In March 1644, 276 years after the Ming Dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368, after a long period of time, the Ming Empire, which had once "opened up the territory and opened up the territory and raised its might above the waves of thousands of miles", began to become turbulent, even crumbling, under the famine, official corruption, Manchu invasion and huge peasant uprising, the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty listened to the news that Li Zicheng's army had arrived at the city, and had begun to foresee that he might become the king of the subjugated country.
In fact, the Chongzhen Emperor had this ominous premonition a long time ago, so he stayed up late for many years, even working all night, changing the first assistant minister again and again, but with little success, but the Chongzhen Emperor still worked hard, until this time Li Zicheng's peasant army completely came to the city of Beijing, Chongzhen truly admitted that the Ming Dynasty was already the trend, he was ready to meet his seemingly doomed ending, but at this moment, things seemed to have taken a turn for the better.
According to the Qing Dynasty scholar Xu Nai in the "Xiao Xi Ji Nian Supplementary Examination", although Li Zicheng was already in sight of victory, and he could win the final victory by directly entering it, the leader of the rebel army who was born from the pawn had a surprising hesitation at the last moment, or the traditional idea of "loyalty to the king and the country" played a role, or perhaps he thought that he did not have the talent to govern a huge empire, in short, he launched a secret negotiation with the Chongzhen Emperor.
It is said that as long as you agree to 3 conditions, then you will not only surrender immediately, but also lead a huge rebel army to help the Chongzhen Emperor to fight the Manchu Qing. The relevant original text in the "Examination of the XiaoYi Chronicle" is "Discussing the division of the northwestern region and rewarding the army with millions, and retreating to Henan... Since he was enthroned, he was willing to suppress the hordes in the imperial court, especially to help suppress the Liao domain with strong troops, but he did not follow the edicts and ears. ”
The first is to crown the king, and to take the northwest as his fiefdom, and the second is to ask for money for his own army, the specific amount is one million two, and the third is not to accept the specific command of the emperor, which is further than the state of the Erlang god "listening to the tune and not listening to the announcement", even "not listening", basically equivalent to a vassal state that enjoys a high degree of autonomy, but the sovereignty still belongs to Daming, and Li Zicheng and his army also belong to the emperor's courtiers, and are willing to send troops to help When Daming encounters danger.
These three demands may seem a little unreasonable, and even a little humiliating to the supreme emperor of ancient China, but if we take into account the situation on both sides, the demand is that the strong who occupy the absolute superiority at any time and destroy the other side, and the weak who accept the demand, who are in danger at any time, are in danger of being eliminated. Then these three requirements not only do not seem harsh, but even seem very thick, so thick that people can't help but wonder what Li Zicheng is thinking.
However, the Chongzhen Emperor was furious after receiving the secret report of these three requests, and did not hesitate to choose to refuse, and finally Li Zicheng's army launched a charge on March 19 and successfully entered the city of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor went to Jingshan and hanged himself, leaving a last word before his death: "Death, faceless to see the ancestors in the ground, to remove the crown, to cover the face." Let the thief split the corpse, and do not hurt the people. ”