In 1644 AD, the young son of Tian, Zhu Youzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, personally buried the Daming Empire. Many people feel that the demise of the Ming Dynasty is not all Zhu Youzhen's responsibility, he tried his best, but the pit dug in front was too deep for him to fill. In this article, let's talk about it, is Zhu Youzhen really trying his best to save Daming?
Zhu Youzhen can be said to be a favorite of heaven, because God is helping him ascend the throne. The Emperor of the Apocalypse Zhu Youxiao originally had five brothers, but in the end, only he and Zhu Youzhen lived to adulthood, in addition, Zhu Youxiao's three sons died of various reasons, so after Zhu Youxiao died of illness in 1627, the 16-year-old Zhu Youzhen naturally became the only legal successor of the Daming Empire. But it was precisely because of a series of operations after he came to power that he directly accelerated the demise of Daming.
First, Zhu Youzhen did not have any imperial strategy or boldness; Immediately after he came to the throne, he united with the Donglin Party to fight the liquidation of the gelding party, and Wei Zhongxian was eventually forced to commit suicide. Compared with the group of Donglin Party, Wei Zhongxian was the one who did practical things, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse was reluctant to kill him, and he could ensure the income of the imperial court's finances, and the country could only do things when it had money, and only then could he ensure the source of military funds for fighting the Qing army in Liaodong. Zhu Jianshen can use Wang Zhi, Zhu Houzhao can use Liu Jin, Jiajing dares to use the traitor Yan Song, but Zhu Youzhen does not use Wei Zhongxian's pawn, and after Wei Zhongxian's death, the war in Liaodong became very difficult, and even the whole country was struggling because of the emptiness of the treasury.
Second, Zhu Youzhen is stunned and suspicious by nature; This is a typical inability to do things, and not being able to get others to do things well. His natural paranoia was vividly reflected in two things: one was to use Yuan Chonghuan to fight against the Qing army outside Guan, and after achieving some victories, he heard rumors that Yuan Chonghuan wanted to surrender the Qing rebellion, and then directly killed him and raided the house, and as a result, nothing came out. In the early days of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting successively achieved major victories against the Qing army and suppressed the peasant uprising in the northwest region, and also captured the king Gao Yingxiang, destroyed the strongest of the rebel army, and stabilized the domestic situation, but because of Chongzhen's suspicions, he was innocently imprisoned for three years. In 1642, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong raised troops again, and at this time Daming was faltering, and Chongzhen remembered Sun Chuanting again and ordered him to fight the rebels. In 1643, Sun Chuanting led troops to confront Li Zicheng at Tongguan, at which time Chongzhen suspected that Sun Chuanting was supporting his own army and urged him to immediately go out to meet the enemy, and as a result, Sun Chuanting was killed in battle, and Li Zicheng attacked Beijing half a year later, and Zhu Youzhen followed suit.
Third, to save face and refuse to move south; The reason why the Ming Dynasty established the two capitals was to cope with this situation. Before Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, Qunchen suggested moving the capital to Nanjing, where there was a complete imperial court structure, and as long as Zhu Youzhen could pass, with the Yangtze River and the 500,000-strong army in the southern regions, it was more than enough to keep half of the rivers and mountains. Moreover, at that time, due to continuous natural disasters, drought in the north for many years, and uprisings in various places, on the contrary, the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was stable and quite prosperous, and industry, agriculture and commerce were also the most developed areas in the country. But he was better than face, saying that after the death of Nanmian he faced his ancestors without face, he chose to commit suicide, but he did not know that he buried Daming with his own hands to face his ancestors without face. Chongzhen's death is also reflected in another matter, historical records record that Li Zicheng, the king of the invasion, wrote a secret letter to Chongzhen before marching into Beijing, he only wanted to be a lord of the domain, and if he agreed, he could lead troops to Shanhaiguan to fight the Qing army and protect the mountains and rivers of the Central Plains. As a result, Chongzhen refused because he wanted to save face, thinking that you are an anti-thief on what basis to ask me for conditions.
Many historical books have commented that Chongzhen became emperor with all his passion, but just having full blood cannot be Zhongxing Daming, and he does not have even the slightest imperial power. Some people say that he was diligent, did not abandon the imperial government, and was a good emperor. But at that time, the stormy Daming Empire needed a king with iron and bloody skills and courage, a king who could control the military generals of Wen Chen and kill decisively. Not a scholar who only buys a little literary brilliance, is indecisive, and is suspicious by nature. If Chongzhen can make good use of Wei Zhongxian, Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chuanting, and these people, if he has a little skill like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, and a little imperial heart skill like Jiajing, Zhongxing Daming may not be hopeless. But during his reign, I personally feel that it is not an exaggeration to say that he directly buried Daming.