In principle, Li Zicheng did not only become emperor for 42 days, so how did the number of these 42 days come from? These 42 days began on the day he attacked the city of Beijing on March 19, 1644 (the seventeenth year of Chongzhen), and continued until he left Beijing and fled to Xi'an on April 30 of the same year, a total of 42 days.
Portrait of Li Zicheng
In fact, in January 1644 (the seventeenth year of Chongzhen), Li Zicheng was proclaimed emperor in Xi'an, and the founding name was "Dashun", and in 1645 (the second year of Shunzhi), in May, there is no accurate record of which day, the soldiers were defeated and died, a total of 1 year and 4 months before and after the emperor.
In these 42 days, what did Li Zicheng do in the Forbidden City?
The people welcomed the invading army
After staying in the Forbidden City, the first thing was to bury the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, but Li Zicheng told the Ming Dynasty's widows that for the Chongzhen Emperor, "you can bury the emperor, but you can get the royal sacrifice." That is to say, you can be buried according to the emperor's specifications, and at that time you can only pay homage to him according to the etiquette of the prince. Li Zicheng sent people to set up a factory ceremony outside the Donghua Gate, and then moved into the Buddhist temple. On March 27, the Chongzhen Emperor was buried in the tomb of Tian Guifei. However, Li Zicheng's approach is obviously not atmospheric enough.
After entering the Forbidden City, the second thing was to strengthen the rule of the Dashun regime, promulgating a series of decrees, opening up disciplines, selecting officials, and releasing prisoners from prison. Sweep away the evil forces and punish the Ming Dynasty imperial family and dignitaries who have committed many evils. For a moment, the wind was clear and full of the illusion of peace. Ming dynasty officials who surrendered to the emperor crawled on the ground outside the noon gate every day, waiting for the fall. Li Zicheng ordered: "Those who dare to harm people and rob women of people's property will not be spared!" "Suddenly everything was in order in Beijing, and the shops were operating normally. During this period, there was a small incident, 2 small thieves robbed the satin shop, were caught by the officers and soldiers of Dashun, and immediately punished on the street, and the people of the capital clapped their hands and applauded one by one.
When Li Zicheng first entered Beijing, he had less than 20,000 soldiers and horses, and after the destruction of the capital, his troops quickly expanded to 100,000. Among them, there were a large number of starving people and the Ming Dynasty troops. With so many people for a time, the issue of military pay became Li Zicheng's most difficult problem. After only 7 days, the apparent harmony was broken, and the third thing was to raise military salaries. Let the Ming Dynasty widows and widows donate money, Li Zicheng also stipulated the amount of donation money, 100,000 in the middle hall, 50,000 to 70,000 in the ministry, 3 to 50,000 in the Daoke officials, 1 to 30,000 in Hanlin, and thousands of other low-level official titles", who wanted to hide what was not given or who did not meet the prescribed amount, directly tortured with torture equipment, a little cruel, and finally looted 37 million silver and 10 million gold. Think about it is also the sadness of the Ming Dynasty, when the Chongzhen Emperor reigned, let the ministers donate money, one by one there is no money to cry poor. At this point, he used torture to scatter his family wealth one by one, just to save his life. Later, at the end of April, when Li Zicheng fled Beijing, he was also defeated by the joint attack of Wu Sangui and the Qing army, and his soldiers began to plunder the people, making the people unhappy. By this time, he had lost all control of the army.
The ultimate reason for Li Zicheng's failure was that the small peasants had a serious mentality, did not think of saving their lives in the water and fire, and did not have a pattern of unifying China, but only the idea of small wealth and peace, which led to his complacency after success, intoxication by victory, and eventually to his demise. #National Style Ceremony ##历史上的趣事 #