If you are in the scene of the ancient massacre, how can you ensure that you can survive successfully?
Many people have misunderstandings about the massacre, thinking that in that environment, as long as they find a hidden place to hide, they can escape, but things are far from simple.
You have to be able to hide, and more importantly, you have to be able to pretend to be poor, but you can’t really be poor. It’s very difficult to grasp this scale. If you are not careful, you will be killed and become a cold name in the burning book. Wang Xiuchu, a scholar in Yangzhou in the late
Ming Dynasty, personally experienced the massacre of Yangzhou by Qing soldiers in the process of their southward March, and was one of the survivors of the incident. Afterwards, with grief and indignation, he wrote “Yangzhou Massacre Experience” (also known as “Ten Diaries of Yangzhou”), which recorded in detail the whole process of the massacre he experienced. Its bloody and cruel degree is really shocking.
This 8000-word article was unknown for a long time except in the early and late Qing Dynasty. It may have been copied to Japan by the Southern Ming Dynasty. In short, according to Mr. Lu Xun, by the Guangxu period, the article was found and copied by Chinese students studying in Japan in libraries in Tokyo and other places, and was re-imported into China.
Next, let’s follow Wang Xiuchu’s memories and return to the miserable hell on earth. In the early morning of April 25
, 1645, the Qing army broke through the north gate of Yangzhou City. Before
that, a large number of refugees who fled south because of the war also entered the city. For example, Wang Xiuchu’s in-laws (brother-in-law) came to Yangzhou City in order to avoid the mutinous soldiers in Guazhou. Who would have thought, in order to avoid the south villages and towns on the soldiers and deep into the city of Yangzhou, is the beginning of a more terrible nightmare.
Because the news is not clear, and once something big happens, there are always rumors among the people. For example, some say that the Qing soldiers have entered the city, some say that it is still early, and some even say that the Qing soldiers have suffered an unprecedented defeat. Wang Xiuchu did not know where things were going.
But the streets are completely out of order.
Early in the morning, Wang Xiuchu saw a group of people who were full of hair and disheveled running south crazily. The scene frightened him so much that he grabbed one and asked what was wrong. The man was panting and could not speak. Before I could
figure it out, suddenly there were dozens of horses galloping, and the dust was everywhere, and I was very embarrassed. There was a man among them, and it was Shi Kefa, the governor of the town. It turned out that the north had been breached by the Qing army, and the officers and soldiers wanted to go out from Dongguan, but failed to break through, so they went from Nanguan instead. At that time, even the first-class generals, the news is completely impassable. At this point, Wang Xiuchu decided that the enemy soldiers had definitely entered the city.
As the saying goes, “Defeat is like a mountain falling.” The defenders on the city wall knew that the situation was over, and the Qing soldiers had climbed up from everywhere like ants, so they fled down one after another.
The city wall was narrow, and the first to go, the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, slashed at random with their swords. Under the panic, the defenders crowded each other, and some simply jumped down from the wall. In the past, the cannons placed in the town were too big, and the corridor of the wall was narrow, so the wall was built in the residential area, and a huge wooden board was placed on the wall and the new wall as a gun seat. At this time, the board has become a tool for escape, all lying on the board to climb, want to climb to the house. The schematic diagram
of the temporary increase of wooden boards and the shelving of red cannons
in Yangzhou city defense … The city defense
of Yangzhou temporarily added wooden boards to put aside the schematic diagram
of the red cannon, but the new boards were not strong, some of them turned over halfway, people fell like autumn leaves, nine times out of ten, the liver and brain were smeared on the ground, and some leg bones were pouted out. Those who were lucky enough to climb to the roof began to run on the roof ridge. There was a sound of tiles cracking, knives supporting and stones falling on the roof of the household. From the roof down to the courtyard, the guards hid in the boudoirs and cellars of the residents, and it was no use for the owners to stop them.
Wang Xiuchu went to the door to see that all the doors and windows of the residents were closed and there was no one on the street.
The army has the organization of the army, the division of areas is inevitable, the team has the division of labor of the team, and the coordination of operations is inevitable.
Massacre will not be aimless, do not talk about skills, will not grasp the small enlargement, lose things. Qing soldiers quickly implemented zoning control, allocated streets and alleys, and then proceeded to the next step. And the next step is not to kill directly. Because it is too inefficient to kill people directly and then plunder them. People have hidden their money in unexpected places, and they have to trade their money for their lives. People in
the city, people in the house, fish in the basket, meat on the board. The next thing that appeared in front of Wang Xiuchu was several Qing soldiers riding tall horses. The cavalrymen went from door to door, and although they were not far away, he did not know what they were doing. It was not until I got close that I realized that I was asking for money from door to door.
Fortunately, this group of soldiers really don’t want much, no matter how much, as long as you can take it out. Really no money, that is, holding a big knife to the face of a greeting, the tip of the knife stopped in front of the nose, did not really hurt people. However, misfortune lies in the shortness of luck. In fact, this was only caused by the fact that the newly arrived soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were not familiar with the situation. After a general visit, they found out the situation of the rich and the poor in the area, and with the guidance of the guide, their attitude changed immediately. The place where
Wang Xiuchu lives is a gathering place for the rich.
He was a wise man and had told his family to change their clothes into the appearance of a countryman. In the past, the gap between urban and rural areas was particularly large, and the difference in dress was also very large. The clothes of the country people were coarse cloth, ragged and rotten. But Wang Xiuchu’s behavior and appearance still easily betrayed him-the scholar was white and tender. He
was out on an errand when a distant Qing soldier suddenly pointed at him and said, “Catch this one in blue!” He was so frightened that he immediately jumped into the alley and ran at the fastest speed in his life. The soldier who chased him dismounted, and before his feet fell to the ground, he ran away, and the man did not chase him any more.
After sneaking home, the family members all said that this was definitely caused by the neighborhood. All the people living here are rich. If you are not poor, it will be strange if you are not slaughtered.
The family discussed that they could not stay in this place any longer and had to go to the slum.
Their judgement is correct, want money more than one round, it is one crop after another, go back and forth endlessly, you absolutely cannot let them know how much money you have after all, those who have money will die if they give less, those who have no money will die directly.
Even more terrible is the heart, there is an opportunity to revenge. A rich family was reported that his family was too rich and had many assets. The soldiers of the Qing Dynasty followed the guide to ask for money, and the rich family took out twelve thousand yuan, but they were still killed.
At this time, Wang Hsiu-chu’s eldest brother ran over and brought a definite message: “The massacre has already begun in Zhongjie!”! We can’t stay here anymore! We brothers go together, and in case of misfortune, we have no regrets if we die together.
Wang Xiuchu has several brothers, rich and poor, of which the second is the poorest, living in He Jiafen. Generally speaking, the places called graves in cities are relatively desolate places, which are the residences of the poor. The city
of Yangzhou was one of the most prosperous places in the Ming Dynasty. There were one hundred thousand families, including scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants. The three religions and nine streams gathered here, just like the flood of ants (one hundred thousand rooms, five people attacked by ants). During the reign of Emperor Jiajing
, a new city was built in Yangzhou, which circled the old city and included the former slums. The second brother of the Wang family lives there, which is a rich man among the poor, because according to my analysis, his family lives in a brick house, but is surrounded by grass houses.
They believe that the plunder in the slums must be much lighter than that in the rich areas.
As a result, the whole family, including the eldest brother, the younger brother, the sister-in-law, the nephew, the daughter-in-law, the son, the two sisters-in-law (sister-in-law), the brother-in-law (brother-in-law) and so on, hid and hid all the way to the He Family Tomb.
But the ghetto is no safer than rich.
Just think, who plunders the rich areas? Who’s raiding the ghetto? Is it possible that a non-lineal lineage, which is not valued, can be richer and more civilized than a lineal lineage? In
the evening, the massacre of He Jiafen came to the door of his second brother’s house, and a group of people were frightened out of their wits. Plus the second brother’s family, more than ten people, can not hide, can only hide on the wall, hide on the roof, wrapped in a rain blanket. Because of the heavy rain that night, the rain continued for many days, making the crowded city of Yangzhou muddy.
In the gutter (the junction of the slope of the roof of an ancient building or the concave part between the two spans), the family spent a sleepless night with the sound of wailing everywhere in the street, and did not dare to come down until there was no movement in the street after midnight.
… Someone set fire
at night, and there were more than ten ignition points nearby. The fire burned all night and gradually died down the next day. At daybreak, the family hid on the roof again, only to find that there were more than ten people hiding in the gutter.
The gutter is a dead angle of vision. I thought it was safe, but a man suddenly jumped up from the east wing, followed by a pawn carrying a knife. The well-trained pawn climbed the eaves and walls as if walking on the ground, as if he could fly. Tread on the wall of the house to catch up with the fleeing man, and the fleeing man ran desperately, because he had the advantage of starting first and was far away from him. The pawn saw Wang Xiuchu’s family, who were close and stunned, and came to them.
People ran down one after another, and in a panic, the whole family went their separate ways. Wang Xiuchu was with his brother, but he ran away with others, and no one could contact him.
As the saying goes, “The devil is ten feet high.”. The inhabitants hid and hid, and the Qing soldiers searched and scraped. The man in hiding was hungry and tired. The searchers are also angry, because they hide very deep and it is very difficult to find them. Thus, the second round of the massacre began to draw the snake out of its hole.
There is a special person holding the symbol (official document) to publicize, reiterating that as long as they come out and queue up, they can guarantee everyone’s safety. That being said, everyone saw their murder, was afraid, and hesitated. However, for most people, death is only a matter of time.
In this way, the people who could not hide really listened to their lies and came out one after another.
Wang Xiuchu hid in more than 50 places, half of which were women. When the Wang Xiuchu brothers saw many people going out, they felt that instead of hiding here and there and being hacked to death by random knives, it would be better to follow the crowd and go out to line up, perhaps there was still a chance of survival. So he went to line up, and as expected, he suffered a round of search.
Wang Xiuchu escaped the plunder by his special position. I don’t know how he did it. In short, he escaped, but the money on his brothers was all gone.
In the procession, he saw two concubines of his friend Zhu Shuxiong, both with dishevelled hair, bare backs, shins stuck in the mud, and one of them was holding a baby girl. The child cried so loudly that the soldier was so annoyed that he whipped her and took the baby girl away and threw her in the mud. Then he drove the crowd away.
In fact, there were only three soldiers with them, in the front, in the middle, and in the back, all armed. But no one ran away, because what happened after running away might not be as good as it is now.
The procession moved slowly, and those who could not move were beaten or even killed. Wang Xiuchu, who followed the procession, saw the tragic scene along the road:
the road was full of baby corpses, some trampled by horse hooves, and some lying on the cold legs of adults. All the people on the ground had been hacked or stabbed to death, and their brains and livers and intestines had trickled out. There were cries everywhere, a ditch, a pool, both of which were filled with bodies. At first glance, it’s all human hands and feet. The blood flowed into the water, red and green, and turned into many colors.
The procession was led to a merchant’s mansion.
It seems to have been able to feel that those with the official seal of Anmin Fu Jie, are deceptive. The purpose of bringing people into a deep house sheltered by high walls is to facilitate abuse. What is
about to begin is the massacre of male residents and the rape of female residents. The pawn waiting in the
mansion had already detained several beautiful women and laughed when he saw that the soldiers who had gone out had cheated so many people. In the hall, there were also middle-aged women who had been captured sewing clothes. This was because even on rainy days, the clothes of the captured beauties were dirty, and they themselves were dirty, so they let middle-aged women who were good at manual work sew and wash clothes. There was mud
outside, and the women in the procession were very dirty. They forced all the women to change their clothes. These women had to change their clothes collectively and reveal their privacy. Later, they hold the woman to drink and have fun, and when they have had enough, they go to kill people.
The men were tied up one by one, and then one by one they were called and one by one they were killed. Wang Xiuchu originally wanted to die, but at this time there was a chance to escape, because the number of captives was large, and the number of guards was very small, and by hiding, he sneaked through the back hall to the back room, climbed through the stables, and passed through several houses. However, the only alley in the back that could lead to the outside world was blocked to death, so he tried to break the door, shaking his fingers bleeding, and then ran out.
Outside is the root of the wall, full of cavalry.
So he withdrew and ran to the house next to the house just now, looking for a place to hide. But at this time, he found that wherever he could hide, there were people, and he was not allowed to join. Five into the big yard, there is no place to hide. All the way to the front door, outside the door is the street, soldiers in an endless stream. He had to turn back again, get into a room nearby, climb on the top of a bed, and lie on it to hide.
Before he could catch his breath, he heard the wail of the next door. It was the voice of the younger brother, and heard the sound of the knife attack, three times, there was no movement.
After a while, it was the voice of the second brother again.
The second brother wailed, “There is money in my cellar. Shall I go and bring it to you?” It was the sound of a knife again, and there was no movement.
Wang Xiuchu’s tears dried up. It’s too dangerous
on the top. As soon as the second brother died, a pawn came in with a woman and wanted to rape her here. The woman begged to say that it was too close to the street and had to change places, so she left. Wang Xiuchu was on the bed, and the top of the ancient shelf bed could not bear a lot of weight, and some of them were hollowed out, which almost exposed him. So he climbed to the beam again, which was covered by a mat (similar to the ceiling now), and he hid on the beam for an unknown length of time.
He heard dozens of men and women wailing behind every few cavalry passing in the street, not knowing how many people would die. Gradually, when there was no movement outside, he climbed down the beam and went to the street to see.
It was late, and the streets were full of dead bodies. He lowered his head and shouted softly, but there was no answer. Occasionally there are military forces in the street in the past, Wang Xiuchu while walking and hiding, walked to the eldest brother’s house. He found the door closed and did not dare to knock. After waiting for a long time, he heard the voice of his sister-in-law inside, so he knocked and found his wife opening the door. He was overjoyed. After
entering the door, he knew that his eldest brother had escaped and came back early. As for the wife and sister-in-law, they had been captured and sent to a house full of prisoners, but the pawn who had captured them had something else to do and told another pawn to watch. The pawn in charge of the guard did not want to be silly, pulled Wang Xiuchu’s wife’s sister out to rape, and did not come back. They were able to survive and go home. On
the third day, the slaughter got worse. The people who were still alive in the
city also found a way to survive-hiding in the mass graves. Wang Xiuchu’s wife, one of them, had to lead her family to hide together. The
hiding place was behind a coffin in a pile of rotten grass, and Wang Xiuchu’s family shrank to hide, with broken straw mats on their bodies. But as soon as I look up, my head is exposed, and as soon as I stretch out my feet, my feet are exposed, and there is not enough space. In broad daylight, most of the people in the graveyard were alive. The whole family crawled and kept silent, but a soldier came nearby. One of the soldiers raised his knife, and immediately there was a frightened cry nearby.
Things are like this, you can refrain from screaming, but can you control other people’s mouths? The
soldiers of the Qing Dynasty came here to play a game of killing. They killed all day long. “The more they killed and plundered, the more corpses they accumulated. It was hard to hear and hard to see.”. Fortunately, Wang Xiuchu’s family hid in a very hidden place, which was not found after all, and was able to hide in the night.
But the bad news continued, Wang Xiuchu’s sister-in-law was also robbed, and never came back. Killing
during the day and resting at night are the characteristics of the massacre, and the night is the best protection for the hiders.
At this time, Wang Xiuchu experienced round after round of plunder, but he was still rich. But soon, he was blackmailed out. First of all, a local traitor guide blackmailed him severely. The guide earned money by calling the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty to arrest people. He could not only get the reward over there, but also extort money over here. But there is a way to rape, but also take money to do things, took Wang Xiuchu’s money, led the Qing soldiers to other homes. Still
in shock, Wang Xiuchu was discovered by a teenage soldier and blackmailed again. Wang Xiuchu’s money hidden everywhere will soon see the bottom.
The young soldier was fierce and lascivious, and wanted to rape his wife in front of him. Pregnant for nine months, not to let go. Wang Xiuchu stained his wife’s trousers with blood in advance, in order to deceive the enemy soldiers that his wife was pregnant with a stillborn fetus, very unlucky, very pitiful, and was able to escape rape.
Young soldiers also captured a young woman, a little girl, a little boy, should also be for rape. The little boy was very hungry and begged for food from his mother, which made the young soldier angry. He picked up the knife and cut off his head. Then he took the young woman and the little girl away. Wang Xiuchu, who had escaped several disasters
by hiding and bribing constantly, was already very skillful in hiding, but he was still caught by round after round of raids. Fortunately, the crafty rabbit had three caves, and he also hid silver, and every time he survived because he could come up with money. However, in the past, the next batch did not recognize the pardon of the previous batch at all, and also let people take money. If you can’t take it out, you will die.
Pretending to be poor is one of the skills to survive.
But you can’t be really poor, and you have to get money in the end, otherwise you will die. Most of the ordinary people who survived the
massacre were often spared by someone, but there were too few such things. In the evening, the eldest brother of Wang Xiuchu, who was lost again, suddenly came back, saying that he had been robbed to carry firewood during the day, and after that, he actually returned a thousand Wen of service fees. Not only that, the leader also issued a flag to release the man to prevent him from being killed by the soldiers of the massacre. It is also said that there was a general surnamed Wang, who was stationed in the Li residence of the square. He not only did not kill people, but also saved people. After the order of the massacre was issued, subordinates were not allowed to kill innocent generals, and the situation was often out of control. Naturally, his subordinates followed the crowd to kill people, but many of them were dissuaded by him. On the fifth day of the
massacre, there were rumors that all the money had been searched and that the next step was to wash the city.
Wash the city, is to kill all, no one left. I don’t know where
the news came from, but the people believed it. Half of the people who were still alive risked their lives in the middle of the night to go down the city, but outside the walls, they were greeted by another cruel hell. There were not only Qing soldiers, but also outlaws who committed murder together. How can there be any law
in this world?
One day, a soldier with a rat’s head and eagle’s eyes found Wang Xiuchu’s wife and wanted to rape her. When his wife refused, the man became fierce and beat her with the back of the knife. Her skin and flesh were torn and her clothes were stained with blood. The man dragged her out by her hair, went to the street, took a few steps, and cut her with the back of the knife. Fortunately met a group of cavalry, cavalry and the man said a few words of Manchu, the man left people to follow.
He Jiafen was set on fire again. There were many
poor families there, and most of them lived in thatched cottages, which were burned by the fire and soon turned to ashes. Arson is for fun, but also to force the people who hide in it to come out. The men were forced out, and the soldiers waiting outside became excited and beheaded them one by one. It’s not easy
to be a living person, but it’s easy to be a dead person.
This is the truth drawn by Wang Xiuchu and the truth at that time. He simply covered his whole body with smelly mud, drizzled with human blood, and lay with the bodies piled up like mountains, and his life and death were unknown.
The eldest brother had a flag, but it was useless. He still had to play dead. In the process of playing dead, he was caught. Wang Xiuchu saw a soldier killing eldest brother from a distance, compared to Wang Xiuchu, eldest brother has a brute force, holding the soldier in a stalemate. The soldier could not defeat his eldest brother and was thrown away. The eldest brother left people to run, soldiers to chase, both disappeared in the streets.
After a long time, Wang Xiuchu, who pretended to be dead, suddenly appeared in front of a naked man, who hardly scared him to death.
It’s Big Brother!
But there’s someone behind the big brother!
It turned out that he had been caught. Since he had been caught, he had to take money to redeem his life. The eldest brother had no money on him. He fooled the soldier into saying that his younger brother had money and came to him for money.
At that time, Wang Xiuchu had only one ingot of silver left, so he took it all out and presented it to the Qing army. The soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were not satisfied and thought it was too little. They felt insulted and began to cut down their eldest brother. The eldest brother was cut several times and ran away. Then cut, the eldest brother while bleeding while running, blood spurted more than a hundred steps.
At that time, Wang Xiuchu also had a five-year-old son named Peng Er. He was very intelligent and clever. He was always obedient and silent. He was also very obedient in the graveyard and did not make any noise. At this time, Peng pulled the soldier’s clothes to beg for his uncle’s mercy. The soldier wiped the knife with Peng Er’s clothes. After wiping the knife, in front of Peng Er, he cut the eldest brother to death with another knife.
He dragged Wang Xiuchu’s hair and asked Wang Xiuchu to give money. Wang Xiuchu said that he really had no money, but there were still two urns of jewelry and clothing hidden in Hong’s house.
So he went to get the urn, and the jewelry and good clothes in the urn were looted by the soldier, leaving behind a few rags. He also saw a silver lock hidden in the clothes under Peng’s neck and took it away. As he left, he warned Wang Hsiu-chu, “If I don’t kill you, someone else will.”
Based on this, Wang Hsiu-chu suspects that the legendary “Washing the City” is true. The neighbors on the pile
of corpses asked him to abandon his family and leave the city together, but he chose to refuse. I don’t want to go because there is a wife and a big brother here.
He was a man who cherished his life and had a strong male chauvinism. He always treated women with double standards, such as accusing raped women of not being martyred, while he shaved his hair and changed his clothes, kowtowed and bowed, and constantly bribed his enemies in order to save his life. But we can’t say that he deserves it. We can’t say that he has no shame.
At the very least, when everyone was sure that the Qing army was going to wash the city, he still did not want to abandon his family.
Some people compare the slaughter of Yangzhou with Jiangyin on August 11, which shows that the people of Yangzhou at the end of the year can not be martyred in the whole city, which is really spineless. These people are more indifferent than butchers, who let others die in order to look good. In fact, in the long river of history, like the slaughter of civilians in Yangzhou, it is the vast majority.
In the face of slaughter, those who are unyielding are heroes, and those who escape are mortals. We can’t regard heroes as ordinary and scold ordinary people as cheap bones.
Wang Xiuchu settled his eldest brother and continued to fake corpses with his family. They can’t all stay together. In that case, if one is found, they are all found. The money is gone, the things are gone, and if they are found again, there will be no one at home. Some are in the pile of corpses, some are in the cesspool, the pile of corpses has a stench, the soup in the cesspool is even more disgusting, they hide in places where people do not want to go, still in a constant state of anxiety.
Later, Wang Xiuchu was discovered by a Manchu general in red, black boots, and yellow armor. He was followed by several Yangzhou natives. The general told him that the sword would be sealed tomorrow.
Seal the knife, that is, no more slaughter. That is to say, the previous massacre was allowed by military order.
The general gave them some clothes and an ingot of gold, asked them how many days they had not eaten, and took them to a meal. It is true to
seal the knife, but the person below may not carry it out completely. Or looting? Or killing. It was not
until the second day of May that the situation was settled. This is because the occupied prefectures and counties have settled the officials of the Qing Dynasty and have become the places of the Qing Dynasty. Some soldiers of the Qing Dynasty patrolled the streets with placards to reassure everyone, and ordered the monks and people of the monasteries to clean up the bodies.
Wang Xiuchu looked at the burning book, before and after a total of more than 80 million dead. On the fourth day of the
fifth month, the sky cleared up, because of the continuous rain, the bodies on the road were soaked blue, fat and stink. There were burning corpses everywhere, and for a time the city was shrouded in blue mist, and there were cries everywhere, and ghosts and gods were sad for it. It
was not until the fifth day of the first lunar month that people hiding in holes and cesspools quietly came out one after another. But he dared not stay at home during the day and went to the graveyard to hide before dawn.
Hiding is right, although the authorities are not allowed to kill, but because the order is uncertain, looting has never stopped. When a group of people came, they threatened to let people take money and food. Those who were not obedient were beaten with sticks, and some were killed. Do not know which part of these people in the end, but, presumably, since the official ban on killing again, there will be no soldiers foolish enough to wear uniforms to do things.
Wang Xiuchu’s eldest brother was seriously injured and his head was cut off. Wang Xiuchu cut his hair, took a bath and burned ashes to stop bleeding. He told his eldest brother about the death of his second brother and younger brother, but the eldest brother could not speak and nodded to show that he knew. The eldest brother’s injury is too serious, finally did not endure the past, died in the second day of seeing the light of day.
Wang Xiuchu could not speak, but like thousands of people who had lost their loved ones in the world, he cried at the body of his brother.
Just a few days, a family of eight, only three people, other families can be better? These ten days in Yangzhou are ten days of terror and purgatory. Afterwards, Wang Xiuchu wrote down the unforgettable experience. It is believed that there were many records of literati at that time, but they were not handed down. After the
personal experience was written, it should have been circulated for a considerable period of time, not only in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Japan, but also in the Qing Dynasty. For example, Xu (1810-1862), a historian of the Qing Dynasty, once said in his book Xiao Yi Ji Nian that he had read Wang’s Ten Diaries of Yangzhou. However, the matter of Yangzhou, sealed very tightly, is not known to the vast majority of people, so there is the Guangxu years in Japan students copied back to the incident.
Without such a record, who can know that such inhuman things have happened in this prosperous place? What will appear in the future will be an understatement of the word “massacre,” or even will not appear.
Many people do not believe that Wang Xiuchu said 800000, based on the population size of Yangzhou City in the Ming Dynasty to deny this data, which is normal, because the number is too large. However, it is not necessary to go on to say that “Ten Days of Yangzhou” is a fiction.
At that time, the city of Yangzhou was a refuge for all parties, and many refugees poured in before the city was destroyed. There are many such things in
history. In the Republic of China, Liu Heiqi, a bandit, massacred Dasiyan Village, Zhutian Town, Fei County. There were two polders, four gates, and artillery towers in Dasiyan Village. Small bandits did not dare to harass them, so many refugees went there to live. The village has a population of 92 households and 637 people. Nearly 400 people came to take refuge, and 1030 people were counted. Later, 947 people were killed in the village.
We can not say that there are only 600 people in Dasiyan Village, and it is impossible to kill more than 900 people, but also come to the conclusion that Liu Heiqi did not slaughter the village. Outside the city
of Yangzhou, “every inch of land is densely covered with fine houses,” and the population density inside the city is even more terrible, accommodating many people. Therefore, the number of 800000, although incredible, is also a certain possibility.
It is undeniable that personal narrative has its inherent defects. It is true, but because it is a single line, it can not look at the overall situation, and some memories do not match the records at that time. But that vivid picture of the massacre could not be made up. Just like the irrefutable evidence of the Nanjing Massacre, there are still those who deny existence, those who discuss quantity and those who do exist. But can horror scenes told by the witnesses be easily denied?
Wang Xiuchu’s narrative is the same, we fully believe his personal experience, but it is not comprehensive, people will mistakenly think that the people of Yangzhou are busy living, there is no resistance.
But in fact, after Shi Kefa’s death, there was street fighting in Yangzhou. After
Shi Kefa’s defeat, Liu Zhaoji led his 400 men to fight in the city, and he and his lieutenants Yi Bangcai, Ma Yingkui, Zhuang Zigu and Wang Sicheng all died heroically.
In Yangzhou city, there were many officials and civilians who fought against each other, and countless people died for their country. For example, scholars such as Gao Xiaofeng, Wang Shiqi, Wang Qi, Wang Ji, Wang Xu, Wusheng Dai Zhifan, doctor Chen Tianba, painter Lu Yuyi, citizen Feng Yingchang, boatman Xu Mou, and so on, all died because of indomitable. The number of dead women is also too large to be conquered.
Some people are heroic, some people are afraid of death, this is normal. It is also common for
some people to be cruel and others to be fearful. The reason why the
massacre was cruel was not only the tyranny of its executors, but also the fact that the person who announced the massacre was not necessarily a general known for his tyranny, but also had a good reputation, such as Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Han Xin, Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, Cao Cao, Tang Taizong Li Shimin and so on. It was agreed in advance whether the
city would be massacred or not. The Victor often massacred those cities that had been unable to attack for a long time or refused to surrender. For example, Xiang Yu attacked Waihuang and refused to surrender for days on end. When Waihuang surrendered, he gathered all the male residents in the city who were older than 15 years old and buried them alive.
Some massacres even have no reason, just think to conquer a city, should engage in slaughter. For example, according to the Biography of Amin in the Manuscript of the History of the Qing Dynasty, Amin asked others, “Since the city has been conquered, why not slaughter its inhabitants?” He couldn’t figure out how to conquer a city without slaughter.
For the Victor, the massacre is of great benefit. There is a huge amount of wealth in the city, which can inspire the foot soldiers to fight bravely and satisfy them easily. Like a hungry hunter who meets his prey, it is strange not to kill.
However, the massacre has always been a symbol of immorality, so the victors who pursue “internal saints and external kings” always hide from this. The massacre was a big event, some of which were publicized at that time, while others were well concealed.
Just like Yangzhou, for a long time, it was unknown, even unknown to the people of Yangzhou. But the painful group memory has always been rooted in people’s hearts, making people very secretive, and making people’s hearts always burn with a fire of anger. People use the method of offering sacrifices to Shi Ge Bu in the open and in the dark to carry out ideological confrontation, which means that although I am mighty, I am unyielding, more than a hundred years. Shi Kefa’s weight in the minds of the people of Yangzhou is a clear proof of his disobedience to the butchers.
