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Wen 丨 Uncle Ming's Treatise
Editor丨Uncle Ming's treatise
introduction
The Ming Dynasty was the last great unified dynasty in Chinese history established by the Han Chinese. The Ming Dynasty went through one emperor after another, perishing at the hands of the last emperor, Ming Sizong Zhu Youjian, and eventually becoming the last dynasty in Chinese history to be established by the Han Chinese. The demise of the Ming Dynasty was the end of China's ancient feudal dynasty and one of the most important turning points in ancient Chinese history.
The life of the "Chongzhen Emperor"
Zhu Youzhen (1611-1644), eldest son of Zhu Changluo of the Ming Guangzong Dynasty, was made crown prince in the thirty-first year of Wanli (1603). In the first year of Chongzhen (1628), he was made King Xin. In December of the same year, he was canonized as King Xin. In August of the following year, he was buried with Empress Ma Jia in Zhaoling.
Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen (1608-1644), the sixth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Year name Chongzhen, Chongzhen Emperor.
Zhu Youjian was born on April 21, the 41st year of Wanli (1613), and was raised by his eldest brother Zhu Youxiao in Xiyuan (present-day Beihai Park, Beijing) at an early age, and he was passed on to his uncle and eldest brother Xingxian Wang Zhu Quan as his son.
On April 17, the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself in a crooked neck tree on a coal mountain at the age of 33.
The Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, reigning for only seventeen years and hanging himself at a young age, a dramatic life that made later generations deeply interested in him and deeply questioned and puzzled how the Ming Dynasty died at his hands.
So why is this Zhu Youzhen so short-lived? What was the cause of his death? Let's first understand the political environment of the Ming Dynasty at that time.
The state of the country during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor
Politically, by the time of the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, the political system of the Ming Dynasty had undergone major changes. Due to the relatively perfect political system in the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has been able to operate normally.
However, in the later period, because of the serious corruption and sharp class contradictions in the Ming officialdom, there were many problems in the local areas, such as military tungs, mining tuns, and civilian tuns.
Coupled with the continuous peasant uprisings, this led to the empty treasury of the Ming Dynasty and insufficient salaries of officials. At the same time, there are also a large number of displaced people in society. In this case, all the emperor could do was rely on his power to suppress the uprising and maintain social stability.
In terms of national defense, the Chongzhen Emperor himself was also a capable and ambitious person. He is well aware of his place in history. He also understood his responsibilities and missions as emperor.
However, during the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign, the situation of the Ming Dynasty's army changed greatly. Judging from the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the Chongzhen Emperor was able to control the army, he could not implement reforms, and could not change the situation of the army through reforms.
During the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, the Ming Dynasty was already in ruins, and although he wanted to change the situation of the Ming army through reform, he did not have the ability and conditions to implement this measure.
The biggest problem during the Ming Dynasty was that the "Chongzhen Emperor" could not control the relationship between his throne and his ministers. Although the "Chongzhen Emperor" repeatedly tried to reform the military system and the army management system during his reign, they all ended in failure. During the Ming Dynasty, the state spent a lot of money and energy on the army every year to build and manage the army, but these funds and energy were not ultimately used for military purposes.
But after becoming emperor, he did not do what he should have done, the most important of which was political mistakes:
First, one of the most important problems of the Chongzhen Dynasty was the serious annexation of land. The "History of Ming" records that "the people's land is not cultivated, and the poor have nothing to rely on", and land annexation is the root cause of the continuous peasant uprisings and peasant riots.
His phrase "Juntian Order" is even more unbelievable, and it can even be said to be ridiculous. It can be seen that the Chongzhen Emperor himself was also a very far-sighted person, he only saw the immediate benefits, but did not see the long-term development.
Second, improper employment. We all know that in ancient societies, imperial power was supreme, and if the emperor wanted to control the entire country, he had to control all officials. Although the Chongzhen Emperor was an emperor, his ability was limited to ruling his own country. And he himself is not good at governing the country. Although he has a series of measures and policies, they often do not have much effect.
Third, the Chongzhen Emperor did not make full use of his power to combat the eunuch forces. In the middle and late Ming dynasties, eunuchs were very powerful, holding most important positions in the imperial court, as well as most important positions in the harem.
The political institution of the Chongzhen Dynasty
According to the records of the "History of Ming", it is divided into:
The "Cabinet" and the "Six Ministries" are responsible for decision-making, deliberation and implementation, respectively.
The "cabinet" is an institution that integrates decision-making, deliberation and implementation, composed of cabinet ministers, generally consisting of one chief assistant of the cabinet, two deputy chief assistants, and one right to vote (six shangshu). The development and improvement of the cabinet system in the Ming Dynasty went through a long process. However, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet has gradually become independent of the six ministries. At that time, people said: "Those who are in the dynasty of the country are headed by Shoufu; Those who are in the opposition of the country are headed by the vote. ”
In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, because the emperor and the ministers "did not meet straight" (that is, did not ask the ministers for instructions in person), the information exchange between the emperor and the ministers was very backward and primitive. For example, when Zhu Yuanzhang was emperor, there was no Guozijian and six Yamen; After Ming Chengzu ascended the throne, he changed Guozijian to "taixue" and "sociology"; After the restoration of Emperor Yingzong of Ming, the "Guozijian" was restored.
By the time of the Wanli period of the Myojin Sect, the way the emperor and the cabinet ministers did not meet directly and had direct dialogue could no longer meet the needs. So the Wanli Emperor took an extreme measure: he "reddened" the votes of the chief assistant of the cabinet and the six Shangshu. That is, after copying the votes of the chief assistant of the cabinet and the six shangshu with a zhu pen, they were sent to the emperor for decision.
This system was used by later emperors.
By the time of Emperor Mingsizong's Chongzhen reign (1628-1644), the "cabinet" system was basically formed. After Emperor Ming Sizong Zhu Youjian came to the throne (1628-1644), he abolished the cabinet voting system and restored the "red approval" system. Since then, the "cabinet" has officially become the highest authority of the Ming Dynasty.
The so-called "red approval" system refers to a decision-making system that is submitted to the emperor for approval by a common vote such as the chief assistant, cabinet ministers or six shangshu.
The "cabinet" system of the Ming Dynasty
The cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty was a kind of supreme government affairs agency appointed by the emperor himself after Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system and directly placed it under the responsibility of the emperor. After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, he set up a "cabinet". The so-called cabinet is actually a kind of the highest administrative organ outside Zhongshu Province held by internal officials, and its functions and powers are the same as those of the prime minister, but not as large as the prime minister. Cabinet scholars, on the other hand, were officials directly appointed by the emperor and held duties equivalent to prime ministers.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang has wanted to weaken the prime minister system. Therefore, he abolished the prime minister system and replaced it with a cabinet system shortly after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. After Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty came to the throne, in order to strengthen his control over the regime and further weaken the power of Cheng Xiang and others, he restored the cabinet system. Since then, through the five dynasties of Chengzu, Renzong, Xuanzong, and Yingzong, the cabinet system has always played an important role in the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Yingzong period, the cabinet scholars formed a special group - "Ge Lao" because of their close relationship with the emperor. The "pavilion elders" are directly involved in decision-making, and can even make decisions on behalf of the emperor. When Emperor Ming Yingzong ascended the throne, he decreed that "Elder Ge" be appointed as Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, and Shangshu of the Military Department, and gave them honorary titles such as "Golden Purple Ribbon" and "Red Top Flower Ling". On the surface, the "pavilion elders" have quite high rights and status. But in reality, they have very little power at all.
At the same time, during the Ming Dynasty, cabinet scholars were only an honorary title rather than an official position, and had no specific functions and rights.
During the Chongzhen Dynasty, the power of cabinet scholars reached its peak.
At that time, the power of the cabinet could be said to be unmatched, and it could even be said that no minister dared to compete with it in the political arena of the Ming Dynasty.
The character of the Chongzhen Emperor
The Chongzhen Emperor was an extremely assertive and strong personality.
After he came to the throne, he repeatedly asked ministers for reform, but most of the ministers ignored his ideas for reform.
The Chongzhen Emperor once wanted to emulate Emperor Taizong of Tang and implement the policy of "Chongwen suppressing martial arts", allowing civil and military officials to discuss imperial politics in the court in order to check each other. But this approach was opposed by many ministers.
Once, when the Chongzhen Emperor was discussing this matter with the ministers, one of the ministers of the imperial court said: "The emperor cannot learn from Emperor Taizong of Tang and hand over the world to the civil and military officials to handle." ”
When the Chongzhen Emperor heard this, he was very angry and thought that he did not trust him, so he said to the minister: "If you don't want me to hand over the world to you to manage, then please leave the capital!" ”
The minister was frightened and quickly resigned. The Chongzhen Emperor also ordered the minister to be locked up.
Emperor Chongzhen's character is also a very assertive person, but he is also very suspicious and rigid.
Within a few years of the Chongzhen Emperor's accession to the throne, the Ming Dynasty was already in the midst of a political crisis. The ministers often proposed reforms to the emperor, but he ignored them.
He was distrustful of the ministers' advice and refused to take it. Whenever there was an important decision, he always asked the cabinet ministers whether the opinion was feasible before making a decision. None of the cabinet members could do anything about the decisions he proposed, so they had to do as he said.
On one occasion, the Chongzhen Emperor wanted to appoint Wei Zaode, a scholar of the cabinet, as the secretary of the military department. Wei Zaode was appointed by the Chongzhen Emperor at that time as a military attendant and right deputy capital Yushi. The Chongzhen Emperor asked Wei Zaode to write a note to the Chongzhen Emperor first.
Wei Zaode said when writing the Sonata. This is a waste of time and shows that you do not trust your subordinates. Emperor Chongzhen was very unhappy when he heard this.
Wei Zaode said to the Chongzhen Emperor: "Your Majesty, if you don't let your subordinates write music and loose, your subordinates will not have the opportunity to write music to Your Majesty." This not only shows that you do not trust your subordinates, but also that your subordinates have no status. ”
Emperor Chongzhen was very angry when he heard this, and said, "Why don't you listen to me? Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen was angry, Wei Zaode did not dare to say anything more. And Emperor Chongzhen was like this, very suspicious and rigid in personality, and he did not listen to the opinions of his ministers on many things, even if it was often something very important.
The influence of the Chongzhen Emperor on the demise of the Ming Dynasty
From the above analysis, it can be seen that although the Chongzhen Emperor was the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, his personal ability and level were far inferior to that of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, although he saved some face for the Ming Dynasty, he still buried many banes for the Ming Dynasty.
First of all, Emperor Chongzhen's personal ability was insufficient. Although he was able to make effective decisions about the Liaodong war and temporarily saved the Ming Dynasty through the crisis. But is he capable of making decisions about political crises? In the long run, the Chongzhen Emperor did not formulate any effective policies to solve the country's financial problems.
Secondly, there were serious flaws in Emperor Chongzhen's character. As mentioned earlier, the character flaws of the Chongzhen Emperor were one of the main reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. But that's not the whole reason. During the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, a total of 23 cabinet chiefs and assistants were replaced. Most of them are traitors, who only think about how to get more power and benefits for themselves, and do not care about the safety of the country and the people.
During Zhu Youzhen's reign, although an authoritarian person like Wei Zhongxian was in power, due to factors such as Emperor Chongzhen's personal ability and character defects, Wei Zhongxian could not control the entire imperial court. During the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, he carried out several reforms, but all of them failed.
Finally, the actions of the Chongzhen Emperor during his reign further exacerbated the speed of the Ming dynasty's demise.
During the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, although he took many measures to save the Daming dynasty. But the measures he took were not entirely effective and reasonable. Many measures have not fully worked as they should, and some have even caused huge losses to the country. Although it shows that the corruption and decline of the middle and late dynasties could not be saved by the Chongzhen Emperor alone, the decrees of the Chongzhen Emperor did accelerate this historical process, leading to the demise of the great dynasty.
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