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

"Emperor Chongzhen?"

Zhu Ziming glanced at Zhu Zhen, who was staring at him expectantly, and after thinking for a moment, said, "I reiterate that everything I said is my personal opinion, as well as my personal speculations about history. I cannot guarantee that it is 100% correct, and you are welcome to raise questions at any time."

Zhu Ziming began layering his armor again, because he could sense that the other party was not only a Ming Dynasty fan, but also a Chongzhen Emperor fan, and he didn't want to cause unnecessary controversy.

Although Zhu Ziming admired the Ming Dynasty, he was a historical materialist.

He firmly believes that no matter how you cover it up, fabricate it, or even nibble it out, history will always discover the true past in the eternal flow of time.

He was quite interested in Emperor Chongzhen, and he was also writing a novel about the late Ming Dynasty, so he had some understanding of Chongzhen.

"Emperor Chongzhen was an ambitious and visionary monarch who strived to restore the Ming Dynasty. Whether one praises or vilifies Chongzhen, they all agree on this point. Therefore, we can be certain that Chongzhen was absolutely without fault in his attitude."

"His diligence in government affairs rivaled that of the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang. However, while the founding emperor established the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen brought it to an end."

Zhu Ziming's words were meant to praise Chongzhen, but they made Chongzhen feel ashamed.

One was the founding emperor, the other the last emperor of a fallen dynasty; to compare him to the founding emperor is an immense irony.

Zhu Ziming, of course, did not know that the person in front of him was Emperor Chongzhen, and that he was wearing layers of armor, so he spoke freely and without any restraint.

"Emperor Taizu came from a poor peasant background, experienced the destruction of his family and the death of his people, worked as a beggar and a monk. He started with just a bowl, which can be described as a disastrous beginning. But wasn't Emperor Chongzhen's beginning also disastrous? As I said before, the Ming Dynasty that Chongzhen inherited was a dynasty that had gone through more than two hundred years of vicissitudes, and was already full of devastation, with deep-seated problems and a dead end."

"Therefore, Chongzhen faced equally enormous challenges, but unlike his great ancestor, he did not make groundbreaking achievements and create a great legacy. Instead, he perished in frustration."

"As I said before, since Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, no dynasty in Chinese history has ever lasted more than three hundred years. What makes you think you can expect Chongzhen to do that? If it were someone else, the outcome would most likely be the same, or even worse. But that doesn’t mean Chongzhen was without problems. In fact, Chongzhen himself had a lot of problems."

"This has led to a saying in later generations that if Emperor Chongzhen had done nothing, the Ming Dynasty might not have fallen so quickly."

"But is that really the case?"

"Let's take a look at what Chongzhen actually did."

Although Emperor Chongzhen knew better than anyone what he had done, he listened with exceptional attention.

Zhu Ziming said: "At the beginning of his reign, Chongzhen showed his ambition and determination to revitalize the Ming Dynasty. He used swift and decisive means to personally eliminate the deeply entrenched and widely corrupt eunuch faction. The court and the public rejoiced, believing that the Ming Dynasty had ushered in a wise and sagacious ruler who would extend the life of the Ming Dynasty."

"However, no, eliminating Wei Zhongxian and his eunuch faction did not bring about a new life for the Ming Dynasty; instead, it plunged it into an even greater quagmire."

These words made Emperor Chongzhen frown.

Eliminating Wei Zhongxian and his eunuch faction was something he was proud of. He had accomplished a great feat that was praised by both the court and the public as soon as he came to power. So he went to Wanshou Mountain to comfort his ancestors and his brother. He was full of ambition because he had taken the most solid step in reviving the Ming Dynasty.

It was at that time that he came to this bookstore by chance and learned that the Ming Dynasty had fallen in his hands. Now Zhu Ziming is telling him that what he was so proud of has actually plunged the Ming Dynasty into an even bigger quagmire.

"Please enlighten me, sir," Emperor Chongzhen earnestly requested.

Zhu Ziming replied: "The History of Ming states that, 'He then trusted the eunuchs again, placed them in key locations, and his actions were inappropriate and his control was flawed.' It was clearly Chongzhen who personally eliminated the eunuch group, but in the end, Chongzhen still had to rely on the eunuchs again."

Why?

"Because after Chongzhen eliminated the eunuch faction, he discovered something strange: although he was an emperor whose word was law and everyone recognized him as emperor, the things he assigned could never be done, and his work efficiency was extremely low."

"The thing we do most every day is argue."

"In the history of the Ming Dynasty, only two emperors were able to hold court every morning: the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and the last emperor Chongzhen. However, the theme of Chongzhen's morning court was always the same: noise."

"Noisy! Noisy! Noisy!"

"When there is a famine, we argue first; when there is a popular uprising, we argue first; when a powerful enemy invades, we argue first; even when the enemy has reached the city gates, we still argue first."

"But in the end, who will do it? That will lead to another argument."

"Once it's finally decided who will do it, they start nitpicking. There's a problem with this, there's a problem with that. If there's even the slightest mistake, they submit a report. If it doesn't achieve the desired effect, they submit a report. Even if it doesn't meet their expectations, they submit a report. Eventually, no matter what, as long as it's not one of their own, they submit a report first."

"Whether it's good or bad, in the end it all turns into a complete mess."

Emperor Chongzhen remained silent.

Just hearing about it gave him a headache, and it was indeed true.

"When the eunuch faction was still around, the officials who spoke out had some reservations, but now that there is no eunuch faction persecuting them and the emperor has exonerated them, they have become even more unscrupulous and speak freely, expressing their own opinions."

"And they are all very eloquent, and what they say makes a lot of sense, citing classical texts and speaking with great logic."

"What about integrity and public service, revitalizing officialdom, opening up channels for free speech, eliminating long-standing abuses in the court and the countryside, opposing corruption and bribery by the powerful and wealthy, etc.? At first glance, they all seem like good policies for governing the country, all for the good of the Ming Dynasty, standing on the moral high ground."

"But precisely because they think they occupy the moral high ground, they start to use extremely high moral standards to demand things and people around them. Morality should be a light to illuminate the way forward, but at this time they are using it as a stone to throw at their opponents."

"They simplify the problem into the opposition of 'good and evil' and 'loyalty and treachery,' thereby ignoring the multidimensionality of the problem, or even the problem itself. They engage in factionalism, labeling and stigmatizing each other, which is getting worse and worse."

"The Donglin Party, Zhejiang Party, and Chu Party, among other factions, attacked each other in their struggle for key positions in the cabinet and the Six Ministries. They wasted a great deal of energy on internal strife rather than governing the country. In the end, any policy was labeled with a partisan label, which led to Chongzhen's extreme distrust of civil and military officials and even created a vicious cycle of 'the emperor distrusting his ministers and ministers attacking each other.'"

"At this point, who else could Chongzhen use if not eunuchs? Chongzhen must have been very confused. Why did he personally eliminate the eunuch faction, only to have it reappear in the end?"

"Little did people know that all of this was actually caused by Chongzhen himself."