In mid-March 1644, Li Zicheng's Dashun army had already approached the city of Beijing, and the residents of Beijing were crowded in front of the major gates of the city, all wanting to escape, at this time Chongzhen ordered that the city gates should be closed and no one should enter or leave. On March 17, Chongzhen summoned a meeting of the civil and military personnel in Beijing to discuss the decision-making, and knowing that the big limit was coming, he shed tears in public, and the civilian officials also pretended to shed tears. At the time of employing people, no one could stand up, and the Chongzhen Emperor was so angry that he wrote down the words that civilian officials and everyone could kill with his fingers! Unfortunately, at this time, the Chongzhen Emperor did not even have the right to kill.
The Chongzhen Emperor dispersed the incompetent civilian generals, gathered a group of eunuchs, and distributed more than 200,000 silver taels to them, and let them go up to the city wall to defend the city. That night, Chongzhen received the news that the three major battalions of the Ming army had collapsed without a fight, and the dashun army could already count down the time when it entered the palace. On the morning of the 18th, the Chongzhen Emperor called a meeting of the ministers for the last time and proposed that everyone commit suicide in the Fengxian Temple, but none of the courtiers responded. In the end, Chongzhen issued the last sin in his life, pretending to pardon everyone except Li Zicheng, and also reduced Liao's salary. After that, Chongzhen summoned his wife and concubines to prepare for the Last Supper. On the way to eat, there was a cry of mourning. Chongzhen taught his three princes that from tomorrow you will no longer be princes but ordinary people, and when you see the old, you will call the old king, and when you see the young, you must call your uncle and uncle, and you must save your life to avenge me. Subsequently, Chongzhen took up the sword and forced Empress Zhou to commit suicide, and after Empress Zhou died, Chongzhen cried out and died well. Then, the Chongzhen Emperor stabbed the 6-year-old young woman Princess Zhaoren to death with a sword, and cut off one of Princess Changping's arms. He was really crazy, slashing and killing concubine Gong'e all the way.
On the morning of March 19, Chongzhen wrote a suicide note, saying that he had lost Jiangshan and had no face to see his ancestors under the Nine Springs, and did not dare to die, so he could only commit suicide and martyrdom. After writing his suicide note, he climbed from the Xuanwu Gate of the north gate of the imperial palace to the coal mountain, the highest point in the capital, and hanged himself from a crooked neck tree at the age of 33. When Li Zicheng attacked the siege, only a dozen officials were martyred, and most of the Ming officials hid at home to be disposed of. Li Zicheng's Dashun army has always been unable to find the shadow of the Chongzhen Emperor in the palace, Li Zicheng made an announcement, while sending a large army to continue the search, on the other hand, calling on the people to report, if there is a message, the bounty gold thousand two, if you hide privately, the whole family beheaded. The body of the Chongzhen Emperor was not found by the Dashun army until three days later on coal mountain.
The DaShun army used two door panels to drag the body of the Chongzhen Emperor to the Donghua Gate, where it was placed together with the body of Empress Zhou. Li Zicheng allowed ming officials and people to mourn, and there were only two people next to the body of the Chongzhen Emperor, one was his son Zhu Cijun and the other was his princess Changping, who had had one arm cut off. Liu Yangzhen, the head of the Ming Dynasty's military department, really couldn't see it, and paid for two willow wooden coffins to pack the remains of the Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou into it. Li Zi became a reassuring of the people, and spent money to re-install two coffins of better materials, and ordered the Shun Tianfu to choose a day to bury them in Changping Yinquan Mountain. Since the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, he had not chosen his own burial place or built his own mausoleum. Li Zicheng set the date of burial for Chongzhen on April 3, on that day, because the Chongzhen Emperor had no coffin, Li Zicheng ordered people to open Tian Guifei's tomb, pulled Tian Guifei's body out, and directly filled Chongzhen's coffin. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty was thus buried early by Li Zicheng.