In 1644, Daming was like an out-of-control ship that completely hit the reef, completely capsized, and was completely swallowed up by the huge waves. The Chongzhen Emperor, who was at the helm, spent his heart and efforts failing to save the empire, and finally martyred the country with tragic suicide, leaving a painful sigh of history. Regarding the demise of him and the Ming Dynasty, posterity mostly expressed regret with sympathetic brushstrokes, and chongzhen missed two opportunities at that time, otherwise the tragedy of the death of the country could be avoided.
Chongzhen Martyrdom
Although he lost his mother at the age of 5 and lost his father at the age of 10, he studied hard, not only good at calligraphy and poetry, but also good at playing the piano, and he never thought that he would inherit the throne in the future, only because his brother Xizong died suddenly and did not have children, Daming suddenly like a huge mountain pressed on his shoulders. Based on a strong sense of responsibility for Daming, he began a crazy rescue measure, but it ended in failure. In the end, all the responsibilities and sufferings were carried by himself; he resisted the responsibility of Jiajing, who did not go to the dynasty of alchemy; resisted the slack of the Wanli Dynasty; and resisted the responsibility of his carpenter Apocalypse. As the last emperor, his tragic color is extremely strong. Unlike the absurd and playful play of the kings of the fallen countries that eventually led to the fall of the country, Chongzhen was the most diligent emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who reigned for 17 years, never slept peacefully, and saved Daming in anxiety all day long, thus winning the sympathy of posterity.
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Chongzhen could have saved the Ming Dynasty without martyrdom, and if he moved the capital south, he might have saved the Ming Dynasty, but both opportunities were missed due to obstruction.
In the first month of the year of Jia Shen (1644), a large group led by Li Zicheng attacked Shanxi with all its strength, and in two months it could directly take Beijing. The breath of the Ming Dynasty was getting weaker and weaker, as if it was about to die. Chongzhen hurriedly approached the chancellor Li Mingrui to discuss the method. Li Mingrui advised Chongzhen to abandon Beijing and move south as soon as possible, and Chongzhen said to him: "Ruyi and Yuanyi, but the ministers outside do not obey, why not?" ”。 At the meeting, Chongzhen said with tears in his eyes: "The country is in such a crisis, I want to personally go to the front line and fight to the death, you all don't pull me." The ministers of the ministries listened to the blood boiling and clamored to fight for Chongzhen, but no one proposed to move south. Chongzhen had no choice but to make it clear that Li Mingrui had drafted the report, studied the move south, and forced the ministers of various ministries. At the meeting, Chongzhen said to the courtiers: "Li Mingrui has neglected to persuade him to move south. When the monarch dies in sheji, where will he go? The Prince of Shuojiao went to Nanjing first, what did Zhu Qing think? "The implication is that I have now decided to go outside and let the prince go to Nanjing first, and the words have been very clear, and Chongzhen, who has always been strong, has become a mother-in-law at this moment, and wants to say that he will return the favor."
Lee Zi-cheng
Chen Yan, a cabinet official, explicitly opposed the "southward migration" and signaled to the Military Branch to give him a stern condemnation of Li Mingrui, threatening: "Not killing Li Mingrui is not enough to calm the people's minds." If you don't kill Li Mingrui, how can you rule the world! This indignant and harshly worded objection was very popular at the time, as if he were the greatest loyal servant of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, only the colleagues who supported the proposal are clear, and the success of the southward migration is fine, and in case of failure, those who come up with ideas and those who agree with the proposal must pay joint and several liability. Above all, what about the ties of power, interest groups, and huge family properties that have been operating hard in Beijing for decades? By the end of February, when Li Zicheng's army had captured Juyongguan and Changping, Beijing was in danger. At this time, Chongzhen finally resolutely rooted Li Mingrui and said: "Whether they listen or not, I have decided on this matter, and now I will move south!" Li Mingrui replied with a sad face: "It is too late, our army has been scattered along the way, and Beijing is now fully encircled." ”
Ming Dynasty official
At this desperate moment, Li Zicheng still wanted to give Chongzhen a way to live.
On March 17, Li Zicheng's men and horses had already reached the Fuxing Gate, and he personally wrote a letter to the Chongzhen Emperor asking for peace talks. And there is no sky-high price, as long as the northwest area is given to him, the Chongzhen government allocates 1 million taels, as a condolence payment, he will also fight enemy forces everywhere for Chongzhen, including Manchuria outside Guanwai. Anyone who is not mentally retarded, with a little brain on the final judgment of the Ming Dynasty, knows that this agreement is at least not a loss.
However, no one will take a stance, because for these bureaucrats, it will be a big hat for cutting land and losing power, and those who understand Chongzhen's character know that in the future, it is also possible that Chongzhen will beheaded and killed after an autumn account. Then the ministers made generous statements, filled with righteous indignation, mobilized all the majestic and magnificent words, expressed a strong position, and finally expressed their desire to coexist and die with Daming. As for Li Zicheng's final "request", it was not considered at this meeting at all. Chongzhen was in such a situation, all his thoughts were gray, and with the "support" of the ministers, he chose coal mountain to commit suicide and was martyred for the Ming Dynasty.
The accident of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, if Yuan Chonghuan did not make a blank cheque and caused the occupation of Liaodong to continue to deteriorate, Hong Chengyu almost arrested Li Zicheng when he was suddenly transferred away to Liaodong, and history will be rewritten.
In the early days, Hong Chengzu began to be responsible for suppressing local uprisings, roughly proposing the strategic deployment of "appeasing the foolish", "calculating the aftermath", and "ending it with all its destruction". In September of the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Hong Chengzu was promoted by Chongzhen to the governor of shaanxi on the three sides, and in less than two years Hong Chengzu suppressed two local forces, such as "No Mud" and "Ke Tianfei". Chongzhen, because of his desire for treatment, became more and more serious about Hong Chengzu, and promoted him to a high position in the armament of the governor of the five provinces.
Situation chart
At this moment, Hong Chengzu was indeed desperate to repay the results, and the most powerful king Gao Ying was captured, and then many scattered forces began to surrender on their own initiative, and under the strong suppression of Hong Chengzu, the uprisings in various places began to decline, and even showed a trend of being completely eliminated. After Gao Yingxiang was killed, Li Zicheng was elected king of Chuang and forced to fight in Sichuan and Gansu. In order to wipe out the remnants of the forces in one fell swoop, Hong Chengzu saw the opportunity for Li Zicheng to return to Shaanxi from Sichuan and killed him in a large scale. Li Zicheng was chased northeast and west, suffering heavy losses, but he never accepted the solicitation, and finally only 18 remnants of the horse escaped from the siege and hid in the dense forest at the junction of Sichuan, Shanxi, and Huguang. Hong Chengzuo confidently gave Chongzhen a judgment and said: "The great thieves in Qinzhong are approaching the next step, and they can gradually see the qingqing", "The generals will scatter thieves with a few gangs and temporarily flee for their lives, and the ministers have urged the officers and men of the towns to rush to encircle and suppress them, and they will behead the officers and soldiers, and if not, they will also be trapped in the mountains and forests." ”
According to Hong Chengzuo's prejudgment, as long as the officers and men carefully pursue the capture, Li Zicheng's remnants of the army are bound to be doomed, then the history of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties will inevitably turn. However, at this most critical juncture, the Qing army suddenly stepped up its offensive and entered the pass in September, crossing the north of Hebei and driving directly to the Beijing Division. Chongzhen quickly dispatched a large number of troops to intercept, and the two armies continued to fight each other in Miyun, resulting in the Defeat of the Ming Army. Chongzhen quickly mobilized all the soldiers and horses to serve the king, and Hong Chengzu was also ordered to leave the northwest, lead more than 100,000 horses out of Tongguan, and quickly return to the beijing division. At this point, the main force of the Ming army withdrew from the northwest, and Li Zicheng was able to breathe and rest.
Wu Sangui shaved his hair and took it easily
From this point of view, Hong Chengzu contributed a lot to the early Ming Dynasty, and history was almost rewritten. This kind of contingency is very coincidental, if the situation in Liaodong can be curbed a little, Li Zicheng may be cornered, this contingency in the traditional word is "qi number", summed up in philosophy: "The process is contradictory, and the contradictions are interdependent and change each other." Looking at it, Daming lost almost all opportunities in the step-by-step mistakes, and even if Yuan Chonghuan could fulfill his promise of "five years to pacify Liao" to Chongzhen, or not kill Mao Wenlong without authorization, Chongzhen would have time to deal with the rebels everywhere, unfortunately, these opportunities were lost.
The group of people that Chongzhen hated the most before his death was not Li Zicheng and Hou Jinbing, hoping that they would be "killed by all their deeds"
Chongzhen hung on the coal mountain, leaving a bloody testament beside him: "Seventeen years since he ascended to the pole, three invitations to heavenly sins, three times to the fall of the enemy, the rebellion of the thief directly to the capital division, the ministers mistakenly degenerate, the faceless see the former emperor in the underground, will be covered, let the thief split the corpse, can kill the civil officials as much as possible, do not damage the mausoleum, do not hurt my people alone" "Liu Kou Long Compilation". The fierceness and resentment of this subjugated monarch is human-frightening.
Chongzhen still could not forgive his clique of civil officials until his death, that is, they dragged their hind legs at a critical moment, opposed the southward migration, and opposed the terms of peace with Li Zicheng, and Chongzhen was also well aware of the superficial righteousness and righteousness of these civilian officials, saying that they wanted to defend the ancestral society of daming, but in fact they were reluctant to bear their huge family business and worried about bearing the crime of moving south and negotiating peace, Chongzhen hated them, and hoped to be "killed by Li Zicheng as much as possible."
Li Zicheng entered Beijing and was "warmly welcomed" by the Ming Dynasty's widows
Sure enough, after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he was overwhelmed by these surrendered civilian officials.
At that time, according to witnesses, "The thieves rushed forward, all dressed in white and green hats, Zhang Jin bowed, and they carried out arrows, each of them tied a number of short sticks, and they hurried away", "The people's doors were open, there were walkers, they avoided the side of the road, they did not cross-examine each other, they were silent, but they heard the sound of Jia Ma 's Chronicle of Jia Shen'" In sharp contrast to the people's calm and cold eyes, those high-ranking officials and nobles are like dogs that have lost their families, panicking for a long time, afraid of revealing their identities, and dressing up one after another, "fearing the misfortune of wearing clothes and crowns, and destroying their crowns", or "wearing extremely broken green clothes and wearing torn felt hats", and for a while "raging clothes and hats are not priced for" "Qi Zhen Chronicle". These high-ranking officials and noble families were ugly, "On this day, bureaucrats and bureaucrats of all sizes bought extremely tattered green cloth shirts and pants and torn hats at heavy prices, and among the thick people, they bowed their heads and looked down, but they were afraid of people's awareness." "Some people even exchanged multiple gorgeous pieces of clothing for a torn piece of clothing, and finally took off their clothes and ran naked, "naked and running wildly, following the road" "Regeneration Chronicle".
Sudden major changes caused the Ming bureaucracy to collapse rapidly, and except for a small number of imperial relatives and university scholars Fan Jingwen, Hubu Shangshu and bingbu, punishment department, inspectors, and twenty other people committed suicide, the rest defected and surrendered. The university ministers Wei Zaode and Chen Yan came to see Li Zicheng the day after the fall of the country and said that they wanted to change the court, on the grounds that although they wanted to be loyal subjects, the Chongzhen Emperor did not listen to him, resulting in today's defeat. Li Zicheng reprimanded: "Since you are Chongzhen's most important subordinate, and he is particularly kind to you, you should commit suicide for Sheji, why do you want to steal your life?" Wei Zaode knelt down and prostrated his head and said, "Your Majesty forgives your courtiers, and you should repay your heart with a pure heart." Li Zicheng saw that he was more annoyed by this, and ordered the soldiers to imprison him to Liu Zongmin. Wei Zaode was still not dead-hearted, and shouted through the gap in the window: "If you use me, no matter what kind of official you give, why detain me?" "The National Pavilion".
The governor of Jingying Xiangcheng, Li Guozhen, was escorted in, and Li Zicheng rebuked him: "Er is in charge of a heavy responsibility, spoils more than a hundred officials, righteousness cannot bear the country, neither insists on it, nor does he die, and today he licks his face to see me, why?" Li Guo frame flattered and said: "Your Majesty is in the right place, and I am willing to stay the rest of my life to do things for Your Majesty." Li Zicheng heard goosebumps and said disgustingly: "If you are a lord, what should I do, the thief of the wrong country is still surviving?" "The National Pavilion".
More than 1,200 other relevant people rushed to the Pole Gate according to the list, green clothes and small hats, and signed up for Li Zicheng's "recruitment" meeting, these formerly mighty bureaucrats, who were plain and arrogant, were now like prisoners, sitting on the ground and allowing the arbitrary insults of the Da Shun army. Usually, those bureaucrats who seem to be stable and old, and who have exhausted their organs, have to curl up on the ground, or stand like puppets and dare not make a sound, and there are those who shave their hair and pretend to be monks, and there are people who put hand towels on their heads and pretend to be sick, and all kinds of ugliness are exposed. From morning to dusk, these people were not summoned, hungry, thirsty and exhausted, and finally fell to the ground in all directions. "The Long Edition of the Drifters"
In terms of personality, Li Zicheng belongs to the typical rough and direct personality, and the most unaccustomed is this kind of surrender, which also explains the reason why he was full of respect when he saw Chongzhen hanged. He said to Niu Venus and others: "All officials are loyal servants who can die on the day of the city, and if their parents who have the skin of their bodies are not afraid to be injured, and those who cut their hair are unfaithful and filial, how can they leave him?" Niu Jinxing ordered people to touch the head of the demoted officer with their hands, verify the number of people one by one, and after the point, select more than ninety people to be sent to the suburbs to listen to the dispatch, and those who were not selected were sent to Liu Zongmin for trial, at this time Liu Zongmin was "cheering with prostitutes" and had no time for interrogation. These Ming Dynasty surrender officials could not even eat food, and often picked up the food discarded by the soldiers and stuffed the "Ming Ji Quilt" into their mouths.
When Li Zicheng grabbed Chongzhen's crown prince, he asked the prince in a loud voice, "Where is Father Ru?" The prince replied, "Collapse in the Nangong." Then ask, "Why did the Ru family lose the world, and why did the Father come to this point?" He replied, "I don't know, I asked the hundred officials." When Li Zicheng saw him standing up and talking freely, his tone suddenly became mild, and he asked softly: "Father Ru is here, I will have to respect him, and Ru does not have to worry about it." The prince asked, "Why don't you kill me?" Li Zicheng said, "Ru is not guilty, I will kill in vain!" The crown prince said, "If this is true, please listen to my words: First, do not frighten my ancestors into their tombs, and second, after burying my father and mother with ceremonies, and third, do not kill my people." "The National Pavilion"
Chongzhen committed suicide
Three days later, when the body of the Chongzhen Emperor was discovered, the eunuch was ordered to buy two coffins, use the earth block as a pillow, and place the empress's body. Among the ministers, only twenty or thirty people went to weep, and many ministers who had sworn allegiance to Chongzhen in the past had now transformed into Li Zicheng's great loyal ministers.
Li Zicheng ordered that Chongzhen's coffin be painted red painted and dressed in good clothes, and all specifications were handled according to the emperor's specifications, Li Zicheng also went to the altar and shed tears to Chongzhen's coffin, and some demoted officials had lost a little enthusiasm for investment in Chongzhen's head, and they were busy "persuading" the new emperor, if Chongzhen knew underground, these people who were indignant at him and prevented the people who went south to negotiate peace have now found a patron, and failing to be "killed" can be described as the biggest regret in addition to the destruction of the country.
Reference historical materials "Chongzhen Biography", "Ming Ji Beiluo", "Ming and Qing War History", "Ming History", "Concise History of Ming and Qing Dynasties"