Why did Zhang Xianzhong kill so many people in history?

What history is like is obviously not a question that can be easily concluded. Because of this, we can boldly question existing records and Mr. Lu Xun’s views. We do not necessarily deny that Zhang Xianzhong killed people in Chengdu and Sichuan. In fact, he killed many people. Rehabilitating Zhang Xianzhong is obviously an overkill. We just believe that it is unreasonable to place all the blame on Zhang Xianzhong for the population desert phenomenon that occurred in Sichuan and Chengdu in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Zhang Xianzhong moved to Huguang and moved westward to Sichuan. His intention was to use Sichuan, a geomantic treasure land, as a foundation to try to do something great. After Li Zicheng entered Beijing on the 17th day of the third lunar month in 1664, on the ninth day of the eighth lunar month, Zhang Xianzhong captured Chengdu. At first, the Chengdu city wall was strong and could not be attacked for a long time, so Zhang Xianzhong ordered his troops to dig a tunnel in a secret place outside the city, bury gunpowder at the root of the city wall, and use bamboo poles to pierce the bamboo joints. Only after the city wall collapsed did he invade Chengdu. Later Zhang established the Daxi regime.

After a new political power is established, the first thing is to eliminate dissidents and consolidate its rule. It is inevitable to kill the officials in Chengdu in the former Ming Dynasty, and it is also possible to order a massacre of the city for three days. After three days, one killing was carried out every day. This is exactly what was described in "The Holy Religion Enters Sichuan" written by the European missionaries Li Leisi and Anwensi. However, we do not think that Zhang Xianzhong's massacre was crazy and purposeless. Qin Shihuang killed Zhao soldiers because he was worried that they would rebel, and the Mongols killed Han people to weaken the Han people. Killing people to establish prestige and prevent the enemy from counterattack is a bloody fact in human history. Later, the Qingyang Palace killers followed the same principle. "Shu will be in chaos before the world is in chaos, and Shu will be in control after the world is under control." Sichuan has developed cultural ideas since ancient times, and people have strong self-awareness and resistance. Zhang Xianzhong realized the threat that intellectuals posed to his regime, so he reenacted the tragedy of Qin Shihuang's "burning books and humiliating Confucians".

It can be said that Zhang Xianzhong's murder was a violent method to consolidate his power, but this is not the same as massacre. However, history is cruel. When dynasties change, it is often the case that one general succeeds and thousands of people die. As common sense, the main reasons for the massive population decline are as follows: first, the destruction of natural disasters, often a large-scale flood or drought can kill dozens or even millions of people; second, war, with continuous wars in the last years of the Ming Dynasty , both the army and the people are victims of war. It is not uncommon in history for decades of war to cause the death of millions of people; the third is plague, which often occurs during or after major natural disasters and wars, and the speed of the outbreak is Soon, the death toll will increase sharply.

To sum up, war was the primary reason for the tragic situation of Chengdu in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, with ten houses and nine empty houses. Natural disasters also existed, and plague, as an accessory of war, was even more unavoidable. Man-made massacre is definitely not the main reason. It is obviously unfair to attribute all this to Zhang Xianzhong's massacre. The truth should be that years of fighting between multiple military groups, natural disasters, plagues, hunger and other multiple blows have turned the beautiful and rich Land of Abundance into a hell on earth.

Reference: http://ayisha19981998.spaces.l