Chapter 87 Chapter Forty Five Disasters

The death of Zhang Xianzhong does not mean the end of the Sichuan disaster.It can even be said that the Sichuan people's disaster has just finished the first act. For more than 300 years, there has been a saying in Sichuan: "Zhang Xianzhong suppressed Sichuan, killing all dogs and chickens." It is said that Zhang Xianzhong almost killed all the Sichuan natives. Later, a new generation of historians was outraged by Zhang Xianzhong's claim that he killed innocent people indiscriminately.Through in-depth research, they effectively overturned this statement.According to their diligent search, articles such as "A Textual Research on Zhang Xianzhong's Tushu" prove that:

First, after Zhang Xianzhong left, there were at least hundreds of thousands of troops fighting against Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan. Among them, at least Yang Zhan has tens of thousands, and Zeng Ying also has more than 200,000 soldiers. "There are more other people who fled to mountainous areas and built villages to rely on danger. For example, Zhu Yingxian, the landlord of Tongjiang County, had a 'family name of Sufeng'. , soothe thousands of exiles'." Second, there are still some people (mostly landlords) who fled their hometowns during the occupation by Zhang Xianzhong's uprising army, and then returned to their hometowns one after another.

Third, in the legends left in Sichuan, it is generally said that after Zhang Xianzhong's uprising, some people remained in each county.For example, the surnames of Jia, Gou, Pi, and Wang in Guan County, and the surnames of Sun, Tang, Gou, Fan, Xu, Ma, and Liu in Dan County.So far, some place names, such as Fuminggou in Shitou Commune in Qionglai County, Zangbingyan in Huosheng Commune, and Fuzhuiba (Tangwangba) in Fujiang Commune in Dayi County, are all related to the escape of landlords in the late Ming Dynasty. The new generation of historians, through these powerful evidences, proved that "Zhang Xianzhong killed innocent people indiscriminately" was vicious reactionary propaganda of the landlord class.

It is a pity that most of these survivors did not escape the successive disasters in the future. It is in line with the wise old Chinese saying: "When catastrophe is approaching, the good man dies first." The mission of the dead is to bear more disasters. The first disaster is famine. During Zhang Xianzhong's rule of Shu, the normal progress of agricultural production was disrupted, most of the cultivated land was abandoned, and the accumulated grain was looted.So after Zhang Xianzhong's troops left, Sichuan encountered a severe famine, and food prices rose sharply.The Book of Desolation written by Fei Mi of the Qing Dynasty records:

It has been three years since Jiashen was in chaos.The citizens of the prefectures and counties were all slaughtered, and one or two relics fled, but the soldiers were dedicated to fighting, the fields were lost, and the food was abandoned, so the fierce hunger came.At this time, all the rice came out of the chieftain, and there were more than ten taels of silver per bucket of rice, thirty taels in Jiading Prefecture, and forty to fifty taels in Chengdu and Chongqing. After all, there are not many people with money at home, so the phenomenon of cannibalism inevitably appeared. "Mr. Wuma Chronicles" records that after the Qing soldiers entered Sichuan, local order was restored, and Fu Diji went to Chengdu from Jianzhou for an incident, and saw cannibalism with his own eyes.He recorded that there was a scene of famine all the way.

"Su Tanjiachang, there are still people here. I saw seven or eight people, starving to death, sleeping on the board, sometimes opening (hands), sometimes opening eyes. Tomorrow, I will climb over the mountain to Maojiapo. There was smoke, so I sent people there to beg for fire. Just as they bumped into the murderers, my servants tied up the cannibals and asked them where the meat came from. They said they got it from Hejiachang. Let them lead the way to Hejiachang At home, there were seven or eight people, and a large bag of human meat was found. He beat up a young woman and asked, "Why do you kill people and eat them?" Brothers Shen Congtian and Shen Congwen bought it.' Yu asked, 'How did you buy it?' The answer was, 'One tael of silver and five catties.'"

There are many records of cannibalism in the historical materials of that time.To quote Ouyang Zhi’s personal experience again: "I heard in the barracks that there were cannibalism outside, but I still didn't believe it. Soon, Ma Gong was stationed in Neijiang with the Fujun. The younger brother of the squire Fan Wenying brought his mother to ask for food. Ma Gong gave him a few liters of rice, but unexpectedly returned. The neighbors robbed the food that night, and killed Fan’s younger brother and ate it.” Later, Ouyang Zhi himself could not avoid cannibalism: "Later, when I was passing through Weiyuan, I met a dozen or so people. They told us to go with them, but we dared not go there. They shouted loudly and said, 'You can't go far, it's better to leave two Give us food!' We went on and came to a village, and saw a pot of cold meat in a house, and everyone scrambled to eat it all. When we entered the kitchen, we saw a hairless child cooked, with a human head and skin And the internal organs are on the side, it turns out that what we eat is human flesh."

This is true for civilians, so why not for soldiers.In December of the fourth year of Shunzhi (AD 1647), Ma Huabao, the chief soldier of the Qing Dynasty, reported to his superiors in the Tang Bao that the Qing soldiers he led: It has been eight months since the war in Xufu (Yibin), and the prefectures and counties in Syria have banned 48 shi of rice and 8 shi of coarse rice. ...Whenever a thief is captured, the three armies will fight to eat each other without the order of their superiors. This is especially true for local local tyrants.Ouyang Zhi's "Shu Rebellion" records: "Also, Li Tiaoxie, a local tyrant in Heyang, once told me that they had no food when they gathered soldiers to set up camps. Every time they sent troops to arrest people, they called it human food. When they got the population, they chose fertilizer. The lesser ones are paid to the cooks, and the rest are lean and given to the soldiers, and they are cooked and slaughtered according to the method of killing pigs and sheep."

In the local uprising army in Sichuan, there are even those who rely solely on people for food. "Mr. Wuma Chronicles" contains: After the seedlings were planted, the yellow thieves came from the east of the river suddenly.Its thieves, horses and infantry are all men and women, and all of them kill people for food because they have no food.What a pain, this time the tragedy is a hundred times worse than before! The second disaster was the "Shake Yellow" rebel army. The "Thirteen Families of Shaking Yellow" were originally a dozen groups of local peasant uprisings in Sichuan. Their purpose of gathering together can be seen from the names of their leaders: "King of Fighting for Food", "King of Seizing Food", "Chuang Food King"... This is not quite like the nicknames given by the leaders of the peasant army imitating the style at the beginning of the Great Chaos in Shaanxi. Kind of like an ogre king.They called the leader "Zhangpanzi", and there was a set of jargon inside: killing people was called "cutting", locking people was called "leading lines", and ambush was called "chazi", which seemed to be not much different from bandits.

"History of Nanming" said that they "later got entangled with local officials and bandits, and became a kind of nondescript armed force."Sometimes they combine with small groups of bandits from various places, and sometimes they are hired by officers and soldiers to fight bandits for them. Although they are not as big as Zhang Xianzhong, their actions are more brutal than Zhang Xianzhong.Ouyang Zhi's "Shu Police Record" contains: The yellow thieves broke through Changshou, Linshui, Dazhu, Guang'an, Yuechi, Xichong, Yingshan, and Dingyuan prefectures and counties. They burned and looted the cities and fields. The youngest sons and women entered the camp, and the strong men they got were tied up with strips of raw wet cowhide, and they were handed over to carry food on their faces. No one had to get rid of them.

After Zhang Xianzhong's defeat, they gained momentum. Unfortunately, Sichuan's wealth had been wiped out at this time, so they had to feed their entire army on people.Ouyang Zhi commented: "The military discipline of Zhang Xianzhong's troops is strict. They kill people in order to execute the orders of the chief. There is no military discipline in the camp of the yellow thieves. Children with the army can commit suicide without authorization. They kill everyone they meet. Later, I was taken into the camp by the yellow thieves." In the process, I saw with my own eyes that they threw each child into the air, and caught the child with a long spear, so that the child was worn on the gun, and the hands and feet scratched like flying. All the soldiers burst into laughter. I also saw them tie the child alive to a tree, dissect it Opened his stomach, picked out his intestines, wrapped them around this person, and thought it was a joke. He lifted up the child and hit the bell with his head, his brains splashed everywhere, and he clapped his hands for joy. This cruelty is far worse than that of Zhang Xianzhong." The third disaster is officers and soldiers.Whether it is the "officers and soldiers" of the Nanming Dynasty or the Qing army, they all have to rely on robbing food for a living when they arrive in Sichuan, where military supplies are scarce.When the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were in other provinces, their military discipline was corrupted. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, military officials were more corrupt than local officials. They ate empty quotas and deducted military pay, which was blatant; soldiers were often more cruel and tyrannical than bandits, not only robbing property, raping women, killing innocent people, and even cannibalism. . For example, Liu Zeqing, a general of the Ming army, often took pleasure in killing people, and took the hearts and minds of human beings to eat, and he was "comfortable in color".At that time, Wen Zhenmeng, a scholar of the Ming cabinet, admitted frankly that the general situation of the Ming army was: "The generals have no discipline, the soldiers have no ranks, and they are filthy, murderous, and robbery. Class, half good people." In the 14th year of Chongzhen (AD 1641), Gao Doushu, who took office in Yunyang of the Ming Dynasty and was appointed as the military guard, described his personal experience in Yunyang City, where Zhang Xianzhong was often active, saying: Zuo (Liangyu) had 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, and as soon as they poured into the city, there was no family in the city without soldiers, and the appearance of adultery was not acceptable.After a few days of departure, it was exhausted and there were no homes to attack.It took about ten days to arrive, and there was no rice or vegetables to be found. When the scholars and people met each other, they all cried bitterly.It is really miserable to hate soldiers instead of thieves! The difference in military discipline of the army in the late Ming Dynasty is confirmed by various historical materials.Many historical books say that wherever they went, they dug ground, removed blockages, and searched carefully.All the things buried in the folks were recovered... When the teacher returned to Japan, except for the master's car... Countless, there was an army of fireheads, all four or five donkeys on their backs... Thousands of ears and eyes, everyone saw and heard... If a family has money, the family will be kidnapped and killed; if a village has rich houses, the village will be kidnapped and killed.Both jade and stone are burned, more tragic than thieves. The rebellious soldiers killed, looted, raped and captives. They couldn't bear to see, couldn't bear to hear, and couldn't bear to speak. This is still the case in other provinces, not to mention Sichuan, which is short of food.Although the Qing army has stricter military discipline, it has never been afraid of killing Han people and robbing food.When all the armies marched into Sichuan, how could the Sichuan people who survived by chance survive in peace.Ouyang Zhi recorded: Bandits go, soldiers come, soldiers go, bandits come, and circle around the north and east of Sichuan, until there is no peace.Thieves are ruthless in killing, kidnapping, burning, and looting, but they don't take trivial things. Soldiers not only kill more people, but also do robbery, kidnapping, hanging, and torture like thieves.And with the clothes and small things, they will be swept away, and the people will live in poverty. The fourth plague is the plague.There are many dead people, and the plague is born with it. "Shu Bi": At that time, the plague was prevalent. There was the big head plague, with swollen red hair, almost as big as a bucket;Three diseases, those who suffer from it cannot be cured. The fifth disaster is the disaster of tigers.When the corpses were scattered all over the place, the number of wild dogs suddenly increased, dozens of them were in groups, and no one dared to approach them.What is even more surprising is that the tiger's fecundity seems to have suddenly increased by a factor of 100.A large number of tigers have appeared in various parts of Sichuan.There are often groups of tigers, openly entering and leaving the city, and strolling on the roof ridges.Ouyang said directly: "After Zhang Xianzhong left, there were suddenly tigers everywhere in Sichuan, or seven or eight, or ten or twenty, climbing upstairs and upstairs, crossing water and boarding boats. It was unheard of in ancient times and unbelievable. The night I escaped from Neijiang , I saw tigers four times. When I was traveling in Xunan by boat, I saw a group of big tigers on the sandbar. Passing Luzhou, there were dozens of tigers on the shore, walking in file. After these tigers have eaten enough of people, when they encounter living people, they specialize in killing them, and after killing them, they walk away.In the seventh year of Shunzhi (AD 1650), Zhang Chun, the governor of Sichuan, reported to the emperor that he managed to attract 506 people in Nanchong County, and soon, 228 people were eaten by tigers. The five disasters are like a net of death that is more and more finely layered, and the number of people who can escape from this net alive is really rare. Regarding the Shu chaos, Liu Jingbo of the Qing Dynasty wrote a rough summary in "Shu Gui Jian", saying: It hurts, the tragedy of Tuchuan in the Ming Dynasty.In southern Sichuan, three or four out of ten people died from Zhang Xianzhong's tribe, and two or three out of ten people died from plague and tiger disasters, and none of the people left behind survived. In northern Sichuan, those who died were thirteen and fourteen, those who died in Shaking Huang were fourteen and five years old, those who died of plague and tigers were eleven or twelve, and none of the survivors survived. In eastern Sichuan, those who died were twelve or three, those who died in Huang Huang were fourteen or five years old, those who died of plague and tiger were twelve or three, and all the survivors were left behind. In western Sichuan, the 17th or 18th donors died, and the 12th or 3rd died of plague and tigers, but not one of the 100,000 survivors survived.