Since the reign of Ming Dynasty Emperor Wanli, the world of the Ming Dynasty has experienced visible corruption: if the problem of Jiajing era of southern Japanese and northern captives is at best a public security problem for the Ming Empire, then the situation in Wanli era has already posed a challenge to the security of the Ming Dynasty. In order to cope with this series of challenges, the Ming Dynasty successively launched the famous " Wanli Three Major Conquests". However, the Jianzhou Rebellion in the late Wanli period ended with the Ming Dynasty's failure.
Actually, strictly speaking, before Wei Zhongxian came to power in the Tianqi Dynasty, Nurhachi, the leader of the Jianzhou Group, had several inconspicuous strongholds in Liaodong. Many large cities in Liaodong, such as Shenyang, were still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. However, the Ming Dynasty's governance crisis during the Wanli period led to the Ming Dynasty's continuous decline.
By the Chongzhen period, the Ming Dynasty's problems were no longer limited to the chieftain issues on the border. Peasant uprisings also reached a new peak compared with the Apocalypse era. In the end, in the conflict between the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army, and the Jianzhou Group, after decades of war, and the Qing Dynasty based on the Jianzhou Group became the final winner.
So, why did the Qing Dynasty become the winner?
1, The Dead End of the Late Ming Dynasty
In fact, I believe that friends who have done business or opened a company can feel that: these days, it is easier to register a company than to register an account for an instant messaging software. But how to manage a company well? Do you understand the company? I believe many people face this problem.
To put it bluntly, registering a company is very easy, and it can even be described in minutes. However, management is the most difficult.
Similarly, the situation in the late Ming Dynasty was generally like this: the Ming Dynasty established by the Zhu family had been in existence for nearly three hundred years. It had already been seriously corrupted and should have come to an end long ago. Moreover, during the late Ming Dynasty, the people at the bottom generally formed a consensus: that they must rebel, and rebellion is the only way to survive.
So even though Li Zicheng's rebel army was defeated and annihilated by the Ming army many times, it won't be long before Li Zicheng can still contact some homeless refugees to form a new rebel army and ask for the right to survive from the Ming Dynasty. As for the intensification of peasant uprisings, theoretically speaking, the most appropriate solution is to use both suppression and pacification: on the one hand, they attack the peasant army militarily, and on the other hand, they gradually appease the refugees and disintegrate their ranks in terms of people's livelihood.
But in fact, the Chongzhen court was unable to implement this method: the so-called military attack, when implemented on the Ming army, turned into killing good people and taking credit for merit, which directly led to more and more peasant armies attacking; the so-called appeasement, on the one hand, the Chongzhen court did not have the financial resources, and secondly, even if the Chongzhen court had the financial resources, under the layers of government exploitation, not even a penny of these appeasement funds would reach the grassroots.
Therefore, the late Ming court faced an unsolvable knot.
2, Li Zicheng's helplessness
For the peasant army, conquering the world is a physical job: Although Li Zicheng had no military qualities at first, he could not withstand the Ming army's long-term assists, but instead allowed him to develop certain military qualities in the flames of war. But how to establish a new social order after overthrowing the Ming Dynasty? Li Zicheng was not aware of this, and perhaps Li Zicheng had not even thought about it.
Li Zichen is a little person. At first, he just wanted to live peacefully for the rest of his life. However, the society of the late Ming Dynasty made it impossible for him to live a peaceful life. In this way, Li Zicheng joined the peasant army and gradually became its leader. For Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng's rebellion was just for survival and based on his survival instinct.
In fact, even if Li Zicheng accepted Emperor Chongzhen's recruitment, the direction of history would not change. Because Chongzhen could recruit a Li Zicheng, but he could not recruit a Li Zicheng who could secure the world. Even if Li Zicheng accepts the recruitment, other Li Zicheng will still appear to replace Li Zicheng's ecological niche and continue to rebel out of the instinct of making a living.
3, Huang Taiji 's reform
The Post-Golden Khanate established by Nurhaci, the leader of the Jianzhou Group, initially did not have the ability to stabilize the Central Plains: either militarily or in terms of soft power.But it wasn't until Huang Taiji inherited the throne of the Great Khan that things changed.
During his reign, Huang Taiji carried out some reforms in the Houjin Khanate, and at the same time completed the conquest of Monan Mongolia tribes and obtained the surrender of Monan Mongolia. Even the Mongolian chiefs as far away as Qinghai surrendered to Huang Taiji. At the same time, Huang Taiji reformed and later Jin according to the system of the Ming Dynasty, and established the Qing Dynasty on the basis of the later Jin Dynasty. While the Qing Dynasty learned from the Ming Dynasty's system, it also recruited and recruited Ming Dynasty generals to surrender and rebel.
But even so, the size of the Qing Dynasty was not enough to conquer the Ming Dynasty.
4. The victory of the Qing Dynasty
In the seventeenth year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army invaded the capital and Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide. However, the grievances between the Ming Dynasty and the Peasant Army did not end, but escalated: the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty began to prepare to rebuild the Ming Dynasty court in Nanjing, and the Peasant Army was naturally the rebellious ministers and traitors who killed Emperor Chongzhen. There was no possibility of reconciliation between the two parties.
In fact, not only in the south, but also in the north under the rule of Li Zicheng's Dashun Dynasty, the remnants of the Ming Dynasty (bureaucrats and gentry) began to study how to overthrow the Dashun Dynasty. At this time, the remnant forces of the Ming Dynasty in the south were studying " uniting the captives to defeat the invaders": that is, deceiving the Qing army to attack Li Zicheng. The representative of the remaining Ming Dynasty forces in the north, Wu Sangui , took direct action: Wu Sangui opened Shanhaiguan and invited the Qing army into the city.
After several battles between the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing army, Li Zicheng retreated steadily. At first, the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty did not know what was going on, until the Qing army truly came to help. After realizing that the Qing army had the idea of occupying the magpie's nest, it was too late.
