Since the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign (1642), the Western missionary Tang Ruowang has been waiting anxiously in the Forbidden City.
In the past few years, Tang Ruowang, on the orders of Emperor Chongzhen, led craftsmen in Beijing to cast artillery to support the Liaodong front line against the Manchus (Later Jin Dynasty). However, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), the Ming Dynasty's last elite force in Liaodong, 130,000 people, came out of Shanhaiguan to rescue Jinzhou, but was defeated by Qing troops. The life and death of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao who led the army, is unknown.
Although he had been missionary in China for many years, Tang Ruowang, who helped the Ming Dynasty officially revise the calendar and cast cannons, understood that the Ming Empire, which he had placed high hopes on, was now crumbling. Under the double attack of the peasant army inside and the Manchu Qing outside, it might not last long. many.
An agricultural empire that has been on the verge of recovery cannot be saved by the most advanced calendars and cannons.
While Tang Ruowang was waiting anxiously, news came from the front that Governor Hong Chengchou of Jiliao was unwilling to surrender after the city was broken and had "martyrdom for his country". For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen mourned and cried bitterly. He even ordered an altar to be set up in front of Chaotian Palace and prepared to pay homage in person. In the court hall, Chongzhen shed tears and said, "I never saved Chengchou."
But the fact is that after being trapped in Songshan City for half a year, in March of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Hong Chengchou was captured after Songshan City was broken. At first, he did go on a hunger strike for several days and refused to surrender. In response, Huang Taiji, who had changed the country's name from Jin (Later Jin) to Qing, sent people to persuade him to surrender many times, but was scolded and turned back.
Unwilling to give up, Huang Taiji sent Fan Wencheng, the official minister, to persuade him to surrender. After Fan Wencheng met Hong Chengchou, he did not mention the matter of recruiting and surrendering, but only talked with him about the past and the present. During the conversation, a piece of dust fell from the beam and landed on Hong Chengchou's clothes. Hong Chengchou wiped it off repeatedly while talking. Fan Wencheng, who was very observant, did not say anything. After saying goodbye, he said to Huang Taiji: "Hong Chengchou will not die. He cherishes his clothes so much, let alone his own life!"
So Huang Taiji struck while the iron was hot and met with Hong Chengchou the next day. Seeing Hong Chengchou standing without kneeling, Huang Taiji was not angry. He just asked for help. The weather in Liaodong was still cold at that time, so he deliberately took off his mink fur and put it on Hong Chengchou, who was wearing thin clothes. This may have finally moved Hong Chengchou, or it may have given Hong Chengchou a step to surrender. The next day, Hong Chengchou formally surrendered to Huang Taiji.
As early as when the cities of Songshan and Jinzhou were defeated, Huang Taiji was very happy and said to the generals: "Taking Beijing is like cutting down a big tree. You must start from both sides, so that the big tree will fall down on its own. Now I am taking After reaching the four cities outside the Pass, the best troops of the Ming Dynasty have been exhausted, and Beijing can be captured."
After Hong Chengchou surrendered together with Zu Dashou and other generals, Huang Taiji became even happier and hosted a banquet in person to entertain these Ming Dynasty generals. Some Eight Banners generals within the Manchus were very dissatisfied with this and started talking about it. After Huang Taiji knew about it, he called them privately The generals said to each other: "We people have endured the wind and rain for decades. Why?"
The generals replied: "Of course it is to seize the Central Plains!"
Huang Taiji immediately said, that's right, "To seize the Central Plains, it's like walking on the road. We don't know the way. Can I not be happy to have a guide today?"
Although Huang Taiji died suddenly one year after saying these words, and he himself did not live to see the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Empire was indeed in sunset.
Portrait of Huang Taiji (1592-1643). The aggressive Manchu Qing Dynasty was just a symptom of the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Source: Internet
01
After the complete failure of the Battle of Songjin and the capture of Hong Chengchou, only 30,000 remnants of the Ming Dynasty were left outside Shanhaiguan to follow Wu Sangui and retreat to the isolated city of Ningyuan.
The situation outside the Pass was over, but in the interior, Li Zicheng led the peasant army to besiege the important town of Kaifeng for the third time. The Central Plains was shaken, and Emperor Chongzhen, who was troubled by internal and external troubles and was at a loss, no longer knew what to do. He had inherited the throne since he was 17 years old (1627). Since then, the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian was eradicated vigorously and resolutely when he came to power, which once won applause at home and abroad. However, the power of the Ming Dynasty has declined over the years. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties attacked from the northeast and the peasant army from the northwest. The Ming Empire was exhausted to deal with it. Now, the Manchus The Qing Dynasty was approaching Shanhaiguan, the peasant army was fighting north and south within the empire, and the war was approaching Beijing.
What few people know is that in the last turbulent days of the empire, Chongzhen once believed in Catholicism. In the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), Xu Guangqi, a Catholic minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, recommended Catholicism to Chongzhen. This made Chongzhen, who was spiritually confused, overjoyed for a time. Coupled with the preaching of missionaries Nan Huairen, Tang Ruowang and others, Chongzhen then He ordered all Buddha statues in the Forbidden City to be removed, which meant that only God was allowed to exist, and no other idols were allowed.
Not only that, because he once worshiped the Catholic God, Chongzhen also ordered all his ministers with the word "天" to change their names. For example, Chen Liangmo, the official of Dali Temple, whose original name was Chen Tiangong, was forced to change his name because of Chongzhen's order.
However, converting to Catholicism could not save Chongzhen's confusion and the declining power of the Ming Empire. In 1640, Chongzhen's fifth son Zhu Cihuan died of illness. It is said that before Zhu Cihuan died, Chongzhen went to visit him. Unexpectedly, he was only five years old at the time. The age-old Zhu Cihuan actually called the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva with his fingers in the air and accused Chongzhen of destroying the Buddha statues in the Forbidden City. Although there are many versions of the authenticity of this incident and the course of the incident, Chongzhen was deeply shocked after Zhu Cihuan's death and asked him to He took back the Buddha statue that had been moved outside the palace and stopped praying to God from then on.
Of course, the God he once believed in could not save his Ming Dynasty. Therefore, as early as 1639, before the fifth emperor Zhu Cihuan died of illness, he had set up an altar in the Forbidden City to summon heavenly soldiers and generals, praying for his alms and supernatural powers to quell the war. Of course, the method of setting up an altar once had no effect, but Chongzhen, who was in a hurry and sought medical treatment, no longer knew what to do. So, after Hong Chengchou was captured, Chongzhen once again set up a dining hall in the Forbidden City to worship Buddha and chant sutras. Feeling that worshiping Buddhas and chanting sutras was ineffective, he summoned another The 52nd generation Heavenly Master Zhang Yingjing came to the Taoist sect and ordered him to set up an altar to summon heavenly soldiers and generals, hoping that the gods could descend to earth to drive away the Manchus and suppress the rebels at home.
Praying for gods to appear is one thing, but Chongzhen understood that more depends on personnel. In desperation, Chongzhen, who had always insisted not to negotiate for peace, had to secretly order Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment of the peace negotiation, Chen Xinjia and Manchu The peace negotiation documents of the Qing Dynasty were accidentally leaked by Chen Xinjia's servants and reported to various places as a newspaper, causing an uproar throughout the court.
Originally, the peace talks with the Manchus were conducted in secret, but now that the matter has been leaked, Chongzhen, who could not bear to lose his face, decided to use Chen Xinjia as a scapegoat. On July 29, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Chen Xinjia was imprisoned. Subsequently, The ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government came to rescue in many ways. University scholars Zhou Yanru and Chen Yan also wrote a letter saying: "According to the national law, the Minister of War should not be killed unless the enemy soldiers attack the city." However, Chongzhen, who had made up his mind to kill Chen Xinjia, replied: " (When Chen Xingjia was the Minister of the Ministry of War) Seven of my princes were killed and humiliated. Isn’t this more serious than the enemy soldiers attacking the city?"
More than a month later, on September 22 (1642), Chen Xinjia was beheaded in the city. At this point, the last peace negotiation between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was completely interrupted. The Ming Dynasty could only fight the war with the Manchu Qing Dynasty to the end. The Ming Empire, which was already stretched thin, still had to disperse its limited resources outside the customs to deal with the Manchus, and the situation became even more critical.
Chen Xinjia negotiated peace on behalf of Chongzhen, but was actually ordered to be executed for leaking secrets. He served the emperor loyally, but could be abandoned at any time to protect his chariot. This made the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty even more silent.
Therefore, from another perspective, when the Ming Dynasty finally perished, most of its civil and military ministers abandoned their weapons and surrendered during Li Zicheng's march to Beijing. This can also be understood as a kind of despair and abandonment of Chongzhen.
According to statistics, during the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign (1627-1644), a total of 7 governors and 11 governors were executed. Among them, Yuan Chonghuan, the military governor of Ji and the Liao Dynasty, was ordered by Chongzhen, who had a suspicious personality and fell into the conspiracy of the Manchus. Lingchi was executed; Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, was also executed as a scapegoat because the Qing troops invaded Jinan and captured the vassal king Dewang alive; in addition, Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War who was killed for participating in the peace negotiation and leaking secrets - Chongzhen slaughtered ministers at will and shirked responsibility. The civil and military officials under his command were even more cautious and did not dare to act in troubled times.
In response to this, Chongzhen's strategy was to reuse Dongchang and Jinyiwei to monitor the ministers, and frequently used lynching instead of executing the ministers according to national laws. For example, in the year when Chen Xinjia was executed (1642), Xiong Kaiyuan, the vice-deputy of the pedestrian department, and In the incident, Jiang Cai was arrested and secretly executed by Chongzhen's Jin Yiwei because he spoke out against Chongzhen.
The country was in turmoil, and Chongzhen, who had a narrow-minded personality, wanted to work hard to govern, but his ability was limited, so he had no choice. Later, Chongzhen, who later claimed that "I am not the king who will subjugate the country, but all the ministers who will subjugate the country", had to often vent his anger on his ministers, or kill people. To vent one's anger, one must frequently change ministers - according to statistics, in the 17 years that Chongzhen was in power, 17 ministers of the Ministry of Justice were changed; while in the entire Ming Dynasty's 276 years of history, there were only more than 160 ministers, and Chongzhen's 17 years in power accounted for 50. , which shows how frequently he changes his officials and how suspicious he is of them.
The country's power was declining, and he was anxious, but what he did made his ministers even more alienated.
Chongzhen's partiality and suspicion aggravated the conflicts between emperor and ministers in the Ming Dynasty. Source: Film and TV stills
02
In the Ming Dynasty, there were many strange emperors, such as Ming Yingzong who was captured by the Mongols during the Northern Expedition and later successfully restored his power, Emperor Jiajing who did not go to court for 30 years, Emperor Wanli who did not go to court for 28 years, and Chongzhen’s brother, who was passionate about Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao was a carpenter and favored Wei Zhongxian. However, among a series of bastard emperors in the late Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen was a rare clean slate. He eradicated Wei Zhongxian when he came to the throne, and then worked hard to save the declining empire. The Ming Empire, but why did the Ming Dynasty still irrevocably collapse?
In this regard, when the veterans from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty wrote the "History of the Ming Dynasty", they put forward a point of view: "Therefore, commentators say that the death of the Ming Dynasty was actually due to Shenzong" - they believed that the death of the Ming Dynasty was actually a sign of neglect of government. The corrupt Ming Shenzong laid the foundation for serious disasters during the Wanli Emperor's reign. This view has its profound side, but the corruption within the empire is a slow variable, and the fast variable that contributed to the demise of the Ming Empire was the serious change after Chongzhen came to power. climate change and various natural disasters such as drought, locust plagues, famine, and plague.
As early as a few years before Chongzhen came to the throne, northern Shaanxi and the northern part of the Guanzhong region had been experiencing drought for many years, with the vegetation scorched and the bare ground thousands of miles away. In the seventh year of Tianqi (1627) when Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty died and Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the northern Shaanxi region at that time " When the grass and trees are gone, people eat each other", and the farmers are "all skinned and bones, and they have no hope of saving their lives." However, the Ming Dynasty officials not only did not reduce taxes or provide relief to the victims, but instead increased taxes and levies such as "new wages" and "shared losses". He also strictly ordered officials to supervise and collect collections. Under this situation, farmer Wang Er led a crowd to kill the county magistrate Zhang Douyao in Chengcheng, Shaanxi Province, which opened the prelude to the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the second year of Wang Er's Uprising, in the first year of Chongzhen (1628), due to lack of food, Wang Jiayin, who was a frontier soldier, also organized the victims to rise up. After that, Wang Ziyong, Gao Yingxiang, and Li Zicheng also participated in the peasant uprising successively, and the war broke out. It spread throughout Shaanxi and to Shanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, and the peasant uprising gradually gained momentum in the late Ming Dynasty.
Analyzing the series of peasant uprisings before and after Chongzhen came to power, it can be found that they were all closely related to natural disasters.
According to incomplete statistics, during the 17 years of Chongzhen's reign, 14 severe droughts occurred across the country. Records of "starving people everywhere" and "people eating each other" are very common in various places.
Although droughts are not uncommon in Chinese history, the scope and severity of droughts in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were shocking.
The drought in the 13th year of Chongzhen (1640) was a once-in-a-thousand-year drought and the most serious drought event in China since the Han Dynasty.
The two drought events before and after this year were by no means ordinary: the drought in the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639) was a once-in-a-hundred-year event, and the drought in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641) was a once-in-five-hundred-year event. level.
The drought affected North China and Northwest China, and the affected population was extremely wide. Many places have been hit by disasters year after year, and people's production and life have suffered four, five, or even nine consecutive blows.
According to research by meteorologist Zhang Deer, before the secondary effects of the drought disaster in the early days of Chongzhen's reign had not been eliminated, from the 10th to the 16th year of Chongzhen (1637-1643), the interior of the Ming Empire continued to change from north to south. There was a wave of severe droughts across the country that lasted for seven years. “The length of its duration and the extent of the drought were unprecedented in the past century... Successive years of severe droughts also caused severe famine, accompanied by locust plagues, Plague epidemic... This event coincides with the second coldest cold stage of the Little Ice Age, and is a typical case of continuous drought in a cold climate background."
At that time, a total of 23 provinces (autonomous regions) in the north and south of the country suffered from severe droughts one after another. “The main drought areas were in the north, starting in northwest and north China, and then expanded eastward and southward year by year, reaching the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The drought reached its peak around 1640, with Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong and other places experiencing drought for more than five consecutive years."
According to historical records, for example, in the Lankao area of Henan, there was no drought for nearly eleven months a year, from "drought in autumn and July in the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638) to rain on June 12th in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640)". Rain, which is almost a devastating blow to a local agricultural society; and Biyang, Henan Province, "has not rained since June last year (1638) to November (1639)", which has also lasted for five years a year. There is no rain in the month; in Yuncheng, Shanxi, there was no rain for nearly ten months "from September (1639) to July of the thirteenth year (1640)".
Under the influence of this widespread drought, at that time, the Weishui River dried up in Zhucheng, Shandong. By 1640, the Baiyangdian Lake in Anxin, Hebei Province had dried up, and all nine rivers had dried up. The Yellow River had dried up in Suining, Jiangsu Province. According to historical records, by In 1641, "Chao Lake dried up" in Chaoxian County, Anhui Province, "the Fen River dried up in May" in Hejin, Shanxi Province, and "all rivers ran dry" in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province; in 1642, "the Yellow River dried up in November in Lankao, Henan Province, and people could not hike"; in the Ming Dynasty, In 1643, one year before the fall of the dynasty, there was a "summer drought in the Yellow River" in Yucheng, Henan, and "the river dried up" in Songjiang, Shanghai.
Under the influence of this cruel large-scale drought that lasted for many years, a major locust plague broke out for more than five consecutive years from the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637) to the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641).
Research by scholar Zhang De'er pointed out that "the locust plague reached its peak in 1639-1640, with locust areas covering Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, and Hunan", and "migratory locusts covered the sky." Records of "all the food and crops were exhausted" are scattered throughout the county annals and contemporary records at that time. In the Henan area at that time, it was recorded that locust plagues occurred almost every year after the forty year of Wanli (1612). "By the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639) ) filled with fields and covered the sky, the force was even worse...the crops were all gone in an instant. They were burned with fire and dug with pits, but they could not be controlled. Alas, there is nothing that can be done about this natural disaster."
In the year of the demise of the Ming Dynasty (1644), historical records record that the locust plague in Henan reached its peak, "The locusts in Henan eat the children of the people. Every time they come, like fierce rain and poisonous arrows, they surround people and cannibalize them, and their skin and flesh are instantly destroyed." Ended." In this historical context where the locusts have nothing to eat and have even begun to eat humans, the people's suffering is not yet over.
The consecutive years of drought, locust plagues, famine, and plague that occurred in the late Ming Dynasty were natural punishments that traditional agricultural society could hardly withstand. Source: Film and TV stills
Under the influence of successive severe droughts and locust plagues during the Chongzhen period, five years before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, "in the autumn of Chongzhen Gengchen (1640), people in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Jinan ate wood bark, and in winter people ate each other. Xinsi ( 1641) People in the north and south of the Yangtze River abandoned their children, sold their utensils, and died on the roads. "Young women are not worth a thousand dollars" - in this kind of situation in the North China Plain, the Loess Plateau, and even in the south of Beijing, "people eat each other" everywhere, and the corpses of refugees are "stuffed." In the case of "road", there was even a cruel phenomenon of pulling dead bodies out of graves and eating them. For example, in Yongji County, Shanxi Province in 1640, "deep pits were dug outside the four gates to kill the dead, and the people cut into pieces and ate their flesh." "In Jiangsu Province, "the three Wus were all hungry. They had eaten all the bark of the trees and had to eat until they had gizzards and gizzards."
Jishan County Chronicle of Shanxi Province records, “There were frequent droughts from the 11th to the 13th year of Chongzhen Period (1638-1640). There was no green grass in the wild, and there were many men and women who worshiped each other, and all the grass roots and tree barks were eaten. Food. There are children who walk alone and are eaten by others; there are people who steal the food from the grave before the body is turned; there are people who eat together and sleep together at night and eat them; there are children who die and their parents eat them; when their parents die, their children eat them. The misfortunes are too numerous to mention.”
Under the influence of droughts, locust plagues and high rates of death among people, plagues also followed.
According to historical records, two major plagues occurred in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, from 1586 to 1590 and from 1640 to 1644. The second major plague, which coincided with the continuous drought at the end of the Ming Dynasty, was particularly severe. Among these plagues, the plague was the most devastating. Among the deaths in the three provinces of North China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, at least 5 million people died from the plague.
Reviewing the history books, we can see that in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), due to a long-term drought, a large number of rats actually bit each other's tails, crossed the dangerous rivers in groups, and entered Anhui, Henan, Hebei and other provinces to find food. For food, the hungry victims of long-term drought and famine turned to rats for food, which further aggravated the outbreak of plague. At that time, "the plague was widespread throughout the north, and fifty-six out of ten people died, and the year was very bad." At that time, Zuo Maodi, who was heading to the south to supervise water transportation, reported to the court on the way that he arrived in Linqing, Shandong from Jinghai, Tianjin, and saw three people died of hunger, three died of epidemics, and four were thieves. Rice and stone Twenty-four taels of silver, one can take food after death."
Just one year before the demise of the Ming Dynasty, in the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643), the plague that spread throughout North China was introduced to Beijing. "There was a great epidemic in the capital, and tens of thousands of people died every day." Even if all the households are wiped out, there will be no one to collect the coffin.” Because there were so many deaths from the plague, there were even tragic situations in Beijing at that time when all the households in the city were dead, and there were even no people to collect the corpses.
At that time, the population of Beijing was about 1 million. In this great plague that occurred one year before the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the estimated death toll in Beijing was as high as 200,000, and the remaining people were also dying. In a serious epidemic, the sick vomit blood like watermelon water and die immediately.”
In the year when the Ming Dynasty fell, in the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), Luo Yangxing, the military governor of Tianjin, said, "Last year, there was a severe plague in the capital, with death everywhere, nine out of ten houses empty, and even all households were wiped out, and no one could stop them. "
In the spring of 1644, the plague recurred in Beijing.
At this time, Li Zicheng's army also successfully advanced from Shaanxi to the vicinity of Beijing. At that time, the mortality rate of the population in Beijing due to the plague had reached about 40%. Due to too many deaths, many streets and alleys in Beijing were deserted at that time. The three major battalions of the Ming Army in Beijing, which were responsible for defending Beijing, had a nominal strength of 100,000 at the time. However, in addition to the shortage, most of the remaining tens of thousands were also sick. It was impossible to defend the city. In addition, due to the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty and the lack of pay for a long time, the soldiers at that time had no fighting spirit.
Therefore, when Li Zicheng's army came to the city in the third month of the lunar calendar in 1644, the city of Beijing, which had been half-dead by the plague, immediately collapsed.
03
Based on the above historical data, it can be seen that in fact, in addition to internal factors, the biggest factor in the demise of the Ming Dynasty, its external or rapid variables, undoubtedly came from the brutal continuous large-scale and long-term drought, locust plague, and famine and natural disasters such as plague.
According to climate statistical analysis, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, China was in the cold period of the Little Ice Age, and the average winter temperature was about 2°C lower than now. At that time, the temperature in the Central Plains and the rainfall in the northern agricultural and pastoral belt also reached the lowest point since the Qin and Han Dynasties. .
The Little Ice Age began in the 13th century, and then experienced a relatively warm period, reaching its peak from the mid-16th century to the mid-19th century.
In China, the cold climate period from the late 15th century to the end of the 19th century is usually regarded as the Little Ice Age. Since this period coincides with the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is also called the "Ming-Qing Little Ice Age".
Don’t underestimate the one- or two-degree temperature drop caused by climate change during the Little Ice Age. In an agricultural society, this abnormal change in climate was enough to destroy the production base of the entire society and greatly weaken the country’s economic strength. At the same time, it would lead to various social problems. unstable factor.
In this regard, as early as when the natural disaster gradually reached its peak, in the second year of Chongzhen (1629), official Ma Maocai mentioned the situation in northern Shaanxi, which was the most severely affected, in his "Bei Chen Great Hunger" to Emperor Chongzhen. He said:
"Since the last year (1628) in Yan'an Prefecture, my hometown, there has been no rain for a year, and the vegetation has become scorched. During August and September, people compete to collect grass from the mountains and eat it. Its grains are like bran bark, and its taste is bitter and astringent. Eat it. , it can only be delayed to survive. After ten months, when the canopy is gone, peel off the bark of the tree and eat it. Among the trees, the elm tree is the only bad one, and you can mix the bark of other trees for food, and you can also delay its death a little.
At the end of the year and the bark is gone, they dig up rocks in the mountains and eat them. The name of the stone is Qingye. It tastes fishy and greasy. If you eat little, you will feel full. Within a few days, you will suffer from abdominal distension and death.
The most pitiable thing is like the west wing of Ansai City, where one or two babies must be abandoned every day. Some cry, some call their parents, and some eat their excrement. By the next morning, the abandoned son had no life left, and there were still abandoned sons.
What's even more strange is that children and people traveling alone disappear without a trace as soon as they leave the city. Later, I saw people outside the door cooking human bones for fuel and human flesh for food. Then I realized that everyone in front of me was being eaten by them. As for cannibals, their eyes will be red and swollen within a few days, and they will die due to internal heat. The deceased was lying in a mess, and the stench filled the sky. "
After Ma Maocai described the tragic situation of cannibalism in Shangshu, he said that among the local people, those who were unwilling to starve to death began to take desperate risks and gathered together to become thieves. Even though he was caught by the government, he did not regret it and publicly stated: "Death from hunger is as good as death from a thief! Instead of sitting there and dying of hunger, why not die for a thief?"
Since northern Shaanxi was the initial site of natural disasters in the late Ming Dynasty, and the northern Shaanxi area had experienced thousands of years of deforestation and destructive development by Chinese ancestors, the ecological environment had become increasingly poor at this time.
Therefore, in 1627 (the seventh year of the Apocalypse) and 1628 (the first year of Chongzhen), when Chongzhen came to the throne, Wang Er, Wang Jiayin, Gao Yingxiang and others led peasant uprisings in northern Shaanxi. At that time, many hungry people in the Ming Empire shouted " Uprisings were launched one after another with the slogan "Rather than sit and starve to death, why not steal and die". Facing the peasant army, the Ming Dynasty official army often had the upper hand during encirclement and suppression at first. However, as climate change led to the widespread spread of drought and Large numbers of farmers continued to pour into the rebel army, causing the peasant uprising to become a "wild fire".
According to statistical analysis by contemporary historical geographer Ge Jianxiong, the population in the late Ming Dynasty should have reached about 160 million people at its peak period. With such a huge population resource, the Ming Empire was actually able to control and collect taxes. At its peak, there were only 50 to 60 million.
After entering the late Ming Dynasty, due to various reasons such as famine, drought, land annexation, plague, and war, people were displaced. The population resources that the Ming Dynasty government could control were increasingly reduced. This also meant that the government's tax sources and military resources were constantly being lost. In response to the border war against the Manchu invasion and the suppression of internal rebellions, the Ming government's expenditures continued to expand. On the one hand, there were dwindling controllable resources, and on the other hand, there were ever-expanding state expenditures. This also reduced the Ming government's survival resources and The living space is continuously compressed and squeezed dry.
As the most important leader of the later peasant army, Li Zicheng was born in northern Shaanxi. Initially, due to internal and external troubles in the Ming Dynasty and a large gap in government revenue and expenditure, he had to streamline government agencies. This led to Li Zicheng, who was working as a postman at the post station, to be laid off. After being laid off from the civil service, Li Zicheng worked as a border soldier. Later, he participated in a mutiny because the general deducted military pay, and then joined the peasant army.
In the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Li Zicheng was once defeated by the Ming army Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting. He took only 17 of his subordinates to take refuge in Shangluo Mountain in southeast Shaanxi. At that time, the Ming army was quite effective in suppressing bandits. Another Zhang Xianzhong, the leader of the peasant uprising, also surrendered to the army for a time. However, in the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), first Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the severe drought that year to rebel against the Ming Dynasty again. Later, Li Zicheng also fought his way out of Shangluo Mountain. Due to the 1639-1641 There was a severe drought for three consecutive years. At that time, the hungry people who participated in Li Zicheng's peasant army rushed to pick up the hoe, and those who responded were like running water, day and night, with millions of people calling out, and their momentum was like a prairie fire that could not be stopped.
Not only the peasant army, but also the troops of the Hou Jin Dynasty (Qing Dynasty) who continued to move south at that time were essentially affected by the climate change of the Little Ice Age in the north at that time, as well as the severe drought and poor grassland ecology. Under the influence of the climate crisis, they were originally The ambitious Manchus, descendants of the Jurchens, continued to move south, trying to survive the difficult times by conquering cities and plundering people, materials and other resources.
Although they were also affected by climate change, relatively speaking, during the rise of the Later Jin Dynasty (Manchu Qing Dynasty), Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, their father and son, relied on war to continuously plunder the wealth and population resources of Liaodong and the Pass. At the same time, they also continued to win over the Mongolians outside the Pass. Tribes, and sent troops to conquer Korea many times, which caused the various Mongolian tribes and Korea, which was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, to be drawn under the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the Manchus continued to win the support of the local Han people in Liaodong, which made the Manchu Qing Dynasty compete with the Ming Dynasty. In the process of fighting for the world, it continued to expand and grow, becoming an increasingly powerful threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Faced with the same crisis, the Manchus turned the crisis into an opportunity. Of course, from a practical point of view, the Manchus had a small territory and a small population in the Northeast, and their boats were small and easy to turn around. Coupled with proper strategies to win over resources and people's hearts, this allowed the Manchus to remain on the sidelines during the great turmoil within the Ming Dynasty. , and the merger between the Ming government and the peasant armies such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong also allowed the Manchus, a third party, to enjoy the benefits of fishing outside the customs. This is indeed a special feature that Chongzhen, the "big boss" of the Ming Empire, does not have Advantage, and it is a fatal advantage. Since the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign (1642), the Western missionary Tang Ruowang has been waiting anxiously in the Forbidden City.
In the past few years, Tang Ruowang, on the orders of Emperor Chongzhen, led craftsmen in Beijing to cast artillery to support the Liaodong front line against the Manchus (Later Jin Dynasty). However, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), the Ming Dynasty's last elite force in Liaodong, 130,000 people, came out of Shanhaiguan to rescue Jinzhou, but was defeated by Qing troops. The life and death of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao who led the army, is unknown.
Although he had been missionary in China for many years, Tang Ruowang, who helped the Ming Dynasty officially revise the calendar and cast cannons, understood that the Ming Empire, which he had placed high hopes on, was now crumbling. Under the double attack of the peasant army internally and the Manchu Qing externally, it might not last long. many.
An agricultural empire that has been on the verge of recovery cannot be saved by the most advanced calendars and cannons.
While Tang Ruowang was waiting anxiously, news came from the front that Governor Hong Chengchou of Jiliao was unwilling to surrender after the city was broken and had "martyrdom for his country". For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen mourned and cried bitterly. He even ordered an altar to be set up in front of Chaotian Palace and prepared to pay homage in person. In the court hall, Chongzhen shed tears and said, "I never saved Chengchou."
But the fact is that after being trapped in Songshan City for half a year, in March of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Hong Chengchou was captured after Songshan City was broken. At first, he did go on a hunger strike for several days and refused to surrender. In response, Huang Taiji, who had changed the country's name from Jin (Later Jin) to Qing, sent people to persuade him to surrender many times, but was scolded and turned back.
Unwilling to give up, Huang Taiji sent Fan Wencheng, the official minister, to persuade him to surrender. After Fan Wencheng met Hong Chengchou, he did not mention the matter of recruiting and surrendering, but only talked with him about the past and the present. During the conversation, a piece of dust fell from the beam and landed on Hong Chengchou's clothes. Hong Chengchou wiped it off repeatedly while talking. Fan Wencheng, who was very observant, did not say anything. After saying goodbye, he said to Huang Taiji: "Hong Chengchou will not die. He cherishes his clothes so much, let alone his own life!"
So Huang Taiji struck while the iron was hot and met with Hong Chengchou the next day. Seeing Hong Chengchou standing without kneeling, Huang Taiji was not angry. He just asked for help. The weather in Liaodong was still cold at that time, so he deliberately took off his mink fur and put it on Hong Chengchou, who was wearing thin clothes. This may have finally moved Hong Chengchou, or it may have given Hong Chengchou a step to surrender. The next day, Hong Chengchou formally surrendered to Huang Taiji.
As early as when the cities of Songshan and Jinzhou were defeated, Huang Taiji was very happy and said to the generals: "Taking Beijing is like cutting down a big tree. You must start from both sides, so that the big tree will fall down on its own. Now I am taking After reaching the four cities outside the Pass, the best troops of the Ming Dynasty have been exhausted, and Beijing can be captured."
After Hong Chengchou surrendered together with Zu Dashou and other generals, Huang Taiji became even happier and hosted a banquet in person to entertain these Ming Dynasty generals. Some Eight Banners generals within the Manchus were very dissatisfied with this and started talking about it. After Huang Taiji knew about it, he called them privately The generals said to each other: "We people have endured the wind and rain for decades. Why?"
The generals replied: "Of course it is to seize the Central Plains!"
Huang Taiji immediately said, that's right, "To seize the Central Plains, it's like walking on the road. We don't know the way. Can I not be happy to have a guide today?"
Although Huang Taiji died suddenly one year after saying these words, and he himself did not live to see the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Empire was indeed in sunset.
Portrait of Huang Taiji (1592-1643). The aggressive Manchu Qing Dynasty was just a symptom of the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Source: Internet
01
After the complete failure of the Battle of Songjin and the capture of Hong Chengchou, only 30,000 remnants of the Ming Dynasty were left outside Shanhaiguan to follow Wu Sangui and retreat to the isolated city of Ningyuan.
The situation outside the Pass was over, but in the interior, Li Zicheng led the peasant army to besiege the important town of Kaifeng for the third time. The Central Plains was shaken, and Emperor Chongzhen, who was troubled by internal and external troubles and was at a loss, no longer knew what to do. He had inherited the throne since he was 17 years old (1627). Since then, the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian was eradicated vigorously and resolutely when he came to power, which once won applause at home and abroad. However, the power of the Ming Dynasty has declined over the years. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties attacked from the northeast and the peasant army from the northwest. The Ming Empire was exhausted to deal with it. Now, the Manchus The Qing Dynasty was approaching Shanhaiguan, the peasant army was fighting north and south within the empire, and the war was approaching Beijing.
What few people know is that in the last turbulent days of the empire, Chongzhen once believed in Catholicism. In the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), Xu Guangqi, a Catholic minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, recommended Catholicism to Chongzhen. This made Chongzhen, who was confused, very happy. Coupled with the preaching of missionaries Nan Huairen, Tang Ruowang and others, Chongzhen then He ordered all Buddha statues in the Forbidden City to be removed, which meant that only God was allowed to exist, and no other idols were allowed.
Not only that, because he once worshiped the Catholic God, Chongzhen also ordered all his ministers with the word "天" to change their names. For example, Chen Liangmo, the official of Dali Temple, whose original name was Chen Tiangong, was forced to change his name because of Chongzhen's order.
However, converting to Catholicism could not save Chongzhen's confusion and the declining power of the Ming Empire. In 1640, Chongzhen's fifth son Zhu Cihuan died of illness. It is said that before Zhu Cihuan died, Chongzhen went to visit him. Unexpectedly, he was only five years old at the time. The age-old Zhu Cihuan actually called the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva with his fingers in the air and accused Chongzhen of destroying the Buddha statues in the Forbidden City. Although there are many versions of the authenticity of this incident and the course of the incident, Chongzhen was deeply shocked after Zhu Cihuan's death and asked him to He took back the Buddha statue that had been moved outside the palace and stopped praying to God from then on.
Of course, the God he once believed in could not save his Ming Dynasty. Therefore, as early as 1639, before the fifth son of the emperor Zhu Cihuan died of illness, he set up an altar in the Forbidden City to summon heavenly soldiers and generals, praying for his alms to quell the war. Of course, the method of setting up an altar once had no effect, but Chongzhen, who was in a hurry and sought medical treatment, no longer knew what to do. So, after Hong Chengchou was captured, Chongzhen once again set up a dining hall in the Forbidden City to worship Buddha and chant sutras. Feeling that worshiping Buddhas and chanting sutras was ineffective, he summoned another The 52nd generation Heavenly Master Zhang Yingjing came to the Taoist sect and ordered him to set up an altar to summon heavenly soldiers and generals, hoping that the gods could descend to earth to drive away the Manchus and suppress the rebels at home.
Praying for gods to appear is one thing, but Chongzhen understood that more depends on personnel. In desperation, Chongzhen, who had always insisted not to negotiate for peace, had to secretly order Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, to negotiate peace with Huang Taiji. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment of the peace negotiation, Chen Xinjia and Manchu The peace negotiation documents of the Qing Dynasty were accidentally leaked by Chen Xinjia's servants and reported to various places as a newspaper, which caused an uproar throughout the court.
Originally, the peace talks with the Manchus were conducted in secret, but now that the matter has been leaked, Chongzhen, who could not bear to lose his face, decided to use Chen Xinjia as a scapegoat. On July 29, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Chen Xinjia was imprisoned. Subsequently, The ministers of the DPRK and the Central Government came to rescue in various ways. The great scholars Zhou Yanru and Chen Yan also wrote a letter saying: "According to the national law, the Minister of War should not be killed unless the enemy soldiers attack the city." However, Chongzhen, who had made up his mind to kill Chen Xinjia, replied: " (When Chen Xingjia was the Minister of the Ministry of War) Seven of my princes were killed and humiliated. Isn’t this more serious than the enemy soldiers attacking the city?"
More than a month later, on September 22 (1642), Chen Xinjia was beheaded in the city. At this point, the last peace negotiation between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was completely interrupted. The Ming Dynasty could only fight the war with the Manchu Qing Dynasty to the end. However, the already stretched Ming Empire still had to disperse its limited resources outside the customs to deal with the Manchus, and the situation became even more critical.
Chen Xinjia negotiated peace on behalf of Chongzhen, but was actually ordered to be executed for leaking secrets. He served the emperor loyally, but could be abandoned at any time to protect his chariot. This made the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty even more silent.
Therefore, from another level, when the Ming Dynasty died in the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Minister of Culture and Military was entering Beijing, most people abandoned the surrender, which can also be understood as a kind of despair and abandonment of Chongzhen.
According to statistics, during the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1627-1644), Chongzhen beheaded 7 governors and 11 governors. Ling Chi was executed; Shandong governor Yan Jizu was executed as a scapegoat because he entered the customs and captured the princes of Jinan; coupled with the Ministry of War, Chen Xinjia, the Ministry of War, who was killed by the participation and leak, The context of Wubai Guan was even more trembling and dare not act in troubled times.
In this regard, Chongzhen's targeting strategy is to reuse the ministers of the East Factory and Jinyiwei Surveillance, and to replace the Minister of Death with the law of national law. In the incident, Jiang Cai was executed secretly by Chongzhen after being arrested by Chongzhen.
Chongzhen, who is in chaos in state affairs, has a biased personality that he hopes to be inquiring with painting, but has limited ability, but he is helpless. Later, Chongzhen, who said that "the monarchs of the country and the king of the country, the ministers of the country", had to vent their anger to the courtiers, or murdered to kill people. Frequent anger, either frequently replaced the minister -according to statistics, Chongzhen reigned for 17 years, and only 17 people were changed by the Ministry of Criminal Affairs alone; and the entire Ming Dynasty had a history of more than 160 pavilions. It can be seen that the frequency of the opponent's courtiers and the emphasis on doubts.
Under the country of the country, he was anxious, but what he did made the courtiers even more centrifugal.
Chongzhen's bias and suspiciousness increased the contradictions of the monarchs and ministers in Daming. Source: Film and TV stills
02
There is a generation of Ming Dynasty, and many wonderful emperors, such as the Ming Yingzong, who was captured by the Mongolian northern expedition, and later successfully restored by the Mongolian, and the Jiajing Emperor Jiajing, who had not been in the North, Wanli Emperor who did not go to the DPRK in 28 years, and Chongzhen's brother. Being a carpenter's handmade work and petting Wei Zhongxian's Ming Zongzong Zhu You School, but among the series of bastard emperors in the late Ming Dynasty, the Emperor Chongzhen was a rare stream. He eliminated Wei Zhongxian at the beginning of his throne. The Daming Empire, but why did the Ming dynasty be irregularly moved to destroy?
In this regard, when the old veterans of the Ming Dynasty wrote "History of the Ming Dynasty", they put forward a point of view: "The reason the theory is the death of the Ming Dynasty, and the death of the gods" -s believe that the death of the Ming Dynasty is actually idling, but in fact, they are idle. During the period of corruption of the Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, a serious scourge was buried. This view has a profound side, but the rotten inside the empire is a slow variable. Climate change and drought, locusts, famine, plague and other natural disasters.
A few years before Chongzhen's top position, at that time, northern Shaanxi and the northern part of Guanzhong was already arid for many years. "Plants and trees, people eat each other." Farmers "have exhausted skin, saving death", and the Ming Dynasty officials not only did not reduce tax exemption and relieve the victims, but instead assigned "new crickets" and "all lost". And the officials were strictly ordered to accept the responsibility. In this case, the peasant Wang Er led the public to kill Zhang Douyao in Chengcheng, Shaanxi, and opened the prelude to the peasant war at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
In the second year of Wang Er's Uprising, the first year of Chongzhen (1628), because of the shortage of years of shortage, Wang Jiazheng, who used to be a soldier, also organized the victims to reveal it. Since then, Wang Zi, Gao Yingxiang, and Li Zicheng have also participated in the peasants. Shaanxi and spread to Shanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, farmers gradually became momentum.
Analysis of a series of farmers before and after Chongzhen's upper and after the upper and after -and -after Chongzhen can find that they have a great relationship with natural disasters.
According to incomplete statistics, in the 17 years of Chongzhen's reign, 14 extra droughts have occurred all over the country, and the records of "hungry all over the world" and "people eat each other" are very common.
Although droughts are not uncommon in Chinese history, the scope and severity of droughts in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were shocking.
The drought in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640) was a drought for thousands of years, and it was also the worst drought incident in China since the Han Dynasty.
Two drought incidents before and after this year are not leisurely: the drought in the 12th year of Chongzhen (1639) is the level of one century, and the drought in the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641) is 500 years. level.
The drought spread to North China and Northwest China, and the affected population was extremely extensive. Many places have been affected by years, and the people's production and life encountered four combo, five combos, and even nine consecutive strings.
According to the research of meteorological scholar Zhang Dev, the secondary effect caused by the drought disaster in the early days of Chongzhen should have not been eliminated. There was a 7 -year -old drought period that appeared for 7 years. "Its duration and large scope of drought have not been seen in the past century ... Plague epidemic ... This incident is the second cold stage in the coldest period of the small ice period. It is a typical case of continuous drought in the cold climate background. "
At that time, a total of 23 provinces (autonomous regions) north and south were suffered from severe droughts north and south. "The main drought areas are in the north, initially in the north and North China. The drought reached its peak around 1640, of which Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong and other places were drought for more than 5 years. "
Historical records, such as the Lancao area of Henan, at the time from "(Chongzhen) 11th year (1638), July July to 13 years (1640) on June 12th". Rain, which is almost a devastating blow in the agricultural society in a place; and Henan Biyang "November of November (1639) from June (1638) in November (1639), it is also five a year. The month is not rainy; the Shanxi Yuncheng "has not rained in September (1639), from July of 13 (1640)", which is nearly ten months without rain.
Under the influence of this extensive drought, at that time, the "Weishui Blinds" in Zhucheng in Shandong, in 1640, "Baiyang Dian is exhausted, nine rivers are dry" in Hebei, and "Yellow River Water" in Suining, Jiangsu; In 1641, "Chaohu Water", Chao County, Anhui, "Mayfen River" in the Shanxi River, and Tongxiang, Zhejiang, "exhausted" in Tongxiang, Zhejiang; in 1642, Henan Lancao "in November of the Yellow River dried in the Yellow River, people can walk on foot"; In 1643 in the year before the death, Yucheng, Henan, "the Yellow River was running into the summer and drought in the Yellow River", and the Shanghai Songjiang River was "the river was exhausted."
Under this cruel large -scale and long -term drought influence, Chongzhen Ten years (1637) to the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), and broke out for more than five consecutive years.
Scholars Zhang Dev's study pointed out that "locust plague in 1639-1640 reached extremely prosperous, locust areas spread throughout Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan", and " The records of the county's county and the time of people at that time were recorded. At that time, the Henan region was even more recorded that after the forty years of Wanli (1612), the locust accidents were available almost every year. ) Yingye covers the sky, its potential ... The crops are open instantly. Burning the fire, the pits of the pits, and the end cannot be controlled.
In the year of the Ming Dynasty (1644 years), the historical records recorded that the locust accident in Henan reached its peak. Show. "In the historical background of this kind of flying locust, or even starting to eat people, the suffering of the people has not yet ended.
In the end of the Ming Dynasty, the drought, locusts, famine, and plague in the end of the Ming Dynasty were condemnation that traditional agricultural society could hardly resist. Source: Film and TV stills
Under the influence of the severe drought and locust accidents during the Chongzhen period, five years before the Ming Dynasty's death, "Chongzhen Gengchen (1640) autumn, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Nannan eat wooden skin to eat each other. 1641) Given children, selling appliances in the south and south of the river, and sale, flowing the road. Young women are not worth a thousand dollars. "—— In this North China Plain, the Loess Plateau, and even the south of Beijing," people eat each other "and the dead corpse of the country In the case of "road", the cruel phenomenon of picked the dead body from the grave appeared. For example, in Yongji County, Shanxi in 1640. "In the Dandan of Jiangsu," Three Wu is hungry, the bark is exhausted, and the food is eaten. "
The records of Lishan County, Shanxi, "(Chongzhen) from the 11th to thirteen (1638-1640) frequency drought, wild grass, Doumi, men and women into the city, grass-roots bark is exhausted, and even people are phased Eating. There are young people who are eaten alone, some who have not sprung up the stolen people, some who eat together and sleep together, those who have a child die and their parents eat, and their parents are dead and they eat. All kinds of miserable. "
Under the influence of this kind of drought and locust accidents, the people's death, the plague also followed.
Historical records, two major plague occurred in the middle and late Ming dynasties, from 1586-1590 and 1640-1644, and the second major plague synchronized with the continued drought in the late Ming Dynasty was particularly serious. In these plague, the harm of plague is very high. Among the deaths of the three provinces in North China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, at least 5 million people died of plague.
It can be seen that the history books of the review can be seen that in the 14th year of Chongzhen (1640), at that time, due to long -term drought, a large number of mice bite each other's tails, groups of groups through rivers and rivers, and entered Anhui, Henan, Hebei and other provinces to find all provinces to find all provinces to find all provinces and other provinces to find all provinces and other provinces. Eating, and in the long -term drought and famine disaster, mice are eaten by mice, thereby increasing the outbreak of the plague -at the time, the entire northern "plague, 5 or six or six of the age", then The Ministry of Household Department, who urged the transportation to the south, gave Zuo Zei on the way to the court and told the court that he arrived in Linqing, Shandong from Jinghai, Tianjin. Twenty -four silver, people died. "
In the year before the demise of the Ming Dynasty, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), the plague spread throughout North China was introduced to Beijing. Even Ding Ding is exhausted, and no one will collect. " Due to the too many plague deaths, there were even all people in Beijing that even appeared in the city of Beijing, and even the corpse incubators had no tragic situation.
At that time, the population in Beijing was about 1 million people. In the first year before this Ming Dynasty's death, Beijing City estimated that the number of deaths was as high as more than 200,000, and the remaining people were dying. Great epidemic, sick people vomit blood like watermelon water. "
In the year of the Ming Dynasty, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Tianjin Supervisory Military Affairs Luo Royn said, "The plague of the Beijing Normal University yesterday, the death of death, ten rooms and nine emptys, and even the household, no one converged. "
By the beginning of the spring of 1644, the plague recurred in Beijing.
At this time, Li Zicheng's army was successfully advanced from Shaanxi to near Beijing. At that time, the mortality rate of the plague population in Beijing had reached about 40%. Due to too many dead people, many streets and alleys in Beijing had been left unmanned. At that time, the three major battalions of the Ming Army Beijing, which were responsible for defending Beijing. At that time, there were 100,000 people nominal, but in addition to the lack of additional, the remaining tens of thousands of people were mostly sick. Can't keep the city. In addition, due to the difficulties of the Ming Dynasty and owing it for too long, the soldiers had no spirit at that time.
Therefore, when Li Zicheng's army was under the city in the lunar calendar in the lunar calendar in 1644, Beijing City, which was tortured by the plague, immediately collapsed.
03
Based on the above historical materials, it can be seen that, in fact, the biggest factor of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the internal factors, its external or fast variables is undoubtedly from the cruel continuous large -scale, long -term drought, locusts, famine, famine Natural disasters such as plague.
According to climate statistics analysis, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, China was in the cold period of the small ice period. The average temperature in winter was about 2 ° C. At that time, the rainfall of the temperature in the Central Plains and the northern agricultural and animal husbandry belts also reached the lowest point since the Qin and Han dynasties. .
The small ice period began in the 13th century, and then experienced a relatively warm period, reaching its heyday in the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century.
In China, the climate cold period from the late 15th century to the end of the 19th century as the small ice period. Because this period was exactly the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was also called the "Ming and Qing Dynasties".
Don't underestimate the temperature decline of climate change in the small ice period. In agricultural society, the abnormal change of this climate is enough to destroy the production foundation of the entire society, and greatly weaken the country's economic strength. At the same time, the chain produces various society. unstable factor.
In this regard, as early as the natural disaster gradually entered the peak, in the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the official Ma Yancai mentioned the most serious situation in northern Shaanxi in the "Preparation of Chen Dahan Shu Shu" to the Emperor Chongzhen. He said:
"Chen Township Yan'an Mansion, since the age of 16 (1628), has no rain for a year, and the grass and trees are scorched. In August and September, the people were eaten by the grass in the mountains. It can only be extended to die. After October, the bark is peeled out.
At the end of the bark at the end of the year, the stones in the mountains are eaten. Its stone is named Qingye, which is smelly and greasy.
The most compassionate, such as the place where the city of Ansai City, will abandon one or two babies every day. Some cry, some call their parents, and some eat their excrement. By the next morning, the abandoned son had no life left, and there were still abandoned sons.
What's even more strange is that children and people traveling alone disappear without a trace as soon as they leave the city. Later, I saw people outside the door cooking human bones for fuel and human flesh for food. Then I realized that everyone in front of me was being eaten by them. The people who cannibalism are red and swollen in less than a few days, and the inside is hot and died. So the deceased pouted, smelly. "
After saying the tragic situation of people's food in Shang Shuzhong, Ma Yan said that among the local people, those who are unwilling to starve to death have begun to take risks and gather together. Even if it was captured by the government, he did not regret it. He publicly stated: "He died of hunger and stolen ears! Instead of sitting and hungry, if you die for the stolen, you still have to be full of ghosts."
Since northern Shaanxi is the initial place of natural disasters in the late Ming Dynasty, and the forest cutting and destructive development of the forests of the northern Shaanxi region has experienced thousands of years, the ecological environment has been harsh at this time.
Therefore, in 1627 (seven years of Apocalypse) and 1628 (the first year of Chongzhen) at the beginning of Chongzhen, Wang Er, Wang Jiazheng, Gao Yingxiang and others successively led farmers in northern Shaanxi. At that time, many hungry people inside the Daming Empire shouted " Rather than sitting and hungry, why not stole the slogans, "the slogans have launched an uprising. In the face of the peasant army, the Ming Dynasty officials often occupied the advantage when they were siege. Many farmers have continued to influx into the uprising army, causing the peasant uprising to show the trend of "wild fires".
According to the statistical analysis of Ge Jianxiong of contemporary historical geography scientists, the population of the population in the late Ming Dynasty should have reached about 160 million people during the peak period. The peak period was only 50 or 6 million.
After entering the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to various reasons such as famine, drought, land merger, plague, war, etc., the people's flow was displaced, and the population resources that the Ming government could control was increasingly reduced. For the border war of the invasion of the Manchu and the suppression of the internal rebellion, the expenses required by the Ming government are constantly expanding. On the one hand, it is an increasingly reduced resource, and on the other hand, it is a national expense that is constantly expanding. The living space is constantly compressed and squeezed.
As the most important leader of the peasant army later, Li Zicheng, born in northern Shaanxi. At first, first because of the internal and external problems of the internal and external problems of the Ming Dynasty, the government's income and expenditure gaps were too large, and the government agency had to be streamlined. After laid off from the civil servant team, Li Zicheng became a soldier again, and later participated in the army change because the army was deducted from the army, and then entered the peasant army.
In the ten years of Chongzhen (1637), Li Zicheng was once beaten by the Ming Army Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting. Zhang Xianzhong, the leader of farmers, also surrendered the official army for a while, but in the twelve years of Chongzhen (1639), Zhang Xianzhong first took advantage of the drought and rebelled again. Later, Li Zicheng also killed Shangluo Mountain. Due to the 1639 to 1641, from 1639 to 1641 For three consecutive years of drought, at that time, the Li Zicheng's farmers' army "went far and near the hungry people, and those who responded were flowing water.
Not only the peasant army, but also the Golden (Qing Army) troops that continued south to the south. The ambitious women's descendants have continued to go south, trying to spend a difficult period by plundering the population and supplies of the population, materials and other resources.
Although it is also affected by climate change, relatively speaking, in the process of rise (Manchu), Nurhachi and Emperor Taiji relying on the war, while continuously plundering Liaodong and Guan's wealth and population resources, they also continued to attract Mongolia outside Guan Guan Mongolia. The tribe, and repeatedly discussed North Korea for troops, so that the Mongolian ministries and North Korea, which were originally a state of the Ming Dynasty, were pulled into His Majesty. In addition, Manchu continued to fight for the support of the local Han nationality in Liaodong. In the process of competing for the world, it has continued to expand and grow, becoming the threat of the Ming Dynasty.
Facing the crisis, Manchu turned the crisis into a machine. Of course, from a practical point of view, the Manchu people are small in the northeast, the population is small, the boat is small, and the strategy is pretty. The fire of the Ming Dynasty government and the peasant army such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong also allowed the third party of the Manchu to enjoy the advantages of the fisherman outside the Guan. Advantages, and is enough to make people fatal.
