Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

However, Emperor Chongzhen had always firmly opposed his relatives interfering in politics, and knowing that Zhou Kui was doing it for the benefit of their group, he not only refused to listen to persuasion, but was even stricter. .Li Guorui was so angry and frightened that he got a serious illness and died just like that.

When things got to this point, there were some grievances in the palace.Both court officials and eunuchs knew that the emperor would attack him after breaking through the threshold of noble relatives, so public opinion unanimously sympathized with Li Guorui's misfortune.

The relatives of the emperor were even more shocked. In order to protect the interests of the group, some people led by Zhou Kui secretly colluded with court ladies and eunuchs to carry out a conspiracy to boycott the emperor, and the target of the attack turned out to be Emperor Chongzhen. Five-year-old son.

Empress Zhou, the queen of Emperor Chongzhen, was a typical lady image of that era. She understood etiquette, kept women, and was good at handling housework disputes.After becoming the queen of the world, she lived in the Kunning Palace, which symbolized the highest status of women in the world, and took charge of the internal affairs of the palace, combining leniency and strictness, and managed it in an orderly manner.It should be said that she was the virtuous wife of Emperor Chongzhen.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen had a deep relationship with Empress Zhou, but Concubine Tian Guifei was the most beloved.Concubine Tian's demeanor is elegant and versatile, she is usually taciturn, and seems to have a faint sadness that cannot be erased, but once she enters the art field, she is full of vigor and vitality.Her characters Zongfa Zhong and Wang are said to have reached the realm of high quality products, and her painting and splashing ink are quite worthy of the brushwork of famous masters.The most outstanding thing is her attainments in music. She plays the flute well, and playing the piano is one of her special skills.It should be said that he is both talented and beautiful.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Tian Hongyu, the father of Concubine Tian Gui, later organized a purchasing group of thousands of famous prostitutes in the south of the Yangtze River, and among them purchased a superb product-Chen Yuanyuan.certainly.That's another story.

There is also Concubine Yuan who entered Shixin Mansion at the same time as Concubine Tian Gui.

There is a legend in history: Emperor Chongzhen was not good at women, but this is not always the case.There are nearly a hundred of his concubines.But he is very nostalgic, so among the many wives and concubines, he always only pays attention to the one empress and two concubines who share the suffering with him.And like most Ming emperors, Emperor Chongzhen paid special attention to family affection, so this family is quite harmonious.

The fifth son of the emperor who was only five years old was the youngest son and was born to his beloved concubine Tian, ​​so Emperor Chongzhen loved him very much.But when Emperor Chongzhen went to war with his relatives in order to urge donations, the fifth son of the emperor fell seriously ill.It looks like dysentery, very dangerous.The noble relatives outside the palace heard about this situation and decided to use this child to frighten the emperor. [

So the noble relatives bribed the eunuchs and maids in the palace, and pretended to be ghosts by the side of the fifth prince.They asked an old lady to dress up as a monster, and mysteriously said to the sick child: "I am the Nine Lotus Bodhisattva. The emperor treats his relatives mercilessly, and he will not change. Let all his sons die!" ” Repeatedly said several times.

The fifth son of the emperor is a child.In the extreme panic, of course, I remembered everything the old lady said, and when Emperor Chongzhen came to visit, I told him the whole story.

Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this.It turns out that the so-called Nine Lotus Bodhisattva is a name for Guanyin Bodhisattva sitting on the lotus throne in the palace. The Empress Dowager Li, the biological mother of Emperor Wanli, once enshrined a statue of a great man in the palace, which is said to be very effective.In the palace after the death of Empress Dowager Li, it was said that the Empress Dowager was the reincarnation of Nine Lotus Bodhisattva.Everyone knows this statement.In fact, this is like calling the Empress Dowager Cixi "Lafayette".Anyway, the Ming and Qing courts were the same.

And Li Guorui is the grandnephew of Empress Dowager Li's natal family. The ghost of the old empress came to seek justice from the prince for the benefit of her natal family.

But unfortunately, the original plan of the relatives may be this is the end.But the fifth son of the emperor was seriously ill and was frightened, and died within a few days.Those who participated in that conspiracy took the opportunity to spread rumors and described the coming of Nine Lotus Bodhisattva vividly.

To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen was simply "bright luck" when he met such a relative.People are willing to contribute to this great Ming country.

People in the Ming Dynasty were very superstitious, and Emperor Chongzhen was no exception.Having lost his beloved son, he was immediately busy repairing the past, so as to prevent bad luck from befalling his other beloved sons.So Emperor Chongzhen paid Li Guorui a pension, and returned the title of Marquis of Wuqing to the Li family. Of course, he didn't dare to ask for the 40 taels of silver.

Therefore, the matter of donations from your relatives came to an end.Even Emperor Chongzhen believed that it was Xue Guoguan, the chief assistant, who proposed to exploit his relatives, which was the main cause of his son's death. From then on, he secretly made a note of Xue Guoguan in his heart.In order to settle accounts in the future autumn.This Xue Guoguan is also unlucky enough.

Now that the law is conceivable, let's continue drinking poison to quench thirst!So after going around in a circle, the burden was still borne by the common people.But at this time, Yang Sichang, the assistant minister and Minister of the Ministry of War, only cared about the salary of the soldiers and did not ask anything else. In order to strengthen the training of the border guards, he proposed to send more troops.Anyway, the issue of military pay is a matter for the Minister of the Household Department, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

At this time, someone made a rationalization proposal.Deputy Commander Yang Dezheng proposed: In order to deal with the mobile peasant army, local armed forces also need to be strengthened, and each government, state, and county should train hundreds to thousands of militiamen, which will require a large amount of money.This suggestion is not bad, and it is in line with the actual situation, but won't it make the court's finances worse?

But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen was already broken.He felt that it was necessary to increase the number of pies anyway. If you add less, you can add more, and if you add more, you should add more. It is better to add more at once.So with a swipe of his pen, he agreed to add all the expenses for training frontier soldiers and militiamen to the common people, so the total amounted to more than 730 million taels, which was called "training salary".

As a result, the total amount of additional tax payments during the Chongzhen period has reached more than 690 million per year, which has exceeded the original positive tax of 530 million.As a result, there was one more political proverb circulating among the people: "Chongzhen Chongzhen, re-levy every year."

Moreover, the people are not only facing heavy requisitions, but also the exploitation of local officials, so the situation of the people's livelihood is getting worse.As for the millions of elite frontier soldiers and militia that should be trained on paper?It's just looking at the numbers on the paper and having fun.

But when it comes to this, I actually admire the integrity of the Ming court and Emperor Chongzhen.The principle of "sacred and inviolable private property" is already so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that even in such a crisis, Emperor Chongzhen only dared to choose donations and dared not openly rob.You must know that when any country in China or abroad is in danger of extinction, none of them will be soft on the rich. (to be continued...)