How many civilians did Zhang Zhongxian kill?

History is a changeable witch. She not only kept changing her head, but also covered herself with layers of veils. Last year was the 360th anniversary of Zhang's invasion of Chengdu. On the occasion of Liujiazi, Zhang's Chengdu Massacre once again became the object of discussion. The powerful Zhang washed Chengdu with blood, making Chengdu barren; Others hold the opposite view that Zhang was framed. Both sides held their own views and argued for half a year that they had seen the true face of history. However, it is not an easy task to unveil this enchantress. We know there may be a mask under the headscarf. Even if the mask is lifted, it is not easy to see the charming and changeable face below. Of course, we can't go backwards because of this. We should try our best to get close to her true face. Success or not, this is not the main thing. Historical situation, merits and demerits of a thousand years, has its own comments?

Zhang said to Tu Chengdu.

Before the invention of imaging technology, there were only two ways to record and spread historical stories. One is the spread of oral language, which is the most primitive way since the birth of mankind. With the invention of writing and paper, written records appeared. Due to the advantages of written records, writing gradually occupied the main position of historical records. Historical rumors handed down from generation to generation are composed of historical records compiled by later generations and the spread of folk languages. This is how the historical rumors about Zhang and the massacre were formed.

The official history says so.

Zhang was a senior minister in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties, and presided over the compilation and revision of the previous Ming history. The Ming History edited by Zhang recorded Zhang's slaughter of Sichuan and Chengdu. It is mentioned in the book that after Zhang captured Chengdu in August of Lunar New Year 1644, he established the Daxi regime and renamed it Xijing, Chengdu. In the biography of Zhang in Ming Dynasty, Zhang pointed out that Zhang was cunning and liked to kill people. As long as he didn't kill anyone, he would be unhappy. He lied about taking scholars and concentrated them in Qingyang Palace, killing them all. Scholars' pen and ink piled up into mountains. Not only did he kill scholars in Chengdu and Sichuan, but Zhang also killed countless Chengdu citizens in Zhongyuan Pit.

Not only that, Zhang also killed his own army and his subordinates, and his army alone killed 980 thousand. He also sent troops from Chengdu, and began to slaughter the counties from the Fourth Road, which was called grass killing. When the civil and military officials were in court, he called a dozen German shepherds, and the officials who had been sniffed by German shepherds would be dragged out and killed. It's called God damn it. Zhang is not only a murderer, but also a pervert. He also invented his own methods of killing people, such as rawhide. How many times will a pawn kill a person? It's amazing that * * * killed 60 million men and women. That his generals were so upset that they had the heart of rebellion. Later, people in Chengdu and Sichuan were killed. Due to the siege of the Qing army, Zhang tried to return to his hometown in Shaanxi. In the third year of Dashun, Zhang left Chengdu, burned the whole city, and then slaughtered all those who advised him to enter the city. He drained Jinjiang, dug a pit dozens of feet, buried tens of thousands of pieces of gold and silver jewelry in it, and then burst its banks and released it, saying that it was to prevent future generations from getting these treasures. As a result, Chengdu has become a wilderness where Wan Li is smokeless, the city is full of rubble, and tigers and leopards haunt during the day.

Up to now, there are still many documentary records echoing the History of Ming Dynasty. Mao Qiling of Qing Dynasty also mentioned Zhang's massacre of Chengdu and its counties in the Record of Later Construction. Zhang first killed the guards in the barracks and the recruits over the age of fifteen. A * * * killed more than 750,000 guards and more than 230,000 campers. Secondly, kill literati citizens and monks and Taoists. The doctor waited for more than 300 thousand. Then go door to door. From Weifeng Mountain in the north to Tongzi Garden in the north and south, corpses are everywhere. In the Qing Dynasty, Chajizuo also recorded Zhang's second massacre in the Records of Criminal Evidence. Once for killing Chongqing. The second is the massacre of Chengdu. After the capture of Chengdu, Zhang first killed all the officials of the Ming Dynasty. He also recorded the killing of scholars.

Eyewitness theory

The author of "The Story of Shinto Entering Sichuan" is Li Leisi and An, western missionaries called "Tianxue" by Zhang. Because they are all witnesses to the massacre. Therefore, their book "The Story of the Holy Religion Entering Sichuan" should also be said to be the most authoritative. This book was unknown in China for a long time until it was translated into Chinese by the Shanghai Church in 19 17. Among them, the most valuable is the dictation of two missionaries, Li and An. They were recommended by people when Zhang proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhang called them Tianxue Sect. They followed Zhong Xian until he was killed by the Qing army. It can be said that the story of the holy religion entering Sichuan is a witness record of a massacre.

This book records. Zhang is bullying and killing people every day. Daxi has 900 officials. There were only 25 people when he died. Most of them were killed by him, or flogged to death, or their scalps were cut off, or they were chopped to pieces in the middle of the year. It's a long story 1On October 22nd, Zhang decided to kill all the residents in the city. First, secretly sent people to lie about the enemy's arrival, transferred the troops out of the city, and guarded the main roads everywhere to prevent the people from fleeing. Soldiers in the city searched every house and drove people out of the city. Finally, people gathered together and carried the Shazhou Bridge and killed it. At that time, the detained people gathered at Nanmen Shaba Bridge. When people saw Zhang coming, they all knelt on the ground and shouted for mercy in unison. However, Zhang was unmoved and showed no pity. He rode his horse into the crowd, made it jump and kick, and then ordered the sergeant to execute the punishment quickly. Finally, the bodies of Shaba Bridge piled up into rivers of blood, and the bodies blocked Jinjiang, making it impossible to sail. Chengdu suddenly became a desolate scene and could not bear to attract attention. It is also recorded in the book that Zhang slaughtered more than 2,000 monks, and none of the monks in Chengdu escaped the net. Before leaving Chengdu, Zhang also killed more than 400,000 women.

Like two western missionaries, the adherents of the Ming Dynasty in Sichuan were also Zhang's contemporaries. His Notes Miscellaneous Notes is a waste book in Ming Dynasty, and it also records Zhang's Chengdu Massacre. According to the book, Zhang killed people every day after he occupied Chengdu. He first killed thousands or hundreds of households under the guard, then killed monks, Taoist priests, craftsmen and healers, and then committed suicide under the bridge outside the south gate. At the same time, it is also recorded that Zhang killed Jinshi and 17 thousand people outside the east gate of Chengdu. Because Fermi and Zhang are contemporaries and witnesses of Zhang's massacre, he also has high authority. It is first-hand information.

Shu Bi said.

In fact, the book Shu Bi, which appeared nearly a hundred years later, had the greatest influence on Zhang Tucheng. Because the book describes in detail how Zhang kills people without blinking an eye, even Lu Xun is convinced of the "description" in the book and hates "hooligans". Peng Zunsi, the author of Documentary Evidence, was a scholar in the second year of Qianlong (1736) and edited by imperial academy. The four-volume Shu Bi describes what Zhang did in Sichuan. In the preface before the book, the author said that the book was written according to Zhang's legacy and other people's records he heard in his childhood. Peng Zunsi is from Shanling, Sichuan. At that time, he also wanted to know about this major change in his hometown in the late Ming Dynasty. In order to write this book well, Peng collected a large number of historical documents, among which the bibliography cited in Shu Bi collected almost all the historical materials recorded by Zhang according to Shu at that time. Among them, there are 25 kinds, such as Ming History, Outline of Ming History and Chronicle of Ming History.

"Documentary Evidence" has a lot of detailed descriptions of Zhang's killing methods and his abnormal behavior. It is said in the book that Zhang Zhongxian often throws children in the air, making them fall and touch the tip of his gun. He thinks he is happy to see the bloody screams and feelings. On one occasion, he accumulated a lot of women's feet and took his beloved concubine to see them. After watching it for a while, I felt that there were still two excellent feet to top on the mountain-like pile of feet, so I cut off the feet of his beloved concubine and put them on. Wherever he went, after killing a large number of people, he had to pile up his head, hands and feet separately. After counting the numbers, he wrote down an account and engraved it on the tablet. One night, Zhang killed his wife and son. The next day, he regretted it very much. Those who hated him were killed without dissuasion. Although his wife obeyed him, his followers did not even dare to dissuade him from killing his wife, but they absolutely obeyed; But he killed them all. It can be seen that his killing is not to exclude dissidents. Zhang sometimes kills people out of curiosity, such as killing a champion. He respects the champion, just because he admires him. To understand why he can be versatile, cut open the champion's stomach alive.

Based on the legends of Ming Dynasty and other people's records, Peng Zunsi described the details of Zhang's murder in detail with his rich imagination. It is these soul-stirring records that further deepen people's impression of the Zhang Chengdu massacre and further confirm the authenticity of Zhang's murder in people's minds. Similar records also appeared in unofficial history. Ouyang Zhi's Shu Chaos records that Zhang learned from Zhu Yuanzhang and skinned people. The object is first the imperial clan of the Shu government in the Ming Dynasty, then the civil and military officials who do not surrender, then the squire, and then their own generals. All peeled human skin is infiltrated with lime, which is actually made of straw and planted with bamboo poles. It stands on both sides of Wang Fu Front Street. Today, Tianfu Square is on both sides of a line from Mao Zedong statue to department store, lined with hundreds of people, which looks like a funeral procession.

Folk rumors and big-name speeches

In addition to the above written records, the deeds of Zhang Tuchuan and Chengdu in the Ming Dynasty were also widely circulated. In fact, many records in Documentary Evidence are relics of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, there was a folk saying: "Every year, blood is red here", "rogue, rogue, the upper bound sent him to behead. One person can't finish it, and the plague messenger is behind. " The most famous is the Seven Killing Monument, which says that all things live together with people, and there is nothing between heaven and man, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing! . It reveals the fact that Zhang killed innocent people under the banner of doing justice for heaven.

Mr. Lu Xun's words have also become a strong support for those who advocate Zhang killing Chengdu. After reading Shubi, Lu Xun put forward that killing people by Zhang is like "art for art's sake", and killing people for killing people. He wanted to be emperor at first, but he didn't kill people at random. Later, he heard that Li Zicheng had gone to Beijing, followed by Qing soldiers. When the emperor was obviously impossible, he began to slaughter. He feels that there is nothing of his own in this world, and killing people and destroying cities means destroying other people's things. Lu Xun also compared him with some of the last Confucian emperors, and burned all the books, antiques and treasures collected by his ancestors or himself before his death, exactly the same.

At the same time, Zhang's massacre of Sichuan and Chongqing seems to have reached a conclusion in overseas academic circles. Almost all overseas sinologists advocate positive views. For example, the Draft of the Qing Dynasty written by Xiao Yishan when he was exiled to Santai, Sichuan, and James B. Parsons' monograph The Peak of China Peasant Uprising: Zhang in Sichuan 1644- 1646 both describe Zhang's reign of terror. Decades later, The History of China in Cambridge also adopted James's point of view.

In recent years, many archaeological remains have been unearthed in Chengdu, which seems to provide material evidence for Zhang's claim of killing Chengdu. When excavating the new south gate of Chengdu, a "10,000-person skeleton pit" was dug up, which some experts said was left by the Zhang Massacre. During the construction of Tianfu Square, a burnt African claw was dug up 7 meters underground. Archaeologists also speculated that this was evidence that Zhang set fire to the imperial city in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang slaughtered Chengdu people?

After Zhang's tragedy, Chengdu's population was exhausted, thousands of miles away without smoke, and the city was in ruins. The two rivers in the south of the government are "navigable with corpses", and the Chengdu Plain has become a wilderness. The land of abundance has been a land of tigers and wolves for several years. There are less than 20 households in Chengdu. The same is true in other parts of Sichuan, where the population has dropped sharply, reaching a record low. It is precisely because of this that the later "Huguang fills Sichuan" came into being.

A skeptical position

The French philosopher Descartes famously said, "We can doubt everything, but we can't doubt the doubt itself". What he means is that we should always know and think about problems with suspicious eyes. We can doubt everything except ourselves. I think our understanding of Zhang should be the same. In fact, whether from the official history, unofficial history or folklore, we can easily find that there are many doubts. It is worthy of our doubt and consideration.

First of all, whether it is Ming history or documentary evidence, these historical books are compiled by Qing people. Whether Zhang or Peng Zunsi, one is a veteran of the three dynasties, one is a university student from the official to the Baohe Hall, one is an official minister, and the other is a military minister; One was a scholar in the second year of Qianlong, and the official was imperial academy. To a great extent, they are all imperial scholars, so it is doubtful how credible their books are. For example, according to the legend of the famous example "Seven Killing Monuments", it is said that Zhang not only killed people like hemp, but also erected a monument at the place where he killed people, which read: Everything is born to support people, and gratitude does not repay the sky. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. But later, in a cemetery in Guanghan, Zhang's "Oracle Bone Inscriptions Monument" was unearthed. However, the inscription is: everything is born with man, and man and heaven are nothing; Distinguish between ghosts and gods, think for yourself and test yourself. It is said that the merciful God has given everything to mankind, but mankind has nothing to repay God. So people need to reflect. There is no murderous look at all. Some imperial scholars left the first paragraph and actually changed the last sentence to seven words of "kill" to publicize Zhang's cruelty!

Secondly, we can also find many contradictions in the process of the Qing army pacifying Sichuan. 1646, that is, in the third year after the Manchu entered the customs, Zhang was raided by the Qing army on the Sun River in front of Duobao Temple in Fenghuang Mountain, Xichong County. After the arrow was shot dead, Manchu immediately announced the pacification of Sichuan. But this is not the case. It was not until 1659, thirteen years after Zhang's death, that the Qing army captured Chongqing. In other words, in these thirteen years, the rest of Zhang, the Sichuan people and the Qing army launched a life-and-death struggle. The Qing army must have used slaughter to conquer the indomitable resistance of the Sichuan people. This easily reminds us of the famous "Yangzhou Ten Days" and "Jiading Three Slaughters". Moreover, in 1649, the Qing army also posted a notice: people and thieves are mixed, and jade articles are difficult to distinguish. Or kill the city, or kill men and keep women. It can be seen that the Qing army also participated in the massacre of people in Sichuan and Chengdu. There is a saying in China that "the winner is king and the loser is enemy". During the 200-odd years of the Qing Dynasty, the records of the defeated side had already been destroyed or tampered with, leaving only the "records" that were beneficial to them and the propaganda at that time. This "history" has been handed down from generation to generation, and people will naturally believe it after 200 years.

If not, the survivors of the Zhang massacre should hate him, so the Qing army who came to destroy him must come straight to the point and greet the Qing army happily. Just as the Qing soldiers were welcomed by Beijingers when they defeated Li Zicheng in Beijing. Where is the theory of resistance? Why did it take the Qing army more than ten years to pacify Sichuan, which is thousands of miles away? How can Sichuan, which has long been killed by Zhang, resist for more than ten years? Can soldiers who have been killed by Zhang still hit the whole Sichuan of the Qing army?

Third, judging from Zhang's subjective intention, it is extremely exaggerated to say that Zhang's murder is doubtful. If Zhang really killed innocent people at the beginning of the uprising, how could he rally troops against the Ming Dynasty? If its military discipline is not strict, if it can't get the support of the people, how can it fight against the Ming government forces for a long time? Zhang Ruchuan's original intention was to seize Sichuan as the base, attack Hanzhong and set the northwest, and set the Yangtze River and Jiangnan. Repeat the plan of Longzhong. If you return it, you can split it. If there is anything in the world, you will sit quietly and watch tigers fight. If there is nothing in the world, Shu can be surrendered. You can also seal the king and seal the Hou.

1644, Zhang finally invaded Chengdu and established his own country. Of course, he wants to govern Sichuan, but how can he govern his own "country" if genocide has just started in his own country? In fact, after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Zhang tried to attract talents from Sichuan. And issued the order of "three years without money and food" as a political call. It is hard to imagine that he destroyed the Great Wall when the People's Republic was founded. Because if you really kill all the people, I'm afraid even the supplies and supplies of his own army have become a big problem. As the "king of the Great West", he couldn't think of this. In addition, in the first month of 1646, the Qing court issued an imperial decree to conquer Zhang and sent troops into Sichuan. Is it possible that he didn't fight the Qing army, but had time to slaughter civilians scattered all over Sichuan when the army was under siege and its own survival was difficult to guarantee? In addition, Zhang was killed in the battle with the Qing soldiers in June165438+1October of the same year. Even he himself took the lead, which shows that he and his troops are trying their best to stop the invasion of the Qing army rather than killing people.

Temple sacrifices to butchers?

China people have a complex of ancestor worship and hero worship since ancient times. Ancestral temples and ancestral temples are the embodiment of this complex. Ancestors worship nature, so I won't go into details. The affection of ancestors for their offspring is the most affectionate between people. Hero worship is more abstract and spiritual, from Dayu, who was in charge of water conservancy, to Hou Yi, who shot at the sun, to the overlord of Chu, to Guan Yu and Zhao Zilong, to Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang, etc. In order to show respect and commemoration, people built various temples and ancestral temples. After a long talk about hero worship and temples, it seems that this writer has nothing to do with the acknowledged murderer Zhang. Who worships a butcher who blinks in the killing department? Who will build a temple for him?

But Zitong Qiqushan Temple has a bell-string temple. People there called Zhang an outstanding leader of the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty. According to the stone tablet in the temple, during the Chongzhen period, Zhang led troops through Zitong and led many people here to worship their ancestors, pointing to Emperor Wenchang and saying, "My ancestors also helped me." "Your name is zhang, and so is my father. Let's join a clan. " If I can win, I will rebuild the temple for you. Later, Zhang captured Chengdu and established the Daxi regime. So, 52 thousand silver and thousands of servants were sent to build a magnificent temple called "Sage Hall"; A poem monument was set up, and Zhang carved his own poem on the stone. Sculpting the portrait of Zhang Yazi and his family, worshiping Wenchang as Taizu Gao and taking Wenchang Temple as Zhangjia Temple. After the death of King Zhang of the Great West, the local people made a statue of him in the Qiqu Mountain wind tunnel, with a green robe and a golden face, which was extremely powerful and the incense lasted for more than 300 years. Later in the early years of Qianlong, the temple was destroyed by local officials. Later, someone rebuilt Zhang's statue, but it was destroyed by officials. After many repetitions, the present statue has only been reshaped in recent years.

Out of reverence for the Queen Mother of the West, Zitong people called Zhang's temple in Qiqu Mountain "Ancestral Temple" or "Great Temple" to hide people's eyes and ears. Zitong people once formed a peasant uprising team in the early Qing Dynasty, which was called "Crossing the Road". Under the disguise of God, they gather in front of Zhang's statue every year to worship and pray for the blessing of ghosts. In fact, they rebelled by following the example of Zhang and Chu, forming a branch of the peasant uprising faction in Sichuan and Chu. The peasant uprising in northern Sichuan in Qing Dynasty lasted for more than 200 years, and one of its roots was actually inspired by Zhang's image. People's hero worship of Zhang can be seen.

Is history like this?

What is history? Obviously, we can't draw a conclusion simply by talking about it. Because of this, we can also boldly doubt Mr. Lu Xun's point of view. It is impossible to draw a conclusion from a sentence in that historical period, even if he is a great man. Of course, we don't want to deny that Zhang killed people in Chengdu and Sichuan. We admit that he killed many people. Not to rehabilitate him. If this is the case, it would be wrong. We just think that it is unreasonable to blame Zhang for the reality of Sichuan-Chongqing population desert in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Zhang moved to Huguang and went west to Sichuan, with the intention of making a difference based in Sichuan. 1664 After Li Zicheng captured Beijing on March 17th, Zhang captured Chengdu on the 9th day of August. At that time, the walls of Chengdu were strong, and it would not take long to attack at first. So Zhang ordered the troops to dig holes and tunnels in secret places outside the city, dig out the roots of the city wall and bury gunpowder. Bamboo poles are used to pierce bamboo joints, and the poles are connected together. There was a long fuse inside, which was lit quietly and exploded through the city wall before entering Chengdu. Later, it announced the establishment of the Daxi regime.

After the establishment of the new regime, the first thing must be to consolidate the regime, so it is inevitable that officials in Chengdu were killed before the Ming Dynasty. It is also possible to order a three-day massacre. Three days later, there was a small killing every day, which was described in the story of the holy religion entering Sichuan written by European missionaries Reese and Evans. However, we don't think that Zhang's massacre was purposeless, but just for fun. All the people who were killed had their own reasons. Qin Shihuang killed Zhao Bing for fear of rebellion, while Mongols killed Han Chinese for genocide. It is an unwritten law in the history of the world to establish prestige by killing people and not let the enemy strike back. Later, it was the Qingyang Palace that killed the scholars, which was the same reason. "Shu is not chaotic, the world is chaotic first, the world is not cured, and Shu has been cured." Sichuan has developed culture and thought since ancient times, and people have a strong sense of self and resistance. Zhang realized the threat of intellectuals to his regime, so he replayed a costume drama in which Qin Shihuang "ruined Confucianism". According to official records, more than 17000 gifted scholars were killed. As for the killing of monks and craftsmen, it is also related to this. It can be seen that Zhang's massacre was only to consolidate his regime. Of course, Zhang must have other killings, but we think these are the main reasons for the massacre. However, is this how Zhang slaughtered the city? Obviously not. Of course, we are not defending Zhang's murder, nor are we advocating the justice of murder. We also admit that Zhang has caused great damage to Chengdu and even Sichuan, especially cultural damage.

However, history is cruel. This is often a great achievement. As we all know, the reasons for the large population decline are as follows: first, the destruction of natural disasters, often a big flood or drought can cause hundreds or even millions of deaths; Secondly, the war, the war in the late Ming Dynasty, the soldiers and civilians are victims of the war! Decades of war have caused millions of deaths, which is a common occurrence in history! Thirdly, plague often occurs in or after major natural disasters and wars, with a rapid outbreak and a sharp increase in deaths.

Therefore, no matter how recorded in the history books, to sum up, the main reason for Chengdu's reality is the war and natural disasters during the regime change, but the climate in Chengdu is unlikely. Plague, as an accessory of war, should also have a share. But man-made slaughter is definitely not the main reason! It is obviously unfair to attribute all this to the Zhang Massacre. The truth should be the combination of years of melee, natural disasters, plagues, hunger and other factors, which has turned the beautiful and rich land of abundance into a hell on earth.