User:Zrnstnsr/Sack of Yangzhou
| Sack of Yangzhou | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Southern Ming | Qing dynasty | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Shi Kefa  Liu Zhaoji † | Dodo | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| unknwon | unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| unknown | unknown | ||||||||
The Sack of Yangzhou or 10 days of Yangzhou saw Qing dynasty's capture of Yangzhou. After fall of the city on 20 May, 1645, Qing troops massacred about 480,000 citizens in Yangzhou, which lasted for ten days. Zhu Yousong, the Hongguang emperor of Southern Ming dynasty, was tackled in Wuhu soon after, marking the end of Hongguang court.
Background
On 6 June, 1644, Qing armies entered
Qing's military campaigns against Shun left Southern Ming peace for about a year, but the south court failed to take over areas on the south of
Zhu Yousong's throne was relied on four generals stationing to the north of
Prelude
In April 1645,
On the other hand, on 1 April,
Shi Kefa was unable to deal with both enemies. According to Ying Tingji, Shi's aide, once Shi ordered three times to Ying's armies in
Fall of Yangzhou
Qing troops encamped 20 li away from Yangzhou on 12 May, and reached the city on the next day. Shi Kefang called for reinforcements with no responds. At this moment, only armies of Liu Zhaoji and Zhongguan Ballation led by He Gang was in Yangzhou, depicting their shortage of strength. Qing did not start attacking since their cannons were on way, and they attempted to induce Shi to surrender, who rejected. On 16 May, Li Qifeng and Gao Qifeng, military commanders of Gansu, led their 4,000 troops into Yangzhou, but they aimed to seize Shi and surrender to Qing with Yangzhou. Shi said, "Here is where I'm going to die, but what are you going to do? If you desire wealth and rank, just do what you want to do." Li and Gao then surrendered to Qing along with Hu Shangyou, Han Shangliang, who are from Sichuan, on the next day. When Qing troops just reached Yangzhou, Liu Zhaoji suggested Shi fight with them immediately, but Shi said "We can wait for their dismise." As Ying Tingji wrote:
The west gate of Yangzhou was built on low terrain, but there were high terrain outside the city. And tombs of House Li from Xinghua set there, so there were continuous trees from outside to inside. Generals talked about it many times to Shi, but he did not cut them off since he thought they protected House Li. He also said that he would guard the west gate himself ever since generals considered the place dangerous.
On the night of 19 May, Qing troops broke the wall with Hongyipao, and numerous soldiers climbed on the wall. Shi was unable to support and Yangzhou fell on the next day. Liu Zhaoji and He Gang was killed. Shi was persuaded to surrender, but he rejected and was executed thereafter.
Sack
Dodo ordered to massacre the city, for their persuation of surrender was rejected, after Qing's capture of Yangzhou. His edict said:
Our troops reached near Yangzhou before long, while people in the city defended with their fortifications. I valued lives of people here and could not tolerate a war, so I inculcated them with the consequences. But for several days they ended with rejection, so we attacked, looted and massacred the city, which was against my will. If any city refused to surrender, it would be a second Yangzhou.
All of citizens in Yangzhou were massacred, except for those who fled before the fall and those who hid perfectly. Wang Xiuchu wrote Record of Yangzhou's 10 days, recording sack in Yangzhou from 20 May to 29 May. As he wrote in 22 May:
Tens of, or hundreds of people were begging for their lives with crying and calling for help, where Qing troops were yelling and wielding their weapons. When met a soldier, however many citizens would bow their heads and prostrate. None of them dared to escape though they were going to die. As for children, I can only describe hundreds of mouth crying, shaking the earth. Time passing to noon, there were only more and more killing and looting, and piles of bodies were higher and higher. One would be unable not only to hear such sound, but see such a scene.
It was until 26 May that Qing put its officials into Yangzhou, but the sack lasted for another three days. According to Wang, the list of burning bodies indicates death toll of over 800,000, while Ji Liuqi indicated that there had been 480,000 citizens living in Yangzhou.
Aftermath
After the fall of Yangzhou, Dodo reached on the north of
On 1 July, Zhu Changfang, Prince of Lu, assumed the regent in Hangzhou, but he was also frightened and decided to surrender to Qing. Qing then captured Hangzhou on 7 July and brought both Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changfang back to Beijing, who would be executed on the next year.