User:Zrnstnsr/Sack of Yangzhou

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 Beijing after decisive victory at Shanhai Pass. Rebellions then broke out in Shanxi, Shandong and southern Zhili, making Qing take over these districts easily. Qing then continued to attack Shanxi controlled by Shun, its capital Taiyuan falling on 1 November. Dorgun, Qing's de facto ruler, had planned to attack Shun and Southern Ming concurrently, issuing an edict listing Southern Ming's guilts on 22 November, while Shun's counteroffensive in Huaiqing Fu (whose capital is present-day Qinyang) changed his plan. Dorgun ordered both armies, led by Ajige and Dodo, to assault Shun. Dodo won Battle of Tong Pass before capturing Xi'an on 14 February, and was ordered to conquer Southern Ming thereafter.

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 Yellow River, such as Henan and Shandong, on which Qing deployed few troops. It took 2 months for Nanjing to proclaim another emperor, and it was until 19 June that Zhu Yousong, known as Hongguang Emperor, ascended to the throne. After his ascension, the court decided to "suppress bandits together with aliens"(聯虜平寇). Even though Dorgun sent a letter on 29 August, urging the court to surrender and threatening to subjugate Ming together with Shun, Shi Kefa, Senior Grand Secretary and Ministry of War, replied humblely and begging for union. The court then sent its diplomatic corps led by Zuo Maodi to Qing, which reached Beijing on 10 November. The corps failed deservedly, and Zuo was seized, who would be executed in 1645.

Zhu Yousong's throne was relied on four generals stationing to the north of Yangtze River, known as Four Towns north of Yangtze, and the court was unable to control them. Gao Jie, one of the four towns, attempted to launch a northern expedition but was ambushed and killed at Suizhou (present-day Shangqiu).

Prelude
In April 1645, Li Zicheng entered Hubei and was approaching Wuchang, frightening Zuo Liangyu, Marquess Ningnan and general of Hubei, who decided to fled east. Zuo arose his rebellion on 19 April, claiming to exile Ma Shiying, Grand Secretary of the court, and led his army east after massacring Wuchang. He entered Jiujiang and seized Yuan Jixian, viceroy of Jiujiang, on 26 April. Zuo died three days later and his son, Zuo Menggeng, inherited and continued to march east, capturing Anqing and threatening Dangtu.

On the other hand, on 1 April, Dodo left Xi'an and moved to Guide. He left Guide on 30 April and captured Sizhou, crossing Huai River at the same night.

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 Gaoyou. They were firstly ordered to transport supplies to Pukou to help suppress Zuo's rebellion in the morning; and then were ordered to return back to Yangzhou, waiting for further instructions at noon; and were finally ordered to move to Tianchang to save Xuyi. Shi went to Tianchang on 6 May and sought for reinforcements to Xuyi, but was reported that Xuyi had surrendered, ending with fleeing back to Yangzhou helter-skelter. At this momemt, Shi lost control of most of his armies. Armies of Liu Liangzuo, another general of the Four Towns, and former Gao Jie surrendered on 14 May.

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 Yangtze River on 29 May. He then crossed Yangtze where is 15 li west of Guazhou on 2 June. Zhu Yousong was frightened and fled out with Ma Shiying and several bureaucrats. Qing troops then entered Nanjing on 10 June. Zhu Yousong fled to Wuhu, where Huang Degong, one of the Four Towns, guarded. However, his armies betrayed him, killed him and brought Zhu Yousong to Qing on 21 June, marking the end of Hongguang court.

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.