In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Wanli Dynasty became a turning point in the Ming Dynasty's transition from prosperity to decline. Emperor Mingshen Zhu Yijun ignored the government for thirty years, Emperor Mingguang Zhu Changluo died after only one month on the throne, and Emperor Mingxi Zhu Yu was keen on carpentry craftsmanship, under which the Ming Dynasty was becoming thin and corrupt, the state's financial income could not be made ends meet, and the people's lives were miserable.
After Emperor Mingsizong Zhu Youjian succeeded to the throne, the chaos of the government and the corruption of officials, the war with Houjin brought a large demand for Liao salaries and the plundering of Qing soldiers, as well as the cold climate in the Xiaoice period, the reduction of agricultural production and the nationwide famine, which increased the burden on the people of the Ming Dynasty. In 1627, the famine revolt in Chengcheng, Shaanxi, opened the prelude to the people's revolt at the end of the Ming Dynasty, followed by Wang Ziyong, Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other peasants, and finally developed into Li Zicheng, who dominated Shaanxi and Henan, and Zhang Xianzhong, who occupied Huguang and Sichuan successively.
Li Zi was born into poverty, but he liked guns and sticks, and when he was a child, because his family was poor, he had to herd sheep for people. After his father's death, he went to the Ming Dynasty station responsible for passing on the official documents of the imperial court as a pawn, responsible for taking care of the horses. In the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty reformed the post and streamlined the post. Li Zicheng was dismissed for losing official documents, returned home from unemployment, and was accused of going to the government office because he owed a debt to Ai Zhao, killed the creditor in a rage, and then because his wife Han Jin'er committed adultery with others, Li Zicheng killed his wife again. Two people were killed, and they had to join the army. However, in the army, due to the problem of unpaid wages, he killed the general kingdom and the local county order, and launched a mutiny. Under these circumstances, he defected to the rebel army to break into Gao Yingxiang, and later Li Zicheng was highly valued by Gao Yingxiang because of his own talents, and was made a great general, and successively moved to Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan.
In 1640 (the thirteenth year of Chongzhen), Li Zicheng took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Ming army was pursuing Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan to enter Henan and take in the starving people, and Zheng Lian recorded li Zicheng's grand situation of aiding the hungry in the "Yu Changing Chronicle": "Toward the decay of the red millet, the thief is through it, in order to show the opening of the warehouse and the relief of the starving people." Hungry people near and far hoes hoes, and those who respond are like flowing water, day and night, calling out to millions, and their momentum is invincible." Since then, Li Zicheng's army has grown to tens of thousands, and he has put forward the slogan of "Equalizing The Fields are Exempt from Endowments", that is, the folk song "Greeting the King, Not Paying Grain." Li Zicheng's slogan can be said to be deeply popular, and people are singing everywhere: "Kill cattle and sheep, prepare wine and pulp, open the city gate to welcome the king, and when the king comes, he will not pay grain." "Wherever Li Zicheng went, the people were as happy as the New Year.
In 1643, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself King of Xinshun in Xiangyang, and annihilated the main force of Sun Chuanting, the governor of Ming And Shaanxi, at Ruzhou, Henan, and took advantage of the victory to occupy Xi'an. In the first month of the following year, the Dashun regime was established, and the era name was Yongchang. From the capture of Beijing on March 19 to the defeat and departure from Beijing on April 30, these 42 days were the turning point of the Great Shun Dynasty. After the destruction of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng, who was "not yet hot in the dragon chair", actually collapsed all the way after forty-two days, and the Dashun regime, which had "supported millions of troops", also quickly collapsed more than a year later, and the hard-fought Jiangshan was all given to the Qing Dynasty.
According to legend, on the first day after entering Beijing, the imperial chef of the Forbidden City asked Li Zicheng what he wanted to eat. Li Zicheng lamented that he had come all the way now like the New Year, and said that he wanted to eat dumplings. The next day the imperial chef came to ask again, and he still said that he would eat dumplings. And then the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day. At that time, he was told that dumplings were eaten at the turn of two years and could not be eaten every day. Li Zicheng said that I was very happy, after many years of hard work, I had to eat dumplings every day like the New Year, and as a result, I ate dumplings for forty-two days in a row.
Later, some people said that in the past, the people had difficulties in life, and they could only eat a meal of dumplings in the New Year, and as a result, Li Zicheng ate dumplings for 42 consecutive days, which was equivalent to one day is one year, and Li Zicheng, who originally had a 42-year mandate, only became an emperor for 42 days.