During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, he held the supreme power of life and death, and took many lives. However, under his rule, the fate of two characters has left a deep imprint in the annals of history: one is Yuan Chonghuan, the Jiliao governor who made brilliant achievements, defeated Nurhachi, and achieved great victories in Ningyuan and Ningjin; The other is Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch who leaned towards the government and the opposition, created many unjust prisons and created many infamous Dongchang palm seals. For Yuan Chonghuan's manslaughter, Emperor Chongzhen expressed remorse, which is understandable. However, historical facts show that Emperor Chongzhen never expressed regret for the execution of Yuan Chonghuan; On the contrary, for getting rid of Wei Zhongxian, a traitor, Emperor Chongzhen showed deep remorse at the end of his life.
In the history books, the scene of Yuan Chonghuan being tied to the execution ground is described in detail: the residents of the capital compete to buy a piece of his meat. The executioners, in order to make as much profit as possible, cut the meat into extremely small and weak pieces, allegedly using a total of 3,543 knives. Yuan Chonghuan's death, over time, has been proven by history to be a grievance. For this mistake of Emperor Chongzhen, some people in later generations commented that this was equivalent to "self-destruction of the Great Wall".
Even at the end of the day, Emperor Chongzhen did not doubt his verdict, and he declared to his courtiers: "Yuan Chonghuan colluded with foreign enemies to plot rebellion, and his crime is unforgivable." However, when referring to Wei Zhongxian's end, Emperor Chongzhen expressed remorse in the last moments of his life. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, after the death of Zhu Youxiao, the throne passed to his younger brother, King Zhu Youzhen, that is, Emperor Chongzhen. After ascending the throne, Emperor Chongzhen began to conspire to gradually weaken Wei Zhongxian's influence, and in November of that year, he issued an order to assign Wei Zhongxian to Fengyang to guard the imperial tomb. Then, because Wei Zhongxian showed off his wealth on the way to Fengyang, carrying countless gold, silver and jewelry, as well as a large number of ** and warriors, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Jinyi Wei to arrest him, and finally Wei Zhongxian and his close eunuch Li Chaoqin chose to commit suicide.
For Emperor Chongzhen at that time, he ascended the throne at the age of 19 and quickly eradicated the traitorous minister Wei Zhongxian and his henchmen who had been rampant for many years, which made the entire court admire his decisive actions. Even from a historical point of view, Emperor Chongzhen's decision to get rid of Wei Zhongxian was heroic, comparable to Emperor Kangxi's exploits in getting rid of Aobai. But at the last moment of his life, Emperor Chongzhen unexpectedly felt regret.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the peasant uprising in the Shangluo Mountains of northern Shaanxi was in full swing, and the Manchu iron cavalry outside the pass was also eyeing it. What should we do in the face of such a situation? Despite lengthy discussions among the ministers, no solution could be reached. Eventually, they decided to collectively deliberate and make a decision through a morning pilgrimage. Therefore, on the morning of the ninth day of the first lunar month, the ministers once again launched a heated debate, but the result of the debate was still no consensus and ended in nothing.
In early March, when the situation became more severe, Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui proposed a plan to move south, suggesting that the capital be moved to Nanjing to alleviate the current crisis. Emperor Chongzhen thought that this proposal made sense, so he summoned his ministers again to inquire. This time, the ministers refused to express their position at first, but under the persecution of Emperor Chongzhen, everyone began to discuss, although the content of the discussion was specious. There are pros and cons to moving south and sticking to it. In short, there was no substantive progress in the outcome of the discussions. In the end, after a long discussion, the conclusion was still according to the old method: issue a holy decree and summon the world's soldiers and horses to Qin Wang.
On 14 March, the city of Beijing was in extreme danger, and Emperor Chongzhen felt at a loss. At this critical moment, Cao Huachun, the eunuch beside him, said to him: "If Wei Zhongxian was still here, the situation would never have come to this. This sentence was like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, instantly bringing Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts back to 17 years ago. It is recorded in the history books that when he heard these words, Emperor Chongzhen was sad in his heart and ordered the bones of Wei Zhongxian to be collected - which shows that Emperor Chongzhen regretted it.
In fact, Wei Zhongxian's value was not that he was able to support half of the Ming Dynasty personally, but because he was one of the two pillars that maintained the stability of the Ming Dynasty and was an important pawn for the emperor to control the bureaucracy. Without him, imperial power became nominal and could not govern the country through a bureaucracy. Therefore, the strategy that Emperor Chongzhen should have adopted was to "both suppress and exploit", on the one hand, to curb Wei Zhongxian's power expansion, and even consider executing him, but to ensure that there was a suitable candidate to take his place, obviously Wang Chengen was not suitable; On the other hand, it is necessary to continue to maintain the mutual checks and balances between the eunuch party and the Donglin party. Only by maintaining this balance can the true meaning of imperial governance.
The Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party are two factions that fight each other and are interdependent, and the demise of either side is a disaster for the other. Both parties need visionary leaders to sustain positive interactions, as was the case between Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were only villains fighting for power and profit in the two parties, and there were no important ministers who considered the country, and the fall of the Ming Dynasty was inevitable.