Chapter 110 7. The Ming Empire in the democratic era

After Wei Zhongxian was defeated, all eyes, including some, turned to Liaodong at the same time—the rapid rise of the Qing Dynasty had already posed a dangerous challenge to the Ming Empire.So Emperor Chongzhen thought, in order to meet the challenge, he had to kill Yuan Chonghuan first! Who is Yuan Chonghuan?Why did Chongzhen kill him? We have to talk about this matter slowly. It is said that when Shenzong Zhu Yijun asked, the emperor held a general strike that lasted for 26 years. It was not until a mad assassin murdered the East Palace that Shenzong had to poke his head out of the palace and show his face. small face.Don't talk about a big empire, even if it is a single person, he has been hiding for twenty-six years, and there is no way to come out to mess around again.However, the general strike of Emperor Shenzong caused the empire to fall into complete paralysis, so a man named Nurhachi in the Northeast took advantage of his rise.

If you put aside the power demands of Emperor Shenzong's general strike and only look at the situation in Liaodong, it is still a big deal.For example, at the juncture of Nurhachi's rise, the Ming Empire repeatedly sent troops to encircle and suppress it.The most vicious one was the Battle of Sarhu. The Ming army sent out more than 100,000 horses, joined forces with the Korean People’s Army, and Nurhachi’s deadly enemy Yehe’s coalition forces. In short, a multinational peacekeeping force of 470,000 people was stationed in the Northeast Suppress bandits.However, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army didn't know anything about military affairs, and the courtiers pushed him out to meet the occasion. In fact, Emperor Shenzong didn't have enough interest in it.

As a result, in the battle of Sarhu, the elite troops of the Ming Empire were completely wiped out, and Nurhachi won several great victories against encirclement and suppression. After that, Emperor Shenzong died happily, and then Emperor Guangzong also died unexpectedly. It was the turn of Emperor Xizong, the pet of the court nanny Li Xuanshi, to appear. When Xi Zong ascended the throne, he began to discuss candidates for managing Liaodong. The courtiers played a communist style, pushing each other, and no one was willing to take on this immoral job. Shenzong Zhu Yijun went on strike in the 26th year, which led to workplace attendance and performance appraisal. Completely abolished, even the organization and personnel department—that is, the official department has a lot of people absent from work, and the fool will work hard for you from dawn to dusk.This was the situation at that time, and the ministers gave in to each other and refused to take over Liaodong.

This situation did not bother the wise and mighty Emperor Xizong. He waved the plane and ax in his hand and declared: "If a country or a regime cannot give the people sufficient democratic power, then it is not a country of the People's Republic, not a country of the People's Republic." The people's regime, the people should take action to overthrow it. Now I declare that the Ming Empire has entered the era of people's democracy, loudly amplify newspapers and debates, and implement people's great democracy..." What kind of democratic law? vote!There must be no one left in the contested election.

Thus, in the imperial court during the reign of Xi Zong, the worst democratic system in human history was realized. The courtiers lined up in a long line, walked to the ballot box with serious expressions, and cast a solemn and sacred vote. Pick a hapless guy who has never accumulated virtue in eight lifetimes, and let that guy go to Liaodong to be stabbed! After voting, votes are counted and voted.The little eunuch stood in front of the blackboard and solemnly read out each ballot, and the court lady wrote the orthographic characters on the blackboard, one orthographic five ballot papers, to see who was the most unpopular in the Ming court.

The result came out soon, and the courtier Wang Zaijin won the votes and was far ahead.Seeing this scene, Wang Zaijin was stunned, and couldn't help yelling: "Someone is cheating, Your Majesty, this is a fake democracy and a real dictatorship. It is a dictatorship by the majority over the minority. The procedure is illegal. The votes are adulterated. I have a hoarse voice, and the whole family who voted for me is stupid... All in all, this is clearly not a democratic election, but a political conspiracy against me. Your Majesty, come out and say something, you can’t let these people The careerist's plot has succeeded..."

Xi Zong was annoyed by the quarrel, so he said: "Look at you people, those who have agreed to democratic elections will play around when they are elected. Forget it, I won't be angry with you anymore. I will go back to the carpenter's room to be a five-dou chef. Besides..." Xi Zong left the arena, and the courtiers fought into a group. When they were fighting, suddenly someone from the Ministry of War came and said loudly: "Don't fight, don't fight. Let me tell you a good news. We have a deputy director-level researcher in the Ministry of War. He ran away by himself. Liaodong is gone, everyone hastened to keep their eyes open and stare at him. Now the Ming Empire actually has such a fool who jumps out to be knifed, everyone, don't be polite, kill or slaughter, you can figure it out!"

The ministers were stunned: "Is there really such a heartless person? Don't be joking?" No kidding, it's true. This deputy director-level researcher who left the Ministry of War and took the initiative to go to Liaodong Economic Strategy was Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan?Who is it?Why does he want to fight against the big guys? In an era when no one is willing to work, why does he want to take the initiative to stand up to the knife? Speaking of Yuan Chonghuan in detail, compared with the sophisticated courtiers, he is one of the few idealists in the Ming Empire.The blood is still hot, the heart is still impulsive, the attitude is still sincere, and the country and the nation are still loved.Although his official position is not very big, he is nothing more than a small head of the Ministry of War, but he has a sense of crisis, knowing that if this broken country continues like this, the consequences will be very dangerous.So he bit and stomped his feet, and without waiting for the official appointment of the state, he simply rode an old lame donkey without a tail, and left Shanhaiguan alone to observe the enemy's situation.

After inspecting the war situation in Northeast China, Yuan Chonghuan reported to the court: "I express my determination to the organization, use me in the first battle, use me to win, let me guard Ningyuan for the country." The imperial court replied: "Guard your head, guard, come back quickly, give up Ningyuan, and hand over this city to Nurhachi..." On the day the order arrived, Nurhachi had already driven 70,000 troops, and the generals surged like a tide, besieging Ningyuan City in groups .However, Yuan Chonghuan gritted his teeth and pulled out a Portuguese cannon, the most advanced in the world at that time, and hit it with a "boom", killing the hero Nurhachi on the spot.

This battle has another title, Ning Jin Great Victory. After the great victory, the imperial court was full of joy, everyone added officials, and everyone was rewarded. Many officials, even the babysitters at home, were rewarded by the imperial court for their bravery. Yuan Chonghuan's left-leaning adventurism, right-leaning escapism, opportunism of neither left nor right, unequal hedonism of officers and soldiers, egalitarianism of officers and soldiers... In a word, Yuan Chonghuan's limelight and violent killing of international friend Nurhachi has already If you offend the world, everyone in the country will say that you can kill it.Fortunately, Yuan Chonghuan saw the opportunity quickly and submitted a letter of repentance and resignation in a lightning-fast manner, so everyone let him go.

Look at the strange things that Yuan Chonghuan encountered, this was the custom of the Ming Empire at that time-in a word, the more loyal he was to serve the country, the worse he would die in the future.Judging from what has happened in history, it was not Xi Zong but Emperor Chongzhen who ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be skinned. It can be seen that Yuan Chonghuan's tragedy has become inevitable.