Chongzhen: Diligence Can't Save Great Ming, but the Torture Rack Can

Everyone agrees that if Li Zicheng goes up to the stick, if you can't do it, you'll be seeking death if you go up to it. Don't think that it's enough for a gangster to become the emperor. That is basically two kinds of world cognition.

The demise of the Ming Dynasty was not caused by a single factor, but by the "resonance" of institutional defects, economic imbalances, military decline, pressure from foreign enemies and natural disasters. - Institutional level: The highly centralized political system lacks flexibility and cannot adapt to social changes; - Economic level: Taxation is out of touch with productivity, and fiscal collapse causes social disorder; - Military level: Strategic shortsightedness and internal corruption weaken defense capabilities; - Natural level: Climate disaster becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back. These factors are intertwined to form a "death spiral": fiscal bankruptcy → sudden changes in tax increases → frequent uprisings → military consumption → invasion by foreign enemies → greater financial pressure... In the end, a once glorious empire came to an end in multiple strangulations. As Meng Sen said: "The death of the Ming Dynasty actually occurred in Wanli." But the deeper answer may lie in the fact that the Ming Dynasty failed to complete the transformation from a traditional agricultural empire to a modern country, and its system and governance model completely failed in the great historical changes.

There is no basic plate, be careful to dissolve it in water

After a long training session, I wrote a soldier to be my treasure. . . Talent

Brother, your emperor can check the account books, and the places that overcharged the people can find out. You are such a god, I will cry to death. Also, are you sure to use Sun Chengzong? That old man can't do anything else but build castles. Are you sure you have the money? Why did Yuan Chonghuan say that Pingliao can be reused in five years? It's not because he has no money. Speaking of Wanli, he couldn't defeat the civil servants and was hiding in the deep palace. Why didn't you tell him why he couldn't defeat the civil servants. Speaking of Tianqi, Chongzhen is far worse than Tianqi. Tianqi and Chongzhen both trusted the Donglin Party at first. The reaction of the two after they found out that they had been fooled showed the difference in level. After Tianqi was deceived, he quickly concluded that the civil servants could not be trusted, and I had no way to touch them, so I looked at past experience and found that eunuchs were used. Later, there was an example of Wang An. I also found that the eunuchs who came from the inner study were all Hanlin teachers when they were studying. The internal minister and the foreign minister had a relationship when they were young. So I will choose someone who is not from the inner study to compete with you (Wei Zhongxian is a great eunuch who is not from the inner study in the middle and late Ming Dynasty), and the government will be stable. As for Chongzhen, it's like a child who hasn't grown up. If you can't do it, I will change him. In seventeen years, he has had eighteen chief ministers, just like every house. Wanli did not let officials make the place bigger, but the central government still had authority. You Chongzhen's childish play of making three assistants a year made the central government lose all its prestige, but you still have the nerve to criticize others. Because of this, he still trusted civil servants and issued four edicts to sinners, making him the man who issued the most edicts to sinners. What is the reason for Tianqi's bad reputation? Is Liao's salary important? Did civil servants mention it? Did Yang Lian say it? But anyone who knows history knows that he is very harmful to the people. The civil servants scolded Tianqi because he competed with the people for profit. Doing business was something ordinary people could do, and mining was something ordinary people could open. The Tianqi Dynasty encouraged them to maintain it, and they didn't owe any money for disaster relief. At the beginning, Yang Lian's blood letter was written. Believe it or not, more than 50% of the memorials written by the ministers of the DPRK were better and sadder than Yang Lian's. I believe the author has checked the information, but can we think about whether it is reasonable and how many history books written by the descendants of the Donglin surrender faction are true. Where did the lost seal of the Ministry of War go? Why did Zhang Yan become a virtuous empress when Chongzhen ascended the throne, but became a queen in the later period of Chongzhen?

It's not that diligence couldn't save the Ming Dynasty, it's that Chongzhen couldn't save the Ming Dynasty

Don't watch other emperors kill and kill. They have a basic base, Zhu Laoba has a military household, and the Manchu emperor has bannermen. The army and spies are just an extension of the basic base, and they do not come out of thin air. No one dares to do this and fall into the water every minute. It is not a fantasy that the emperor's power is attributed to his own words and actions 😅

Without the army under his control and the power to guard the palace, he would be easily dissolved in water as soon as he clamped the stick.

The fundamental reason why "History of the Southern Ming Dynasty" believes that only Sun Kewang can save the world is that Sun Kewang single-handedly established a highly efficient administrative system from scratch - the Sixth Department of Administration. Relying on this administrative system, Sun Kewang managed to feed an army of 200,000 people with a barren Yunnan. The Yunnan warlords during the Republic of China could not afford to support an army of 200,000 even though they relied on opium cultivation to make huge profits. But Chongzhen couldn't do it despite all the efforts of the whole country. The Manchu Qing Dynasty could do it by squeezing Jiangnan, but it could not last long. Pinching sticks can only temporarily save the country. The protagonist must be like Sun Kewang and establish an administrative system that absolutely obeys his orders! Not to mention half the efficiency, even if Chongzhen's administrative system is one-tenth that of Sun Kewang, one province can support 20,000 people, and two capitals and thirteen provinces can support an army of 300,000 people. The world is basically at peace.

Trivia: Chongzhen was hiding in the harem and not going to court, so the Ming Dynasty could live for ten more years