When the spring breeze rises, a small hill called "Coal Mountain" is barren, and a crooked-necked tree stands on the hill, its strange shape is particularly eye-catching, and the wind is bleak and desolate.
The sight of Ming Emperor Zhu Youzhen hanging himself on this crooked neck tree, when he was discovered, his hair was scattered, his clothes were patched, only one red shoe on his right foot, and the other was long gone, adding to the sadness of the land.
The remains of a generation of emperors were exposed in the wind in this way, and no one dealt with them for a long time, and finally they were "targeted" by a small trader.
So, what caused an emperor to end up in such a downfall, forcing him to embark on a desperate road of self-destruction, and what was the purpose of this small trader for the remains of the Chongzhen Emperor, and where did the remains of the Chongzhen Emperor end up?
Chongzhen was powerless to save the country, and Li Zicheng invaded Beijing
At that time, when Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, although the Daming Dynasty still looked infinitely beautiful, it was actually corrupt and had long ceased to be glorious.
At this time, no one expected that Zhu Youzhen, who usually looked inconspicuous, would actually ascend the throne.
So, how did Chongzhen become emperor?
When I mention this, I have to talk about his father and brother who died early.
After Emperor Chongzhen's father, Emperor Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo, took the throne, he died less than a year later.
At this time, as the eldest son, Zhu Youxiao naturally ascended the throne.
However, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Ming Dynasty was also a "short-lived lang", plus he had no heirs, and finally the position of emperor of the Ming Dynasty fell into the hands of Zhu Youzhen.
In fact, Zhu Youzhen himself did not expect to become the emperor, but since he was given the opportunity to govern the country, he was bound to make some achievements.
During the seventeen years of his reign, the Chongzhen Emperor never had a trace of slack, and he could be called a diligent emperor.
But he has not been cultivated at all, how can the road to governing the country be smooth sailing, not to mention the "script" that Chongzhen got can be described as "hell-level" difficulty.
How about a "hellish" difficulty?
When Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the Ming Dynasty was already full of holes, and the problems in national governance were snowballing.
At that time, the situation could be described as "full of crises", internal and external troubles, and all kinds of problems were like a time bomb that could explode at any time, and the situation was very grim.
Outside, Houjin looked at the Daming Dynasty, the Dashun peasant uprising broke out, the people were not living, and there was a group of eunuchs inside who controlled the royal family and played Chongzhen around.
The Chongzhen Emperor was originally driven to the shelves, had not systematically studied governing the country, had no experience at all, and he was not the material for governing the country at all.
Under his rule, although the Ming Dynasty continued to "live" for seventeen years, it ended in failure.
Hard work and talent are propositions that people have been discussing for a long time, and hard work is essential to succeed, but some things require not only effort, but also talent.
The Chongzhen Emperor was a great talent, he did an emperor's rare diligence, but without talent, he did not change the direction of things, and even made wrong measures at times, promoting the process of failure.
The "History of Ming" once said of the Chongzhen Emperor: "And the sex is suspicious and inspective, so rigid and shang." ”
The Chongzhen Emperor had a suspicious personality, which also led to his great flaws in the employment of people.
He was self-defeating and had killed many ministers who were dedicated to doing practical things, which undoubtedly dampened the enthusiasm of ministers to do things to a large extent.
Coupled with the Chongzhen Emperor's credulity in civil officials, in the end, the Donglin Party civilian official group reached the level of covering the sky with one hand.
The interior of the imperial court can be described as "a mess", and externally, there are Houjin and peasant army riots.
For the Daming Dynasty, which was in danger, the Chongzhen Emperor was really powerless.
If he is a ruler who keeps the rules, he may not be bad at governing the country, but he can't turn the tide in the face of the turbulent Ming Dynasty.
In the end, he could only watch Li Zicheng invade Beijing.
Chongzhen was martyred and left behind an edict
Li Zicheng's attack on Beijing was imminent, and Chongzhen saw that the defeat was decided, so he did not choose to move south and escape, but stayed here, choosing a more dignified "escape".
That day, he and the eunuch Wang Chengen came to the small hill of Coal Mountain.
When Chongzhen looked at it, the whole country was devastated, the plague was rampant, the drought continued, the peasant uprising broke out, and the country was wailing and lifeless.
Seeing this scene, the defense line in his heart was completely broken.
It hurts to think back to everything I have done.
He pondered over and over again, making an unexpected decision.
He immediately returned to the city to say his final goodbye to the children of the family and the concubines of the harem.
First ordered Empress Zhou and the harem concubines to commit suicide, and then drew their swords and personally ended their two daughters, only Princess Changping survived with her hand covering.
Chongzhen said with tears in his eyes before he started: "Why were you born in the imperial family!" ”
This is not only a reluctance for his daughter, but also an exclamation that he himself was born in an imperial family.
How helpless this sentence is, it is estimated that only Chongzhen himself can understand.
In order to protect his wife and daughter from the torture and humiliation of the invaders, Chongzhen chose to end their lives.
In modern times, this is undoubtedly a dehumanizing measure, but in the circumstances of Chongzhen's time, it was more of a last resort.
This can be seen by referring to the ending of Song Huizong's daughters.
For Chongzhen, chastity and dignity are more important than life, and as a man, he can't bear to suffer such a tragic treatment for his family's daughters.
After dealing with these harem women, he returned to Coal Mountain again with the eunuch Wang Chengen.
Wang Chengen has accompanied the Chongzhen Emperor so far, and seeing what he did, he has already guessed Chongzhen's thoughts in his heart.
Chongzhen stood halfway up the mountain and looked at the Daming Dynasty, silent.
Wang Chengen spoke first: "Holy Lord, don't you want to..."
After Chongzhen heard this, there was no wave in his heart, but he nodded slowly and said: "You have followed me for many years, and now the Daming Dynasty has passed, as the head of a country, I can't give up this land, I can only do this, you hurry up and go, while the city of Beijing has not yet been captured." ”
Wang Chengen watched Chongzhen grow up, and although they were not related by blood, they were better than relatives.
Wang Chengen decisively refused, for him, the Daming Dynasty and the Chongzhen Emperor were his constant reliance and concern, and he could not get out alone.
Finally, before dying, the Chongzhen Emperor bit his finger and wrote a well-known edict on the blood book on his clothes.
In every word, we can glimpse the Chongzhen Emperor's mental journey, first of all, he reflected on himself in his edict, and secondly, he also wrote in the edict that "all the ministers were mistaken", realizing that the ministers were left alone, and did not really think about the country at all.
It has to be said that the loyalty and ability of the courtiers affect the development of a country, but if the Chongzhen Emperor completely pushes the mistake onto these people, he does not dare to agree.
Whether the Chongzhen Emperor's edict was "throwing off the pot" or "self-examination" is still controversial, but it has to be said that his heart to martyr the country and hang himself to save the people is also true.
In the end, the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself on the crooked neck tree, and Wang Chengen was loyal to Chongzhen, so he simply followed Chongzhen and hanged himself on another small tree.
Thus, there was such a tragic scene.
Since then, the demise of the Ming Dynasty has become a certainty, and the results of Chongzhen's self-hangings and the edicts left behind also have certain political significance.
Although the Chongzhen Emperor was politically savvy, he was commendable.
Later generations had different opinions on his practice of hanging.
The small traders couldn't bear it and "eyed" the remains
On that day, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing and searched the city, but could not find the Chongzhen Emperor, and only saw the remains of the empress and concubines in the palace.
At this time, he thought that Chongzhen had fled south.
However, a peasant army hurriedly reported that Chongzhen was dead.
Chongzhen is dead?
Chongzhen is dead!
Li Zicheng couldn't believe it until he personally went up the coal mountain and saw that scene.
Soon after, someone found a plain robe not far away, with the Chongzhen Emperor's edict written on it.
Li Zicheng picked up and looked at it: "Let the thief split the corpse, don't kill or injure the people." ”
This bold remark immediately moved him, and every word was the Chongzhen Emperor's iron bone and heart to save the people, and the respect in Li Zicheng's heart was born.
Since ancient times, "the death of a king" has been a rare thing, and making such a decision must have been a long time in his heart.
And Li Zicheng was not a person without conscience, and immediately ordered the burial of the Chongzhen Emperor, the eunuch Wang Chengen and the empress concubine in the palace.
I thought that Chongzhen's martyrdom of hanging himself would come to an end, but this happened again.
At that time, Li Ziwei wanted to order Chongzhen's burial, but because he had no funds, he could only temporarily abandon this idea.
In addition, Chongzhen had not built a mausoleum for himself before, and the few people in charge of the burial did not know how to deal with it, but just casually built a simple coffin.
At this time, a small trader saw this scene and really felt cold.
It was really desolate that the Daming Emperor, who was once high up, fell to such an end, wearing patched clothes and not even having a decent coffin.
At this time, the small trader couldn't help crying, and then he "stared" at the remains.
This small merchant is called Zhao Yigui, just an ordinary silk seller.
As the saying goes, "no business is not adulterous", and when the word "businessman" is mentioned, the first word that pops out of everyone's mind must be shrewd.
But this Zhao Yigui is different from the businessmen we used to know, he is honest, he does not play smart in the mall, and he runs his own stall vendors day after day.
After seeing the emperor's remains, his first reaction was not to avoid it.
On the contrary, he sympathized and "eyed" the remains of the Chongzhen Emperor, and later he couldn't bear it and decided to bury the Chongzhen Emperor, which can be regarded as a final explanation to him.
However, to rebuild a cemetery, it will not only take a long time, but also require a lot of money.
An ordinary small trader like Zhao Yigui simply couldn't take out so much money.
Therefore, some people suggested that it was better to bury Chongzhen and Empress Zhou together in Tian Guifei's mausoleum.
Under the circumstances, there was no way around it.
This mausoleum was built by Chongzhen for his favorite concubine Tian Guifei, but unexpectedly, it ended up becoming his own mausoleum.
In this way, Zhao Yigui began to act.
In order to raise funds for the grave digging, he not only took out the money he earned from his own business, but also went to the private sector to raise funds.
The emperor did not pay off, and Zhao Yigui finally used these funds to excavate the tomb of Tian Guifei, and then buried the Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou inside.
Fengshun Tianfu, Changping Prefecture officials and other officials and the governor excavated Tian Guifei's cemetery, moved Tian Guifei to the right, and then buried Empress Zhou on the left, and the Chongzhen Emperor in the middle.
As a result, the three were buried together, and later the cemetery was renamed "Siling", which is the Siling of today's Ming Tombs in Beijing.
Finally, after doing this, there was little money left, except to buy some simple offerings and put them in front of the tombstones to pay respect.
It is really embarrassing that the funeral of the Chongzhen Emperor would be so shabby.
Chongzhen hanged himself, not only to defend his dignity and save the people, but also to show the righteousness of his national integrity.
Many people think that the Ming Dynasty at that time has been decided, and it has reached the end of being unable to return to the sky, perhaps Chongzhen also knows this, but still does not want to give up.
Although Chongzhen failed to save the stormy Ming Dynasty, his dedication and diligence for the country and the people also deserve our admiration, and his praise of hanging himself to protect the people has been passed down through the ages.
His national righteousness and awe-inspiring integrity made a small merchant even more impressed, and he worked tirelessly to raise funds for his burial and deal with his aftermath.
History is long, in this long river of history, we must not only learn lessons, but also feel the temperature of history and feel the spiritual height of each character!
Resources:
"Jingshan Huaigusi Chongzhen" Li Mianmian
"The "Wise" Dusk Monarch - Chongzhen Emperor" Qin Hui
"The Historical Writing of Chongzhen's Proposal to Move South" in the Qing Dynasty, Hou Zhenlong
"Did the ministers mistake the Chongzhen Emperor, or did the Chongzhen Emperor mistake the ministers?" 》Zhang Ming