The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

Chapter 152 The most greedy emperor

After Su Chen narrated some important events that happened in the late Ming Dynasty, the ancients in various periods of the Ming Dynasty couldn't help but sigh.

In their minds, the Ming Dynasty was a behemoth, and it would collapse one day without even thinking.

The emperors of the Qing Dynasty were not surprised that the Ming Dynasty would perish. After all, the end of the Ming Dynasty was full of holes, and various contradictions were exposed. It was undoubtedly the best time to change dynasties.

Although Chongzhen knew what happened in the last period of the Ming Dynasty, he wanted to know the root cause of the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, only by knowing this can he prescribe the right medicine to solve the stubborn disease and bring Ming Dynasty back to life.

Since the anchor is from later generations, there must be special research on Ming Dynasty in later generations.

He wanted to know, from a more comprehensive perspective of future generations, what was the root cause of the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen: Anchor, I would like to ask the reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Why did a huge dynasty collapse suddenly?

As soon as these words came out, all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, they naturally wanted to know the root cause of the Ming Dynasty's demise.

After all, if a dynasty falls apart in an instant, there must be some deep-seated reasons.

Especially some emperors in the late Ming Dynasty were even more concerned about this reason.

Emperors like Jiajing, Wanli, and Tianqi were not far from the Chongzhen Dynasty. If they knew the root cause, they could adjust their policies in time.

Su Chen saw Chongzhen's question, thought for a moment, and then explained:

"The anchor has reviewed the information in detail for the question His Majesty Chongzhen raised. There are many reasons explained online. There are four main reasons. The anchor will tell you one by one."

Chongzhen took a deep breath after hearing this. There were four fundamental reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, which were within the scope of his expectations.

After all, the demise of a dynasty must be caused by many reasons.

"The first reason is corruption in government. I believe many people in Ming Dynasty feel this deeply."

"The Ming Dynasty was an era of highly centralized imperial power in Chinese history. It established a comprehensive autocratic system, but it has been unable to eradicate official corruption."

"As early as the founding of the People's Republic of China, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the lessons of the previous dynasty, launched several large-scale anti-corruption campaigns across the country, and formulated the "Da Gao" program to combat corruption."

When the anchor talked about this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked proud. The "Great Edict" to combat corruption was the proudest thing in his life.

He knew very well how harmful official corruption was. The reason why his family was in ruins was all caused by corrupt officials.

Therefore, what he hated most in his life were corrupt officials who oppressed the people, and he vowed to drive away all corrupt officials.

Only in this way can the Ming Dynasty continue forever.

To this end, he also formulated the "Edict" specifically to combat corruption. As long as future generations follow the "Edict" to deal with corrupt officials, he believes that corrupt officials will not appear in the Ming Dynasty.

Even if there are corrupt officials, they will only be a small number and will not affect the overall clean and honest environment in the officialdom.

But now, according to the anchor, one of the fundamental reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was the corruption of officials.

Just four words, the information behind them sent shivers down his spine.

How bad was the corruption among officials in the late Ming Dynasty that it became the most important culprit for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

What do future generations do for food? Why don't they punish officials according to the "Great Edict", so that the Ming Dynasty has been eaten away by these corrupt officials?

He took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. Now is not the time to settle accounts with future generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang: Anchor, our punishment of corrupt officials is the most severe in all dynasties. We even formulated a special law, but why are corrupt officials still rampant?
  "Your Majesty Taizu doesn't know. In fact, the official administration in the early Ming Dynasty was still clear and clear under the relatively complete supervision system. However, after hundreds of years of development, the shortcomings of the bureaucratic system have still been exposed."

“Various corruption phenomena such as bribery and bending the law for personal gain occur frequently. From the emperor down to the county magistrate, there are few honest officials.”

Zhu Yuanzhang was listening attentively, but when he suddenly heard the anchor say that the emperor was also corrupt, he was stunned and looked incredulous.

Without any time to think, he immediately interrupted the anchor.

Zhu Yuanzhang: Anchor, did you just say that the emperor also committed corruption and bribery?
  "Yes, Jiajing and Wanli, the grandsons of Jiajing and Wanli, are notoriously greedy for money."

Jiajing: Anchor, please be careful what you say and don’t listen to wild stories.

Wanli: Anchor, the historical information you see is deliberately discredited by the Manchus. Don’t believe it. People who are not my race must have different minds. The Manchus and Qing Dynasties are not good people. They deliberately distort and tamper with history in order to deceive the people.

Qianlong: What the two Ming emperors said is really ridiculous. They are corrupt, but they want to pour dirty water on our Qing Dynasty. Who among the people in the Ming Dynasty doesn't know that you and your grandson are greedy for money.

Zhu Yuanzhang: @九京, @万里, you two shut up first, anchor, please tell me in detail how these two unscrupulous descendants embezzled and amassed money.

Jiajing:......

Wanli:? ? ?
  "The anchor will talk about Jiajing first. In the TV series "Ming Dynasty 1566", there is a sentence saying that Jiajing was greedy for money, 'Jiajing, Jiajing, every house is clean.' This shows how greedy Emperor Jiajing went."

"Jiajing does not follow the fiscal system. Part of the tax revenue is included in the national treasury, part of it belongs to corrupt officials, and part of it belongs to him. Corrupt officials are more corrupt, and he is jealous. It will not work if the spoils are not divided equally. At most, it will be divided into 60% and 40%."

"When I get the chance next time, I will show you "The Ming Dynasty 1566". This TV series has a very high rating and is known as a masterpiece. It is specifically about Jiajing."    "Compared with Jiajing, his grandson Wanli is more famous for his greed for money. It’s also crazier.”

"It is said that Emperor Wanli's obsession with money has reached the point of madness, and Emperor Wanli himself is also known as the emperor who is the best at amassing money in the Ming Dynasty."

"Wanli inspects the performance of officials from various places not by their political achievements, but by how much money they give him. Whoever gives more money will show who is more loyal."

"Wanli would always reach out to the eunuch and ask for money. If he couldn't pay, he would be beaten."

"When concubines in the palace give birth to children, princes and princesses get married, etc., he requires civil and military officials to give money to their relatives."

"In order to make money, he even acts like an emperor and sells his officials. Whoever pays more money will be appointed as an official."

"The wages of officials in the Ming Dynasty were already very low, and he would deduct money everywhere. Once an official made a mistake, he would first fine him money."

"He had to collect taxes in many places. Ships sailing on the Yangtze River even had to collect taxes five or six times."

"When a natural disaster occurs, it's difficult for people to eat, and he has to collect rice taxes."

"In order to make money, he used all his imagination. He set up a commercial street in the palace, opened a shop, became the shopkeeper himself, and let the eunuchs and maids come to the shop to buy things."

"He also asked the Royal Printing Bureau to accept orders everywhere. As long as customers paid, they would print anything. He even helped the White Lotus Sect print a batch of rebellion manuals."

"In order to make money, he also developed a special habit of ransacking ministers' homes, and all the money they confiscated went into his small treasury."

The more Zhu Yuanzhang listened, the angrier he became. He was trembling with anger and was on the verge of rage.

He had never thought that such a ridiculous thing would happen in the Ming Dynasty. As an emperor, he would take the lead in corruption and bribery. How ridiculous it was.

In the entire Ming Dynasty, who doesn’t know that what he hates most is corrupt officials.

In order to punish corrupt officials, he did not hesitate to remove the skin of corrupt officials and replace them with grass, just to deter corrupt officials.

But he never expected that his descendants, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, would actually become the most corrupt officials in the world in the Ming Dynasty. This made the "Da Gao" he formulated seem like a joke.

Even the Emperor of Ming Dynasty took the lead in being greedy for money. I wonder which official is still willing to abide by the "Great Edict".

If the whole world hadn't been watching, he would have really wanted to yell at those two unscrupulous descendants.

The person who feels most aggrieved is Wan Li. Under the discipline of the Queen Mother and the First Assistant, he honestly never dared to do those things.

When the anchor was telling Wanli's greed for money, Zhang Juzheng's face next to Wanli was so gloomy that he almost shed tears.

Naturally, he did not doubt what the anchor said. The only explanation was that these ridiculous things would be done by His Majesty in the future.

This made him completely unbelievable. Under his guidance, His Majesty looked like a wise king.

But why did His Majesty seem to be a different person when he got to the back?

"The anchor continued to corrupt officials. By the late Ming Dynasty, the emperor ignored government affairs and power gradually fell into the hands of bureaucrats."

"Powerful ministers and eunuch groups colluded with party members to control government affairs and enrich themselves."

"They control the state power, are arrogant and domineering, and vigorously plunder the people's wealth and support."

“The layers of oppression from top to bottom made the taxes on ordinary people heavier and heavier, and class conflicts continued to deepen, eventually triggering a peasant uprising.”

“In addition, the problem of land annexation was extremely serious in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, most of the powerful and wealthy gentry used various methods to build up farmland. They occupied a large amount of fertile land while evading taxes, which made the poor people with little land even more burdensome. "

"Many farmers had no choice but to flee, resulting in a sharp drop in tax revenue."

"In the long run, more and more taxes are owed, and the taxes cannot be collected in full, causing national fiscal expenditures to be in trouble."

"By the Chongzhen period, the treasury had no surplus. In order to balance the fiscal revenue and expenditure, the imperial court could only continue to exploit the people. The people could not pay taxes and had to be forced into exile, which eventually turned into an uprising."

"Initially, the imperial court adopted a policy of appeasement in the face of these peasant uprisings, and the rebels surrendered when they were attacked."

"However, the country did not have enough food and pension supplies, so the uprising continued repeatedly and could not be completely resolved."

"In addition, various natural disasters struck at that time, and the Ming court was unable to provide disaster relief because of its empty treasury, which led to the outbreak of a large number of peasant uprisings."

"At that time, the Ming Dynasty was also facing another strong enemy, the Hou Jin Dynasty. In order to resolve these wars, the Ming Dynasty imposed additional taxes on Liao, Suppression and Lian."

"But this move undoubtedly intensified social conflicts and created a vicious cycle between peasant uprisings and taxation, which ultimately accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty."

"In short, official corruption caused the financial collapse of the Ming Dynasty, leaving the national treasury without money, which led to the deterioration of the subsequent situation."

Chongzhen's face was complicated. The financial dilemma mentioned by the anchor was exactly the situation that Ming Dynasty was facing now.

As the situation became more serious, the money available to the court became less and less.

He didn't know what the problem was before, but now he finally understands.

(End of this chapter)