Is there really no solution to the dilemma in the late Ming Dynasty?

The crisis in the late Ming Dynasty mainly came from two aspects: natural disasters and man-made disasters. Years of natural disasters indirectly led to the uprising of farmers such as Li Zicheng, and the Nuzhen tribe led by Nuerhachi in Guannei also invaded the border of Ming Dynasty. In addition, the DPRK is full of mediocre ministers, and no matter how diligent Chongzhen is, he can't save the defeat.

The crisis in the late Ming Dynasty was like a mess. Although Zhu Youjian tried very hard to solve this mess, he failed in the end. Is there really no solution?

This defeat is now the end of the diligent emperor.

In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Mingxi died. Because he had no children, his half-brother Zhu Youjian inherited the throne, known as Emperor Chongzhen in history.

Zhu Youjian is a very diligent person, but unfortunately he was born at an inopportune time. Perhaps he never thought that he would have the opportunity to become an emperor, and he never thought that he would become the king of Daming's national subjugation.

In August of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Mingxi died. In the same month, Xin Wang Zhu Youjian became emperor; In November, nine-year-old Wei Zhongxian, who was in power, was demoted to Fengyang Shouling. Four days later, Wei Zhongxian hanged himself. Then Zhu Youjian ordered cleaning? Eunuch? General Yuan Chonghuan was reactivated and put forward? Five years after Liao? This plan.

Everything is so orderly. At the beginning of his reign, the eunuch headed by Wei Zhongxian was eliminated by thunder. Almost everyone thought that the Ming Dynasty would be revived?

In the first year of Chongzhen, Liu Mao wrote to the emperor, demanding the abolition of the post station, and expounded how much money the abolition of the post station could save the country every year. This proposal made Chongzhen, who has always been thrifty, very moved and agreed to it at that time.

The post station is similar to a hotel, but the post station in the Ming Dynasty was only used for public purposes, mainly for military purposes. Officials who go abroad on business can also stay in the post station, and the expenses will naturally be paid by the state.

Although at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, strictly prohibited officials who were not on official business trips from staying at the post station, as time went on, this rule was not observed by many people, and the post station became a pleasure place for some officials, which greatly increased the burden on the national economy in the long run. Therefore, Liu Mao's proposal to abolish the post station is in line with the wishes of Emperor Chongzhen.

The abolition of the post station will naturally cause some staff of the post station to lose their jobs, which is actually a very small matter. This fact is nothing compared with the disaster that happened in that year, compared with Nurhachi in the grassland, but no one thought that the abolition of the post station would be the last straw to crush Daming.

Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, was a post bearer in Yinchuan and lost his post in the post reform.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng lost his job to make a living in the tide of the court's reform of the post office. After returning to his hometown, he had to borrow money from Zhao Ai, a rich man in the same village, because he had no financial resources. As a result, because he had no money to repay, Zhao Ai sued him to the county government. Li Zicheng didn't expect that he owed some money and almost died (he swam in the city and would die). Fortunately, his relatives saved him.

As the saying goes? It never rains but it pours? This sentence is best confirmed by Li Zicheng. This winter, he found out that his wife Han Jiner was having an affair with Gaihu in the same village and killed her in a rage. After he killed Zhao Ai, the creditor who was forced to pay his debts, he has now killed his wife who has two lives. Under the arrest of the local government, Li Zicheng and his nephew Lee Guo fled to Ganzhou, Gansu Province to join the army and become members of the border guards? General manager? .

The story about Li Zicheng, let's stop here for the time being. Later, Li Zicheng killed an official and defected to his uncle Gao Yingxiang in Shaanxi. Later, when Gao Yingxiang died, Li Zicheng inherited the title of King Chuang and started his most brilliant life.

However, the peasant uprising was just one of many crises in the late Ming Dynasty?

In the forty-sixth year of Wanli (16 18), Nuerhachi, the leader of Jurchen tribe, was in Shengjing? Tell heaven? Call names and read out the connection with the Ming Dynasty? Seven hates? For the Ming dynasty, at the same time, he sent twenty thousand troops to personally levy the Ming dynasty. In March of the following year, Nurhachi defeated the Ming army in Salhu (subordinate to Liaoning) with fewer troops and more troops, annihilated about 50,000 Ming troops and seized a lot of materials and weapons.

In the first month of the third year of Destiny (46 years of Wanli, 16 18), Nurhachi announced to Baylor:? I have made up my mind that I will conquer Daming this year! ?

Where is Nurhachi? Battle of Salhu? What is the significance of defeating the Ming army in China?

At that time, Nurhachi had only 20,000 soldiers. Faced with the siege of nearly 100,000 troops of the Ming army, if he was defeated, the Nuerhachi clan would not have a decent commander to lead the rise of Nuerhachi, but Nuerhachi defeated the Ming army with fewer soldiers, which was a turning point in Nuerhachi's fate. Since the Battle of Salhu, the Ming Dynasty never took the initiative to go to war against Jurchen, and the military forces and materials captured by Nurhachi in this war enabled him to develop rapidly.

But this is still not the main reason leading to the demise of the Ming Dynasty, and the biggest crisis still comes from home.

Emperor Chongzhen's life is not bad. I have no reason to say this. His reign was considered as the coldest period in modern China. It is called the Little Ice Age. People don't have enough food because of the cold weather and the reduction of grain production. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was in an eventful autumn, and the endless suppression of the rebel army, the invasion of the late Jin (Nurhachi) army, counterinsurgency and defense against the enemy increased the expenditure, which was very large. Xing, the people suffer; Death, people suffer? Something like that

How can the hungry survive when taxes are raised? So they joined the rebels of Li Zicheng, Zhang and other peasant uprising leaders, and the court needed to send more military forces and pay more for counterinsurgency. These increased costs have returned to the people? In this way, the vicious circle goes on and on, and the people are suffering more and more, while the rebels are gaining more and more power, making it more and more difficult for Zhu Youjian to sit on the throne.

The knife cuts bread and fingers. This is? A boat? Is the current ruler? Water? It refers to people all over the world. People are the simplest. As long as they can eat enough, they will certainly not take the road of rebellion unless they can't even fill their stomachs.

At that time, it was freezing, grain production was reduced, and exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes made the people worse. Since Chongzhen ascended the throne, there have been great disasters every year, first drought, then flood, then locust plague, and then terrible plague. Almost all the misfortunes in the world are met by Chongzhen. Even if he is diligent, it is difficult to save this defeat.

At this point, let's sort out the crises in the late Ming Dynasty:

What has to be mentioned is the vicious circle caused by the threat of peasant rebels and the threat of natural disasters caused by the threat of 8 Jin Army. The Ming Dynasty inherited by Chongzhen was riddled with holes. The rule of two emperors, Wanli and Apocalypse, led to the decline of the former empire and the collapse of the building. Chongzhen was not alone.

Emperor Chongzhen's character determined that he was doomed to failure.

According to the statistics of later generations, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, * * * replaced more than 50 college students, 11 ministers of punishments, 14 ministers of war, seven governors were killed, eleven governors were killed, and one was forced to death, including Yuan Chonghuan, governor of Hebei and Liaoning.

Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty once commented on Chongzhen: He was always born in the deep palace, grew up in the hands of Po, and didn't understand human feelings and physics.

It can be inferred from the above that Chongzhen is a suspicious and ignorant person.

The Ming dynasty had the opportunity to make peace with the rebels or the late Jin army, and Chongzhen was tempted, but in the end he had to give up for various reasons, leaving the Ming dynasty in a dangerous situation of fighting on two fronts, which Chongzhen did not handle well.

When Li Zicheng was about to move the capital, some ministers suggested moving the capital to Nanjing, but in the end this order was cancelled because of the opposition of some courtiers. Until Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself under the crooked neck tree in Jingshan Park.