The Ming Dynasty, from Zhu Yuanzhang's expulsion of the Mongol nobles to the founding of the country to the Chongzhen Emperor committing suicide in coal mountains, shared the country for two hundred and seventy-six years, and passed on the sixteen emperors. The demise of the Ming Dynasty marked the end of the last great unified dynasty in Chinese history established by the Han Chinese. To discuss the root causes of the demise of the Ming Dynasty, Xiaobian thinks that there are the following points.
One: Chongzhen's political ability
In 1627, Emperor Mingsizong Zhu was succeeded by The Inspector and was given the era name Chongzhen. The first major thing he did after ascending the throne was to overthrow Wei Zhongxian and abolish the inner court. It should be known that the inner court was perfected by Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, and its purpose of existence was to influence the political structure of the imperial court. As a newly elected Chongzhen, due to personal preferences or lack of experience in governing the country, directly and completely cut down the inner court system, which made the Donglin Party bigger, and these literati only cared about selfish interests and party struggles, completely disregarded the social and people's livelihood, the people were squeezed to the brink of collapse, and finally a peasant uprising broke out, and the Ming Dynasty was also destroyed in the hands of the peasant rebel army.
Chongzhen is even more self-conscious in the use of people, suspicious and suspicious.
During his 17 years in power, 50 cabinet ministers were replaced, 17 were punished, 2 were executed, 1 committed suicide, and 17 governors were executed. In such a free-will way of employing people, who dares to work for him wholeheartedly.
Two: the feudal monarchy
It can be said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was doomed from the time of its founding. In order to protect the country forever, Zhu Yuanzhang suffered hardships himself, and in order for his descendants to enjoy eternal wealth, he divided his descendants into various places. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's feudal system has one of the biggest characteristics, that is, hereditary resignation and no need to do things.
Generally, the passing of the king of the domain is the eldest son of the concubine, and the other sons are the kings of the county. Below the king of the county, there are layers of seals, including Zhenguo general, auxiliary general, Fengguo general, Zhenguo lieutenant, auxiliary lieutenant, Fengguo lieutenant and other knighthoods.
And each level has a corresponding Lu food, in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu stipulated: the prince years lu 10,000 stones, the following began to decrease. However, the treatment was good, and there were still two hundred stones to be reduced to Lieutenant Fengguo.
It is no exaggeration to explain that the members of the imperial family, from birth to death, including marriage and funerals, were contracted by the imperial court, and the treatment was good, and they were among the best in all dynasties.
The result: the Ming Dynasty kings divided more and more, and by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than one million sons of the clan. These clan kings not only did not need to work, but also occupied large-scale places in various places to build royal palaces and occupy fertile land. It has seriously consumed the central finances.
Three: Coincides with the Xiaoice period
As mentioned earlier, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed at the hands of the peasant rebels.
The peasants revolted because they were oppressed by those in power on the one hand, and because of natural disasters on the other.
According to the "History of Ming", after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the wonders of ice and snow once again descended on Jiangnan, Central China, all parts of South China, Taihu Lake, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, Hanshui, huaihe river have been frozen, "summer cold", "summer frost snow" weather records are endless, and the record of winter snowlessness during the middle of the Ming Dynasty is only twice - once in the second year of Ming Yingzong Tianshun (1458 AD), and once in the fifth year of Ming Xianzong Chenghua (1469 AD).
The "Guangdong Tongzhi" records that in the winter of the first year of Emperor Wuzong Zhengde (1506 AD), it rained and snowed in Wanzhou, the capital of Qiongzhou, Guangdong. In the winter of the fourth year of Emperor Mingwu Zhengde (1509 AD), the chaozhou meteorite in Guangdong province was thick and thick.
Wanzhou, the capital of Qiongzhou in Guangdong, is today's Wanning County on Hainan Island; Chaozhou is today's Chao'an, Chaoyang and other counties, all of which are subtropical.
The "Jiangnan Tongzhi" records that in the twelfth year of Emperor Xiaozong's reign (1499 AD) and the fifteenth year (1502 AD), the winter was cold, the water of the Qiyang River was frozen, and the water of the Yuyao River was frozen. Qiyang is in the southwest of Hengyang, Hunan, with Xiaoshui (a tributary of the Xiang River) flowing through its territory, Yuyao in eastern Zhejiang, and the Cao'e River and Yongjiang River flowing through it, and during the Hongzhi period, the surface of the river was frozen, which showed the extreme cold of the climate at that time.
Such large-scale extreme cold weather, when farmers have insufficient experience in cold protection and limited cold protection measures, resulting in group crop yield reductions. With insufficient food, widespread famine, and unfavorable disaster relief from the imperial court, the peasants had to fight in order to survive.