157 1 year, the Ming dynasty and Mongolia finally reconciled, and then the military expenditure of Jiubian gradually declined, when the Japanese invaders invaded and became extinct. Without the pressure of military expenditure and the reform presided over by Zhang, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty improved rapidly, and the national treasury began to save money, up to 4 million Liang at most. Beijing's grain reserves can be used for eight years. Zhang died in 1582, and 19-year-old Emperor Wanli began to lead the government. The emperor was narrow-minded, eager to collect money, suspected to be seriously ill, greedy for comfort, and indulged in wine and wine. From the age of 23, he began to "neglect political affairs". On the one hand, he did not go to court or approve the memorial, on the other hand, he lived in luxury. Guanglu Temple is in charge of the emperor's diet, and the annual expenditure is as high as 292,000 silver. At that time, the annual salary of a second-class senior official was only 153 silver. According to statistics of Huangmiantang, the grain price in Wanli period was 5-7 yuan 1 stone. ① 1 stone is equivalent to today's 120 ~ 150 Jin, and the price is less than one or two silver. 292,000 yuan can buy about 40 million Jin of rice, which is about 80,000 people's annual rations. The food bought for the emperor is much higher than the market price, because there are more than 20 thousand eunuchs in the palace, and we have to increase the price to find kickbacks and get some oil and water. Every living emperor should build a mausoleum for himself. Dingling is the tomb of Emperor Wanli, which cost more than 8 million yuan. Emperor Wanli reigned for 48 years, accumulated in the first 13 years, and basically exhausted the empire's wealth in the last 35 years. Huang Renyu's title "Fifteen Years of Wanli" means that the mid-Wanli period has shown that the luck of the Ming Dynasty has run out. From 1592 to 1598, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was aided for seven years, and a lot of money was spent. 1620 Before the death of the Wanli Emperor, Nurhachi, who was in the late Jin Dynasty, had sworn war against Ming Dynasty. When the peasant uprising broke out in Shaanxi in 1628, Mongolia had surrendered to Manchuria, and the Qing army was able to bypass Inner Mongolia and enter Shanxi and northern Hebei from Datong and Xuanhua. After the Qing Dynasty occupied most of Liaodong, it directly entered Gyeonggi from Qiangziling and xifengkou between Juyongguan and Shanhaiguan, and captured Jinan and Yanzhou as far as possible. The Qing army went deep into Hebei and Shandong, and it was like nobody's business around the capital. The Ming army was no match at all. After looting property, people and animals, he calmly returned to the division, and erected a wooden sign on the road, saying "100 officials are free to send", mocking the generals of the Ming Dynasty. 1642, the Qing army entered xifengkou for the fifth time, which lasted for eight months and captured 88 cities in Fuzhou county, captured 360,000 people and 320,000 livestock, plundered gold122,000 taels and silver 2.2 million taels. At that time, the Ming army heavily defended Shanhaiguan and JD.COM, but the passes on the east and west sides of the Great Wall had existed in name only. If it weren't for fear of being outflanked by the Ming army, the Qing army would have entered Beijing before Li Zicheng. This year, Li Zicheng's army was still active in Shaanxi and Gansu, and only crossed the Yellow River and entered Shanxi the following year. If the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty is not based on who occupied Beijing first, then at least it can be said that the Qing army consumed most of the last economic and military strength of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that the "Liaoxiang Jiapai" was the direct cause of the peasant uprising. The regime outside Shanhaiguan has always been aiming at replacing the Ming Dynasty, but the peasant uprising army has not formed a unified core for more than ten years, and there is no clear intention to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. The purpose of Zhang's rebellion is to be a "Nanba". Li Zicheng's political power construction began at 1642. It is said that he wrote to Emperor Chongzhen at the gate of Beijing, demanding the cession of northwest autonomy and offering solatium 654.38+02,000 silver. Then fight against hostile forces such as the Qing army for the court. Zhu Youjian was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, with the year number Chongzhen, and he succeeded to the throne at the age of 17. /kloc-in the early morning of 0/644, when Li Zicheng's army entered Beijing, it hanged itself on a tree next to Shouxing Pavilion in Long Live Mountain, commonly known as Jingshan Park, which was renamed Jingshan in Qing Dynasty. Long live and the birthday girl are wonderful satires on the 34-year-old deceased. It is said that Emperor Chongzhen wrote on his clothes: "I finally dare not sleep because I have lost my country and met my ancestors." To be fair, he has done his best. The young emperor has been thrifty since 17, but he is faced with a riddled mess and a hypocritical and corrupt bureaucracy. He is too inexperienced in politics, eager for success, headstrong, and willing to take killing senior officials as an example. He executed two cabinet university students, seven governors, 1 1 governors, including Yuan Chonghuan who died unjustly. He is suspicious of employing people. Within half a year, the mayor of Yuji Town changed five people; 17, minister of war 14, 50 cabinet members. There are really too few knowledgeable people available to civil servants in the Qing Dynasty, and they are all mediocre people who are good at high-profile singing, without virtue and talent. Even Yuan Chonghuan, a resourceful and military-minded civilian, is inevitably vulgar. Immediately after Chongzhen acceded to the throne, Yuan Chonghuan was appointed Minister of War. When he was summoned, he was asked about the strategy of the late king. Yuan Chonghuan said: "After five years, the whole Liao Dynasty can be restored." After retiring, someone asked, how are you going to achieve it? However, Yuan said, "The sacred heart is exhausted, so I will talk to comfort you." -the emperor is in a hurry, I just said to comfort him. In fact, he saw the situation clearly. After he arrived in Liaodong, he gave priority to defense, but he dared to sing in front of the emperor. After Liaodong was basically lost, the Eight Banners Army went south again, went deep into Hebei and Shandong, and formed a double attack on the Ming Dynasty with the spreading peasant uprising. Yang Sichang, then the minister of the Ministry of War, advocated peace and put forward the strategic policy of "harmony is the most important". Regardless of whether the Qing dynasty accepted the peace talks, with the strength of the Ming dynasty, foreign troubles and internal troubles could not be solved at the same time, and it was the best choice to settle down first. Facts have also proved the feasibility of this policy. On the one hand, Yang Sichang ordered the Ming army to besiege and blockade Shaanxi, and on the other hand, he sent people to win over Huguang. Li Zicheng was forced to retreat to Shangluo Mountain, and Zhang accepted. However, the discussion and temptation of the Qing dynasty attracted the opposition of ministers and gave up halfway. Huang taiji seized the handle and sent his troops into the customs again. Beijing was in an emergency, and Emperor Chongzhen transferred the troops of the peasant army back to Beijing for rescue, causing emptiness in the Central Plains. Li Zicheng and Zhang took the opportunity to rise again, which was out of control. When Emperor Chongzhen realized that compromise with the Qing Dynasty was the only way to concentrate on dealing with Li Zicheng, he secretly instructed Chen Xinjia, the minister of the Ministry of War, to make peace. This Chen Xinjia was too careless. He put the important secret letter of peace on the record, making it extremely confusing. He thought it was a "Tang Bao" and took it out for all departments to copy, which led the minister to write a letter impeaching Chen Xinjia, fearing death, compromising and surrendering, and making peace in private. Chongzhen was kidnapped by public opinion, Chen Xinjia was executed, and the Ming Dynasty accelerated to extinction in the dilemma of Maknae. In fact, those bureaucrats who sing high-profile in the court are the most shameless. Li Zicheng's army entered Shanxi and arrived in Beijing two months later. Ministers Li Banghua and Li Mingrui suggested moving south to Nanjing, but most officials thought it was shameful to retreat and opposed moving south. Emperor Chongzhen wanted to give up Liaodong and let Wu Sangui, the company commander of Liaodong stationed outside Shanhaiguan, guard Beijing. Ministers objected on the pretext of "an inch of mountains and rivers and an inch of gold". They declared that they wanted to live and die with Beijing. High-profile singing for more than a month, Li Zicheng has captured Juyongguan. At this time, there were still10.5 million soldiers guarding the city in Beijing, but they were short of reimbursement, and the state treasury was only 82,000 yuan. Emperor Chongzhen ordered officials, royalty and eunuchs to donate money for emergency. However, few people responded, and Chongzhen himself did nothing. The total donation received 202,000. And after Li Zicheng arrived in Beijing, under the threat of "killing and helping to pay", dignitaries, eunuchs and kyou-kan always * * * handed over 56 million yuan in cash. When the peasant army broke the city, no officials fought bloody battles to the end, some committed suicide, and more people lined up to find Li Zicheng to arrange jobs. Before, the emperor ordered all localities to send troops and be diligent, but only one respondent brought 8 thousand people with him. Chongzhen immediately summoned the condolences and sent them to Juyongguan. Within a few days, the army surrendered. In the Ming dynasty, the upper officials were like this, and the lower officials were also generally corrupt. The promotion of officials depends entirely on bribery, and the pricing of positions at all levels is different. Military appropriation 1 10,000, rebate 3000. The troops generally eat empty salaries. According to records, the actual number of troops stationed in Beijing is only half of 1 1 10,000. Local officials are greedy for taxes. At the beginning of Chongzhen's accession to the throne, Han Yiliang, an official of the official department, said: In today's world, there is no official who doesn't love money, and there is nothing that can't be done without money. It is impossible to live a clean life in officialdom, and I am no exception. (1) Emperor Chongzhen didn't know that he practiced frugality and set an example for others, but it was hard to repay. Li Zicheng, a native of Mizhi, northern Shaanxi, was originally a post horse pawn. The land in northern Shaanxi is barren, and disasters such as drought, locust plague, earthquake and plague have occurred for five consecutive years, prompting the birth of a large number of hungry people. Northern Shaanxi is close to Mongolia, and there are troops stationed in border towns. During the Chongzhen period, Liaodong was tight, and most of the military expenditure was used for the Liao War, and Shaanxi border towns often defaulted. The salary is insufficient, and the life of the sergeant is already very difficult, and the officer has to deduct it. Coupled with natural disasters, the soldiers were also pushed to the wall. When Chongzhen ascended the throne, there was an uprising of the hungry and the poor in northern Shaanxi, in which Li Zicheng joined. 1632 Li Zicheng is 26 years old and has a good reputation. The Biography of Li Zicheng in the Ming Dynasty said that he was "good at riding and shooting" and "not good at expressing emotions, and would rather suffer than suffer". From 1636 to 1638, all the insurgents were either suppressed or recruited. Li Zicheng also put an end to it, and led hundreds of people in the sparsely populated border of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Chu for two years, unknown. From 1639, it was another natural disaster for three consecutive years. Henan and Shandong were the most serious, and farmers were forced to rebel. Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation and made a comeback, leaving Shangluo and entering Henan, and his team was greatly supplemented. At this time, Niu Jinxing, Song and other scholars made suggestions, which played an important role in the development of Li Zicheng's army. Previously, Li Zicheng's troops were also burning, killing and looting. Because these scholars made a series of policies for Li Zicheng, such as reducing taxes, helping the poor, strictly observing military discipline and not disturbing the people, Li Zicheng's army grew and won several wars in succession. 1642, Li Zicheng began to establish political power, changed Xiangyang to Xiang Jing, renovated the palace, and set up administrative agencies and officials from the central government to the local government, following the example of the Ming Dynasty. 1643, Li Zicheng army moved to Shaanxi, occupied xi 'an, and then controlled the whole northwest. Li Zicheng also took Xi 'an as the center, summoned Wang Jianguo, conferred the title of official, and began to study. At the beginning of 1644, Li Zicheng split his troops into Beijing. In the past, all peasant armies did not publicize and build momentum. This time, when crossing the river into Jin, Li Zicheng's army issued a widely circulated campaign, announcing: "The people of the Ming Dynasty have been exhausted, and the laws have been severely punished, and the people are not worth their lives."