As we all know, the Ming Dynasty was the last feudal Han dynasty in Chinese history and a dynasty that many people remember. Perhaps it was the tragedy of the Ming dynasty at its final collapse that influenced people's perception of it.
First of all, the demise of the Ming Dynasty had both tragic and embarrassing sides.
On the one hand, the invasion of the Later Jin (Qing Dynasty) was one of the internal troubles of the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, the peasant uprisings were constantly raging and could not be quelled. In the end, the Ming Dynasty, under the dilemma of internal and external troubles, went to an irretrievable demise.
So, what exactly happened in the late Ming Dynasty? What was the life of the people like when the Ming Dynasty fell? And what caused the demise of the Ming Dynasty?
The political and social context of the fall of the Ming Dynasty
The process of the demise of the Ming Dynasty was quite tragic, not only the tragic situation of the royal family and nobles, but also the situation of the common people.
In fact, since the Ming Dynasty, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty has gradually declined. During that time, the biggest threat was the strong rise of the Jurchen tribe led by Nur Hachi, which repeatedly invaded Daming. In order to eliminate the Nur Hachi tribe, the Myojin Sect wantonly collected food and wages in the country, originally hoping to defeat Nur Hachi in one fell swoop, but he did not think that Nur Hachi's power was extremely strong and difficult to eradicate for a while.
On the other hand, the conquest with the Later Jin (Qing Dynasty) led to excessive financial losses, and a large number of peasants became homeless and displaced. The gradual gathering of these displaced people as a group of homeless people is a great social risk factor.
During the reign of Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty, the economic problems within the Ming Dynasty were far from being resolved, and at the same time the political factional struggle within the imperial court intensified, making it difficult for the emperor to control court officials.
By the time of the Chongzhen Emperor, these contradictions had reached the point where they could not be ignored.
The imperial court tried its best to ease popular grievances and fought against the Later Jin (Qing dynasty), but domestic contradictions entered a period of explosive atmosphere.
The peasant rebel armies such as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong grew rapidly, and the countdown to the rule of the Ming Dynasty began.
At the same time, the invasion of the Ming Dynasty by the Later Jin (Qing Dynasty) became more and more serious, invading the territory of the Ming Dynasty many times, burning and looting, and dealing a heavy blow to the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, natural disasters occurred frequently, including the Xiaoice period, drought and famine occurred many times during the Chongzhen period.
In order to ease the financial pressure, the Ming government once again increased the expropriation of the people, but this policy did not solve the problems faced by the Ming Dynasty, but aggravated the contradictions between the imperial court and the people.
Chongzhen was one of the most diligent, ambitious, and accomplished emperors of the Ming Dynasty, but many contradictions broke out at the same time, and even if he was diligent, it was difficult to solve such a political situation.
Li Zicheng established the Dashun dynasty
In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng established the Dashun Dynasty, which quickly invaded the city of Beijing in only a few months, and since then the Ming Dynasty has been half destroyed.
At that time, the situation of the Chongzhen Emperor was very difficult, and he eventually committed suicide on the coal mountain in Beijing. Before committing suicide, in order to prevent his children from being humiliated by the invading Qing army, he forced the empress and noble concubines to commit suicide, and also killed many of his own children with his own hands, which was too tragic to watch.
After Chongzhen's death, the resistance of the Ming army became weaker, and the soldiers who were already insufficient in combat surrendered one by one under the attack of the rebel army and the Qing army.
Less than two months after Li Zicheng captured Beijing, Wu Sangui allowed the Qing army to pass through Shanhaiguan, and the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng. He could only wander around, fighting in Hubei, Shaanxi and other places, and was eventually killed by Qing troops in Hubei.
The remaining Nanming was also unable to return to heaven
At this time, the Qing army had occupied most of the Central Plains, and the Southern Ming, as the last glimmer of hope of the Ming Dynasty, confronted the Qing Dynasty for more than ten years, and was finally wiped out by the Qing Dynasty.
Objectively speaking, there were a total of four emperors in the Southern Ming Dynasty, of which Emperor Longwu and Emperor Yongli were both aspiring and capable emperors. They all actively governed the country, trying to drive out the Manchus and restore the Ming Dynasty.
However, several emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty were all put to power by bureaucrats, so their voice and administrative power were weak. Coupled with constant internal strife within the imperial court, generals shirking responsibility, and rising public grievances, the situation in the Southern Ming Dynasty was worse than during the Chongzhen period, and it was soon replaced by the Qing Dynasty.
According to statistics, from the Chongzhen period to the demise of the Ming Dynasty, China's population plummeted from nearly 200 million to 150 million, a loss of nearly a quarter.
After the Southern Ming Dynasty, the civil resistance forces repeatedly resisted the Qing army, but were eventually completely eliminated by the Qing army.
The Qing army carried out many large-scale urban massacres, such as Zhang Xianzhong Tuchuan, and by the time of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, China's population was only 100 million, that is, nearly half of the population was lost.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, disasters such as war, famine, and plague reached extreme conditions. Due to the imperfection of ancient demographic statistics, perhaps the actual death toll is higher than the official statistics.
The reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty
The demise of the Ming Dynasty may be doomed, and the reasons include the shirking of responsibility by officials, the fear of death of soldiers and the incompetence of the emperor, in short, various forces are pushing the Ming Dynasty to its demise.
(1) First of all, at the beginning of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the civil unrest that was originally limited to the local area was deceived and concealed by local officials, and blamed each other, making the situation more and more serious.
The original rebel army originated in Shaanxi, and Chongzhen broke out in the first year, but because Shaanxi officials wanted to curry favor with Chongzhen and not cause chaos to the new emperor, they concealed it for a year.
Later, the governor of Shaanxi, Yang He, sent troops to quell the chaos, and initially fought a few victories, and most of the rebels accepted the government's conditions.
It seemed that the matter would soon be over, and Yang He wrote a long note praising the peaceful situation in Shaanxi to Chongzhen, saying that the problem had been solved and the lives of the people had been restored.
However, a few days later, the rebels reappeared, causing the good situation created by Yang He to disappear in an instant. Yang He received the divine decree to return to Beijing to plead guilty, and the Chongzhen Emperor scolded him as waste as soon as he saw him, didn't he mean that the problem was solved? How did something go wrong again.
Later, the rebels wandered around, running from Shaanxi to Shanxi. Instead of trying to solve the rebel problem, local officials tried to cover up their mistakes and told the Chongzhen Emperor that no rebels had reached Shanxi. These officials are not only irresponsible, but also shirk the blame of other officials, and they blame each other in the compromise, making the problem bigger and bigger.
(2) Secondly, the Chongzhen Emperor made many decisions that were not adapted to the situation at that time when he had insufficient troops and lack of food and grass.
By the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the war in the Ming Dynasty had entered its final stage. The Chongzhen Emperor, who was in a very weak position, hoped to make a last-ditch effort to preserve the Ming Dynasty.
The Chongzhen Emperor ordered Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, to fight in Henan. At that time, the best strategy was to hold the Tong Pass and wait for the opponent to run out before making a surprise attack.
However, in order to solve the rebel problem as soon as possible, Chongzhen ignored the specific situation at that time and repeatedly urged Sun Chuanting to attack Henan and fight a decisive battle with the rebels.
As a result, Sun Chuanting won the first few battles, but had to return to Shaanxi to rest due to problems with the supply of food and grass. He wanted to rush back to Henan as soon as possible, so he ordered Henan commander-in-chief Chen Yongfu to guard Henan.
Who knows, when the Henan soldiers learned that the Shaanxi people had retreated, they panicked, mistakenly thinking that the Shaanxi people had fled, so they sent troops to send them to death, causing the Henan soldiers to mutini on the spot.
When Li Zicheng learned of this, he took advantage of the void and easily captured the Henan region, and even the last barrier of the Ming Dynasty, Tongguan, was captured.
Sun Chuanting was very distressed when he found out, and immediately led his troops back to fight alone, and finally died tragically.
The saddest thing is that Sun Chuanting was so loyal and courageous, but Emperor Chongzhen suspected him of being a traitor and had always regarded him as a spy sent by the enemy army.
(3) In general, the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty are complex, including natural disasters and external causes, as well as man-made disasters and internal causes. Under the joint impetus of many disasters, the Ming Dynasty gradually came to an end.
In this big drama, there are a lot of strange stinky chess, and there are also many traitors who are disgusting. At the same time, there are also many brave, loyal and resolute people, such as Sun Chuanting, Yuan Chonghuan, and the Chongzhen Emperor himself is also very backboned.
Their presence made the fall of the Ming Dynasty more pathetic, and also left an emotional story, becoming the last feudal Han regime.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were many opportunities to turn defeat into victory, but the Chongzhen Emperor and Ming officials perfectly avoided the right answer and eventually ran towards destruction. Even if occasionally some discerning people come forward, they are quickly suspected of being spies. Under such circumstances, it is strange that the Ming Dynasty does not die.
Some historians believe that the change of dynasty in China may not only be a problem of regime corruption and management decay, but also related to some historical cyclical laws, such as climate, disasters and geopolitical factors.