In the minds of many people, the demise of the Ming Dynasty was mainly due to the corruption of the imperial court and the peasant revolt. In fact, the demise of the Ming Dynasty was also related to a catastrophe in northern China at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when northern China was involved in a very serious plague disaster.
According to statistics after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, since the Chongzhen Emperor came to power, until the plague spread in North China, the total number of deaths exceeded 10 million, of which the highest mortality rate reached more than 90%. It can be said that this is one of the catastrophes with the largest number of deaths in the history of our country, except for the war, and after this disaster, the population of North China has dropped sharply, reducing by nearly half.
So, what kind of disaster did the plague bring to the Ming Dynasty?
First, the plague originated from drought, the people did not have to eat, rats became a "delicacy".
As many people may know, the direct cause of the demise of the Ming Dynasty was the peasant uprising, but what was the cause of the peasant uprising? According to the "History of Ming", at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were successive major droughts in the north. However, due to the corruption of officials at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the lack of finances, the drought has not been effectively controlled.
Due to the drought, the people basically have no food to eat, the government's granary is even more empty, the people have nothing to eat, and the "wild food" around them naturally becomes a good thing for them to fill their hunger. So what wild game was most prevalent at the time? Nature is a mouse, after all, the reproductive ability of rats is super strong, how much, how much.
But as an omnivorous animal, rats carry their own germs, can not eat, the people for a long time to eat mice, a large number of viruses have accumulated in the body of the people, and finally to the outbreak of plague later.
Second, the plague centered on Shanxi and spread in all directions.
The large-scale outbreak of plague first occurred in Shanxi, the vast majority of people in Shanxi were infected with plague, and the phenomenon of several people infecting several families at the same time was very common, but, limited by the medical treatment at that time, people at that time did not know that the root of the virus came from rats, even if some people were worried that it might be a rat problem, but in the face of hunger, they had no way, so they continued to catch rats to eat, and some could not even start eating rat carcasses.
As the people hunted rats, and eventually, even the rat meat was gone, the refugees in Shanxi began to migrate to other places, which brought the virus to other nearby areas.
By the late period of Chongzhen's reign, the plague had already broken out very seriously, and the provinces of North China were not spared, and at that time, the famous infectious disease scientist Wu Yousheng in the late Ming Dynasty even mentioned in the "Plague Theory and Original Order": "The epidemic of epidemic gas, Shandong, Zhejiang Province, and the north and south, especially many people. "But you know, according to the ancient medical level, no matter what kind of medicine is useless for this large-scale infectious disease, so patients with plague can only slowly wait to die."
Third, with the spread of the plague, after reaching the densely populated and economically developed capital of Beijing, the damage caused became more and more serious.
In addition to causing a large number of deaths in other parts of northern China, the plague has intensified since it swept from Shanxi to the Ming capital of Beijing, where it is rumored that as many as 5,000 people die of plague every day. However, due to the turbulent situation at that time, the DPRK and China were worried about internal and external troubles, and they were simply unable to deal with the people who died of the plague, which led to a long period of dead silence in the city of Beijing.
Moreover, due to the frequent peasant uprisings at that time, in order to eliminate Li Zicheng, it was impossible for the imperial court to reduce the burden on the common people, only to increase the intensity of tax collection and replenish the army. And the people in Beijing who could not stand the oppression, since then a large number of exodus, whether suffering from the plague or not suffering from the plague, all want to leave the city of Beijing, so the city of Beijing has a climax of leaving the city.
By the time Li Zicheng arrived at the city, the city of Beijing had been plagued by the plague for more than a year, and at that time, not only the army defending the city had no will to fight, but even the ordinary people in the city were very few.
When Li Zicheng attacked the city of Beijing, the people of the city agreed that their "savior" had arrived and came out to greet them. At this time, Li Zicheng was completely stunned by the scene in front of him, the city had long lost its previous prosperity, and there were ordinary people who died of plague on the street.
Fourth, due to the influence of the plague, even the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army was greatly reduced, accelerating the progress of the Ming Dynasty's demise, which is also the deepest impact of this disaster.
In fact, when Li Zicheng's soldiers came to the city, the number of officers and soldiers defending the city of Beijing was still quite large, but as the plague became more and more serious in the city of Beijing, the epidemic in the army also spread, and the officers and soldiers of the city were reduced by half in less than a year.
Moreover, due to the influence of the plague, not only did the sick soldiers lose their combat effectiveness, but the soldiers who did not get sick also lost their morale. In short, the defending army was like a scattered sand, and later there was even a phenomenon of fleeing with the people.
In fact, from the perspective of the trajectory of historical development, the more a dynasty reaches the later stage, the more corrupt and incompetent the ruling class is, and the more severe the policies they implement for the people, such as increasing taxes, annexing land, etc., in short, inhumane exploitation of the people, and now with the promotion of the plague, the people are even more dissatisfied with the rulers, which has led to an uprising after the famine and a clear demise.
Therefore, it is true that the Ming died in a peasant uprising, but the large-scale outbreak of the plague definitely accelerated in it.
The most terrifying thing about the plague is its contagiousness, and its transmission route is too extensive, resulting in an increasingly rapid spread.
In addition to skin transmission and animal bite transmission, there is also one of the most difficult respiratory infections to contain, which we often call infection through droplets, which is one of the main reasons why it can quickly sweep across the whole of North China from Shanxi.
In fact, the later Li Zicheng was also deeply affected by it. After Li Zicheng attacked the city of Beijing, because the weather was warming in the early spring, the epidemic spread faster and spread quickly among the rebel army, resulting in the combat effectiveness of the rebel army also being affected to a certain extent. This also gave the Qing army an opportunity, and the rebel army was soon defeated by the Qing army, and Li Zicheng was forced to retreat strategically not long after occupying Beijing.
Speaking of this, some people may wonder that after Li Zicheng's retreat, it was the Qing army that took over the city of Beijing, which was so contagious, so how did the Qing army control the plague epidemic? In fact, the Qing army did not help the Ming Dynasty solve the epidemic, because the epidemic had been breaking out for ten years, and the plague was already a grasshopper in the autumn. Moreover, compared with the people of Guannei who had experienced a long-term famine, the eight banners of the Qing Army were generally born with strong bodies and stronger immunity, and it was naturally difficult to get sick.