1644 March 18, Li Zicheng captured Beijing, Chongzhen committed suicide, and Daming fell. Chongzhen, a headstrong and face-saving emperor, made his last effort to save the country in his last days. He put down the emperor's honorific title and begged his ministers and relatives to donate money to the soldiers defending Beijing. As a result, the royal family and relatives were poor, and all the civil and military officials acted crazy and stupid.
The emperor bowed his noble head.
If the country is in trouble, it has money to compensate. After Chongzhen issued a call for fund-raising, a 60-year-old man came to the household department in tears and donated 400 taels of silver accumulated in his life. When Chongzhen learned about it, he was immediately awarded the position of "Thousand Imperial Suits".
Compared with the old man who donated all his possessions, those civil and military officials and royalty are miserable:
Cabinet records Wei Zaode donated five hundred and twenty; Wang Zhixin, the richest eunuch, donated 1.2 million yuan. Chongzhen means "30,000 is the highest", but none of them has reached this figure, and the highest one is only 20,000. Most of them are "hundreds or dozens", which is purely perfunctory. More powerful people are crying, cheating and running. Suddenly, some wonderful things appeared: some people took pots and pans to the street to practice setting up stalls, and some people posted "This house is urgent for sale" on the door of a mansion.
Chongzhen was in a hurry, thinking about his father-in-law Zhou Kui. Knowing that Zhou Kui was rich, I thought he was in trouble. As the abbot of the country, he shared weal and woe with the interests of the Ming royal family, so he assumed some responsibilities. So he sent eunuch Xu Gao to see Zhou Kui, without mentioning money. As soon as he arrived, he gave Zhou Kui a seal and said that the emperor wanted you to donate 100,000 taels of silver to lead the way. At this time, Zhou Kui acted as the best actor and immediately cried her eyes out, saying, "How safe is the old minister?" I mean, how can I have so much money and he tries to package himself as an honest and diligent official, for example, his family is so poor that he can only buy moldy rice to eat. He resolutely gave the emperor's son-in-law a 10% discount and was only willing to donate 12 thousand.
This is March of 10, eight days before Beijing fell and Chongzhen committed suicide.
I was depressed when I heard the reply from Chongzhen to Xu Gao, and it was not good to force the abbot too much. But the emperor thought, 12000 yuan is too small, how can we set an example? So the amount was changed from102000 to 22000. Zhou Kui can't fool him. What should I do? So I went to the palace to ask my daughter, Queen Zhou, for help. Empress Zhou deeply understands the righteousness and asks her father to understand the righteousness and set an example for dignitaries. After doing a good job in ideological and political work, Queen Zhou gave her father 5000 taels of silver. Zhou Kui did another wonderful thing: he donated 3,200 yuan, and another 2,200 yuan fell into his pocket. Finally, he donated 13200.
In this movement that the emperor begged the powerful to donate money to save the country, * * * raised 202,000 yuan. While urging Beijing dignitaries to donate money, Chongzhen also asked every minister to name a rich man in his hometown who was able to donate money. There is only one person in Nanzhili and one person in Zhejiang. "Yu Yu didn't mention it." He was desperate.
Chongzhen clearly knows that these people are corrupt and take bribes, and he has plenty of money. He told them again and again with national justice, but the dignitaries just didn't want to bleed. Although he is the son of heaven, he has no idea.
"The money is mine and the country is yours."
I'm afraid there is no second emperor in the history of China who humbly asked ministers for money like Chongzhen. It is extremely rare for a powerful man like the late Ming Dynasty to lose face to the emperor.
Why are dignitaries unwilling to donate money to save the country? Researchers believe that this group of civil and military officials have the same psychology as the royal family. The emperor is not short of money. "The emperor's land is the king's land." The whole world belongs to you. Why pay?
Is Chongzhen rich? "Proof of Chongzhen I.
Zhao later wrote two works, Chronicle of Shen Jia and Collection in the North, telling his experiences in the great historical changes. He wrote in the Chronicle of Shen Jia that the treasury was empty at that time: "The new treasury stopped issuing more than 2,300 taels of gold. The old library has no books, no belongings, gold belts, rhinoceros cups, clothes and the like, only thousands of gold; Yes, this project has been allowed to build a grave for the princess's family. When he has a collar, it's time to send it. Only foreign Royal Guards paid 620 taels of silver to Captain Ghana, and Baoyuan Bureau paid 320 taels of silver to store books for guarding the city. " In the year when he returned to the north, Zhao said with emotion: "The poverty of the country is here!"
After Chongzhen came to power, he cleaned up a mess. He scrimped and saved himself. There are not enough maids, so he dare not enroll more students. He even paid for the gold and silver utensils in the palace and the copper pots in the hall. According to historical records, Chongzhen also sold ginseng and other items stored in the palace.
Men are full of tacit understanding.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the relationship between monarch and minister was also wonderful, with mutual distrust and no one willing to take responsibility. The emperor shouted poverty, and they also shouted poverty. We seem to be playing a tacit game.
In fact, quite a few ministers know the financial situation of the country and the proud emperor, and they will never bow their heads to ask for money unless they have to. But they have a deeper consideration: this is your Zhu family's world. If you throw it away, you will lose it. What does this have to do with me? Why should I pay?
Wei Zaode, the last assistant official of the Ming Dynasty, was born as the top scholar and took office in times of crisis. Chongzhen had high hopes for him, but let the emperor down. Three days before the city was broken, Chongzhen asked him what countermeasures he had and said, As long as you speak, I will give an order immediately. Wade knelt on the ground, pursed his ass and said nothing. Chongzhen was so angry that he kicked the dragon chair over.
The city was broken, the emperor died, and Wei Zaode surrendered. Li Zicheng asked him, why don't you die? The shameless man replied, "If you seek utility, you dare to die." "I am preparing to play for the new dynasty, so I dare not die." )
What's wrong with "Iron Rooster"
Ministers are like this, especially ordinary people: who is the emperor is none of our business. Aren't we still ordinary people? So are the soldiers guarding the city. If we are not paid, why should we work hard? Historically, when Wang Dajun besieged the city, the city guard fell on the head of the city, "a whip rises and a whip falls again".
The destruction and catastrophe of Daming came, followed by decades of cruel war, and no one could stay out of it. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the population suffered heavy losses, so "Huguang filling Sichuan" came into being. What is the specific loss? From tens of millions to hundreds of millions, behind different statistics and cold figures are countless tragedies of blood and tears.
A country lacking trust and knowledge is doomed to fall apart. If something happens, no one will be responsible. Anyone who tries to put the blame on the other side and blames the other side blindly is doomed to perish together in the end.
Wei Zaode, the guy who reluctantly donated five hundred and twenty pieces of silver, tried to surrender, but was rejected. Li Zicheng's general Liu Zongmin accused him of being an accomplice of the country. Wei Zaode defended himself and said, "I am a scholar and know nothing about politics. Chongzhen is helpless and dead. " Liu Zongmin was furious, saying that you changed from a scholar to a scholar and became prime minister in less than three years. Chongzhen is sorry for you, but you slander him. After that, he was ordered to hit him dozens of times in the mouth.
But slapping is only the beginning of Wei Zao's bad luck. He was arrested and imprisoned by Liu Zongmin and handed over tens of thousands of taels of silver under the threat of being strangled. However, Liu Zongmin never believed that a cabinet and records only had tens of thousands of pieces of silver, so he continued to be punished. After five days and nights of torture, Wei Zaode died of a split brain in prison. His son Wei Zhuizheng was arrested again. Wei chased Zheng and said, "My family is exhausted. Father, you can still make friends with your disciples. Now that you are dead, what can you borrow? " Immediately beheaded.
After being imprisoned by Liu Zongmin, Chen Yan, a humble courtier of the Ming Dynasty, voluntarily surrendered 42,000 taels of silver and was released by Liu Zongmin. Four days later, Li Zicheng went to Beijing to crusade against Wu Sangui. For fear of Beijing's insurrection, he decided to kill a group of Ming veterans. Chen Yan was caught and beheaded after only four days of freedom. Those "misers" who cried in front of Chongzhen handed over amazing wealth before sending troops. At that time, between the capitals, sticks were flying, guns were fired, and the tendons were gouged out, and the miserable cries of Ming officials were everywhere in Beijing. At the same time, the rich in many cities have also been plundered, and the salaries of civilians have all been plundered by the peasant army for military use. The city is full of hungry people. According to historical records, Li Zicheng's army gained more than 70 million pieces of silver after cruel plunder, all of which were recast by workers into huge square silver plates with holes in the middle, and then transported to Xi 'an.
Zhou Kui, the abbot of China, is a miser, crying and willing to pay only twelve thousand pieces of silver. He couldn't help being tortured. It was copied by the invading army and pulled dozens of cars. Cash alone is as much as 532,000 yuan.