The Ming Dynasty’s last chance to resist the Qing Dynasty was unfortunately not cherished
There was once an opportunity to recover the Ming Dynasty and rebuild Gansu and Kunming, but I failed to cherish it and regretted that the success fell short.
The Northern Expedition to Nanjing to seize the world was the best opportunity left to Zheng Chenggong, but it was a pity that he did not seize it.
Dream is only one step away.
In 1644, the Ming Dynasty collapsed under the impact of the peasant army. Then, the Qing army took the opportunity to enter the pass, quickly occupied the north, and began a non-stop road to unify the world.
After Chongzhen hanged himself, Zhu Yousong, the ax king far south, ascended the throne in Nanjing and established the Nanming regime. But at this time, the Qing Dynasty had already strangled the peasant army to death, and the momentum was very strong. Then, the Qing army adopted strategic means and eliminated the Ax regime in 1645. The Ming Dynasty's counterattack failed again.
After the demise of the Ax King regime, Wang Tang proclaimed himself emperor in Fuzhou and took over the banner of anti-Qing Dynasty. Although the territory was reduced to Fujian and Zhejiang provinces by the Qing army, Zheng Zhilong, the king of Fujian and Zhejiang in the Tang Dynasty, had the largest naval power in the world at that time and was the master of the East Asian waters.
Unfortunately, from beginning to end, Zheng Zhilong was taking advantage of the businessman's thinking. Seeing that the Qing Dynasty was at its peak, he took the initiative to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, which was a big blow to Nanming, especially the King of Tang.
Equally sad is his son Zheng Chenggong.
This passionate young man finally chose to devote himself to the country between loyalty and filial piety, even though Nan Ming was still alive at the time. Zheng Chenggong tried his best to persuade his father, but to no avail, so he resolutely broke with his father, and his uncle Zheng Zhibao accepted Zheng's old stick and continued to fight against the Qing Dynasty on the southeast coast.
At this time, after the Qing army eliminated the Wangtang regime, it quickly killed the Gui King and other regimes, and the entire Jiangnan territory basically fell.
Fortunately, in the Qing Dynasty, due to the rise of nomadic people, the navy has been weak for a long time, so Zheng Chenggong, who was active on the southeast coast, had no choice but to do anything in the Qing Dynasty.
Compared with the helplessness of the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong was quite active and frequently captured the weak coastal defense strongholds of the Qing army.
It occupied Tong'an in 1648, Xiaoyun in 1649, Zhangzhou in 1652 and 1654, Zhoushan in 1655, and Jieyang, Puning, Chenghai, Min'an and other towns in Guangdong in 1656. The waters of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong were gradually developed into anti-Qing base areas. At this time, Zheng Chenggong became the greatest hope for the survivors of the Ming Dynasty.
Relying on the strong appeal of the masses and the strong support of coastal people, Zheng Chenggong gradually developed and expanded. So he was very ambitious and set his goal to capture Nanjing.
Nanjing, the hometown of the Six Dynasties and the second capital of the Ming Dynasty, is of great value. Moreover, the occupation of Nanjing cut off the connection between the south of the Yangtze River and the Qing Dynasty in the north. Two hundred years later, the British army attacked Nanjing and made the arrogant Daoguang surrender and sue for peace. Moreover, the terrain of Nanjing is difficult. If you capture Nanjing, you can control half of the country and use it as a springboard to continue heading north.
In 1658, Zheng Chenggong took advantage of King Gui, the main force of the Qing army, to attack Nanjing from Zhoushan. However, he encountered a typhoon and the attack plan was shelved.
In 1659, Zheng Chenggong made another northern expedition, using more than 3,000 large and small ships and more than 100,000 troops. First, they captured Dinghai, eliminated the Qing army's Dinghai Division, burned more than 100 ships, and destroyed the Qing army's naval power. Then he contacted and collected the generals of the previous dynasty all the way, passed through Wusongkou, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and other places, and finally arrived at the gate of Nanjing.
At that time, the Zheng army was thundering and it was imperative to attack, but the Qing army had just lost the battle and was in low morale. The victory in capturing Nanjing seemed to summon Zheng Chenggong.
However, after a month-long confrontation, Zheng Chenggong was defeated and retreated south, losing the perfect opportunity to save the Ming Dynasty. So, what caused all this?
Lack of personality
Zheng Chenggong is very enthusiastic, patriotic, and good at leading troops and doing business. He is a powerful figure.
However, his family environment and acquired experiences created his imperfect character.
Maybe it wasn’t obvious at the time. But success or failure often depends on the small details we don't pay attention to:
You underestimate your enemy before you meet him. Perhaps this is the key factor for Zheng Chenggong.
However, Zheng Chenggong cannot be blamed. In the eyes of the Han people at that time, the Qing Dynasty was always a barbaric upstart, and their level was incomparable to that of the Han people. From the perspective of the Han people, there is also an element of opportunism in their success, which is not a cause for concern.
As we all know, it was no accident that the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass and conquered the world. Their route was carefully scrutinized. Including shouting slogans to avenge Chongzhen, win over Wu Sangui and other generals, and let them quickly occupy the Central Plains.
In contrast, Zheng Chenggong did very poorly in this regard. And judging from the performance in this later period, they are all full of high confidence and blind contempt for the Qing army.
Don’t listen to your subordinates. The generals of the Ming Dynasty before the Qing Dynasty, such as Wu Sangui and others, still attached great importance to them, so these soldiers worked hard and made a great contribution to the unification of the Qing Dynasty.
In contrast, Zheng Chenggong is somewhat unsatisfactory.
First of all, after occupying Guazhou, his subordinate Zhang Huangyan proposed a surprise attack on Nanjing quickly on land, but Zheng Chenggong insisted on taking the water route, and did it slowly and steadily.
After all, the Ming Dynasty navy has been basically wiped out, and no one on the water can interfere with it. As we all know, from the mouth of the Yangtze River to Nanjing, you have to go all the way upstream, and your marching speed cannot be slower. Therefore, Zhang Huangyan, the pioneer of the navy, waited on the Nanjing River for several days before Zheng Chenggong arrived.
These days are not long, but on the fleeting battlefield, their role is immeasurable. In fact, the Qing army has strengthened Nanjing's defense in the past few days, and the balance of the war has begun to tilt.
Self-righteous. On July 12, Zheng Chenggong's more than 100,000 troops and thousands of warships officially arrived in Nanjing. After landing, the 83rd Battalion was set up in Taiping, Guanyin, Shishen, Jinchuan, Zhongfu, Yifeng, Jiangdong and other places, cut off traffic, set up artillery, and began to attack the city. But when everything was in order, the Qing Dynasty was able to siege but not attack, or even besiege the city and not die, which gave the Qing Dynasty a precious opportunity to breathe and calmly defend itself. His idea was to make the Qing army surrender and use his prestige to bring a bloodless victory. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong began to wait with confidence. As a result, Nanjing's city defense became stronger and its own strength became weaker.
Narrow-minded.
This often appears in Zheng Chenggong’s struggle history. At first, Li Dingguo of Li Yong's regime repeatedly invited Zheng Chenggong to attack the Qing army from east to west, but Zheng Chenggong was indifferent.
In the final analysis, an important reason for Nanming's successive downfall was internal fighting. Everyone feels that he is the master of the world, so it is natural for the cottage to be destroyed. This lack of overall perspective also affected the loyal and self-respecting generals. Once the counterattack is successful, who will listen to whom?
Therefore, Zheng Chenggong only arrived late after standing by and watching Li Yong's fall. This cannot be said to be a big mistake. Moreover, the later confrontation with Shi Lang directly led to Shi Lang's surrender to the Qing Dynasty, weakening his own strength. With Zheng Chenggong's own strength, he doesn't know how much effort it will take to save the world.
There were omissions in preparing for war.
The first typhoon occurred and 8,000 people were lost. After struggling for so many years on the southeastern coast, facing severe weather and still causing such heavy casualties, it seems a bit like capsizing in the gutter. And this typhoon directly led to the failure of his first Northern Expedition.
If the first sudden weather situation is understandable, then the second misjudgment of the hydrological conditions on the Nanjing River is unforgivable. Zheng successfully studied in Nanjing. As the ultimate goal of the Northern Expedition, he should have a good understanding of the situation. But the reality is that Zheng Jun was overwhelmed by Nanjing's complex hydrological conditions, and there were casualties before the war began. It can be said that in addition to Zheng Chenggong's personal factors, the non-combat attrition caused by these unpredictable hydrology also became a major driver of Zheng's army's failure.
Only the naval force is not conducive to siege. This should be the final factor in Zheng Chenggong's failure.
This kind of anti-Qing guerrillas active at sea is based on ships, and its development is naturally the attribute of water warfare. The Japanese helmets and swords played a huge role in the water landing battle, but facing the thick walls of Nanjing, Zheng Jun could only say nothing. Zheng Chenggong delayed attacking Nanjing mainly because of the lack of infantry and siege equipment. Relying on a few captured red cannons was obviously not enough.
And from the perspective of the siege, the distance between the army camps was not conducive to mutual defense, which also led to Zheng's siege in Nanjing but not besieged, which led to the Qing army's late counterattack and quick victory.
Then there is Zheng Jun’s combat effectiveness.
For a long time, Zheng Chenggong’s weak combat effectiveness has been a concern. At the beginning, the enemy's defense line collapsed before it was reached. Later, after training, he got a little better, but facing the new Qing army, Zheng Jun's combat effectiveness still pales in comparison.
Sure enough, due to the long-term attrition and rapid counterattack of the Qing army, the Zheng army retreated hastily again.
There is a strategic gap
There is no unified operational concept.
After all, Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition was a military adventure, similar to Wu Jun's entry into Ying. It's a pity that such a good idea was delayed by myself.
Looking at the process of Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition, we can find that Zheng Chenggong lacked comprehensive strategic considerations. He destroyed the Qing navy, recovered many states and counties, and surrendered many generals. However, he made repeated mistakes when capturing Nanjing. As a military commander, of course he understands the huge value of Nanjing, so the army is under pressure. However, when it was learned at the gates of Nanjing that rebels in the upper reaches of Wuhu had surrendered, forward Zhang Huangyan was immediately sent to surrender, delaying another attack on Nanjing. As the saying goes, if you work hard, you will burn out. Such self-consumption led to the ultimate failure of the Battle of Nanjing.
From the perspective of tactical execution, Zheng Chenggong always cares about the gains and losses of one city and one place. He wants to act steadily step by step without having a grasp of the overall situation. You know, in Jiangnan at that time, people's hearts were in a state of flux. As long as Zheng Chenggong's army quickly occupied an important place, it was basically in a state of response. Therefore, his goal should be to capture Nanjing, consolidate the southeast, and then prepare to capture the world. Zheng Chenggong basically ignored this.
So I think that if Zheng Chenggong can quickly occupy Nanjing, eliminate the Qing Dynasty's power in Jiangnan as soon as possible, and usher in a vassal king, maybe other places in Jiangnan can also respond by setting up a court in Jiangnan to fight against the Qing Dynasty again. In other words, while occupying Nanjing, a surprise force moved north along the coastline and landed in Tianjin or the Northeast, bringing multi-front operations to the Qing Dynasty. Maybe history is another story.
Unfortunately, history has no ifs. We can only watch Nanming disintegrate one by one in the dusk, and finally turn into ashes.
Many people prefer to believe that the success of the Northern Expedition was the result of insufficient strength, but it was mostly due to various factors.
After the failure of the Northern Expedition, Zheng Chenggong returned to the Xiamen-Zhang base again. His troops were severely weakened, and the shortage of military rations began to become prominent. In order to solve the army's logistical problems and to have a long-term and stable anti-Qing base, Zheng Chenggong decided to follow the advice of He Bin from Taiwan and take refuge.
In 1662, he crossed the East Taiwan Strait and recovered Taiwan Island, which had been occupied by the Dutch colonists for 38 years. The feat of regaining Taiwan made Zheng Chenggong a national hero remembered by the world.
In 684, Qing general Shi Lang led his army into Taiwan Province, and Taiwan Province was unified by the Qing Dynasty. Zheng's great cause of rebelling against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty was completely ended.