Why did Emperor Chongzhen say in his last words that "civil servants can kill the world"

For Zhu Youjian, the first half of March in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen was the last hard day. While recruiting "hard-working" teachers from all sides, we should also raise our wages. One way is that criminal bureaucrats held in prisons can make amends by donating their wages; The second way is that all royalty and senior bureaucrats donate their salaries according to their official ranks and ranks. The former seems to have some effect, because it can offset the charges, so-called "spending money to eliminate disasters." The latter is almost ineffective because it is a free donation. Only eunuchs around the emperor, such as Wang, donated 52,000 yuan for his charity.

The rest of the senior bureaucrats are like "iron cocks"-penniless. Minister Wei Zaode only symbolically donated five hundred and twenty pieces of silver. Chen Yan, the minister, pretended to be poor in front of the emperor, claiming that he was always clean, never asked for bribes to sell officials, and never donated a silver or two. Those royal family members are rich, but they are stingy and refuse to contribute to the country. The emperor sent eunuchs to raise money from his father-in-law Zhou Kui. Zhou Kui never let go. He was so angry that the eunuch left a sentence: the old royal family was so stingy that the tide was gone! What's the use of your savings if you lose your land?

Eunuch Wang Zhixin is a famous rich man in Kyoto. The emperor raised money for him and reluctantly donated twelve thousand pieces of silver. The eunuchs who earned enough money in the imperial court tried their best to put up an advertisement on their house "This house is for sale" and set up stalls to sell antiques and sundries, as if they were poor enough to sell SARS. These royal minions even grumbled and wrote a doggerel on the palace gate: "There is no one here, but there is someone here." It shows that the Ming dynasty is at the end of the road, and there is no cohesion at all. Those who were attached to the Ming Dynasty and were in the ascendant had already left Germany. They are not without money, but indifferent to the demise of the dynasty. Later, the peasant army captured Beijing and "plundered and hunted". Under the threat of severe punishment, Wang Zhixin took out 65,438+002,000 taels of silver and 42,000 taels of silver, and the peasant army copied 502,000 taels of silver from Zhou Kui's house.

This is an ominous sign that a dynasty is about to die. At this point, Zhu Youjian can only do his best. On the one hand, I felt the corruption of bureaucrats and issued a decree to the Sixth Ministry and the Duchayuan. On the other hand, in order to save people's hearts, he issued an Amnesty order to the world, and made a profound review of his achievements in the past 17 years: in this 17 year, the war between Liaodong and the Central Plains was indeed a necessity. After years of fighting, taxes and factions increased. The original intention was to appease the people. As a result, the burden on the people has increased. This is my fault. Corrupt officials seize the opportunity to plunder and deliberately exploit, causing hardship to people's livelihood. It's my fault that I didn't observe it in the inner palace. The generals are weak, the soldiers are arrogant and desperately refuse to kill the enemy. On the contrary, they burned and plundered people and regarded them as enemies. I appointed a non-human person, which caused the ulcer to fester. This is my fault.

With a sigh, I hated it, and I deserved it. I told the people that the military and horses were diligent, the tax increase was exempted, and everything that was inconvenient for the people was cancelled, and a new situation was to be opened. I hope Niu Jinxing, Liu Zongmin and others who follow Li Zicheng will be pardoned and not investigated. He also said that after the unrest subsided, we must appoint talented people to govern the country, reform the corrupt politics in the past, and reform with everyone.

These words reveal Zhu Youjian's eagerness to save the situation, which can't be said to be insincere, but after all, it is too late to help. Tan Qian, a historian in the early Qing Dynasty, commented in "Lack of State" that if this imperial edict was promulgated last year, people from far and near might be moved by it. Now that the situation has changed greatly, disaster will come at any time, and it is very dangerous to leave Beijing. Who would believe it? 12 in March, the peasant army approached the suburbs of Beijing, and the ruling and opposition parties shook. Zhu Youjian called the minister to ask for countermeasures, but everyone could do nothing but say something irrelevant, such as closing the city gate and forbidding entry. The next day, he held another headquarters meeting, and no one said anything. He was so angry that he cursed the Ministry of War Zhang Shangshu for dereliction of duty. Zhang simply slapped his gauze cap and begged to be dismissed from office. What is the way out for this mentality except doing nothing?

On March 15, the peasant army arrived at Juyongguan. The eunuch in the army is in the same column as the company commander Tang. Give up without a fight and easily give up the last pass to defend Beijing. Governor He Qian and company commanders Ma Dai got cold feet. On March 16, Zhu Youjian was still in the palace, and he inspected 33 alternate magistrates. Suddenly, the eunuch sent an urgent letter and opened it. Zhu Youjian suddenly stood up and went in. This dispatch was made by Tang Bao, who fell from Changping, a suburb of Beijing. Content: At dawn this day, the peasant army captured Changping, and the company commander Li committed suicide. Farmers immediately occupied twelve graves, burned temples and cut down pines and cypresses. That night, the peasant army marched along the Shahe River and arrived at Pingzemen, the outer city of Beijing, with candles burning brightly along the way.

The Ming dynasty is in danger. Fireworks filled the sky above the capital, and drizzle mixed with snowflakes covered the whole city in the smog, which cast a bleak color on the end of the dynasty. Xu's Summary of the Second Year of the Ming Dynasty said: "Yellow sand covers the sky and turns into a bitter wind and rain. After a long time, the thunder arrived and human feelings became more and more confused. " You see, the biting wind, rain, hail, lightning and gunfire are intertwined, rendering the desolation of the end of the Forbidden City vivid. Zhu Youjian, who was wandering in the palace, got a report from the eunuch that the inner city had been lost. He asked, "Where are the soldiers in the camp? Where is Li Guozhen? The answer is: Li Guozhen, the governor of Beijing camp, fled for his life, and the soldiers in the camp also fled separately. They advised the emperor to "hurry up", but this is the end of the story. They had to run for their lives. They didn't expect that the emperor chose not "drive" but martyrdom.