1644 for China, is destined to be a year of ups and downs, this year happened a lot of things, these things are enough to determine the direction of Chinese history, this year the Chongzhen Emperor is still struggling to support the crumbling Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng established the Dashun regime in Xi'an, Zhang Xianzhong established the Daxi regime in Sichuan, the Manchu Qing led by Dolgun is looking at the tiger outside the Guanwai, the four sides sit on one side, then only a butterfly needs to instigate a wing, which is enough to trigger the domino effect.
Li Zicheng was this butterfly, and on March 19, 1644, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, led his peasant rebel army into Beijing, under the slogan of "Greeting the king, the king of Chuang came without grain", which was welcomed by many peasants. Emperor Mingsizong Zhu Youjian hanged himself at Coal Mountain, leaving "the ancestors who have no face to see underground, remove their crowns, and cover their faces; let the thieves split the corpses, and do not hurt the people", and Daming perished. But history is always so ironic, 42 days later, the new Dashun regime also collapsed, 42 days a dynasty from the establishment to the demise, this record is estimated to be difficult to break.
What's the problem? In fact, it is not difficult to answer. The ancients said that the destiny of heaven is impermanent, and the virtuous dwell in it. Li Zicheng was a martial artist, a strong soldier, and he lacked nothing, but he lacked one word: virtue. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), March 21, this day was the third day of the Chongzhen Emperor hanging himself and the fall of the Ming Dynasty. More than 4,000 people, including the widows and widows of the newly fallen country, the ministers of culture and military affairs of the Ming Empire, and alternate officials, came early on this day to the noon gate of the Forbidden City, waiting to pay homage to Li Zicheng, the new emperor of the Dashun regime. From morning to night, left and right, legs are folded, and the new emperor still does not show up.
It turned out that on this day, Li Zicheng, together with his general Liu Zongmin, and the most important minister Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and others, called dozens of prostitutes and dramatists to drink and indulge in fun in the harem. In Li Zicheng's view, the brothers began to "revolt" and make "revolution" from the second year of Chongzhen (1629), and now they have entered the city of Beijing with great difficulty, and they are tired to death, so naturally they must relax and indulge in pleasure.
Li Zicheng raised an army of millions, and he had to consume at least eight thousand cups of millet every day. In order to solve the problem of insufficient logistical support, king Chuang issued the "Order for Plundering Gold" to raise salaries, so the whole city of Beijing suddenly became a purgatory on earth where people burned and plundered and cried wolf: At that time, the soldiers of the Dashun Army in the whole city of Beijing "had to be tortured by everyone, and they could be punished everywhere", and the entire Ming Empire, from the civilian and military generals to the rich merchants and civilians, was arrested by hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Dashun Army and tortured and exonerated for money. At that time, some wealthy corrupt officials, such as the Chongzhen Emperor's old father-in-law and Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, under torture, spit out 500,000 taels of silver; the great eunuch Wang Zhixin also obediently paid 150,000 taels; and the university scholar Chen Yan was also forced to hand over 40,000 taels. In less than a month, Li Zicheng's "peasant army" plundered more than 70 million taels of silver in Beijing. In addition, Liu Zongmin also went to Wu Xiangfu to forcibly occupy Wu Sangui's favorite concubine Chen Yuanyuan, and Wu Sangui hated him to the bone after learning of it. Wu Sangui, who was preparing to defect to the king, eventually cooperated with the Qing army and opened the gate of Shanhaiguan. As a result, everyone knows that a big battle at Shanhaiguan directly crushed the spirit of Li Zicheng's rebel army.
After li zicheng was embarrassed and angry at the defeat of Shanhaiguan, li zicheng retreated to Beijing, and on April 26, Li Zicheng ordered that all 34 people in Wu Sangui's full gate be beheaded; on April 29, he held a ceremony in a panic to fulfill his long-cherished wish to become emperor in Beijing; the next day, in the early morning of April 30, Li Zicheng immediately led the remnants of his troops to withdraw from the city of Beijing and set fire to the Forbidden City and the various towers of the city. From Chongzhen's entry into Beijing on March 19, 1644, to his exit from the Forbidden City on April 30, he stayed in Beijing for less than 42 days.
Counting up, this generation of "breaking kings" only made an imperial dream of "January Tour" in Beijing. A year later, in May 1645, the desperate Li Zicheng was eventually killed at Jiugong Mountain in Tongcheng, Hubei Province. A generation of "breaking kings", at this point, finally came to an end.