Summoning of the Great General of the Great Qin Empire

Chapter 209

There is also Sun Kewang, a traitor who was brought out by the three puppet kings and later returned to the Qing Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty.

In 1630 AD (the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty), he followed Zhang Xianzhong in the uprising. Because of his bravery and good fighting skills, he was awarded the title of General Pingdong. Together with Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi, he was Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son. Zhang Xianzhong gave him the surname Zhang Kewang.

In 1646 AD (the third year of Shunzhi), the Qing army entered Sichuan on a large scale. Zhang Xianzhong died in battle at Fengming Mountain in western Sichuan.

In 1647 AD (the first year of Yongli and the fourth year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang became king together with Li Dingguo and others.

In April of 1651 AD (the fourth year of Yongli and the eighth year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang sent general Feng Shuangli and others to lead tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry and more than ten war elephants, marching from Guizhou to Hunan.One route was Tongren and Mayang, the other route was Pingxi and Bianshui, and the other route was routed by Thoreau and Thoreau to attack Yuanzhou (now Zhijiang, Hunan).The three battalions of the Yuanzhou garrison of the Qing army had a total of only [-] soldiers. They retreated into the city and were "surrounded like iron barrels".

On April 1651th in [-] (the fourth year of Yongli and the eighth year of Shunzhi), Feng Shuangli occupied Yuanzhou and captured Qing general Zheng Yitong and Zhizhou Chai Gonggui alive.Then take advantage of the victory to attack Chenzhou (the government is in Yuanling), but because of the strict defense of Xu Yong, the commander-in-chief of Chenchang in the Qing Dynasty, he failed to succeed.Shen Yongzhong, General Yin Xushun, appointed by the Qing court to suppress Hunan, led [-] troops and tried his best to support it. The two sides were at a stalemate for a period of time.

In April of 1652 AD (the fifth year of Yongli and the ninth year of Shunzhi), Li Dingguo led his troops from Guizhou to Hunan, and joined Feng Shuangli to attack Jingzhou.Shen Yongzhong, Duke Shun of the Qing Dynasty, sent the general Zhang Guozhu to lead 160 troops to help, and fell into a heavy siege in Jingzhou.After a brief battle, the Qing army was defeated, losing 22 officers and soldiers (including [-] Manchu soldiers), and [-] horses. Almost the entire army was wiped out.The Ming army took advantage of the victory to conquer Jingzhou and Wugang Prefecture.

Shen Yongzhong had no hope of seeking help, so he was forced to flee north from Baoqing with his men. On June [-], he retreated to Changsha, the provincial capital. Still unable to gain a foothold, he received a secret order from the Qing court in Xiangtan: "Don't fight wastefully, move troops to defend." On August [-], On the sixth day of the lunar month, he abandoned Changsha and fled to Yuezhou.Many Taoist, prefecture, and county officials set up by the Qing Dynasty in Hunan also fled north with the army in disarray.Except for Yuezhou and Changde, which were still under the control of the Qing army, only the town of Xu Yong was left alone to defend Chenzhou and resist.

After the Great Western Army joined forces with the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Qing Dynasty, it won the first try and regained most of the prefectures and counties in Hunan.

The disagreement between Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo on the issue of uniting the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty was the main reason for their internal strife.After Zhang Xianzhong died, the rest of the Great Western Army retreated to Yunnan and Guizhou. At this time, the Qing Dynasty had been established, and ethnic conflicts rose rapidly.

In February of 1647 AD (the first year of Yongli and the fourth year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, the remaining leaders of the Western Army, held a meeting in Dingfan near Guiyang to discuss future strategic principles and operational deployments.At the meeting, Sun Kewang advocated sending troops to Guangxi and continuing to deal with the Ming army. Once they lost, they would transfer to the South China Sea.Li Dingguo firmly opposed it. He advocated going west to Yunnan, establishing a base area, and uniting the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty.

Li Dingguo said: "At present, the Qing army is aggressively attacking. The king's blood was splashed on Jiugong Mountain. Lao Wansui was killed by an arrow. We have a sworn enemy with the Qing army. If the enemy is now, if we continue to fight with the Ming army, it will only make the Qing army die." The fisherman will benefit. The most urgent task is to unite the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Qing Dynasty, otherwise there will only be a dead end."

Li Dingguo's proposal was approved by most of the participating generals.However, Sun Kewang had lost confidence in uniting the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Central Plains. He only wanted to keep the land he had acquired, and declared himself a vassal in Yunnan, Guizhou, Chu, and Shu, so he was indifferent to Li Dingguo's suggestion.

Li Dingguo said that Sun Kewang's exile in the South China Sea is a dead end, it would be better to die on the spot, and immediately drew his sword, ready to kill himself.When the generals saw it, they hurriedly grabbed their swords, knelt down and shouted to support Li Dingguo's suggestion.Sun Kewang saw that the hearts of the people turned to Li Dingguo, and immediately agreed to march into Yunnan to unite the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty, but he had doubts about Li Dingguo.

Although the policy of uniting the Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty was determined, it was not until 1649 AD (the third year of Yongli and the sixth year of Shunzhi) that Sun Kewang sent people to Guangxi to negotiate with the Yongli court.Sun Kewang was unwilling to join the Ming Dynasty, and at the suggestion of his staff, he wanted to imitate Cao Cao's method of "coercing the emperor to command the princes" to subdue Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and others.This is still fundamentally different from Li Dingguo's purpose of uniting Ming Dynasty to restore the Central Plains.

Sun Kewang's suspicion of Li Dingguo's growing strength and jealousy of Li Dingguo's military achievements are important reasons for Sun and Li's internal strife.Li Dingguo was able to unite the soldiers, and his subordinates were willing to serve, and his initial strength surpassed that of Sun Kewang.Li Dingguo is tough, and he has different opinions with Sun Kewang, and he always argues vigorously.For this reason, Sun Kewang found an opportunity to torture him once. Although this time they apparently reconciled, the hatred between the two grew stronger.

In 1652 AD (the fifth year of Yongli and the ninth year of Shunzhi), Li Dingguo forced Kong Youde, the king of Dingnan in the Qing Dynasty, to be defeated and set himself on fire in Guilin. Wang secretly asked Li Dingguo's deputy Feng Shuangli to spy on him, and sent another team to follow him, trying to take the opportunity to get rid of Li Dingguo.

The following year, Li Dingguo led his troops to kill the Qing army's titan Prince Jingjin Nikan in Hengzhou.Li Dingguo became a famous king for two years, and he regained dozens of states and counties one after another, shaking the world.Sun Ke saw Li Dingguo's great military exploits and was very jealous.

In 1653 AD (the seventh year of Yongli and the tenth year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang led his army to Yuanzhou, and immediately sent someone to call Li Dingguo to Yuanzhou to discuss matters, intending to take the opportunity to kill Li Dingguo.After Li Dingguo's subordinates who stayed in Guizhou heard the news that Sun Kewang was going to kill him, they immediately sent someone to report to Li Dingguo.After receiving the order, Li Dingguo was packing his luggage and was about to set off when he suddenly received a secret report, which put him in a dilemma.

If he didn't go, Sun Kewang would most likely raise an army to investigate for disobeying military orders. If he went, there would be a struggle.Sun Kewang issued seven orders in three days. Li Dingguo had no choice but to lead his troops to Yuanzhou.On the way, Liu Wenxiu's son sent someone to dissuade him, so Li Dingguo returned to Guangxi and continued planning the Northern Expedition.

In 1654 AD (the eighth year of Yongli and the eleventh year of Shunzhi), Li Dingguo fought against the Qing army in Xinhui. The team was infected by the plague, and the Qing army sent a large number of reinforcements. Li Dingguo sent someone to ask Sun Kewang for help.Sun Kewang sat back and watched Li Dingguo's defeat without sending a single soldier.When Li Dingguo was defeated and returned to Nanning, Sun Kewang ordered that wherever Li Dingguo's troops passed, the food and grass should be burned to prevent him from returning. At the same time, he sent more than 11 people to prevent Li Dingguo from approaching Guizhou.

The fueling of the Nanming court and officials was also an important reason for Sun and Li's internal strife.In the spring of 1647 AD (the first year of Yongli and the fourth year of Shunzhi), Yang Changzhi, the deputy envoy of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty, was forced to submit to Sun Kewang and received special trust from Sun Kewang.Yang Changzhi saw that Sun Kewang had become increasingly arrogant and arrogant after occupying Yunnan. He wanted to inherit Zhang Xianzhong's title of King of Qin, but was afraid that Li Dingguo and others would not accept it, so Yang Changzhi often fanned the flames in front of Sun Kewang: "If the general can win the title of 'King of Qin' from the imperial court, he will How majestic it is to be so powerful in the southwest and to subdue the two kings Li and Liu!" In front of Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and others, he scolded Sun Kewang for being arrogant and arbitrary, not caring about brotherhood, and hypocritically reminded them to be careful. The two princes' palaces were replaced by banners with the word "Sun".

Sun Kewang was conferred the title of Queen of Qin, and he pretended to be the emperor himself. He even stipulated that the word "Qin" should be added before the title of all government offices, and he did his best to insult Emperor Yongli.Emperor Yongli couldn't bear it anymore, so he sent someone to escort Li Dingguo, who had conflicts with Sun Kewang, with a secret edict, and finally the "Eighteen Gentlemen's Prison" happened.

In the first month of 1656 AD (the tenth year of Yongli and the thirteenth year of Shunzhi), Li Dingguo entered Anlong and welcomed Emperor Yongli to Kunming.

Sun Kewang forced Li Dingguo away and soon suffered the consequences.At that time, Sun Kewang personally led the army from Jingzhou (now Jingxian, Hunan) to Baoqing (now Shaoyang, Hunan) via Wugang. His subordinates included generals Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli and others. According to Qing records, the total strength was [-].

In 1656 AD (the 13th year of Yongli and the [-]th year of Shunzhi), on the sixth day of March, General Dingyuan Tunqi of the Qing Dynasty led the main forces of the Manchu and Han Dynasties from Yongzhou to Baoqing, and stationed at the crossroads on the [-]th. Thirty miles away from Zhoujiapu, Ma Jinzhong's camp.The next day, the Qing army entered Zhoujiapu. Because the Ming army camped on the top of the mountain, the terrain was dangerous, and it was raining, the two sides lined up to face each other.That night, Sun Kewang led his own army to reinforce from Baoqing Mansion.

On the 1656th day of 13 AD (the [-]th year of Yongli and the [-]th year of Shunzhi), the Ming army went down the mountain and launched a full-scale attack on the Qing army.As a result, the Ming army under Sun Kewang's command was defeated, with many casualties. The Qing army captured more than [-] horses, including an elephant. The Qing army took advantage of the victory to occupy Baoqing Mansion.However, the Qing army also paid a great price in this battle. Two Mongolian Melezhangjing Wei Zheng and Wu Jing of the Zhenghuang Banner were killed in the fierce battle.

In August of 1657 AD (the 11th year of the Yongli calendar and the 14th year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang, who was stationed in Guiyang, personally led an army of 3 to attack Li Dingguo, the number two figure in the Daxi Army stationed in Yunnan.At that time, Li Dingguo had only [-] people, and the power balance between the two sides was very different. Li Dingguo adopted the method of luring the enemy to go deep, so that Sun Kewang did not encounter any resistance along the way, and he attacked the Jiaoshui River near Qujing, Yunnan without bloodshed.

At this time, Li Bu had already set up his position on the other side of the river, waiting for work at leisure.The armies of the two sides have not yet contacted, and Sun Kewang suddenly found that his former army was in chaos and retreated one after another.After questioning, Sun Kewang knew that Bai Wenxuan, the forward general, did not want a civil war and had abandoned his army to join Li Dingguo. [18] Sun Kewang was furious, and personally led the elite to act as the vanguard, and forcibly crossed the river from the front. Halfway through the crossing, Li Dingguo's army launched a surprise attack. Because it was a decisive battle, Sun had no choice but to rush forward to the opposite bank, and the two sides fought.Seeing this, Bai Wenxuan personally led his 5000 cavalry to rush towards Sun Kewang's army.

Ma Weixing, the leader of Sun's left army, led his troops to defect in front of the formation, and joined forces with Bai Wenxuan to attack Sun Kewang's formation. They broke through several battalions. Many soldiers took off their uniforms and knelt down and shouted: "Welcome to King Jin!" !" Seeing that the morale of the army had changed, Sun Ke didn't dare to love to fight, so he pulled out his horse and fled. In the end, there were only 50 horses left in the [-] army and fled with him.

At this time, Sun Kewang can still reconcile with Li Dingguo, join forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty, or admit defeat, withdraw from the military and political arena, and live in seclusion.

In February of 1658 AD (the 12th year of Yongli and the 15th year of Shunzhi), a canonization ceremony was held in Changsha, and he was immediately summoned to Beijing to see him.On the second day of May, Sun Kewang arrived in Beijing.The Qing court ordered Prince Jidu of Heshuo Jian and Prince Yue Le of Heshuo'an to lead a large number of high-ranking officials out of the city to greet him. The scene was quite grand.The next day, Shunzhi personally met with Sun Kewang in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.Within ten days, the emperor gave him three banquets, two times of silver, a total of 2000 taels, and a mansion, undressed robes, court clothes, satin, etc. Sun Kewang became a very popular figure in the Qing court.

Sun Kewang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and betrayed the truth and falsehood of the Southwest Army, causing Li Dingguo and the Southwest Anti-Qing Armed Forces to fail in the end.The Qing court named him King Yi.

In July of 1658 AD (the 12th year of Yongli and the 15th year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang was overjoyed to learn that his brother Sun Kesheng, who had been separated for more than ten years, was in Shanghai.He hurriedly made a report to the Qing government, asking the Qing government to use the public post to transport his poor brother's family, who was a soldier, to Beijing to join him.Unexpectedly, such a trivial request elicited a loud bang from the imperial censor of the Qing court.Participating in his impeachment is well-founded:
"(Sun Kewang) began to poison Shu and Chu with Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son, and the gods and men were all angry. Then he said that the soldiers violated obedience and acted against me. The people rebelled against their relatives and left, and there was no way to recover. Fang led hundreds of exhausted soldiers and returned desperately..."

The censor also said that Sun Kewang's younger brother was just a food soldier with no official position. How could such a person dare to misuse the national post?

After seeing the performance of impeachment, Sun Ke looked forward to the thunder, and hurried to apologize.

In 1659 A.D. (the 13th year of the Yongli calendar and the 16th year of the Shunzhi period) in the third month, someone exposed Sun Kewang's money lending for interest and other things.Although Emperor Shunzhi knew that this kind of thing was a common phenomenon in the Eight Banners of Manchuria, he was unwilling to let go of this opportunity to further derogate Sun Kewang's political status.He sent Ma Erji, a cabinet scholar, to Sun Kewang's residence to read the decree, first reprimanded him, and then announced his pardon.

Sun Kewang was frightened, and hurriedly wrote a memorial to explain the process of his loan, and then begged for mercy from Emperor Shunzhi.Since then, Sun Kewang's situation has become more and more embarrassing, just as the old saying goes, "The dragon loses its power, and it is the same as the earthworm".

In June of 1660 AD (the 14th year of Yongli and the 17th year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang was forced to go to Shu and asked to resign from the title and seal of King Yi.At this time, although Emperor Yongli of the Southern Ming Dynasty had fled to Burma and the situation in the southwest was settled, the remnants of the Ming army headed by Li Dingguo were still fighting in the border areas.The Qing court believed that the removal of Sun Kewang's false title of Yiwang was not in line with the strategy at the time, so Emperor Shunzhi issued a specially worded imperial decree.

On November 1660, 14 AD (the 17th year of Yongli and the 11th year of Shunzhi), Sun Kewang died.The official statement is that he died of illness, but the truth is quite doubtful.In the early Qing Dynasty, historians said that Sun Kewang was "shot to death while out hunting"; or that he was "proclaimed the King of Righteousness, but he was poisoned".

In 1667 AD (the eighth year of Kangxi reign), the Qing government sent Shangshu Mingzhu of the Ministry of Punishment and others to Fujian to discuss with Jingnan King Geng Jimao and Governor Zu Zepei to appease Zheng Jing who was guarding Taiwan.In Zheng Jing's reply, he said sarcastically: "Your court is extremely lenient and benevolent. Those who are far away don't ask. If you hear and see things like Fang Guoan and Sun Kewang, don't you think that those who are dedicated to your court are here today? The past can be used as a lesson. For the chill."

It can be seen that Sun Kewang's death was not a good death and it must have been widely spread at that time.After Sun Kewang's death, the Qing court bestowed the posthumous posthumous title of Keshun, "to bury Jialong";Sun Zhengqi died of illness a few months later, and his younger brother Zhengchun succeeded him.

In 1661 AD (the 15th year of Yongli and the 18th year of Shunzhi), Wu Sangui and others led troops into Burma, and Emperor Yongli was captured and returned to Kunming to be hanged.The following year, when Kangxi changed to the Yuan Dynasty, Li Dingguo also died of illness at the border.Sun Kewang's family is no longer of much use value, and the "grace" of the Qing court has gradually degraded.

In 1666 AD (the seventh year of Kangxi), the imperial court ordered that the annual salary of Sun Zhengchun, king of righteousness, be reduced from 5000 taels to 3000 taels. In the 11th year, Sun Zhengchun died of illness, and his younger brother Sun Zhenghao asked for the title.After discussing the political affairs of the king and ministers, he was conferred the title of Duke Mu Yi.After Sun Zhenghao's death, his son, Sun Hongxiang, attacked the first-class captain of Qingche again.

In June of 1771 AD (the 36th year of Qianlong), the Qing court finally decided: "Sun Kewang's descendants don't have to inherit all the world positions." Since then, the last trace of Sun Kewang's family has disappeared on the political stage.

(End of this chapter)