156235
How did Emperor Chongzhen spend his last day
In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), the fear and despair in Emperor Zhu Youjian’s heart cannot be described in words. Li Zicheng’s Dashun army had already surrounded Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen had no soldiers and no money, so he was so anxious that he turned round and round but could not find anything. On the 19th day of March, Zhu Youjian, who had been in power for 17 years, climbed the coal mountain to cover his face and hanged himself at the age of 34. The death of the monarch is a shame.
How did he spend the last day of his life? There are quite a lot of relevant records, we might as well crawl through historical materials and write a diary for him on this day.
After 375 years, can we feel his unmoving sorrow?
The last struggle
On the 18th day of the third month, the gloomy wind whistled and the yellow sand flew, followed by thunder, rain, and hail. In such bad weather, the Dashun Army launched a general attack on Beijing City. There were only 10,000 Ming troops guarding the city (including eunuchs), who were small in number, poorly equipped, and starving. They have no fighting power, let alone fighting will. Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City was powerless. The day before, he and the ministers were weeping against each other in the court hall, and they both understood that there was no way to recover. To this day, the ministers do not know where to go, only Wei Zaodeshang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, is by his side.
At this time, Li Zicheng, for some unknown reason, sent the rebellious eunuch Du Xun into the city to discuss peace. Emperor Chongzhen and Wei Zaode received Du Xun. Du Xun brought Li Zicheng’s conditions: “It is proposed to cut the northwest area, divide the country into a king, and reward the army with one million silver, and retreat to Henan.”
“Dividing the country into a king”, Li Zicheng intended to be on an equal footing with Emperor Chongzhen. If accepted, it may be able to usher in a sliver of life for Daming. Considering it from the perspective of the dying struggle, you might as well try it, and whether it succeeds or not will be discussed later.
At a critical moment, Emperor Chongzhen lost the ability to speak his mind. He kicked the ball out, and he said to Wei Zaode, “How about this discussion? It’s urgent now, but we can make a decision.” Wei Zaode is an old slick, of course he won’t make a decision on such a big thing, and he’s even more unwilling to make a decision in the future. Back the black pot. He “does not answer in silence, just bows his head.” Emperor Chongzhen was restless, and repeatedly urged Wei Zaode to make a decision, but Wei finally said nothing. The emperor was furious, kicked over the dragon chair, and left.
Du Xun returned without success. Since the negotiation failed and the generals were not enough to serve, Emperor Chongzhen still had the last option: to lead the way and go on a personal expedition. There is no other way but to resist. In his imperial pen, he wrote a “Personal Conquest Edict”: “I personally lead the six divisions in the past, and the important affairs of the state are to appoint the crown prince, to inform the people of the country, and to be able to work hard, or to help with grain, grass, equipment, mules, horses, boats, carts, and all before the army to listen to them. In order to eliminate the ugly and rebel, and divide the reward of Mao Xuetu, I will never break my word.”
Where are the “six divisions”? He summoned the servants of the minister, Liu Wenbing, the Marquis of Xinle, and the concubine Gong Yonggu, and said, “The laws are so strict, why would the ministers dare to keep their family members privately?” An Zai, the answer was that they were all scattered. He summoned the eunuch, but with the exception of a few panicked confidants who were still by his side, the others had already fled for their lives.
In the afternoon, the Dashun army stormed the Zhangyi Gate. At three o’clock, Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the supervisory army, opened the door and surrendered. As a result, the city of Beijing was broken through, and the inner city was in danger.
Emperor Chongzhen urgently summoned several cabinet ministers and asked them if they knew that the outer city had been trapped, but they all said they did not know. The emperor asked: “The matter is urgent, what is the plan now?” The ministers replied: “The blessing of the emperor, you should not worry about it, if it is unfavorable, the ministers will fight in the streets and promise to live up to the country.”
Such rhetoric is all empty talk and lies, “street fighting” and so on, and it’s just rhetoric. Emperor Chongzhen did not get any feasible suggestions, so he had to order the ministers to retire.
2. The cry of the harem
At sunset, Emperor Chongzhen took Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the Si Lijian and the Indian eunuch, to climb up the coal mountain to look around. The fall of the inner city is only a matter of minutes. Time to make the final arrangements.
Emperor Chongzhen returned to Qianqing Palace from Meishan and called for “the master’s son”, that is, his three sons – Prince Zhu Ciluo, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong, and Prince Yong Zhu Cixiong. He ordered the three to escape from the palace immediately, put on old clothes for them in person, and exhorted: “You are the prince, the king, the city is broken, and the common people are also small people, let’s escape! Don’t fall in love with me, I will die. How can you see your ancestors underground? You must be careful and careful. If you meet an official, the old should be called the master, the young should be called the elder brother, or the eldest brother, the scholar should be called the gentleman, and the sergeant should be called the head of the household. , or called the Chief.”
This teaching was his father’s dying entrustment. He hoped that his sons would survive and restore the Daming country. Emperor Chongzhen burst into tears and said bitterly, “Why are you three unfortunate enough to be born in my family?” Then he burst into tears. After saying goodbye to his son, he called the concubines again and ordered them to commit suicide, “Don’t spoil the emperor’s ancestral body.” This move is really cruel, but, how many female relatives of the emperor who has always died can die peacefully? In order to avoid the insults of the Dashun Army and preserve the dignity of the royal family, death may be the best choice.
He tragically told the Empress Zhou: “The big thing is over! Er Yi died!” Empress Zhou knew righteousness, was diligent in running the family, had the reputation of being virtuous, and had a very harmonious relationship with the emperor. She cried and said, “My concubine has served His Majesty for 18 years, and the soldier did not listen to a single word. Today, I died with the Sheji, so why should I hate her!” Although she meant to complain, Da Yi was not afraid of death, and returned to Kunning Palace to hang herself.
The imperial concubine Yuan Shi seemed unwilling to die, so Emperor Chongzhen drew his sword to catch up with her and said, “You should die too!” He hacked to death several other concubines.
At about nine o’clock in the evening, Emperor Chongzhen came to Shouning Palace, saw the 15-year-old eldest princess Hui Ti, glared at her, and said, “Hu Weisheng my family?” He covered his face with his left hand and chopped off with a sword in his right. The princess blocked the sword with her hand, and her left arm was cut off. Emperor Chongzhen wanted to kill him, but he couldn’t raise his sword because his hands were trembling. Huiti fell unconscious on the spot, but later woke up. After that, Emperor Chongzhen went to Zhaoren Hall to kill Princess Kunyi.
After killing his daughter, Emperor Chongzhen took his sword to Kunning Palace. Seeing that Empress Zhou was exhausted, he even said, “It’s good to die!” Empress Dowager Zhang committed suicide.
Empress Dowager Zhang hesitated after receiving the order, and did not decide to commit suicide until the early morning of the 19th, but was rescued by the palace maid. After a few hours, she was suspended again and was rescued by the vanguard of the Dashun Army. That night, she hanged herself for the third time and finally died.
The end of the emperor
It was already late at night on the 18th after dealing with the matter in the harem. Emperor Chongzhen returned to the Qianqing Palace and wrote an decree: “I order the Duke of Chenggong, Zhu Chunchen, to supervise all military affairs inside and outside the palace, to assist the East Palace, and to release prisoners.” What other military affairs can be arranged? Just kidding yourself.
Of course, he doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to whether this decree can be implemented or not. He and Wang Chengen drank suffocating wine, drinking several cups in a row, and sighed helplessly: “I am full of people in the city.” When they were drinking, the two must be planning something. At 11 o’clock in the evening, Emperor Chongzhen took action again. He walked to Wang Chengen’s house, took off his yellow turban, put on Wang Chengen’s big hat and boots, and dressed up as a civilian. He wants to live, he wants to get out of town.
Emperor Chongzhen, armed with a three-eyed spear and dozens of eunuchs on horseback and axe, wanted to go out through Qihua Gate and Chongwen Gate. They went to Zhengyangmen again, intending to grab the door and go out. Before they reached the city gate, the Ming army at the city head thought these people were spies and rushed to shoot with bows and arrows. Emperor Chongzhen turned back in panic, cutting off the idea of leaving the city. Back in the palace, he rang the bell to summon the officials, but no one responded. The ministers had abandoned him. There is no way out, there is only one death. He completely understood.
He changed a set of clothes, and then went to Meishan with Wang Chengen again, but none of the officials followed. He found a big tree and hanged himself. Wang Chengen hanged himself with him. At the time of his death, Emperor Chongzhen was wearing a blue-sleeved Taoist robe and red trousers, his hair was disheveled, one foot was wearing boots and the other was bare.
Many literatures say that Emperor Chongzhen had a blood edict with imperial pen in his belt, and the contents are different. This is recorded from the “Guo Ju” as follows: “It has been ten or seven years since I ascended the throne, the Easterners have invaded the interior three times, and the rebels have been pressing for the capital. Although I have been humbled by virtue and bandits, and I have been blamed by heaven, all the ministers have mistaken me. I died without a face and saw my ancestors in the ground. I removed my crown, covered my face, and let the thieves split my corpse without hurting the people.” He blamed his ministers until his death.
At dawn on March 19th, the Dashun army occupied the inner city, and Li Zicheng walked into the Forbidden City proudly to accept the surrender of ministers, eunuchs and palace family members.
At that time, the whereabouts of Emperor Chongzhen were unknown inside and out, and many people thought he had escaped. It was not until March 22 that the bodies of Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen were discovered.
