In 1863, the second year of Tongzhi, Yi Wang Shi Dakai was defeated at the Dadu River and died in Chengdu. Many documents have recorded Shi Dakai's last moments before he was executed. Recently, scholar Wang Yaoli discovered the handwriting of Huang Pengnian, a famous scholar from the Qing Dynasty. Huang Pengnian was one of the witnesses of Shi Dakai's death, and his letters with his friend Tang Jiong revealed the last moments of Shi Dakai's life.
First of all, Huang Pengnian described Shi Dakai's surrender in his letter. The letter wrote:
"The stone came back to the ground, and it can be said that God took away its soul, and the river god appeared. The mountains and rivers are steep and long. Not only is the Dadu River difficult to cross, Wang Qianhu Yingyuan belongs to it. Xiaoshui and Liangqiao rivers owned by Qianhu Chengen in Ling also had water lengths of two to three feet. The chieftain also worked very hard. Shi Ni sent Qianjin and two horses to Wang Yingyuan's false road, but he refused, and asked Lingyi for help. The barbarians begged for help, but they fought to the death, and the barbarians threw stones from the top of the mountain. More than ten thousand people were killed, and the soldiers could not get out, and they ran out of food."
It can be seen from this that Shi Dakai's defeat was closely related to the defeat of the barbarians. It is related to the siege by Wang Yingyuan, the chieftain of the Yi ethnic group, and his Yi soldiers. During Shi Dakai's retreat, the Yi people took advantage of the terrain and killed a large number of Taiping troops with rolling logs and rocks.
With all their food supplies exhausted, Shi Dakai's Taiping Army was completely in dire straits. Therefore, Tang Yougeng, a general of the Qing army, ordered to erect a banner of "surrender and avoid death" to lure him. In order to save the lives of all his subordinates, Shi Dakai took his son Shi Dingzhong and his second and third tribes as prisoners and dismissed them on the spot.
Afterwards, Huang Pengnian described in his letter the scene of Sichuan Governor Luo Bingzhang interrogating Shi Dakai. On the day of Shi Dakai's death, General Chongshi of Chengdu and Luo Bingzhang, Governor of Sichuan, were sitting in the lobby of the governor's office. All the civil and military officials from the chief envoy to the inspector general were also present. Shi Dakai and his two subordinates were going to sit on the mat at the foot of the hall. The Qing system placed the general above the governor, so Luo Rang Chong asked first.
However, Chongshi's voice was hoarse and unmanly, while Shi Dakai, although he was in jail, raised his head and glared, talked with great enthusiasm, and made Chongshi speechless. After that, Luo Bingzhang bravely said to Shi Dakai: "Shi Dakai, if you kill him today, it will be very worthwhile for you. Since the uprising, you have ravaged several provinces, and our border officials have died. The three people in your hands are now dead, so you don't have any regrets, right?"
Unexpectedly, Shi Dakai replied with a smile: "As the saying goes, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. If you kill me in this life, don't you know that I will be reborn in the next life? Won't I kill you?" After that, Shi Dakai walked out of the hall with his head held high. The two generals were still standing on both sides and said, "King Yi, please come forward!" When Shi Dakai was killed by Lingchi, the three of them remained silent, and the onlookers were all horrified. In this regard, Huang Pengnian said with emotion:
"This thief has a very stable demeanor, and his language is neither arrogant nor humble. He is strong and gentle. He will die and take care of things calmly. If I were big The death of a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty was recorded in the history and biographies. Wouldn't it be remembered for thousands of years? Such a person was not used by the courtiers, but was used as a thief. Who is to blame?"
For Shi Dakai, a powerful enemy, Huang Peng Nian both hated him and felt sorry for him. In his opinion, such a strange man was not used by the Qing Dynasty. Whose fault was it?
Huang Pengnian's evaluation of Shi Dakai is so un"politically correct" that it can only appear in such private writings. In addition to Huang Pengnian, other witnesses of Shi Dakai's death also described Shi Dakai's final heroic appearance in their notes. As recorded in "Journey to Liya": When Tang Yougeng, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan East Town, sent Shi Dakai to visit, Liu Rong then interrogated him. Shi Dakai's "heroic spirit can be seen in the color of his words... He also wrote to Luo Bingzhang on Liu Rong's behalf: "Because of Yu Rong's journey. The next time I met Shi Ni, a close friend of Tang Town, when he went to the province, he was about to be interrogated. According to reports, after the Jintian uprising, he broke up with Hong Ni and the Communist Party betrayed the party and disturbed the provinces. The situation is vivid, and he is a strong hero. The spirit can be seen in the color of the words, which cannot be faked by other thieves. "
In addition, Zhou Xun, who also witnessed Shi Dakai being beaten by Ling Chi, couldn't help but admired: "What a strange man!