"The king is like a boat, and the people are like water. A boat can carry people or cover people. If a strong king fails to treat his people with kindness and righteousness, he will lose the hearts of the people and even lose his reputation.
Just like Li Zicheng, although he is extremely capable, he was spurned by the people because of his unkindness and injustice, and was finally defeated by Beijing and became the laughing stock of history. "
People began to realize that while Li Zicheng may have military talents, he was narrow-minded and lacked tolerance, and was clearly unable to take on the responsibilities of leadership. Many supporters felt that he would not be up to the job, and could not help but lament the possible failure, which was ultimately just as they expected.
Li Zicheng was born in a poor peasant family, and when he was a teenager, he had to herd sheep for the landlord to pay off his debts because of the poverty of his family, and the family fell into deeper difficulties after the death of his father. In order to make a living, he defected to Yinzhou Post Station and became a small post man.
However, the hard-earned money was still unable to repay the large debts borrowed from the landlords, and they were frequently oppressed and exploited by the landlords and their subordinates. Li Zicheng, who had a resolute personality, couldn't bear it anymore, and in a fit of rage, he attacked the landlord and committed a felony of murder.
Since the target of the murder was a powerful landlord, the government immediately used efficient means to arrest Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng was sentenced to death in prison, and his nephew Li Guo came up with a way to escape from prison. Although you will become a wanted person after escaping from prison, it is better than dying in prison. Li Zicheng fled with Li Guo, coinciding with the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian monopolized power, the government was rampant, taxes weighed heavily on the peasants, and in the year of famine, the people could not even guarantee food and clothing.
After Li Zicheng escaped from prison, he was worried about the cost of living, and heard that his uncle Gao Yingxiang led a peasant uprising in Shaanxi, so he and his nephew Li Guo defected to Gao Yingxiang and became a subordinate of "King Chuang".
Although Li Zicheng was born in a peasant family, his family was poor, and he did not read much, but he was born with a strong physique, superb riding and archery skills, and courage, and was quite talented in military affairs.
At the Xingyang Conference, which was attended by thirteen rebel armies, the young man proposed the strategy of "dividing the troops and attacking in four directions", which was recognized by other generals, so the rebels divided into five routes and launched an attack at the same time, successfully breaking through the encirclement and suppression of the imperial army.
With his outstanding military exploits, he successfully succeeded Gao Yingxiang as a new generation of "King Chuang", and established the Dashun regime in 1644 AD.
On the way to Beijing, Li Zicheng won the hearts and minds of the people, and following the advice of his military advisor Li Yan, he distributed the plundered gold, silver and jewelry to the hungry people. In order to better spread his ideas, Li Yan made up a few catchy ballads: "Kill cattle and sheep, prepare wine syrup, open the city gate to welcome King Chuang, and when King Chuang comes, he will not collect grain." ”
Subsequently, he found some children to sing this ballad in the streets and alleys, and also sent people to promote Li Zicheng's slogans, such as "no levy for five years, no people will be killed", "buy and sell evenly", and "free grain for all fields".
While there is no guarantee that Li Zicheng will fulfill these promises when he ascends to the throne, they are still hugely attractive to ordinary people living in dire straits.
As a result, Li Zicheng faced much less resistance while marching along the way, and he was warmly welcomed by the people everywhere.
On the evening of March 17, 1644, Li Zicheng's army successfully broke through the city, and the fire in Beijing was so bright that the dark night sky brightened up, and at the same time reflected the panicked faces of the dignitaries.
Until the early morning of March 19, Li Zicheng rode a high-headed horse, surrounded by a large number of soldiers, and entered the city of Beijing in a majestic manner, showing his elegance.
Li Zicheng led everyone into the Forbidden City, only saw the corpses of the harem concubines and princesses everywhere, but could not find the figure of Emperor Chongzhen, which made Li Zicheng feel uneasy.
If Chongzhen is still alive, then Li Zicheng's throne may be unjustifiable. Therefore, Li Zicheng immediately sent people to search for the traces of Emperor Chongzhen, demanding that he be found regardless of life or death.
After two days of carpet searching in the huge palace, Li Zicheng's men finally found Chongzhen's body in Coal Mountain. After Li Zicheng saw Chongzhen's corpse with his own eyes, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and a big stone in his heart also fell to the ground.
From ancient times to the present, those who overthrew the rule of the previous dynasty were called usurpers and were resisted by the common people, so in order to reduce the resistance to sitting on the throne, everyone would show a certain amount of respect to the former emperor.
However, Li Zicheng may not have enough vision, after seeing Chongzhen's corpse, he only casually said, "I came to share the country with you, why should you kill yourself", and then went back to the palace to live happily, forgetting to ask someone to collect Chongzhen's corpse, and let the corpse of the former emperor stay in the coal mountain for several days, beaten by the wind and rain, without any respect for the predecessors and the deceased.
Later, when many people mentioned this incident, Li Zicheng remembered to bury Chongzhen's body, but because he did not have much respect for the former emperor, he casually asked his soldiers to use the cheapest willow coffin, which was only worth twenty strings of copper coins, and then ordered the coffin to be carried to Donghuamen and left him to fend for himself.
Subsequently, Li Zicheng put this matter behind him. Even the coffin is the cheapest to choose, not to mention the funerary goods. There was almost nothing of value in the coffin, not even Chongzhen's bones had any decent covering, there was a hard clod of earth under his body, and a mat was hastily covered on his body.
In contrast, Chongzhen's queen Zhou's treatment was not bad, with a soft cotton mattress under her body, a jade pillow under her head, and a warm quilt on her body.
The condition of Chongzhen's corpse was too bleak, and the little soldier who was responsible for guarding Chongzhen's corpse and coffin at Donghua Gate also felt that it was a bit miserable after the death of the Son of Heaven, so he secretly took out the thick quilt covered by the corpse of Empress Zhou, and instead covered Chongzhen's corpse, and finally gave the emperor a little dignity.
After a few days, Li Zicheng remembered that he still had to do the funeral of Emperor Chongzhen after being reminded by the people around him, so he casually asked people to go to the street to find two small vendors who sold funeral things, and asked them to prepare the clothes that Chongzhen and Empress Zhou would wear when they went out for the funeral.
How could these two market vendors understand the rules of the palace, and Li Zicheng didn't give much money, so they just bought it according to the specifications of ordinary people.
When dressing Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, I didn't know the rule of "the phoenix doesn't wrap its head, and the dragon doesn't wrap its feet", but fortunately, there was an old eunuch who watched from the side because he was not at ease, and guided them to change their clothes, otherwise the most honorable emperor and couple of the previous dynasty would be buried so unceremoniously.
The coffins of Chongzhen and his wife stopped at Donghua Gate, and only Liu Yangzhen, the head of the military department, came to worship. Other ministers chose not to participate for fear of offending Li Zicheng. However, the next day, Li Zicheng heard that the people of the capital spontaneously organized a worship of Emperor Chongzhen, and there were bursts of crying outside the door.
Although Emperor Chongzhen was a good king who was diligent and loved the people, his rule was difficult because of the corrupt atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty officials and the decay of the court system. He tried to save all this, but his power was constantly hollowed out, unable to change the doomed fate of the Ming Dynasty.
In this case, Li Zicheng complied with the will of the people, ordered everyone to come to worship, and to use the emperor's gift to bury Chongzhen. Although there were very few ministers who dared to come to worship, they only dared to stand in the distance and mourn silently, for fear of being misunderstood and still having nostalgia for the previous dynasty.
Emperor Chongzhen knew these things, and he didn't know how he would feel.
Emperor Chongzhen's funeral became extremely simple due to Li Zicheng's contempt, and he did not even prepare the emperor's exclusive mausoleum for him, but was buried with a concubine. This kind of behavior is logically inappropriate, because Chongzhen is the real orthodox emperor in the eyes of many people.
In such an era when rebellions require teachers to become famous, it is impossible to convince the public without respect for orthodoxy. In contrast, Dolgon's performance was even better, not only did he worship Chongzhen himself, but he also wailed and wept in front of the tomb in a low profile, whether his actions were sincere or not, but people praised his actions, which undoubtedly united people's hearts.
Li Zicheng's short-sightedness and lack of wisdom are fully reflected in the way Chongzhen's corpse is treated.
Li Zicheng's behavior not only frightened the ministers and people of the Ming Dynasty, but even made his subordinates feel uneasy. His military advisor Li Yan once reminded him to respect the first emperor, but Li Zicheng did not listen and burned down the Ming Dynasty Taimiao.
The monarch of a country has a profound impact on the country through his words and deeds. If the monarch is merciful, then the people of the country will follow in his footsteps; If the monarch insists on justice, then the people of the country will follow his example; If the monarch is upright, then the people of the country will also be upright.
However, what Li Zicheng did caused his army to learn from his bad behavior as well. When Li Zicheng marched into Beijing, he promised to reduce taxes and never burn and loot in the city, so as to stabilize the people's morale.
Although the low-level soldiers were in peace for a while, they soon fell into greed, and they recklessly acted in the city of Beijing. Li Zicheng also seems to have forgotten his previous promise, and not only did not restrain his soldiers, but acquiesced in their actions.
And his right-hand man Liu Zongmin was even more disdainful, he once had the idea of surrendering to the imperial court, but was discovered by Li Zicheng. In order to dispel Li Zicheng's doubts and show his loyalty to Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin brutally killed his wife and children.
How can such a person who can even poison his relatives expect him to be merciful to the people?
Before Li Zicheng knew it, his subordinates were born with two hearts because of his series of actions. At first, a large number of people were willing to follow Li Zicheng to revolt because they thought that Li Zicheng was also a peasant and kind to the people.
However, what he did in the capital made everyone see his true colors: he was arrogant and arrogant, arrogant and rude to people, and had no tolerance for others. Such a hypocritical and despicable person will not be sincere and kind to the people.
As a result, many talented people also lost confidence in Li Zicheng, knowing that he was doomed.
Li Zicheng originally only stayed in Kyoto for 42 days, but he had no choice but to evacuate, he planned to recruit Wu Sangui, but he did not expect Wu Sangui to be angry because his concubine Chen Yuanyuan was occupied by Liu Zongmin, so he borrowed troops and horses from Manchuria to attack Li Zicheng.
In the Battle of Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng fled in defeat, and Wu Sangui led the Qing army to pursue Li Zicheng with victory, causing him to retreat one after another, the whole army was scattered, and many people took the opportunity to flee.
Li Zicheng's end is sad. This incident shows that if the monarch is unkind, he will eventually lose the support and trust of the people, and everyone will rebel against his relatives.