In 1368 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty as a beggar.
In 1644, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in the coal mountain. Since then, China's last feudal dynasty ruled by Han Chinese has fallen.
There are always people who think that the fate of the Ming Dynasty should not be extinguished, and there are still people who want to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. However, on the day before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, two strange things did happen. If these two things had been developed in a different direction, the Ming Dynasty might not really have perished.
A thousand-mile embankment collapsed in an anthill
Strictly speaking, the reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was not formed overnight, but through the joint efforts of several generations of outrageous emperors, which made it difficult for this vast empire to return.
After Zhu Yuanzhang died, according to the edict, the emperor should be the son of Prince Zhaoming, the grandson of Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Di, the king of Yan, rebelled under the banner of the Qing monarch and eventually became the emperor, and Zhu Yunwen disappeared after fleeing.
Zhu Di was relieved of this and sent people to look around, including Zheng He, who went to the West seven times. Although Zheng He's voyage to the West spread Chinese culture to foreign countries, it also consumed a large amount of the Ming Dynasty's treasury and buried hidden dangers for the Ming Dynasty's economy.
This is just the economic drawbacks of the Ming Dynasty, and the politics of the Ming Dynasty are even more messy, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty seem to be a little abnormal.
After Zhu Di's death, the crown prince Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne. Zhu Gaochi was greedy and obese, and died of disease not long after. The holy grandson Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne, Zhu Zhanji did not live long, and in the last few years, he liked to tease the crickets and ignore the government.
After his death, his son Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, the Ming god of war was captured after the conquest of Wara, and his brother Zhu Qiyu served as the emperor for several years during this period, and returned to him after he returned.
After Zhu Qizhen's death, the eldest son Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne, Zhu Jianshen loved his mother deeply, and spoiled the little nanny who was seventeen years older than him, and he also followed soon after the death of the little nanny. And he ignored the government and led to chaos in the court, and the eunuchs were in charge.
Zhu Jianshen's son Zhu Youzhang is a normal emperor, but Zhu Youzhang's son Zhu Houzhao is not normal. When Zhu Houzhao was the emperor, because of his love for folk art, he summoned folk acrobats to the palace to play with him, and ignored political affairs all day long.
Zhu Houzhao had no children after his death, Zhu Houxi ascended the throne, this is the famous Jiajing Emperor, Jiajing likes Taoism, practices the elixir of immortality every day, and finally was poisoned by the pill he refined. After his death, his son Mu Zong ascended the throne, Mu Zong loved his daughter, and died of too close a bed.
Mu Zong's son is Shenzong, Shenzong became the emperor at the age of ten, was disciplined by Zhang Juzheng to study, began to get tired of learning when he became an adult, and did not pay attention to the government for 28 years. The next emperor, Guangzong, like Muzong, also died of physical weakness.
Guangzong was followed by Xizong, who liked carpentry, and it is said that his skills were comparable to Luban. The emperor sawed wood all day and handed over state affairs to the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian, which made the already bad Ming even worse, and Nurhachi took the opportunity to capture Shenyang.
Xizong had no heirs, and after his death, his brother Sizong ascended the throne, and Sizong was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Chongzhen Emperor who hanged himself in the coal mountain.
I don't dare to waste my dreams
When Xizong was alive, Chongzhen never coveted the throne, and never felt that the emperor's position had anything to do with him. At that time, he only felt that it was inappropriate for the eunuchs to be in power, but because of his bad status, he gave advice to Xizong.
It wasn't until Chongzhen ascended the throne that he realized that what he had received from Xizong was a big mess. The imperial court has been plagued by the eunuchs, and the treasury is also a rat that has to come out hungry. As for the security of the country, not to mention the Qing soldiers who are eyeing the border, there are even various rebel armies within the country.
For Chongzhen, the process of his governance of the government is to press the gourd and raise the scoop, extinguish the fire in the east and send water in the west, and the whole Ming Dynasty is in a hopeless state. It stands to reason that Daming's qi should be exhausted at this point, but Chongzhen is a good person with a strong sense of responsibility, and he is unwilling to let the foundation of his ancestors be ruined.
During his reign, he slept at night, and it is said that he got up earlier than the chickens all day, and his hair was full of gray hair in his twenties. He burned his own hard work, and indeed let Da Ming live for a few more years. But the destiny of heaven cannot be violated, and he is not able to turn the tide and pull the sunken ship of Daming ashore after all.
On March 18, 1644, Li Zicheng's army began to attack the city of Beijing. Soon after, the capital fell, and Chongzhen forced the queen, concubines, and daughter to hang themselves, and then climbed the coal mountain accompanied by the eunuch Wang Chengen, and the two hanged themselves relatively themselves.
This is one of the few serious emperors of the Ming Dynasty who has political talents, and the only emperor of the Ming Dynasty who hangs himself. In fact, in all Chinese dynasties, it is rare for emperors to die after losing their country. It can be said that Chongzhen is a very backbone and capable person.
Chongzhen's political talent, there is one person in his eyes, and this person is his enemy Li Zicheng.
Frightened and suspicious
Li Zicheng, like Zhu Yuanzhang, is a child of a poor family. When he was a child, he herded sheep for the landlord, and when he grew up, he felt that he could not survive anymore, so he led his fellow villagers to revolt. His initial wish may have been to have enough to eat, but as the war grew, he found that things were out of his control.
Li Zicheng never thought that he could be a good king of a country. Governing the country well and reettling the people are not what he is good at, and he thinks Chongzhen is very good at it. At the moment before the breakthrough of the city of Beijing, he sent someone to send a letter to Chongzhen.
The general content of this letter is that as long as Chongzhen lets Li Zicheng establish himself as king in the northwest and rewards him with one million taels of silver, he will no longer rebel, and will help Chongzhen attack other rebel armies and even the Qing army. This is a good thing for Chongzhen, after all, he is desperate.
But Chongzhen didn't agree, during the years he was the emperor, he was always tightening a string, and he had already made a bow and a snake shadow, and he couldn't believe Li Zicheng at all.
The superior side wants to submit, and the inferior side does not agree, which is one of the strange things on the eve of the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
The second strange thing still stems from Chonghu's suspicion.
After Li Zicheng attacked Jingshi, Chongzhen sent a signal for help to four people, who were Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu, Huang Degong, and Tang Tong. Only Tang Tong reorganized his soldiers and horses, and was ready to start immediately to save Chongzhen.
However, Chongzhen sent someone to monitor Tang Tong, and Tang Tong felt cold when he found out, so he stopped sending troops. It can be said that Chongzhen's little action extinguished his last hope.
At that time, Chongzhen was worried about internal and external troubles, and he was already in a state where nothing could be lost, and no one could understand the significance of his monitoring of Tang Tong. This is the second strange thing before the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
In the end, Chongzhen chose to hang himself in despair, and the Ming Dynasty, which had experienced 16 generations of emperors, slowly came to an end.
Chongzhen believes that he has done his best for the Ming Dynasty, and the fall of the Ming Dynasty is due to the death of the Ming Dynasty, not his fault. From his point of view, this is indeed the case.
However, if you stretch the timeline, you will find how ridiculous the Ming emperors in front of him are, and the fall of the Ming Dynasty is indeed not his fault, nor is it God's fault, but the problem accumulated by generations of absurd emperors.
He's just the poor guy who bears the end in the end.
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