Yangzhou Civil Revolt And Affairs Of State In Hongguang

In the 17th year of Chongzhen(1644),from the end of lunar calendar April to the beginning of June,Yangzhou provoked civil revolt due to opposition to the stationing of the Gaojie(高杰)army.The more than a month-long Yangzhou civil revolt was a concentrated outbreak of conflicts between military governor and the local society in North of the Yangtze River,which had a profound impact on the local society and even Hongguang’s political situation at that time.The academic community failed to pay enough attention to this important event.The outbreak of the Yangzhou Civil Revolt has an important relationship with the political situation between Chongzhen and Hongguang.The northern capital was occupied,Gaojie and other military governors flee to the south,taking the opportunity to plunder during the southward journey,and Yangzhou,as a large city in the north of the Yangtze River,attracted the coveting of the generals.In addition,due to the mistakes in the decision-making of the southern ministers on the support of the new monarch,Ma Shiying(马士英)and Gao Jie and other generals took the opportunity to collude to support vassal king Fu ascended the throne by force.In order to repay the generals support,the vassal king Fu also allows generals’plunder in Jiangbei.Gao Jie therefore relied on the contribution,and wanted to force his army into the Yangzhou.But at the same time,the continuation of the civil revolt also related to the failure of crossing the Yangtze River.Compared with Yangzhou in the north of the Yangtze River,military governors wanted to send his family to the south of the Yangtze River.However,Jiangnan was the foothold of the southern capital regime.Southern officials were afraid that the generals would cross the river.Therefore,they organized a strict defense against the river.Gao Jie’s army failed to cross the river.Forced to return to Yangzhou,this intensified the continuation of the civil revolt.The looting of Gao Jie’s army outside Yangzhou City intensified the determination of Yangzhou’s civilians to resist Gao Jie’s army entering the city.Under this situation,Yangzhou elite Zheng Yuanxun(郑元勋)went to Gao Jie’s army to negotiate with him,promising to persuade Yangzhou civilians to let Gao Jie’s army into the city,but was unfortunately killed by angry people.After Zheng Yuanxun’s death,the conflict between Gao Jie and Yangzhou civilians intensified again,and the officials in Yangzhou City were helpless.Following Shi Kefa’s(史可法)coming,with his mediation,finally moved Gao Jie’s army to Guazhou as the ending.There is a close relationship between the civil revolt and the "Four Military Governors Subinfeudation ".The subinfeudation was roughly in mid-May,when Gao Jie’s siege was at its peak.Except for Gao Jie,the army of the other three military governors are also hovering near Yangzhou.In this situation,delimiting the defense zones of the four military governors has become a top priority.Shi Kefa’s proposal was precisely to deal with this situation.In addition to the division of vassal in the four military governors,the Yangzhou civil revolt also caused a series of chain reactions.More than ten days after the rebellion in Jingkou(京口)broke out.The two sides of the rebellion were the Yu Yongshou’s(于永绶)army of the Northern Expedition and the Jia Zhikui’s(贾之奎)army of the Zhejiang province This military turmoil was obviously affected by the Yangzhou civil revolt.During the Yangzhou civil revolt,Gao Jie’s subordinate looted for more than a month but failed to observe the punishment.This stimulated the troubled Yu Yongshou subordinate to a certain extent and induced them expanded to the looting and harassment of residential houses.The Battle of Tuqiao(土桥)was another vendetta between Gao Jie’s department and Huang Degong’s department.Although it was later than the Yangzhou civil recolt and the military rebellion in Jingkou,it broke out a few months after the riots ended.Although months have passed,the fuse of this vendetta can still be traced back to Yangzhou a few months ago.At that time,Gao Jie and Huang Degong both wanted to join forces,and forged a feud.During the Battle of Tuqiao,Gao Jie took the initiative to attack Huang Degong and should bear the main responsibility,but the final handling still showed Shi Kefa’s lenient towards Gao Jie,which was actually related to Shi Kefa’s personal political ambitions.Under the coordination of Shi Kefa,Gao Jie,who besieged Yangzhou more than a month,was not punished,and his army was deployed to Guazhou.By these settlements,Shi Kefa not only solved Yangzhou’s crise,but also wooed Gao Jie.Moreover,among the generals,Gao Jie’s army was the strongest,and Shi Kefa wanted to use it to carry out the Northern Expedition.But in fact,Shi Kefa’s action mainly relied on the cooperation of the generals,especially Gao Jie,which further weakened the position of the cabinet center.The imperial court gradually lost its control over the four military governors in Jiangbei,and this also laid the roots for the subsequent destruction of the Hongguang imperial court.