After 276 years, the Ming Dynasty collapsed like a high-rise building, and for the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, some people said that Daming died because eunuchs gained power, and some people said that Daming died of corruption at all levels of officials, which caused it to be difficult to return.
However, as for the key reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the author believes that the main reason is caused by the personality of the Chongzhen Emperor himself, or that his personality hastened the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
First, Chongzhen's personality is rebellious and does not dare to take responsibility.
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1624, the Chongzhen Emperor sent the military department Shangshu Chen Xinjia to secretly negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, but it was not known how the news was leaked out, and at that time, the Ming Ministers and officials were talking about it, and Chongzhen also felt that it was a loss of national system to negotiate peace with the enemy state.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was just a barbarian thief in the hearts of the Ming Dynasty, and how could the Tang dynasty negotiate peace with the thief Kou, and as a result, Chongzhen actually ordered Chen Xinjia to be executed. But the matter was not over here, and as a result, within a few months, Chongzhen publicly agreed to make peace with the Qing Dynasty.
Judging from these two things, Chongzhen's character is flawed, and although he is very diligent, it is not enough to offset the flaws in his character. And do not dare to take responsibility. The practice of always finding scapegoats at critical moments has made ministers, including cabinet members, learn to be obedient and dare not come forward when encountering things.
For example, in 1625, that is, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng led the rebel army to cross Shanxi to the current border of Hebei, and the imperial court was already in a very crisis, and Chongzhen repeatedly summoned his ministers to discuss countermeasures under the emergency, but always discussed and unresolved. In fact, he himself had long had the idea of moving the capital to Nanjing, but he did not say it for a long time, and he had to ask the minister to say it.
Although the ministers all knew Chongzhen's thoughts, and the ministers also knew that only the southward migration had the possibility of Zhongxing Daming, but no one was willing to say it, so Chongzhen had to summon a minister named Li Mingrui alone, and hinted that Li Mingrui proposed a plan to move south in the early dynasty, originally Chongzhen thought that as long as the minister proposed it, he would be able to push the boat along the water, and as a result, Li Mingrui not only did not propose the plan to move south the next morning, but did not even say a word. Why did Chongzhen have to ask the minister to bring it up, because he was afraid of being accused of abandoning the city and fleeing, afraid of being left behind by the responsibility of abandoning the Zongmiao Temple.
Second, love the country and the mountains more love silver.
When the time reached the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court had neither soldiers nor money, and finally even where Li Zicheng fought, the bingbu Shangshu did not even know, the commander-in-chief of a big country in charge of the military did not know where the opponent was hit, and as a result, Chongzhen asked him why you as a soldier Shangshu did not know, and the old man replied: There is no money to send scouts on the road to use the coil.
It can be seen that at that time, the imperial court had reached the point of exhaustion, and Chongzhen had to pull down his son to let the ministers donate money to recruit soldiers and buy horses, Zhou Kuiben was the father of Empress Zhou, and also belonged to the rich family, Chongzhen wanted him to take the lead in donating 100,000 taels of silver, and as a result, he only donated 13,000 taels, and there was also Empress Zhou to give 5,000 taels, in fact, the ministers were mainly unwilling to pay their own money, but they forgot that "there is no end under the nest", Li Zicheng entered the city and searched out 70 million taels of silver from them.
Later, there was no way, the minister proposed to the emperor to take out his own internal treasury, that is, the emperor's private treasury, according to the "Jiashen Biography Record", Chongzhen said a sentence at that time: internal account, now there is no way to tell, but Chongzhen melted the gold and silver utensils in the palace to charge military expenses, to show that I have taken out the silverware and melted it into silver ingots, in fact, according to the "Ming History Record Supplement", after Chongzhen hanged, Li Zicheng searched for 37 million taels of silver in the palace, which is pitiful.
Third, Chongzhen's personality is like indecision
There are three things that can be seen that Chongzhen's personality lacks courage and courage, the first thing is to move the capital to Nanjing, he and the ministers have met many times to discuss the plan to move south, but they have never made a decision, in fact, Chongzhen can use the emperor's supreme power to directly issue a plan to move the capital, but there has never been.
The second thing, when Li Zicheng was about to besiege the city of Beijing, the imperial court's decision to transfer Wu Sangui to Guanning Iron Horse was actually delayed by the first assistant minister Chen Yan for three months, Wu Sangui received the holy will, Li Zicheng was about to break through the city of Beijing, even if at this time Wu Sangui inserted wings too late.
The third thing was also Chongzhen's last chance, after Li Zicheng attacked the city of Beijing, he immediately ordered the attack to stop, because Li Zicheng wanted Chongzhen to make himself the king of the northwest, as long as Chongzhen agreed, Li Zicheng immediately withdrew his army, and Li Zicheng promised to help the imperial court suppress other rebels, but Chongzhen dragged it out again and again, and finally Li Zicheng really had no patience to wait, and entered the palace with one brain.
In 1627, Li Zicheng attacked the city of Beijing, Chongzhen hurriedly ordered the empress and concubines to hang themselves, and then personally hacked his daughter with a sword, the younger daughter survived because she was cut off with her arm, and finally he asked the eunuch Wang Cheng'en to call his three sons to his side and said to his son: Why were you born in my house, you quickly take advantage of the chaos to escape, after going out, when you see the official, it is called: "Chief", when you see the elderly, it is called "Father", poor parents in the world, Chongzhen finally took the eunuch Wang Cheng'en to The Banzai Mountain, hanged himself in infinite grief, and the loyal Wang Cheng'en also hanged himself in a tree next to Chongzhen.