In the twelfth year of the Yong calendar (1658), the Qing army attacked Yunnan, and Yungui fell. In the thirteenth year of the Yong calendar (1659), Under the protection of Li Dingguo, Zhu Youluo retreated from Kunming to Yongchang (Baoshan County, Yunnan), and from Yongchang to Tengyue (Tengchong County, Yunnan), from Tengyue to Burma, where he was taken in by the Burmese king Mangda. After Wu Sangui invaded Burma, Mang Da's brother Mang Bai took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état and kill his brother to succeed to the throne. On August 12, 1661, Mang Bai launched the Curse of Water and killed the Yongli Emperor's attendant Guards.
By January 22, 1662, Mang Bai had dedicated the Yongli Emperor to Wu Sangui, and the Ming Dynasty was completely destroyed.
Wu Sangui's mentality when he saw Zhu Yourong was very complicated. For the sake of his current position, he was already a Manchu and had to restrict the personal freedom of the Yongli Emperor; for the sake of long favors in the previous dynasty, he gave Zhu Yourong the best care. Therefore, this late Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty was dressed in a proper costume and sat in the forbidden room, still retaining his dignity.
Recalling the meeting between the two, Wu Sangui couldn't help but blush, and he remembered the Yongli Emperor's awe-inspiring condemnation of him. Wu Sangui has been traversing half his life, why should he behave so low in front of whom? Even the Tartar Emperor did not let Wu Sangui feel the deterrent power like Zhu Youruo.
Therefore, from then on, Wu Sangui sent someone to observe Zhu Youluo's situation every time, and he was determined not to step into the forbidden room for half a step again.
Gong Yi, the Shangshu of the Southern Dynasty, raised a sumptuous banquet and wanted to dedicate it to Zhu Youruo. Who knows, the soldiers guarding the gate are not close to people, and they sternly reject Gong Yi. Gong Yi said loudly, "I am a courtier of Daming, and if I want to see The Son of Heaven of Daming, why shouldn't I?" What's more, even barbarians must pay attention to the way of kings and subjects, and I ask to see the Son of Heaven, why do you obstruct? With a few words, the soldier ran to See Wu Sangui in a gray and asked him what to do.
Wu Sangui was full of guilt for the former dynasty, so he did not embarrass Gong Yi and allowed him to enter the forbidden room to meet Zhu Youluo. Gong Yi respectfully laid out the dishes, and then performed the three kneeling and nine prostrations to Nan Mingzi and personally poured a glass of wine for him. Originally, Zhu Youluo did not like to drink, but this scene was sad, so he drank three cups in Gong Yi's expectation.
Suddenly, Gong Yi stood up and slammed his head against the pillar with all his strength. With a loud noise, Gong Yi's head broke and flowed, and he fell to the ground and cried out for his life. Zhu Youluo never dreamed that there were such loyal people among his courtiers. He was silent for a long time, and finally he couldn't help his grief, and he lay on Aiqing's corpse and wept bitterly.
The Yongli Emperor and his mother and empress were imprisoned and became prisoners of Wu Sangui. Whether the two most important women in their lives were okay or not, Zhu Yuluo did not know. In the life of captivity for many years, Zhu Youluo was left with only endless despair.
Later, this conspiracy case that occurred in Yunnan made Wu Sangui completely make up his mind to get rid of Zhu Youluo.
Among the Manchu officers who remained in Yunnan at that time, there was a Jia La Zhangjing (official name) who wanted to make a career by relying on Zhu Youluo's identity. He joined forces with some Manchus and planned to take Zhu Youluo away, and then take him to Shaanxi to recruit troops with Zhu Youluo's prestige.
There was nothing more meritorious than supporting the fallen monarch, and these Manchus wanted to opportunistically use this method to become the restored fathers of Zhu Youluo's regime. However, it is obviously a bit funny to say that such a thing as helping Zhu Yuluo to restore it came out of the mouth of the Manchus. It didn't take long for someone to reveal the wind, so that jia la zhangjing and ten participants who were involved in the incident all fell into the hands of Wu Sangui.
After that, Wu Sangui was unequivocal and directly sentenced the eleven people to capital punishment.
Obviously, there are many people like this who want to make profits with the special status of the Southern Ming Emperor. Therefore, Wu Sangui asked the imperial court, saying that if Zhu Youluo was escorted to the capital according to the original plan, there would definitely be anti-Qing thieves and prisoners along the way. In order to prevent the night from being long and dreaming, it is better to correct it on the spot.
After receiving approval, Wu Sangui took Zhu Youluo and his family members, totaling 25 people, to Gratezipo on April 14 of the same year, intending to sentence the last batch of former imperial chambers to capital punishment. On June 1, Zhu Youluo was strangled by Wu Guogui with a bowstring, and the place where he died was renamed "Forced To Die Slope".
In the process of escorting, such an incident also occurred.
Zhu Youluo's wife, the Empress of the Southern Ming Dynasty, felt that she was a mother of the world and should not die in this way. Unwillingly, she and Empress Ma encouraged each other, and they agreed to be martyred, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law squeezed each other's throats, and even strangled each other to death! This tragic way of dying, even the heavens were moved. At the moment of their deaths, raindrops suddenly fell from the sky and turned into a torrential rain.
To this day, when the Southern Ming Emperor Zhu Youluo is mentioned, people still feel sorry for his situation. The Yongli Dynasty was not a successful regime, and like the Southern Ming regimes such as Hongguang and Longwu, it had various shortcomings of the times, and most of the officials in the DPRK and China were corrupt. However, the Yongli Emperor Zhu Youluo's character and style are well known, he is a pragmatic emperor, opposed to extravagance and lasciviousness, rarely drank alcohol in his life, and did not like to indulge in sound.
Zhu Youluo's greatest interest was to discuss with the courtiers the allusions of loyalty and righteousness in history. Few emperors were as filial to their mothers and loyal to their wives as Zhu Youruo. Such an emperor, if he could live in other periods of the Ming Dynasty, would surely create a peaceful and prosperous world. However, the times limited his origins and gave him impossible tasks, so from the moment the Yongli Emperor ascended the throne, his end was already doomed.
Resources:
[Ming Shi , Vol. 120 , Liechuan VIII , Kings V " Southern Ming History , Volume 3 , Zhaozong Benji I " , Southern Ming History , Volume IV , Zhaozong Benji II , Ming Dynasty Nanluo " ]