Zhang Fengyi, the minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, committed suicide by taking laxatives to escape the guilt of defeat.

In the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty, there were fierce party struggles and overstaffed people, and few people could really do things in a down-to-earth manner. There is a decadent atmosphere everywhere, and jokes like those mentioned above happen from time to time. Compared with the above-mentioned "upper and lower secrets", improper employment in officialdom is a more critical factor in the decline of officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), the Ministry of War of Daming ushered in a new leader-Zhang Fengyi, Minister of War. Zhang Fengyi, a native of Daizhou, Shanxi, often makes jokes because he is mediocre and clever.

One day, Zhang Fengyi met Sun Jin in court. Seeing that he was sad, he went forward to ask enthusiastically. It turned out that Sun Jin was from Tongcheng, South Zhili (now Tongcheng, Anhui). He heard that the peasant army running out of Shaanxi had started activities in Henan and northern Anhui, and he was very worried that his hometown would also be "patronized" by the peasant army, so he pulled a long face and was unhappy.

After learning the situation, Zhang Fengyi expressed great sympathy for Sun Jin and wanted to comfort him, but he thought for a long time and didn't come up with any suitable words to comfort Sun Jin. Finally, Zhang Fengyi struggled for a long time and finally came up with a word of comfort, but what he didn't expect was that when' tis once spoken, he became a laughing stock.

Zhang Fengyi said to Sun Jin, "Sun Gong, you are from the south. What are you worried about? The thieves are all from the northwest. They can't get used to rice in the south, and the horses they ride don't eat grass in the south of the Yangtze River! " Zhang Fengyi wanted to use the theory of "acclimatization" to comfort Sun Jin, but he made a common-sense mistake, and all his colleagues laughed miserably when they heard about it.

But ZhangFeng yi's naivety goes far beyond that. In the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636), the Qing soldiers crossed the Great Wall again and invaded the mainland of Ming Dynasty. Zhang Fengyi, the minister of the Ministry of War, was not properly deployed, and the Ming army was repeatedly defeated, and many important passes and towns were lost. Emperor Chongzhen was very angry when he heard about it. As a last resort, Zhang Fengyi, the minister of the Ministry of War, had to crustily skin of head and request to go out to supervise the soldiers, which was approved by Emperor Chongzhen.

However, although Zhang Fengyi volunteered, he knew nothing about marching and fighting. When he got to the place, he did nothing and could do nothing. As a result, the Qing soldiers broke dozens of cities, countless people and property were killed and robbed, and the Ming Dynasty suffered heavy losses.

Although Zhang Fengyi can't fight, he has a good political mind. He felt that he had made such a big mistake and would definitely die after returning to North Korea. At that time, the western market will come to the door to criticize, and the abuse will inevitably roll in behind him. In order to avoid being ruined, Zhang Fengyi began to eat rhubarb every day when he was still in command of the battle, which made him have loose bowels and committed suicide. Finally, he died miserably when the Qing army just retired.

Zhang Fengyi's wishful thinking is this. If he can die while the inspector's office is out, he will at least be killed in the line of duty, as the saying goes, "a beautiful man covers all the ugliness." The court's investigation of responsibility will certainly not be difficult for the deceased himself, not only saving his family, but also leaving a good reputation for himself in future generations. Zhang Fengyi thought it was "great luck" to die like this.

At that time, Liang Tingdong, a former minister of the Ministry of War and then governor of Hebei and Liao, had the same idea and did the same thing as Zhang Fengyi. He committed suicide by eating rhubarb every day. This is the case for two consecutive ministers of the Ministry of War, and it is strange that the Ming Dynasty was unbeaten.

What Zhang Fengyi never expected was that he counted everything, but missed the record of his boss behind the scenes-Wen Tiren.

After the retreat of the Qing army, the court began to investigate the responsibility. Because of Wen Ziren's intervention, the final handling opinion given by the punishments to Zhang Fengyi turned out to be "innocent"! That is to say, Zhang Fengyi, a clever man who committed suicide by eating rhubarb, lost his life in vain. Because of this, people at that time laughed at Zhang Fengyi's "unfortunate death" after hearing about his deeds!