As we all know, Chongzhen was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and although the Ming Dynasty died at his hands, he was not so faint. On the contrary, he was extremely diligent, did not eat or use all kinds of extravagant things, and was very simple. However, because the Ming Dynasty at that time was already devastated, various natural and man-made disasters occurred frequently at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the peasant uprisings everywhere and the threat of guanwai, he was even more isolated. The method that Zhu Di left for him seemed very good now, but unfortunately Chongzhen was useless.
Because Chongzhen did not think of this method, later some people said that he was weak and incompetent, and some said that he was willing to live and die with the country. When we talk about Zhu Di, he is actually very discerning, and he knows from the beginning that the Ming Dynasty cannot exist forever, so he leaves a way back for himself. It is extremely regrettable that Zhu Youjian did not think about it at the last moment. So what is this back road he left behind? Let's analyze it.
When Zhu Di became emperor, he felt that Beijing was a very important place in the north, and although Nanjing was not much different from him, Beijing was more important than him. Therefore, Zhu Di chose to move the capital to Beijing, but Nanjing did not want to give up, so Nanjing was the retreat left by Zhu Di for future generations. After arriving in Beijing, he did not ignore Nanjing, but continued to retain the original administrative organs and units. There are many reasons why the various systems in Nanjing have not been abolished, the most important of which is to prevent usurpation, and the other is to strengthen the attention and restrictions on the uprising, which is the way back he left for himself. If one day Beijing really can't hold back, then you can still retreat to the Nanjing area, so that Nanjing can become another choice besides Beijing. Unfortunately, none of the subsequent emperors thought of the real reason why They wanted to keep Nanjing. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the administrative organs in Nanjing could still function, but at that time it had become a place for the elderly to retire. If Chongzhen had not stayed in Beijing, but had retreated to Nanjing to gather the Qin King's army, what would have been the result of death and the destruction of the country?
When Li Zicheng attacked the palace, the ministers unanimously proposed that the emperor should first retreat to Nanjing before making plans, but he was speechless by Chongzhen's sentence "The king dies and the son of heaven guards the gate of the country". But he didn't think about how to protect the country if the Son of Heaven was gone? As the ancient poem said, "Stay in the green mountains, not afraid of no firewood", he did not have to act so extremely, as long as he retreated to Nanjing, with the existing administrative institutions and systems, he could still make the Ming Dynasty continue to exist. But he did not expect that he chose the method of living and dying with the country. Although the death was somewhat admirable, it did not ruin their family's reputation.
In fact, he is not incompetent or weak, he just can't do anything that can bring results in such a lonely and helpless situation. The words he had been flattering ended up being the cause of his suicide and martyrdom. History is like this, cruel and unsatisfactory.