It is also interesting to say that the Ming Dynasty was established by the peasant uprising, and later it was also overthrown by the peasant uprising, so the two outstanding peasant representatives who established and overthrew the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Zicheng, were often compared, and they were also born at the bottom of society, also struggled to survive in the chaotic world, and also had excellent civil talents, both of whom had experienced hardships and singing all the way, and finally became the emperors of a dynasty and a country, large or small.
However, with many similarities, they were still brought to a different intersection by fate, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty, guozuo lasted for nearly three hundred years, and became famous as a victor for thousands of years; and the Dashun Dynasty established by Li Zicheng existed for only 42 days before it was subverted by the Qing army, and was recorded in history as a negative teaching material for the limitations of the peasant uprising.
What exactly is Li Zicheng's problem, and why did the hard-working Dashun regime survive so short?
The small peasants were deeply rooted in their thinking, eager to claim the title of emperor, and became the target of public criticism
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty soldier Shangshu Zhang Jinyan opened the gate of beijing, and Li Zicheng's rebel army drove straight in and occupied the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty, and from then on, the Ming regime could only exist in the history books.
At the beginning of entering the city of Beijing, Li Zicheng had ordered that officers and soldiers be forbidden to burn, loot, and insult women, and Li Zicheng's attitude toward the Ming Dynasty royal family was also very kind, and he gave them leniency.
But after finding the body of the Chongzhen Emperor, many things began to change.
After occupying the city of Beijing, Li Zicheng was blinded by the victory in front of him, bent on becoming emperor, wanting to be emperor, enjoying the treatment of the emperor wantonly, and allowing himself to let go of the crisis and worries around him, laying the foundation for his rapid demise.
At that time, the Manchu Qing regime headed by Dolgun was staring at Li Zicheng's rebel army outside Guanwai, ready to start the battle to enter the pass; and those former courtiers were bent on restoring the Ming Dynasty, they established the Southern Ming court, and they were also looking for an opportunity to eliminate the Dashun regime, and even the people regarded Li Zicheng as a traitor, under such internal and external troubles, Li Zicheng was unstable, but he was eager to claim the title of emperor, and if he became the target of everyone, he was bound to fail.
Short-sightedness, incriminating the landlord class, losing the basis of rule
When the Ming Dynasty was about to fall, the Chongzhen Emperor had encouraged officials and the landlord class to dedicate their property to save the regime that was about to collapse, but those people could not see the future of Daming, and they did not have much attachment to the Ming Dynasty, and they all rejected Chongzhen for self-interest, and eventually the Daming regime collapsed.
After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he severely tortured those officials and landlords, and it is said that more than 70 million taels of silver were recovered from their hands, and many squires and local tycoons were tortured to death, so he was notorious among the landlords and gentry and civil and military officials.
Li Zicheng believed that he was a peasant uprising, the mass base was the peasants, and he was inseparable from these corrupt officials and landlords who extracted the people's fat and people's anointing, so he was merciless in cracking down on them, and what Li Zicheng did not understand was that he had broken into the city of Beijing by relying on the people at the bottom, but if he wanted to gain a foothold here, the Dashun regime must get the support of these landlord classes.
Hedonistic pleasure, spoiled adultery, and ruined the atmosphere of the officials
Jin Xing is Li Zicheng's absurd and unscrupulous helper, he flatters and flatters Li Zicheng everywhere, makes Li Zicheng feel that the world is in his hands, at his fingertips, he also helps Li Zicheng to find flowers and ask willows, so that Li Zicheng is immersed in his ideal world.
Niu Jinxing was still very jealous of Li Yan's talent, attacked Li Yan everywhere, and finally killed Li Yan, and the situation was unstable and adulterous, which made the entire Dashun court panic, and the officials did not dare to offend the chancellor Niu Jinxing, and the whole official rule was very corrupt.
The Wu Sangui issue was improperly handled, and in the end it was a miserable defeat
As a general of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui has always been stationed at Shanhaiguan, and Shanhaiguan is also a place where successive rulers must fight, when the Qing army was stationed outside the customs, so Shanhaiguan was very important to both the Qing army and Li Zicheng, Wu Sangui's attitude directly affected the overall situation, but unfortunately Li Zicheng did not soberly realize this.
When Li Zicheng's rebel army entered Beijing, Wu Sangui knew that the Ming Dynasty could not be saved, and he also thought about surrendering to Li Zicheng, but just when he was swinging, Li Zicheng copied his family property and arrested his relatives, and his subordinate Liu Zongmin occupied Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan, making the balance in Wu Sangui's heart tilt toward the Qing army, followed by Liu Zongmin killing Wu Sangui's father, and Li Zicheng immersed himself in a luxurious life every day, turning a blind eye to what Liu Zongmin did, and did not punish Liu Zongmin. Li Zicheng forced Chongzhen to kill Wu Sangui's father, and now he killed the biological father of others, which is really a vendetta against his father, at this time Wu Sangui also saw that Li Zicheng was not a big talent, so he dispelled the idea of defecting to Li Zicheng and invited the Qing army to enter the customs.
After that, Wu Sangui and Dolgun joined forces to beat Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops outside Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng fled back to Beijing overnight, held his own enthronement ceremony, burned down Wu Yingdian, and then fled from Beijing in a hurry, but his front foot just left the city of Beijing, and his back foot was killed by the local villagers, and he made a big fuss for a lifetime, and finally ended up with such an ending.