The Chongzhen Restoration

Why do some people believe that the Ming Dynasty could be saved after the reigns of Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen? During the Little Ice Age, fiscal deterioration led to a decline in the number of self-cultivating farmers, the tax base. Scholar-official families owned vast tracts of land, but the early Ming policy of favoring scholars resulted in tax exemptions.

Here are my personal opinions: 1. The massacre of nobles—no matter how you try to whitewash it, those who need to know will know. This means the hereditary nobility's reputation is ruined, and nobody will take them seriously anymore. It also means that whatever happens next, people won't see bestowing titles upon nobles as an honor, but rather as a prelude to a purge.

The people had no place to stand, meaning they were so poor that they didn't even have enough land to plant an awl. Our country is vast, so where did all the arable land that the ancient people didn't have? Let's take the Ming Dynasty as an example. The Ming Dynasty began to establish imperial estates during the Yongle period, which were the emperor's private lands.

No dynasty could be saved at its end; the massive bureaucracy, heavy taxes, and endless streams of displaced people were simply beyond saving. The root cause was the flaw in the prefecture-county system's ability to extract labor from the people. This system's capacity to absorb labor was too great, yet it offered no feedback, inevitably leading to short-lived dynasties.

I know this might start a fight, so please be gentle if you disagree. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he should first eliminate Yuan Chonghuan, ignoring his nonsense about pacifying Liaodong in three years. Holding the Ningjin defense line would at least prevent the Manchus from reaching Beijing.

Go Huanghuang! There are many Ming Dynasty enthusiasts in the history circle. With only eight chapters, I believe this book will definitely be a success!

To turn the tide in the late Ming Dynasty court, only those who have been within the system truly understand. An individual fighting against the collective is doomed to failure, no matter how brilliant. How much intelligence must Emperor Chongzhen have possessed to succeed?

I stopped reading this book after the part about Mao Wenlong. The historical issues concerning the round-faced girl were glossed over and met with utmost flattery. They extremely belittled Mao Wenlong, calling him a traitor, yet also saying he owed nothing. This approach conflicted with my personal opinion, so I abandoned the project.

The conflict at the outset is quite unique, yet also awkward. The Emperor Tianqi's will decree that Prince Xin's younger brother should succeed him must have been agreed upon both internally and externally. Therefore, the idea that Wei Zhongxian was directly opposing the soon-to-be-crowned Prince Xin is fundamentally untenable.

The solution to the problems at the end of the Ming Dynasty was simple: let the farmers go back to farming. To get farmers back to farming, we need to remove the five mountains weighing on them: taxes, corvée labor, levies, rent, and debt. (1) Tax Throughout its history, the Ming Dynasty was plagued by a serious problem: excessively low tax revenue.