Since ancient times, the power of public opinion has been very strong, and policymakers often take this factor into account when formulating policies. But sometimes the role of public opinion also fails, especially in ancient times, the emperor often said one thing and no two, if he insisted on doing something, and had to force others to do something with him, it would be quite terrible. People are prone to do stupid things in a state of overheating, what happens to a country that falls into this overheating state from top to bottom?
Below, let us walk through the smoke and clouds of history, return to the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years ago, look at a key battle related to the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty - the Battle of Tumu fort, explore the main battle of The Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen and others, as well as Yu Qian and others who vigorously opposed the war, what kind of fate did they have? After experiencing this battle, what can the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty be?
After the Yuan Dynasty was expelled from the Central Plains, after a series of Northern Expeditions in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan finally collapsed, and then split into the Wa La in the west and the Tatars in the east. In the beginning, Wallachia was stronger. In the eighth year of Ming Xuande (1433), the monarch of the Tatars who was the leader of the Vara at that time was not spent as the Great Khan. In the ninth year of Ming Xuande (1434), Dehuan attacked Arutai in Eastern Mongolia, and Atai Khan of Eastern Mongolia fled east to Korqin. In the third year of the Ming Dynasty (1438), Atai Khan was captured and killed by Tuhuan, and Mongolia entered a brief period of unification.
In the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1439), Dehuan died, and his son also inherited the chieftainship. First of all, he was an ambitious man, who first led an army to attack Hami and captured the king and empress dowager alive. Then he married with Shazhou and Chijin Mongol guards to strengthen his strength. He then attacked the Mongol Wulianghabu and threatened the Ming vassal state of Korea. In this situation, the forces of Yexian had already encompassed the entire grassland area north of the Great Wall, forming a pressure on the Ming Dynasty in the south.
But he was not a reckless man at first, and he was also very scheming. From the beginning of Ye Xian's father, Dehuan, he attached great importance to the tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty considered itself to be a heavenly kingdom, and for the Mongol mission, it always adhered to the policy of "thin and thick exchanges", and the value of rewards must far exceed the value of tributes, so as to show the style and self-confidence of a big country. Generally, the Ming court rewarded those who came to the dynasty according to their number and status, and many Mongolian missions multiplied the number of envoys in order to get more rewards, and the Ming court still gave rewards as usual.
The Ming court did not limit the number of Mongol missions, and all those who came to the court would have rewards, and the greed of the Mongol chiefs was worse than a day, which also laid the groundwork for the later missions to lie about the number of people. At first, the number of emissaries sent first was generally no more than fifty, but later, due to greed for the generous rewards of the imperial court, it suddenly increased to more than 2,000 people, and repeatedly asked for valuable and rare things. Slightly disobedient, immediately create an incident. In order to calm the people, the Ming court had to increase the annual reward.
Because he also often dealt with the Ming Dynasty, he was familiar with the internal situation of the Ming Dynasty. It was also first through the envoys who lived in the Ming Dynasty and the insertion of internal traitors within the Ming Court, which was equivalent to establishing a set of intelligence networks within the Ming Dynasty, so it was very suitable for the Ming Dynasty's border defenses to be clearly aware of the virtual and real movements, and the timing of each attack was very appropriate. In this regard, the Ming Dynasty, which ruled the country with a secret service organization, was very good at suppressing the people of Li min internally, but the work in external intelligence gathering was much worse.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, under the administration of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the Ming Dynasty soon reached its peak, and after several northern expeditions by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the northern border defense of the Ming Dynasty tended to be stable. By the Xuande period, the Mongol tribes of the northern steppe attacked each other and took care of themselves, while the social economy of the Ming Dynasty continued to develop steadily, and at that time, people seemed as if the Taiping Dynasty had arrived. From the emperor's ministers down to the people of Li, they were all intoxicated by the paper drunkenness and could not extricate themselves.
During the Renxuan period, he had no interest in expanding his territory. It was ordered to stop activities in the Western Ocean, and the frequency of exchanges with the Western Regions and other places was also greatly reduced. In the south, Annam was abandoned, Xuande for three years (1428), abolished the Jiaozhibu Envoy Division, and Vietnam was forever separated from the embrace of the Central Dynasty. In the tenth year of Xuande (1435), he stopped inspecting nuer gandusi. Since then, the Ming Dynasty's rule over the northeast has begun to weaken, and it has gradually withdrawn from the northeast, which also created conditions for the strong rise of the Manchu Qing two hundred years later.
Ming Xuanzong's foreign policy was narrowed, and gradually serious consequences were produced. On the one hand, it made Vala sit up, but he watched with his eyes open, and there was nothing he could do. On the other hand, it caused a flood of comfortable winds and the abandonment of armaments.
For example, at the end of the eighth year of Xuande, after returning from a tour of Shandong by Zhang Cong to Liaodong, he found that only 5 old and weak people were left in the army of 130 people, and the vacancy rate was as high as 96%. He questioned the leading officer, but said that they had gone on other errands. At that time, even at such an important checkpoint as Shanhaiguan, there were only five or six people stationed, and it was not difficult to imagine what the garrison in the interior was like.
Another hidden danger is that the quality of the generals declines too quickly. Ming Taizu and Ming Chengzu both started with martial arts, and their famous generals ji ji, but after Xuande, there was no more large-scale war, and the generals gradually became corrupt and weak. Coupled with the prevalence of vicious trends such as the annexation of land by generals, private servants, and embezzlement and deduction, the combat effectiveness of the army has also been seriously affected.
The generals at that time were divided into three categories. The first category, such as the British Gongzhang Fu, was a famous general during the Ming Chengzu Zhu Di period, but in the Xuande period, the state inherited peace for a long time, and he was an old man who had not touched a bow horse for many years. The second category is those generals who have been out with soldiers for many years, fighting wars is a layman, and corruption is an expert. There is also a category of generals who have never been on the battlefield, most of them are "second generation xun" and "third generation xun", because of their prominent position, although they do nothing, but control many key departments.
In the tenth year of Xuande (1435), Emperor Xuanzong of Ming died, and the crown prince Zhu Qizhen took the throne, and he was Emperor Mingyingzong. Zhu Qizhen is young and vigorous, determined to be a promising king, can he cheer up the sleepy Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne and changed his name to Yuan Orthodoxy the following year. Since the new emperor was only nine years old and the lord was suspicious, the ministers asked the empress dowager Zhang Shi to bow to the government. When the empress dowager listened to the government, she suppressed the eunuchs and reused the old courtiers since Renxuan, among whom Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu were three very famous, known in history as "Three Yangs". During Sanyang's tenure as a cabinet assistant, he stabilized border defense, straightened out the administration of officials, and developed the economy, making the Ming Dynasty's national strength flourish.
But the flowers are not red. With the successive deaths of "Sanyang" and empress dowager, Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen also gradually came of age, he felt that he had fled to great wings, did not want to be a shoucheng emperor like his father, his idols were his famous ancestors Hongwu and Yongle the Great, and he was determined to do something great.
On the surface, Ming Yingzong was indeed like this. In the early days of his reign, he organized three large-scale Northern Expeditions, hoping to drink the north of Ma Sai like Ming Chengzu Zhu Di and make immortal merits. His Northern Expedition did achieve certain results, making him complacent. The second thing Ming Yingzong did was to re-enter the West, which also had some Yongle legacy.
The third thing Ming Yingzong did was to intervene in the southern war on a large scale, known in history as the Battle of Luchuan. Emperor Mingyingzong intervened in the Luchuan War four years (1439), the sixth year of orthodoxy (1441), the seventh year of orthodoxy (1442), and the thirteenth year of orthodoxy (1448). After years of conquest, the Ming Dynasty did not completely quell the rebellion, and finally ended in the form of a covenant; during this period, hundreds of thousands of people attacked continuously, resulting in the exhaustion of the army, the deficit of the national treasury, and the emptiness of the defense against the Northern Mongol Wallachians.
In particular, in the last attack on Luchuan, the Ming Dynasty mobilized a large number of elite troops from the capital, and a large number of famous generals were also transferred to the southern battlefield. This created an empty situation in the capital and created the conditions for a large-scale invasion of the fourteenth year of orthodoxy.
What is even more absurd is that the young Ming Yingzong was dizzy and did not notice the use of people, but actually reused the eunuch Wang Zhen, obeyed him, and granted him supreme power. In this way, many factors superimposed together, and finally triggered the Battle of Tumu Fort.
In February of the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), more than 2,000 people were also sent to pay tribute to the Ming government, but because Wang Zhen refused to give more rewards and subtracted four-fifths of the horse price, he failed to meet their demands, and first took the opportunity to create an incident. So in July of the same year, he commanded all the departments and attacked the interior in four major ways.
In fact, this southern invasion was planned for a long time. He had unified the Mongol tribes and was more powerful than ever. In addition, the intelligence network he installed inside the Ming court had already played a role, knowing that the Ming Dynasty capital was empty and the first-line armament of the Great Wall was in ruins. Compared with the sophisticated and fierce Ye Xian, Ming Yingzong was innocent and simple like a child.
On July 15, 1449, Song Ying, the governor of Datong, Jingyuan, the commander-in-chief Zhu Mian and the left general Shi Heng, the governor of Datong, each led 10,000 troops to Yanghe (present-day northwest of Yanggao County, Shanxi) to defend. As a result, the Ming army was defeated and the entire army was destroyed. The Mongol cavalry was unstoppable, and the forward was directly approaching Datong. The news of the defeat on the front line spread like snowflakes to the capital.
In this case, the clear-eyed man knows at a glance that the first comer is not good, and he must be paid enough attention. And what about our Ming Yingzong and his precious Wang Zhen? Wang Zhen told the emperor that these barbarians really didn't know that the sky was high and the earth was thick, and they dared to move the earth on the head of the tai nian, and without giving him a little color, he didn't know who he was!
Emperor Mingyingzong also fantasized that he could go into the desert north to establish a great military feat like his great-grandfather Ming Chengzu, so after listening to Wang Zhen's words and believing that the pro-conquest was a good opportunity for him to show his skills, he did not consult with the ministers, made a decision to pro-conquest, and announced that he would leave immediately two days later.
As soon as the news of the emperor's decision to personally enlist came out, the whole dynasty was shocked. Because the ministers all knew that the main force of the imperial court's army at that time was thousands of miles away in the south, it was difficult to assemble in a hurry; besides, the Mongol cavalry was not a paper tiger, and had been fighting all over the world in the north of The Country for many years; not to mention that the young emperor had no combat experience, not the emperor on horseback, unlike his ancestor Ming Chengzu Zhu Di.
Because the emperor wanted to personally march, a group of people represented by Wang Zhen were very good at guessing the intentions and trying to encourage them. However, a small number of ministers also expressed their opposition, and Yu Qian was one of them, and The Soldier Shangshu Kuang and the waiter Yu Qian "forcefully said that the Sixth Division should not be lightly discharged." The official Shangshu Wang bluntly advised his ministers that "there have been things that have existed since ancient times", and as long as "the generals use their lives, they will surely win", the imperial court should focus on keeping, and advise Emperor Yingzong that "there is no need to kiss the Sixth Division, so as to be in the vicinity".
In fact, according to the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty's empty troops at that time, in the case of the loss of the battle in the front and the unknown situation of the enemy, it was better to defend and counterattack. As the head of a country, the emperor must not be light,away from the task of choosing a capable general to be the commander.< However, at that time, the central organ headed by the emperor was already hot-headed, and did not consider anything for its own "political achievements".
Although the ministers tried their best to advise, Ming Yingzong just did not listen, and even ordered "against the exodus to discuss the crimes", except for a few people such as Yu Qian, most of them did not squeak. So the emperor temporarily cobbled together 200,000 people from near the capital division, claiming to be a 500,000-strong army, and only prepared for three days, and began to march in person. In order to persuade his mother, Empress Sun, he made the two-year-old crown prince Zhu Jianshen crown prince and put his half-brother Zhu Qiyu the Prince of Qi in charge of the country.
The rest is simple. The army went out, who knew that the sky was not beautiful, and the heavy rain continued. When the army arrived near Datong, it found corpses strewn across the field, and coupled with the lack of food and grass supply in the rear, the army's heart began to waver. In this case, Wang Zhen persuaded the emperor to take a detour to his hometown and take a few days trip to Ulzhou, so as to have a long face in front of his father and elder in his hometown.
Despite the strenuous opposition of the ministers, the army marched to Ulju. Unexpectedly, Wang Zhen was worried about the army passing by and trampling on his family's crops, and suggested withdrawing the army according to the same route. When the army reached the vicinity of Huailai, Yuanzhong did not catch up. Therefore, Wang Zhen ordered him to stay and wait.
In this toss, the Ming army missed the opportunity to enter Huailai City (in fact, there was another hour to do it), and the Wala army finally caught up with the Ming army and trapped the emperor and others in Tumu Fort. The water source was cut off, trapped in death, and the military was in turmoil. Therefore, when he first pretended to negotiate peace and lured the Ming army to fetch water, as a result, the hungry and thirsty Ming soldiers left their positions to get water, the formation was scattered, and the Walla army took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, and hundreds of thousands of Ming troops were completely destroyed.
In the chaos, the guarding general Fan Zhong beat Wang Zhen to death with a stick at the emperor's side, saying: "I am a thief for the world." Emperor Zhu Qizhen was captured, and more than fifty ministers, including The British Gong Zhangfu and Bingbu Shangshu Kuang, were killed in battle. Historically, it is called the "Change of the Earth Fort".
The news of the fiasco at Tumu fort soon reached the Forbidden City in Beijing, the harem empress concubines cried, and the civil and military officials above the court argued about the escape route, some advocated running to Nanjing, some advocating running to Sichuan. In short, almost everyone is already a soldier, thinking that the Ming Dynasty is about to perish, and they are ready to flee the city of Beijing, all of which is very similar to the scene of the Great Song Dynasty Tokyo City three hundred years ago!
Among those who advocated escape, there must have been many officials who had vigorously encouraged Ming Yingzong's personal conquest, and now they have been transformed into veritable escapeists. These main war factions have all begun to pack up their family property and prepare to move south at any time, and they want to set the capital in Nanjing, under the pretext that they will stay in the green mountains and are not afraid of burning without materials. At that time, when the people who said that they wanted to fight for the country really wanted to fight, the most thought was the private property of the family, thinking about how to flee to the south and avoid this disaster.
When the Ming Dynasty was about to collapse, a man bravely stood up and helped the building to fall and turn the tide of the tide. Who is he? He was Yu Qian, the soldier who was strongly opposed to the war.
On August 18, 1449, the fourteenth year of orthodoxy ( 1449 ) , Emperor Ming's younger brother Zhu Qiyu presided over the imperial council as the overseer of the state. In the face of the suggestions of many ministers to move south, Yu Qian said categorically: "Those who say that they move south can be cut off." The capital division of the world is fundamental, and if it moves, it will be a big thing, and song Nandu will not be seen alone! ”
History is so interesting! A month ago, Yu Qian was a staunch anti-war faction, but when the Ming Dynasty was about to die, Yu Qian became the most powerful main war faction, anti-war because it should not be fought, and the main war was inevitable and must be fought.
Yu Qian's words played the role of fixing the needle of the sea god and reversed the direction of the wind of the morning meeting. At this time of crisis, they proclaimed Emperor Zhu Qiyu and honored the captured Zhu Qizhen as Emperor Taishang. At the same time, he ordered the border generals not to have private contact with The Wallachians, even if the Wara used the name of the Emperor, they did not have to pay attention.
He was also embarrassed and angry, and attacked Beijing with his division. However, he was defeated by Yu Qian and other Ming Dynasty Wenwu. In the defense of Beijing, the Ming army repelled The Wallachians. In desperation, Vala retreated from the desert.
Yu Qian's feats were equivalent to saving the fate of the Ming Dynasty and enabling the Ming Dynasty to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, after the Ming Dynasty suffered this blow, the Ming Dynasty was like a bird of fright, and the internal and external contradictions immediately intensified and became more and more serious. The rule of the Ming Dynasty thus began to go downhill step by step without looking back.
Through this battle, we can find that the ming dynasty's fiasco was for a reason, which was the total outbreak of the long-term accumulation of contradictions within the Ming dynasty. However, Ming Yingzong and Wang Zhen, who were sitting on the temple, did not know all this, and still dreamed of being a big country and regarded fighting as a child's play. Sun Tzu said: "Soldiers, the great affairs of the country, the place of death and life, the way of survival, must not be unaware." "War has never been a trivial matter, it has a bearing on the survival of a country and the future of a nation, and it must be highly valued. Especially in the case of a large number of internal problems, it is even more prudent to deal with war.
Through this war, I am reminded of the high-minded remarks of many self-confident big Vs: they have all become Zhang Liang, strategizing, and winning thousands of miles away; or they have become Han Xin, a million heroes, attacking Bike, and winning the battle; or they have become Zhou Yu, and the trees in the middle of the conversation and laughter have gone up in smoke...
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