What role did natural disasters play in the demise of the Ming Dynasty?

For a long time, the academic circles have basically agreed on the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, namely: feudal autocracy was decadent and backward in politics, court corruption prevailed, and party struggles continued; Economically, the problem of land annexation is serious, farmers are displaced and class contradictions are sharp; Militarily, the combat effectiveness of soldiers has declined, and there are no useful talents in the army.

In the final analysis, the demise of the Ming Dynasty is exactly the same as that of the previous feudal dynasty, that is, the defects of the feudal system itself emerged under the cross-influence of political and economic factors, and the operation of the state machine completely collapsed beyond repair.

Undeniably, this is indeed a summary explanation of the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. However, the demise of a dynasty, on the basis of fundamental reasons, is bound to be mixed with other direct and indirect factors. We all know that the direct factor is the outbreak of peasant uprising, so what is the indirect factor? I think it's caused by natural disasters.

Throughout the feudal history of China, most feudal dynasties inevitably suffered a series of natural disasters at the end of their rule, such as the locust plague at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the earthquake at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the floods and droughts at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which accelerated the pace of the dynasty's demise.

This is especially true for the Ming Dynasty. According to historical statistics, in the past 200 years, Daming has suffered from 12 natural disasters, such as floods and droughts, locusts and earthquakes, totaling nearly 4000 times. The period from Wanli to Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty was the most concentrated, and natural disasters such as floods, droughts, earthquakes and locust plagues never stopped. Among these natural disasters, droughts and floods are the most frequent and the disasters are the most serious.

Chongzhen ten years is the summer of drought. In autumn and July, there was a plague of locusts in Henan, Shandong, and the people were hungry and cold. "

So, how did these natural disasters lead to the demise of Daming?

Natural disasters destroy the small-scale peasant economy and lead to a series of social problems. First of all, the most direct impact of natural disasters is the loss of "people" and "things".

A large number of people died, that is, the working population. And "thing" is the fragile small-scale peasant economy in feudal society. As we all know, the basic feature of small-scale peasant economy in feudal society is "intensive cultivation and self-sufficiency". In an agricultural society with backward technical conditions, once natural disasters occur, the working population will drop sharply and agricultural production will stagnate.

"Ming Shi Wu Xing" records: "In the first month of the fifth year of Jingtai, there was heavy snow in Jiangnan for forty days, and Changzhou, Jiangsu Province froze to death and starved to death. Spring has arrived, Luoshan is cold, and bamboo forests, fish and mussels are all dead. The rain and snow in Hengzhou continued and many people were injured. Cattle and livestock froze to death with 36 thousand hooves. "

After the agricultural production stopped, the government should have opened a warehouse for disaster relief, but unfortunately, Daming exhausted the national treasury in the three expeditions of Wanli and the war to suppress the post-Jin forces, and could not help these refugees who could not carry out agricultural production because of natural disasters.

According to historical records, "Hu Keyou told Huang that his ancestors paid 490,000 yuan to the frontier, 2.85 million yuan to his ancestors, 3.53 million yuan to his ancestors, and recently increased by 680,000 yuan. Today's income is less than 3 million, and the actual income is only 2 million ears. "

And this has formed a vicious circle: natural disasters → agricultural production stagnation? Agricultural tax revenue dropped sharply? The imperial treasury is empty? Unable to help the victims? Reduced agricultural labor force? Agricultural production has stagnated.

Of course, this vicious circle may stop with the disappearance of the first natural disaster, but unfortunately, God did not leave enough time for Daming, and under the "operation" of this vicious circle, the most intractable problem faced by the feudal dynasty came: "internal troubles and foreign invasion."

Let's take a look at "Internal Worry" first. The so-called internal worry refers to the understanding of the internal problems of Daming. Due to the failure of the Ming government to effectively carry out disaster relief measures (of course, it is powerless), the victims will be displaced and have to take another desperate and violent means: uprising and rebellion. Throughout the feudal history of China, countless peasant uprisings were forced. Who would risk being beheaded against the imperial court if they had food to eat? The same was true in the Ming Dynasty, such as Li Zicheng and Zhang, whose survival could not be guaranteed, and finally ended the rule of the Ming Dynasty with a peasant uprising.

Let's take a look at Foreign Enemy Invasion. The so-called foreign invasion refers to the impact of external forces on the rule of Daming regime. Since the founding of Daming, there has been the problem of foreign invasion. For example, Mongols have long threatened Daming's frontier. However, the problem of Mongols was basically solved by the repression of Hongwu, Yongle and later the monarch. However, the good times did not last long. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Jurchen outside Shanhaiguan rose again and established the so-called post-Jin regime. 16 18, under the leadership of Nurhachi, officially rose up against the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Daming has lost its absolute advantage over the post-Jin regime. First of all, before this, the Ming dynasty had completely consumed the state treasury through the "three major signs of Wanli". It had hoped to recuperate and restore its national strength after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, but a series of natural disasters, such as drought, flood, snowstorm and freezing injury, followed one after another, which made it impossible for the Ming government to increase its military strength by increasing its fiscal revenue through taxation. On the other hand, a large number of refugees entered the late Jin Dynasty from the border, which directly reduced Daming's military resources and labor force. Moreover, the snowstorm made Daming's soldiers at a disadvantage in the battle against the late Jin regime in the north, while the soldiers who had lived in the south for a long time could not adapt to this cold weather, such as the "turning point" battle between Daming and late Jin: the "Battle of Salhu" was defeated to some extent in the sudden snowstorm natural disaster.

In short, natural disasters played a very important role in the demise of the Ming Dynasty, which can be said to be the catalyst for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, even without the influence of natural disasters, under the congenital defects of feudal autocracy, the Ming Dynasty could not escape the fate of extinction.