The rise and fall of feudal dynasties, is there really a so-called "qi" at work behind it?Or is it just the result of historical laws and social changes?
When we look back at the last 24 hours of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, is the truth far more realistic and cruel than an ethereal force like the "Mandate of Heaven"?
In the autumn of 1629, a commoner named Li Zicheng in Shaanxi joined the peasant rebel army. At that time, although the Ming Dynasty was still splendid on the surface, it had long been difficult to return to inside. Since the Wanli period, extravagance prevailed, the government has become increasingly corrupt, and the people have no livelihood.
At this time, plagues, hailstorms, droughts and floods and other natural disasters were frequent, and grass people revolted one after another. Born into a humble farming family, Li Zicheng grew up witnessing the hardships of grassroots people in the midst of war. He was straightforward and compassionate, and dreamed of building an ideal place to live and work in peace.
In 1636, Li Zicheng followed the leader of the uprising, Gao Yingxiang, to conquer the east and west, and made great achievements. In 1640, Gao Yingxiang was unfortunately killed in battle, and Li Zicheng took over the remnants of 50,000 or 60,000 guerrillas under his command and continued to deal with the Ming army.
Through many fierce battles, Li Zicheng gradually strengthened his own strength and strengthened his team. By the winter of 1643, the Dashun army led by Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, Kaifeng and other important towns in one fell swoop, and the momentum was greatly boosted. At this time, Emperor Chongzhen, who was sitting on the throne, finally sensed his threat.
Although Li Zicheng is clothed, he has won the hearts of the people because he is well versed in the sufferings of the people. And this emperor, who was born in a famous family, was suspicious by nature, overjoyed with great achievements, extremely lacking in empathy, indifferent to the feelings and opinions of the people, and allowed the people to suffer. The two had no intersection at this time, but because of their incompatible positions, they embarked on the road of a doomed showdown that ended the thousand-year-old Ming Dynasty.
In the early morning of March 2, 1644, Li Zicheng led his troops to the city of Beijing. The generals of the Ming army were all rushing to help, and only Tang Tong was holding heavy troops at this time. Tang Tong was originally a confidant of Yuan Chonghuan, and later took refuge in the Ming Dynasty and made great achievements for the imperial court. This time, Beijing was in danger, and Tang Tong led an army of 50,000 to come day and night, which was particularly valuable.
On March 4, Tang Tong met with Chongzhen and proposed to join the battle directly to defend the capital. However, Chongzhen didn't have any trust in Tang Tong, only that he had to come at the end of the strong crossbow.
So Chongzhen secretly sent many brocade guards to closely monitor Tang Tong's every move. Tang Tong had a strong personality, and he couldn't bear to be so suspicious of his trusted monarch, and he had the intention of rebellion.
In fact, the two could have fought side by side to defend against foreign enemies. However, Chongzhen used Tang Tong and suppressed Tang Tong out of political needs. In the end, the loyal general was forced to defect, set himself on fire, and caused the disaster of the country.
On March 10, when the city of Beijing was about to be broken, Li Zicheng took the initiative to send a peace letter to Chongzhen. He offered several very favorable conditions: Chongzhen was asked to pay ** million and a large amount of military salary, and allocated the land in Guanzhong to make him king, and he retired to his hometown in Shaanxi. Seeing this, all the ministers advised Chongzhen to pretend to agree to Li Zicheng in exchange for a chance to breathe.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to avert the destruction of the country. However, the opinionated Chongzhen not only contemptuously refused Li Zicheng's request.
It is also regarded as a violation of the dignity of the country. He considers himself orthodox and will never bow down to thieves of unknown origin. Eventually, Beijing fell, and he was cornered.
Chongzhen prides himself on being orthodox, but his overconfidence and vigilance have become the fuse for his own destruction. Faced with a once-in-a-lifetime turning point, he chose to sacrifice his life for righteousness, go to the soup and fire, and be captured. It is no wonder that some people say that emperors also make mistakes, and his biggest mistake is to miss the last chance to save the Ming Dynasty.
On March 15, when the fall of Beijing was imminent, the ministers discussed to preserve their strength and take Emperor Chongzhen to temporarily avoid the chaos of the army. However, Chongzhen believes that this is another act of abandoning the people and shirking responsibility, and resolutely refuses to escape. He couldn't sleep well, looked haggard, and repeated the words "Sheji Jiangshan" in a rambling manner.
On the morning of March 18, Li Zicheng's army stormed the palace. At this moment, Chongzhen finally realized that the general trend had gone. He came to the coal mountain outside the palace wall, and ordered the eunuch to tie the white silk prepared in advance by the criminal department on a bare and crooked old tree. Looking at the black smoke rising from the capital, Chongzhen shed tears and hanged himself.
Although Chongzhen's martyrdom is singable and crying, it is also a senseless sacrifice caused by personal will. After his death, many of the surviving heirs were killed by the new dynasty. Hundreds of people also died in Huangquan under the atrocities of Li Zicheng's army. The act of martyrdom not only failed to protect the Ming Dynasty, but caused a greater disaster, which can be described as reckless and misguided the country.
To sum up, the reason why the Ming Dynasty fell was not so much because of bad luck, but because it was mistaken by Emperor Chongzhen's personal political ideas and obsessions step by step. He can seize the opportunity of a thousand years, temporarily avoid the limelight, preserve his strength, and make Daming survive. But he finally gave up the opportunity to be saved, and exchanged his own death for moral satisfaction, which made the Ming Dynasty irreversible. The dynasty rises and falls, and man will conquer the sky;The 24 hours after the fall of the Ming Dynasty are a clear footnote.
To trace the origin of the cause of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, we also need to go back to the creation of this dynasty. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Nanjing Yingtianfu (now Nanjing), established the Yuan Hongwu, changed the Yuan and Ming dynasties, and established the Ming Dynasty, known as the "Founding Emperor" in history. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was 46 years old, with a long-term precipitated personality and extremely sensitive and suspicious. The scheming methods he had accumulated through years of conquest had a profound impact on the nascent dynasty.
In the decades after Ming Taizu ascended the throne, the Ming Dynasty was politically clear and the government and the opposition were stable. In the middle of the 15th century, during the period of Xianzong and Xuanzong, with the implementation of the maritime ban policy and eagle dog politics, the Ming Dynasty gradually degenerated. And what really shakes the foundation of the Ming Dynasty has to start with Yingzong, a faint monarch who does not learn and has no skills.
Yingzong was born in the court during the Yongle period, and lived a doting and depraved life since he was a child, without the demeanor of a king. As soon as he succeeded to the throne, he built a large number of buildings and built the new capital of Henan. This was not only costly, but also voided the defense of the Mongols in the north. Finally, the Mongol cavalry raided the Beijing Division, and Yingzong was captured, which is known as the "Tumubao Change".
Although Yingzong was lucky enough to return to the capital soon after, he was already everything. He pampered eunuchs and indulged in extravagance, regardless of government affairs. After the death of Yingzong, the Ming court changed several generations of faint monarchs, and civil strife continued. It was during this period that the social evils that later caused the civil uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty were brewing, accumulating, and spreading.
In 1627, the 17th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen, ascended the throne. At this time, the Ming Dynasty was already a situation of broken mountains and rivers, internal and external troubles, and cannibalism between officials. Emperor Chongzhen tried his best to rectify the government, but he could not resist the chaos of the Ming Dynasty. During his reign of more than ten years, the scale of the peasant uprising continued to grow, and the Ming court was defeated one after another.
Emperor Chongzhen was desperate and tired at this moment, and he was irritable all day long. He couldn't sleep well, looked haggard, and repeated the words "Sheji Jiangshan" in an attempt to motivate himself to persevere. However, external troubles are in full swing, internal worries are getting worse, and bad omens are frequent. At the turn of the spring and summer of 1642, black feathers fell from the capital for more than ten consecutive days, and the brains of the sacrificed livestock oozed, and the Taoist priests reported bad omens one after another. At this time, Li Zicheng's forces, which finally crushed the Ming Dynasty, were gathering momentum.
Li Zicheng, who defected to the peasant army in 1636, followed Gao Yingxiang to the east and west, and repeatedly performed miraculous feats. After Gao Yingxiang died in battle in 1643, he took over the remnants of Gao Yingxiang's 50,000 or 60,000 Dashun army. In order to further expand his strength, Li Zicheng took strategic action and divided his troops into three routes, respectively, to capture the place name. By the beginning of 1644, Li Zicheng had basically controlled the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi.
At this time, Li Zicheng's army was already a hegemon in the northwest, known as more than 100,000. Most of the Dashun army came from unknown origins, was vicious, and had a cruel style. And Li Ziben, who is the leader, is even more cunning and unpredictable. He was trapped many times in the early uprising, and each time he was able to escape with his wit, so he has the reputation of "Li passed five passes and killed six generals". Today, his goal is to build a kingdom of peasant autonomy.
From the capture of Luoyang in 1643, Li Zicheng set his sights on the city of Beijing. For more than a year after that, he commanded the Dashun army to engage in many fierce battles with the Ming army. Although there was a huge disparity in strength and the Ming army had advanced guns, Li Zicheng won with his wits and waited for work every time to defuse the offensive of the Ming army. In mid-February 1644, Li Zicheng finally completely repelled the more than 100,000 troops of Zhou Yanru sent by the Ming court, and pointed directly at the city of Beijing.
At this moment, everyone in the Ming court was in danger, lest they would leave Beijing overnight and flee for their lives. And this decisive battle, which has been stalemate for a long time, seems destined to be decided within 48 hours. In these 48 hours, the fate of the Ming Dynasty will be completely rewritten;And we will also witness the many facets of human nature—loyalty and betrayal, mercy and brutality, bravery and cowardice—all coming to light in these final moments.
The city of Beijing is about to be broken, and the generals will not come, only Tang Tong will lead the army to help, which is particularly valuable. Tang Tong was originally an official eunuch and was proficient in military strategy. He followed Yuan Chonghuan to fight against Hou Jin, and later defected to Nanming because he was dissatisfied with the ingratitude of the imperial court. This time Beijing was in danger, Tang Tong remembered his father's sacrifice for the country decades ago, and led a large army to help, vowing to die to serve the country.
However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was already panicking. Although he praised Tang Tong's request to defend the city, he did not trust Tang Tong as a dissident in his heart.
So he secretly sent a number of henchmen to monitor Tang Tong's actions, for fear that the general would take the opportunity to rebel. Tang Tong has a strong temperament, hates being suspected, and gradually becomes dissatisfied with Chongzhen.
On March 14, in the face of the increasingly severe war situation, Tang Tong suggested that Emperor Chongzhen temporarily leave the capital. However, the suspicious Chongzhen decided that Tang Tong just wanted to occupy the Ming Dynasty, and ordered someone to search out Tang Tong's map of Tibetan soldiers. At this point, the disheartened Tang Tong finally decided to defect and surrender to Li Zicheng.
The fall of the Ming Dynasty left behind many incredible historical events, and two of the key figures, Li Zicheng and Zhu Youzhen, became an incredible story in history. These two people were originally mortal enemies, but they intertwined an incredible scene on the stage of history.