In Chinese history, there was an emperor. He is diligent in government and loves the people, and is conscientious and conscientious. In his ruling career, he did not covet pleasure and did not get close to it. Every day, I work hard to manage the country well. However, in the end, he still became the king of the subjugated country and hanged himself on the coal mountain. He was Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
We can see that Chongzhen reached the last day and truly became a lonely man. Everyone was indifferent to his life or death, and before his bones were cold, his ministers were busy greeting the new master. Let us look at his ruling career and see how he gradually turned himself into a loner, and how did his Ming Dynasty perish?
First, kill Wei Zhongxian, disperse the eunuch clique, and deprive himself of the most reliable pillar.
In the ancient imperial court, there were generally three forces that influenced the government, courtiers, eunuchs and foreign relatives. The system of the Ming Dynasty was very strict, and the care of foreign relatives was extremely strict. Another group of officials were watching, alarmist at all times, so that in the ming dynasty, foreign relatives have not been able to form a climate and have been excluded from the center of the regime. The history books record this:
Since then, his sages have mostly followed the Dhamma and are humble and Confucian. And the one or two who are blessed with grace and misfortune are not as good as the farmhouse, the dogs and horses, and the music, and the concubines are not haiyou and concubines, not the power of the military state, and the power of the guests and friends. And in the court, the courtiers are good for the alarmist, like the Shouning brothers, and the mediocre like Zheng Guotai, who have searched for the sound of the shadows and spared no effort to criticize. Therefore, in the Ming generation, foreign relatives are the weakest.
Therefore, the political struggle in the Ming Dynasty was mainly between courtiers and eunuchs. Although the courtiers held the right to speak, they criticized the eunuchs. However, we can see that in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs who were most loyal to the emperor were precisely the eunuchs. Before Chongzhen's death, none of the courtiers came to see him, and only one eunuch accompanied him to death.
However, the first thing Chongzhen did when he came to power was to point the butcher knife at Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch group behind him. In history, this event was the most praised event in his life, and the history books of the time recorded:
After Emperor Chengshen and Xi, he was full of excitement. At the beginning of his reign, Shen Ji made a decision, eliminated the treachery, and the world wanted to rule the peace.
Who is Wei Zhongxian? The history books call him a traitor and a great rebel. We read the historical records that Wei Zhongxian's deeds were really full of evil. He took advantage of Emperor Xizong's trust and acted recklessly. Everywhere he oppresses the good and kills the loyal. He sent Jinyi guards everywhere to open mines to collect taxes, and they were arrogant enough to build shrines for him everywhere, calling him "nine thousand years old". From this point of view, such treachery must be eliminated.
However, from another aspect, we can see that the ruler of the Ming Dynasty at that time, Xizong, was obsessed with carpentry and ignored the government, but Nurhaci's army failed to reach Shanhaiguan. At that time, the financial expenditure was so large that no taxes were levied on the peasants. Even in order to resist Nurhaci, Wei Zhongxian himself took money as a military salary. In the era of Emperor Xizong, the world of the Ming Dynasty was still relatively stable. All this shows that Wei Zhongxian's actions still played a stabilizing role in the Ming Dynasty.
From all this, it can be seen that for those courtiers, Wei Zhongxian can be called a great traitor and a great rebellion, but for the emperor, he should be called a great loyal and a great shun. This is because the eunuch group led by Wei Zhongxian knows that the emperor is their real patron, and their life and death are between the emperor's thoughts.
The eunuch clique of the Ming Dynasty was different from the previous eunuch clique. The Ming Dynasty drew on the gains and losses of previous dynasties and formulated a strict system. Although the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty had great power, they were attached to the emperor. Even the Jinyi Guard, who made people smell discolored, and the ancestor who worshipped him was Yue Fei. It can be said that as long as they dare to have a little bit of double-mindedness toward the emperor, they will immediately suffer a catastrophe. Therefore, they were loyal to the emperor.
Chongzhen lived in the palace for a long time, and being emperor was also a windfall. He had long been misunderstood by Confucian education and did not understand the principle of political balance at all. Indoctrinated with the idea of eunuchs misleading the country, from the moment of succession, he pointed the butcher's knife at Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch forces behind him.
In the process of eliminating Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen also showed his political naivety. He was afraid that the eunuchs would murder him. After a period of temptation, he learned that Wei Zhongxian was just a royal dog. Only then did he kill Wei Zhongxian, who was loyal to him and the imperial family. Wei Zhongxian also obediently died, but before wei Zhongxian died, he said, "The emperor treated us so cruelly, and he will be punished in the future." ”
Sure enough, Chongzhen's retribution soon came. Chongzhen believed that by eliminating the power of the eunuch clique and relying on courtiers, the world could be ruled. He listened to the courtiers abolish the measures of mining and taxation, and immediately fell into a financial crisis. Again and again, taxes were raised to the peasants and various institutions were abolished. In this way, in fact, the taxes that Wei Zhongxian put on the rich merchants were transferred to the poor peasants. The peasants had no choice but to rebel, and eventually destroyed the Ming Dynasty in Chongzhen.
The loss of power of the entire eunuch clique also made the Tingchen clique dominant, and the courtiers who had no restraints began to act recklessly. Chongzhen's imperial court lost its political balance, and the government became more and more unmanageable. In the end, Chongzhen had to use the eunuch group again, but the trend had already gone.
Second, kill Yuan Chonghuan and make him lose his military backing.
When Chongzhen was in power, the pressing issue was a military issue. At that time in Liaodong, the Houjin established by Nurhaci was becoming more and more powerful, and there was a hidden trend of entering the customs to seize the Ming Dynasty. In this case, how to deal with Hou Jin's attack was Chongzhen's biggest problem.
Fortunately, at this time, there was a general Yuan Chonghuan on the Liaodong front who could be relied on.
Yuan Chonghuan, originally a jinshi, was born as a scholar, and the scholar threw himself into the pen and won the great victory of Ning Yuan, and became famous in the First World War. The history books say, "I raised an army in a great way, and all the directions were destroyed, and the generals did not dare to discuss war and defense." The battle was defended, starting from Chonghuan. Later, Yuan Chonghuan made many military achievements and achieved the famous Ningjin Victory, curbing the Qing army's sharp edge on the Liaodong front and ensuring the peace of the party.
After Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, he summoned Yuan Chonghuan to discuss the matter of Pingliao. Yuan Chonghuan was angry with his bookish business and casually said the big words of "five years of restoration". Chongzhen was of course overjoyed, and gave Yuan Chonghuan the power to deal with things cheaply, gave Shang Fang the sword, and ordered all parties to cooperate.
However, it turned out to be an unfulfilled promise. Eventually, the Qing army bypassed Yuan Chonghuan's defensive zone and entered the customs from the defensive zone of Liu Ce, the prime minister of Jiliao, and went straight to the city of Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan heard the news and returned to help, rushed to the city of Beijing, and finally repelled the Qing army. However, he was arrested and imprisoned.
The story of this public case is that Chongzhen was caught up in the Manchu Qing's counter-plot, believing that Yuan Chonghuan had secretly communicated with the Manchu Qing and intended to rebel. In fact, Chongzhen was not so stupid. When he killed Yuan Chonghuan, he mainly wanted to hold Yuan Chonghuan responsible for the "five years of Pingliao" in the past. However, Chongzhen's killing of Yuan Chonghuan was not a crime, which made the border army feel unfair, which made Chongzhen lose the trust of the army.
Chongzhen self-destructed the Great Wall, causing the army to be distracted, and no one would fight for him anymore. After Yuan Chonghuan's death, large-scale surrenders to the Manchus began to occur one after another among the troops in the Ming army who had lost trust in the imperial court. The history books say:
Since Chonghuan died, there was no one to benefit from the side, and the Ming Dynasty was determined.
Third, kill Chen Xinjia and make himself lose the trust of all his ministers.
After destroying the support of eunuch forces and army forces, Chongzhen went faster and faster on the road to extinction. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he killed Chen Xinjia, the soldier shangshu at that time. This time, he completely lost the trust of all the courtiers.
Chen Xinjia, born of a man. This person was very talented, and successively served as Dingzhou Zhizhou, a member of the Punishment Department, Lang Zhong, and NingQian. Later, he served as the Right Governor of Yushi, the Inspector of Xuanfu, and the Right Attendant of the Military Department and the Right Imperial History of the Right Governor, and the Governor Xuanda. Finally, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Xinjia served as the Shangshu of the Bingbu.
In the Ming Dynasty, only two people had done Shangshu, and Chen Xinjia's ability was evident. Moreover, at that time, the military was in danger, and the ministers were reluctant to be the shangshu of the military department, and at this time, Chen Xinjia dared to take up this position, and his personal responsibility was also evident.
At that time, Chongzhen was facing the dilemma of two-front combat. There was a peasant rebel rebellion inside and a Manchu invasion outside. In many cases, the critical time to extinguish the peasant rebel army was forced to be interrupted by the Manchu invasion, which led to the resurgence of the peasant army.
In order to solve this problem, Chongzhen and Chen Xinjia discussed and wanted to make peace with the Manchu Qing in secret. In this way, the pressure on the Eastern Front could be reduced and the main forces could be used against the peasant army. If the peace negotiations can be successful, the Ming Dynasty can also get a valuable respite.
However, what they never expected was that this matter, which should have been extremely confidential, was leaked out because of an accidental small matter, and the world knew everything about it, and the city was full of storms.
Ma Shaoyu, a military officer sent to secretly contact the Manchu Qing, sent a secret letter to Chen Xinjia. The secret letter wrote the proposals and conditions proposed by the Manchu Qing. Chen Xinjia read it and put it on the bookcase. His bookboy mistakenly thought it was a tang newspaper, so he sent it out. Let everyone know about this matter. As a result, those so-called Qingliu people competed to impeach Chen Xinjia. Chongzhen was also very annoyed and sent Chen Xinjia to prison.
Those Qingliu were mainly the Southern Song Dynasty negotiators and took the example of the negotiators as traitors to Qin Juniper. Of course, Chongzhen could not think of himself as Zhao Zhao. In order to shirk his responsibility, he killed Chen Xinjia. At that time, some people defended Chen Xinjia, and Chongzhen cited the mistakes of Chen Xinjia when he was in office. He said that he had let his seven princes be killed and humiliated, and that he should have died a long time ago. At that time, the squire of the Punishment Department said: "There is no borderless diplomacy between people and subjects." Those who are not in the imperial court, do not tell the king's father, but specialize in cheapness. Xinjia privately insulted the country, and when the city walled law was lost, it was beheaded. ”
As a result, Chen Xinjia was killed with Chongzhen's resentment on his back. However, everyone knew in their hearts that Chen Xinjia and the Manchu Qing Dynasty were completely at chongzhen's behest, and Chongzhen, for his own face, did not hesitate to let Chen Xinjia bear all the responsibility and kill people. This kind of behavior has made everyone fully see Chongzhen's true face and completely lose trust in Chongzhen. Since then, no one has worked hard for Chongzhen, and Chongzhen has completely become a lonely person.
Fourth, chongzhen's final ending.
When we look at the seventeen years that Chongzhen has been in power, it is completely a history of killing people and subjects. In his seventeen years, he successively changed the cabinet to 50 "prime ministers" (including 2 executed and 2 chongjun), appointed and dismissed 17 Shangshu of the Punishment Department, executed 2 people of the Bingbu Shangshu, and forced to commit suicide, and killed 7 governors and 11 inspectors. And that's just senior officials. Such a large-scale killing, only his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang could match him.
Among these personnel, there are many talented people, and Wei Zhongxian, Yuan Chonghuan and Chen Xinjia are only representatives of them. We can see from this that Chongzhen's way of employing people. When he uses you, he speaks sweetly and connivances with you. Yuan Chonghuan was good at killing the general Mao Wenlong, and Chen Xinjia defeated Ning Jin in the battle, and he could tolerate it. But once he thinks that you have rebelled against yourself, he will pay no attention to anything at all, and will kill him at will, regardless of any reason.
It can be said that he wants to kill people for only one reason, depending on his mood. Killing people can be casually made up for a reason, so that many people die for their sins, causing everyone to be dissatisfied. And Chongzhen simply ignored everyone's opinion, and his behavior was like a spoiled child. In this way, how can a country be governed well?
So that at the last moment, everyone mingzhe protected themselves and did not go out to do things, so as not to end up with the fate of Wei Zhongxian, Yuan Chonghuan and Chen Xinjia, and second, they all stood on the commanding heights of morality and spoke, so that others, especially Chongzhen, could not grasp any handle. In this way, Chongzhen only finally shouted the slogan of "the death of the monarch and the death of the society".
Mencius once said: "If a king regards his subjects as brothers and sisters, he regards him as his heart; if a king regards his subjects as dogs and horses, he regards him as a countryman; and a king regards his subjects as a mustard, and his subjects regard him as a vendetta." Before his death, Chongzhen also wrote on the book case that "all the civilian subjects can be killed", and wrote "all the ministers are mistaken" on the clothes, and finally put aside a piece for the group of ministers, so that Li Zicheng had an excuse to compare the salary. Who would follow such a king?
The most ironic thing is that the ministers who were regarded by Chongzhen as ministers of subjugation all worked diligently and conscientiously in the Manchu Qing government. Together, they created the three-hundred-year foundation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Later generations commented on this that a subject is not a subject of a subjugated country, and you Chongzhen are the true king of a subjugated country.