Emperor Chongzhen, the last emperor of Ming Dynasty Zhu Youjian , the ending of Emperor Chongzhen was quite tragic. He hanged himself on April 25, 1644 in the Jingshan in Beijing. Before committing suicide, Emperor Chongzhen personally killed his own daughter and many concubines. How could a dignified emperor fall into such a field? Some people say that Chongzhen died because of lack of money.
That is the 17th year of Chongzhen, which is the New Year's Day in 1644. There was a panic in the capital. The wealthy people in the city began to dig cellars to store gold and silver treasures. What happened to this? Of course it's a big deal. Li Zicheng 's army has entered the Shanxi realm and will soon reach Beijing. The big guys are ready to flee the capital.
How did Emperor Chongzhen respond to this? To deal with peasant uprisings, the court usually sent troops to suppress it. Before the insurgents entered Shanxi, Chongzhen had repeatedly summoned the most elite troops in the country at that time. That was Wu Sangui led by Guanning iron cavalry back to Beijing and withdrew from outside the pass to fight. But as a result, the army has not moved. why? Because of the lack of military pay.
It is said that someone had calculated an account for Chongzhen. If Wu Sangui was to be transferred back to Beijing, it would require at least one million taels of silver. However, in the treasury, there was only a mere 400,000 taels in the treasury account, which was a difference of more than one and a half. Ming Dynasty Is such a big country so poor? The later Daming was indeed the empty treasury, especially during the Chongzhen period, years of wars and natural disasters caused the entire empire to be short of money or on the road to lack of money.
Later, there was really no way, Chongzhen had to impose additional taxes. So much so that the folks say,Chongzhen should not be called Chongzhen, but should be called "Chongzheng". But how to solve this problem in the face of national disaster? If you have no money, you have to make it. Where can you make it? After thinking about it, Chongzhen thought of the gang of high-ranking officials and officials. Isn’t that rich? All officials with a grade of 7 or above in Beijing borrow money for the country. In the future, when the country has money, won't you be able to pay it back? At the same time, in order to take the lead, Chongzhen also took the lead in setting aside 50,000 taels of platinum from his own private money to encourage the big guys to respond positively.
However, Chongzhen never expected that this money-making movement would eventually become a farce. What happened? It turned out that no one under his team responded to Chongzhen's instructions. Cabinet scholar Zhang Sizhi and others, although they took the lead to collect some, but because too few people participated, the money was also very small. The officials sorted out the collection book and counted Chongzhen's own 50,000 taels of silver, and the total amount was only 120,000 taels.
At that time, Chongzhen was so anxious that it was restless sleep and unwillingness to eat and sleep. Why did other officials go, why did they not move? They all said they had no money. For example, the old man in Chongzhen is called and Zhou Kui . At that time, because the first batch of fundraising was too small, Chongzhen planned to start the second round. So he asked his father-in-law Zhou Kui to set an example first and give 100,000 taels. Ordinarily, the father-in-law should have supported the work of the emperor's son-in-law. Zhou Kui actually cried to death in front of Emperor Chongzhen, saying that our family was too poor to buy moldy rice. How could we get so much money? Anyway, a mess. Did Zhou Kui pay for it in the end? I did it, but it was done shamelessly.
As for Zhou Kui, who has finished crying with his nose, I think I have some strength. So he asked his daughter, , the queen of Zhou , for help. Queen Zhou had no choice but to give out 5,000 taels of silver to his father. But who would have thought that after Zhou Kui got the 5,000 taels of silver, he first stuffed up 2,000 taels and only donated 3,000 taels. For the rest, spend as much love as you like. This is the situation at the time,As the father-in-law of the emperor's relatives, half of the emperor's father was so "poor", and other officials were even more "poor." Some of them took their pots and pans to sell on the street, while others posted the message "This house is urgently sold" on the door of their mansion.
Are this group of dignitaries really without money? how could be? All fools know that they are all pretends. After Li Zicheng broke the city, the peasant rebel army copied countless rare treasures from his home, and the cash was 530,000 taels. This is strange. Since their family has money, how come they all become iron cock? On the surface, it is about money. In fact, it reflects the subtle relationship between monarch and minister. How should we understand this?
Speaking of Emperor Chongzhen himself, the impression left by the people is generally quite good. First, he is very diligent. According to historical records, Emperor Chongzhen “was up from the crowing of cock, stays insomnia at night, and often becomes sick from fatigue.” What does that mean? That is to say, Chongzhen worked very hard. He turned gray when he was only in his 20s, and the corners of his eyes were covered with crow's feet. Second, he is very frugal. He usually wears clothes with rotten cuffs and is reluctant to throw them away. The third is that Chongzhen “never feasts in the palace”, which means that he never indulges in drinking and has no entertainment.
Compare the previous emperor Wanli , as well as his cousin Zhu Youxiao who likes carpentry work, and Zhu Houzhao as the "Hunshi Demon King". Then Chongzhen is more reliable. Since Chongzhen is still reliable, why doesn't this civil and military official support his work? Some historians say that although Chongzhen is very dedicated, he has several fatal flaws in his conduct.
First of all, the opponents are too unkind. He is rewarded for meritorious works, and punished for demerits. During Chongzhen's reign, many ministers and generals who were killed in battle did not get rewards and compassion from the emperor, but a comment on "weak combat." The second is that Chongzhen dare not take the responsibility, he is the "sweeping pot emperor". The most typical example of
is Chen Xinjia .In 1642, Chongzhen planned to negotiate with Huang Taiji so that he could avoid two-line combat and free up his hands to deal specifically with Li Zicheng. Huang Taiji also agreed, so Emperor Chongzhen handed over the negotiation to Chen Xinjia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War. However, there were many ministers in the DPRK who opposed it. Emperor Chongzhen wanted to do this quietly and asked Chen Xinjia not to divulge the news.
But as the saying goes, you can do whatever you are afraid of. Once Chen Xinjia read the discussion and secret letter, he forgot to put it away. The book boy at home mistakenly thought it was military intelligence, so he sent it to the provincial offices in Beijing and copied it. A low-level mistake exposed the peace talks. As you can imagine, the ministers have come to the table and said that the negotiation of peace is a traitor to the country and seeking glory. what to do?
This matter was originally the idea of Emperor Chongzhen, so I should explain it clearly to everyone. But the emperor also loves face, and doesn't want to be called traitorous. The Ming Dynasty did not seek peace and did not cut off its traditions. Since then, he issued a stern decree for Chen Xinjia to confess his guilt. In fact, he hoped that Chen Xinjia would help him. But Chongzhen didn't expect that Chen Xinjia was unwilling to take the blame, saying that he was just following orders. Chongzhen saw that the situation was not right, and Chen Xinjia's reputation would really not be preserved if Chen Xinjia wanted to keep making trouble like this.
So, he found an excuse to kill Chen Xinjia. If you don't want to carry it, you have to carry it to death. People like Chen Xinjia have many more dead. Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen was suspicious besides his love for throwing the pot. We know that the famous Yuan Chonghuan died because of Emperor Chongzhen's suspiciousness. He also died terribly.
In addition, there are data records. In those days, if the civil servants and military generals were slightly dissatisfied with Emperor Chongzhen, he would often use three tricks: withdraw, pass, and kill. During the 17 years of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, 50 people were replaced by the cabinet's bachelor degree. For officials above the second grade, he ordered more than 20 to be killed. What is the result of this? The world at that time belonged to the Zhu family. It's no good to work for the Zhu family. Those who want to do something are afraid of being suspected of decapitating. Who is willing to work hard?
over time,No one around Chongzhen was available. And it is precisely because no one is available that the situation is so difficult, no one has stood up to fight side by side with Chongzhen and share the joys and sorrows. The end result was that the insurgents defeated Beijing before Chongzhen raised enough money for the army. Seeing that the general situation is over, on April 25, 1644, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide in grief after he settled down where the princes would go.
On the second day of his suicide, Li Zicheng occupied Beijing. The , which lasted for 276 years, was destroyed. In fact, the reason for Daming's demise was not only related to Chongzhen's character, but also related to many other reasons. In any case, being an emperor is not an easy task. It requires a high level of knowledge and the ability to control others. The person who is obsessed with the throne, such as Zhu Gaoxu and , if he really knows the risk factor of the throne, will he change his mind? I don't know, I can only rely on future generations to sigh with emotion.
.
