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[Understand the life of Wu Sangui, the King of Pingxi, who was angry for his beloved, in one breath. History of the Qing Dynasty Wu Sangui]

He was a key figure influencing the course of history in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and his historical evaluation is still a controversial topic. Some people say that he lost his temper for his beloved, and ended up without a king, father, home, or country.

Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he resolutely resisted the Qing Dynasty. After he was crowned king, he ruled Yunnan and established a great unity with the Qing Dynasty. He was the last heterosexual vassal king in Chinese history, Wu Sangui, the King of Pingxi who loved both the country and the beauty.

Wu Sangui came from a military family in western Liaoning. His father, Wu Xiang, was the general of Jinzhou during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, and his uncle was the general Wu Dashou who guarded Jinzhou.

In 1627, Wu Sangui was appreciated by Dong Qichang, the Minister of Rites of Nanjing, and became a military candidate. After that, he followed his father and uncle to guard Liaoxi. The young Wu Sangui was both civil and military, brave and brave, and had great prestige in the army. In 1630, Wu Sangui was ordered to lead 500 cavalrymen out of the camp to scout the Qing army, but was surrounded by tens of thousands of Qing troops.

Wu Sangui failed to ask Zu Dashou for troops, so he personally led more than 20 servants out of the city to rescue. He led the way and charged into the encirclement of the Qing army, showing extraordinary bravery. He shot an arrow at the leader of the Qing army, and when he was about to take his head, he was suddenly stabbed in the nose by the leader with a short knife.

Wu Sangui cut off his hand without hesitation, regardless of the pain, and then tore off his face to unite with his father Wu Xiang, and led the army to break out and return to the city. The whole army was shocked by this battle, and Zu Dashou personally recommended him for credit.

Wu Sangui was promoted to guerrilla general, and this battle made him famous. Huang Taiji also praised him with emotion: "If the Wu family had this man, there would be no need to worry about the world." Wu Sangui was just 18 years old that year. From then on, Wu Sangui traveled all over Liaoxi. At the age of 27, he was promoted to the general of Ningyuan militia for his merits, becoming the youngest general in the Ming army.

In 1641, the Ming army was defeated in the Battle of Songjin, and its commander Hong Chengchou was captured. Zu Dashou, who was trapped in Jinzhou, was also forced to surrender, and only Wu Sangui led his army to break out.

After that, Huang Taiji and Zu Dashou kept writing letters to persuade him to surrender, but he ignored them. In 1643, the Qing army broke through all the sieges around Ningyuan. Then they bypassed Inner Mongolia and raided the capital.

Wu Sangui was highly regarded by Chongzhen for leading his army to defend the emperor. He was granted the imperial sword every time. The next year, Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, raised an army in Shaanxi and marched all the way to Beijing. Chongzhen conferred Wu Sangui the title of Pingxi Bo and ordered him to rush to Beijing to defend the emperor.

But when Wu Sangui led his army to Tangshan, Beijing had already fallen and Chongzhen hanged himself. On the second day of the fall, Li Zicheng sent people to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender and brought 4 taels of silver and food to reward Wu's army.

After the Jiashen Incident, Wu Sangui lost his support and had to agree to surrender. Li Zicheng then sent Tang Tong to take over Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui led his army to Beijing to pay homage to Li Zicheng. However, Wu Sangui received bad news one after another on his way to Beijing. First, his property in Beijing was confiscated, and then his father Wu Xiang was imprisoned and tortured. Finally, when he heard that his concubine Chen Yuanyuan was forcibly taken by Li Zicheng's men, he immediately ordered his horse to turn around and return to Shanhaiguan.

This incident was later called "the whole army wept bitterly, and the rage for the beauty" by later generations. After Wu Sangui returned to Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng realized the seriousness of the problem and sent people to persuade him again, but Wu Sangui personally wrote a farewell letter to his father Wu Xiang, announcing a complete break with Li Zicheng, and killed one of the two envoys and then released them.

Li Zicheng was furious when he read the letter Wu Sangui wrote to his father Wu Xiang, and personally led his army to attack Shanhaiguan. Wu Sangui knew that it would be difficult to sustain the situation with only an isolated city of Shanhaiguan and 5 Guanning cavalry. There were the Dashun peasant army in front and the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty behind. There were tigers roaring at the front gate and wolves howling at the back gate.

So Wu Sangui decided to cooperate with the Qing army. He wrote a letter to Dorgon personally and led his army into the pass under the banner of revenge for Emperor Chongzhen. In the end, Wu Sangui and the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng in the Battle of Yipanshi. After the defeat, Li Zicheng retreated to Yongping and sent people to negotiate peace with Wu Sangui. He promised to hand over Prince Ming and Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui guaranteed that Li Zicheng would return to BJ smoothly.

But Dorgon saw through Li Zicheng's intention. He immediately named Wu Sangui the King of Pingxi, ordered him to be the vanguard, and transferred 1 cavalry and infantry to him, ordering him to immediately lead an army to pursue Li Zicheng.

So when Wu's army came to the city again, Li Zicheng ordered Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang and his family of 14 to be beheaded and then evacuated Beijing. When Wu Sangui was about to lead his troops into the city, Dorgon ordered him not to enter the city, but to lead his troops to bypass Beijing and pursue Li Zicheng to the west.

When the Qing army entered Beijing and occupied the Forbidden City, the people of Beijing suddenly realized that Wu Sangui had defected to the Qing army and became the King of Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty.

Dorgon then moved Emperor Shunzhi and the capital from Shengjing to BJ, and Wu Sangui pursued Li Zicheng's army for eight months and completely wiped out Li Zicheng's army in Jiangxi, making great military achievements for the Qing Dynasty.

In 1651, the Qing court dispatched Wu Sangui to Sichuan to suppress the Yongli Emperor Zhu Youlang. Wu Sangui used both suppression and appeasement and quickly captured Sichuan, reaching Yunnan and Guizhou, and approaching the Yongli Emperor's capital Kunming.

Emperor Yongli had no choice but to flee to Burma with his remaining troops. In 1659, Wu Sangui completely conquered Yunnan, destroyed the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and even allowed him to establish a vassal government in Yunnan and proclaim himself king.

A year later, the Qing court issued another decree that the governors-general of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces should be under his control, and that he should appoint and dismiss civil and military officials in the two provinces, and decide on financial matters. The Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of War were not allowed to interfere.

Secondly, Wu Sangui was also named the consort of Princess Heshuo Kejing, and was known as the Grand Tutor of Heshuo Kejing and the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince. Wu Sangui himself was stationed in Yunnan, and his power and prestige reached their peak.

In 1661, after Emperor Kangxi ascended the throne, he believed that Yunnan's military expenditure was too high, so he asked the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to discuss and prepare to reduce the army. In order to save his army, Wu Sangui applied to go to Burma, killed Emperor Yongli, and captured him in Kunming and hanged him the following year.

However, the young and promising Emperor Kangxi did not allow Wu Sangui to become the King of Pingxi who ruled Yunnan for generations. In the following years, he began to gradually take back his titles of General Pingxi, Yixun, and financial and personnel powers.

In 1673, Emperor Kangxi believed that Wu Sangui would rebel if he withdrew or not, so he decided to order the withdrawal of the vassal states. In November of that year, Wu Sangui killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, and proclaimed himself the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World, proposing to restore the Ming Dynasty and fight against the invaders. He joined forces with Geng Jingzhong, the Prince of Jingnan in Fujian, and Shang Zhixin, the Prince of Pingnan in Guangdong, to start a rebellion.

It took Wu Sangui only 9 months to occupy 11 provinces in the south and west. However, Wu Sangui, who had won victory after victory, suddenly stationed himself in Yuezhou, Hunan, neither heading north nor east, which gave Kangxi time to catch his breath.

So he quickly deployed his troops and defeated Wu Sangui's armies one after another. In 1678, Wu Sangui, who was already 67 years old, proclaimed himself emperor in Hengzhou, named the country Zhou, established the reign title Zhaowu, and even removed all civil and military officials.

Wu Sangui died of a serious illness five months later, and his grandson Wu Shifan succeeded him. In 5, he was defeated by the Qing army and committed suicide by taking poison. The entire Wu family was executed, and Wu Sangui's body was dug up and broken into pieces.

[Understand the Qing emperor who was tormented by his sons all his life in one breath - Kangxi Qing Dynasty History Kangxi]

He ascended the throne at a young age, his parents died early, he pacified the Three Feudatories, recovered Taiwan, expelled the Russian Empire, and cleared the Junggars. He reigned for 61 years and created the prosperous Kangxi and Qianlong eras. However, in his later years, he fell into the sadness of the struggle between father and son.

So what major events did Kangxi accomplish in his life? Why did nine sons compete for the throne in his later years? In this video, let us review Kangxi's life in chronological order.

In 1654, Aixinjueluo Xuanye was born in Jingren Palace of the Forbidden City in northern Beijing. He was the third son of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. Soon after Xuanye was born, he was sent out of the palace to be raised to avoid smallpox. He was not sent back to the palace until he recovered from smallpox.

He did not receive much love from his parents, which made Kangxi feel very regretful in the future. Xuanye's mother Tong Jia was just an unfavored concubine at the time, and his father even focused all his attention on Dong Efei.

Four years after Dong E's death, Emperor Shunzhi died of smallpox. At that time, all of Shunzhi's sons were very young, and missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell suggested choosing Xuanye as the heir because he had been infected with smallpox and was immune to it.

Thus, Xuanye, who was only 8 years old, ascended the throne and began the reign of Emperor Kangxi.

Emperor Kangxi was assisted by four ministers, Sony, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi. Two years later, the Empress Dowager Tong Jia also predicted that her mother could not afford her studies, so she took care of her day and night and tried her own medicine, but she failed to save her mother's life.

Xuanye was very sad, he kept vigil day and night, refused to eat or drink, and cried non-stop. Fortunately, there was the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang who taught him academically. Under the careful education of his grandmother, the young Xuanye grew up to be a studious and wise emperor.

Among the four regents at the time, Oboi was the most domineering. After Sony died of illness in 1667, the 14-year-old Kangxi took over the government, but Oboi did not make any move to give up power.

Another regent, Suksaha, offered to resign, but before the emperor could make a statement, Oboi fabricated a long list of charges against Suksaha and sentenced him to death. Kangxi firmly opposed it, but Oboi insisted on his own way and eventually executed Suksaha. Since then, Oboi's arrogance has become more powerful, which made Kangxi very angry with him.

The emperor and his ministers fought overtly and covertly, neither of them giving in. In order to overthrow Oboi, Kangxi trained guards in the palace to perform Buku drama to deceive people. In 1669, Kangxi captured Oboi by his own wisdom and ordered the guards to take him down on the spot. He then listed 30 major crimes of Oboi, eradicated Oboi's followers, and completely took control of the government.

After eliminating Oboi, Kangxi ordered the rectification of the administration, stopped the enclosure of land, restored the cabinet and the Hanlin Academy, and prohibited the purchase of innocent people as slaves. But Kangxi soon faced the biggest crisis since he took power - the Three Feudatories.

The so-called Three Feudatories refer to Shang Kexi, the Prince of Pingnan, Geng Jingzhong, the Prince of Jingnan, and Wu Sangui, the Prince of Pingxi. They were stationed in Fujian, Guangdong, and Yunnan respectively. Among them, Wu Sangui was the strongest and had made the greatest contributions. In order to win over Wu Sangui, the Qing Dynasty also married Huang Taiji's youngest daughter to Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong.

In 1673, Shang Kexi, the Prince of Pingnan, returned to Liaodong on his own because of a disagreement with his son. Emperor Kangxi took the opportunity to ask him to withdraw his fiefdom. Soon, Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong also requested to withdraw their fiefdoms, which was naturally also a test of the Qing court.

Kangxi believed that Wu Sangui would rebel sooner or later, so he ordered Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong to withdraw from the feudal system. When the envoys went to take over, Wu Sangui indeed started a rebellion and proclaimed himself King of Zhou. Geng Jingzhong also responded by raising an army and quickly swept across Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang and other places.

Kangxi was caught off guard. However, Wu Sangui was already old at this time, and although his military strength was at its peak, he hesitated to move forward.

Kangxi ordered Shang Zhixin to be poisoned, and sent several armies to counterattack Wu Sangui, gradually recovering the lost territory. In 1677, Shang Zhixin surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Wu Sangui was at the end of his rope, and he ascended the throne the following year. He died of a sudden illness soon after. His grandson Wu Shifan committed suicide after being defeated in battle, and Shang Zhixin, Geng Jingzhong and others were also executed by the Qing court one after another. The Three Feudatories Rebellion was quelled.

After the Three Feudatories Rebellion was completely quelled, the Navy Governor Shi Lang led 2 naval forces and 300 warships to Taiwan, and annihilated the elite of the Ming Zheng army in the Battle of Penghu. Zheng Keshuang, the grandson of Zheng Chenggong, surrendered, and Taiwan was pacified. The Qing Dynasty established one prefecture and three counties in Taiwan, bringing Taiwan under the jurisdiction of the central dynasty.

While pacifying Taiwan, Kangxi did not forget that there was a powerful and formidable neighbor to the north of the Qing Dynasty - Russia. Since the 17th century, the Tsarist Russia has been expanding eastward, encroaching on the Longheijiang River Basin and establishing urban strongholds.

In 1680, Emperor Kangxi expelled the Russian invaders and burned down the strongholds built by the Russians, leaving only the isolated city of Yaksa. However, the Russians went back on their word and continued to plunder the area, and were driven away by the Qing army.

Two years later, the Russian Empire returned and Emperor Kangxi sent troops to besiege Yaksa. Regent Sophia, who was far away in Komos, ordered the withdrawal of troops and demarcated the border with the Qing Dynasty in 1689, signing the Treaty of Nerchinsk.

After the threat from Tsarist Russia was resolved, the power of the Junggar tribe gradually grew stronger. The Junggar leader Galdan unified the Khalkha Mongols in the northern desert, and the three Khalkha tribes asked Emperor Kangxi for help.

Galdan led his army to the south of the desert, and Kangxi personally led two armies to attack Galdan. Galdan was defeated and fled back to his hometown. In 1695, Galdan returned and attacked Khalkha again.

Kangxi sent 10 troops to attack Galdan in three directions. Galdan's brother cooperated with the Qing court, so Galdan was attacked from all sides. The following year, Galdan died of a sudden illness.

When Kangxi returned from his first expedition against Galdan, he suddenly fell ill and Crown Prince Yinreng was taking care of him. The crown prince took note of his father's illness without showing any concern, which made Kangxi very dissatisfied and laid the seeds for the future fight for the throne among the nine sons.

The so-called Nine Princes' Struggle for the Crown Prince position refers to the fierce political struggle among the eldest prince Yinzhi, the second prince Yinreng, the third prince Yinzhi, the fourth prince Yinzhen, the eighth prince Yinsi, the ninth prince Yin'er, the twelfth prince Yinluo, the thirteenth prince Yinxiang, and the fourteenth prince Yinzhen for the position of crown prince.

Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, each monarch did not directly designate an heir upon his death, but rather had his successor nominated by the princes and nobles. After Kangxi took power, he wanted to follow the Han system and appointed Yinreng, born to Empress Hesheli, as the crown prince.

However, as Yinreng grew older, his relationship with Kangxi became increasingly strained. In 1698, Kangxi conferred titles on the eldest prince Yinzhi and others and allowed them to participate in the management of state affairs, which made Crown Prince Yinreng feel threatened.