What was the most dangerous official position in the late Ming Dynasty?
Chongzhen was once troubled by internal and external troubles, Chongzhen was stubborn and brutal, and many military ministers were not allowed to die well.
Zhang Fengyi served in the Chongzhen Dynasty for a total of 17 years, and served as the secretary of the military department for five years, becoming the longest-serving secretary of the military department, and the history of the Ming Dynasty called him"Work in pursuit of profits, skillful in avoiding disasters", which means that the official is very decent and good at pursuing advantages and avoiding disadvantages.
After Wei Zhongxian came to power, angry people told Wei Zhongxian that he wanted to build a temple so that Chongzhen could get the right to inherit, and the people who built the temple began to be purged, and Yushi also blamed Zhang Fengyi. Zhang Fengyi hurriedly resigned, but Chongzhen refused to allow it, and later resigned due to illness. Zhang Fengyi escaped punishment.
The following year, he was reappointed as the Governor of Jiliao. During this period, the Jin people captured Zunhua and the other four cities outside the Guan, and after Zhang Fengyi recovered these four cities, he was promoted to the secretary of the military department.
In the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636), the Jin soldiers attacked Changping, Zhang Fengyi was helpless, and there were many reproaches in the court. Zhang Fengyi could only personally report to Chongzhen on the expedition, Chongzhen gave him a sword, and the superintendent went on the expedition, Zhang Fengyi thought that he did not dare to act rashly to fight with the Qing army, Chongzhen would definitely get rid of him, and he could only eat rhubarb every day, and he would die soon.
He ate rhubarb with Zhang Fengyi and Liang Tingdong, the former military secretary of the Governor of Xuanda at the time. He and Zhang Fengyi fought against the Qing Dynasty together, ate rhubarb together, and died together.
Liang Tingdong's death was not unjust at all, when he was the secretary of the military department, he did two things, one was to raise taxes from Chongzhen, 3 centime per mu, a total of 1.65 million taels; The second is to sell the official **, he was sued by a judge, Liang Tingdong bought the eunuch and said good things, so he was able to escape punishment. But he couldn't escape, the Qing army came, Chongzhen came, let him lead the troops to fight, and in the end there was only one way left.
Wang Qia, the secretary of the military department, died in the Qing army.
Wang Qia, who was the secretary of the military department, was very unlucky, and Huang Taiji broke through the Great Wall for the first time and led an army of 100,000 to attack Beijing. This was too big a blow to Wang Qia, the secretary of the military department. Later, Zhou Yanru, the first auxiliary minister of Emperor Chongzhen, said:'Sejong cut off the head of Ding Rukui, the secretary of the military department, and the soldiers retreated, and the enemy also retreated. Zhou Yanru, the old fox, saw that Wang Qia's life was not long in coming, so he had a relationship with him, and since then he has fallen into the well. Wang Qia was in Chongzhen prison, and he didn't wait for the time to kill, and Wang Qia died in prison.
Compared with Wang Qiao, Xiong Mingyu, the secretary of the military department, suffered much better. Five years later, Huang Taiji's army came to Xuanfu to plunder, and the governor Shen Xi and the eunuch Wang Kun and the envoys of various countries negotiated with Huang Taiji, and obtained a large amount of Huang Taiji's property, and Huang Taiji withdrew his troops. This incident made Chongzhen very angry, he convened a meeting of ministers to discuss the matter, Xiong Mingyou actually defended Shen Xi, so Emperor Chongzhen opened fire. This also allowed Xiong Mingyu to escape, and Ming Ming was able to die a good death until his death five years later.
Emperor Chongzhen trusted Yang Sichang, so he unexpectedly served as the secretary of the military department and entered the cabinet. Yang Sichang designed a network of thieves who were ambushed on all sides to annihilate the peasant rebels in one fell swoop. At first, he played his part, Gao Yingxiang was killed, Li Zicheng fled into the mountains with only eighteen horsemen, and Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Ru surrendered.
But the good times didn't last long. Half a year later, the peasant army made a comeback, and Yang Xiuqing had to go into battle in person. However, Zuo Liangyu rebelled, He Renlong did not obey, and although Yang Xiuqing was in a good mood, he could not completely eliminate the peasant army. On the contrary, Zhang Xianzhong captured Xiangyang, Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, and the two emperors were killed. Yang Xiuqing was so frightened that she couldn't possess her body and finally committed suicide.
Yang Sichang was often labeled as a traitor, but in fact, he was one of the few ** who had a strategic vision and was able to plan a whole at that time, and after his death, the situation in the Ming Dynasty became even more out of control.
The deaths of Fu Zonglong and Sun Chuanting were even more tragic.
Fu Zonglong was outspoken and did not beat around the bush. At the suggestion of Yang Sichang, he was appointed as the secretary of the military department, because he was the central figure in the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion in the southwest and made outstanding achievements. As a front-line general, Fu Zonglong has no problems, but as a secretary of the military department, he still has shortcomings. He spoke too bluntly and often angered his colleagues and Emperor Chongzhen with his dissent. Fu Zonglong was imprisoned for a misdemeanor.
After Yang Sichang's death, the court really didn't recognize anyone, and Chongzhen let him go to beat Li Zicheng.
At that time, Li Zicheng had an army of more than 500,000 people, and Fu Zonglong took three generals with 40,000 people to fight.
The peasant army wanted to use Fu Zonglong to open the city gate, but Fu Zonglong didn't know it and shouted that he was ready to defend the city, but he was killed.
Sun Chuanting is as tragic as Fu Zonglong.
In 1643, Sun Chuanting defeated Li Zicheng in Henan, led tens of thousands of remnants to retreat to Tongguan, and pursued Li Zicheng at Tongguan. Gao Jie advised Sun Chuanting to retreat to Xi'an and use the city wall to defend it, but Sun Chuanting insisted on strengthening Tongguan.
Sun Chuanting understood a truth: he couldn't live anymore, so he would either die in the hands of Li Zicheng or Chongzhen. When Li Zicheng attacked Tongguan, Sun Chuanting took the initiative to attack and was finally killed. After Sun Chuanting's death, the body was not preserved.
On October 6, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting died in battle, and two days later, Chongzhen ordered to confiscate Sun Chuanting's rank of governor and secretary of the military department, and let him carry the black cauldron.
Sun Chuanting's death also made Chongzhen unrelenting.
When the Ming Dynasty was in danger, Chen Xinjia, who was the secretary of the Ministry of War, was still giving advice to the country, and he was one of them.
Chen Xinjia is an alumnus of Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, which was very rare in the Ming Dynasty, and obviously has some unusual significance for Chongzhen.
Chen Xinjia saw the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty and proposed that Chongzhen negotiate peace with the Manchus, and Chongzhen also agreed, but at the same time asked Chen Xinjia to keep it strictly confidential.
But Chen Xinjia, a careless person, accidentally put the letter on the table when he saw Huang Taiji's letter, and sent it by a servant to various departments that were ordinary military intelligence and the Ming Dynasty and Manchuria negotiated peace.
Therefore, the judge initiated criminal proceedings against Chen Xinjia.
After Chen Xinjia learned that he was dismissed, he was actually not too sad. First of all, he had a close relationship with the eunuch Wang Dehua, and the two often tried to find ways to turn hostility into friendship. Secondly, and most importantly, Chen Xinjia and the Manchu Qing Dynasty negotiated peace on the orders of Chongzhen. The emperor agreed, what else was Chen Xinjia afraid of?
So Chen Xinjia didn't panic at all, on the contrary, he even felt that this was the way it should be.
The next action was completely unexpected. He was soon put in prison, and this time he was a little scared. He bribed a judge with his fortune to make him hurry to defend himself. In the blink of an eye, Chen Xinjia's letter of plea flew in front of Chongzhen like snowflakes.
Despite Chen Xinjia's repeated pleas, Chongzhen did not release him, and he was executed on September 22, 1642.