The Ming Dynasty: A bookstore sells the history of the Ming Dynasty, leaving Emperor Chongzhen bewil

"Are they praising Yuan Chonghuan to belittle Emperor Chongzhen?" Emperor Chongzhen looked surprised.

"good."

Zhu Ziming nodded and said, "Let's take a look at how the Ming Dynasty actually fell. The Ming Dynasty ended when Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, captured the capital and Emperor Chongzhen died for his country. So, in fact, the Ming Dynasty was killed by Li Zicheng. It was just that Wu Sangui later led the Qing army into the pass, allowing the Manchus to reap the rewards."

"When the Manchus entered the pass, in order to win the support of the people inside the pass, they used the banner of avenging Emperor Chongzhen to demonstrate their righteousness."

"Therefore, at the very beginning, the Manchu Qing dynasty revered Chongzhen. Even after establishing the new regime, Emperor Shunzhi went to Chongzhen's grave and wept bitterly, as if Chongzhen were truly his elder brother."

Upon hearing this, Chongzhen's expression gradually changed from astonishment to anger.

It's like a crocodile crying over a mouse; it's nothing more than that.

Zhu Ziming continued, "But later, the Qing authorities realized that this seemed a bit wrong. Since they had initially claimed to be avenging Emperor Chongzhen to demonstrate the righteousness of their entry into the Central Plains, they had to acknowledge Chongzhen's positive image. However, this would cause some former officials to miss Chongzhen and praise him, leading to the popular sentiment that if Chongzhen was so good, why should they accept the rule of the Qing Dynasty?"

"Therefore, it was imperative to reverse the positive image of Emperor Chongzhen."

"However, when they entered the country, they already used the pretext of avenging others, and later even went to mourn at a grave. Now, to go and blatantly smear them, isn't that just contradicting themselves?"

"Since a direct confrontation won't work, the only option is to stab someone in the back, and that stab is none other than Yuan Chonghuan."

At this moment, Chongzhen could no longer hide his anger, and even the muscles on his face were twitching slightly.

However, Zhu Ziming wasn't too surprised. As he always says, he's a Ming Dynasty fan, so he understands.

Zhu Ziming continued, "Why is this knife none other than that of Yuan Chonghuan? Because Yuan Chonghuan was the very person whom Chongzhen appointed and then executed."

"So, if Yuan Chonghuan is established as a national hero, then what kind of emperor is the one who kills a national hero? Isn't he the same as Emperor Zhao, who killed Yue Fei?"

Emperor Chongzhen clenched his fists so tightly they cracked, and he spat out the words through gritted teeth: "Therefore, the History of Ming states: 'After Chonghuan's death, there was no one left to manage border affairs, and the signs of the Ming dynasty's demise were clear.'"

"good."

Zhu Ziming nodded and said, "Once Yuan Chonghuan's image as a national hero is established, then Chongzhen's image will also emerge: diligent but mediocre, wanting to do things but incompetent, eager for quick success but impatient, constantly making trouble and ultimately killing himself as a pointless emperor."

"call--"

Emperor Chongzhen let out a long breath, but he still could not expel the pent-up anger in his chest.

This is much more painful for him than simply smearing him.

Just like his founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, if you paint such an incredibly ugly portrait of him—with a long, narrow face, covered in pockmarks, making him as ugly as possible—the more blatantly you smear him, the easier it is for later generations to see through the deception.

But his is different.

On the surface, he praised without slander or abuse, but instead complimented a person, a minister he once loved and relied on, who was eventually killed by him.

The higher you praise someone, the more foolish and incompetent they are.

What's even more infuriating is that this kind of backstabbing is not only hard to guard against, but also makes it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen was so angry that his face turned red and his breathing became rapid.

Seeing Zhu Zhen so excited, Zhu Ziming simply assumed that the other party was a crazy Ming Dynasty fan.

After all, they could even say that the Ming Dynasty hadn't fallen, so this reaction isn't surprising.

Zhu Ziming said, "Of course, these are just my guesses based on some historical materials. I can't be 100% sure if the true history is like this."

"But what I want to say is that Yuan Chonghuan is a highly controversial figure. This debate started three hundred years ago and continues to this day, and it is still ongoing."

"So, in your opinion, was Yuan Chonghuan a traitor or a national hero?"

Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and spat out the words: "Traitor."

From Chongzhen's perspective, after eliminating Wei Zhongxian, he twice issued edicts to reinstate Yuan Chonghuan, and even went so far as to promote him to the highest rank, making him Minister of War and concurrently the Governor-General of Jiliao.

When he summoned Yuan Chonghuan, he granted all of Yuan Chonghuan's requests, such as money, provisions, weapons, personnel, and the suppression of gossip. He even promised to Yuan Chonghuan that he would not listen to gossip and finally bestowed upon him the imperial sword, which symbolized supreme power.

It can be said that he showed Yuan Chonghuan the utmost sincerity, but what did Yuan Chonghuan actually do?

The first thing they did was to paint a rosy picture of "recovering Liaodong in five years," and then tell the others that it was "just to appease the emperor."

However, after Yuan Chonghuan took office for several months and demanded a large amount of military funds, he did not achieve immediate results. Instead, he used his imperial sword to do something that shocked the court and the public.

That was to land on Pi Island and arbitrarily kill Mao Dongjiang's General Mao Wenlong.

Finally, during the Jisi Incident, a series of mysterious maneuvers allowed Huang Taiji to bypass the Guanning defense line, break through enemy lines, capture Zunhua, and advance directly towards the capital.

What was Yuan Chonghuan doing at this time?

He personally led a large army and rushed back from the Guan-Ning defense line to meet Huang Taiji, but once on the battlefield, Yuan Chonghuan became calm and composed again.

Huang Taiji bypassed Jizhou and began burning, killing, and looting near the capital. He slaughtered and plundered his way through Sanhe, Xianghe, and Shunyi, leaving devastation in his wake. Yuan Chonghuan followed him closely, taking him wherever he went, but he simply watched as the people fell into the tiger's jaws without making any move to help.

Like a bystander, Yuan Chonghuan led tens of thousands of men to watch Huang Taiji burn, kill, and plunder everywhere. From the 11th to the 15th, they followed him for five whole days without moving a single soldier. Rumors spread and public resentment boiled over.

Finally, Huang Taiji led his troops all the way to Deshengmen, besieging the city and putting the capital in grave danger.

At this time, he still treated Yuan Chonghuan with great courtesy, not only getting up to comfort him but also taking off his own sable fur coat to give to him. Yuan Chonghuan then made an even more impolite request, wanting to lead his troops into the city to rest and reorganize.

What are they trying to do?

It's one thing for the border troops to enter the city without permission, but to actually let them rest inside the city? Are you crazy, or am I crazy?

These are all recorded in the History of Ming, but now it seems that these records in the History of Ming were carefully fabricated. It says things like "the court officials falsely accused him of inciting the enemy to coerce peace because of the previous peace talks", "the people were wronged", "initially, Chonghuan killed Wenlong in vain, and now the emperor mistakenly killed Chonghuan", and so on. It also says that it was because Huang Taiji set up a counter-espionage scheme, captured an unknown eunuch, deliberately let him hear the information that Yuan Chonghuan was colluding with the enemy, and then released the eunuch. "The man rushed to tell the emperor, and the emperor believed him without doubt". This is simply a storybook to fool a three-year-old.

No wonder Zhu Ziming said that it's okay if you don't understand it.

When I first read the History of Ming, I didn't think much of it, just had some doubts. But now, after Zhu Ziming's analysis, and looking at the records in the History of Ming from his perspective, Chongzhen felt that he was really merciful for not beating Yuan Chonghuan on the spot when he summoned him.

What made Chongzhen even more upset was that later generations actually used Yuan Chonghuan to smear him.

If this isn't treason, what else could it be?

However, to Chongzhen's surprise, Zhu Ziming shook his head.

This puzzled Emperor Chongzhen, who frowned and asked, "Does the gentleman consider him a national hero?"

Zhu Ziming shook his head again, which only deepened Chongzhen's confusion.

Zhu Ziming said, "I don't think so. Yuan Chonghuan was neither a traitor nor a national hero."