In the early morning of March 19, 1644, the 33-year-old Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself from a crooked neck tree in the middle of the Coal Mountain. Before his death, the Chongzhen Emperor wrote a will:
"In the seventeen years since he ascended the throne, although he was a bandit and angry, all the ministers were mistaken, causing the rebels to directly attack the Capital Division. Death, faceless ancestors in the ground, to remove the crown, to cover the face. Let the thief split the corpse, and do not hurt the people. ”
Just look here, do you feel that he is a good emperor!
But it has to be said that the accelerated decline of the Ming Dynasty is related to the Xiaoice River period, and it is indispensable to his reverse efforts.
On February 6, 1611, a palace boy was born (Chongzhen), and his father was Ming Guangzong (the father of the carpenter Emperor Tianqi), who was still the crown prince, but because his mother was only a maid, and Guangzong was in a good mood, this was the fifth child, and he was not very popular! And his mother Liu Shi was directly tortured and beaten to death because he offended Guangzong, and he was adopted by Xi Li, and as a result, the family gave birth to a daughter who could not manage him, and then threw him to Dong Li for adoption! In childhood, there was no mother, no father, and the adoptive mother also changed back and forth, which cultivated his suspicious sensitivity!
In 1622, at the age of 11, he was given the title of Prince of Faith! The palace was accustomed to Wei Zhongxian's most powerful and partisan struggles, and he only wanted to grow up and leave this whirlpool
In 1627, the Apocalypse died! Because there were no heirs, some ministers worked hard, and all sides supported him, and King Xin succeeded to the throne
Chongzhen was directly on the throne as a prince! And he was only about 17 years old at this time, and the children without fathers and mothers were precocious, so naturally they would not listen to Wei Zhongxian's words, but Wei Zhongxian had many henchmen
As soon as Chongzhen ascended to the throne, he still had a lot of trust in Wei Zhongxian on the surface, and as a result, he directly pulled out Wei Zhongxian's henchmen one by one, leaving Wei Zhongxian, directly degraded, and finally killed, and then took the opportunity to directly behead more than two hundred of the castrated party's cronies! Seeing this, you will not feel that this is the real young tianzi
And some of the remaining Donglin Party and imperial relatives could not turn over the storm (at least in Chongzhen's eyes, he was only 18 years old at this time and had already become the helmsman of the Ming Dynasty)
So he recruited the famous general of Shubian, the Golden Breaker, Yuan Chonghuan!
As a result, this old boy didn't know whether to see Chongzhen was young or if he was too confident in himself! Directly with Chongzhen to pack a ticket, within 5 years to pacify Liaodong, (at this time the internal troubles are hungry people, disaster victims, peasant uprisings have not yet become a scale), external troubles are removed, good governance of internal affairs, you are the youngest saint of the ages.
The flickering Chongzhen tilted a large area of domestic resources to Liaodong and destroyed the Jurchens! The result is that Jurchen has become a climate and cannot be destroyed! Maneuverability, lethality is also strong! So the Guanning Iron Line was constructed. With the help of the terrain of Shanhaiguan, money was invested, and manpower constructed a copper wall and an iron wall! The army stationed there was referred to as the Guanning Iron Horse, and the monthly cost of the imperial court's grain was ten thousand and two.
Originally, the money was spent, and you had to be able to stop it. As a result, the Jurchens directly bypassed Mongolia and bypassed the defensive line into the capital, and the most infuriating thing was that the palace guards under Chongzhen at that time could not defeat others. The king of a country can only close the city gate to watch the Jurchens wreak havoc, burn and loot outside the city, slaughter the people, jurchens kill and loot after the venting, look at the thickness of the imperial city, feel that they can't fight down and go back.
Yuan Chonghuan knew that the Jurchens had detoured through the Mongols to sneak in, so he led the Guanning Iron Horse, and directly returned to the defense without stopping, and finally defeated the Jurchen troops!
During this period, Chongzhen also issued an order from the King of Qin. Hong Chengzu's gang had originally killed Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, but as a result, all of them came to Qin Wang, and the generals under his command inadvertently directly let these thieves go!
These anti-thieves began to wander around, instigating the people to rebel again, destroying the bookmakers, gathering refugees, and starting to gather troops to rebel...! Zhang Xianzhong was even more desperate, and directly hit Fengyang, a fellow of the Zhu family, and planed all the ancestral graves of Chongzhen.
Angry Chongzhen said: Capture Zhang Xianzhong, escort him back to Beijing, not to let him peel the skin and bone, a thousand knives,......!
And Jurchen was defeated, but also robbed a lot of property, before leaving, said Yuan Chonghuan and our gang, obviously provoked dissension... The result is that Chongzhen began to settle accounts after the autumn, can not retaliate against Privet, just retaliate against Yuan Chonghuan! Even more ministers saw the wind and made the rudder, and the castrated party hated Yuan Chonghuan, saying that Yuan Chonghuan spent state resources, killed the general Mao Wenlong without authorization, and supported the army and respected himself! ......！
As a result, Chongzhen waved a big hand, slashed a thousand knives, withdrew from the vegetable market, slaughtered in front of the people, and it was rumored that there were foolish people who ate its flesh raw
As a result, a generation of generals, thousands of miles rushed to the rescue of Yuan Chonghuan!
How ironic
At this time, a general gradually stood out - Wu Sangui, who also slowly mastered the Guanning Iron Horse, and gradually saw Chongzhen's caution and suspiciousness!
……
Finally, Yang Sichang and a group of generals made a plan, and finally besieged Zhang Xianzhong, who was cornered and said that he would surrender.
Chongzhen a sentence.
"He is so sincere, how can he chill his heart" As a result, Zhang Xianzhong pretended to rebel and took the opportunity to clean up a group of generals under Yang Sichang. Then it raged in all directions, and it was even more unscrupulous.
Chongzhen was confused, how could I have won a big victory a few days ago, I became like this with one instruction, so I began to push the pot, not my fault,......!
Chongzhen 13 years, the Battle of Songjin, the Jurchen invasion of Daming to fight, Hong Chengyu and Jurchen confrontation, but also fought a few battles with little chance of victory, but it is obvious that Daming at this time, in terms of weapons and equipment and mobility, personnel quality are not better than Jurchen, border combat is not the grasp of taking down Jurchen! So I began to hold on,
As a result, Chongzhen thought that too much grain and grass were consumed, and Hong Chengzu only defended and did not attack, and was suspected of supporting the soldiers' self-esteem, so he forcibly ordered Hong Chengzu to fight a decisive battle to see if he listened or not.
"Enter the army at the moment, and those who do not enter will die"
Hong Chengyu received the Holy Will, had no way, gave up the defense, and tried to use the numerical superiority to fight with military ability and Jurchen to the death. As a result, the battle was defeated, and after that, the Ming Court was no longer able to stop the Jurchens from wreaking havoc!
In the 16th year of Chongzhen, the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty began to appear, and there was no confrontation outside, and the jurchen army! Only the Guanning Iron Horse defending the Shanghai Pass side, since Yuan Chonghuan's death, coupled with the arrears of military pay, is also Chongzhen does not give money, does not contribute! Inside, Li Zicheng's army was successful and directly approached the imperial city.
At this time, Chongzhen remembered Sun Chuanting. This general who had captured Gao Yingxiang and destroyed the anti-thief army. The general who had imprisoned him for three years because of his pride. Let him send troops to block Li Zicheng. A general who had just come out of prison led a makeshift patchwork force. Blocked Li Zi's million-strong army.
Chongzhen began to command remotely again. The attack destroyed Li Zicheng with a single blow. Sun Chuanting fought hard. As a result, he was defeated by Li Zicheng. Sun Chuanting was also tough and did not escape, died in battle, and Tongguan was lost.
Chongzhen directly said that Sun Chuanting was an incompetent person. When he died, he did not give Sun Chuanting a nickname, nor did he give any blessings to the descendants of the Sun family!
(Chongzhen has issued many edicts of sin, but every time he really encounters an incident, he always blames the blame on others, and at most he recognizes a person who does not know.) ）
Li Zicheng had about a month left to attack the imperial capital.
He could have moved the capital backwards, but Chongzhen was afraid that the world would laugh at him. So I resolutely refused to go
Chongzhen began to transfer the army to qin wang, but as a result, even the qin king's military salary was not made up, so that the ministers gathered, one by one, they were obviously rich and flowing oil, and they also pretended to sell houses and children and sell their daughters, one by one, as clean as the breeze of two sleeves!.
Before Li Zicheng attacked the imperial capital, he negotiated a condition for Chongzhen, you are willing to give me the title of king in the name of Emperor Daming, and make up a few tens of millions! I can use my status as a courtier of Daming to fight against Hou Jin, or I can make you emperor and defend your side for Daming! (That is to say, I want to be prosperous and rich, some choose me not to be a chaotic thief, I am not the material for the emperor, everyone still has a discussion) Chongzhen rebuffed, simply put, you are thinking of fart eating, put me Daming Huo Huo into this, you are still willing to let me crown you king, roll you!
Li Zicheng began to attack the imperial capital directly, and Chongzhen, in order to avoid the humiliation of the imperial family, personally killed the imperial family and hung himself on the crooked neck tree behind the coal mountain.
The demise of the Ming Dynasty led to 30% of the people's discord during the Xiaoice River period! Partisan struggle, political corruption, cost 20% of national strength! Female real invasion and wreak havoc accounted for 10%!
The remaining 40% is related to Chongzhen's series of measures, cutting institutions and shortening expenditures, but it has caused a large number of personnel to lose their jobs and there is no reasonable arrangement for unemployed people! Internal and external troubles, do not bother to govern the interior, but tilt a large number of resources to the border army, the most critical has not been defended! Battlefield Blind Command,......! If there is a fault, push it on the courtier!
You are right to say that he was a good man, and that he remembered the people before he died.
But he was indeed not a good emperor, and it was also his series of measures that accelerated the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty.