Chapter 353 Chapter 352 Sizong Zhu Youjian

On the afternoon of August 22nd in the seventh year of Tomorrow Qi (1627), Zhu Youxiao, the 15th monarch of the Ming Empire, who was only 23 years old, died of illness two months later.Soon people saw that a group of guards of honor was led by Tu Wenfu, the eunuch of Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies, out of the palace gate and went straight to Xinwang's mansion.Not long after, surrounded by a 17-year-old young man, he stepped into the Forbidden City and ascended the throne in the twilight. He was Sizong Zhu Youjian. Sizong was somewhat mentally prepared for the coming of the destiny.Although his father gave birth to five sons, only You Xiao and him grew up.There are groups of concubines from the school, but no heirs.In this way, the only heir to the throne is him.

What Sizong Zhu Youjian took over from his brother was a mess, a decadent regime that only retained a powerful body.It can be said that it is a true portrayal of the situation at that time.There are so many things to know, where do I start?Sizong already had a plan in mind, and the first thing that should be solved was the "Kewei Group" that was angry with people. It is not so easy for Sizong to eliminate Wei Zhongxian.The court is full of Wei Zhongxian's people, and he doesn't have a helper, so if he is too hasty, he can only force Wei Zhongxian to put all his eggs in one basket and jump over the wall in a hurry.The balance of power is not conducive to Sizong, he must wait carefully and patiently for the opportunity.

He first devoted all his energy to governing the country.At this time, the Ming Dynasty was like a dying old man with paralysis of limbs, inconvenient movement, and failure of command.After the destruction of Wei Zhongxian's period, the country's finances are on the verge of extinction.The annual fixed fiscal revenue cannot be collected into the national treasury in full, and there are arrears in various places, while the state uses more and more items.The first is military expenditure, which at that time had more than tripled compared to 30 years ago. If the needs of the military were met, 97% of the annual income would be used up.The second is that the royal family expenses and the salaries of hundreds of officials have doubled.As a result, they can't make ends meet every year, and they have to eat more than enough food.Since the apocalypse, there have been continuous famines throughout the country, a large number of people have fled, turned to death in ravines, the land is barren, and social unrest has caused deep panic among many insightful people.Especially in Shaanxi, where there have been years of severe drought and thousands of miles of desolate land, there have been reports of people cannibalism.Shaanxi has become a powder keg that could erupt at any time.In the Northeast, Jianzhou Jurchen launched an attack in the last years of Wanli and established the Houjin regime, which is now full-fledged and constantly plundering Mingbian.The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of military and financial resources in Liaodong, and the situation in Liaodong did not ease at all.These questions made Sizong very upset.In order to bring the empire back to life as soon as possible, after taking the throne, he had to work day and night.

Since August of the seventh year of Tianqi, an edict has been spread all over the world.Sizong gave up all the non-urgent tasks such as weaving, firing and purchasing that served the royal family, and rested with the people.He stopped all the civil construction of the palace, and cut down the food expenses for himself and his concubines.The eunuchs guarding the world were withdrawn, and eunuchs were strictly prohibited from intervening in politics.It is strictly forbidden for bureaucrats to make friends with eunuchs.Send silver taels to border towns to stabilize the morale of the army, warn bureaucrats to form cliques, and establish a complete supervision system.Declared to improve the efficiency of the government.An imperial edict exempted many affected areas from taxation.These edicts once again aroused hope in the hearts of the subjects of the empire.

Sizong regards solving the "Liao affairs", that is, the issue of the late Jin Dynasty as one of the major tasks to be done after he succeeds to the throne. On the one hand, this has the meaning of restoring the homeland and revitalizing the prestige of the empire. On the other hand, it can end the state of war as soon as possible and save a lot of money. Military spending to solve the country's financial difficulties.Since coming to power, he has been actively looking for important ministers who can take on this important task.Many members of the imperial court recommended Yuan Chonghuan, the former governor of Liaodong.Sizong had heard about Yuan Chonghuan.Yuan Chonghuan stayed in Liaodong for a long time during the Tianqi period. He was familiar with the situation between the enemy and ourselves, the dangers of the mountains and rivers, and he had a strategy in mind.In the battle of Ningjin in the seventh year of the apocalypse, he stuck to Ningyuan, defeated Nurhachi's fierce front, and saved the entire Liaodong war from the brink of collapse.But he didn't follow the custom in the upsurge of building a shrine for Wei Zhongxian like a madman in the whole country, and was sued by the eunuch to Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian was very unhappy.For the sake of the country and Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan finally succumbed, but the impression he left on Wei Zhongxian could not be changed.Ning Jin's great victory made the high officials in the court, the eunuchs and eunuchs have to be promoted one by one, and the titles and shades were added, but Yuan Chonghuan only added one level.Under such circumstances, Yuan Chonghuan had no choice but to request to be disarmed and return to his hometown in Guangdong.Many people in the Donglin Party regard Yuan Chonghuan as an eunuch because of his activities in praising Wei Zhongxian.Sizong weighed it and decided to use Yuan Chonghuan regardless of the opposition of Donglin party members.Appointing him as Shangshu of the Ministry of War and the right deputy capital censor, Ji Liao and governor of Denglai Tianjin military affairs, actually handed over the entire defense of Jin to him.In July of the first year of Chongzhen (1628 AD), Yuan Chonghuan rushed back to Beijing from Guangdong.On the 14th, Sizong summoned him on the high platform (commonly known as the platform) to the east of Jianji Hall.

Sizong looked at this black, thin and capable middle-aged man, and expressed his appreciation for his loyalty to the country and his long-distance travel.Yuan Chonghuan was very excited. He said that I have received special favor from His Majesty the Emperor, which is unforgettable.If I take advantage of it cheaply, I can restore the entire Liao territory in 5 years.Sizong was very happy and said: "If you can return to Liao in five years, I will never hesitate to reward you as a marquis." After the initial governance of the state affairs and the initial consolidation of the throne, Sizong began to concentrate on solving the Kewei Group.He is going to use the method of stabilizing first and then defeating them one by one to eliminate the Kewei Group.Since Sizong was indifferent to Wei Zhongxian after he succeeded to the throne, Wei Zhongxian deeply felt that the future was not good.On September 1st, Wei Zhongxian proposed to resign from the East Factory to test Sizong's attitude, but Sizong did not approve.The next day, Ke proposed to leave the palace, and Sizong immediately agreed.The next day, before dawn, Ke Shi went to Xi Zong's spirit in plain clothes, burned the fetal hair and fingernails of Xi Zong she had preserved, cried bitterly, left the Forbidden City, and lived in the mansion given to her by Xi Zong.Wei Zhongxian's main minions, Wang Tiqian and Li Yongzhen, still gained Sizong's trust, and they were still rewarded with nine or twelve months' ascension rewards.It's just that Xu Yingyuan and Cao Huachun, the eunuchs newly employed by Sizong, are more proud than Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian's party members among the court ministers were also uneasy. They had a premonition that the situation was about to change, and many smart people began to look for a way out.The division of the Wei party made the situation clear.On September 16th, Yang Suoxiu, the general political envoy of Nanjing, reported that Cui Chengxiu's father, the eunuch, would not go to the funeral.On October 14, Yang Weiyuan, the leader of the Wei Party, dropped his guard and took the initiative to impeach Cui Chengxiu for authoritarian and disorderly governance.It is said that Wei Zhongxian listened to Cui Chengxiu and was mistaken by him.Cui Chengxiu panicked and asked for restraint, but Sizong still refused to let him go.On October 18, Yang Weiyuan impeached Cui Chengxiu again, implicating Wei Zhongxian, and praised Wei Zhongxian for his dedication to the public and his loyalty to the country.Yang Weiyuan also impeached several other Wei party figures, Sizong continued to remain silent.

On October 23, lower-level officials who were independent of the Wei party also took action.Lu Chengyuan, director of the Ministry of Industry, participated in the impeachment of Cui Chengxiu, and his speech involved the issue of Wei Zhongxian's construction of a shrine.Although Sizong blamed Lu Chengyuan for his offside and good speech, he was happy and released Cui Chengxiu.On the 25th, Qian Yuanxi, the head of the Ministry of War, impeached Wei Zhongxian directly, with fierce words, shaking the world.On the 27th, Qian Jiazheng, a tribute student from Haiyan, listed Wei Zhongxian's crimes as 10 crimes, and demanded that Wei Zhongxian be punished in order to vent the anger of the world.Sizong took this memorial and asked Wei Zhongxian to read it to Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian knew that something was wrong, so he immediately proposed to resign from Dongchang on the grounds of illness.Sizong ordered him to go out of the palace for recuperation, and then ordered the soldiers who had gathered Wei Zhongxian in the palace to disband.

Then, Sizong named several leading members of the Wei Party and ordered the Ministry of Officials to investigate the crimes of Cui Chengxiu and others. On November 1st, Sizong issued an edict announcing Wei Zhongxian's crimes, announcing that Wei Zhongxian should have been killed every inch to thank the world, and that Emperor Nian Xian had not yet had his funeral, so he was temporarily placed in Fengyang.Hakka Wei's family property and registration were lost, his false titles were revoked, and his descendants and grandchildren all went to the miasma to serve as troops. Wei Zhongxian left Beijing with many people and vehicles.Sizong took this as a reason and ordered the Ministry of War to send Wei Zhongxian to Fengyang.On November 6th, Wei Zhongxian went to Fucheng County, heard Sizong's order, and knew that the end was coming, so he hanged himself in the hotel that night.Cui Chengxiu hanged herself when she heard Wei Zhongxian's death letter at her home in Jizhou.On November 7, Ke Shi was taken to Huanyi Bureau and beaten to death.Subsequently, the descendants of the Hakka and Wei families were all beheaded.

Sizong won a great victory in the struggle to eliminate the Kewei Group, cleared the biggest hidden danger for the Ming Empire, and showed his administrative ability that cannot be underestimated. Wei Zhongxian got rid of it, but the power of the Wei party wing that controlled the government is still huge.At that time, the heads of the cabinet, six ministries, and temples were all Wei's buddies, and those in important positions were all related to Wei Zhongxian.Yang Suoxiu, Yang Weiyuan, An Shen, Jia Jichun and others pretended to be the heroes of the impeachment of Wei Zhongxian, jumping up and down. Their purpose is to protect the party members, so that Sizong will not pursue them, so as to maintain the status quo and continue to suppress the Donglin party members the goal of.

Sizong knew very well that Wei Zhongxian would not have caused such serious harm without the help of these shameless people in the court.Of course, Sizong would not let these traitors go and let them continue to control the government.In November, he ordered the arrest of Wei Zhongxian's main minions, the "Five Tigers" and "Five Biao", and brought them to justice.From December to May of the first year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian personally presided over the selection of 4 batches of 132 candidates for Shizhong and Yushi.Except for a few of these new officials who are attached to Wei Zhongxian, they are all people who have nothing to do with the Wei Party.They took it as their mission to eliminate the Wei party, and their way of speaking gradually became clearer, so Sizong learned more about the real situation.For the officials who were killed and deprived by Wei Zhongxian, those who should be rehabilitated should be rehabilitated, and those who should be employed should be employed. But Sizong also made a big mistake at this time.It turned out that after Yuan Chonghuan left the customs, he rectified his troops and repaired the city to stabilize the front-line defense of Shanhaiguan. The Golden Emperor Huang Taiji saw that there was no opportunity to take advantage of Shanhaiguan, so he decided to enter the customs from other places. Get rid of Yuan Chonghuan, get rid of this dangerous opponent. In October of the second year of Chongzhen, when autumn was high and horses were fat.Tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the Houjin Dynasty invaded through Longjingguan and Da'ankou, and even went to famous cities such as Zunhua.Zhao, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan, led his teachers back to the division to rescue, and the whole army was wiped out.Yuan Chonghuan, who was in Ningyuan, heard that the police came back for rescue and was stationed in Tongzhou.But Jin Bing bypassed Yuan Chonghuan and went straight to Beijing. Facing the menacing golden soldiers, the guards of the capital became weaker and weaker, and Sizong felt uneasy.After hearing that Yuan Chonghuan led his division to come, he let go of his hanging heart.He appointed general Man Gui as the military strategist, and the prime minister sent reinforcements to the towns to defend the capital.Man Gui and Yuan Chonghuan stationed at Andingmen and Guangqumen respectively, and defeated several enemy attacks.For this reason, Sizong summoned Yuan Chonghuan. He expressed his condolences to Yuan Chonghuan, and untied his sable fur and gave it to him. Yuan's generals were all rewarded.Yuan Chonghuan told Sizong that he must drive away the enemy as soon as possible.At the end of November, in the Battle of Dongbianmen, Yuan Chonghuan defeated the Jin soldiers and lost more than half of his own troops. Because of the lack of supplies, Yuan Bing was extremely tired and asked to enter the city for a rest.At this moment, the situation changed suddenly, and Sizong fell into Huang Taiji's trick. Huang Taiji once captured two eunuchs under the city of Beijing. He made the battalion widely publicize that he had an appointment with Governor Yuan, and Governor Yuan made way for us to attack Beijing.Deliberately let the two listen too much, then let them go.The eunuch reported the news to Sizong when he returned to the palace.Originally, Sizong was angry with Yuan Ji, and advocated to restore Liaodong to fight Jinbing in five years. Now that Liaodong has not been restored, Jinbing has been led to the door of his house. Hearing what the eunuch said, he couldn't help but wonder, did Yuan collude with Jinzhen?The more Sizong thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible, so he arrested Yuan Chonghuan on December 1st, and Yuan Chonghuan was defeated outside the city, and was later taken in by Sun Chengzong.Sun Chengzong succeeded Yuan Chonghuan.In mid-December, Mangui died in battle, and Sun Chengzong, governor of the towns, led reinforcements from all towns to defeat the enemy and relieve the siege of the capital.Later, the Jin soldiers plundered wantonly in Ji, and it was not until April and May of the following year that the Jin soldiers withdrew from outside the pass. After the Hou Jin soldiers retreated, Sizong felt more and more that Yuan Chonghuan had failed his high expectations, and his anger could not be dispelled, so he ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be executed Ling Chi, thus destroying the Great Wall himself. Since the outbreak of the peasant uprising army in the middle of the apocalypse in the late Ming Dynasty, the scale has become larger and larger.After Yuan Chonghuan went out to resist the Qing soldiers and the border defense situation improved, Chongzhen appointed Hong Chengchou as the governor of the three sides, and stepped up the suppression of the peasant army. The Shaanxi rebel army Wang Jiayin, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and other departments left Shaanxi successively under the pressure of the Ming army. , crossed the Yellow River east and entered Shanxi.The hungry people in Shanxi responded, shaking the whole province.Hong Chengchou quickly sent powerful generals Cao Wenzhao, Ma Ke, Cao Bianjiao and others to chase into Shanxi.When the rebel army heard the news that Dongyue Taihang had entered the Jifu Plain, they were invincible and directly threatened the safety of the capital.In order to relieve the crisis in the south of Jinan, the Ming court mobilized more than 30,000 troops to encircle the rebels in northern Henan in the winter of the sixth year of Chongzhen (AD 1633).In order to get out of the predicament, the rebel army feigned surrender to the Ming court, causing the Ming army to stop its attack.At the end of October, when the Yellow River froze over, the rebels broke out by surprise, crossed the Yellow River southward and entered the Central Plains, and went straight to Anhui, Huguang, and Sichuan.The peasant uprising has changed from a local problem to a confidant of the Ming court. Sizong was at a loss as to how to deal with this situation.The ministers pointed out that the reason why the peasant army was not wiped out in Jinan was because of the different powers, the Ming army fought independently, the pace was inconsistent, each waited and saw, and refused to use their lives.It is recommended that the imperial court establish a governor to unify the command.Sizong agrees with this opinion.But who should be the governor?At this time, Hong Chengchou had transferred to Liaodong to shoulder the important task of frontier defense, "it's not easy."A few months later, someone recommended Chen Qiyu, the governor of Yansui, the governor of the military affairs of the five provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan, to take charge of the military affairs to wipe out the rebels. In the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634 A.D.), Chen Qiyu gathered various Ming armies and fought several victories in Hubei, driving the rebels back to Shaanxi.On the way to retreat to Shaanxi, the rebel army strayed into the dangerous area of ​​the Hanzhong plank road, was surrounded by the Ming army in the carriage gorge, and entered the dead zone.The rebel army also adopted the method of false surrender and sent people to bribe Chen Qiyu's generals with a lot of money. Chen Qiyu believed that the rebel army could be subdued without any effort, and advocated appeasement, which was approved by Sizong.After the rebel army walked out of the dead place, they immediately hacked and killed the officers and soldiers and raised the flag of righteousness again.Sizong became angry and ordered Chen Qiyu to be imprisoned and punished, and Hong Chengchou was transferred to take over as governor of the five provinces.At the end of the seventh year of Chongzhen, the rebel army returned to Henan. In the first month of the following year, they captured Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown Fengyang and dug Zhu's ancestral grave. The news of Fengyang's fall spread to Beijing, and Sizong wept bitterly in front of his officials.He felt that he was sorry for the sky and his ancestors.For several days in a row, he took the corner of his clothes to work in the temple to express his pain, went to the Taimiao in person, offered sacrifices to his ancestors, and at the same time issued the "Edict of Guilt" to take the blame and plead guilty.But Sizong was not reconciled to failure, and he ordered the Second Ministry of Libing to investigate the cause of Fengyang's fall. Governor Yang Yipeng of Fengyang was arrested and executed, and a large number of responsible officials were sent to the garrison.Afterwards, another 70,000 officers and soldiers were mobilized, and more than 1 million taels of military expenditure were allocated, and Hong Chengchou was limited to wipe out the rebels within 6 months. Under the urging of the emperor, Hong Chengchou raised his troops into Henan.The rebels avoided the Ming army and returned to Shaanxi, where they wiped out Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen of the Ming army.Li Zicheng wiped out Cao Wenzhao, an elite Ming army, in Zhenning.Gao Yingxiang and others continued their activities in the Central Plains.In order to cope with this situation, Sizong appointed Lu Xiangsheng, governor of Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Huguang and other military affairs departments, and Hong Chengchou with one northwest and one southeast to wipe out the rebels.By the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the six-month period will pass, and there will be no success in the southeast and northwest routes.While putting pressure on Hong and Lu, Sizong issued an amnesty order, expressing the pardon of the uprising peasants, in an attempt to divide and disintegrate the peasant army. In May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Lu Xiangsheng joined Hong Chengchou to defeat Gao Yingxiang's troops in the Zhouzhi area, and captured Gao Yingxiang alive.Taking advantage of the victory, the Ming army surrendered Zhang Miaoshou, Xie Zikuai and other troops.Li Zicheng also left Shaanxi and entered Ningxia and Gansu under the pursuit of the Ming army.For a while, there were signs that the world would be peaceful.However, the good times didn't last long, and in just a few months, Li Zicheng revived again, leading troops from Gansu to Sichuan, and the flames of war resumed.Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai resumed their employment in the Central Plains, and the world was in turmoil as before. In March of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Sizong appointed Yang Sichang, Governor of Xuanda, as Minister of the Ministry of War, and appointed him to be in charge of internal and external military affairs.Regarding the suppression of peasant uprisings, Yang Sichang proposed the strategy of "four positives and six corners" to spread the net on ten sides.The governor and the prime minister command the troops respectively, and each is responsible for their own duties.The governor was Hong Chengchou, the prime minister was Xiong Wencan, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi recommended by Yang Sichang, and Sichang was in the middle.Rectify the soldiers and horses, and expect to eliminate the peasant uprisings across the country in March. According to Yang Sichang's plan, an increase of 120,000 troops will increase the salary by 2.8 million taels. Where did the 2.8 million come from? Of course, it is the common people.Thinking of adding another group, Sizong couldn't help hesitating.At this time, a county magistrate who had been selected in Beijing gave an impassioned speech at the call, saying that the poverty of the people was caused by the corruption of officials, not whether they were sent more.As long as the order is clean, it doesn't matter if you add some more. The county magistrate knows that Sizong hates corruption the most and is most eager for military pay, so he votes for Sizong's favor for great use. Sizong is really happy, thinking that this person is from a local area , Knowing the local ills, he said that there is no harm in adding more factions, which shows that adding more factions is still feasible.A few days later, Sizong issued an edict, saying: "If you don't gather troops, you can't fight against the invaders, and if you don't increase the salary, you can't raise the soldiers. If you follow the court's discussion, you will tire our people for a year." Extra pie.In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang thought that the soldiers were weak and unusable, so he asked to train more frontier soldiers to become a strong force, so he increased the training salary, and the training salary was 10 million taels in total.Far more than the number of official Fu, the folks privately called Chongzhen a "heavy levy".This further fueled the peasant uprising in Liaoyuan. Originally, under the mobilization of the chief assistant Yang Sichang, the Ming army made great progress in destroying the peasant army in the eleventh year of Chongzhen.In the Jianghuai area, Prime Minister Xiong Wencan recruited Zhang Xianzhong to surrender, and there were many defectors from the small peasant army.In the northwest, Governor Hong Chengchou and Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting pursued Li Zicheng fiercely.At the end of the eleventh year, Li Zicheng's tribe was wiped out, and Li Zicheng fled into the mountains. However, under heavy conquests, the people were in dire straits and could not survive. In May of the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639 AD), Zhang Xianzhong had to rebel against Gucheng. It's getting chaotic again. Sizong has no choice but to place high hopes on Yang Sichang and ask him to come to the front line to supervise the teachers in order to curb the prairie fire of the peasant uprising army. When Yang Sichang arrived in the army, he set up a base camp in Xiangyang, stockpiled food, grass and soldiers, rectified the soldiers, and vowed to destroy Zhang Xianzhong.Yang's "suppressing thieves" is actually "driving out thieves".He wanted to drive Zhang Xianzhong to Sichuan, and then close Sichuan to besiege, so his warlords followed Zhang Xianzhong's ass to make noise, but did not actively attack.The troops in Sichuan were transferred out again by Yang Sichang. Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the opportunity to enter Sichuan and went to dozens of counties including Chongqing. Sizong urgently ordered Sichang to follow and destroy them.When Sichang rushed to Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong turned back with a feint shot, turned back to Huguang, and went straight to Xiangyang.At this time, Li Zicheng revived in Shaanxi, and led 18 cavalry to appear in Henan. There were many followers of hungry people, and there were as many as 100,000 in ten days.In the first month of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng attacked Luoyang and killed King Sizong's relative, Uncle Fu, and his son fled from Song to Jianghuai.Just as Sizong received the report of the fall of Luoyang, Zhang Xianzhong captured Xiangyang and captured King Xiang alive.Zhang Xianzhong picked up a glass of wine and said to King Xiang: "Please drink this glass of wine happily. I want to use your highness's head to kill Yang Sichang." So he killed King Xiang and lost two relatives within a month.King Fu of Luoyang amassed countless gold and silver, and Yang Sichang of Xiangyang saved all the army, horses and battles that were captured by the peasant army.At that time, it was said that "Luoyang state treasury, Xiangyang military capital" all belonged to Zhang Li.Yang Sichang knew that his death was approaching, and Sizong would not spare him. Rather than being punished in Xishi, Yang Sichang committed suicide by taking poison in the army.In September of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty and Governor of Shaanxi Fu Zonglong were defeated and killed in Dingcheng in the battle with Li Zicheng's uprising army. .In February of the 15th year of Chongzhen, the succeeding governor of Shaanxi, Wang Qiaonian, was also defeated and killed by Li Zicheng.At this time, Zhang Xianzhong's rebel army captured most of Huguang and Sichuan.On the Liaodong side, Hong Chengchou's 130,000 troops fell into the siege of the Qing army under the blind urging of the court. By February of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the entire Ming army that had persisted for a year was wiped out. Then point the front of the soldiers to the pass. The building will fall.In the spring of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng established his regime in Xiangyang, preparing to step up his efforts to seize power across the country.In the same year, Zhang Xianzhong established the Daxi regime in Wuchang.Then he marched into Sichuan. In September of the 16th year of Chongzhen, in the Battle of Tongguan, Sun Chuanting was defeated and died, and the last new force in Sizong's hands was also lost.Li Zicheng took advantage of the victory to seize Xi'an, established the Dashun Kingdom, and occupied half of the Ming Dynasty. On the first day of the first month of the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng swore to attack the Ming Dynasty, and personally led an army of 400,000 across the east of the river to march directly to Beijing.Facing the fragmentation of the world and Li Zicheng's fierce attack, Sizong was powerless. Serious internal and external troubles made Si Zong extremely battered and exhausted.Seeing that the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty formed cliques for personal gain and did not take the fate of the empire as their priority, he was very depressed.Fifteen years after Chongzhen, people in the palace felt that Sizong's character was becoming more and more suspicious, eccentric, irritable and irritable, and he often showed uncontrollable nervousness, and he was about to lose his strength.What the crown brings to others is power, honor, and pleasure, but what the crown brings to him is pain and toil. Sizong believed himself to be frugal. Due to the country's financial difficulties, he reduced the royal family's expenditure many times.The clothes of the emperor and concubines had to be changed once they were worn, and the piles of boxes in the harem storehouse contained the clothes of the emperors and empresses of all dynasties.Sizong felt that this was too wasteful, so he took the lead in wearing old starched clothes.Queen Zhou sometimes does laundry by herself.The minister who lectured for him once saw his shirt cuffs frayed and thread ends hanging.The old gold and silver utensils in the palace were discarded, and no new ones were made. In the end, many gold and silver wares were sold by the Silver Bureau for payment.During Sizong's 17 years in power, no construction was carried out in the palace, which saved a lot of money.Sometimes he read the memorial until late at night, and when he was hungry, he asked the eunuch to buy some snacks with some change.Sizong also sent a large number of palace maids out of the palace. Sizong's diligence surpassed that of any emperor, and he worked day and night.Usually, during the day, he reviewed chapters and memorials in the Wenhua Palace, received ministers, and read the memorials in Qianqing Palace at night. When the military situation was urgent, he did not rest for several days and nights. Sizong has no special hobbies, he doesn't pay much attention to food, clothing, and housing, and he doesn't care about his appearance.After he ascended the throne, one night when he was approving memorials in the Wenhua Hall, he suddenly smelled a special fragrance, and then felt his blood boil, and he felt spring.He felt strange, searched the hall carefully, and finally found a little eunuch sitting in the corner of the hall, the fragrance came from the stick of incense in his hand.After cross-examination, I found out that this was an old rule in the palace, and the incense was prepared with a special secret recipe.Youjian lamented that his father and brother were all wrong for this incense, and immediately reprimanded his servant for destroying the secret recipe, and he was not allowed to make and use it again.Sizong had very few concubines. Compared with the situation where the kings of all dynasties seized the daughters of the world to worship themselves, it can be called heaven and earth. On the first day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644 A.D.), there was a strong wind in the capital, yellow fog and heavy black air, and an earthquake occurred in the ancestral mausoleum in Fengyang.People in the capital were in a state of panic, and people had a premonition that the end of the Ming Empire was coming, and some bureaucrats in the court had begun to seek a way out for themselves. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the news that Li Zicheng was approaching the capital reached the capital.Sizong held the memorandum in his hand, trembling all over, weeping bitterly and said: "I am not the king of a subjugated country, everything is a sign of a subjugated country. Once my ancestors are lost in the world, how can I see my ancestors in the ground. I hope that the supervisor will fight a decisive battle. I don’t hate death on the battlefield, but I don’t want to die with peace!” Hearing that Sizong was going to go out in person, Chen Yan and other senior scholars signed up one by one, and Li Jiantai was especially urgent.The Li family lives in Quwang, Shanxi Province, and is a wealthy local.He expressed his willingness to use his private money to build an armed force in Shanxi to resist Li Zicheng's attack.Sizong was overjoyed, and immediately decided that Li Jiantai would "conquer on my behalf" as a supervisor and assistant minister. On the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month, Sizong held a grand dispatch ceremony, and then held a banquet for Li Jiantai on the tower of Zhengyangmen.Sizong personally gave Li three cups of wine with a golden cup, and then handed over to Li Jiantai the "Edict Bestowed by the Emperor" written by himself.In the imperial edict, Li Jiantai was granted great power: "All the adjustments, rewards and punishments in the line are not controlled remotely. No matter who you are, as long as you don't obey Li Jiantai, you can practice Fangjian." Li Jiantai was very grateful and vowed to repay him with death.After the farewell, Sizong stood on the tower and looked at Li Jiantai's far away Zhengchen for a long time. He placed all the responsibility of the world's safety on Li. However, as soon as Li Jiantai left the capital, the sedan chair frame was broken, and everyone in the government and the opposition thought it was unlucky.At this time, it seemed that the world outside Beijing was no longer under the Ming Dynasty. Li Jiantai was blocked everywhere, and the counties and counties along the way did not provide food at all.When they arrived in Dingxing, Hebei, the county magistrate was not allowed to enter the city.When he heard that Li Zicheng's Dashun Army had crossed the Yellow River, Li Jiantai hurriedly retreated and led hundreds of his own troops into Baoding, where he surrendered to the Dashun Army shortly thereafter. After Li Jiantai leaves Shanxi, what will the city guard of Beijing do?The whole country has no more troops to draw, so Wu Sangui, the general in Ningyuan, has to be transferred.On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, Sizong ordered Wu Sangui to be called back.But once Wu Sangui withdrew, it was tantamount to handing over the land outside the pass to the Qing Dynasty.The academicians are well aware of what it means to abandon the land, and they also know that Sizong's thoughts are easy to repeat and love to blame, so they dare not take responsibility.Chen Yan, the chief assistant, used various excuses to procrastinate and convened ministerial meetings many times to study how the border residents would settle down, how to pay the expenses, and how to guard the Shanhaiguan after Wu Sangui withdrew. The delay continued until the end of February, and Wu Sangui had not withdrawn.In early March, the Dashun Army had taken Shanxi and approached Beijing.Sizong was in a hurry, so he ordered Wu Sangui to be Ping Xibo, and led the army to enter the pass to defend the capital, but at this time it was too late. As the capital became more and more critical, Sizong tried his best to support the situation.In February of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Ministry of Household Affairs announced that the national treasury was empty. In order to cope with the immediate difficulties, Sizong ordered his relatives and officials in Beijing to donate, with 30,000 taels of silver as the top priority.Zhu Youjian sent the eunuch to find the queen's father, Zhou Kui, and asked him to take 120,000 yuan to set an example for all officials.Zhou Kui refused and only took 10,000. The eunuch left with tears in his eyes.After hearing about it, Zhu Youjian sent someone to ask him to take 20,000 yuan again.Zhou Kui secretly asked his daughter for help, and Zhou Hou gave him 5,000 taels, but he withheld 2,000 taels and only handed in 3,000 taels, but later Dashun Army found more than 500,000 taels of silver from his home.Zhang Guoji, the father of Sizong's sister-in-law Empress Zhang, took 20,000 yuan and was granted the title of Marquis.Civil and military officials donated only a few dozen or a few hundred taels.Sizong saw that the collection could not be made, so he carried out apportionment and collected it according to the yamen.Later, it was collected according to the place of origin, and it was stipulated that 8,000 taels, 4,000 taels, and 3,000 taels varied.The eunuchs were also ordered to donate, and the richest eunuchs such as Wang Zhixin and others were crying poor at this time.After tossing for a month, I got more than 200,000 taels of silver.After the Dashun army entered the city, they received a total of more than 20 million taels of gold and silver from civil and military officials, eunuchs and nobles. Under such a rapidly deteriorating situation, Sizong issued the "Criminal Edict" twice, declaring to the heavens that he would bear all the responsibility for his crimes, and ordered the suspension of all additional levies, in an attempt to stabilize the people's hearts, boost morale, and fight against trapped beasts.However, empty words at this time are meaningless. On March 15th, the Dashun Army attacked Juyong Pass, and Tang Tong and the eunuch Du Zhizhi, who were guarding the pass, surrendered.Changping was captured on March 16, and troops arrived at the city of Beijing on the same day. At this time, the city of Beijing was in chaos.The Beijing army was routed outside the city, and there were eunuchs and government troops guarding the city, with different orders. The Ministry of War, the five armies' governor's office, and the eunuchs were in charge of their own affairs. No one could control the other, and there was no unified command.The soldiers in the city couldn't eat or drink, and their morale was low.The eunuchs reported back to Sizong, but Sizong had no choice. On March 18th, Li Zicheng sent Du Xun, the eunuch who surrendered, to negotiate with Sizong, and proposed that the two sides divide the world.The city guard eunuchs Cao Huachun and Wang Dehua brought Du Xun to the city, and Du Xun explained his intention to Sizong.Sizong did not comment at the time.He didn't want to surrender at all, but he didn't want to give up this opportunity to stall for time, so he asked his trusted eunuchs to negotiate with Du, hoping to drag them to Qin Wangbing from all over the place to rescue him.However, Li Zicheng didn't want to wait any longer.On the night of March 18, the peasant army attacked the city on a large scale. Cao Huachun opened the city gate to welcome the surrender, and Li Zicheng occupied the outer city. When Sizong heard the news of the fall of the outer city, he knew that the general situation was over. He led a group of eunuchs in the palace to wander around the city aimlessly, returned to the palace, and boarded Meishan.Seeing the flames of war in the outer city, Sizong sighed and burst into tears.He stood silently for a while, then went back to the palace to deal with funeral matters. Sizong first asked the prince and the two kings Yong and Ding.Looking at the 16-year-old prince and an 11-year-old prince and a 9-year-old prince, Sizong felt very painful.He told them that Beijing was about to fall and the country would be destroyed.You have to escape, and you will have a chance to avenge me in the future.He also ordered the three sons to wear worn-out clothes and said: "Today you are princes and princes, and tomorrow you will be ordinary people. After you go out, you will call the old man uncle and the young man sir. You must learn to protect yourself, Hurry, run for your life." Sizong choked up when he said this, and the three children also cried together.Sizong waved his hand and asked the eunuch to send the three brothers to the homes of the two royal relatives, Zhou and Tian.He also wrote an edict casually, ordering all officials to "go to the East Palace for a walk" and have them sent to the cabinet. At this time, there was no one in the cabinet. After seeing off the three princes, Sizong asked the eunuch Wang Cheng'en to bring him wine, and he poured it for himself, and he was drunk after a while.He walked out of the palace gate, staring at the dark Forbidden City with mixed feelings in his heart. 17 years of painstaking efforts, 17 years of bleak management, now ruined, he can only die to make atonement to the spirit of the ancestors, to make atonement to the people.He wants to die heroically, and he and his family cannot be insulted in any way.Sizong ordered the eunuchs around him to pass orders to the palaces, and the empress and concubines quickly committed suicide.After a while, Sizong came to Kunning Palace, Zhou Hou cried like tears, when she saw Sizong coming in, she stopped crying, and the two looked at each other with teary eyes, watching his beloved wife hang herself to death, Sizong felt dizzy for a while , then "haha" laughed wildly, raised his sword and walked out of Kunning Palace. When Sizong arrived at Concubine Yuan's West Palace from Kunning Palace, several concubines hid here in panic.Sizong saw that Concubine Yuan had hanged herself, but she fell off the stool and was still breathing.He drew out his sword and slashed at Concubine Yuan while clenching his teeth. Concubine Yuan's blood flowed profusely.Sizong seemed to be crazy, he swung his sword and chopped off several concubines.Then go straight to Shouning Palace. His second daughter, the 16-year-old Princess Changping lives in Shouning Palace. 16 years old is the age of flowers and jade, Sizong likes her very much.Last year, he searched for her son-in-law among the noble children, and initially selected a son of a nobleman surnamed Zhou, but due to sudden changes in the situation, the matter was let go.At this time, the country is about to perish, and tomorrow, thieves are about to enter the palace, how can a young girl escape for her life?Sizong dare not imagine the fate of his beloved daughter.He would rather let her die than live in the hands of thieves.When Sizong arrived at Shouning Palace, Princess Changping was about to hang herself.Seeing her father covered in blood and holding a sword in his hand, Princess Changping yelled "Father Emperor" and rushed towards Sizong.Sizong's heart was twisted like a knife, he was afraid that he would not be able to lift the sword again after his beloved daughter fell into his arms, so he shouted hoarsely: "Why did you have to be born in my family!" In a pool of blood.After killing Princess Changping, Youjian went to Zhaoren Hall and killed the third daughter, Princess Zhaoren. After doing this, he stayed in the palace for a while, and was carried out by the eunuch Wang Chengen to climb Meishan.He lost a shoe and took off his blood-stained robe, wearing only a loose inner robe.After entering the Shouhuang Palace, he asked Wang Chengen to put a white silk on the beam, and told Wang Chengen to run away after his death.Wang Chengen exchanged tears, expressing that he would die with the emperor, Sizong felt a little relieved.He took one last look at Miyagi and the raging bonfire lit by the peasant army in the distance, feeling a sense of relief in his heart, and wrapped the white silk around his neck.Wang Chengen watched the monarch die, and hanged himself opposite him.The Ming Dynasty, which lasted 16 emperors and 276 years, came to an end.At this time, it was the dawn of April 25, 1644. After Sizong's death, together with Queen Zhou, they were buried in a willow coffin by the Qing Dynasty and sent to the temple.Dorgon ordered him to be buried with ceremonies, allowing the elders and children of the Ming Dynasty to cry at the ceremony.After the ceremony, it was decided to bury Sizong and his wife in Concubine Tian's mausoleum.The estimated cost of excavating the tomb passage and building the stele pavilion is about 3,000 taels of silver.The Qing government allocated 1,500 taels from the rent of the Ming Tombs, and the rest was raised by eunuchs such as Cao Huachun and the elders and children of the Ming Dynasty.Cao Huachun played for this many times, and Dorgon also ordered Yousi to complete the work several times.It was not until November 29 of that year that the work of excavating the tomb passage began.At the end of the year, the tomb passage was repaired and the tomb of Concubine Tian was opened.Coincidentally, the mausoleum where the coffins are placed is very large, and it is no problem to place three coffins.So Sizong and his Queen Zhou and Concubine Tian rest here. After the founding of Nanming, Sizong was posthumously named Emperor Lie, and the temple name was "Sizong".In the Qing Dynasty, the posthumous title was "Emperor Zhuang Liemin", without a temple name, and the mausoleum was called "Siling".