1644 was a year of doom for the people of the Ming Dynasty. In that year, Li Zicheng's peasant army invaded the city of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself. Soon after, Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing army and opened the gate of Shanhaiguan, and the Qing army was able to drive straight in and step into the Central Plains they dreamed of. Began their reign for nearly three hundred years. Since the beginning of this year, both Han culture and Han etiquette have been ruthlessly trampled.
Then many people have another conjecture, if Chongzhen did not hang himself at that time, but moved the capital to the south, then the result would not be rewritten? Let's not talk about if, in fact, Chongzhen did want to move south.
Chongzhen's plan to move south
As we all know, Chongzhen died in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. When Chongzhen was thirteen years old, Chongzhen thought about moving south. At that time, shortly after the Outbreak of the Battle of Songjin, Li Zicheng also attacked the city outside Beijing. At this time, the Ming Dynasty could be described as internal and external troubles to the point of annihilation.
At this time, The Soldier Shangshu Chen Xinjia suggested that the Chongzhen Emperor and the Emperor Taiji negotiate peace. This proposal just hit the heart of the Chongzhen Emperor, and even if he agreed to Chen Xinjia's suggestion, he euphemistically proposed that he could pay compensation to stop the war.
And why did the Chongzhen Emperor not say it despite this idea?
Because the Ming Dynasty at that time attached great importance to integrity, as the Ninth Five-Year Emperor, Chongzhen really could not pull down his face and say the words of indemnity to stop the war.
However, although the peace talks were successful, they were exposed, and it can be said that this incident shocked the whole country. In order to save himself, the Chongzhen Emperor had to find an excuse to kill Chen Xinjia.
By the way, he put a big cauldron of traitorous national glory on Chen Xinjia's head.
Of course, the matter of peace negotiations will not be resolved.
And so until the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, seeing that the internal and external troubles had become more and more serious, Chongzhen moved the idea of moving south. However, there was no other Chen Xinjia in the current dynasty. The Chongzhen Emperor asked the Wenwu Hundred Officials what their plan was, but the officials lost their heads in order to avoid becoming another Chen Xinjia to carry the pot for Chongzhen.
They all shut up.
No one has taken the initiative to say anything about moving south.
At this point, the Chongzhen Emperor had lost the best opportunity to move south. Therefore, the Chongzhen Emperor did not want to move south at that time, but was really tired of himself and a cadre of pedantic officials, and he also mishandled it, resulting in the abortive plan of moving south.
If the southward migration is successful, can the Ming Dynasty make a comeback?
For this question,
The answer is yes
。 If the Chongzhen Emperor really moved south in spite of his face as an emperor at that time, then the Ming Dynasty might not have perished, and the Qing army led by Emperor Taiji might not have been able to rule the world and unify the whole country.
1. First of all, set the advantages of Nanjing. We all know that Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, started from Nanjing. Therefore, even if the capital was later set in Beijing, the city of Nanjing, as the place of origin, not only had high walls but also had a complete central institution. Moreover, the economic strength of the south is very strong, the real estate is rich, the commerce and agriculture are very developed, and it is the political, economic and cultural center.
2. The military superiority of the southern capital is very obvious. In the south, there are Yangtze River grabens as natural barriers, and hundreds of thousands of troops in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are still guarding the town. As long as the Chongzhen Emperor was in the south, a single order could gather all kinds of armies, and at that time, hundreds of thousands of troops were the Chongzhen Emperor's greatest reliance.
3. After moving south, the water will be diverted to the east. After the Chongzhen Emperor moved south, then Li Zicheng, who had already invaded the city of Beijing, and the Qing army, which had already entered the customs, would definitely have a fierce battle. At this time, the Ming Dynasty can laugh and watch the dragons fight and fight, whether it is Li Zichengsheng or the Qing Army, it undoubtedly provides time and opportunity for the Ming Dynasty to recover and recuperate, and once the north has results, the Ming Dynasty can go north, reap the benefits of fishermen, and eliminate internal and external troubles.
4. Even if the Qing army accepted the city of Beijing, because there was still a complete central institution in the south, a large number of Han officials did not submit to the Qing army because they had the confidence, because their spiritual pillar still existed. The Qing regime was also unable to steal thousands of years of Han culture and wisdom in governing the country.
However, history cannot be repeated, let alone if, the fact is that the Chongzhen Emperor's plan to move south collapsed, and he was finally hanged on a crooked neck tree.
History has no ifs
For the Chongzhen Emperor, once he died, everything was naturally over, but it was indeed the most difficult for a living person. After Chongzhen's death, the Ming Dynasty immediately fell into a state of leaderlessness. Hundreds of thousands of troops in the south were immediately unfettered, and no one obeyed anyone, and an era of independent government began. The Southern Ming court established after the death of the Chongzhen Emperor had no control over these armies, and the rapid demise of the Southern Ming court also foreshadowed this, and also foreshadowed that the Ming Dynasty would not have the ability to make a comeback.
It can be seen from this that the act of the Chongzhen Emperor hanging himself on a crooked neck tree is certainly a tragic story of Chongzhen Zhu Youjian personally, but for a country and a nation, how can it not be the beginning of a tragedy?