Zhu Youjian, the sixteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was also the last. Chongzhen was the era name of his reign, so the world mostly called him Chongzhen Emperor. Chongzhen was not the crown prince of his father Emperor Mingguangzong, and his brother Emperor Mingguangzong's eldest son Zhu Youxiao was the candidate entrusted by Emperor Mingguangzong on his deathbed. However, Zhu Yu died of illness after seven years on the throne and had no heirs, so Chongzhen was ordered to inherit the throne.
After ascending the throne, Chongzhen has been diligent in government affairs, not only eliminating the eunuch Wei Zhongxian who plagued the imperial court, but also reviving the imperial program by eliminating the remnants of the Wei clique. But even so, Chongzhen could not save the Ming Dynasty from collapse, and eventually hanged himself in the coal mountains. What was the reason why the emperor who was once high above ended his life in this way?
First, the court of internal and external troubles
Although Chongzhen was only seventeen years old when he succeeded to the throne, he had been diligent in the government since he ascended the throne, and the first thing he did as soon as he ascended to the throne was to eradicate the castration party. During the reign of Emperor Zhu Youxiao, he had always listened to Wei Zhongxian's rumors, so that the eunuchs of the Wei party had monopolized the government in the imperial court, even more powerful than the officials of the imperial court. For such a situation, Chongzhen was determined to thoroughly rectify it.
Chongzhen first sent Emperor Xian's nursing mother, who was also Wei Zhongxian's counterpart, out of the palace, after all, Emperor Xian had died, and she had no reason to stay in the palace; then secretly used some means to depose Cui Chengxiu, the most powerful soldier under Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian gradually realized that his general situation had gone, and in order to protect himself, he prepared to resign.
How could Chongzhen have missed such a good opportunity, and shunshui pushed the boat to agree to his request, which Wei Zhongxian had never expected, and it didn't take long for Wei Zhongxian to hang himself. Chongzhen also used the power of the Donglin Party faction to retry unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, and eliminated many of Wei Zhongxian's henchmen. But here, too, is the turning point towards decay.
The Donglin Party has always been incompatible with Wei Zhongxian's faction, and after Wei Zhongxian's faction was completely eradicated, the donglin Party's power began to expand as never before. They began to speak to Chongzhen, abolished many commercial taxes, officials and merchants did not pay commercial taxes, and almost all the sources of tax revenue in the imperial court fell on the heads of the people, and for a while the people's resentment was rife, and gradually the phenomenon of peasant revolts appeared.
Chongzhen used the money and grain collected by the imperial court to resist the invasion of Emperor Taiji from the north and to suppress rebellions in various places. But more and more taxes were taking the people's breath away, and more people joined the rebellion. Even so, the imperial court was still increasing taxes to replenish the national treasury. The greater the taxation, the greater the scale of the revolt, the more chaotic the situation, and the "dead end" has been reached.
Chongzhen initially increased taxes only to train troops, to better defend against foreign enemies. Unexpectedly, before I could fight a few beautiful victories, I was first disturbed by the peasant uprising. The Donglin Party has been obstructing the allocation of funds for disaster relief, and the support received by the private sector is getting less and less. The peasant uprising began to take shape, and the rebel army led by Li Zicheng gradually grew.
Facing Huang Taiji in the north and Li Zicheng in the south, Chongzhen, sandwiched between the two fronts, was miserable. In order to control the situation under the severe situation, Chongzhen secretly agreed to negotiate peace with the Manchus, but unexpectedly the news leaked, which attracted the opposition of many courtiers, and could only give up. At this moment, after more than ten years of peasant uprising, the city of Beijing was attacked.
2. The eve of the overthrow of the dynasty
Li Zicheng led the peasant rebel regiments to surround the capital, and for a moment the wolf smoke was everywhere, and the shouts and beatings were incessant. Chongzhen, who was besieged in the city, had no power to fight back, but refused to surrender. On the evening of the eighteenth day, Chongzhen climbed the Coal Mountain, which is today's Jingshan Mountain, and looked at the war that was about to burn in the palace, and there was no other way but to lament.
Back in the palace, he wrote an edict and summoned Empress Zhou, Yuan Guifei, and his three sons to the palace, and after some advice, he sent his three sons to the homes of foreign relatives outside the city to hide. Chongzhen's empress and noble concubines, under his orders, hanged themselves and martyred the country. Before Empress Zhou died, she cried that Chongzhen never listened to her, so today's ending, since Her Majesty ordered her to die, how dare she not obey.
Chongzhen took a knife and hacked several concubines to death, cut his daughter Princess Changping to death, and stabbed Princess Zhaoren, who was only six years old, to death. Then Chongzhen and dozens of eunuchs prepared to break out of the city, only to find that Zhu Chunchen, who was responsible for guarding the capital division, actually went to the banquet when the war broke out, and Chongzhen knew in his heart that Zhu Chunchen must have turned against him.
Chongzhen turned around and came to the outside of the Anding Gate again, the outside gate was locked, and the army guarding the gate was gone, and he was completely desperate. Early the next morning, he summoned the civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures, but none of them went to the court. Seeing that the rebel army had breached the Forbidden City, Chongzhen and the eunuch Wang Cheng'en fled to Coal Mountain, where they eventually hanged themselves and ended his life.
Third, the unwilling ending
After Chongzhen's death, he left a last word, believing that the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty was caused by the ministers. Although it is true that many ministers have been speaking to Chongzhen and exhorting him to say and do things, Chongzhen himself cannot fully exert his political blueprint. But in fact, Chongzhen itself also had many problems that hastened the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
First of all, in the matter of proposing to move the capital, Chongzhen could have put it forward himself, rather than privately consulting with the minister and handing it over to others, which was obviously his fear of rumors and fear of being scolded by the world. Nanjing, the place where the capital was moved, was also the place where Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was called emperor, and such a relocation of the capital would not damage the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
Secondly, peace negotiation is also a completely acceptable choice. In this way, not only did it avoid the intrusion of the war on the common people, but also slowly restored the strength of the troops to restore morale, so Chongzhen wanted the minister to say the proposal of peace, he was persuaded, but who would have the courage to bear the finger of a thousand men to persuade the emperor to negotiate peace with the "rebels", and in the end it was impossible.
It is undeniable that Chongzhen was indeed a diligent emperor, and there are historical records that Chongzhen fell asleep when he met Concubine Liu for many days dealing with official documents and discussing the affairs of the imperial court with his courtiers. Moreover, during Chongzhen's reign, his daily life was also very simple and not luxurious, and his clothing, food, shelter and transportation were not as exquisite as the kings of the Ming Dynasty.
summary
In general, the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty was inevitable, but it was absolutely unacceptable to Chongzhen, who had been working hard for the revival of the Ming Dynasty. Pushed to the throne, as soon as he ascended the throne, he began to eliminate traitors and devote himself to purging the Qing Dynasty, not only to resist the Later Jin forces in the north, but also to fight against the peasant rebels, and indeed did his best for the country.
Seventeen years of imperial career, which finally ended with self-hanging, Chongzhen's life is sad. The night before hanging, he not only let his empress and concubines go to martyrdom, but also stabbed his own daughter to death, and none of the ministers came to discuss countermeasures with him, leaving only the eunuch to accompany him. For the emperor who was once high, such an ending is really regrettable.