his original post, and he will also be promoted to a new rank, and there will be new rewards.The former Ming officials were overjoyed at this visit, and all of them played their crowns to celebrate. Li Zicheng fled from Beijing.After the news came out, officials and people all over the country knew that his situation was over, and they all rose up to kill and drive away the local officials appointed by "Dashun". Those who were close to Beijing would submit to the Qing Dynasty. At this time, there are still hundreds of thousands of Li Zicheng's troops in various places.He himself led the remnant soldiers all the way through Taiyuan and Pingyang, returned to Xi'an, and left a large force in Shanxi and Henan to resist the Ming and Qing coalition forces. On the way back to Xi'an, Li Zicheng was free from defeat and hatred, his ferocious face suddenly appeared, and he wanted to kill people. As long as the soldiers and the people refused to defend the city, they immediately slaughtered the city after conquering it, leaving no dogs or dogs behind. After returning to Xi'an, Li Zicheng was in a slump, and he didn't see any grand plans. He basically didn't make any big moves in half a year. The Qing army approached step by step.They first recruited Jiang Huan from Datong in Shanxi, and then bombarded Taiyuan Jiancheng with cannons. The general of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to Li Zicheng before surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, almost all of Shanxi was owned by the Qing army.But in Henan, the Qing army was defeated by the peasant army in Huaiqing, so the main force of the Qing army, which was about to enter Nanjing, had to turn around and return to Henan.At this time, if the small imperial court of the Nanming Dynasty takes the opportunity to attack Shandong and Hebei, it will make great achievements in the future. The generals and courtiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty were short-sighted and wanted to sit back and watch the "thieves" and "captives" attack and consume each other, thus losing a great opportunity to expand land and develop. As the main force of the Qing army went to Henan, the peasant army was quickly defeated in Lingbao and hurriedly retreated to Tongguan. In the middle of winter at the end of the year, the Qing army continued to increase troops outside Tongguan.The two sides fought fiercely from December 29th for more than ten days, winning and losing each other, and spent the Spring Festival of 1645 in the shouting and shopping. On the twelfth day of the first lunar month in 1645, Li Zicheng, who guarded Tongguan, surrendered Ma Shiyao.The next day, he and the 7,000 peasant army were massacred. Li Zicheng, who was troubled in Xi'an, was discouraged when he heard the news. It seemed that the Northwest could not stay any longer. Zhang Xianzhong's regime blocked him from fleeing south, so he had to go to Henan and Huguang again.As long as the Nanming regime can be eliminated, half of the country can be owned. Before retreating, he ordered his general Tian Jianxiu to burn down all the buildings and warehouses in Xi'an.Fortunately, this General Tian was still humane, so he only set fire to the East Gate Tower and the Nanyue Tower, leaving houses and food for the people of Xi'an to keep out the cold. On the way to retreat, Li Zicheng looked back at the fireworks in the city of Xi'an (two towers were on fire), thinking that Tian Jianxiu had completed the task, so he left with satisfaction.From this we can see how unkind the nature of this "revolt leader" is. Li Zicheng fled Xi'an, and the former Ming generals in the northwest region surrendered to the Qing Dynasty one after another.Bai Guangen, Ma Ke, Zheng Jiadong and other former Ming generals have become generals of the "Great Qing" with braided hair.In the entire Northwest, only Gao Yigong in Yulin was Li Zicheng's former subordinate, and he did not surrender. When he fled from Xi'an, Li Zicheng still had as many as 130,000 men.According to theory, if he marched quickly and rushed to Nanjing before the Qing army, at least he could occupy the rich and prosperous areas in the southeast as his own.But for some reason, Li Zicheng took a lot of time to go to Henan. It is estimated that the soldiers dragged their families to collect gold and silver before leaving, which seriously slowed down the marching speed. Soon, the Azig troops of the Qing army approached, and the peasant army fled towards Hubei in mid-March.The Qing army fought while chasing and fought eight times, each time the "Dashun" army lost as a result. Li Zicheng's troops could not defeat the Qing army, but crossed the Yangtze River and defeated Zuo Liangyu's Ming army at the mouth of the Jinghe River. This warlord who had been "respecting himself" was frightened and led his troops to Nanjing.He used the "Case of the Prince from the North" as an excuse to settle accounts with the Hongguang court.In the face of a great enemy, he doesn't want to fight against the enemy, but "rebels against his own people", which shows Zuo Liangyu's character. In this way, "Dashun" came back to light, and both Wuchang and Xiangyang fell into the hands of Li Zicheng.He gathered an army of 200,000 and prepared to attack Nanjing. The Qing army did not give Li Zicheng a chance, and had already chased him to Wuchang before the peasant army could breathe.Li Zicheng had no choice but to abandon the city and flee. In late April, in a major battle near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, the peasant army was defeated and tens of thousands of people were killed. Li Zicheng's two uncles and general Liu Zongmin were captured and killed. Song Xiance, the "living god", also surrendered to the Qing military. Prior to this, Niu Jinxing, the "Prime Minister" of "Dashun", saw that the situation was not good, slipped away quietly, and ran back to his son Niu Quan to hide. Since Niu Quan surrendered to the Qing army and was appointed as the magistrate of Huangzhou, no one pursued Niu Jinxing's "helping the thief" in the past, and Mr. Niu finally returned home.There were also Han officials in the Manchu and Qing courts who cared about him, and two of them, Shangshu Dorgon, asked the Qing court to arrest Niu Jinxing, the rogue prime minister, and behead his father and son.Dorgon disagreed and reprimanded: "Thieves and fake officials, those who sincerely surrender can work, this performance is very unreasonable!" If Niu Jinxing had not been too high in Li Zicheng's "Central" position, if it hadn't been for fear of arousing the resentment of former Ming officials, maybe the Manchu Qing would have given it to him. He is an official. Hubei, Jiangxi and other places were defeated, and the peasant army was exhausted, leaving only ten thousand people around Li Zicheng.At this time, the Doduo Division of the Qing Army had marched separately from Shangqiu in Henan Province and Sizhou in Anhui Province and went straight to Nanjing. The waterway to the east could not go without boats.Anyway, he was used to being a thief, so escaping was not a difficult task for him. On the fourth day of May, the Peasant Army Brigade marched to Tongshan County, Hubei Province.Li Zicheng ordered his soldiers to set up a camp on the spot.He ate a few mouthfuls indiscriminately, and then led twenty-eight personal soldiers to walk around the nearby Jiugong Mountain, first to entertain his sorrows, and second to inspect the terrain. The nearby mountain people heard that there were thieves coming, and there were not many people, only dozens of horsemen, so they gathered dozens of people to kill them.These peasants were later described by the ultra-left imperial literati as "landlords practicing armed forces".The most important thing is that they didn't know that there were thousands of peasant troops nearby, they just thought it was a wandering bandit army of dozens of people, so they had the courage to come up and fight.If they knew that one of the opponents was the "Emperor Dashun", if they knew that there were thousands of "thieves" nearby, they wouldn't dare to stand out even if they were scared to death. As a result, Li Zicheng was admiring the scenery of green mountains and green waters after the rain, when the villagers on the mountain suddenly appeared and threw big stones down one after another.Li Zicheng was frightened from riding, and the men and horses dispersed immediately. Suddenly, Li Zicheng ran away flattering his horse, completely separated from more than 20 people under his command.Fleeing to Niubei Ridge, he was in a panic and had no choice but to meet the torrential rain in the microclimate of the mountain. Li Zicheng's horse got stuck in the mud and couldn't move. Seeing that Li Zicheng was alone and had a good horse, farmer Cheng Jiubo was full of courage and rushed out with a cry.After all, Li Zicheng was a general with a hundred battles, so he had a natural and quick reaction, so he fought with Cheng Jiuberg, who was coming to kill with a hoe, with his bare hands. When the two fought, Cheng Jiubo was of course not Li Zicheng's opponent, and he was ridden under him by the opponent.Li Zicheng held down Cheng Jiubo and drew the saber back, but the scabbard was stained with mud by the rain, so he couldn't pull out the saber for a while.At this moment, Jin Ergou, Cheng Jiubo's nephew, arrived. Seeing that his uncle was about to be slaughtered by a big man riding under him, he swung a shovel at Li Zicheng in desperation and chopped off "Emperor Dashun" with a sudden bang. Half a head. At this point, the uncle and nephew were rejoicing, and they led the horse away regardless of Li Zicheng's bloody, white and red brain flooded corpse. Later, the rest of Li Zicheng's men were captured alive, and the local government knew that the corpse in the mountain was Li Zicheng, so they went to the mountain many times to announce that those who killed Li Zicheng would be rewarded. Cheng Jiubo didn't dare to admit it at first, but later he heard that Li Zicheng's appearance and the place where he was killed were exactly the same as what he had encountered that day, so he boldly came out to "confess".As a result, he not only received a thousand taels of silver, but also received a "kind reception" from the governor of the Qing Dynasty.At this time, Cheng Jiubo changed from mountain people to "landlord class". A sentry postman dies at the hands of a farmer, and the ending is full of metaphorical black humor. Li Zicheng's remnant troops had just had their fill of food, when a guard who ran back cried, "Long Live God was killed by the villagers", and the peasant army burst into tears all over the camp.Then, they turned their grief and anger into strength. These thousands of peasant troops destroyed and killed countless people in nearby counties and counties to vent their pain and anger.It's a pity that Cheng Jiubo, the "true murderer" of the murder, didn't know all this. He and his nephew were in the mountain hut looking at the big horse on the grass and giggling. As for the rumors that Li Zicheng died of illness or became a monk in the future, they are all unofficial anecdotes.Since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, countless examiners have verified and inferred that it is indeed nonsense, just complicating simple things. When Zhang Xianzhong, the man-eating "yellow tiger" evil star, talks about "abnormal", people nowadays will think of sex.In fact, from a psychological point of view, behaviors such as bloodthirsty, self-abuse, and other abuse are also a kind of "abnormality", an explosion of human primitive desires, and an exposure of the potential retention of human animal nature.These perverted people, in their own mind, not only think that they can control their own lives, but also think that they can control the lives of others. In Chinese history, there have been many tyrants who abused generals. Their brutal killings all had a great purpose, and they belonged to planned killings under calm thinking.However, such a purposeless bloodthirsty man like Zhang Xianzhong in the late Ming Dynasty is the only one in Chinese history. Zhang Xianzhong, the big thief who was the same age as Li Zicheng, had a long body with a tiger's jaw and a golden complexion, so he was called "Huanghu". This person has a dignified appearance.If he doesn't kill people for a day, this master will be unhappy.Under the influence of ideology, literati in the "ultra-left" era "turned the verdict" on the peasant uprising, claiming that the historical records that recorded Zhang Xianzhong's massacre were all the nonsense of the "landlord class", and he was most able to grasp the , is the sentence in the biography of "Zhang Xianzhong" in "History of the Ming Dynasty": "(Zhang Xianzhong) how many times the generals have killed men and women, it is strange to kill 60,000 men and women."Indeed, the population of the whole country at the end of the Ming Dynasty was only over 10 million. To say that Zhang Xianzhong killed "60 million" in Shu can only be said to be the result of the "literary arts" brains of the literati. This absurd "number" material in "History of Ming Dynasty" is taken from "Houjianlu" written by Mao Qiling, a literati in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.In fact, there were about 4 million people in Sichuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Xianzhong killed nearly 3 million of them, and the "Yellow Bandit" killed and ate 7.8 million people. The rest were slaughtered by the Qing Dynasty.Later, the Manchu Qing blamed Zhang Xianzhong for the nearly one million people he had killed, which was the only "slanderous and untrue" statement. In short, it is undeniable that after Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion, the land of Shu was basically empty. At the end of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong, who had made great progress in Hunan and Jiangxi, suddenly abandoned the two provinces and entered Sichuan in a large scale.The reason is simple, Li Zicheng is too powerful, and Lao Zhang feels that he is no match for him, so he might as well go further away to avoid the two tigers competing for food. In Sichuan, there is a group of "Thirteen Shakers" who participated in the "Xingyang Conference". They are extremely evil bandits made up of local hooligans. And it caused great consumption to the Sichuan officers and soldiers in the Ming Dynasty.Zhang Xianzhong had these people working in the interior of Sichuan. He calmly entered Sichuan for the second time, got out of prison, and crossed the Three Gorges. Originally, Chongqing faced the river on three sides, so it was easy to defend but difficult to attack.Zhang Xianzhong planted explosives at the base of the city wall. With a bang, the solid stone wall collapsed, and the rebel army rushed in. After Zhang Xianzhong entered the city, he first murdered the governor Chen Shiqi and others who defended the city, and then tied Zhu Changluo, the fifth son of Ming Shenzong's Rui Wang, to the execution ground.At that time, the sky was clear, and thunder exploded in the sky.King Rui himself is a prince with good character in the clan. He has a good nature like Buddha, and he belongs to the kind that rarely angers the people.Zhang Xianzhong laughed and shouted: "If there is another thunder in the sky, I will not kill you as King Shi Rui." After waiting for a while, there was no thunder in the sky. Zhang Xianzhong personally stepped forward and cut off King Rui's head, and killed 10,000 of his family members and Chongqing officials. many people. In the afternoon, thunder and lightning flashed in the mountain city, and the day was dark.Zhang Xianzhong was not afraid at all, so he ordered the soldiers to shoot cannons into the sky, and soon the darkness turned into light.At this time, Zhang Xianzhong didn't have too much intention to kill, so he dealt with the 37,000 captured Ming soldiers as follows: each of them cut off an arm and let them go.As a result, more than 30,000 bloody arms were piled up on the martial arts field.These soldiers with only one arm escaped from Chongqing and became Zhang Xianzhong's "living advertisement".The scholars and people of Zhucheng fled in horror, looking forward to the wind and fleeing wildly. Chongqing was trapped, and Zhang Xianzhong's next goal was Chengdu.Chengdu was a wealthy vassal of the Ming Dynasty in 270 years. Unfortunately, the king of Shu was also a money fan (he was a good man, well-educated, and Emperor Chongzhen called him "a scholar of Shu"), and he refused to reward the army with gold and silver from the palace. After four days of besieging Chengdu, Zhang Xianzhong entered the city.The king and his wife of Shu, the local governor and the general soldier all committed suicide by throwing themselves into the well.Governor Liu Zhibo was arrested.Zhang Xianzhong tied him up on the school grounds. Since governor Liu was from Shaanxi, the rebel army persuaded him to surrender.Governor Liu cursed.Zhang Xianzhong was furious, causing people to cut him slowly.刘巡按大声说：“宁多剐我一刀，少杀一百姓！”贼军放箭，把刘巡按剐后射死。 成都失陷后，四川大部分州、府、县应声而溃，很快皆为张献忠所占。当时，四川只有遵义（今属贵州），石柱（秦良玉部）以及黎州未下，其余皆非明地。 当时，李自成已败归陕西，他试图派兵来攻，被张献忠打回陕西。至此，两只农民军不仅未再联手，反而公开而坚定地决裂。张献忠小胜后，得寸进尺，又猛攻李自成所据的汉中府，反被“大顺”军击败。但仅仅几十天过后，李自成便弃西安而逃，这样，张献忠的北面就暴露给清军。 张献忠在成都立稳后，建立“大西”国，称帝。他首先娶大学陈演之女（陈演本人在李自成离京时被处决）为皇后，自南门五里外架桥高十数丈，逾城直达蜀王府，遍植彩灯，夜望如长虹亘天，引着宫女彩娥及陈“皇后”入宫。仅仅玩了姑娘十天，张献忠生厌，一刀砍下陈“皇后”脑袋，派人杀尽她在成都的所有亲属，算是与“地主阶级”完全划清了界限。 好玩一样，张献忠还“开科取士”，共收取“进士”一百三十人。一夕之间，忽然变脸，把进士们尽杀之不留。其中，“状元”张大受，华阳县人，年未三十，身长七尺，弓马娴熟。张献忠见此人仪表丰伟，气宇轩昂，服饰华美，一见大爱，以为奇才，立赐刀马金币十余种。数日之内，张大受每日入宫作陪，有时献诗，有时作文，有时丹青图画，张献忠不停赏赐他，共赐甲第一区，家丁二十人，美女十名。到了第五天早上，张献忠坐朝，传奏官禀报：“新状元入朝谢圣恩”。张献忠忽然变脸，自言自语道：“这驴养的！老子爱他的紧，一见他就满心欢喜。咱老子又有些怕他，万一他日后生异心，岂不害了老子！来人，你们马上把他收拾了！”张献忠最常说的两个词，一个是“打发”，即杀本人：“收拾” ，即杀净全家。其手下听命，马上把张大受绑起杀了，先前所赐美女家丁，一个不剩，皆立刻杀头。 当时，川中各地赴试生员还皆未离开，张献忠假称再试，尽诱其人于青羊宫，进一个杀一个，共杀约万人，士子们所携应试用的笔砚，一时间委积如丘。 杀尽文生后，老张佯称开武科。数千武举齐集校场，皆配发一匹劣马乘骑。 忽然间，巨炮一响，金鼓齐鸣，贼军乘壁射箭，把武举们当成猎物，一一射死。 侥幸未死的，堕于地上，被践踏成泥。 当“大西皇帝”的朝臣更惨。早晨上朝，张献忠打了喷嚏，感觉不爽，立即让兵士把三百多人牵出去杀了。有人劝说，他一笑：“文官还怕没人做吗？” 有时朝会，老张又会牵出数十巨硕的大獒下殿，只要獒犬嗅谁，谁就会立刻被牵出斩首，名为“天杀”。 “大西”建国，全无制度，数十万大军衣食所需，只靠抢劫和搜掠，没有任何赋税政策。但张献忠会铸钱，他下令把从王府和大户抢来的所有精钢及佛像熔毁，铸为“大顺通宝”。其钱肉色鲜亮，光润精致，颜色不减赤金。 对四川人凶，张献忠对川地的两个外国传教士却好得不得了。耶酥会传教士意大利人利类思、葡萄牙人安文思，由于上献红铜制作的地球仪和日冕等物，张献忠看着新奇，大喜之下，下令把二人尊养起来，日日带在身边当顾问。这二人有幸活着，日后在其日记中留下了不少张献忠残酷杀人的真实“客观”记载（国人一般总是不信自己人的记载，对外国人很相信）。 由于统治残暴，川地郡县人民纷纷反抗。当然，这与大环境很有关系，李自成败亡，南明正权建立，人心所向，皆痛恨张献忠贼寇，各地人民相继而起袭击伪官和贼兵。 大怒之下，张献忠下发“除城尽剿”的命令，派出军队到各地屠戮民众。穷乡僻壤，深崖峻谷，贼军无不搜及，得男人手足二百双者，授“把总”官，得女手足四百双者也授“把总”，按杀人数目依次升官。有一贼兵手壮，日杀数百人，立擢为都督。所以，张献忠军营灭亡前有公侯“大官”无数，皆因屠杀积功所得。贼军杀人皆有名目：割手足称为“匏奴”，中割背背称为“边地”，枪挑背部称为“雪鳅”，以火围儿童烤炙称为“贯戏”。由于士兵们以人尸为马槽，放麦豆于血腹中食之，内杂人肝为“精饲料”，所以，他们的军马也凶性十足。贼军不仅四处杀人，把牛犬牲畜也搜杀一尽，称言不为后人留畜种。 在蜀王府，张献忠发现端礼门城楼上供祀一个人像，公侯品服，真人皮，内实金玉。他询问蜀宫宦者，才知这是明初大将蓝玉的人皮。当时，朱元璋剥其皮后，全国巡回展示，自云南过蜀，由于当时的蜀王是蓝玉女婿，就把老丈人的人皮留下，暗中供奉起来。 张献忠闻此，灵感大发，顿发剥皮之兴。他平日指令士兵剥人皮无数，掺以石灰，实以稻草，用竹竿标立，在王府前的大街密植两边，累累千百人，遥望犹如送葬纸人。其手人阻劝，说此种景象不吉利。张献忠很“虚心”接受意见，自己就新创“小剥皮”方法，即把活人两背的皮自背沟处分剥，揭至双肩，反披于肩头，手法细腻，鲜血淋漓，但不会伤筋动骨。然后，把这些被剥上身的活人赶出效外，严禁他们的亲人送饭送水，任其躲入古墓荒坟中苟延残喘，慢慢饿痛而死。此外，张献忠凌迟之刑，必割尽五百刀才能死，数不尽人死，依此法杀掌刑兵士。 巧杀之余，群杀之余，只要张献忠有军府衙门的地方，均人掌山积，千里横尸，腐臭盈空。成都城内的人手作为贼军的报功信物，势如假山，万叠千峰，蔚然壮观。明军曾缴获贼军一名“副总兵”的信札，他本自己注记他所砍下的手掌，就有一千七百多，即一人曾杀一千七百余人！由此推之，其他可知。 张献忠粗中有细，心思极其缜密。贼军每剿一城，皆大兵合围四方，至次日早晨方如墙四进，边进边杀，务必一人不留。剿毕，扒草寻穴，细搜数日才能回去复命。如有此城漏网逃脱者在别的州城发现，搜剿此城的领兵官就会遭剥皮之刑。 杀人之外，贼军必尽焚庐舍。未尽残木，也要归拢成堆后烧成灰烬，士兵以矛挑清后盾清楚才敢离开。实在有巨大的石雕殿柱烧不了，就用丝绸等物浸满油裹之数层，举火烧之，最终崩坏才放心。 由于百姓中的小儿幼女不能计功，贼军听弃道帝，或衬马蹄，或抛空后以白刃接之以为笑乐。 张献忠之灭绝人性，无论亲疏。其本性好朋友欢宴，常与陕西老乡痛饮于王府之中，临行厚赠黄金珠宝。酒足饭饱后，陕西籍的友人们欢笑告退。张献忠事先伏壮士于路，把他们尽数斩杀，拿回所赠金银。接着，兵士们把“朋友”们首级盛于锦匣内洗净送回。有时张献忠独饮不乐，喊一声“唤好友来！”士兵们立刻把冰镇的人头摆放于巨大的宴桌上。老张本人持盏酌劝，亲切热情如对活人，并名之为“聚首欢宴”；张贼酷爱斩斫妇人小脚，置于花园叠累成峰。一日，他与爱妾酌饮欣赏，仰视香足堆，叹道：“方缺一足尖，置之会更好看。”其爱妾也有几分酒意，伸出自己三寸金莲，笑言：“此足如何？”张献忠仔细持于手中细观，说“甚好”，信手一刀割下香足抛于足堆之上。其爱妾哭嚎宛转于地，他复加一刀，劈下其秀美之头。其爱妾数十，依次被斩杀，或肢解为乐，或烹之为食，或脔之喂狗。他本人还有一数岁小儿，一晚忽怒，亲手毙之，虎狼之性如此。 转至早晨，见小儿尸体横于席间，他又怒左右手下不劝解，立杀数百人。这大贼头最大的特点，是“醉柔而醒暴”，喝醉时常常饶人，一旦清醒就要见血才乐。 1645年秋，张献忠毁弃成都，尽杀城中居民。这一点，连“极左”时代的文献也不得不承认是实情，只是声称他“面对地主阶级疯狂反扑”使“阶级斗争扩大化”，这哪里扩大化，是绝杀化！成都居民数十万被驱于南门，见张献忠骑马而来，都跪地乞命，声称是良民顺民。张献忠狂性大起，纵马挥刀跳入人群中，发疯一样遍杀遍喊：“杀！杀！杀！”贼军刀砍矛捅，血流成河。 从成都临行前，张献忠下令，命令各营杀尽所掠妇女，上缴所有抢掠金银。 由于从各地及蜀中所掠金银太多带不走，张献忠发数千人为工匠，先掘锦江使之改道，然后在河床上凿洞，垫青石成穴，尽埋金宝银块于其中，大概有数千万两之巨。然后，他尽杀工人，让兵士再使锦江回流，财宝就埋在水流之下，名之为“锢金”。 行至顺庆，张献忠忽然下令，尽杀军中四川籍士兵十余万人，仅有都督刘世忠一营闻讯先逃。他自川北遁去，投降清军。 杀完川军后，张献忠嫌所带兵将有家属累赘，他本人以挑选水军为名，喝令全营兵士及家属从他面前经过受检。只要他一声“你！”挑中的人马上被集中。 父母被挑者，子女不敢回顾；妻子被挑者，丈夫不敢回顾。最后，共挑出近四万人，押入一木城之中，先用炮轰，毙死大半，然后纵兵斫杀，有数千杀不完者，驱入江中淹死。自己杀自己军队，也是张献忠“首创”。 杀了几轮过后，张献忠派人点数，回报说四路军还有六七万人。老张大怒： “老子哪里用这么多人，只需劲旅三千，即可横行天下！”于是他严督手下将领再杀。“凡领人头目，每日必开报十数人赴死，先疏后亲，亲尽及已，人不自保，莫可如何”（《蜀警录》）。 至西充时，贼军中的昔日投降官兵、被掠平民以及新兵均已被杀殆尽，几十万军兵及家属都被“自己人”杀了，惟余归兵宿将而已。 一日天将大雨，电闪雷鸣，杀人为乐的张献忠忽发狂态，仰天大呼：“天爷爷，你是要我把人杀光啊！”余众闻之悸然。 除张献忠外，蜀中“摇黄十三家”作事与其相类。这些摇黄贼更坏的是，他们杀人以戏乐为主，常常抓小孩数人飞抛空中，军士们个个以长矛接剌，然后看着刀尖上那些小孩手足抓跑似飞状，皆哄然笑乐。还有人专捡儿童头大者，手捉双脚，不停撞钟，看他们钟鸣之间脑髓迸出，乐此不疲。摇黄贼如抓住成年人，便会把人逼靠于树，腹中掏洞，伸手生拽其肠出，用那个受害者自己的肠子把他绑在树上，活活折磨而死。他们有时遍置汤锅，煮人为乐……所以，论惨虐程度，摇黄贼甚于张献忠。张献忠军法酷严，其部下是因畏生惧，不得不执行命令，并发生过其手下几个将领不忍尽杀人民而自尽的情况。摇黄贼人数不多，上下同心，耳濡目染，以杀人为至乐。 张献忠带着几万兵，攻克顺庆（今南充）城，屠杀居民十余万。自此后，由于缺粮，贼军皆以人肉为食，营中腌人肉贮存。自从杀自己人以来，张献忠手下多有逃亡者，有时候整营数千人一轰而散，他也不是特在意。 一夜，张献忠宿于营中，有一鼠窜入其被窝内，惹得他大怒，满帐篷举剑剁鼠，竟不得中。暴怒之下，他下令士兵转天每人必须上交一只老鼠，逮不着的就杀头抵数。结果，贼兵连夜毁屋穿壁，敲仓熏房，转天一大早，辕门处鼠尸堆积成山。张贼号令之严，可见一斑。 此时的张大贼头，想全弃四川，准备回老家陕西发展。他对孙可望等人讲： “朕得蜀两年，蜀民不附。如回陕得长安，雄视中原，自可图大事。”但他到达顺庆、西充等地后，又命兵士四处伐木造船，声言要攻南京。此举，或许是声东击西，或许是凶狂发狠，或者是穷途绝路无目的瞎折腾，反正张献忠最后的几个月躁狂至极，只有杀人时他才稍感平静。 1647年年初，先前投降清军的川将刘进忠熟门熟路，带着清军在川地追踪张献忠。清军主帅是豪格，得知张献忠在西充凤凰山下扎营，他即刻派鳌拜和准塔两位满将为前锋，在刘进忠带领下，急行三百里，直扑张献忠。 当时，大贼头手下还有近十万人，根本不知道清军在附近。有小校苍惶来报，说“鞑子来了”，张献忠很气，上前一刀就砍死了报信人，怒言道：“胡说八道，什么鞑子，不过是摇黄贼罢了。”不久，又有哨探来报，张献忠复杀之。 他不披甲，手持短刀，带着十几个亲兵亲自出大营四处张望。张献忠走了几十米，来到太阳溪边，大摇大摆。刘进忠瞧见大贼头，对满将说：“这就是张献忠！”清军中闪出一神箭手，顺手就给了张献忠一箭，正中其左乳。 张献忠大叫一声，倒地翻滚，痛极而亡。如此惨绝人寰大贼头，死得如此爽利。 其手下见状，立刻跑回大营，高叫“大王死了！”贼营大崩。清军进攻，贼军数万人被杀，仅官校被斩首的就有二千三百多人，马匹辎重尽为清军所得。 张献忠手下孙可望、刘文秀、李定国、艾能将等人率残兵奔逃，经重庆、遵义入云南，后来多成为南明永历政权名义下的将领。孙可望最后降清，李定国却成为南明耿耿忠臣，与满清一直奋战到死。历史的出奇不意，使得后人充满遐思与猜想。 李定国之所最后能“尽忠报国”，正因为他从蜀地掠入军中的说书人金公趾常为他说，此人常把孙可望比喻为董单、曹操，以李定国比为诸葛亮，激发他忠义报国之心。李定国感动：“诸葛亮不敢自比，能学关、张、姜维三人报国，已经足够！”最终他百折不回，直至最终病死，仍忠于大明王朝。而张献忠本人也爱听书，目的在于从《三国》、《水浒》中学兵法、学战略。由此可见，民间文学的力量确实巨大。