Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Let's take a look at the performance of Emperor Chongzhen and the Ming court!

At this time, it was the No. 15 year when Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne.new year.But the situation in the world is already bad, and worse than ever.

The country's financial situation continued to deteriorate, and the continuous increase in dispatches could not offset the huge military expenditures for successive years. The national treasury was completely empty.

However, the civil and military officials, whether in the DPRK or the local government, have not shown the slightest intention to cheer up and rejuvenate. The civil officials, as always, take bribes and extract money, and collude, exclude and bite each other for their own interests. , Turned the court upside down; the generals with heavy troops in various places regarded the army as their own private property, and often fled the battle or simply refused to listen to their orders in order to preserve their strength.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen had been emperor for 15 years, and during these 15 years, he really worked hard and worked hard day and night.What I didn't expect to get was such a result.So he felt sad, angry, frustrated, and even very wronged.

Emperor Chongzhen lamented the bad luck and hated the incompetence of his courtiers. However, as the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, he had to shoulder the burden of saving the country from peril alone.So at the beginning of the new year, he once again made up his mind to work hard to change the destiny and the face of the empire through unremitting efforts.

Needless to say, Emperor Chongzhen's nerves were strong enough.

In order to show the atmosphere of reform and reform, Emperor Chongzhen specially summoned all members of the cabinet in the Huangji Hall after accepting Chongzhen's 15-year New Year's pilgrimage.

After Zhou Yanru, He Fengsheng, Zhang Sizhi, Wei Yancheng, Xie Sheng, and Chen Yan bowed down under the eaves of the hall, Emperor Chongzhen ordered them to line up on the west side of the hall.Because according to court officials and ministers usually meet on the east side, Zhou Yanru and others were a little confused about the emperor's meaning for a while.

It was later learned that the emperor asked them to meet up on the west side.It is in accordance with the folk practice of referring to tutors as "teachers" to show respect for cabinet ministers.The form of this summoning was indeed unprecedented. The courtiers had never seen the emperor bowing to his courtiers. They were all flattered and moved to tears.

Then, in the middle of the night on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Emperor Chongzhen went to the Temple of Heaven in the south of the city to preside over the routine prayer for grain.On this day, it was snowing heavily again, and the proverb "auspicious snow heralds a good year" was just a footnote to the emperor's praying for a good harvest.And amidst the solemn drum music, everyone who attended the worship service felt a mysterious experience that was incomparably close to the sacredness of the sky, and felt a burst of self-confidence.

Ever since.The emperor, his courtiers, and even the people in the capital seem to base their confidence in rebuilding a peaceful and prosperous age on the protection of God.They all believe that a prosperous dynasty with a history of more than 200 years should not be weakened or even perish for no reason like this, and a holy son of heaven should not lose the favor of heaven for no reason.

The next Shangyuan Lantern Festival....

In the following February, Emperor Chongzhen followed the ancient rituals again.I personally participated in the plowing ceremony held for the revitalization of agriculture....

A series of worship activities, a series of rituals.That is, there are no specific measures for governing the country.Tell the truth.Watching Emperor Chongzhen do all this, I always feel a little sad for him.However, people in the Ming Dynasty were still very superstitious at that time. They believed that the Ming Dynasty had been blessed by Haotian, so they all felt optimistic.

But then, brutal blows still followed.First of all, there is still a severe drought in the world, and God seems to have abandoned the Ming Dynasty.then.The [-] troops led by Wang Qiaonian, governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, were almost wiped out by the coalition forces of Li and Luo, and Wang Qiaonian himself was captured alive and killed.

In April, the Battle of Songjin finally came to an end. The four cities of Song, Jin, Ta, and Xing were all occupied by the Qing army.Although this is the expected result.But the first news of the defeat still made Emperor Chongzhen feel a chilling shock.

And when the news of the fall of Songshan just reached the capital, it was said that Hong Chengchou had died in the line of duty, which made Emperor Chongzhen deeply mourn.The military commanders he valued highly, Yang Sichang, Lu Xiangsheng, and Hong Chengchou all passed away. Who can take care of the dilapidated situation in front of him?Extremely distressed, he ordered a large altar to be set up in the city to commemorate Hong Chengchou, Qiu Minyang and others, and decided to go to the altar to express his condolences in person.

But soon there was news that Hong Chengchou was not dead and had been taken to Shenyang by the Qing army; later there was intelligence that Hong Chengchou had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty!This was another heavy blow to Emperor Chongzhen.It is not only a disgrace to the country and the court, but also shameful for the minister who he has always trusted and respected to surrender to the enemy country.

But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was already slightly schizophrenic, and his dual personality seemed to have developed to the extreme. He was often surprisingly violent and vicious at one time, and abnormally gentle and gentle at the other.

On the issue of Hong Chengchou, Emperor Chongzhen just showed a gentle side. He just stopped the sacrificial activities, but did not follow the method proposed by the courtiers and arrest and severely punish all the family members of Hong Chengchou in accordance with the usual practice. indifferent.Regarding this abnormal move, he later said with some self-mockery: "I want Hong Chengchou to be a Wang Meng-style character!"

And Wang Meng was the main adviser of Qin Fujian in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Because he was a citizen of the Jin Dynasty, he once dissuaded Fu Jian from attacking Jin in the south.It's a pity that Hong Chengchou is not Wang Meng.Even if Wang Meng really existed, what role would it play in the battle between Ming and Qing?

However, after the officials of the Ministry of War panicked for a while, they never dared to hope that they could sit back and relax just because they had a "Wang Meng" who surrendered to the enemy.After going down to the four cities of Song and Jin, the main force of the Qing army returned to Shengjing, and the battle situation outside Shanhaiguan eased temporarily.Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Ministry of War, immediately advocated: use this intermission period of the war to continue negotiations with the Qing side, and strive to obtain a period of peace through a certain degree of compromise, so as to make new adjustments to the defense of Liaodong.

Although Emperor Chongzhen had the illusion of relying on "Wang Meng", he had to face the ruthless reality and had to agree to try to negotiate again.

So the Ma Shaoyu Mission, who had been staying in Ningyuan, received a new order: contact the Qing side immediately.After the Qing government won a huge victory on the battlefield, they were still unwilling to let go of the opportunity to reap benefits at the negotiating table, so they showed a high attitude and agreed to Ma Shaoyu's coming to Shengjing.

In May of this year, Ma Shaoyu and his party came to Shengjing in the Qing Dynasty.The Qing side received Ma Shaoyu according to the etiquette for envoys of great powers. The kings, Baylor and the main ministers hosted banquets for many times. Huang Taiji also met him in person and discussed with him some principled issues in negotiating a peace treaty.On the surface, the Qing side was not opposed to reaching peace through peace talks, but it was not easy for the two sides to reach an agreement on the specific conditions of the peace talks.

The Qing Dynasty, as a victorious country, required the Ming Dynasty to pay a high amount of annual coins every year and stop its hostile attitude towards the Qing Dynasty. These conditions were acceptable to the Ming Dynasty; Although this request is reasonable and reasonable, it is extremely difficult for Emperor Chongzhen to accept it.

For a long time, the Ming Empire has always regarded itself as a celestial dynasty above all nations, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty also considered himself the lord of all nations, and never considered himself equal to the "lands of barbarians" outside the border.

What's more, the distinction between Yi and Xia is still a basic Confucian rational principle, and talking about equality with the "Tarjah" means losing the principle.Emperor Chongzhen was unreasonable and not strong in negotiating with the Qing side. Of course, he did not dare to make any concessions on such principled issues related to the dignity of the monarch and the dignity of the country.

What's more, the courtiers still heard a little bit of information, and they all attacked Chen Xinjia one after another, saying that "the court is dignified, how can it talk about money"?However, when Emperor Chongzhen questioned Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant, on this issue, Zhou Yanru didn't say a word because he was afraid that the emperor would change his mind in the future and would blame himself.The attitude of the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty is like this, and the success or failure of the peace talks is naturally visible from this.

On the other hand, the Qing Dynasty did not have much sincerity for this negotiation.The rulers of the Qing Dynasty, headed by Huang Taiji, had already set the established goal of entering the customs and conquering the Ming Dynasty and finally capturing the Central Plains.

And this time, they were willing to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty because they didn't want to miss an opportunity to gain diplomatic benefits during the intermission of the war. They didn't have much hope, so they didn't take it seriously.

Regarding the general strategy of taking the Ming and replacing it, Huang Taiji once had a very vivid expression: "Taking Yanjing is like cutting down a big tree. You must cut down from both sides first, and then the big tree will fall on itself. ...... Today, the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are exhausted. , our troops will be surrounded by all directions, the power of the other country will decline day by day, and our army will become stronger day by day, from now on Yanjing can be obtained.” Since there is such a policy, the peace talks are only an expedient measure anyway, but they are to cut down the Ming Dynasty from both sides. It's just one of the means of this big tree.

One side is timid due to the Chinese system, and the other side is careless because it has established goals. Of course, it is difficult for the peace talks between the two parties to achieve substantive results.Ma Shaoyu stayed in Shenyang for many days, and continuously reported the status of the negotiations to Chen Xinjia. Chen Xinjia secretly reported to Emperor Chongzhen, and Emperor Chongzhen issued instructions to Ma Shaoyu. The two sides exchanged dozens of messages, but there was no result.

The marathon negotiations dragged on until June, and because it was impossible to negotiate any results, Ma Shaoyu's mission had to withdraw to Ningyuan, but continued to maintain contact with the Qing side, and reported the Qing side's intentions to the Ministry of War and the emperor himself from time to time.During this period of time, the Ming and Qing Dynasties were in a state of stalemate without war or peace.It wasn't until July that an accident and a deliberate act broke this state of affairs. (To be continued..)