In 1449, Emperor Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen personally led 200,000 Ming Dynasty troops to march north to Walla, but was ambushed by the Wallachian army, resulting in the total destruction of the Ming army, and even the emperor became a prisoner, which is the famous "Change of Tumu Fort" in history.
Because of this tragic defeat, which directly led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty, every time later literary historians mentioned this event, they would issue such feelings: "Why are the 200,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty so vulnerable in front of the 30,000 iron horses of the Wala Army?" ”
In the "History of Ming" compiled by the Qing Dynasty, it is said that the Ming Dynasty was evaluated as follows: "Zhilong Tang and Song, far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties." ”
Zhu Qi Town
Since the Ming Dynasty began when Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor in Nanjing in 1368 AD, after more than 30 years of vigorous efforts, the national strength soon recovered from the war in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, and even once became strong to the scene of "Four Yi Binfu, All Nations Come to the Dynasty".
By the time of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, the Politics of the Ming Dynasty was clear, the people's lives were all living in peace and contentment, and the economy had achieved unprecedented development.
In 1427, Sun Guifei gave birth to her eldest son Zhu Qizhen, and the very excited Emperor Xuanzong then made this young prince crown prince and crowned Sun Guifei as empress.
In the tenth year of Xuande (1435 AD), Ming Xuanzong, who reigned for a full ten years, died, and at this time, the nine-year-old crown prince Zhu Qizhen succeeded to the throne, with the era name orthodox, and the history was called Ming Yingzong.
Before his death, Emperor Xuanzong of Ming made a testament: "The full authority of the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to his mother Empress Zhang, and the cabinet ministers Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu, and Yang Rong will assist the future little emperor." ”
Empress Zhang
In the early years of orthodoxy, the young emperor Ming Yingzong was still unable to handle state affairs, and Ming Xuanzong also arranged everything for his son in advance.
Empress Zhang was a shrewd, capable and experienced female politician, who reused the three former ministers of the famous "Three Yangs" in history, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu.
During the period when "Sanyang" was a cabinet minister, he consolidated border defense, straightened out the administration of officials, and developed the economy, so that the national strength of the Ming Dynasty continued to develop along the peak track, showing a prosperous scene of prosperity.
In the early days of Ming Yingzong's succession, it can be said that the Ming Dynasty was the most prosperous period, if there is no accident, he can become a generation of "Taiping Emperor", but things will not always develop as people expect.
With the successive deaths of Yang Rong, Empress Zhang, Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu, as well as the gradual withering of a number of important ministers left over from the years of Hong Xi and Xuande, some courtiers and eunuchs who were deeply favored by Emperor Ming Yingzong began to take the stage, and the tragedy of the Ming Dynasty was imminent.
In the seventh year of orthodoxy, the 16-year-old Zhu Qizhen began to personally manage the affairs of the imperial court, and a great eunuch gradually appeared in front of people's eyes, he was Wang Zhen.
Wang Zhen was born in present-day Wei County, Hebei Province, and from an early age, he knew that it would be difficult for him to obtain a meritorious name through the examination, so he castrated himself into the palace as a eunuch.
After entering the imperial palace, Wang Zhen, who was good at observing people's opinions, gradually became favored by Emperor Xuanzong and specially ordered him to be responsible for serving the daily life of the crown prince Zhu Qizhen.
Over time, Zhu Qizhen's feelings for Wang Zhen became deeper and deeper, and when he succeeded to the throne, he let Wang Zhen sit in the position of eunuch of Bingbi, the superintendent of ceremonies. Si Li Jian was one of the "Twelve Supervisors" of the Ming Dynasty's inner court to manage eunuchs and palace affairs, known as the "First Office".
Wang Zhen
For a long time, the Ming Dynasty has been regarded as one of the most serious "eunuch disasters". In fact, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict in his management of eunuchs, and there were clear provisions in the edict:
"The temple people (eunuchs) are only serving and sweeping, and are not allowed to do official affairs, otherwise they will be arrested and punished by the judicial organs."
In the ming dynasty of Zhu Di, although eunuchs were reused, they were only sent out to run errands, and interference in government affairs was also strictly prohibited.
The one who really lifted this ban for the eunuchs was Emperor Mingxuanzong Zhu Zhanji.
Emperor Xuanzong asked the university scholars to teach the eunuchs to read and write, and then began to put the bingbi eunuchs responsible for recording their own dictations, which were then passed on to the cabinet and the six ministries. Because the Celebrant of Ceremonies grasped the power of criticizing the red, he gradually became the center of power.
Ming Dynasty Jinyi Wei
During the Xuande period, although there was no phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in politics, it left a huge hidden danger for the later Ming Yingzong Zhu Qi Town.
After Emperor Mingying ascended the throne, according to the rules left by the imperial court, he was estranged from all his relatives around him, and even when his relatives saw him, they had to pay tribute.
Since Ming Yingzong could not get the care of his relatives, he could only seek someone who could talk from the crowd close to him. At this time, Wang Zhen, the superintendent of ceremonies, brought spiritual dependence to the little emperor.
It was not until the seventh year of orthodoxy, when Zhu Qizhen officially began to pro-government, that the era belonging to Wang Zhen finally arrived.
After seizing power, the first thing Wang Zhen did was to abolish the ban that "eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics." He also suppressed and even mutilated those courtiers who usually opposed him. At the same time, he promoted and reused officials who had snuggled him.
For a time, unhealthy practices such as sneaking around and patting horses spread within the imperial court, and from the central to the local level, Wang Zhen developed a large number of officials loyal to him.
Just as Wang Zhen took advantage of Emperor Ming's grace to unscrupulously develop and expand his power, some justice ministers in the imperial court also began to fight back.
Wang Zhen not only formed a henchmanship with a large number of traitors, but also expanded his sphere of influence to The East Factory and Jinyiwei. At the behest of Emperor Mingyingzong, Wang Zhen promoted his close associate Ma Shun to be the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and from then on he became more unscrupulous in the imperial court.
In June of the eighth year of the orthodoxy, Liu Qiu, a hanlin attendant, wrote to Emperor Mingyingzong, expounding in detail the problems existing within the imperial court and pointing the finger at Wang Zhen.
Wang Zhen was furious when he learned of this, and decided to kill Liu Qiu, who was against him, and immediately ordered Ma Shun to fabricate the crime.
The Wallachian Army
After Liu Qiu was brutally killed, the Manchu Ministers of Culture and War were afraid of Wang Zhen's obscenity. Coupled with Ming Yingzong's trust in Wang Zhen, his arrogance is also becoming more and more arrogant, and it can be said that the wind and rain are calling for rain in the government and the opposition.
At the beginning of July of the fourteenth year of the orthodox reign, an urgent report came from the border pass, and the leader of the Walla tribe also led a 30,000-strong army to invade the Ming border, and the Ming defenders were defeated one after another.
Since the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia has been divided into two tribes, the Tatars and the Wallachians, which have been at war for a long time. The Ming Dynasty seized the opportunity to divide and disintegrate them, sending envoys to negotiate with the Tatars and the Vala respectively.
At the same time, the warlord Mahamu also wanted to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Tatars, so he submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di made Mahamu king.
After a long period of conquest, the Tatars' power was weakened, and the Vara became more and more powerful, and Mahamu's grandson finally completely destroyed the Tatar tribes and unified most of the Mongols.
Since then, Vala's ambitions have begun to grow, and he has always wanted to restore the Yuan Dynasty.
Hearing the news that the Wallachian army had invaded the border of the Ming Dynasty, the young and vigorous Ming Yingzong suddenly announced: "I want to drive the imperial conquest."
For a moment, the hall boiled over. No matter how much the ministers persuaded, they did not change the emperor's decision to march in person.
At this time, Wang Zhen stood up and expressed his support for the emperor's personal conquest, but he did not understand the military, thinking that the emperor's appearance would scare away the Wa Thorn army.
When the emperor decided to march on the throne, it was discovered that the Ming army's logistical supplies were seriously insufficient, lacking grain, grass, horses, and weapons. So they hurriedly assembled 200,000 troops in two days, and claimed 500,000 to the outside world, and set off with some grain and grass and weapons.
Ming Yingzong was accompanied by hundreds of civil and military officials in the dprk, including the British GongZhangFu, Hubu Shangshu Wang Zuo, and military talents such as Bingbu Shangshu Kwong (ye), and Zhu Qiyu, the younger brother of Ming Yingzong, was responsible for staying in charge of the prison state.
However, Emperor Mingying did not involve these ministers in military affairs, but handed over military and political power to Wang Zhen. Due to the hasty preparation of the large army before leaving, there was already a shortage of food before it reached Datong.
Seeing this, an accompanying official asked Ming Yingzong to return to the dynasty, but wang zhen stopped him.
During the march, Kuang And the others did not see one of The Soldiers of the Watt thorns, and fearing that they had been ambushed by the enemy, he again wrote to request the withdrawal of the troops, but Wang Zhen still ignored them.
It was not until August 2 that an urgent report came from Datong Zhenshou saying: "If the army continues to advance northward, it will just hit the plan of Vala." ”
After Wang Zhen heard this, he felt a panic and immediately ordered his troops to withdraw from Datong.
At the critical moment of the withdrawal, Wang Zhen had a sudden idea and suggested that Ming Yingzong detour through Wei Prefecture (now Wei County), and that he could also show his prestige to his father and fellow villagers in his hometown.
However, after walking for 40 miles, Wang Zhen suddenly changed his mind and quickly ordered the army to detour through Xuanfu and return to Datong, and juyongguan returned to Beijing.
Due to the repeated changes in the route of the march, the soldiers were already exhausted, and they saw that the army could soon enter Juyongguan safely. At this time, the Wallachian cavalry chased up from behind, and all the cavalry behind the Ming army's 50,000 halls were killed.
The sacrifice of the 50,000 Ming army also bought three days for the retreat of the large troops. Kwong asked the army to hurry into Juyongguan, but Wang Zhen did not agree, he asked the army to retreat to Tumu Fort, Ming Yingzong obeyed this advice, and the Ming army lost the last chance to evacuate safely.
Tumu Fort was only a high ground, and due to the hasty battle of the Ming army, there were heavy casualties. In the midst of the chaos, the guarding general Fan Zhong shouted, "I am condemning this thief for the whole world." ”
Subsequently, Fan Zhong smashed Wang Zhen to death with a golden melon, and he himself was killed by the arrows of the Wallachian army.
In the Battle of Tumubao, Wang Zhen, who had misled the country and harmed the people, finally got his due fate, but the 200,000 elite troops of the Ming Dynasty were completely destroyed, Ming Yingzong was also captured, and the command center of the Ming Dynasty was destroyed.
The iron horse of the Wallachian army followed the trend to the south, the target was directly in beijing, the ruling center of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was in danger, at this time there was a person who stepped forward and reversed the defeat, he was the famous Yu Qian in history.