Da Ming started to ascend the throne

Chapter 237 Late Autumn of the Little Ice Age

It has been more than half a year since Yue Fei led his army out of customs to fight.

Just entering September, the weather has started to get colder and colder.

Late autumn in the Little Ice Age was already so cold that it made people feel a little hopeless.

It is not the coldest time yet, and in another month, it will definitely not be suitable for any human activities outside.

For example, if you urinate outside, when the cold wind blows, you will definitely freeze on the ground together with you.

Although it was not yet the coldest time, except for some shivering guards, there were almost no other people outside the tents of the Horqin Department. The Tartars all huddled in the tents and burned charcoal to keep warm.

After Hauge left with the Xianglan Banner, according to reliable information, the Ming army wiped out many small tribes one after another.

But it has never appeared in the Horqin area. After all, the Horqin tribe has a strong army, and Auba gradually relaxes his vigilance.

Some generals gathered in the Oba tent. There were several large pots of charcoal fire burning in the middle of the tent, and it was very warm inside.

The Tartars were drinking kumiss while discussing the Ming army's invasion of the grassland.

Military Adviser Aziz said:
"Khan, some time ago, the Ming army moved frequently, and many Mongolian and Yuan tribes were wiped out. Now they seem to have suddenly stopped moving."

Gao Jitai is the most powerful general under Auba's command, and he doesn't pay attention to the Ming army.

He was very disdainful when he heard the words of the military division:
"Hmph, that's because the Ming army didn't attack our Horqin troops. As long as they dare to step into Horqin, this general will destroy their entire army."

Amio:

"General, don't be careless. Since the Ming army can sweep all the tribes of the Mongolian Yuan all the way, they will definitely not be as weak as Hauge said."

""In the end, with the arrival of winter, the temperature is getting lower and lower, almost reaching minus [-] degrees. Their muskets can't be ignited, and they are not suitable for military operations. There must be a temporary truce, and it will not be until the beginning of next spring at the earliest. will start the war again. "

Daji Terrace map:

"Yes, I support this statement. It's so cold that you can't go out at all. It must be difficult for the Ming army to supply supplies. They are all wearing iron armor and can't keep out the cold. They will definitely not invade Horqin for the time being..."

None of the Horqin elite thought that the Ming army would attack Horqin in such a cold weather.

After an agreement was reached, the Tatars all returned to their tents and went to have fun with the Han woman they had snatched.

Did the Ming army really wear iron armor as the Tartars said?

Of course not, as a time traveler, how could Zhu Youjian not know that the end of the Ming Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age.

Before departure, Zhu Youjian had already prepared the cotton-padded jacket, cotton trousers and big quilt for the Ming army.

Although the Ming army still wore iron armor, they all wore very warm cotton-padded clothes, trousers, cotton hats and gloves under the iron armor, and even the war horses wore small cotton armor.

It's just entering late autumn now, and it hasn't entered the harshest winter, let alone the coldest winter.

From the perspective of natural science, the ice age is a climate phenomenon.

During the period when it occurs, the temperature will drop significantly and cause various disasters.

The last years of the Ming Dynasty coincided with the peak of the famous fourth Little Ice Age in world history.

Due to the bad weather it brought, countries around the world, including the Ming Dynasty, experienced violent turbulence during this period of time, which directly changed the history of the world.

There have been four small ice ages in the history of our country. The first time occurred at the end of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, which directly led to the Zhou Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty.

The second time happened at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which led to the chaos of the Three Kingdoms.

The third time happened at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which led to the troubled times of the Five Dynasties.

The fourth time occurred in the late Ming Dynasty.

The Little Ice Age in the last years of the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as one of the most severe natural disasters in the history of our country.

According to the "Beiyoulu" written by Tan Qian, a famous historian in the early Qing Dynasty.

From the 13th year of Shunzhi to the 110th year of Shunzhi, the Beijing North Canal was frozen for [-] days every year.

And this period was the end of the Little Ice Age, which peaked in the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty.

According to modern science and technology, during Chongzhen's reign, even the southern Guangdong region had a blizzard of more than a foot thick.

All parts of the north were frozen for thousands of miles, all rivers and rivers were frozen, and water transport was almost abolished.

Livestock, crops, and people were all frozen to death and suffered numerous frostbite injuries, and the temperature reached an astonishing minus 40 degrees Celsius.

At this low temperature, if boiling water is spilled, it will instantly freeze into white mist.

Trees, flowers and plants will be completely sealed by the rare "ice", and people will feel cold even if they travel in several layers of cotton clothes.

It can be seen from this that what kind of tribulations did the northern land in the late Ming Dynasty go through.

However, in addition to the extremely cold weather, the reduction in agricultural production due to natural disasters was also an important reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Peasant uprisings in the late Ming Dynasty did not start during the Chongzhen period. In fact, peasant uprisings, large and small, had been breaking out throughout the Ming Dynasty since its founding.

But the peasant uprisings that were really affected by the Little Ice Age should be counted from the Wang Er uprising.

In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, affected by the Little Ice Age, the whole area of ​​Shaanxi was short of harvest, and the people of Li could only live by eating bark and grass roots.

At the very beginning, due to the influence of the Little Ice Age, it has not been fully exerted.

Therefore, although a large number of peasant armies came and went, they could not shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty at all.

But after Chongzhen ascended the throne, the power of the Little Ice Age was completely released, and peasant uprisings throughout the Ming Dynasty became more and more frequent.

In July of the first year of Chongzhen, Wang Jiayin, Yang Liu, Buzhanni and others rose up in Shaanxi.

The main leaders of the rebel army such as Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Zicheng also revolted successively around the third year of Chongzhen.

Just because the main feature that ultimately led directly to the Little Ice Age was cold doesn't mean it was its only feature.

In addition to cold, drought, locust breeding, and rat plague are all characteristics of the Little Ice Age.

Among the droughts in the late Ming Dynasty, the severe drought in Chongzhen that occurred in the six years from 1637 to 1643 was the most influential.

The seriousness of the severe drought and the vast scope of the disaster are as impressive as the past.

According to statistics, a total of 23 provinces were affected by the disaster at that time, among which North China, Hebei, Henan and other regions were even affected by disasters for more than five consecutive years, which can be called a thousand miles away.

Moreover, this severe drought showed extremely unusual characteristics, with drought in the north and flood in the south.

As the name suggests, drought in the north and flood in the south means that when most of the north is experiencing drought, the south is experiencing floods.

Such distribution of disasters not only increases the complexity of disasters, but also makes disaster relief work difficult.

But that's not the worst part.Perennial severe drought has also triggered plagues of locusts and rats.

The plagues of locusts and rats in the late Ming Dynasty generally occurred along both sides of the Yellow River, and lasted for a long time. The longest one even broke out continuously for five consecutive years.

Such a long disaster period directly led to the loss of control of the disaster situation in the entire northern region, and the entire Ming Dynasty fell into an unprecedented desperate situation.

It can be seen that although the Little Ice Age was not the only reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, it was definitely the main reason.

Because of the arrival of the Little Ice Age, a large number of grasslands in the north declined, and the Manchu Qing regime, a nomadic people, had to try its best to go south.

The reduction in agricultural production caused by the Little Ice Age also caused peasant uprisings one after another, and finally pulled the entire Ming Dynasty into the abyss from the inside out.

(End of this chapter)