How many emperors were there in the Ming Dynasty? The real reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was revealed.

The Ming Dynasty was the dynasty that inherited the Yuan Dynasty and started the Qing Dynasty in China's history. 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Yuan and proclaimed himself emperor. His title is Daming, which inherits sixteen emperors Ming Taizu (Hongwu), Ming Huidi (Wen Jian), Ming Chengzu (Yongle), Ming Renzong (Hongxi), Ming Xuanzong (Xuande), Ming Yingzong (Orthodox/Tianshun), Ming Daizong (Jingtai) and Ming Xianzong.

1, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328- 1398) proclaimed himself emperor in 1368 and reigned for 3 1 year.

The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368, with Nanjing as its capital. He died on 1398 at the age of 7 1.

Hui Di Zhu Yunwen (1377- 1402) ascended the throne, with the year number "Wen Jian" 1398, and reigned for five years.

2. Zhu Yunwen and Ming Huidi were not the posthumous children of the Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Qianlong reign in Qing Dynasty, posthumous title, posthumous title, was called "Emperor Gongmin" and was called Emperor Wen Jian in historical records. Sexual indecision.

Hui Di, the great-grandson, the second son of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and Zhu Yuanzhang were sealed to the royal family when he was alive. More than 20 sons were sealed and stationed in various places. After Hui Di ascended the throne, in order to unify the military and political affairs, he cut off the governors and angered the kings. Judy, the prince of Yan, invaded Nanking in 1402. Hui Di said that he was burned to death and escaped.

3. Judy (1360- 1424) ascended the throne, with the year "Yongle" 1402, and reigned for 23 years.

Judy, the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, overthrew Ming Huidi's independence in 1420, moved the capital to Beijing in142/0, and ordered the compilation of Yongle Dadian. 1424 died at the age of 65.

4. Injong Zhu Gaochi (1378- 1425) acceded to the throne, with the year number "Hongxi" 1424, and reigned 1 year.

Renzong, the eldest son of Ming Taizu Chengzu, was politically sober and took some measures to ease social contradictions. /kloc-0 reigned in/and/kloc-0 died in/425 at the age of 48.

5. Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji (1398- 1435) ascended the throne with the year "Xuande" 1425, and reigned1year.

Like his father, Xuanzong, the eldest son of Injong, listened to the opinions of his deputies better and called Injong "the rule of Ren Xuan". During the reign of Xuanzong, the relationship between monarch and minister was harmonious and the economy developed steadily. Xuanzong died in 1435 at the age of 38.

6. The year number of Yingzong Zhu Qizhen (1427- 1464) is "orthodox"; "Tianshun" (1435-1449; 1457- 1464) reigned for 23 years.

Emperor Yingzong, the eldest son of Xuanzong, was only 9 years old when he acceded to the throne, and was monopolized by eunuch Wang Zhen. 1449, Wala invaded the south on a large scale, and Wang Zhenxi was personally recruited by Yingzong. Yingzong was captured, known as the "rebellion" in history, and was put back in 1450. It was not until 1457 that he ascended the throne again. He died in 1464 at the age of 38.

7. Jingdi Zhu Qiyu (1428- 1457) ascended the throne, with the year number "Jingtai" 1449, and was in office for 9 years.

Yingzong, the second son of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was captured and made emperor. After he ascended the throne, he was used to demote himself as the minister of war, which shattered Valla's attack on Beijing and forced Valla to return to Yingzong. After Yingzong was put back, Jingdi put him under house arrest until 1475, when Jingdi was critically ill and Yingzong was made emperor again. Jingdi died in 1457, aged 30.

8. Xian Zong Zhu Jianshen (1447- 1487) ascended the throne with the year number "Chenghua" 1464, and he reigned for 24 years.

Xianzong, the eldest son of Yingzong, was good at magic and indulged in womanhood, causing eunuchs to "rape and bully the state affairs." 1487, Xianzong died at the age of 4 1.

9. Xiaozong Zhu Youtang (1470- 1505) ascended the throne, with the year number "Hongzhi" 1487, and reigned for 19 years.

Filial piety, the third son of Xianzong. Filial piety's "continuing the regular administration and opening its mouth wide" has changed the situation of treacherous court officials in power since the British Zong Dynasty. Known as the "Lord of ZTE". He died on 1505 at the age of 36.

10, Zhu Houzhao (1491-1521) ascended the throne, with the year "Zheng De" 1505, and reigned for 17 years.

Wu Zong, the eldest son of Xiao Zong. He was a famous absurd emperor in the Ming Dynasty, and he was lewd. He died in 152 1 at the age of 3 1.

1 1, sejong Zhu Hougan (1507- 1566) ascended the throne, with the year number "Jiajing" 152 1, and he reigned for 46 years.

Sejong, xian Zongsun, father xing. Sejong did a lot in the early stage, killing eunuchs and sparing the people, but in the later stage, he was dissolute and politically corrupt, and peasant uprisings broke out many times. Sejong died of taking Dan medicine poisoning at the age of 60.

12, General Muzhu ascended the throne, with the year number "Qin Long" (1537- 1572), and he was in office for 7 years.

Mu Zong, the third son of Sejong. He reigned for 7 years and died in 1572 at the age of 36.

13. Emperor Zhu Yijun (1563- 1620) ascended the throne in 1572 and reigned for 48 years.

Zongshen, the third son of Mu Zong. When he acceded to the throne, he was only 10 years old, and Empress Chen and Li Guifei presided over the state affairs. After Zongshen was in power, he lived in seclusion, indulged in pleasure and became politically corrupt. When Zongshen was in power, Nurhachi in the north established the post-Jin Dynasty to spy on the Central Plains. Zongshen died on 1620 at the age of 58.

14, Guangzong Zhu Changluo (1582- 1620) ascended the throne on 1620, and his reign was 1.

Guangzong, the eldest son of Zongshen. He is a greedy and lecherous emperor. On the day of his accession to the throne, he fell ill because of excessive greed, and later died of excessive use of cinnabar. At the age of 39.

15, Zhu Youxiao (1605- 1627) ascended the throne with the title of "Apocalypse" 1620, and he reigned for 8 years.

Xi political corruption. Nuerhachi Sect, the eldest son of Guangzong. When he was in office, he appointed eunuch Wei Zhongxian, which led to the opportunity to capture Shenyang. Xizong died in 1627 at the age of 23.

16, four cases of Zhu Youjian (16 10- 1644) acceded to the throne, with the year number "Chongzhen" 1627, in place 17.

The fifth son of Guangzong has four cases. After acceded to the throne, so Wei Zhongxian, very diligent, struggling to cheer up, but it is difficult to reverse, peasant uprisings broke out everywhere, and Huang Taiji in the north constantly harassed and violated, and he was suspicious and headstrong in Chongzhen. Finally, 1644, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Jingshan. At the age of 35. Before he died, he wrote a big book on his blue robe, "Don't hurt anyone."

Emperor Nan Ming:

Hong Guang (1644- 1645), Emperor Zhu Yousong, was about to be put to the test.

Zhu Shaozongxiang (1645- 1646) Emperor Longwu.

Zhu Yuyu Yuwen Festival Shao Wuling Shaowu Emperor (1646).

Emperor Zhao Zongkuang of Zhu Youlang made a perpetual calendar (1646-1662) to make a permanent tomb.

The list of Ming emperors refers to 16 Ming emperors from the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang to the fourth Ming emperor Zhu Youjian.

There are two clues to study the history of ancient political changes in China, one is the power struggle between the central and local governments, and the other is the power struggle between the emperor and the prime minister. However, people often ignore another weak group in the power game-the interest group formed by the bureaucratic group composed of ordinary bureaucrats. Referring to the names of imperial power and relative power, we might as well call it minister power.

In most cases, due to the strength, the minister's power can't compete with the imperial power or the relative power, but can only be completely suppressed by the imperial power and the relative power, which has no brilliant performance in the historical stage. However, under certain historical conditions, the power of ministers can influence the development trend of a dynasty, and even the ultimate fate. This particular historical condition is that the relative strength is extremely weakened or even completely absent.

Throughout history, relative power has been continuously divided and weakened. From one phase in Han Dynasty to two phases in Tang Dynasty, to many phases in Song Dynasty, and then to no phase in Ming Dynasty. The minister's power is from centralization to decentralization, from strength to emptiness, from existence to absence, and the minister's power is constantly strengthened in the accelerated decline of the minister's power. In the Ming dynasty, the long dormant ministerial power was waiting for the spring of recovery.

First, abolish the imperial power and strengthen it.

From 1380 to 1392, Zhu Yuanzhang started with the incident that Prime Minister Hu angered and killed the coachman, and launched a big storm in Hu that lasted for 12 years and killed more than 30,000 people. This storm not only completely wiped out the hero group that established the Ming Dynasty, but also completely declared the death of the prime minister system that lasted for thousands of years-the heirs were not allowed to re-establish the prime minister, and the junior officers dared to treat those who were invited with heavy code ... Later generations said that those who changed their ancestral system were punished as traitors.

Regardless of Zhu Yuanzhang's merits and demerits, abolishing the prime minister system is definitely the biggest mistake of Zhu Yuanzhang's life.

Existence is reasonable, and the existence of the prime minister system for thousands of years is naturally justified. The prime minister system has at least three advantages. First of all, the prime minister is more "professional" than the emperor in managing state officials, and the dual system of the emperor and the prime minister also conforms to the modern enterprise management thought of separating ownership and management rights; Secondly, as the spokesman of the emperor, the prime minister played a buffering role between the emperor and his subjects; Finally, when necessary, the prime minister can bear the responsibility of political responsibility, become the vent point of the dissatisfaction of the broad masses of subjects, and use his political life and even his physical life to safeguard the "eternal wisdom" of the emperor.

However, the prime minister system also has a fatal shortcoming, that is, the prime minister who led the princes objectively had the political capital to challenge the imperial power, and there were many examples of prime ministers occupying and misappropriating part of the imperial power in previous dynasties. If the prime minister has any different ambitions, it will definitely be disastrous for the security of imperial power.

Out of fascination with the sacred and inviolable absolute imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang made up his mind to completely ban the prime minister system.

After the abolition of the prime minister, the emperor needs to be in charge of the minister directly, and he must do it himself, which undoubtedly increases the workload and difficulty of the emperor. For superman and workaholic Zhu Yuanzhang and Judy, this may be nothing, but for later Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji, it was a bit overwhelming. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Ming Dynasty, the cabinet system was initially formed. The so-called cabinet is actually the emperor's private secretary team, which helps the emperor plan and handle some daily work. On the surface, the cabinet has some functions of the prime minister and seems to be regarded as a "cottage version" of the prime minister. But in essence, the cabinet and the prime minister are two completely different concepts.

First of all, the number of prime ministers is small, and the power is relatively concentrated, while the cabinet is composed of several members, and in most cases, the members come from different political factions, and the power is scattered and severely restricted, making it difficult to form a strong joint force; Secondly, there is the issue of birthright. There is a saying that the name is irregular and the cabinet members are generally at a low level. After all, they are only private secretaries, and their birthright and prestige can't reach the height of the prime minister; Finally, on the issue of political stance, the prime minister is closely related to the emperor, and he is the loyal spokesman of the emperor, wearing a pair of trousers with the emperor, while cabinet members are more closely related to ministers and tend to be courtiers when the imperial power confronts courtiers.

In short, as a cottage version of relative power, the cabinet has been seriously dispersed and weakened, and it no longer has the strength to crush ministers, and even its political stance is more often backward to ministerial power. At this point, the prime minister system completely exists in name only.

At the same time, the broad masses of ordinary bureaucrats (even cabinet members) formed a powerful ministerial group in order to express the same interests. Although this group has no clear organization, their cooperative organization ability exceeds that of many well-organized groups. Based on the psychological advantages of following the crowd and not complaining about others, they can often reach an offensive and defensive alliance very tacitly, and quickly form strong political pressure and public opinion pressure, thus forcing the emperor to submit. When the emperor wants to launch a counterattack or revenge, it is the tiger that eats the sky and has nowhere to talk. Can't he kill all the ministers? Therefore, most of the emperor's iron fists were in the air, while the minister's fists attracted meat. The emperor's counterattack against ministers is like the United States and Britain meeting guerrillas-where were they when you hit them? When they hit you, they are everywhere. From Zhu Zhanji to Ming Dynasty, the power of ministers almost completely suppressed the imperial power, which was far from Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention. That's ironic Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention of abolishing the relative power and strengthening the imperial power was not realized. After the abolition of the prime minister system, the imperial power of the emperor was not strengthened, but weakened step by step until it was completely marginalized.

Zhu Yuanzhang's movement to abolish relative power and strengthen imperial power began with the tragedy of the prime minister and ended with the tragedy of the emperor. Dragon seeds were sown, but fleas were harvested.

Second, the imperial power completely defeated the power of ministers.

An important node in the dispute between imperial power and minister power in Ming Dynasty is the change of civil fort.

Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was the sixth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ascended the throne at a very young age. At this time, after decades of running-in, the group of ministers has begun to take shape, the young master and the old minister are naturally strong, and the power of the emperor has been divided up by ministers. Young Zhu Qizhen is obviously dissatisfied with the distribution scheme of power cake, and wants to get his share back very much.

Extremely weak, Zhu Qizhen found a spokesman for the plenipotentiary he thought fit-eunuch Wang Zhen. Although Wang Zhen's prestige and ability have many congenital deficiencies, at present he is the only one who wears a pair of trousers with the emperor. Zhu Qizhen chose him is also a very helpless thing. Undeniably, Wang Zhen did make a lot of achievements in restraining the power of ministers and strengthening the imperial power. However, the contradictions between the two sides are also accumulating and escalating.

In A.D. 1449, Wang Zhen's diplomatic mistake triggered the border conflict between the Mongolian Wara Department and the Ming Dynasty, and it also became the fuse of the all-round conflict between the emperor and the ministers. As the cause of the incident was Wang Zhen, ministers generally viewed the upcoming armed conflict with a lively attitude, and they even viciously recommended Wang Zhen, who had no military experience, to participate in the war. A vicious attitude towards Wang Zhen's jokes was unanimously recognized by ministers. No one wants to wipe Wang Zhen's ass, and of course no one dares to go, because it will offend public anger, and the blame will definitely come to a bad end. Ministers are waiting for Wang Zhen's defeat. As soon as the news of Wang Zhen's defeat came, the curtain of the long-awaited movement to overthrow the king would be opened. Causing border conflicts, getting off to a bad start, eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics ... there are many deadly hats.

Wang Zhen, who had no military experience, was forced to take part in the war. In order to build a strong momentum and find the biggest responsibility shield for himself, Wang Zhen encouraged 23-year-old Zhu Qizhen to use personal adventure. So 500 thousand Ming army went out in a mighty way.

There is nothing worth writing about the course of this war. Commander-in-Chief Wang Zhenjun was incompetent and his ministers failed to act (an extreme example is that when the Ming army was trapped in the civil fort at a critical moment, Yang Hong, the company commander in Fu Xuan Town, ordered the closure of the city and delayed sending troops to clean up the mess for fifteen days), so there was no suspense about the outcome of the war.

The Ming army was attacked by the Mongols at the Tubao. The Ming army was almost completely annihilated, Wang Zhen died in chaos, and Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen became a captive of the Mongolian army. If the Mongols who won the treasure catch Zhu Qizhen, they will directly go to Beijing and kill him.

The emperor was captured, foreign enemies invaded, and the country reached the most dangerous moment. When the news reached Beijing, the ministers' first reaction was not to consider such pressing issues as "the country has no monarch" and "defending the capital", but to purge Wang Zhen forces. The cleaning process was so crazy that there was even a farce in which three of Wang Zhen's cronies were killed in court. It was not until Wang Zhen's power was thoroughly cleaned that ministers remembered that the empire was short of an emperor-it can be seen that in the minds of ministers, the emperor is like this.

The princes made Zhu Qizhen's brother Zhu Qiyu the new emperor and completely abandoned Zhu Qizhen, which made them very unhappy. This abandonment is not only political, they even want to kill Zhu Qizhen directly-when the Mongols came to Beijing at the gates, the Ming army guarding Beijing opened fire on the Mongolian army without scruple, although they clearly knew that Zhu Qizhen was in the Mongolian army.

Dissatisfaction and abandonment of the powerful emperor by the princes tore off the last fig leaf.

Later, the defending war of Beijing led by Yu Qian failed the Mongols. Zhu Qizhen began his seven years in prison. Seven years later, he was released. Because the Mongols also found that the poor man abandoned by Daming's subjects was a useless waste. After his release, Zhu Qizhen returned to China and became a prisoner of the "emperor's father" in Nangong.

However, the struggle between imperial power and ministerial power is not over, because after seven years' experience, Zhu Qiyu, a waste, has become stronger and stronger, and a new round of dispute between emperor and minister has begun.

For princes, in the game between imperial power and minister power, in order to maximize the interests of minister power, the state machine can only be in the hands of princes, and the emperor must be a waste. If the emperor is not a waste and tries to interfere in state affairs, he will be abandoned by ministers and replaced by waste. Zhu Qiyu obviously didn't realize the change of the civil fort and the truth behind his support.

Zhu Qiyu's good days are over.

In the eighth year of Jingtai (1457), general Shi Heng and eunuch Cao Jixiang led the troops into the Nangong, released and re-established Zhu Qizhen as emperor, thus abolishing Zhu Qiyu's throne, which is known as the change of seizing the door.

The change of seizing the door is actually a political gamble of a handful of political speculators. The future political situation is not in the hands of speculators, but in the hands of ministers. If ministers oppose the coup, they can quickly wipe out this small group of counter-revolutionary thugs. Therefore, in the whole process of seizing the door, the ministers' attitude towards the coup was the decisive factor to determine the final outcome. So what is the attitude of ministers to the coup? Acquiescence. This time, the ministers gave up Zhu Qiyu and chose Zhu Qizhen.

Have such a choice, because now Zhu Qizhen is more like a waste-by prestige, by the prestige of being captured by foreign enemies? As far as personality is concerned, so many years of prisoner life have smoothed his edges and corners. Consciously speaking, it's time to remember after suffering so much. Zhu Qizhen is more like a waste, and naturally more like an emperor. His ministers voted for him this time.

As expected, after the restoration of Ming Yingzong and Zhu Qizhen, he stayed in the palace and didn't ask about politics. He has completely lost the capital and courage to confront the ministers.

The imperial power's cowardice of ministerial power has lasted for several generations, and we even doubt whether Zhu Qizhen has passed on his life experience to future generations. After Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Jianshen, Zhu Shitang, Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzong and Zhu Zaihou also appeared one after another. They continue to avoid and compromise the challenge of ministerial power.

Among the Five Emperors, only Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houzong launched a tentative attack. This is the famous etiquette dispute in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Jiajing's biological father is Xing, so it is impossible to inherit the Great Unity. However, due to the absence of former emperor Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzong was able to inherit the throne as a vassal.

After Jiajing ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to present a king to his dead father and make him emperor. Strictly speaking, it is against etiquette, but it's no big deal. After all, it's just a dead man's name. However, ministers with a keen sense of political smell do not think so. Their explanation of this incident is a tentative attack on the emperor's attempt to interfere in government affairs. The emperor chose a seemingly insignificant node attack. If it succeeds, it will inevitably expand the results and squeeze the minister step by step. We don't know if Jiajing's intention is this, at least the ministers think so.

Never let the opponent's offensive intention succeed, and the ministers reached an offensive and defensive alliance very tacitly. I wrote against the emperor's proposal until more than 220 officials knelt at Zuoshun Gate and put pressure on the emperor by way of collective petition. Some radical ministers even shouted the slogan "Today is the day to die" and threatened to die. Is it worth dying for something bigger? This is not intended to find fault with the emperor. What is this?

Angry Jiajing used the ultimate weapon to maintain the authority of the emperor-the scepter. 180 many officials were spanked in public, 17 unlucky people were killed. Quite unexpectedly, many officials actually signed up for spanking, and being spanked by the emperor even became the highest ideal of many Ming dynasty officials (Hai Rui was even proud of being killed by the emperor), and the herd mentality and irresponsible mentality of the ministers' group consciousness once again reached the extreme.

This etiquette dispute ended in the victory of Emperor Jiajing, but he won face, but lost his son. After the etiquette dispute, the confrontation between imperial power and ministerial power was almost irreconcilable. Emperor Jiajing, who was inconvenient to move, gradually lost his political enthusiasm and courage and began to indulge in cultivating immortality and alchemy. Brother Lian is not an elixir, but loneliness.

Jiajing did not get rid of the fate of waste after all.

The three contests between imperial power and ministerial power-the change of civil fort, the change of seizing the door and the dispute of etiquette-all ended in the complete failure of the emperor. In the face of powerful ministerial power, the emperor can only be a waste.

Third, the restoration of the power of the new prime minister completely defeated the power of ministers.

Under the social form in which emperors, ministers and people coexist, emperors and ministers are natural allies and belong to the ruling class. In most cases, they realize their own interests by squeezing the people. However, with the development of the dynasty, the oppression of the people by the ruling class will gradually escalate due to luxury and corruption. When the people's burden is heavy and almost revolutionary, the emperor will use a powerful figure (usually the prime minister) to suppress the vested interests represented by ministers for the continuation of the dynasty, so as to reduce the burden on the people and alleviate class contradictions.

Most of the reforms in the middle and late feudal dynasty were for this purpose. The most typical examples are Wang Anshi's political reform in Song Dynasty and Zhang Reform in Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of Zhang, he is definitely an alternative in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Just like the cabinet records in the early years of Wanli. He got the full support of the imperial power (the actual owner of the imperial power at that time was Li Taihou) and the eunuch group (Feng Bao). At the same time, due to his extraordinary tactics and iron fist, his actual power far exceeds that of prime ministers in previous dynasties, and he can even be on a par with Regent. Zhang, the teacher and half-brother of Emperor Wanli, even openly said, "I am not a prime minister, but a photographer (Regent)." .

Zhang Fa initiated a vigorous reform, and a series of reform measures greatly touched the vested interest groups represented by ministers, and the class contradictions in the Ming Dynasty were alleviated to some extent. Zhang can have such a great handwriting, not only because of his extraordinary political talent and iron-fisted personality, but also because he has the full support of the imperial power. In this sense, Zhang's reform is not so much an economic reform focusing on financial reform as the suppression and liquidation of the minister's power by the new prime minister with the support of imperial power.

This repression was immediately resisted by the vassal clique, and the confrontation between the two sides eventually developed into a "love case".

1577, his father Zhang died. According to the practice of the Ming dynasty, an official's father died, and he had to leave his post and go back to his hometown to observe filial piety for three years, and then he could return to his post after the expiration of filial piety. But this is not absolute, because the emperor can exercise the right to "seize the feelings" and force him to stay in office without mourning. Ministers naturally agreed to let Zhang go home to mourn for three years. Three years is not only an opportunity to breathe, but also an excellent opportunity to unite and completely eliminate Zhang. Zhang Ziran hopes to stay in office. The wrestling between the two sides began.

At the critical moment of the wrestling between the two sides, the imperial power chose to maintain the new phase right, and the Wanli emperor exercised the right to "seize the feelings". Not surprisingly, Wanli's proposal was immediately opposed by almost all ministers. The "etiquette debate" in Jiajing Dynasty was staged again. The emperor proposed-ministers collectively petitioned-taking off pants and spanking-and the emperor won. The story is exactly the same, but the characters are different. This love-grabbing case ended with the obvious victory of Wanli and Zhang.

But the victory of imperial power and relative power did not last long. The death of Zhang in A.D. 1582 became another important node in the dispute between imperial power and minister power in Ming Dynasty. After Zhang's death, due to the lack of new leaders, the new prime minister's power quickly disintegrated, and the minister's power immediately seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Zhang was thoroughly liquidated and opened for autopsy. His property was confiscated and his eldest son died in prison. Politically recognized as a traitor, the reform fell through. The dispute between monarch and minister returned to the situation before Zhang appeared. From then on, Emperor Wanli began his 27-year career as an emperor without asking about political affairs.

In the past, when scholars studied this period of history, they mostly explained Wanli's liquidation of Zhang from the psychological point of view of "juvenile rebelling against his father". I think this explanation is superficial, because Wanli was only 18 years old at that time and was held back by Li Taihou. Although Li Taihou can't control the development of the political situation, she can at least curb the madness of the little Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun. What is intriguing is that, regardless of the friendship with Zhang, he acquiesced in the madness of Wanli. If Xiao Wan Li's behavior is "adolescent rebellion", is Li Taihou's soy sauce "menopausal syndrome"?

There is only one reasonable explanation, that is, after the decline and disintegration of the new power, the imperial power (mainly Li Taihou) lost its most powerful ally and did not have enough ability to confront the ministerial power. After repeated weighing, the imperial power chose to compromise with the ministers' power and agreed to the ministers' revenge against Zhang.

The death of Zhang ended the restoration of the new prime minister's power, and the crazy revenge of the princes group on Zhang blocked the possibility of a new Zhang, because no one would risk his reputation and future generations to touch the princes group again. Without Zhang in the world, it is impossible to restore the power of Xiang.

Fourth, the last carnival night of the powerful minister's power-the death of Chongzhen

After the fiasco of the imperial power and the power of the new prime minister, the power of ministers lost its final binding force. The state machine is completely in the hands of ministers and has become a tool for them to grab personal interests. The oppression of the people by the lack of restraint has escalated step by step, and society has gradually come to the brink of collapse. The whole Ming dynasty is like a big firewood pile, and a little spark can ignite a raging fire.

On the other hand, many small groups have split up because of the interest struggle within the scope of the minister's power. These small groups often take trivial matters as the starting point, fight against differences with the party, suppress opponents and argue with each other. Zhu Yijun and Zhu Changluo's three cases of "Listening to Records", "Red Pill" and "Moving Palace" in Ming Dynasty are the best portrayal. However, during the period of Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Apocalypse, the dispute between the eunuch party and the Lindong party pushed the party struggle in the Ming Dynasty to its peak. The minister's interests and future depend not on his virtue and achievements, but on whether he is on the right side in the party struggle. These meaningless party struggles exhausted the last vitality of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, when Emperor Zhu Youjian of Chongzhen took over, he was completely faced with a dead chess game. The emperor was completely bound, and ministers only cared about self-interest and party struggle, and no one cared about the country and people's livelihood. The people have been pushed to the brink of collapse, and the collapse of the dynasty is only a matter of time.

Faced with such a confrontational situation, those who are unwilling to be waste and the king of national subjugation can only hope to take a chance and frantically change the cabinet, hoping to "find" a Zhang-style figure to save the crisis. Of course, in theory, Chongzhen can also be an emperor and a prime minister, but this is only a theoretical possibility, because Chongzhen's ability and prestige are far from the real prime minister.

A poor family wants a good wife, but a country wants a good face. To rehabilitate Zhang, and issued a "swing, and miss the old minister; Besides broadcasting and moving, I thought of Jun Jun's feelings. But there is no more Zhang in the world, and the restoration of Xiangquan is impossible.

After changing 50 cabinet members (known as Fifty Phases of Chongzhen in history), the new Zhang never appeared, and the last effort failed. Chongzhen faced the dead chess, and there were no survivors.

1637- 1643, the northern drought. The last straw that crushed the camel finally fell.

In A.D. 1644, Li Zicheng entered Beijing, and Zhu Youjian and Jingshan Park hanged themselves in the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty perished.

"I am not the king of national subjugation, and I am the minister of national subjugation." Perhaps this is really not Zhu Youjian's prevarication, but his helplessness to the power politics of the powerful minister and his endless lament for his own destiny.

After reading: imperial power represents centralized rule, and there are people in charge of everything. The power of ministers represents decentralization, and the group is responsible, but no one is responsible. The emperor is just a decoration, and everything is based on the interests of the group. It is the inevitable result of the continuous deception and oppression of the people by the party and government in the Ming Dynasty, which only pays attention to the present and ignores the consequences. In the era when the power of ministers is supreme, Chongzhen can't change, and the transferred officials can't change the reality that no one is really responsible for the country. In the face of risks, bureaucratic groups are too busy to take care of themselves, and life and death in the Ming Dynasty will be the same. No wonder 200,000 people entered the Central Plains like nobody's business. Hundreds of millions of people who have no country, no leader, no faith and no organization can only be slaughtered by others. Clearly is inevitable.