At the end of the Ming Dynasty , the peasant uprising that started in Shaanxi swept across several provinces of the Ming Dynasty, causing chaos in the world.
To Chongzhen Fourteenth Year (AD 1641), after more than ten years of transition and elimination of the Peasant Rebel Army, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have stood out and become the most prestigious leaders among the rebel army.
Originally, before this, Li Zicheng, who later overthrew the Ming Dynasty, was far less prestigious and powerful than Zhang Xianzhong in the peasant uprising army.
At least after the death of the first king of Chuang Gao Yingxiang and before the 14th year of Chongzhen, during these few years, Zhang Xianzhong was the number one rebel in the world.
As early as the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635 AD), after the rebel army captured Fengyang, Zhang Xianzhong was known as "The True Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Yuan Dynasty" and became the most resented giant by the Ming Dynasty court and Emperor Chongzhen.
And in the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639 AD), after Zhang Xianzhong was pardoned by the Ming Dynasty and treated him and his soldiers preferentially, he surrendered and rebelled again. He contacted various rebel armies and raised the banner of rebellion again, pushing the uprising to a new level. climax.
These actions made Zhang Xianzhong's reputation far surpass that of Li Zicheng. Naturally, in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong was the number one enemy besides the Qing army in Liaodong.
In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640 AD), when Emperor Chongzhen sent his cabinet minister Yang Sichang out of the capital to direct the suppression of bandits, he also specifically warned: "Zhang Xianzhong once belonged to the ancestral mausoleum and must not be pardoned. The rest can be used for suppression and pacification."
In other words, Emperor Chongzhen granted Yang Sichang the power to recruit any leader of the peasant uprising army who committed a serious crime, and he could not be pardoned for his solemn loyalty.
It can be seen from this that Zhang Xianzhong's fame at that time was unprecedented.
In early February of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the loopholes in the army's defense line, "riding three hundred miles a day and night" , captured the important town of Huguang Xiangyang , and killed Ming Dynasty's own vassal Prince Zhu Yiming, once again fighting for his own power. Reputation adds a huge bargaining chip.
However, what Zhang Xianzhong did not expect was that he was overtaken by Li Zicheng who captured Xiangyang at this time, and the number one rebel in the world became Li Zicheng.
The reason is that more than ten days before Zhang Xianzhong succeeded in his sneak attack on Xiangyang, Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, an important town in the Central Plains, in one fell swoop, and killed Emperor Chongzhen's uncle, King Fu Zhu Changxun.
The first battle shocked the world. Li Zicheng instantly surpassed Zhang Xianzhong and became not only the number one rebel leader in the world, but also a hero in the eyes of leaders and soldiers of various peasant uprising armies.
It also conquered important towns in the region and killed the Ming Dynasty vassal kings. Why was Zhang Xianzhong's capture of Xiangyang not as influential as Li Zicheng's capture of Luoyang?
This is one of the reasons why the wealth Zhang Xianzhong obtained in Xiangyang City was less than the wealth Li Zicheng obtained from Luoyang.
This gave Li Zicheng more resources to recruit troops, and his strength could immediately surpass Zhang Xianzhong.
King Xiang Zhu Yiming, whom Zhang Xianzhong killed in Xiangyang City, was inferior in status to Zhu Changxun, the King of Fu, whom Li Zicheng killed in Luoyang City, which was also one of the reasons.
After all, King Fu was the vassal king closest to Emperor Chongzhen by blood.
But the main reason is that the way Zhang Xianzhong captured Xiangyang was not as influential as Li Zicheng's capture of Luoyang.
Zhang Xianzhong used a sneak attack tactic to conquer Xiangyang. There were not many defenders in Xiangyang city, but Zhang Xianzhong succeeded by picking up the pieces.
"The Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty: Zhang Xianzhong's Rebellion" records:
The thieves walked into Xuancheng and were unprepared to investigate Xiangyang. They rode twenty horses with talismans and pretended to be officers and soldiers. On Jiyou night, I went to the city gate and the defenders checked the talisman and opened the gate. As soon as the thieves entered, they brandished their swords and shouted to kill those who were in the door. More than a hundred thieves were waiting in the city to respond, and they set fire to the sky. A band of thieves arrived at great speed, and there was great chaos in the city, and the gates were opened. Gengxu was happy, and all the thieves entered the city.
As for Li Zicheng's battle to capture Luoyang, he actually used a large army to besiege it and adopted the tactics of storming to capture such an important city.
"The Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty: Li Zicheng's Rebellion" records:
Li Zicheng surrounded Henan Prefecture . King Fu recruited dead soldiers to resist the war, and gained a lot, and the thieves retreated. The thieves attacked the city with artillery, but the city was tightly guarded and did not move, and then retreated in a faint state. General SoldiersWang Shaoyu's soldiers galloped and shouted on the city, and those outside also responded to the call. Shao Yu's soldiers immediately took the deputy envoy Wang Yinchang to the city, and Shao Yu rushed to rescue him. The soldiers said: "The thieves are already under the city, how can I control them all?" He swung his sword and killed several people who were guarding Pipi. All of them fell down the battlement in shock. The thieves came up the battlement, and the rebels met them, so the thieves entered.
Li Zicheng was able to capture Luoyang City . Although there was also a sudden rebellion among the officers and soldiers in the city, it was a successful frontal attack after all.
are both one of the most important cities in the world. Zhang Xianzhong relies on sneak attacks, while Li Zicheng relies on strong attacks. The gap in hard power is immediately revealed.
Therefore, Li Zicheng surpassed Zhang Xianzhong in terms of threat level in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty officials and reputation in the eyes of the leaders of various peasant uprising armies.
In the battle to capture Luoyang, Li Zicheng's troops also used a large number of artillery and other heavy weapons. This also means that the field combat capabilities of Li Zicheng's troops exceeded Zhang Xianzhong's troops.
All kinds of factors were combined, and Li Zicheng became the number one rebel in the world with this battle, and Zhang Xianzhong could only lag behind.
In fact, this is also the case. After Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, his confidence increased greatly. Not only did he dare to take the initiative to attack other big cities, he also rarely suffered defeats, and his strength continued to grow.
Zhang Xianzhong was victorious and defeated. He was beaten by the Ming army Zuo Liangyu and fled in embarrassment. He was forced to defect to Li Zicheng and was almost killed by Li Zicheng. Fortunately, he was able to escape with the help of Luo Rucai.
"History of the Ming Dynasty·Biography of Thieves" records:
Liangyu pursued Xinyang, defeated it greatly, and surrendered tens of thousands of thieves. Xian Zhong injured his stock, so he ran eastward at night... Xian Zhong surrendered and succeeded. If you encounter it in a step-by-step manner, you will not follow it. Since Zicheng wanted to kill him, you then admonished him and said: "Keep him here to disturb Hannan, and divide the strength of the official and army forces." Naiyin and Xianzhong's 500 cavalry made him escape.
From then on, Zhang Xianzhong never dared to compete with Li Zicheng. When Li Zicheng went on the Northern Expedition, he went south. He never dared to get close to Li Zicheng's troops again to avoid being annexed by Li Zicheng.
The gap in strength and reputation between the two sides widened after Li Zicheng captured Luoyang City, and various small peasant rebel armies were more willing to defect to and attach themselves to Li Zicheng.
The foundation place that Zhang Xianzhong later found for himself could only be Sichuan, which was located in a corner, but Li Zicheng cheated all the way and started the road to the destruction of the Ming Dynasty.
References: "History of the Ming Dynasty" "Chronicles of the History of the Ming Dynasty"
Recommended reading: History of the Ming Dynasty: The only two colleagues of Li Zicheng who failed to annex successfully, one was Zhang Xianzhong, who was the other?
