Father-in-law Zhu Di, I am so happy to marry the disfigured princess

"Donglin Party?"

After hearing Li Xiao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but echoed.

Donglin Party, as its name suggests, is a political party and an interest group.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang naturally think of his group of people who were called Huaixi Honorable Men when he was emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been well versed in party struggles above the court.

Regardless of the dynasties recorded in history, or at the beginning of the rebellion.

Zhu Yuanzhang has seen many bad consequences caused by party strife.

In serious cases, the dynasty may even be destroyed due to party strife.

Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, he hated seeing any small groups existing in the court.

This can also be regarded as his original intention of establishing Jinyiwei.

He just wanted to monitor the officials all over the world and see who among them was secretly forming gangs and small groups.

The formation of cliques between North Korean and Chinese officials not only affects internal unity, but also poses a threat to imperial power.

After all, when some powerful ministers all stand together.

Even the emperor can't do anything to them.

Moreover, once there are several parties in the court, the courtiers will only focus on attacking dissidents and forget to organize the court agenda.

Whether it is to govern the country or the world, or to stabilize the imperial power of the old Zhu family.

Engagement in party disputes and small groups were intolerable to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Therefore, during the Hongwu Dynasty, all the officials in the court were cautious and walking on thin ice.

There is no such thing as partisanship, let alone partisanship.

Even some officials are particularly restrained in socializing and visiting friends.

But I didn't expect that in the hands of my descendants, all kinds of things would come out.

Whether it is the harem interfering in politics or the eunuchs taking power, now even party strife in the court has emerged.

"Ugh"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh deeply.

He couldn't understand why the descendants of his old Zhu family were so unsatisfactory.

Glancing at Zhu Youjian, Zhu Yuanzhang showed a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say much and kept quiet.

He planned to continue listening to Li Xiao.

Zhu Youjian's heart skipped a beat when he heard the words 'Donglin Party'.

He really didn't know how to evaluate the Donglin Party.

At that time, Zhu Youjian also knew very well that one family could not dominate the court.

Therefore, even if he released those people from the Donglin Party, he still supported others to check and balance the Donglin Party.

But he still underestimated the strength of the Donglin Party.

In the end, the Donglin Party still dominated the court, and many national affairs were basically decided by Donglin Party officials.

It can even be understood that the original court was dominated by Wei Zhongxian alone.

After that, the court became dominated by a group of people from the Donglin Party.

Facing these Donglin Party, Zhu Youjian was also helpless.

The Donglin Party is no match for Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian is just a eunuch. No matter how powerful he is, he is just a servant of the royal family.

To kill Wei Zhongxian, in the final analysis, it was a matter of a few words from the emperor.

The Donglin Party is different.

They are the entire civil service group, an interest group united by the aristocratic families in Jiangnan.

Once it starts to move, there will be heads rolling in.

The movement must have been countless times greater than when Wei Zhongxian was beaten.

Moreover, at that time, the Donglin Party had a high status in the literary circle and almost had the right to speak.

In other words, it was the Donglin Party that dominated public opinion at that time.

Once those self-proclaimed literati started to curse, each one would be more powerful than the other.

The ten major crimes used to impeach Wei Zhongxian were written by these people.

If Zhu Youjian really wants to take action against the Donglin Party, I am afraid that all the literati in the world will curse him to death.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian of the Donglin Party has always turned a blind eye.

Even after getting angry, there was nothing that could be done.

Speaking of which, the Donglin Party is much more difficult to deal with than Wei Zhongxian.

Regarding the Donglin Party above the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian did admit that his methods were shallow and he failed to control these people.

The changes in the expressions of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Youjian were noticed by Li Xiao, but Li Xiao did not care.

He still thought of himself and said: "The Donglin Party is a bureaucratic class political group dominated by Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats."

"During the Wanli period, Gu Xiancheng and others restored the Donglin Academy where Yang Shi gave lectures in the Song Dynasty, and like-minded people such as Gao Panlong and Qian Yiben taught there."

"Gradually, I attracted and got to know a group of officials who shared common political views."

"These people take Donglin Academy as their own faction and call themselves Donglin."

"At the same time, students who came from these people also regarded themselves as Donglin Party members after they entered the court and became officials."

"Gradually, as the number of members increases, the Donglin Party becomes more and more powerful."

"They successfully defeated other opponents above the court and became the largest force in the court."

"It wasn't until the appearance of Wei Zhongxian that he suppressed the Donglin Party and almost completely wiped out the Donglin Party."

"But if there is only one voice in the court and it becomes the voice of a certain person or a certain group, it will always be a bad thing for the court and the people."

Wei Zhongxian fell, and the rehabilitated Donglin Party took control of the government.

At this time, Zhu Youjian's biggest threat did not come from within the court, but from outside the court.

The biggest problem in the early years of Chongzhen was to recover the Liaodong area occupied by Hou Jin.

Zhu Youjian handed over this important task to Yuan Chonghuan, the former governor of Liaodong who had successively won the Ningyuan and Ningjin victories in the last years of Tianqi.

Yuan Chonghuan was previously impeached for negotiating peace in private and not saving Jinzhou, and had no choice but to resign and return home.

But in the end, Zhu Youjian defied public opinion and re-activated Yuan Chonghuan.

Zhu Youjian replaced Wang Zhichen with Yuan Chonghuan and served as Minister of the Ministry of War and right deputy censor of the capital, and supervisor of military affairs in Ji, Liao, Deng, Lai, Tianjin and other departments.

Faced with Zhu Youjian's trust, Yuan Chonghuan was not ambiguous.

He directly declared in front of Zhu Youjian that he would "restore Liaoning in five years" and regain the Liaodong area within five years.

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian was overjoyed and asked all the yamen to give Yuan Chonghuan special treatment and give him the greatest convenience.

He also gave Yuan Chonghuan the Shangfang Sword, which he could kill first and then play in special circumstances.

After Yuan Chonghuan took office, he reorganized the defense and appointed Zu Dashou to guard Jinzhou, He Kegang to guard Ningyuan, and Zhao Lijiao to guard Shanhaiguan.

Contact the Ming Dynasty vassal Harashenduoyan 36 family, open the market and give rewards to appease them.

On the fifth day of June in the second year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River, on Shuangdao by beheading him first and reporting later, and then went to Shu to plead guilty.Zhu Youjian was shocked at first when he learned that Mao Wenlong had been killed.

In terms of rank alone, the Ming Dynasty Code stipulates: "Any official in the capital or an official above the fifth rank in the outside world who is guilty of a crime must report to the court and ask for orders, and are not allowed to ask questions without permission."

When Mao Wenlong was beheaded, his official position was imperial envoy Ping Liao, commander-in-chief of the army, former general Zhenglu, and commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army.

Among them, the "Chief Military Officer of the Imperial Envoy Ping Liao Border Service" belongs to the "envoy dispatch", that is, the position of temporary dispatch; "General before conquering captives" and "Commander of the Left Army" are official positions.There is no permanent general before the conquest, and the governor of the left army is a ministerial officer.

That is to say, Mao Wenlong's real official position is the Left Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, which is the first rank.

From this point of view, even if Mao Wenlong was really at fault, Yuan Chonghuan could only "report and ask for orders" and "not allowed to ask questions."

Even if Yuan Chonghuan holds the Shangfang Sword given by Chongzhen, he should be informed of returning to the court in advance when facing an important minister like Mao Wenlong.

After all, Shang Fang's sword is more of a symbol than a real act of killing first and then showing off.

Although Zhu Youjian was shocked by Yuan Chonghuan's killing of Mao Wenlong, he was already dead and there was nothing he could do.

The Liaodong area still needs to be recovered, and now is the time to recruit people.

Moreover, Zhu Youjian naively had expectations for Yuan Chonghuan's "five-year restoration of Liao Dynasty" plan.

Therefore, there was no investigation or blame for Yuan Chonghuan's murder of Mao Wenlong.

In late October of the second year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji, the Great Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, decided to turn around and attack the Ming Dynasty on his way to the western expedition to Mongolia.

The troops were divided into three groups and broke through the Great Wall passes such as Da'ankou. Zhao, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, died in Zunhua in the battle.

Yuan Chonghuan led Guan Ning's army back from Ningyuan to defend Jizhou Town, but also failed to intercept it.

The Jin army came to Beijing on November [-]th, which was a coup for Jisi.

Yuan Chonghuan led his army to rescue Beijing and fought fiercely with the Later Jin army outside Guangqumen, forcing the Later Jin army to retreat.

But this time the Jin army was approaching Beijing, which also made Zhu Youjian suspicious of Yuan Chonghuan.

The mighty army of Dajin passed directly through Jizhou, but Yuan Chonghuan actually turned a blind eye and let the army of Dajin arrive at the gates of Beijing.

This situation occurred twice in total.

Moreover, Zhu Youjian also heard the news that Yuan Chonghuan had secretly negotiated peace with Hou Jin, which made Zhu Youjian completely lose his trust in Yuan Chonghuan.

After Yuan Chonghuan successfully killed Mao Wenlong, Mao Wenlong's men Geng Jingzhong and Shang Kexi surrendered to Houjin with their troops.

Without the threat of Pi Dao in the rear, Hou Jin had no worries at all, while Daming became even more passive.

This situation was all attributed to Yuan Chonghuan's skill in killing Mao Wenlong, which led to unstable military morale.

In addition to Yuan Chonghuan's private peace talks before, the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty bypassed Jizhou twice and came to Beijing without incident.

Zhu Youjian was already interested in Yuan Chonghuan.

In August of the third year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian executed Yuan Chonghuan late for treason.

This was a critical moment in the stalemate of the Liaodong war, but coach Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Lingchi.

The situation in Liaodong worsened, and the Ming court fell into complete decadence.

On the other side, because the Little Ice Age has entered a more serious stage.

It caused frequent famines and poor grain harvests, especially in the northwest and central plains.

However, the increase in land tax continued unabated, and the more famine there was, the more onerous the taxation became.

Under such a situation, social conflicts have completely intensified.

The Wang Er uprising broke out in Chengcheng, Shaanxi Province, which was suffering from severe drought. They killed the county magistrate and gathered in the mountains and forests, kicking off the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty.

Because the court had no money or food, it also began to cut expenditures and began to abolish some yamen and yamen servants.

The first to bear the brunt are the postmen from various places.

Desperate and hungry farmers from all over Shaanxi joined forces with deserters from border towns and disbanded postmen to rise up one after another.

These insurgents fought independently and were highly mobile.

With these people taking the lead, oppressed people everywhere also responded.

For a time, various riots or uprisings occurred more or less throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Among these rebels was a postman who was dismissed. His name was Li Zicheng.

There were peasant riots and uprisings inside, while Hou Jin's tigers were watching outside and invading the borders.

Coupled with the Little Ice Age, the country's food harvest was poor, and many places had no harvests, resulting in a large number of disaster victims.

The Ming court was also unable to make ends meet and could not care about these matters at all.

Under such internal and external troubles, the Ming Dynasty began to collapse rapidly.

Since Chongzhen in Henan, "there has been no good year, droughts and locusts have come one after another, and disasters have occurred frequently."

It became more serious after the 12th year of Chongzhen. In the 14th year of Chongzhen, a "great famine" occurred. By June, "the dead were not counted".

Under this circumstance, a large number of hungry people joined Li Zicheng's team, which continued to grow and became known as the "Chuang King". Intellectuals such as Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance also defected to Li Zicheng.

Fourteen years before Chongzhen, although the internal and external situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty, it had not yet gotten out of control.

After the 14th year of Chongzhen, the internal and external situation took a turn for the worse, and the Ming Dynasty accelerated towards the edge of collapse.

Huang Taiji has founded the country, and the country is called the Qing Dynasty.

The attack on the Ming court became more and more fierce.

Even if there were short-lived generals like Sun Chuanting, they still could not save the decline of the Ming Dynasty.

There were uprisings by peasants from various places, and even high-ranking officials from the frontiers who had strong military support and self-esteem rebelled.

Outside, the Qing Dynasty sent troops to attack fiercely.

The Ming Dynasty, which was already at the end of its strength, was already in danger when faced with such a two-front battle.

Fighting at both ends accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

The 14th year of Chongzhen was a landmark year for the decline of the Ming Dynasty.

This year, the rebels led by Li Zicheng grew stronger and reached the borders of Henan.

In the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Qing Dynasty directly attacked Songshan City, and Hong Chengchou was captured and surrendered.

In the same year, the Qing army captured Jinzhou and Zu Dashou surrendered.

Facing the huge defeat in the two-front battle, the Ming court was on its last legs.

The collapse of the Ming Dynasty appeared, and the hearts of the ruling and opposition parties were gradually dispersed.

Everyone in the imperial court and even the common people were in panic.

At this time, Zhu Youjian planned to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty.

However, it encountered opposition from the ministers, causing the peace talks to fail.

Seeing that the peace agreement had broken down, Huang Taiji sent troops into the fortress for the sixth time in November, which was called the Renwu Incident.

The process of entering the fortress this time was exactly the same as the previous ones.

After plundering for several months and capturing 88 cities, the Qing army left with 36 prisoners and more than 32 livestock and other spoils of war.

This robbery by the Qing army completely destroyed the morale of the Ming Dynasty and broke up the people of the Ming Dynasty.

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor, and the founding name was Dashun.

In March of the same year, Juyong Pass was broken and Tang Tong surrendered.

Also in March, Li Zicheng's vanguard arrived in the suburbs of Beijing, captured Changping, and burned the imperial mausoleum.

On March [-], Zhu Youjian hanged himself in Meishan.

At this point, the Ming Empire was destroyed!
(End of this chapter)