Li Zicheng was about to come, and when he mentioned the donation, the ministers under Chongzhen's hands cried one by one. When they went to court the next day, they were all wearing patched official robes, and they almost slipped out of the street with a broken bowl.
Obviously, these masters don't want to give a penny. In their eyes, Chongzhen was an emperor who did not deserve his allegiance. Even if he lent money to Chongzhen, he might not have a good end.
Because you borrow more, you will be checked in the future as to why you have so much money and borrow less, and Chongzhen will feel that you have no sincerity at all. Instead of being misunderstood, it is better to simply tighten your pockets and wait for the next ruler to take over them.
In the eyes of those officials of the Ming Dynasty who did not follow Chongzhen's martyrdom, Li Zicheng's entry into the city of Beijing was nothing more than a change of heavenly son, how to live this day. Chongzhen did not raise money, and as a result, he could only hang himself on coal mountain.
From the perspective of a bystander, the ministers cannot be blamed for not donating.
(1) The Ming Dynasty officials' salaries were pitifully low.
When Zhu Yuanzhang first founded the country, he was still okay with the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and Feng Lu gave enough to let them work well. But these calves are still not satisfied, who can still think of the money? And so all kinds of corrupt winds arose.
For this reason, Lao Zhu killed a large number of civil and military officials, even to the point where no one worked for him. The problem is that the rising star has come up, and it is still corrupt and cannot be stopped at all.
Will examine the school Qiangu book, empty printing of things. Whoever is the lord of the seal is dead, and the second is one hundred, and the far side is far away. Shi Yuan also sits in prison. Emperor Fang was furious and thought that he was deceitful, and Yu Shi did not dare to advise. Shi Li sighed, "I don't know, but I am guilty of the empty seal." Sincerely, if you are a saint, would you rather have enlightenment? "There will be a change of stars to ask for advice. Shi Li said, "Okay." Then read the commandment: "Whoever falsely speaks privately is guilty." Shi Li said, "I will say what I want, and kill the ears of the innocent for the Son of Heaven." My brother is not the master sealer, and he should be out. It is necessary for my brother's staff to speak, that is, to die and not to hate. "--- History of the Ming Dynasty"
Lao Zhu finally made a compromise on this, he understood that this is human nature, not a certain group of people rotten, but the power he gave these positions, easy to make people rot.
For this reason, old Zhu Suo greatly discounted the salaries of these officials and only gave them a subsistence money. If you want your family to be rich, you can only generate your own income.
In any case, the trend of corruption cannot be stopped, but it is better to let the imperial court pay less money. After all, no matter how corrupt it is, it will basically not be corrupted to the imperial court itself. The imperial court has money in its hands, and this is only in its heart.
But Lao Zhu forgot that there are still a handful of people in this world who really can't be corrupt. They have enough conscience to be the most dazzling flowers in the world. These people had so few servants that they couldn't even afford a servant, such as Hai Rui.
The Chongzhen Emperor wanted to donate, how much should the corrupt and the non-corrupt donate? Incorruptible as Hai Rui, really a big son can not get out, at most next month's salary do not want, find friends to borrow some money to live.
And if corrupt people take out a lot of money, if there is a serious mismatch with their own wages, Bao Qi will be liquidated in the future, which is also their concern. Saving the country and saving the country is still the most important thing.
(2) The Chongzhen Emperor was not a benevolent and righteous prince.
Chongzhen, the emperor, was indeed diligent enough, and it was not too much to be one of the top three diligent emperors of the Ming Dynasty. However, Chongzhen also has a bad problem, that is, the suspicion of the heart disease is too serious.
When he appointed his officials, he initially behaved like a mingjun, all kinds of decentralization, all kinds of money. When people were operating halfway, he was more and more uneasy, and he cleaned up the people halfway. Who would dare to give him his life?
The most famous case is Yuan Chonghuan's, when Yuan Chonghuan was idle at home, it was Chongzhen who single-handedly promoted him again. Yuan Chonghuan patted his chest in front of Chongzhen and said that he would spend five years in Pingliao.
Some say he's bragging, some say he's sure. Regardless of whether this thing can be completed or not, you have to wait 5 years to see the effect, right? At least half the time has to be said, right?
However, Yuan Chonghuan had only been in Liaodong for a year, and the next year Chongzhen was anxious, and he swept Yuan Chonghuan to the end, and even executed him LingChi.
How much hatred and hatred is this? Guan Wai's Huang Taiji smiled so hard that his mouth couldn't be closed.
When he first ascended the throne, he had to change the first assistant of the cabinet several times a year, because he was not at ease with this group of people.
Always suspect that this is the key to him, that is not doing the right thing, and so on.
So what other minister is willing to fight for Chongzhen? They are too late to protect themselves, and naturally they will not think about those things.
By the time Chongzhen finally ordered the generals of the world to serve the king, basically no one paid any attention to him, and he really became a lonely man.
Wu Sangui, the shanhaiguan chief soldier closest to Beijing, could have rushed to Beijing to save the car. However, a week's journey, he walked for half a month, or only halfway, it can be seen that he is also watching, and does not dare to easily fight for Chongzhen.
If I were a minister, I would donate all my salary and fire, and at most the house would be mortgaged.
That being said, when faced with national hatred and family hatred, you are not allowed to think much. After all, the country is about to be destroyed, and compared with the country, their own gains and losses are really not so important.
So if I were a Ming Dynasty official, when Chongzhen asked everyone to donate, I would donate all of my legal savings over the years, including salaries, fire consumption, and year-end awards.
If it doesn't work, I mortgaged the house, and it is estimated that the house was not worth a few dollars at that time, and it was a big deal to sell, so I first helped Chongzhen get through the difficulties.
If there is really some illegal income, it is absolutely impossible to take it out, this thing is going to kill the head. Chongzhen this great master is not a good stubble, he may always settle the account after the autumn.
By March, the capital fell, Jing wen died, zaode, Yuegong, and Yu were executed, and Liu Zongmin was held. The thief ordered the cabinet to be 100,000 gold, Jingqing and Jinyi to be 70,000, or 530,000, to give 50,000 to 10,000 differences to Shi, Yushi, Officials, and Hanlin, and thousands of Cao Cao, and xunqi were indefinite. --- History of the Ming Dynasty
Do my best, within the limits of the law, to donate everything that can be donated. This is a reasonable thing, even if you don't receive a salary for the time being, after all, if the imperial court is gone, there will be no place to take the pension in the future.
Ending: After Li Zicheng entered the city of Beijing, he snatched 80 million taels of silver from officials.
The Chongzhen Emperor did not raise money, and his heart was called a nest fire. Looking at these beggar-like Officials, he only felt a little funny. There was no need to punish these people, God would naturally see everything.
After Li Zicheng came in, Chongzhen went to the coal mountain and hanged himself. Li Zicheng seized the city of Beijing, and the first two days were not bad, and adopted a policy of appeasement towards Ming officials.
However, his general Liu Zongmin was a jealous and hateful guy, and he thought that these officials must have embezzled a lot of money, so he put all the Ming officials in prison, tortured them, and made them hand over the embezzled money.
These people are all fine skin and tender flesh, where to eat to eliminate Liu Zongmin's beatings, they had to obediently pay money one by one. This can frighten Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin actually gave him a whole 80 million taels of silver, as well as a lot of antique calligraphy and paintings.
These Beijing officials of the Ming Dynasty were really rich, in fact, as long as they gave Chongzhen two or three million taels of silver, they could solve the urgent need, but unfortunately people were unwilling.
Reference: History of the Ming Dynasty