Brief introduction:

There is a "Xiaoice River period" in meteorological history, which refers to the end of the Ming Dynasty and before the Opium War (before the Kangqian Dynasty), when the average annual temperature of the whole of China was lower than now, and major droughts and floods occurred in summer, and it was extremely cold in winter, not only in Hebei, but also in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and other places. This peculiar atmosphere is mentioned in the "Reading the World" written by Ye Mengzhu in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the "Yongxian Zhai Notes" written by Chen Qiyuan in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, as well as the "History of the Ming Dynasty and the Five Elements Chronicles" and "Qing Historical Manuscripts and Disasters and Strange Chronicles".

The Ming Dynasty suffered a very cold winter in the "Xiaoice River Period" (Little IceAge), especially at the end of the period 1580-1644 is the coldest, the coldest in a thousand years, the second in 10,000 years, and can also be ranked 6-7 in a million years, which is quite cold, it can be said that this is the coldest period since mankind entered the civilization period.

10,000 years ago, there was a period of sudden increase in temperature, and it remained fairly stable for more than 8,000 years. During this period, temperatures fluctuated slightly around the early twentieth century, which gave us good conditions for human development. But in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, that is, after 1500, the temperature dropped suddenly, and the whole cooling process was very obvious, and the lowest stage of temperature was the period at the end of the Ming Dynasty - 1600 to 1644. During this time, the temperature plummeted to the lowest point in a thousand years, the second lowest point in 10,000 years, and one of the 6 or 7 lowest periods of extreme cold in a million years. The year 1628, when Chongzhen ascended the throne, happened to be in the middle of the coldest period, and the temperature warmed up around 1650 after the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Influence on the Ming Dynasty:

Periods of extreme cold suddenly intensified, and food production plummeted, which was a fatal blow to an empire with a large population. The extreme cold in the north caused the rainfall area to generally move southward, which led to almost consecutive disasters throughout the Ming Dynasty. First Qin and Jin, then Heluo, followed by Qi, Lu, Wuyue, Jingchu, Sanfu, and there was a nationwide drought.

Such a long period and high density of disasters greatly weakened the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, to 1619 in the entire "Xiaoice River Period" (Little IceAge) in the coldest period of the temperature raged for more than 20 years, when the Battle of Salhu occurred, the Ming army with firearms and ordnance as the main combat force was forced to fight with the Houjin army in the lack of food, grass and equipment, and insufficient training, and more unfortunately, in the three sub-battlefields of this war, the number of Ming army was not as good as the Houjin army, The Later Jin Army achieved several times the superiority of the Ming Army in terms of its mobility, and the results of the battle can be imagined.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, the disaster went to the bottom. According to the records of the North and South Chronicles, the precursors of the catastrophe can be traced back to the early Jiajing period, and it began to become obvious in the thirteenth year of Wanli (1585), but it rose and fell, and began to intensify abruptly around 1600, and the Chongzhen Dynasty reached the peak of the catastrophe.

During the Wanli and Chongzhen periods, droughts became more and more frequent, and at the same time, the plague began to spread, and the plague that affected several provinces in North China finally broke out in Shanxi, and spread to the Gyeonggi region at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which directly led to the easy capture of the city of Beijing.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the temperature began to rise rapidly after 1650, which led to the so-called "Kangqian Prosperous Era" in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but in fact, the disaster weakened after the temperature warmed, and it was far from the normal period of the Ming Dynasty.