The Chongzhen Emperor’s Paranoia & The Fall of Ming

Yuan Chong Huan died a horrible death, a victim of 反间计 (one of the 36 Dirty Tricks from Ancient China). Slices of flesh were removed from his body until he died. The order for his execution was given by none other Emperor Chongzhen himself. His crime? Collaborating with the enemy. The “evidence” was given by eunuchs who overheard things while they were held captive by the Jurchens.

By any standards, Yun Chong Huan was a brilliant military commander who had fought many successful battles against the Jurchens. In 1626, he was appointed Governor of Liaodong and given full authority to command all forces deployed outside the passes. Later that year, Yuan failed to take advantage of the death of Nurhachi and was removed from his post. The Chongzhen Emperor came to the throne in 1627, succeeding his elder brother the Tianqi Emperor. One of the first things Chongzhen did was to charge chief eunuch Wei Zhong Xian 魏忠贤 with 10 crimes. Wei committed suicide before he could be arrested. After the death of Wei, a rival faction known as the Donglin Academy, a Confucian movement that was previously suppressed by Wei, became influential and started to take on official posts. Since many of these scholars were involved with illegal trades like piracy, Chongzhen didn’t know who he could trust. He was rumoured to have slept with his sword beside him.

In 1628 Yuan Chong Huan was reinstated as field marshal of all Ming forces in the northeast. The next year in 1629, he was even awarded the Imperial Sword which virtually gave Yuan the powers of the Emperor outside the palace. Exercising his authority, Yuan was known to have executed a number of corrupt officials and made many enemies in the imperial court.

In 1629, the Jurchens sneaked past the border towns and attacked the capital directly. Yuan rushed back and fought back the Jurchens. It was a close call. The Emperor was traumatised and eunuchs who were freed after being held prisoner by the Jurchens claimed that they had overhead the enemy discussing plans that they had made with Yuan Chong Huan. The Emperor grew paranoid as more and more cases of corruption were discovered. Exasperated, he had Yuan Chong Huan arrested and executed in 1630.

Many Ming officials knew that Yuan was innocent, but they dared not voice out. Many of them resigned from their posts and started hoarding valuables. Chongzhen’s paranoia deterred many talented men from serving under him. Nobody wanted to end up like Yuan Chong Huan.

As famines and rebellions broke out in various parts of the country, civil war soon plagued the empire. Warlord Li Zi Cheng marched into Beijing in 1644. The Chongzhen emperor committed suicide. Li Zi Cheng declared himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty but months later, the capital would falls to the combined forces of General Wu San Gui and the Manchus.

Considering the fact that Yuan Chong Huan was awarded the Imperial Sword in 1629 and executed for treason in 1630, similar moves by a paranoid ruler herald the end of a dynasty.