1645 in may, Li Zicheng was killed by local armed forces in Tongshan, Hubei province. Because Li Zicheng's death was unexpected, there was no heir. So that at this time, the remaining two peasant armies immediately fell into a leaderless situation. To make matters worse, Liu Zongmin, the core figure, was killed and Niu Jinxing surrendered. Later, the courtship of these peasant troops began in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
After Li Zicheng, a peasant army on the East Road who took refuge in the Qing court, killed by mistake, he personally led the peasant army on the East Road, and suddenly fell into a leaderless situation. At that time, people in the peasant army, such as Hao, Li, and Li, each had his own army, and everyone had an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people. These men's armies add up to 265,438+0,000, but these men have no unified command, and no general will take orders from anyone. These people retreated to Hunan to escape the attack of the Qing army. At that time, He Tengjiao, governor of Huguang in Ming Dynasty, was in Changsha, and Tong Yanghe, governor of Huguang in Qing Dynasty, was in Wuchang.
When the peasant army first entered Hunan, it was attacked by He Tengjiao as a local hooligan. But as a result, the Ming army that went to suppress it was defeated, and the Ming army soldiers who fled back reported that they "saw the banner of Dashun, and the number was overwhelming." More than 200,000 people are not too many. At this time, He Tengjiao only had more than 20,000 troops in his hand, which was no match for the peasant army at all. After hearing the news, He Tengjiao was very scared. But at this time, the peasant army had achieved nothing, and they began to discuss with He Tengjiao the joint anti-Qing campaign.
In July of that year, He Tengjiao reached an agreement with the peasant army to jointly fight against the Qing Dynasty. However, due to the death of Emperor Chongzhen and traditional educational prejudice, local officials such as He Tengjiao and Zhang Kuang did not trust the peasant army, which delayed the logistics supply. At the same time, the main force of the Qing army in Hubei has withdrawn northward, and Prince Azig of Britain has also returned to Beijing for the summer. At this time, only 7,000 Qing troops commanded by Toarey Yang and more than 20,000 Ming troops were in Hubei. This was an excellent opportunity to recover Hubei, but He Tengjiao didn't seize it. Instead, the Qing court took the initiative.
Tong Yanghe lured the peasant army from Hunan to Hubei with no need to shave their heads as bait. So, except for Hao, who stayed in Hunan to serve Nanming, the rest and others all went to Hubei, and 65,438+10,000 peasant troops became puppet troops. The disintegration of the peasant army on the East Road immediately reversed the balance of power.
After Li Zicheng's death, the peasant troops stationed in northern Shaanxi and Ningxia began to withdraw southward. This is the marked army. The route of the West Road Peasant Army is similar to that of the East Road Army, and it also enters the same area. At this time, the Qing court reached out first and surrendered to marked army six times. However, Li Jinhe Gao of the marked army did not surrender like the East Route Army, but chose to unite with Nanming Longwu. At this time, the strength of the marked army was about 6.5438+0.5 million, and it was still a very effective army.
In Fujian, Nanming Court was once again in an uproar. Many pedantic civil servants said, "It is unforgivable for Li thief to break Beijing. How can his companions worship him? " What time is this! The Ming Dynasty was defeated from Beijing to Nanjing and from Nanjing to Fujian. These civilian officials want to wipe out bandits. Finally, SHEN WOO, the wise Emperor of the Long Dynasty, named Li Jin as the Hou of Xingguo, renamed Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng, thus establishing the famous Loyalty Camp in the history of Nanming. Since I worked for Nanming, I wanted to work for Nanming Dynasty. /kloc-in the first month of 0/646, Nanming army soldiers recovered Hubei in two ways, He Tengjiao went out of Yuezhou to attack Wuchang, and another Ming official blocked Silverstream to attack Jingzhou. Finally, the two armies joined forces on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
He Tengjiao was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but his ability was really poor. He led the Ming army on the road and met the defeated soldiers of the Ming army. The defeated army said, "The Manchurian army has arrived", and He Tengjiao immediately ordered a retreat. In fact, this Qing army has only more than 2,000 people, and the brigade is still far away. In the end, He Tengjiao even lost the military stronghold of Yuezhou. These things are unknown to the army that besieged Jingzhou. On the third day of February, a large number of Qing cavalry appeared behind the loyalty camp, and they were besieging Jingzhou. Because the Zhongyi camp was unguarded, it was defeated by the Qing army inside and outside.
The fall of Hunan, controlled by the Southern Ming Dynasty, has always held He Tengjiao in a high position in traditional historical materials, and no one believes that loyal ministers will make mistakes in the country. However, officials who are loyal but incompetent are common in the history of Nanming. 1646 In July, the main force of the Qing army in Hubei returned to the north for the summer, and He Tengjiao decided to make another northern expedition to recover Hubei. This time, the preparation was very full, and the Ming army went hand in hand with great momentum. Unfortunately, the Ming army was attacked by hundreds of Qing cavalry, thinking that the Qing army brigade had arrived and began to retreat wildly. Because the Qing army went north for the summer, the Ming army in Hunan always went north in summer, and the Qing court was exhausted.
1647 February, the Qing court sent Prince Gong Kong Youde to lead the Qing army to attack Hunan. In fact, most of the troops led by Kong Youde belonged to the Ming Dynasty, with only a quarter of the Eight Banners. When the Qing army went south to Changsha, Changsha's defense was very weak. Wang Jincai (former general of peasant army) protected deus ex, He Tengjiao, and retreated to Hengzhou by boat. A month later, Hengzhou was captured by the Qing army, and He Tengjiao retreated to Yongzhou again.
By August of that year, except southern Hunan, which was still under the control of Nanming, northern Hunan and central Hunan successively fell. From 1645, He Tengjiao, who won a good hand, lost cleanly in less than two years, and even the capital of Hunan went in. After that, part of Nanming's surplus in Hunan was evacuated to Guizhou and part to Guangxi.