Did Wanli or Chongzhen really lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty?

When it comes to the declining history of the late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun, the 48-year-old Wanli Emperor, was often trampled by a hammer. According to the general view, there is not a lazy emperor who has not been to court for more than 30 years. In order to liquidate the meanness of reformer Zhang and his years of slack, ZTE's Ming Dynasty was completely tossed into a stormy situation, which was called the demise of the Ming sinners. Positive comments have been deeply rooted in people's hearts for a long time, and the Ming Dynasty actually perished in Wanli.

Then, the historical responsibility is so great, can the Wanli emperor who has been controversial for a lifetime bear it? Might as well, look at the following highlights of his reign, and you should be able to see clearly the merits and demerits of Emperor Wanli.

First, recognize the official as the son.

During the reign of Emperor Wanli, most of the time, he maintained a great dislike for officials. But after Zhang's death, when Emperor Wanli first came to power, his attitude was not like this. On the contrary, he extended a warm welcome to officials who dared to speak. Is he really so open-minded? Zhang's main purpose is only one: liquidation.

So, with the warm welcome of Emperor Wanli, officials of the Ming Dynasty stirred up all kinds of strange cases about Zhang. Strange rumors, such as the Zhang family's 300 silver braziers, all come from here. At that time, Wanli basically accepted the need of liquidation, and even increased rewards for officials who dared to fight and fight. But he didn't. I didn't expect that the consequence would be to give the officials chicken blood.

Therefore, from the beginning of Wanli, Ming class, which had been peaceful for more than ten years, suddenly drooled, and officials such as Li Zhijiang Dong Zhi, who was very popular with Emperor Wanli in his early years, also had a big outbreak of fighting capacity. At first, officials and cabinet ministers pinched each other, and later, officials pinched each other. Li Zhi, Zhang's liquidator, in particular, is always on his high horse in front of his colleagues, claiming to be the son of Emperor Wanli. As a result, when confronted with other officials in Li Zhi, it was finally revealed, which embarrassed Wanli as a father.

Of course, Li Liu was eventually demoted by Wanli Torre because he was too cruel to call names. However, the chaotic taxi style in the Ming Dynasty was initiated by Wanli. From then until the end of the Ming dynasty, the curse of Ming officials basically accelerated.

Second, the buckle can be edited.

Since the fifteenth year of Wanli, Emperor Wanli has officially entered the working mode of not going to court. But not going to court doesn't mean. This doesn't mean not working. This batch of memorials should be approved by the Imperial Palace, and the business should be done. However, Emperor Wanli diligently approved the throne, but his work was very slow.

According to records, in the period of Yu Guang Jian Yan Ji, there was no one in the life of Emperor Wanli who didn't go to court every day: as long as he saw the memorial cursing him, he basically didn't want to get angry unless it was too ugly. I just laughed and said, this is the pursuit of fame. Then I left the memorial halfway. Later, not only because of being scolded by the throne, but also because many things were urgent. Wanli was in a bad mood and conveniently discounted the notes written by the minister.

After the death of Emperor Wanli, in the second year of the apocalypse, officials ordered by the Ming Dynasty found a magical scene when cleaning up the memorial life left by Emperor Wanli: in the past 48 years, Emperor Wanli left a total of 296 memorials in 4 volumes, most of which were related to official management, catering, rivers, military and other official duties. , but were conveniently detained by the emperor wanli, and some were detained. How many important national events, so stay until the time of complete delay.

These memorials, which were preserved in Wanli, were compiled into Summary of Memorials of the Hall of Ming History, which is a very heavy tome.

Third, in those years, things were delayed by Wanli

Of course, the reason why Emperor Wanli was criticized for neglecting state affairs was not just because of a thick stack of scripts. The more important reason is that he delayed a lot of things.

In the thirty years of Wanli, cabinet scholar Shen wrote that there were nine countries in the Ming Dynasty.

The shortage of armaments is even more serious. During the political reform from Zhang to Zhang, almost all firearms units were abolished, and some units were abandoned because they had no money to maintain them. Later, the battle of Salhu began, and many musketeers of the Ming army really came into contact with firearms for the first time. Ming officials even criticized that since the end of the Wanli Korean War, many military trainings have been abandoned, and the queue is just like its shape. This is so obvious that catastrophic failure is conceivable.

If the neglect of the army is famous, the neglect of the navy is not so famous, and the consequences are serious.

During the Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty gradually rebuilt a powerful navy in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and even defeated the Japanese with strong maritime power in the Wanli Korean War. /kloc-In the late 6th century, overseas trade was unprecedentedly hot, and a powerful navy should become an important pillar of wealth in the Ming Dynasty. But after the end of Wanli Korean War, Emperor Wanli made a decision without any pressure: abolish it!

For example, when Wanli was in power, there were 20,000 people in Tianjin Haiphong Camp, and only 2,500 people were left when Wanli died. The Guangdong Navy, which made great contributions in the Wanli Korean War, finally laid off almost 90% of warships and soldiers, and almost all the giant Fuchuan warships were laid off. The Fujian navy patrolling Penghu has even been reduced to only 20 ships and hundreds of soldiers.

Then the Dutch colonists invaded, and private maritime merchants such as Zheng Zhilong rose to monopolize the trade routes in the southeast, but the Ming Dynasty could do nothing about it, and even watched the Dutch colonists occupy Taiwan Province Province? Wanli dug this hole!

Four. Advantages of Wanli

Of course, after talking about so many shortcomings of Wanli, we have to talk about the advantages of Wanli, and the most important one is employing people.

As a student of reformer Zhang, what Emperor Wanli learned most at home was his accurate eye for people. Especially in several wars after leading the whole country, he resolutely launched Ye Mengxiong of Qinghai Campaign and Ningxia Campaign and Li of Wan Li Korean War. Moreover, every time, it was undoubtedly given to Fang Shangjian. No matter how the officials of the DPRK and China make trouble, they are unmoved and support the general's autonomy. This is much better than Emperor Chongzhen, who always suspects officials.

Therefore, the war in Wanli period formed such a routine: at first, it was dug too deep and left school miserably, but Wanli decisively employed people, and then resumed the situation. Even in the battle of Liaodong in his later years, after his disastrous defeat in the United States, Salhu resolutely launched Xiong Tingbi, supported 259 to win the hearts of all women in the world, and gradually reversed the situation in Liaodong. If it weren't for the death of Emperor Wanli, Xiong Tingbi, who lost his support, was removed from his post, and the war situation in Liaodong would have been promising.

In this sense, Emperor Wanli, known as the bad king, is indeed a capable figure.

However, compared with the decades of Wanli rule, the Ming dynasty was completely hungry, and it must be said that the emperor Wanli could not escape the responsibility of such a tragic situation. I have a keen eye, but I have escaped many times. The decline of the Ming Dynasty did have pits dug by Emperor Wanli.