The last opportunity to resist the Qing Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty was unfortunately not cherished.

I had the opportunity to recover Daming and rebuild Gankun, but I failed to cherish it and regretted it.

The northern expedition to Nanjing to seize the world was the best opportunity left by God for Zheng Chenggong, but unfortunately he didn't seize it.

Dreams are only one step away.

1644, the Ming dynasty collapsed under the impact of the peasant army. Then, the Qing army took the opportunity to enter the customs, quickly occupied the north, and began the non-stop road of unifying the world.

After Chongzhen hanged himself, Zhu Yousong, the southern axe king, ascended the throne in Nanjing and established the Nanming regime. But by this time, the Qing dynasty had strangled the peasant army, and the momentum was very strong. Then the Qing army took strategic measures to eliminate the axe king regime at 1645. The counter-offensive of the Ming Dynasty failed again.

After the demise of Axe King's regime, Tang Wang proclaimed himself emperor in Fuzhou and took over the banner of anti-Qing. Although the territory was reduced to Fujian and Zhejiang provinces by the Qing army, Zheng Zhilong, the king of Fujian and Zhejiang in the Tang Dynasty, had the largest naval force in the world at that time and was the master of East Asian waters.

Unfortunately, from beginning to end, Zheng Zhilong is using the thinking of businessmen. Seeing that the Qing Dynasty was in full swing, he voluntarily surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which was a great blow to Nan Ming, especially to Tang Wang.

Equally sad is his son Zheng Chenggong.

This warm-blooded young man finally chose to commit himself to the country between loyalty and filial piety, even though Nan Ming was still alive. I tried to persuade my father, but it didn't help, so I broke with my father resolutely, and my uncle Zheng Zhibao took Zheng's old staff and continued to fight against the Qing Dynasty in the southeast coast.

At this time, after destroying the Tang Wang regime, the Qing army quickly strangled Wang Gui and other regimes, and the whole territory of Jiangnan basically fell.

Fortunately, due to the long-term weakness of nomadic people and navy in the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong, who was active in the southeast coast, was helpless in the Qing Dynasty.

Compared with the helplessness of the Qing dynasty, Zheng Chenggong was quite active and frequently captured the weak coastal defense strongholds of the Qing army.

Tongan occupied 1648, Xiaoyun occupied 1649, Zhangzhou occupied 1652 and 1654, Zhoushan occupied 1655, Jieyang, Puning, Chenghai and Min 'an occupied/kloc-. Gradually develop Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong sea areas into anti-Qing base areas. At this time, Zheng Chenggong became the greatest hope of Ming Dynasty adherents.

Relying on the strong appeal of the masses and the strong support of the coastal people, Zheng Chenggong gradually developed and expanded. So he was full of ambition and set his goal at capturing Nanjing.

Nanjing, the hometown of the Six Dynasties and the second capital of the Ming Dynasty, is priceless. Moreover, the occupation of Nanjing cut off the connection between Jiangnan and the north of Qing Dynasty. Two hundred years later, by attacking Nanjing, the British army made the arrogant Daoguang bow down and make peace. Moreover, Nanjing's terrain is dangerous, and the occupation of Nanjing can control half of the country and use it as a springboard to continue northward.

1658, Zheng Chenggong took the opportunity of Wang Gui, the main force of the Qing army, to attack Nanjing from Zhoushan, but was hit by a typhoon, and the attack plan ran aground.

1659, Zheng Chenggong once again made a northern expedition, using more than 3,000 large and small ships and 65,438+10,000 horses. First, capture Dinghai, destroy the Qing navy, burn more than 100 ships, and destroy the Qing navy. Then contact the former generals all the way, cross Wusongkou, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and other places, and finally reach the gates of Nanjing.

At that time, Zheng Jun was aggressive and imperative, but the Qing army had just lost the battle and its morale was low. Nanjing's victory seems to summon Zheng Chenggong.

However, after a month-long confrontation, Zheng Chenggong was defeated and retreated to the south, losing an excellent opportunity to save Daming. So, what caused all this?

Lack of personality

Zheng Chenggong is very enthusiastic, patriotic and good at leading troops and doing business. He is a powerful figure.

However, his family environment and acquired experience created his imperfect character.

Maybe it wasn't obvious at the time. But success or failure often depends on small details that we don't pay attention to:

You underestimated the enemy before you met him. Maybe this is the key to Zheng Chenggong.

However, Zheng Chenggong cannot be blamed. At that time, in the eyes of the Han people, the Qing dynasty was always a barbaric upstart, and their level could not be compared with that of the Han people. In the eyes of the Han people, their success is also opportunistic and not worrying.

As we all know, it was no accident that the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and seized the world. Their route has been carefully checked. Including shouting the slogan of revenge for Chongzhen, netting Wu Sangui and other generals and letting them quickly occupy the Central Plains.

In contrast, Zheng Chenggong did a poor job in this respect. Moreover, judging from the performance in this later period, they are full of high confidence and blind contempt for the Qing army.

Don't listen to your subordinates. For the Ming generals before the Qing Dynasty, such as Wu Sangui and others, they still attached great importance to it, so these pawns worked hard and made great contributions to the reunification of the Qing Dynasty.

In contrast, Zheng Chenggong is somewhat unsatisfactory.

First of all, after the occupation of Guazhou, his subordinate Zhang Huangyan suggested that Indiana Jones attack Nanjing quickly on land, but Zheng Chenggong insisted on taking the waterway, and he did it slowly and steadily.

After all, the Ming navy was basically wiped out, and no one on the water could disturb themselves. As we all know, from the Yangtze estuary to Nanjing, we have to go upstream all the way, and the marching speed can't be slower. So, Zhang Huangyan, the pioneer of the water army, waited for a few days on the Nanjing River before Zheng Chenggong came. These days are not long, but in the fleeting battlefield, their role is immeasurable. In fact, recently, the Qing army strengthened the defense in Nanjing, and the balance of war began to tilt.

Self-righteous. On July 12, Zheng Chenggong officially arrived in Nanjing with more than 65,438+10,000 troops and thousands of warships. After landing, we set up 83rd Battalion in Taiping, Guanyin, Ce Shen, Jinchuan, Zhongfu, Yifeng and Jiangdong, cut off traffic, set up artillery and began to attack the city. However, when everything was in order, the siege did not attack, or even the siege did not die, which gave the Qing Dynasty a precious chance to breathe and calmly defend itself. His idea is to let the Qing army surrender and bring bloodless victory with his prestige. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong began to wait with confidence. As a result, the Nanjing city defense is getting stronger and stronger, and its own strength is getting thinner and thinner.

narrow-minded

This often appears in the history of Zheng Chenggong's struggle. At first, Li Dingguo of Li Yong's regime repeatedly invited Zheng Chenggong to attack the Qing army from east to west, but Zheng Chenggong was indifferent.

In the final analysis, an important reason for the successive downfall of Nanming is infighting. Everyone feels that they are the masters of the world, and it is only natural that the cottage will be destroyed. This lack of overall situation has also affected loyal and self-respecting generals. Once the counterattack is successful, who listens to whom?

Therefore, Zheng Chenggong was only late after watching Li Yong fall, which can't be said to be a big mistake. Moreover, the opposition with Shi Lang in the later period directly led to the fall of Shi Lang and weakened its own strength. With Zheng Chenggong's own strength, I don't know how much effort it takes to save the world.

There are omissions in preparing for war.

The first typhoon lost 8,000 people. After struggling in the southeast coast for so many years, in the face of bad weather, it still caused such heavy casualties, which seems a bit like capsizing in a sewer. Moreover, this typhoon directly led to the failure of his first northern expedition.

If the first kind of sudden weather situation is understandable, then the second kind of misjudgment of Nanjing river water situation is unforgivable. Zheng's success in studying in Nanjing, as the ultimate goal of the Northern Expedition, should be based on sizing up the situation. But the reality is that Zheng Jun was overwhelmed by the complicated hydrological conditions in Nanjing, and there were casualties before the war. It can be said that in addition to Zheng Chenggong's personal factors, the non-combat attrition caused by these unpredictable hydrology has also become a major driver of Zheng Jun's failure.

It's just that the water army is not conducive to siege This should be the final factor of Zheng Chenggong's failure.

This kind of anti-Qing guerrilla active at sea is based on ships, and its development is naturally the attribute of water war. The Japanese helmet and sword played a great role in the water landing war, but in the face of Nanjing with thick walls, Zheng Jun was speechless. Zheng Chenggong delayed the attack on Nanjing mainly because of the lack of infantry and siege equipment. It is obviously not enough to rely on a few captured red cannons.

Moreover, judging from the situation of siege, the distance of troops camping is not conducive to mutual defense, which also led to Zheng's siege of Nanjing, which led to a quick decision when the Qing army counterattacked in the later period.

Then there is Zheng Jun's fighting capacity.

For a long time, weak combat effectiveness has been Zheng Chenggong's heart disease. At first, it collapsed before receiving the enemy's defense. Later, after training and consolidation, it was a little better, but in the face of the new Qing army, Zheng Jun's combat effectiveness was still dwarfed.

Sure enough, in the long-term consumption and rapid counterattack of the Qing army, Zheng Jun retreated hastily again.

There is a strategic gap

There is no unified operational concept.

After all, Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition was a military adventure, similar to Wu Jun's entry into Ying. It's a pity that such a good idea was delayed by myself.

Throughout the process of Zheng Chenggong's northern expedition, we can find that Zheng Chenggong lacked comprehensive strategic considerations, wiped out the navy of the Qing army, recovered many counties and surrendered many generals. However, he made many mistakes when he captured Nanjing. As a military commander, he certainly understands the great value of Nanjing, so the army is under pressure. However, when it was learned that there were rebels surrendering in the upper reaches of Wuhu at the gate of Nanjing, the striker Zhang Huangyan was immediately sent to surrender, delaying the attack on Nanjing again. As the saying goes, hard work will kill you. Such self-consumption led to the final failure of the Nanjing War.

Judging from the execution of tactics, Zheng Chenggong always cares about the gains and losses of one city and one place. He wants to be steady step by step, but he is not sure about the overall situation. You know, in Jiangnan at that time, people's hearts were floating. As long as Zheng Chenggong's army quickly occupied an important place, it was basically in a state of response. So his goal should be to capture Nanjing, consolidate the southeast, and then prepare to capture the world, which Zheng Chenggong basically ignored.

Therefore, I think that if Zheng Chenggong can quickly occupy Nanjing, eliminate the influence of the Qing Dynasty in Jiangnan as soon as possible, and welcome a vassal king, maybe other places in Jiangnan can also respond and set up a court in Jiangnan to fight against the Qing Dynasty again. In other words, while occupying Nanjing, a strange soldier went north along the coastline and landed in Tianjin or Northeast China, which brought multi-line operations to the Qing Dynasty. Maybe history is another story.

Unfortunately, history has no ifs. We can only watch Nanming disintegrate one by one in the twilight and finally turn to ashes.

Many people prefer to believe that the success of the Northern Expedition is the result of insufficient strength, but it is more caused by various factors.

After the failure of the Northern Expedition, Zheng Chenggong returned to the Xiamen-Zhangzhou base area again, the troops were severely weakened, and the shortage of military food began to stand out. In order to solve the logistics problem of the army and to have a long-term and stable anti-Qing base area, Zheng Chenggong decided to take refuge at the suggestion of Taiwan compatriot He Bin.

1662, crossing the strait of Dongtai Bay Province, recovering the island of Taiwan Province Province occupied by Dutch colonists for 38 years. The feat of recovering Taiwan Province made Zheng Chenggong a national hero remembered by the world.

In 684, Shi Lang, the general of the Qing army, led the army into Taiwan Province Province, and Taiwan Province Province was unified by the Qing Dynasty, thus ending Zheng's great cause of opposing the Qing Dynasty and regaining sight.