The Ming Dynasty is one of the most bizarre of China's many ancient feudal dynasties, and its strangeness lies not only in the vagaries of the ruler's ability. Among the more than ten emperors who experienced more than two hundred years of rule in the Ming Empire, there were those who had superpowers to suppress their subjects, and some had died of absurdity and indulgence. The last emperor, Chongzhen, was the most wronged of them.
The three conditions of Li Zicheng, the last vitality of the Ming Empire, why did the Chongzhen Emperor firmly refuse
Speaking of the Chongzhen Emperor, we have to mention his brother Emperor Mingxi Zong Zhu You. Emperor Mingxi was one of the few people in the Ming Empire who was completely incompetent, and he loved carpentry all his life, knew few characters, and did one thing that buried the fate of the Ming Empire during his reign - reusing the traitor Wei Zhongxian.
Wei Zhongxian appeared as a big villain in most of the many film and television works that people make now, and he always dressed gorgeously and dressed in fine clothes, but he did nothing evil and lost his conscience. At that time, Wei Zhongxian commanded the Secret Service Agency of the Great Ming Empire, the East Factory, which was powerful and full of evil. And it was he who wantonly plundered the people's fat and people's anointing, causing the people to complain and revolts broke out in many places.
According to relevant historical records, there were once ministers who risked their lives for the then emperor Mingxi Zong Zhu Youyi to accuse the eunuch Wei Zhongxian of more than ten major crimes of extermination, but the emperor did not take it seriously because he concentrated on his carpentry skills. In the end, the material for these incriminating crimes fell into the hands of Wei Zhongxian, resulting in the killing of many upright ministers in the court.
In the following years, Wei Zhongxian was even more unscrupulous, even imprisoning the emperor in the imperial palace and cutting off the emperor's communication with the outside world. Later, Emperor Mingxi Zhu fell seriously ill and was bedridden, and at this time, the power of the court fell completely into the hands of Wei Zhongxian. Later, Emperor Mingxi died of illness, and before his death, he passed the throne to his younger brother, Zhu Youjian, the King of Damingxin, who was also the Chongzhen Emperor.
Judging from the succession of the Chongzhen Emperor, he was still very scheming. He first pretended to be dependent on Wei Zhongxian, relying on Wei Zhongxian's power to help him ascend to the throne, and by the way, he found out the foundation of Wei Zhongxian's power. After he ascended to the throne, the first thing he did was to raid Wei Zhongxian's home, eliminate Wei Zhongxian and the forces of Dongchang in the middle of the dynasty, and rectify the imperial program.
After eliminating Wei Zhongxian's power, he realized how big a problem he really faced. At that time, the Ming Empire had long been devastated, and it had long ceased to be the glory of the dynasty of all nations. At present, Daming is constantly worried about internal and external troubles, the people in the DPRK and China are panicked, the people are displaced, and they have long lost confidence in the rule of the imperial court.
At that time, Daming was faced with a situation in which bandits were constantly plagued in the northwest, the Jurchens in the northeast were also eyeing the tiger, peasant uprisings broke out in many places in the interior, and there were signs of rising party strife between the DPRK and China. The Chongzhen Emperor was only in his twenties at the time, which was the age of vigor and ambition, and as soon as he succeeded to the throne, he immediately began drastic reforms, but the force was a bit too strong.
The Chongzhen Emperor, known as the "Daming Firefighter", was faced with many problems at that time, like ants on a hot pot, and wanted to solve them all at once. At this time, he did not understand that the foundation of Daming had been broken, and the problems had to be solved slowly one by one, and later history also proved that the Chongzhen Emperor's approach was too anxious.
Finally, after many reform policies of the Chongzhen Emperor, the last straw that crushed the Ming Empire came. Li Zicheng organized the peasant uprisings in many places into a large-scale team, and in one fell swoop attacked the military powerhouse at that time, the ancient city of Taiyuan, and the army pointed directly at the capital of Daming at that time. At this time, the Ming Empire was in danger.
At this time, Chongzhen had the idea of moving the capital to the south, so he summoned the ministers of the court to discuss this time, but refused this proposal on the grounds of violating the ancestral precepts. After that, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself the king of Chuang, changed the name of the country, and led his army to the capital of Daming at that time. At this time, the main force of the Ming Dynasty army was defending the northeast region against the attack of the Jurchens.
At this time, the army used to defend against Li Zicheng was simply not enough, so the Chongzhen Emperor allocated funds to recruit a large number of troops, but there was no time to train and could only go to the battlefield immediately. However, due to the excessive rush of recruitment, the quality of the recruited soldiers was uneven, and the results were repeatedly defeated. Just when Li Zicheng was about to attack the capital, Li Zicheng proposed to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, Li Zicheng put forward several conditions to the Chongzhen Emperor, and if the Chongzhen Emperor agreed, he could submit to Daming and help the Chongzhen Emperor to quell many wars in the country. The conditions he put forward are not too outrageous for now. That is, let the Chongzhen Emperor crown himself as king, reward himself with a fief, and reward himself with a hundred gold.
Perhaps this was the last chance that heaven gave to the Chongzhen Emperor, but he rejected Li Zicheng's suggestion because of those feudal rituals and external views. Li Zicheng, who received a reply, was furious and led his army to attack the capital in one breath. The Chongzhen Emperor dismissed everyone in the palace and took his henchmen to houshan with his henchmen.
On the back mountain, the Chongzhen Emperor looked back at the chaotic capital and the imperial palace, thinking about his short and vicissitudes of life, and his heart could not help but be bitter. At this time, the Chongzhen Emperor looked back at the history of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years, thinking that he would no longer have the face to live in the world as the king of the fallen country, so he hanged himself on a pine tree in the back mountain.
epilogue:
With the suicide of the Chongzhen Emperor, the century-old fate of the Ming Empire also ended. Later, Li Zicheng was defeated against the Qing army, and the Qing army entered the customs to establish the Qing Empire. History drifted by like smoke, and Daming dissipated without leaving a trace.