Regarding the cause of the demise of Ming Dynasty, there has always been a view in historians, "Ming Dynasty actually died in Wanli". This kind of argument has quite a market. It originated from the "Ming History·The Book of Shenzong". The original text is: "The commentator said that the death of Ming was actually killed by Shenzong. Wouldn't you forgive me." Emperor Zhu Yijun of Ming Shenzong Wanli was the thirteenth in Ming Dynasty. The emperor, who reigned for forty-eight years, but had been idle for 30 years, was unheard of in the history of feudal monarchy.
Wanli died in 1620, and the Ming Dynasty perished in 1644, only 24 years later. From the perspective of time, there is a certain truth to "Ming is actually dead in Wanli". In fact, Emperor Wanli was one of the most ugly emperors of all emperors in the Ming Dynasty.
Whether it is the "History of Ming Dynasty" compiled by the Qing Dynasty or a book written by modern Chinese historians, as long as you write about Wanli, you will say that the emperor is too lazy. This is the biggest misunderstanding. Let's take a look at the evaluation of the emperor of Wanli by celebrities in history.
Qian Qianyi: "In Wanli, the country is the time of Yutai, China, Japan, China", "The nation's prosperity and prosperity, from the temple to the temple, it can be described as extremely prosperous for a hundred years." Gu Yanwu: " In the reign of Shenzong, one person did nothing, and the four seas did little things." Emperor Shunzhi: "At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the people had a system of rest and recuperation. During the Wanli period, the homeland was rich, and the family was enough."
At the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Emperor Wanli's reputation was fairly good, and Emperor Shunzhi praised him as a very accomplished emperor. Wanli was criticized by future generations except for negligence, that is, mine tax. As for the levy of mineral taxes, the civil officials greatly exaggerated, thinking that both of these silver were squandered by the emperor.
In the end, a large part of the private money classified as the emperor’s internal money was allocated to the national treasury, such as disaster relief, Wanli Three Expeditions, and the reconstruction of the Three Halls. Later, when Li Zicheng invaded the imperial palace, he did not find much silver in the inner court of Chongzhen, until the gold and silver piled up in the mansion of the officials.
Therefore, it is unfair to put the cap on the cause of the demise of the Ming Dynasty directly on the head of Emperor Wanli. Throughout the Wanli dynasty, there have been hundreds of years of great economic and cultural prosperity; diplomatic, voyages to Southeast Asia, and the East, the country of Ming Dynasty became famous; military, it achieved complete victory in the three major events of Wanli. Here is an insert, if it were not for Wanli to be the emperor for another three years, Xiong Tingbi would have destroyed Nurhachi, and it is likely that there would be no subsequent Manchu entry.
Why did the Manchu rulers set up their own glorious images? They often compared the Ming emperors. The emperors such as Chenghua, Jiajing, and Wanli were all criticized. There is a saying on the Internet that after staying in heaven for a long time, I always think that I am living in hell. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there were countless people who were obsessed with life during the Wanli period.
There was a poem at that time, "Ximeiyushan Tower is drunk, Zhuwu Fragrant Tea Buddha House sleeps. To be blessed I don’t know what I think today, Emperor Shenzong Taiping Year." Actually two thousand years ago "Lü’s Spring and Autumn" has long had a point of view, "Those who are jade-like, suffer from stone like jade. Those who are sword-like, suffer from swords like General Wu. The wise master and discriminator are like people, the king of subjugation is like wisdom, and the minister of the country is like loyalty. ."
Reference materials: "Ming History·Benji of Shenzong", "Lu Shi Chunqiu"
