Party struggle, eunuch's autocratic power and official corruption in the Ming Dynasty are all long-standing things. Apart from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was in Ming Taizu, these phenomena were relatively rare and the politics were relatively clear. This phenomenon exists in almost every generation. After the middle of Ming dynasty, this phenomenon became more and more serious. For example, Wang Zhen, the great eunuch of Ming Yingzong, has more power than Yingzong, and Liu Jin, the great eunuch of Mingwuzong (who is now evaluated as one of the 50 richest people in human history). ) The great traitor Yan Song was autocratic, and Wei Zongxian, who was corrupt and greedy in Wanli, was extremely rich. These people are corrupt, take bribes, sell officials and titles, and do all kinds of evil. The most serious phenomenon of party struggle was during the Wanli period, when there were five famous parties, except for fighting for power and profit, crowding out each other and fighting with each other. Each side wanted to kill its opponent, but the Ming Dynasty did not perish during this period. Party struggle, officials' greed for ink and eunuch's autocratic power in Chongzhen era were not the highest in all Ming dynasties, so it should be concluded that this is not the main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. The main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty is that it fought two fronts at the same time strategically, which is the same as the important mistakes made by Germany in World War II. The fighting on two fronts dispersed Germany's strength and eventually led to failure.
The war with Manchu began in the 11th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1583). After that, Kinnurhachi's seven great hatreds turned against Ming. In the second year, the Ming army was defeated in Salhu, and then Nurhachi joined forces with more than 70 cities in Liaodong to extend the anti-Ming front to Ningyuan area. Ming exchanged Yuan Chong for a good soldier. In the second year of Chongzhen, Ningyuan War broke out and Nuerhachi was wounded by shelling. Formed a tug-of-war with Houjin. Although in the decades-long war with the late Jin Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty lost far more than it won, but with advanced artillery, strong cities and correct strategies, the war situation was deadlocked, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was much greater than that of the late Jin Dynasty. If the two sides were deadlocked, the Ming dynasty took the method of resting and raising interest to improve its own strength. Sooner or later, the advantages of the Ming dynasty will be reflected. However, there was a peasant uprising in China. It is no accident that the peasant uprising first occurred in the northwest in the late Ming Dynasty. In addition to natural disasters, the important reason is that Emperor Chongzhen imposed heavy taxes. In addition to delaying the payment of Liao salaries, officials at all levels took the opportunity to enrich themselves. The land in the northwest is barren, so people are poor. Without help, the officials forced the people to revolt. There is an absolute relationship between the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty and the salary increase in Chongzhen, and the salary increase in Chongzhen is inevitably related to the war in the late Jin Dynasty. However, Chongzhen did not handle the peasant uprising well, and thus embarked on a two-front battle situation, which was extremely unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty.
The bloody battle between the Ming Dynasty and the peasant army has been going on since the second year of Chongzhen. During this period, the Ming Dynasty experienced several commanders, from the beginning of Yang He to Chen Qiyu, and then to Hong Chengchou. Until the Ming army gradually succeeded in Chongzhen nine years, from killing Zi Jinliang, the main leader of the peasant army, to killing the main leader of the peasant army in Chongzhen nine years. The Ming army won an unprecedented victory in the siege of the rebel army, and the peasant army was almost exhausted. When the Ming army led by Hong Chengchou was about to win a decisive victory and wipe out the peasant army completely, the disadvantages of the two fronts of the Ming army were exposed. At that time, the Qing army suddenly attacked the Ming Dynasty, broke through xifengkou and successively captured Changping and other places, posing a threat to Beijing. Chongzhen had no choice but to withdraw a large number of troops from the front line of the peasant army. In order to defend the capital, Lu Xiangsheng, who has a very high record of peasant army, led the main force of peasant army to encircle and encircle the Yuan Dynasty, which had to be said to reduce the enormous pressure of peasant army, gave peasant army, which was already at the end of its tether, a breathing space and avoided the fate of collapse. Li Zicheng and other peasant troops took the opportunity to repair their breathing. If the Qing army hadn't attacked, the Ming army would have saved the capital. Then the fate of Li Zicheng and other peasant armies is likely to be the same as that of Gao Yingxiang and others. Just as there were only tens of thousands of Red Army people left in northern Shaanxi in modern times, when the situation was extremely difficult in the face of the encirclement and suppression of millions of Kuomintang troops, the Japanese army suddenly attacked the Central Plains. Let the Red Army take a breath and finally win the world. If the Japanese hadn't attacked China at that time, the fate of the Red Army would be extremely hard to say. For example, when the United States and Britain opened the second battlefield during World War II, Hitler had to mobilize a large number of main forces from the eastern front to bring back resources, weakening the power to deal with the Soviet Union on the eastern front. After the retreat of the Qing army, Chongzhen strengthened the encirclement and suppression of the peasant army, and used Xiong Wencan as the minister of the Ministry of War and the right deputy suggestion, and the prime minister of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Huguang. Military affairs in Sichuan and other places. At that time, the Minister of War formulated the strategy of "all sides, six corners and ten sides" to destroy the peasant army. Hong Chengchou, the former governor, remained in office and actually fought. He mobilized the main elite troops of the Ming army and dealt a heavy blow to the peasant army. Soon, the situation of the peasant army was very bad. Liu Guoneng, who is as famous as Li Zicheng and Zhang, surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and Zhang was caressed in the eleventh year of Chongzhen. After the famous battle with Hong Chengchou's Tongguan Nanyuan, only eight people escaped by riding eight horses and then lurked at the foot of Shangluo Mountain. When farmers' troops everywhere were about to be strangled by the noose of the Ming army, however, the Qing army attacked the Ming dynasty again, giving farmers' troops a new life. In March of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Qing army invaded the Ming Dynasty on a small scale. In September, Huang Taiji ordered the Qing army to attack the Ming Dynasty in two ways, all the way into the wall ridge. All the way into Qingshan Pass, the Qing army once again threatened the capital. Beijing is the capital of the country, but Chongzhen has no choice but to leave all kinds of military forces to join the aid. In an instant, the residual pressure of the peasant army was greatly reduced and they could catch their breath again. The Qing army fought with the Ming Dynasty for five months and didn't come back until the beginning of the twelfth year of Chongzhen. Lu Xiangsheng, an outstanding general of the Ming Dynasty who besieged the peasant army, died in the battle with the Qing army, and Zukuan, the son of Zu Dashou, was completely annihilated. Sun Chengzong, another hero of the Ming Dynasty, committed suicide when Levin City was attacked by the Qing army. The death of these people was a great loss to the Ming Dynasty. In March of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji besieged Jinzhou. Emperor Chongzhen had to temporarily put down the domestic peasant army, and under the leadership of Hong Chengchou, he concentrated almost130,000 elite troops from all over the country to rescue Jinzhou. Later, there was a great battle that decided the fate of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the Battle of Jinsong. The battle of Jinsong was defeated by the Ming army and Hong was captured. & lt state monopoly >> It is said that this war is the elite of the Nine Saints, and the Chinese grain is straw, which cannot continue the royal family and the country is merciful. "After this war, few elite soldiers in the Ming Dynasty used money and food to fight against the domestic peasant army. Since then, due to the lack of powerful soldiers, the Ming army was unable to fight against the peasant army, and the peasant army won many victories in the war against the Ming army. Li Zicheng finally captured Beijing at the beginning of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.
The above is the process in which the Ming Dynasty and the peasant army fought at the same time. Because of this major strategic mistake, the Ming Dynasty perished. This mistake had a lot to do with Chongzhen, the ruler of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and he had an unshirkable responsibility. If he had been able to adopt a compromise strategy against the powerful Manchu, he could have made peace with the Manchu and put all the strength of the whole country, such as strength, financial resources, elite soldiers and salaries, into the peasant army at home. According to the strength of the Ming army at that time, the peasant army could be completely annihilated. You know, the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty only started in the northwest. Later, when the Ming Dynasty perished, large-scale peasant uprisings took root in only a few provinces. The southern provinces had no intention of uprising at all, and most of them did not oppose the Ming Dynasty at all, and even faithfully defended it. With the strength of the Ming dynasty, it is extremely difficult to fight at home and abroad. But dealing with a group of rabble wandering around alone is not a big problem, and there is no political desire in the early days. The powerful enemy of the Ming Dynasty was Manchu, which was terrible because of its wise leaders and unparalleled fighting capacity. The semi-nomadic, semi-hunting, unified and powerful Manchu had state-to-state relations with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was actually at war with the same country and territory. This country has just risen in vigor and spirit, which is extremely terrible. In the war with it, the Ming Dynasty lost more than it won, and was completely in a weak position, taking the defensive, instead of occupying an absolute advantage as in the early peasant army war. There are many such examples in history. After avoiding a strong enemy for a period of time, you accumulate strength and wait for your own strength before fighting back. For example, when the Han Dynasty was just established, Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, was unable to fight against the powerful Xiongnu who rose at that time. He adopted the strategy of making peace and sending wealth and beauty, and got the opportunity of self-cultivation. He waited until the national strength of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was strong, and finally defeated the Xiongnu and fled. For another example, Tang Taizong was unable to compete with the Turks in the early days and adopted the means of forbearance and peace. Later, he became strong and established one of the best Datang empires in the world. It is not a shameful thing to show weakness for the time being, but it is a pity that the Ming Dynasty did not make peace with Manchu in line with the idea of being the boss of China, and committed the crime of not following the correct strategic policy of defeating the weak enemy first and then defeating the strong enemy, which eventually caused irreparable losses and eventually led to national subjugation.
The best way to avoid fighting on two fronts is to make peace with Manchu. But why didn't the early Ming Dynasty and its ruler Chongzhen see this and make peace with Manchu, making the peasant army strong? This is mainly because of an arrogant mentality. Manchu has long been a vassal of the Ming Dynasty and a minority under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Nurhachi's ancestor Mengshan was a local official guarding the border in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was called Jianzhouwei, and there were health centers all over the Ming Dynasty. The viceroy of Wei is only a small official position. The country established by the descendants of such people after rebellion is not allowed by the face of such a big country in the Ming Dynasty. This is an extremely important question. Let me make peace with you. This is absolutely impossible. You surrender or let me destroy you is the right way. Otherwise, it is wishful thinking. This is the reason why the early Qing Dynasty was different from the Manchu Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, Manchu people never thought of conquering the Ming Dynasty. In their hearts, the Ming Dynasty had an innate awe of them. This awe is related to being slaves of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, and they have a strong sense of inferiority. Manchu always emphasized the war with the Ming Dynasty. It is believed that there were seven major events in the Ming Dynasty that bullied Nuzhen, made them unbearable, and then rebelled. The seven great haters all complained that the Ming Dynasty, as the supreme ruler, could not do things fairly, was partial to opponents, and as a superior, could not judge cases impartially. So the Qing Dynasty liked to make peace with the Ming Dynasty. After every battle, the Qing army always suggested peace talks because they were overjoyed at their current achievements. All they had to do was ask the Ming Dynasty to recognize the land they occupied and the rights they had. Huang taiji tried every means to make peace until his death. He not only kept writing letters to the Ming Dynasty, but also asked North Korea to deal with it and asked Mongolian princes to write letters to the Ming Dynasty for advice. Every battle is to promote peace through war. But the Ming dynasty never paid attention to it. Think the opponent is not qualified for peace talks. In addition to the arrogance of the Ming Dynasty, another obstacle to the peace talks is the mentality of civil servants. Ministers of the Ming Dynasty were familiar with historical events. As soon as they think of peace talks with the Jin people, they think of peace talks with the Jin people in the Southern Song Dynasty. Everyone is afraid to be Qin Gui, and everyone is afraid to be a traitor. Therefore, no one dares to talk about peace talks and will become the object of impeachment. This mentality also affects Chongzhen. In addition, Chongzhen is also boasting. To be a good emperor, you must never make peace with foreigners, but you must destroy them. Destroying your opponent is the only way. Therefore, he always insisted on the policy of not recognizing the Manchu strategy, refused to recognize its independent qualification, and never had any contact with it. Refusing to make peace with Manchu is the biggest stupidity of Chongzhen's life. When the two armies confront each other, peace and war are both means, and the first rule of war is to save oneself and destroy the enemy. Unfortunately, the self-righteous Emperor Chongzhen did not understand this truth. In all fairness, Emperor Chongzhen was a diligent emperor, and his diligence was probably comparable to that of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty. But he is not a genius emperor who has such great talent and can manage the country well. Many wrong strategies in the Ming Dynasty came from him. Not making peace with Manchu and fighting on two fronts was the biggest mistake in his life.
As can be seen from the above, if it is not this kind of two-front operation, but under the correct strategic guidance, the Ming Dynasty will first make peace with the Manchus, then concentrate on solving the problem of domestic peasant uprising, and then save its national strength to fight back against the Manchus, perhaps the Ming Dynasty will still survive. However, history is history. Under the guidance of the wrong war strategy, Emperor Chongzhen and his Ming Dynasty finally ran out of lights and oil, which was due to the double blow of the Qing Dynasty and the peasant army. All this not only makes future generations lament.