Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen succeeded to the throne when he was only nine years old, and the era name was Orthodox, and in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449 AD), the Mongol Wa thorn department led a large army to attack the Ming Dynasty, Ming Yingzong led the troops to march at the instigation of the eunuch Wang Zhen, and was captured by the enemy army at Tumu Fort, and his younger brother Zhu Qiyu succeeded to the throne with the era name Jingtai, after which Ming Yingzong was released. In the eighth year of Jingtai (1457 AD), Emperor Mingyingzong, with the support of Cao Jixiang and Shi Heng and others, seized the palace gate, ascended to the Fengtian Temple to restore the throne, deposed Emperor Jingtai, and killed Yu Qian, which is called "the change of the door in history." "When Emperor Mingyingzong Zhu Qizhen succeeded to the throne, he was still very young, and according to the will left by Emperor Xuanzong, all major state affairs were handled by the empress dowager Zhang Shi, and experienced ministers such as Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Bo were responsible for administrative affairs.
Therefore, the policies of the early orthodox period basically followed the policies of the Renzong and Xuanzong periods, ensuring the stable development of society, and the government continued to operate normally on the previous track, but under such a seemingly calm surface, the eunuch Wang Zhen secretly stole power, interfered in the government, and finally caused a catastrophe, resulting in Ming Yingzong being captured by the northern watts, and when Ming Yingzong was the crown prince, the eunuch Wang Zhen accompanied him to study in the Eastern Palace, and was also responsible for serving him. After Emperor Mingyingzong succeeded to the throne, he promoted Wang Zhen to the post of eunuch. Wang Zhen was a native of Weizhou, Shanxi (present-day Wei County, Shanxi), and when he was a teenager, he castrated himself into the imperial palace, was selected to study in the Inner Shutang, and was later sent to the Eastern Palace to serve the crown prince, Wang Zhen was very cunning and good at flattery, so Zhu Qizhen liked him very much.
After Wang Zhen entered the head of the ceremonial supervisor, he used Ming Yingzong's favor to suppress the hundred officials, his character was willful and unreasonable, creating a precedent for the dictatorship of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, at first, because the government affairs were handled by the empress dowager Zhang Shi and the "Three Yangs", Wang Zhen did not dare to be too arrogant, and in the seventh year of orthodoxy (1442 AD), the empress dowager died of illness, at this time, "Three Yangs" was only Left Yang Pu alone in the imperial court, old, and the power was lonely, so There was no longer any power to restrain Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, and he began to act boldly. He first removed the stone plaque on the palace gate that "it is forbidden for eunuchs to interfere in politics", and then built a large number of civil engineering to let the vast number of soldiers and civilians build a mansion for him in the imperial city.
In the capital, he had several mansions, each of which was magnificent and luxurious, and he also enslaved the people to build the Zhihua Temple and pray for his blessings, and what was even more heinous was that he sold officials and knights, collected bribes, formed parties for personal gain, and if anyone did not depend on him, he would do everything he could to attack and frame the other party, and for his various behaviors, Ming Yingzong not only did not have any blame, but also favored him even more, believing that he was a loyal person, just when Wang Zhen was playing with power, The Northern Mongol Wa thorn tribe of Dehuan and his son also slowly became stronger. In the ninth year of Xuande (1434 AD), Dehuan launched an attack on the Tatar Arutai, and beheaded Arutai and annexed his tribe, he originally wanted to establish himself as a khan, because his subordinates did not agree to establish a descendant of the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty- Te Tuo Buhua as the khan of the headquarters, calling himself a minister, and in fact, Dehuan buhua was just a puppet with the khan's false name, and Dehuan held real power.
In the fourth year of orthodoxy (1439 AD), after the death of Dehuan, his son also inherited his father's position, grasped the real power of The Watt, and after he first came to power, he began to vigorously expand his power, he first developed in the northwest direction, and in the ninth year of orthodoxy (1444 AD), he established Gansu Province. The following year, he led his men to launch an attack on the Ming Dynasty's zhongshun king, Watafuri, and slowly controlled the western region key to Hami in his own hands, while at the same time, he developed to the east and launched an attack on the three guards of Wuliang Ha. For these expansionary acts of the Washi, The Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen not only did not give any condemnation and counterattack, but also never sent troops to rescue the infringed places, so the power of the first one slowly developed, and it has expanded to the east to the Liaodong region, and to the west has expanded to the present Xinjiang, Qinghai and other places, seriously threatening the rule of the Ming Dynasty. In the eighth year of orthodoxy (1443 AD), liu Qiu, an attendant, specifically proposed ten things that should be reformed in response to the maladministration at that time.
Among them, regarding the rise of the Watt thorn, he made suggestions, hoping to rectify the military system, to eliminate the behavior of privately served soldiers, to step up the training of military soldiers, Wang Zhen saw that this was an accusation against himself, actually arrested Liu Qiu, and privately sent Jinyi Wei to command Ma Shun to kill Liu Qiu in prison, two years later (1445 AD), the bingbu Shangshu Kuang and several ministers requested the imperial court to strengthen the defense of the northern border. In particular, it was requested to increase the strength of the troops in Datong, the fortress bordering the Wattle Thorns. However, Ming Yingzong and Wang Zhen only knew how to drink and enjoy themselves, and did not care about these performances of the ministers, Wang Zhen not only did not make any preparations, but also let his private party, Guo Jing, the eunuch guo Jing, who was guarding datong town, privately cast dozens of urns of arrows to send to the tile thorn every year in exchange for the good colt of the wattle thorn, and after four years of orthodoxy, the watt thorn would pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every year, and Wang Zhen tried his best to curry favor with the watt thorn in order to make the border peaceful, and all the tribute envoys of the watt thorn were treated with courtesy and given a very generous reward, as long as the other party asked , whatever it is, promise.
According to the regulations, the number of tribute envoys who came to the Ming Dynasty every year could not exceed fifty, but they were eager to receive many rewards from the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, they bullied the Ming Dynasty into being weak and deceitful, and the tributes gradually increased to more than 2,000 people, and they also lured and encouraged other Mongol tribes to join the Ming Dynasty in asking for rewards. If their demands were not met, they would deliberately create some trouble on the border, so the money given to them by the Ming Dynasty had to grow more and more every year. In the spring of the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449 AD), WaShi sent two thousand tribute envoys to Beijing, in order to be able to receive more rewards, they actually pretended to be three thousand people, this time, Wang Zhen did not know why, suddenly on a whim wanted to tease them, he ordered the ministry of ceremonies to give rewards according to their actual number, and also cut the price of horses by four-fifths, and when the envoy returned to Wa thorn to report the matter, he was also furious, because the Ming Dynasty had promised to marry the princess to his son. However, he later lost his faith as a reason, and in July of that year, he lured and threatened other tribes to launch an attack on the Ming Dynasty, and he himself led a large number of men and horses to launch a fierce attack on Datong, the front line was frequently defeated, and urgent reports continued to return to Beijing.
Some reported that the general Wu Hao was killed in battle at Maoerzhuang; some reported that Song Ying, the Marquis of Xining, Wu Jinbo ZhuMi, and Shi Heng, who held the post of governor of Tongzhi, fought against Ye Xian's troops at Yanghekou, Song Ying and Zhu Mian were all killed in battle, and Shi Ting also fled in a very awkward way, and the eunuch Guo Jing of the Linjun Army, because he was hiding in the grass at that time, only to retrieve a small life, and sometimes, all kinds of urgent reports came dozens of times a day, at this time, Ming Yingzong really panicked. He first hurriedly dispatched four generals, including Lieutenant Jingyuan, to lead more than 10,000 people to meet the enemy, but he still felt uneasy, and then he summoned Wang Zhen and the ministers to discuss countermeasures. The greedy Wang Zhen actually wanted Emperor Mingyingzong to personally march in order to invite favors and merit, so he strongly urged Emperor Yingzong to personally lead a large army to fight against Yexian's troops, and Kwong, who held the post of Shangshu of the Army, and Yu Qian, who held the post of attendant, vigorously stated that the Sixth Division should not travel easily, saying that strengthening the strength of border defense was the top priority now, and reiterated the order that the wall should be cleared and ready to go.
In this way, only in this way can we defeat the enemy, and there is no need for the emperor to personally command the Sixth Division to the border to fight, and Wang Zhi, who holds the post of official Shangshu, led the ministers to Say to Ming Yingzong: "At present, the autumn and summer outside the Saiwai have not yet retreated, the early qi has not yet returned, the grass is not abundant, the water resources are also very scarce, and the grain and forage for soil and horses are insufficient. Ming Yingzong did not listen to these correct opinions and suggestions at all, but blindly obeyed Wang Zhen's words, and made up his mind to personally march on the throne, ordering the eunuch Jin Ying to assist his younger brother Zhu Qiyu, the King of Lang, to stay in the capital, and Yu Qian, who served as a military attendant, stayed in Beijing to act as an acting minister, and the British ministers Zhang Fu, Hubu Shangshu Wang Zuo, Bingbu Shangshuguan Chu, and cabinet scholars Cao Ping and Zhang Yi followed Ming Yingzong's personal conquest, and the ministers accompanying the expedition were Led by Zhang Fu, but they did not allow him to participate in any military and political affairs. All military and political affairs were decided and dictated by Wang Zhen alone, and Ming Yingzong and Wang Zhen regarded such a huge military operation as a child's play, and only prepared for two or three days, and on July 16, they led half a million troops to set off in a hurry, and even at this time, there were still people who wanted Ming Yingzong to change this pro-conquest plan.
The cabinet scholar Cao Xie hated Wang Zhen's behavior very much, and in the process of marching, he contacted all the imperial historians who accompanied him, encouraged them to kill Wang Zhen, and then forced Ming Yingzong to return to the capital, but the imperial historians were too frightened to speak out after hearing his bold words. In desperation, he found the old minister Zhang Fu to discuss this matter together. However, unfortunately, Zhang Fu did not support him and Cao had to abandon his plan. Ming Yingzong led a large army from Beijing, out of Juyongguan, after passing through Huailai, there was no resistance on the way to Xuanfu, but because of the wind and rain for many days, the people and horses were very tired, the soldiers suffered a lot, and the military's heart became very unstable. Bingbu Shangshu also fell off his horse, and as a result, he fell seriously, and had to struggle with the army to continue to move forward, before reaching Datong, the grain and grass in the army were almost eaten, and the roads were lined with the corpses of starved soldiers, but Wang Zhen ignored it and still blindly urged the team to continue to advance. The officials accompanying him strongly urged Emperor Yingzong to return to the capital.
Kuang Chu, who held the post of Shangshu of the Bingbu Army, and Wang Zuo, who held the post of Shangshu of Hubu, repeatedly asked Emperor Ming Yingzong to return to Beijing, wang Zhen actually indiscriminately threatened and punished them for kneeling in the grass for a whole day, and only released them in the evening, when Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, reported various matters to Wang Zhen, he had to move forward on his knees, although in this way, Wang Zhen still could not listen to any advice, stubborn, on the first day of August, the Ming army came to Datong, and first saw that Ming Yingzong personally came to the front line to command the battle, and wanted to lure the Ming army to continue to go deeper So he took the initiative to retreat to the north. Wang Zhen saw that the Wa thorn army was retreating to the north, and he also insisted on continuing to advance northward, pursuing Ye Xian's troops. The accompanying ministers all went forward to ask for return, but Wang Zhen could not listen at all, and in the second year of the first year, Dun Jing, the eunuch who had hidden in the grass to retrieve his life, secretly told Wang Zhen the truth about the fiasco on the front line, and said that if he continued to advance north, he would just be caught in The treacherous plan of Ye Xian, at this time, Wang Zhen was really frightened, so he hurriedly decided to return to the dynasty, at the beginning, they planned to retreat from Bauhinia Pass, so that they could pass through Wang Zhen's hometown of Weizhou. Wang Zhen wanted to take this opportunity to let Ming Yingzong "visit" his hometown in order to show his prestige and at the same time honor his ancestors.
However, as he walked, he suddenly thought that if the army passed through Ulju, it would definitely trample on his pastoral crops, so, after the army had already walked for more than forty miles, he asked Ming Yingzong to change the route of the march, turn around and go east to Xuanfu, and after the Datong general Guo Deng knew the news, he made a suggestion to Ming Yingzong and still walked forward along the original route, so as to ensure a safe withdrawal, but Ming Yingzong rejected his suggestion, and in the first ten, the Ming army retreated to Xuanfu, at this time, The brigade of the Wattle Army also pursued, and Emperor Mingyingzong sent Gongshun Bo Wu Kezhong and the governor Wu Kele to lead their troops to fight against the enemy in order to break the queen, and as a result, they were all killed. Then, Emperor Mingyingzong sent Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, and Xue Jing, Yongshun Bo, to lead 30,000 cavalry to the rescue, Zhu Yong ventured to the Harrier Ridge, but he was surrounded by the Wa Thorn Army, as a result, these two people were also killed, almost all of the 30,000 cavalry were killed, Ming Yingzong and Wang Zhen in the process of retreating, constantly by the Wa Thorn Army's surprise attacks, very scared, very embarrassed.
On the thirteenth day, he fled to Tumu Fort, at this time, the more correct command was to enter the city to garrison, however, Wang Zhen did not want to enter the city because his more than a thousand heavy vehicles had not yet arrived, so he let Ming Yingzong stationed at Tumu Fort, and Kwong, who held the post of Shangshu of the Military Department, repeatedly played to Ming Yingzong, let him rush into Juyongguan immediately, and ordered the elite troops to break the rear, but Wang Zhen withheld Kwong's song and did not report to Ming Yingzong. Seeing that the situation had become quite critical, na ban directly broke into Ming Yingzong's hall and strongly pleaded with Ming Yingzong to quickly enter Juyongguan, Wang Zhen refused to accept the advice of the mat, and scolded: "How does corrupt Confucianism know the military, and then talk nonsense and cut off your head!" Without the slightest fear, Kwong replied resolutely, "I am doing this for the sake of the sake of the community, how can I use death to make me feel afraid?" Wang Zhen ordered the guards to forcibly pull Kwong out. As a result, Ming Yingzong's last chance to garrison Tumu Fort was also lost. On the fourteenth day, the Wattle soldiers pursued here and surrounded the fort. Ming Yingzong wanted to continue marching and could not move forward, because the terrain of Tumu Fort was very high, there was no water source at all, and the soldiers dug more than two feet deep and did not find a single bit of water.
The soldiers and horses did not drink water for two consecutive days, and they had reached the point of hunger and thirst. Fifteen miles south of fort tumu, there was a river, but it had been occupied by the Wattle Army. He also attacked the Ming army from Magukou next to Tumu Fort, and the Number of Watts was increasing, and Guo Mao, the commander of the town guarding Magukou, led his troops to fight fiercely with the enemy army all night. On the fifteenth day, he also set up a plan first, sent emissaries to pretend to go to talk about peace, at the same time, commanded the troops to pretend to retreat, Ming Yingzong naturally could not ask for this, immediately ordered Cao, responsible for drafting the edict, sent the two people to follow the envoys of the wattle to the camp of The first to discuss peace, Wang Zhen saw that the wattle had retired, did not make any analysis at all, and blindly ordered the transfer of the camp to the place where there was water, the soldiers jumped out of the trench and rushed forward, the team was very scattered.
When they walked only three or four miles in such a chaotic way, the Wattle Army, like a heavenly soldier and a heavenly general, suddenly poured in from all directions and surrounded the Ming army, at this time, the Ming army did not dare to fight with it at all, but just scrambled to escape. The Wattle cavalry rushed into the ranks of the Ming army, brandishing a large knife and wantonly slashing and killing the Ming army, at the same time, shouting loudly, "Untie the armor, and those who put down the big knife will not be killed." As a result, many soldiers of the Ming army took off their armor and exposed their backs, trampled each other and died, the mountains were full of corpses of the Ming army, Ming Yingzong led his own soldiers to break through, but in the end did not succeed, so he simply came down from his horse and sat down on his knees facing the south, and a tile soldier came to strip off his armor, but after seeing that his clothes were different from others, he pushed him to see Ye Xian's younger brother Sai Qianwang.
In this way, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Yingzong, became a prisoner of the Wattle Army, and after Ming Yingzong was captured by the enemy army, the guarding general Fan Zhong concentrated all his anger on Wang Zhen's body, rushed up and grabbed the hammer and beat him to death, and scolded: "I will kill you thief for the world!" "In this war, more than fifty officials who followed Ming Yingzong on the expedition were all killed in battle, only Xiao Weizhen, who held the post of Right Temple of Dali Temple, and Yang Shan, who held the post of Left Attendant of the Rebbe, escaped by chance, and the eunuch Xi Ning surrendered to Wa Thorn and completely told Ye Xian, the 500,000 troops led by Ming Yingzong, basically all the elite of the Ming Dynasty's pro-army, were almost all destroyed in this battle, and a large number of auxiliary heavy armor equipment were also collected first. He also first took a large number of mules and horses of the Ming army and all the armor and other heavy weights, and retreated north with Ming Yingzong. This is the very famous "change of tumu fort" in the history of the Ming Dynasty.