Thieves

 

Thieves

 

Fang Shidi told Agudengba and Azhuo: Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang who dared to be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty, led the peasant army and was active in Henan in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen. Whenever Li Zicheng attacked a city, he would put forward slogans such as exemption from taxation and non-payment of grain to the people in the city. The ballad of "not paying for grain" was probably made up by Li Zicheng to promote the tax-free policy. It was obviously a kind of brainwashing of the common people. Propaganda spread among the people over time.

Why do you say that?

Fang Shidi explained: In fact, Li Zicheng did not tax taxes, otherwise where would the military supplies of the peasant army come from? The tax Li Zicheng levied on the people was half of the land's talent quota stipulated by the Ming Dynasty, and he was exempted from taxes for one year. After conquering Hubei, Li Zicheng proposed that the tax be exempted for three years, and that after the founding of Xi'an, it would be exempted for five years.

In fact, Li Zicheng also apportioned some labor and taxes to the people to supplement the army, but the burden on the people was definitely far lower than the tax burden of the Ming Dynasty. However, the food and wages for Li Zicheng's army were not less than those of the Ming army, and were even much richer. The main reason was that Li Zicheng's army robbed the palaces, government offices and wealthy households of the Ming Dynasty. This also became Li Zicheng's established policy of "attacking local tyrants and dividing their fields" , deeply influenced what he later did in Beijing.

After Li Zicheng founded the People's Republic of Xi'an in the 16th year of Chongzhen, he clearly proposed "anti-corruption" and "punishing the rich" policies such as "levying salaries on officials" and "pursuing stolen goods to provide salaries". Long before these policies were proposed, the peasant army had always done this.

Li Zicheng had previously attacked Luoyang and Xiangyang, and mercilessly plundered the treasury of King Fu and King Xiang of Ming Dynasty who lived there. In addition to the royal palace, a large number of officials and country gentry had their wealth plundered. Almost all of Li Zicheng's food and salary came from these wealthy families.

To the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, the behavior of Li Zicheng's army was no different than that of bandits. This made it difficult for Li Zicheng to gain support in more economically developed areas. Although he swept through Shanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Huguang, Li Zicheng failed to occupy the more prosperous southeastern coastal areas until he conquered Beijing.

Fang Shidi continued to explain:

In the late Ming Dynasty, on the one hand, the court imposed excessive taxes and on the other hand, natural disasters occurred frequently.

Wherever Li Zicheng's army went, he first opened warehouses to help the poor and distributed food from the government and royal palaces to the hungry people. At the same time, it also combined relief for the people with recruiting soldiers. Those who were willing to serve as soldiers in Li Zicheng's army would not only receive relief, but also receive a reward. This kind of hunger relief policy won the support of the people and at the same time strengthened the military strength. However, Li Zicheng's hunger relief policy was largely based on robbing the rich. Without robbing the rich, there would be no hunger relief.

From the formation of the plan to change the dynasty to the possession of half of the country, Li Zicheng's true nature as a bandit has not changed, and the rogue banditry of the Dashun regime has not been eliminated. The main financial revenue of Li Zicheng's army still relies on plunder.

On March 17, the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng came to Beijing and sent eunuchs who had surrendered to the Dashun Army into the city to persuade Emperor Chongzhen to surrender. Li Zicheng's plan was to have Chongzhen surrender and abdicate the throne to Li Zicheng, so that he could fully accept the Ming Dynasty and control the country without any effort.

However, Emperor Chongzhen refused the Dashun army's persuasion to surrender.

On March 19 of the Jiashen year, the city of Beijing was wide open. This meant that officials from the top down to the common people had good intentions and were really relieved about Li Zicheng. In order to ensure order in the capital, Li Zicheng ordered that "anyone who dares to hurt others or rob women of their property will be killed without mercy" when he first entered the capital. This is also a means to appease the people.

Li Zicheng's approach not only ensured the basic order of the capital, but also won the hearts and minds of the people of the capital to a certain extent. In order to effectively prove this point, the Dashun army also killed several soldiers who did not observe military discipline. It is said that the military appearance has been improved and military discipline has been strict, and he quickly won the support of the people in the capital. In fact, this is all a deceptive farce.

During the Jiashen Revolution, there were not many officials in Beijing who died for the country, at least not as many eunuchs and maids committed suicide. Former Ming officials had long been prepared to defect to the Dashun regime, and some even wanted to buy officials through donations. In this way As long as my future is preserved, I might be able to climb up a bit.

How many officials planned to surrender at that time? There were more than 2,000 officials from the capital, and more than 2,000 people from other places who came to Beijing to explore the news, seek connections, and renew their careers. A total of about 4,000 people. Later, when the situation turned bad, most of the foreign officials fled, leaving only their families. With no way to escape, Jingguan waited for death on the spot.

Before Li Zicheng entered Beijing, the officials made plans to pay a collective visit to Li Zicheng in order to serve him. Two days after he entered the city, the officials organized themselves to meet Li Zicheng, his new master. Winning over the former officials was a great opportunity for Li Zicheng. , this is the basic foundation for stabilizing the rule, and the bureaucracy, taxation, local government banks, and grain reserves can be effectively managed immediately.

In January of the 17th year of Chongzhen (the first year of Dashun Yongchang, 1644), Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and made Xi'an his capital. The founding name of the country was "Dashun" and the name was changed to Yongchang. Li Zicheng then began to march eastward and arrived in the capital in mid-March. In the early morning of March 19, Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, took the initiative to open the Zhengyang Gate, and Dashun's army began to enter the capital.

But Li Zicheng's ups and downs life also began to come to an end. The time he occupied Beijing was only forty-two days.

Fang Shidi sang a Beijing folk song "Dashun Dynasty":

 

In the late Ming Dynasty, natural and man-made disasters continued.

Class contradictions are becoming increasingly acute,

The people are unhappy and resentful,

Peasant uprisings swept across the country.

China gave birth to Li Zicheng.

A Dashun army was established.

 

Go deep into Henan and occupy Luoyang,

Capture Kaifeng and defeat Xiangyang.

Defeated Tongguan and broke into Xi'an,

The fall of Taiyuan was invincible.

In the first year of Yongchang, he invaded Beijing.

Ended the Ming Dynasty regime.

 

Shanhaiguan is a bloody battle.

The Qing and Wu coalition forces went south and entered the pass.

The Dashun Yi army suffered a disastrous defeat.

Withdrawing from Beijing was a defeat.

Evacuated Xi'an and retreated to Henan and Hubei.

King Chuang died in Jiugong Mountain in battle.

 

King Chuang's life was full of ups and downs,

Asking for pay, cannons and burning the troops will cause disaster.

The rebel army then became rogue bandits.

The remaining troops were defeated in Jingzhou and were wiped out.

The last team in Dashun,

Eventually he was destroyed in Maolu Mountain.

 

The territory of Dashun is very vast.

Covering the entire Yellow River Basin,

Part of the territory of the Yangtze River Basin,

Only existed in 1664.

Dashun was a short-lived dynasty;

Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor for only one day.