Some believe that the decline of the Ming Dynasty stemmed from"Harsh climates lead to low temperatures", which seems to be similar to Yin Shang's downfall due to women's problems. It is not appropriate to attribute too much subjectivity to objective conditions.
However, back in that era when agriculture was paramount, the impact of climate on the country was profound. Whether it is victory or defeat in war or social unrest caused by mass famine, it all depends on the growth of crops.
In an era when food is life, years of freezing are enough to make livelihoods unsustainable, and the sharp decline in population has a direct impact on the strength of the country. And the Ming Dynasty faced"Winter years", which ran through the entire dynastic period, its far-reaching influence is self-evident.
In the past, during the Ice Age, the Earth was freezing cold, with a minimum temperature of minus 50°C, when the average temperature was only 8°C. This is in stark contrast to today's 14°C global warming.
Ming period, despite being called"Xiaoice River", the influence of its cold winter should not be underestimated. The snow in Fujian is as thick as a poetic moon, which opens the prelude to winter.
In the old days"Heat waves"Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong have left the coldest memories in 1,700 years, with lakes frozen, snowfall in the south becoming commonplace, and the northern part of Hainan Island's tropical paradise also decorated with snowflakes.
Surprisingly, Guangzhou, the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan on the island witnessed the miracle of snowfall in that era, while the snow in Hebei even advanced to May.
Ancient texts reveal that a soldier's diary reveals a grim history: in August, he passed through Shanhaiguan, and along the way, he could see countless people frozen by the bitter cold, even though they were covered in quilts, and they still shivered at night.
Yongxian Zhai Notes" records that in the south of that era, flowers rarely bloomed in summer, and fruit trees were sparse by the cold. Shockingly, the summer daytime temperature in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty was only 4 degrees Celsius in the summer, and it was as low as minus 12 degrees Celsius at night.
In winter, outdoor temperatures in the north often drop to a frightening minus 20 to 30 degrees. Nowadays, the daytime temperature in the northern summer of our country is comfortable at about 25 degrees, and the night temperature remains at 16 degrees, which is relatively mild.
The average winter temperature ranges from -10 degrees Celsius to -10 degrees Celsius, with only a handful of areas experiencing extreme cold of -30 degrees Celsius.
Rice, the darling of the tropics, loves the warm embrace of 25-32; Regulars such as soybeans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and cabbage prefer a moderate climate of 20-25.
Even potatoes, the warriors of the cold zone, need a mild environment of 15-25, while radishes and lettuce, although hardy, need at least 5 shelter. During the Ming Dynasty, whether it was north and south, winter or summer, the temperature could not meet the growth needs of these crops.
Without the shelter of greenhouses, without the technology of genetic modification, all crops adhere to the natural rhythm of growth: low temperatures are immediately suspended, and growth is stunted. Imagine if staple foods such as rice and soybeans could not be harvested as scheduled, the consequences would be obvious: people would suffer from a food shortage, and rice would be a problem.
First, the people are full of grievances, then the local food grabbing, and the countryside is not at peace, which may eventually turn into social unrest.
After the ups and downs from Hongwu to Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty witnessed a total of 1,101 ruthless natural disasters. At that time, the temperature was unusually cold, with droughts and floods alternating in summer, and cold for thousands of miles in winter.
According to the consensus of Chinese and foreign scholars, the 1650-1700 after the demise of the Ming Dynasty was the coldest chapter in the harsh winter of the Xiaoice River. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the population swelled to 120 million, it plummeted to more than 50 million in the early Qing Dynasty, and the population plummeted by more than half.
Frequent natural disasters, reduced crop yields, and existential crises have left deep marks on history in these turbulent times.
After two hundred years of glory, the Ming Dynasty came to an end under a series of heavy pressures, six of which accelerated its decline: First, the lifeblood of the Grand Canal, water transportation, was stagnant due to plummeting temperatures and freezing, and ships could not be unimpeded, which was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the Ming Dynasty, which relied on waterways to maintain the country's veins.
Whether it is a prosperous international ** or a military operation, it needs a strong backing of water operations, and the freezing of the canal is like choking the economic artery of the Ming Dynasty.
Normally, the advantages of the regular army are obvious, but when the test of nature comes, all the rules seem to be turned upside down. The ethnic minority tribes that live in the wild and rely on mutton and equestrianism have shown surprising strength against the cold with their tenacity and adaptability to the cold, surpassing the traditional perception of the Han people.
Encouraging words from the Jurchens: "In the harsh winter, I suffered so much that even warm food became a luxury. However, Dolgon promises that if we keep going, there will be hot food waiting for us!
In other words, the only way to overcome the cold winter is to fight, and this desire to survive drives us to fight for our lives. The soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty fell into despair: "Although our Han culture is profound and immense, it cannot resist the roughness of the barbarians.
This year, even basic potatoes have become a luxury, and hunger and cold have claimed the lives of half of our compatriots. In order to survive, people even kill each other, how can they have the strength to fight?
Even if we win, those barbarians are equally poor, and if we win, we will only rejoice in nothing, and there will be nothing to eat.
With the wonder of the canal being frozen, the coastline that the Ming Dynasty once leaned on as a barrier became a breakthrough for the Jurchen frenzy. Under the double blow of the population crisis and the loss of the defensive line, the Ming Dynasty was forced to adjust its strategy and strengthen its military deployment in the previously stable area.
The cold has reduced the humidity of the air, the rainfall has plummeted, the rivers have turned into ice, and the irrigation of farmland has been struggling. The arid climate provided a breeding ground for locust plagues, especially in the Ming Dynasty, where the drought caused by low temperatures made the winter extremely dry, making it almost impossible to grow crops, and more likely to breed ravaging locust infestations.
With the arrival of summer, nature's gifts make crops vibrant, but the summer locusts that come with them become a problem. In the era when science and technology were not yet developed in ancient times, farmers were helpless in the face of overwhelming locusts, and their destructive power was enough to turn a prosperous land into a desert in an instant, and this is it"Locusts cross the border, and oases turn into deserts"A true portrayal.
In order to defuse the panic, people have resorted to mystical forces and built"Locust Temple"Hope. However, in order to motivate the people to face the challenges head-on, historical Ming emperors such as Tang Taizong Li Shimin and Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji resolutely ordered the demolition of these temples, and even set an example by eating locusts in public, so as to boost morale and make the people understand that the victory over locust plague is not the fear of gods, but the strength of man.
During the Ming Dynasty, a vivid description revealed the severity of the sandstorm: "The wind blows all day long, and dust is everywhere". This phenomenon reveals the prevalence and severity of sandstorms at that time.
Why was the Ming Dynasty so disturbed? The root cause is the prolonged drought and low temperatures, which make it difficult for trees to take root, and the land loses its vitality and gradually becomes desertified. For the inhabitants of the north, the consequences of the sandstorm are unforgettable: it ruthlessly ravages people's health, and respiratory system, lung and eye diseases are frequent.
In the face of modern medical technology, some diseases are still full of challenges, not to mention the Ming Dynasty 600 years ago, when people were deeply affected by a series of serious diseases, and the double pressure of mental and physical health is self-evident.
Desertification has led to a sharp reduction in farmland productivity, and the problem of food shortage has become increasingly serious. The ripple effect of this series of trees, grasslands and the degradation of trees and grasslands has ruthlessly reduced the output of animal husbandry, and life has been difficult.
The end of the Ming Dynasty was cruel, and in the 17 years of Chongzhen, 479 counties were full of tragedies of cannibalism. In 1640, there were more than 200 places in the thousand counties to see the food of human flesh, and the cities and counties were bitterly displayed.
When the bottom line of ethics is trampled on in the abyss of cannibalism, how can the country and the people be safe? This reveals a total crisis of a society, from material deprivation to moral collapse.
Could it be that some people naively think that the immorality of the Son of Heaven made the heavens angry, so that the people suffered? Perhaps this is just a pretext for the ancient rebel leaders: they borrowed it"The king's unscrupulousness caused all the nations to suffer, and we did in heaven"Such rhetoric is incendiary.
However, the key to revealing the real reasons for the frequent occurrence of low temperatures, droughts and locust plagues in the Ming Dynasty lies in the fact that sunspots periodically enter a period of low activity, and their radiation weakens and their range of activities decreases, which directly affects the total amount of heat obtained by the earth from the sun.
A burst poured 100 million tons of sulfur, and the particulate matter in the air was like the sun's shield. The catastrophe of 1600 in Enerdotina profoundly revealed its impact on global food production, and China during the Ming Dynasty was not immune to this natural test.
Working together to overcome hardship is relatively simple, but shared prosperity is a test of people's hearts. Imagine if the whole territory of the Ming Dynasty was extremely poor, the land was barren, resources were scarce, there was no food in the mountains, and there were no treasures underground.
Such a place is probably still a forgotten and desolate place. Do people question why the descendants of Aisin Jueluo are fighting to the death for a piece of land where even basic survival is in question?
Even the professional poverty alleviation team understands that even the difficult remnants of the Central Plains are better than the vast wasteland that is difficult to stop, bringing comfort to people's souls. Without entanglement of interests, human strife naturally abates.
Human nature is stingy when rich, but poverty can bring priceless peace. There is no need to beware of others coveting it, there is no need to think deeply about the complex calculations of rolling wealth, and the poor life has its own unique taste of happiness.
While natural disasters play a role in dynastic change, it is unfair to treat them as the only cause. For example, in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, although he encountered a severe snowstorm, which caused many people to be frozen, this did not weaken his eloquence, and he still turned the tide and expelled the threat of the Xiongnu from the country; The cold climate of the Three Kingdoms period did not hinder the rise of the Cao family's power, and their brilliant achievements proved their tenacity and determination in difficult situations.