When the Ming Dynasty reached the Chongzhen period, it was already declining, and Emperor Chongzhen also made a lot of efforts, but to no avail in the end, and in the end he could only blame himself, that is, he continued to issue edicts.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reflected on his own behavior in his later years, and wrote the famous Luntai Guilty Edict, reflecting on his great achievements. For example, in the case of natural disasters and war losses, the emperor usually issued an edict to express his mistake, so as to calm the people's grievances and God's dissatisfaction.
Over time, this practice has become a common practice, and if the emperor himself does not take the initiative to issue an edict, they will also remind the emperor. For example, on June 19, the 25th year of Wanli (1597), fires broke out in many places such as the Huangji Palace, which was obviously the dissatisfaction of the heavens with the Wanli Emperor's rule, so he was condemned. The ministers were very alarmed by this, and the scholar Zhang Wei asked to see the emperor, but Wanli did not allow it, so Zhang Wei asked Wanli to make an edict against himself. In July, Wanli issued an edict against himself and carried out self-criticism. However, no emperor in the Ming Dynasty has ever issued more edicts than Emperor Chongzhen, which is also very understandable, after all, the Chongzhen Dynasty was the most difficult time in the Ming Dynasty.
Chongzhen's first edict was issued in the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635). Zhang Xianzhong and others led the peasant rebel army to capture the central capital Fengyang, and the ancestral tomb of the Zhu family was tragically damaged. Chongzhen was filled with grief and indignation when he heard the news, and in October, he issued an edict to his subjects, admitting that he was primarily responsible for this, and in the edict he expressed his deep remorse and made some self-criticism. He said: I have no virtue, I inherited the great unification by luck, but I did not expect to use non-human people, resulting in the vain efforts of the army, the people are displaced, the continuous conscription makes the country wither, and the continuous military pay increases the hardship of the common people. In the first month of this year, the imperial tomb was violated, and both the ancestral temple and the people were traumatized, which was actually my responsibility.
Chongzhen's second edict was in February of the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), when the peasant army had grown, Chongzhen deeply felt that the peasant uprising and corruption of officials had led to the people's extremely embarrassing life over the years, for which he was deeply ashamed, and blamed himself in the edict. In his edict of sin, he said that he was "unheard of by virtue and ignorance, not enough to distinguish treachery, not enough to be virtuous, not enough to move the heavens, and not enough to believe in people."
And after that, Chongzhen's edict became more intensive. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), in the eleventh month of leap, and in June of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Chongzhen issued an edict against himself. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng's army set out for Beijing, and Chongzhen issued two edicts in February and March.
In fact, the change in Chongzhen's mentality can also be seen from the edict of sin.
In the edict of Chongzhen in the eighth year (1635), Chongzhen said that after self-examination, he said that he would move to the Wuying Palace, where the living conditions were inferior, and reduce the meals, in order to show that he and the officials and soldiers shared weal and woe, and also warned them to examine their past and create a better future. In the edict of the guilty self in February of the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), Chongzhen adopted the method of reducing the prison sentences, granting amnesty to the whole world, reducing the punishment of those who committed serious crimes, and directly releasing those who committed less serious crimes.
However, in the edict of the 11th month of the leap month of the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), Chongzhen said that he prayed to the gods in the palace and looked at the sin, but did not give any practical measures. Obviously, Chongzhen at this time felt that God was more reliable. In the edict of Chongzhen in June of the sixteenth year (1643), Chongzhen's main measures were to reduce money and grain, persuade farmers to pay and so on. These are, of course, empty words that cannot be implemented. By the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng's army has begun to march towards Beijing, and the progress is rapid, along the way the Ming army except for a few like Zhou Yuji and the like** resisted, most of the ** and the defenders are looking at the wind and surrendering, and even have dozens of miles out of the city to welcome the phenomenon of the righteous army entering the city.
Chongzhen reprimanded the civil and military officials in the two edicts, and then proposed a series of methods such as appeasing the homeless, reducing money and food, micro-service private visits, and cherishing talents.