Chapter 4: The Predicament of the Ming Dynasty
"Your Majesty, the young Duke Zhang offered it, but I dared not accept!"
"You didn't?"
Chongzhen paused for a moment, then said, "Next time someone tries to stuff silver into your hands, take it. These people have plenty of money; it would be a waste not to. Little by little, it will add up and help subsidize the inner treasury."
"And while you're at it, see who is the most generous and write it down for me. I have my uses for it!"
Wang Chengen was stunned. He could not believe these words had come from Chongzhen. Chongzhen was the Emperor, after all; encouraging his subordinates to take bribes was a blow to imperial dignity. What about the prestige of the throne?
But Chongzhen did not think that way. The original Chongzhen had been obsessed with "face"—he borrowed money from ministers and could have moved the capital south, yet he missed his chance because of his pride.
But this was not the original Chongzhen. Having come from the twenty-first century, what hadn't he seen? What is "face," anyway? Can you use it as silver? Can you eat it as grain?
"You know what should be said and what should not. Go now."
Wang Chengen retreated, standing outside the warm pavilion in a daze. Chongzhen had completely baffled him.
Inside the room, Chongzhen picked up a sheet of paper and, after deep contemplation, dipped his brush to write down several names. These were the men who would die in battle seventeen years later alongside Fang Zheng-hua: Gao Shiming, the Director of Ceremonial; Li Fengxiang, the Drafting Eunuch of the Ceremonial; and Chu Xianzhang and Zhang Guoyuan, both Directors of the various Imperial Directorates.
Although Chongzhen’s political skills were mediocre, his calligraphy was among the top three of all Ming emperors—forceful, elegant, and refined.
After a brief pause, he wrote down another name: Gao Yushun. He was the last Director of Ceremonial during Chongzhen's reign. When Li Zicheng besieged the capital, Gao had prepared a coffin for himself and lit a fire nearby. He told the young eunuchs around him that if the city fell, he would leap into the coffin and rather be burned to death than surrender. When the city finally fell, he did exactly that.
While the historical records of these men had some blemishes, they were absolutely loyal to the Ming and to Chongzhen. Otherwise, they would not have fought to the death. When the time was right, they would be people he could trust.
"Your Majesty, it is time for lunch!"
Just as Chongzhen was about to organize the hidden dangers facing the Ming Dynasty, Wang Chengen entered. Chongzhen had to pause his thoughts and head toward the main hall of the Qianqing Palace.
Inside the hall, a long table was set with over a dozen exquisite dishes.
"Your Majesty, today's lunch consists of twelve courses: pepper and vinegar fresh shrimp, roast goose, braised sheep head and trotters, goose meat jerky, mustard-cured sheep tripe, garlic and vinegar white blood soup, five-spice steamed chicken... and wild vegetables!"
Half an hour later, Chongzhen returned to the East Warm Pavilion, grumbling inwardly about the unreliability of historical texts. Everyone said Chongzhen was frugal. This table of food was certainly less than what other emperors had, but putting aside the other dishes, the final one—the wild vegetables—was said to be a dish Chongzhen ordered to experience the food of the common people.
Having asked Wang Chengen about it, the response left him speechless.
The specific preparation involved stuffing the wild vegetables into a goose's belly, boiling them in broth, washing them with wine, and finally stirring them with ginseng and velvet antler to eat.
Is this, for heaven's sake, "wild vegetables"? Is this what you call experiencing the hardships of the people? Which commoner's family could eat like this? It was absolutely absurd.
But... it was truly delicious!
After resting for half an hour, Chongzhen resumed organizing the hidden dangers of the Ming Dynasty. He meditated for nearly half an hour before writing down a line. If anyone else saw this, they would be terrified, for it read: "Summary of the Ten Major Problems Leading to the Fall of the Ming Dynasty."
1. The moral collapse of the merchant class;
2. The burden of fighting on three fronts;
3. Natural disasters from the Little Ice Age;
4. The plague that destroyed everything;
5. Unscrupulous partisan strife;
6. The formation of warlord fiefdoms;
7. The loss of moral integrity among the military;
8. Shameless literati;
9. The failure of the united front;
10. Insufficient autocratic power.
These were the ten issues he could identify so far. None of them alone would deal a fatal blow to the Ming, but combined, given the capabilities of the original Chongzhen, the ending was already sealed. Other factors, such as eunuch power, secret police, and internal corruption, he did not list; they sounded plausible but were, upon closer inspection, nonsense.
Of these, Chongzhen felt he needed to focus on the merchant moral collapse, the three-front war, the partisan strife, and the warlordism.
Take the moral collapse of the merchants. Marx described in his work on primitive accumulation: "If there is appropriate profit... for 300 percent, capital is ready to trample on all human laws, even treason." This was displayed vividly at the end of the Ming era. The Eight Great Shanxi Merchants not only traded with the Jianzhou Jurchens, providing contraband, but also acted as their eyes and ears, spying on military intelligence.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen circled the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants. In his eyes, this was a massive windfall.
The second issue, the burden of fighting on three fronts, involved the Later Jin, Li Zicheng’s rebels, and Zhang Xianzhong’s rebels, while Western powers eyed the south and the Mongols raided incessantly. The entire country was one giant hole, and he was forced to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Third, the partisan strife. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, it reached its peak. Whatever the opposition favored, the Donglin Party opposed, and vice versa. They had no bottom line, disregarding the state of the court for their own interests.
Fourth, warlordism. In the early stages, it was manageable, but later, whoever had troops was the boss. They only moved for money; otherwise, everything was off the table. They obeyed decrees only when it suited them. For instance, when the capital was besieged later, Zuo Liangyu held 800,000 troops but refused to come to the Emperor's rescue.
Beside each item, he wrote several names. With every name he wrote, his anger grew. After sitting for a while, he wrote the words "The Imperial Clan" on the paper.
"We shall settle this account slowly!"
Having finished this, Chongzhen let out a long breath. It was fortunate that it was now the seventh year of Tianqi. If he had transmigrated to the second year of Chongzhen, he wouldn't need to do anything but hang himself from a tree—there would be no need to summarize any experience.
The second year of Chongzhen was the final turning point for the Ming. First, the great famine from the first year of Chongzhen in Shaanxi continued, and large-scale peasant uprisings broke out. Second, the Shaanxi postal worker, Li Zicheng, rose in rebellion. Third, there were three major military mutinies. Finally, the Later Jin ruler, Huang Taiji, led the elite Eight Banners, detouring through Mongolia to bypass the Ning-Jin defense line and breaking through the Great Wall to occupy the strategic town of Zunhua, with his spearhead pointing straight at Beijing.
History calls this the "Jisi Incident." This war directly led to the death of several high-ranking generals and changed the military, political, and personnel situation in the Liaodong region, indirectly easing the pressure on the peasant rebels and strengthening their power.
Looking out the window, the sky grew dark. Wang Chengen lit the lamps, and the entire East Warm Pavilion brightened. Looking at the flickering candlelight on his desk, Chongzhen sighed: "A glimpse through the records of ages past, a life illuminated by the stroke of a pen."
"Your Majesty, Tian Ergeng, Commander of the Jinyiwei, requests an audience!"
"Let him in!"
Chongzhen covered his notes with a folder just as Tian Ergeng entered. "Your subject, Commander Tian Ergeng, pays respects to Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, the commanders of the three great battalions of the capital garrison all entered the Duke of Ying’s residence at the third quarter of the You hour, wearing their armor."
Chongzhen squinted upon hearing this. Summoning the commanders to his residence so brazenly was a show of force against the Emperor—a way of saying the capital garrison belonged to him and he held the control. Otherwise, they would have handled military matters in the camp, not a private residence.
"Your Majesty, shall I have your subject investigate what they discussed?"
"Are you trying to teach me how to do my job?"