Ming Dynasty: Every day, Zhu Yuanzhang is in trouble

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he could not express himself.

I just felt extremely tired.

It's probably the kind of feeling that there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart.

In fact, many things in the late Ming Dynasty were beyond his expectations.

It’s really heartwarming to watch!

However, the picture on the simulator did not stop because of Zhu Yuanzhang's discomfort.

Various images are still being displayed.

Tell Zhu Yuanzhang many things about the late Ming Dynasty——

In order to enter the pass, Huang Taiji invaded Liaoxi fortresses such as Songshan and Jinzhou for many years.

In July of the 13th year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou led 50,000 people from Ningyuan to rescue Jinzhou where Zu Dashou was stationed.

After a fierce battle with the Qing army, they retreated.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou went out of the country many times to rescue and repel the Qing army's attack.

But Jinzhou was still surrounded by the Qing army.

The Minister of War Chen Xinjia suggested that Hong Chengchou lead a large army to Songshan and Jinzhou for a decisive battle to annihilate the Qing army that surrounded Jinzhou.

However, Hong Chengchou advocated prudence and opposed a rapid advance.

Zhu Youjian originally preferred Hong Chengchou's suggestion, but Chen Xinjia insisted on his own opinion.

In addition, Zhang Ruoqi, a doctor of the Military Affairs Department who had returned from Ningyuan, also reported that the Qing army was running out of food and wages, with the cavalry only having two meals a day and the infantry only having one meal.

Chen Xinjia then intensified his efforts to instigate Zhu Youjian and urged Hong Chengchou to send troops.

Zhu Youjian agreed.

On July 26, Hong Chengchou swore an oath to his troops in Ningyuan.

He then led an army of 60,000 to station in Songshan. Together with the Ming army that arrived later, there were a total of eight generals and 130,000 troops.

In August, Huang Taiji personally led 3,000 elite cavalry to Songshan.

He also sent troops to set up camps between Songshan and Xingshan to cut off the Ming army's connections.

Hong Chengchou sent six generals including Wang Pu, Wu Sangui and Li Fuming to lead the troops to break out.

Most of them were wiped out by the Qing army.

Hong Chengchou, General Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen and Liaodong Governor Qiu Minyang were besieged in Songshan City.

In February of the 15th year of Chongzhen, with the help of Xia Chengde, the deputy general of Songshan, the Qing army captured Songshan.

Qiu Minyang, Cao Bianjiao, and Wang Tingchen died for their loyalty.

Hong Chengchou was captured and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

In March, Zu Dashou, who was defending Jinzhou, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the two cities of Xingshan and Tashan were also captured by the Qing army.

After the war, Zhu Youjian instructed Chen Xinjia to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, but the peace talks were leaked unexpectedly.

This once again aroused opposition from the ministers.

Not only did Chen Xinjia refuse to admit his mistake, he also thought he had done a great job.

Zhu Youjian imprisoned Chen Xinjia in July and executed him in September.

Seeing that the peace talks had broken down, Huang Taiji sent troops into the Great Wall for the sixth time in November.

This was the Renwu Rebellion.

The experience of this entry into the Great Wall was exactly the same as the previous ones.

After months of plundering and the capture of 88 cities, the Qing army fled with 369,000 prisoners, more than 320,000 heads of livestock and other spoils.

Afterwards, Zhu Youjian killed two governors of Ji and Liao, Fan Zhiwan and Zhao Guangyan, to take the blame...

With a bang, Zhu Yuanzhang threw a vase to the ground and smashed it to pieces.

Even before this, he had decided not to be angry anymore, and just watch from the sidelines to see how his Ming Dynasty developed.

However, looking at the various scenes appearing in the simulator, he couldn't help but feel angry.

Once again the defense was broken.

This Chongzhen is really not fit to be emperor!
It's simply outrageous!
From the previous scenes, we can see that he urged Sun Chuanting to go into battle, which in turn urged Hong Chengchou to go into battle quickly.

You don't know anything about military affairs, you just keep urging people to do things!

Such a person should be sent to the front line to fight the enemy personally.

You shouldn't sit on the dragon throne.

He is even worse than Adou, who was ridiculed by the world as being content with his life and not wanting to return to his homeland!

If he were really Liu Adou, he wouldn't have made things into this state!
The images on the simulator continued to appear one after another.

With the great defeat on both the internal and external fronts, the signs of the Ming Dynasty's demise became apparent.

The people in the government and the country were increasingly divided.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian went to the Huangji Hall as usual to accept congratulations.

The civil class only had one person, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the cabinet, and the military class only had one meritorious official.

Zhu Youjian ordered the door to be opened, as there were too few court officials coming in.

After a long time, court officials began to arrive hurriedly.

Only after a little more than half of the officials were gathered together could the court ceremony be held reluctantly.

At that time, the saying "When the Tartars and bandits arrive at the gate, I will open the city and welcome them in" was already circulating in the city of Beiping.

During the sixth Qing army's entry into the Great Wall, Zhu Youjian took out tens of thousands of taels of silver from the treasury and distributed them to the soldiers defending the city.

Each person only received twenty coins.

The soldiers defending the city flicked their coins and said: The emperor wants our lives, so he orders us to defend the city.

This money can only buy five or six pancakes!

Under such circumstances, Zhu Youjian was eager to reverse the situation as soon as possible.

He ordered a reward of 10,000 taels of gold and the title of marquis for Li Zicheng's head.

A reward of five thousand taels of gold, a first-rank official position, and the hereditary title of commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were offered for Zhang Xianzhong's head.

At that time, the only military forces the Ming Dynasty could rely on were those under the command of Sun Chuanting in Shaanxi and Zuo Liangyu in Huguang.

Although Zuo Liangyu had an army of 200,000, he was not only unable to wipe out Zhang Xianzhong, but also plundered everywhere.

In February of the 16th year of Chongzhen, he threatened Nanjing and demanded military pay.

Zhu Youjian could only appease him.

But there was nothing I could do about him.

Zhang Xianzhong took the opportunity to capture Wuchang in May, sank King of Chu Zhu Huakui into the Yangtze River, and established the Dashi regime.

Li Zicheng also proclaimed himself King Xinshun in Xiangyang and initially established his regime.

And put forward the slogan of "three years of tax exemption and no killing".

There was a folk song called "When the King of Rebellion came, he didn't pay taxes"...

"Zuo Liangyu deserves to be killed!!"

Zhu Yuanzhang came to this conclusion.

But then I thought of those loyal people who fought for the country and were executed one after another.

On the contrary, Zuo Liangyu, who disobeyed orders, burned, killed, looted, and threatened the court, left Chongzhen helpless.

It's true that there are no corpses when building bridges and roads, but you get a gold belt when killing people and setting fires!

This Ming Dynasty... let's destroy it quickly!

Save yourself from being upset!

It is unknown whether it was Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong who won the Ming Dynasty and obtained the country.

No matter who takes the throne, as long as they do a good job and the Han people gain control of the country, it will not be a big bad thing.

As he thought about this, a thought suddenly came to his mind, causing his heart to beat wildly.

At this time, there are still Tatars in the northeast.

Don't do that in the future! The Tartars have taken over this country!

After this thought arose, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head repeatedly.

Don't let yourself let your mind wander.

impossible!

This is absolutely impossible!
From now on, whether it is Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong, they will inevitably fight against the Tartars...

You can see it from the pictures you see in the simulator.

I am afraid that Li Zicheng's possibility of taking over the world is greater than Zhang Xianzhong's.

Especially after he shouted out such a slogan, combined with the various chaos at the end of the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters and man-made disasters, the people were living in misery...

In this regard, he can basically be said to have won Zhang Xianzhong...

——Zhu Youjian placed his hope of turning the tide on the Ming Dynasty's last powerful force, the Qin soldiers led by Sun Chuanting.

Appoint him as the commander-in-chief and send him out of Tongguan to destroy Li Zicheng...

In September, Sun Chuanting marched into Henan and initially received reports of victory.

The news of Huang Taiji's death also reached Peking at this time.

The court was filled with the illusion that the country's situation would be turned around and revival was just around the corner.

However, Sun Chuanting was first defeated in Ruzhou, and then died in Tongguan...

In October, Li Zicheng drove into the pass and occupied Xi'an.

Then they quickly took control of the entire Shaanxi Province.

Zhu Youjian successively sent Yu Yinggui and Li Huaxi to replace Sun Chuanting, but they had no soldiers or money and were at a loss.

Despite this, the cabinet chief minister Chen Yan and the minister of personnel Li Yuzhi still comforted Zhu Youjian, saying that the thieves who entered Guanzhong would surely be attached to their children and jade, just like a tiger falling into a trap.

I want to make this my home.

Completely misjudged the situation...

"hehe!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, and it was unclear whether he was mocking Chongzhen or the minister who said these words to Chongzhen?
Or maybe it was a mockery of himself and the Ming Dynasty he founded...

There were many inexplicable feelings in his voice...

On the first day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when Zhu Youjian went to the Huangji Hall to receive congratulations, he found that only Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was present.

Zhu Youjian ordered the bell to be rung to open the door, but no one came for a long time.

Zhu Youjian was going to worship the Imperial Ancestral Temple before accepting the congratulations, but he found that the horses were not ready.
He continued to wait to receive the court's congratulations, and then civil and military officials arrived one after another.

They barged into each other's way during the morning class, which was very embarrassing.

On the same day, a sandstorm occurred in Peking.

Li Zicheng, who was based in Xi'an, also established the Dashun dynasty and the Yongchang reign on this day.

He then led his troops eastward to Shanxi and attacked Peking.

In this precarious situation, the proposal to move the capital to Nanjing came to the surface.

It is said that when the Qing army entered the Great Wall for the sixth time last year, Zhu Youjian discussed moving south with Zhou Yanru.

But he was stopped by the Emperor's sister-in-law, Empress Dowager Yi'an.

On the third day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when Zuo Zhongyun Li Mingrui was summoned by Zhu Youjian in Dezheng Hall, he strongly urged moving south, and Zhu Youjian also expressed his agreement.

He hoped that important ministers would take the lead, but no one in the cabinet proposed it.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, the Ministry of War received a declaration of war from Li Zicheng.

It was agreed that the decisive battle would take place outside the city of Peking on the tenth day of March.

Zhu Youjian summoned the cabinet ministers and said in tears:
I am not a king who would destroy my country, but everything I do is a sign of the country's destruction.

Our ancestors worked hard to build this world. If we lose it in one day, how will we face the afterlife?
I wish to lead the army to a decisive battle. I will not care if I die on the battlefield, but I will die with my eyes open...

"Bah! Aren't you the king of a fallen country?

You are definitely the king who lost his country!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Youjian in the simulator and cursed loudly, spitting out saliva!
The picture is still emerging, showing the follow-up of this incident——

The chief minister Chen Yan and the second minister Wei Zaode all requested to go to war on behalf of the emperor.

Zhu Youjian disagreed to all of them, and finally agreed to let Li Jiantai, a cabinet minister from Shanxi, lead the army.

Zhu Youjian performed the temple ceremony on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and on the 26th day of the first lunar month, he held a grand ceremony to promote Li Jiantai to the throne at Zhengyang Gate, and personally saw him off.

Before Li Jiantai arrived in Shanxi, the provincial capital of Shanxi, Taiyuan, fell on the eighth day of February.

Li Zicheng issued a manifesto to attack the Ming Dynasty, in which he said, "You are not very dark, but you are isolated and have always been deceived by many things.

"All my ministers are selfish and there are very few who are loyal and open-minded."

Demand that Zhu Youjian and his ministers surrender immediately to preserve their wealth and glory...

"Bah! I knew it! I knew it!

Another person who talks about excitement but is actually afraid of death!

What about the emperor leading the army in person?
In the end, I didn’t dare to go!
This is just like Emperor Xuanzong of Tang said three times that he would lead the army in person, but he didn’t go all three times!

He fled to Shuzhong and lived on!

He also said that he killed several generals in one go!
Tongguan, Chang'an and other places were handed over to us...

As he cursed like this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered that the emperor of the fallen Ming Dynasty should not be like those bastards like Song Huizong and Song Qinzong during the Jingkang Incident, and bring disgrace upon himself, right?
When this thought arose in his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had previously felt that he had given up, became nervous again.

And I feel extremely distressed...

The scene continues——

On the 21st, Li Zicheng encountered stubborn resistance from Zhou Yuji in Ningwu, but eventually defeated him. From then on, his road to Beijing was unimpeded.

During this period, Zhu Youjian wanted to transfer Wu Sangui, the general of Liaodong, to lead the Guanning elite troops to Beijing to defend the king.

However, the plan was abandoned due to the unwillingness to give up Ningyuan and the lack of military pay.

The dispute within the Ming court over the migration to the south also became public.

Li Mingrui submitted a memorial urging the move south, but was strongly opposed by Guang Shiheng, the military official, who denounced it as "heresy."

The cabinet chief, Chen Yan, also disagreed.

Li Banghua, the Left Censor-in-Chief, proposed that the Crown Prince and the other kings move south first...

Seeing that moving south was very controversial, Zhu Youjian expressed his refusal to move south on February 28.

Statement: A king dies for his country and the people, this is the right thing to do. I have made up my mind...

"madness!"

Zhu Yuanzhang cursed loudly.

If he didn't know the whole story, he would be happy to hear Chongzhen say this.

But now, he doesn't think so...

What do you mean the king must die for the country?
It’s just that I don’t dare to bear the blame of having to move south, that’s all!

This is what it means to save face and suffer in vain!

With such a character, how can he be an emperor?
——On the third day of March, Li Jiantai, who was on a military expedition, also submitted a petition requesting to move south.

And I am willing to let the prince go first.

Zhu Youjian summoned all his ministers to discuss the matter, but there were still great differences of opinion.

Guang Shiheng even said that the prince's advancement was an imitation of the story of Emperor Suzong of Tang ascending the throne in Lingwu.

But when it came to the strategies of war and defense, all the ministers were silent.

Zhu Youjian first reiterated that the king should die for the country.

After seeing the collective silence of his ministers, he stood up and shouted: I am not the king who has lost his country, but all of you ministers are the ones who have lost your country!
"Pooh!"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but pay compensation.

The more he looked upon his descendant, the more he disliked him.

As an emperor, how could he have the nerve to say such a thing?

Does he still feel aggrieved?

As an emperor, what should I do in this situation?
Shouldn't he be the one to stand up and command everyone?
But at this critical moment, he is still thinking about fame!
He also wanted to wait for all officials to step up and do their job, so he spoke first.

Don’t you see how many ministers he had killed before this?

At this moment, is there anyone in the court who dares to speak out?

This is a king who will definitely lose his country!
It is unprecedented that a person lost his country because of his hard work!

——On the fourth day of the month, Zhu Youjian appointed Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, as the Earl of Pingxi.

General Zuo Liangyu, who was in charge of suppressing the rebels, was made Earl of Ningnan.

Tang Tong, the general of Jizhen, was made the Earl of Dingxi.

Huang Degong, the general of Fenglu, was appointed as the Earl of Jingnan.

The other generals were also promoted.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian decided to abandon Ningyuan.

Wu Sangui, the general commander of Liaodong, and Wang Yongji, the governor of Ji-Liao, led their troops to defend the city.

Tang Tong and Liu Zeqing were also summoned to lead troops to guard the city.

As a result, Liu Zeqing disobeyed the imperial edict and fled south after looting Linqing.

Although Wu Sangui had 5,000 elite soldiers under his command, his progress was slowed down because he had to relocate soldiers and civilians from outside the Great Wall.

Only Tang Tong's two troops arrived in time and were sent to guard Juyong Pass.

On March 15th, Juyong Pass was broken and Tang Tong surrendered.

On March 16, Li Zicheng's vanguard arrived at the outskirts of Beijing, captured Changping, and burned the imperial tombs.

Chongzhen was shocked, and then he began to seek strategies to defend the city...

After a few scenes flashed by, Zhu Yuanzhang saw Chongzhen issue an order to raise money to defend the capital.

Moreover, before raising funds, he made a very optimistic estimate, thinking that at this moment when the country was destroyed and the family was ruined, he would definitely be able to raise a large sum of money to defend the capital...

However, after the fundraising really started, various signs occurred, which once again caused Zhu Yuanzhang's emotions to fluctuate greatly -

The closest relatives to Emperor Chongzhen were his fathers-in-law.

Empress Zhou's father was Zhou Kui, Concubine Tian's father was Tian Hongyu, and Concubine Yuan's father was Yuan You.

Chongzhen wanted the three of them to take the lead.

Because compared with civil and military ministers, the fate of their relatives is closely linked with that of the emperor.

Logically speaking, they should strongly support the emperor's son-in-law.

Although Chongzhen was harsh to his civil and military officials, he treated his in-laws well.

Yuan You has always been a timid and cautious person, and he never stands out in anything.

Tian Hongyu was an arrogant person, while Zhou Kui was stingy and mediocre by nature.

But no matter what, the three of them were able to reach a surprising consensus on the donation issue, which is: no money

Chongzhen's real father-in-law, Zhou Kui, was originally an ordinary citizen.

In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, his daughter was chosen as the princess consort of Zhu Youjian, who was still the Prince of Xin.

The concubines of the Ming Dynasty were not of high birth, so he benefited from his daughter.

He was appointed as the deputy commander of Nancheng Bingmasi.

When Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he was promoted to deputy governor, and later to right governor.

Chongzhen also promoted Zhou's uncle to the position of deputy governor.

After Queen Zhou's son was made crown prince, Zhou Kui was granted the title of Earl of Jiading.

Relying on his convenient status, Zhou Kui quickly accumulated a huge amount of wealth...

The first person Chongzhen thought of was his father-in-law Zhou Kui, and he told the eunuch Xu Gao from the Imperial Household Department to go to Zhou's house to raise money.

This time, I must ask my father-in-law to come up with 50,000 to 100,000 yuan.

Chongzhen did not want money for nothing, so he asked Xu Gao to take the imperial edict with him.

Zhou Kui was conferred the title of Marquis of Jiading.

As a result, Xu Gao was turned away, and Zhou Kui insisted that he had no money.
Xu Gao was so angry that he stood up and said: "The old royal relative is so stingy, the great cause is gone, what's the point of having a lot of wealth?"
Zhou Kui had no choice but to pinch and squeeze out 10,000 taels to hand over.

Chongzhen was very dissatisfied with this number and ordered another 10,000 to be added.

This time, Zhou Kui refused to take anything and ran to the palace to cry poor to his daughter, Queen Zhou.

Helpless Queen Zhou took out her own private money and gave him five thousand taels.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Kui took a kickback and embezzled two thousand taels, leaving only three thousand taels to Chongzhen.

Zhou Kui, who donated a total of 13,000 taels, was afraid that Chongzhen would not give in.

He simply asked someone to buy moldy rice and announced to the public that his family had donated the money.

Life was already so poor that the family could only eat moldy rice to survive...

Let’s look at another relative, Concubine Tian’s father, Tian Hongyu. Thanks to his daughter’s influence, he served as a guerrilla general, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and was granted the title of Left General.

Later, my daughter died and my treatment was not as good as before.

So Chen Yuanyuan was abducted and brought to Beijing, intending to present her to Chongzhen, but the plan never came to fruition.

In order to consolidate his position and find a new backer, he presented Chen Yuanyuan to Wu Sangui...

Emperor Chongzhen sent eunuchs to urge donations. After much persuasion, he finally paid out 10,000 taels like Zhou Kui, but he didn't pay a penny after that.

And the father of Empress Zhang of Emperor Tianqi, Zhang Guoji, the Earl of Taikang, also only paid out 10,000 taels...

Since the relatives by marriage are unwilling to pay the money quickly, the ministers under them are even more shrewd.

The ministers in Beijing no longer attended court. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves, called their servants, and flocked to the streets of the capital to set up stalls.

Selling one's own things publicly.

Some even put up notices on their front doors to announce the sale of their houses...

Some ministers saw that the situation was not right and fled, leaving the capital to avoid this donation...

Former Prime Minister Chen Yan said that he was an honest official and had no money to donate.

In fact, when he resigned in February, Chongzhen gave him compensation.

There is a huge fortune hidden in my own home...

Wei Zaode, the cabinet chief who succeeded him, donated five hundred taels.

Rather than calling this amount of money a subsidy, it would be more like calling it a gift to Emperor Chongzhen…

The eunuchs, who were looked down upon by civil and military officials, actually contributed the largest share of the donation.

Eunuch Wang Yongzuo, Wang Dehua, Cao Huachun and several honest men donated 50,000 taels each.

Eunuch Wang Zhixin is the richest in his family, but he is very stingy.

I didn’t take more, I only donated 10,000 taels…

Chongzhen spent so much effort to send money and food to Meng Jitao, but it was only 200,000 taels...

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the scenes flashing by in the simulator.

Looking at the two hundred thousand taels of silver that were finally gathered, his fists creaked so hard!
These bastards are so brave!
Ministers and eunuchs are all rich, only the emperor is poor!
How could you fool the emperor like this?
It seems that these people all want to welcome Li Zicheng.

But what kind of fate will await them next?

Is it life or death?

Or is the prosperity and wealth still the same?

After Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, his heart was filled with more and more gloom.

These people deceive their superiors and subordinates and intend to sell out their country.

I'm afraid that life with Li Zicheng in the future will be pretty good.

After all, he has seen many similar things.

Why are these people so confident?
The biggest reason was that they were ready to abandon the Ming Dynasty and Chongzhen.

Turning to Li Zicheng's army...

(End of this chapter)