What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
By the time of the Apocalypse, the body of the Ming Dynasty had already become a mess of rotten meat, emitting the stench of corruption from the inside out, and after the death of the Apocalypse, Chongzhen took over a pile of rotten meat, and he absolutely could not imagine that as an emperor, he would have a lot of trouble.
The Ming Dynasty was economically bankrupt
In July of the first year of Chongzhen, only two years after the new Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the emperor, who was bent on reviving the Ming Dynasty, received a report that worried him very much--the Ningyuan army that resisted the Manchu Qing army had mutinied.
The army mutinied because the government had already defaulted on the salaries of officers and men at the front for four months. You can't blame these soldiers for being unpatriotic, and the enemy is still calculating personal interests. These soldiers rely on this military salary to support the whole family, they have not received military salary for four months, their own survival is a problem, plus these soldiers are rough people who have not read books, how can they not make trouble?
This mutiny first began with soldiers from Sichuan and Huguang, and then quickly spread to the thirteen military camps on the Ningyuan front. These soldiers blamed the officials, so they arrested Inspector Bi Zisu, Chief Officer Zhu Mei, Tongju Zhang Shirong, and Push Officer Su Hanchun, and then detained and beat them severely to pay their salaries.
What should be done when the soldiers mutinied and arrested all the local officials? Is it to send troops to suppress it? Of course not, because there are no soldiers to send, and all the armies are short of pay. There was no way, these officials could only find ways to find money, and it was not easy to get seventy thousand taels, so that the soldiers gave up, and inspector Bi Zisu escaped, and then he committed suicide.
The roof leaked in the rain overnight, less than three months after the Ningyuan mutiny, and the news of the mutiny came from Jinzhou, for the same reason as Ning Yuan, or because of the arrears of military salaries, thanks to Yuan Chonghuan's strong personality at that time, he tried his best to maintain it and did not cause a catastrophe.
Subsequently, similar incidents caused by the mutiny of soldiers due to arrears of military salaries occurred repeatedly in the Chongzhen dynasty. The most critical one was that in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the troops stationed in Changping, Beijing, were mutinied due to lack of pay, and it should be known that they were very close to the Forbidden City. You want to even lack pay for the army around the emperor, and the army in other places is even less.
It is strange that since the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar, the government has specially levied 5.2 million yuan of "Liaoxiang" every year. How come the soldiers who specialized in providing for the Liaodong front still go hungry for months without receiving military salaries?
Is it because the generals of the army deliberately withheld military salaries and enriched themselves? It cannot be ruled out that there are also some moths in the army, but to say that the responsibility is all on them, it is still wronged against them.
In fact, at this time, the Ming Dynasty was already economically bankrupt, and the national treasury really had no money for the army. In 1644, there was a man named Liu Shangyou, who said:
"The national plan is extremely embarrassing, and the household department should be relieved of the Beijing silver for two years and twenty million years old, and now only two million people have arrived."
What does that mean? That is to say, the country is already very poor, and the silver that the whole country should send to Beijing should be twenty million, but now it is only two million. What is enough for a huge country with only two million silver in its treasury?
Did the emperor turn all the money in the treasury into his own private money? Even many ministers at the time thought that the emperor had a lot of private money.
On The New Year's Day of chongzhen's seventeenth year, it was three months before Li Zicheng entered Beijing. At the end of the imperial meeting, the Chongzhen Emperor left several cabinet ministers to drink tea. These ministers were very anxious because of the war, so they told the Chongzhen Emperor:
"The treasury has been hidden for a long time, the foreign salary is not reached, all the side expenses cannot be delayed, and the emperor is afraid of the internal ear."
What do these ministers mean? That is to say: "There is already no money in the treasury, the local money cannot be sent up, the military is tight, all the military expenses are urgent, and now you can only ask the emperor to take out your private money." ”
So how did the Chongzhen Emperor answer? Chongzhen was silent for a long time and said, "I can't talk about my private money (I don't have any money). When he finished, he burst into tears.
So was the Chongzhen Emperor deliberately crying poor? Not really. According to the Records of Jiashen, before the destruction of the city of Beijing, the person who last counted the emperor's private treasury (inner chamber) was named Zhao Shijin, and he saw with his own eyes that there were only more than 2,300 gold in the library, so Chongzhen did not lie.
If you are Chongzhen, this is about to destroy the country, Li Zicheng entered Beijing, the country is gone, at this time is still necessary to hide?
Where did all the money of the Ming Dynasty go?
On the New Year's Day of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng established the Dashun regime in Xi'an and began to fight all the way east toward Beijing, and at this time of life and death, he most needed money to organize an army to resist. However, at this critical juncture, there was no money in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, and there was no money in the emperor's internal pockets, so where did the money of the Ming Dynasty go?
By March, Li Zicheng's army was almost in Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor, like ants on a hot pot, fidgeted and began to do their own tricks and find ways to raise money.
At the beginning of March, the sixth thought of a trick: "All the prisoners in prison ... All are paid atonement for their sins. "That is to say, all officials who are in prison for crimes can be released and exonerated for money, but unfortunately these people do not have much money."
At the beginning of March, he came up with another idea: "Ling Xunqi and Da Heng (Great Eunuch) to help pay." "This seems to be more reliable, because the relatives of the emperor and the state, the eunuchs, these people should be the richest group of people in the Ming Dynasty, and these people usually receive the most favors, and at this critical juncture, they should always help." However, the facts disappointed the Chongzhen Emperor, and these people were crying and poor, saying that they would not take any money.
First of all, let's take a look at the Chongzhen Emperor's father-in-law, Empress Zhou's father Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, the Chongzhen Emperor usually has a lot of rewards for him, and now he wants him to take the lead and donate a little more money, such as fifty thousand or one hundred thousand.
Guess what Uncle Zhou said?
The eunuch Xu Gao, who was crying and weeping, read Chongzhen's holy will three times and wanted to put pressure on him, but he resolutely refused to donate. Xu Gao couldn't look at this crying and poor face and said, "The old emperor is so miserly, the country is gone, what is the use of you wanting so much money?" ”
This time Zhou Kui had no choice but to donate, but only donated ten thousand taels. Chongzhen felt that it was too little, so he asked him to donate twenty thousand, and this old man was reluctant to donate more. When Empress Zhou saw that her father was this face, she felt humiliated, so she gave Zhou Kui five thousand taels and asked him to make up another five thousand taels, so that she could just donate another ten thousand taels.
What happens next, you can't imagine, this is a person who is a father-in-law, a courtier, a father can do. Zhou Kui not only did not fill in, but instead left the five thousand taels that the empress gave him, leaving him two thousand taels, and only donated three thousand taels.
You think, even the emperor's father-in-law is so stingy and doesn't want to donate, can others donate more?
As soon as the eunuchs received Chongzhen's advice to donate, they rushed to post an advertisement outside their houses that read, "This house is for urgent sale." Of course, they either really want to sell their houses and donate money, or they deliberately make a show and cry poor. The most shameless person is the first assistant of the cabinet, Wei Zaode, who only donated five hundred.
In the end, Chongzhen persuaded him to donate, and guess how much money these people who were raised by the imperial court donated in total? Only about two hundred thousand taels. Such a little money, a fart. In the early morning of March 19, the Chongzhen Emperor was still martyred on the coal mountain.
How much silver did the Da Shun army loot when it entered Beijing?
Is it true that these imperial relatives and ministers and eunuchs really have no money?
These people are really bad. No matter how hard Chongzhen tried to persuade them, they insisted that they had no money. However, when these people encountered the leather whips and torture devices of the Da Shun Army, they immediately became extremely rich one by one.
Li Zicheng led the DaShun army into the city of Beijing in a mighty way, and on the first day, the Dashun army was still disciplined and purged, and did not take a needle and a line from the people, and the people of Beijing thought that they had encountered a benevolent and righteous division.
But at night, the poor and frightened peasant army, faced with the bustling city of Beijing, could no longer hold its breath and began to openly rob the masses of their belongings, and began to torture and torture those who were officials, relatives of the emperor and the state, and rich households, forcing them to hand over their money, or they would be tortured to death.
The first to take the lead was Liu Zongmin, the number one general of the Da Shun Army, who, after entering the city of Beijing, did two things day and night: to make money and rob women.
Zhao Shijin, who mentioned earlier that counted the emperor's internal affairs, was also arrested and detained by Liu Zongmin, and he saw with his own eyes:
"Every day, the gold and silver wine vessel Duan Yu clothes were carried to Liu Zongmin's office, and the Duan Yu in his hall was piled up like a mountain. Gold and silver are stored in two places. The big bullock cart is loaded with clothes, high and aligned with the house. ”
That is to say, every day, there are countless gold and silver wine vessels, and the brocade clothes are pulled to Liu Zongmin's house one by one, and the gold and silver and clothes are piled up like mountains, as high as the houses. By the beginning of April, Liu Zongmin alone had forced out 10 million taels of silver.
The peasant army's demand for money is not blind, but there is a minimum standard. For example, cabinet ministers want 100,000, ministries, jingtang, jinyi, and palm seal officials need 70,000, kedao officials need 50,000, officials need 20,000, Hanlin wants 10,000, and ministry Cao wants thousands, but there is no upper limit for the imperial relatives and nobles.
More than 800 officials and nobles, under the torture of the peasant army, could only destroy their wealth and eliminate disasters.
First, let's look at Zhou Kui, that is, the old abbot who gave Chongzhen a month ago to cry and cry, and searched for only 10,000 taels. The general Li Yan of the Dashun army occupied Zhou Kui's mansion, and Zhou Kui gave 100,000 taels at a time. Li Yan said, you are the abbot of the country, stingy and unfaithful, and then the punishment is served, and Zhou Kui took out another hundred thousand taels. Later, with a soldering iron, burned once, added ten thousand, and finally the whole body was scorched, and took out four hundred thousand two, and Zhou Kui took out a total of six hundred thousand two, plus countless treasure antiques.
Look at the first assistant Wei Zaode, who only donated five hundred to show his integrity, and also handed over thirteen thousand taels in front of the Great Shun Army. The heart of the retired grand eunuch Wang, it is said that "the family stores 300,000 silver", Chongzhen persuaded him to donate, he used "continuous years of family planning to consume shortage", offering 10,000 silver. When the army chased after them, they handed over 150,000 taels of silver with many treasures.
In this way, the invading army cut out a total of seventy million taels of silver from the mouths of nobles, officials, eunuchs, and rich people! Not long ago, under the urgent mobilization of the Chongzhen Emperor, the officials and relatives sold iron with tears and smashed pots, and only donated 200,000 taels. The difference between the two is more than three hundred and fifty times greater.
When the DaShun army entered Beijing, there was no military discipline at all, and Li Zicheng did not care? The "Ming Dynasty Northern Sketch" said that in the face of the military discipline and chaos, Li Zicheng tried to stop it, and the soldiers were in an uproar, saying: "The emperor let Ru do it, and the gold and silver women did not let me be a generation. It can be said that the peasant army participated in the uprising in order to rob the rich and help the poor, and now that the wish has come true, in the face of the temptation of gold, silver, treasure, and beauty, who can stop them, even Li Zicheng.
You see, the Ming Dynasty did not have no money, but the money was all possessed by these imperial relatives and ministers. Thousands of very few interest groups have occupied most of the country's wealth, and the gap between the rich and the poor in the whole country is extremely large, and the contradiction between the rich and the poor cannot be coordinated. The emperor did not donate, how could these people share it with the poor? In the end, it can only be forcibly redistributed through the violence of the peasant uprising.
Chongzhen had no money, and he couldn't take money out of the hands of the magnates, and finally he could only watch Daming perish because he didn't have money. It was precisely because of the seventy million taels of silver that the army quickly became corrupt. They had never seen such a golden mountain and silver mountain, and the "revolutionary fighting spirit" was suddenly exhausted, and the combat effectiveness was completely lost, so the great battle with Wu Sangui and the Manchu Qing coalition army was a stone, and it collapsed at a touch.