There are so many crooked trees, why did Chongzhen hang himself on the crooked trees in Jingshan?
Wen/Yu Fuhai
A question that puzzled me for a long time is, before Chongzhen died, there were so many ways to die. Why did he hang himself? There are so many crooked-necked trees that can be used to hang themselves. Why should we hang ourselves from crooked-necked trees on Jingshan Mountain?
To answer this question, we have to consider what kind of situation Chongzhen faced in the last 48 hours.
On March 17th, Li Zicheng had reached the Fuxingmen area, so he wrote to Chongzhen the next morning, asking for peace talks, and the asking price was not high: the northwest area was ceded to him, which was highly autonomous and did not report to the central government; The central government allocated 1 million taels of solatium to him, and he fought against hostile forces for the government, including the Northeast Manchu clique, which was eyeing up.
The crooked neck tree in Jingshan Park is said to be where Chongzhen hanged himself.
This was a good opportunity to make a comeback, but unfortunately, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty opposed it. These ministers have had enough of the suspicious and murderous Chongzhen, and they have been calculating in their minds how to ask Li Zicheng for credit. Who knows, after Chongzhen survived this disaster, will it settle accounts after the fall?
Therefore, the ministers said with one voice that it is a matter of the imperial court's face to cede territory and make peace, and it is absolutely impossible.
In a panic, Chongzhen ordered his son to be sent out of the imperial city. I went to the harem first and ordered Queen Zhou to dress up and hang herself. Chongzhen came to Shouning Palace again and sighed to Princess Changping: "Why were you born in my house!" Then, cover your face with one hand, and cut your beloved daughter Princess Changping with the other hand. Princess Changping instinctively resisted with her arm, and her left arm was cut off and she passed out. Later, Chongzhen hacked to death another daughter and several concubines one after another, then put on civilian clothes and ran out of the palace to the mansion of his trusted minister Zhu Chunchen.
Qihua Gate is called Chaoyang Gate. This is a photo of Chaoyangmen in the late Qing Dynasty.
But at this time, Chongzhen is already a hot potato that everyone is afraid to avoid. Zhu Chunchen chose to avoid it.
Chongzhen returned to the palace again and rang the big bell to summon officials. However, at this time, who cares about this bell? After waiting for a long time, Chongzhen, who didn't see a minister, said his last words: "The ministers missed me."
On March 18th, Chongzhen tried to sneak out of the city by night to escape, but no door was opened for him from Anding Gate, Deshengmen Gate to Qihua Gate. When I went to Qihuamen, it was already dawn, and it was Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Cheng, who he trusted very much, who was guarding Qihuamen. At that time, Chongzhen had written an edict to let Zhu Chunchen assist the Prince, and the Prince had also been sent to Chengguo to take refuge. He will move to Nanjing himself.
Chongzhen, who has nowhere to go in film and television works.
Zhu Chunchen has decided to surrender. But he was a relative of the Ming Dynasty, and he had to be sincere enough to surrender to Li Zicheng. In his heart, he had long wanted to present the prince in the mansion together with Chongzhen in the city. So he refused Chongzhen, who was going out from Qihuamen.
The eunuch guarding the city on Qihua Gate also colluded with Zhu Chunchen and cursed Chongzhen as a spy. He almost killed Chongzhen by shooting. White lanterns have been hung at other palace gates to show their surrender. Cao Huachun, the eunuch trusted by Chongzhen, opened the Imperial City's Zhangyimen early and defected to the enemy.
Chongzhen knew there was nowhere to run, and besides, he was not going to run away. Seeing the dawn, he went out of Xuanwu Gate and went to Jingshan alone ... He decided to end his life here.
Jingshan Park overlooks the Forbidden City.
why Jingshan?
Jingshan, north of the Forbidden City, was a man-made "Feng Shui Mountain" when the Forbidden City was built in the early Ming Dynasty. China's concept of geomantic omen emphasizes "looking forward, looking back", and geomantic omen is the best where the mountain faces the water. There are three seas (North Sea, China Sea and South China Sea) to the west of the Forbidden City, so craftsmen also built a "Geomantic Mountain" in the northern field of the Forbidden City, which is called "Zhenshan" and "Long live the Mountain".
Jingshan is the highest mountain in the capital. Standing on the Jingshan Mountain, you can have a panoramic view of the huge Beijing, with the North Sea in the west and the Forbidden City in the south. Chongzhen is fearless when he thinks of death. At this moment, he just wants to take another look at his country, his Forbidden City. After reading this, no matter how unwilling he is, he can only put it down.
chongzhen hanged himself.
He put on his dragon robe again and planned to hang himself. The trees in front of us are all big trees in the sky, and even if you take off your clothes, you can't reach them. After searching for a long time, he found a low, short, crooked-necked tree at the eastern foot of Jingshan Mountain, which was just suitable for hanging himself, as if the tree was just for him.
So Chongzhen hanged himself under this crooked-neck tree and died at the age of 35. "I since dengji seventeen years, inverse thief as the capital. Although I am humble and humble, I am blamed for my work, but it is all my fault. I'm too ashamed to see my ancestors in the ground. I'll be crowned to cover my face with hair, so that thieves can split my body and not hurt one of the people. " These are his last words.