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

The Donglin Party was a bureaucratic class political group dominated by Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty. It lasted for nearly 40 years until the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

In the 32nd year of Wanli, Gu Xiancheng and others restored Donglin Academy where Yang Shi gave lectures in the Song Dynasty.

He, Gao Panlong, Qian Yiben and others gave lectures there, attracting many students.

Dong Lin was giving lectures at a time when social conflicts were increasingly intensifying in the late Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was in a state of decay, and officials and businessmen from various places colluded to exploit the people.

Riots broke out all over the country from time to time, and the court had no choice but to suppress them with force.

Although the violent suppression quelled the riots, it also made the people hate the imperial court and the profiteers who colluded with the imperial court even more.

Social conflicts have become more acute.

At this moment, people from Donglin stood up.

They satirize the government and comment on officials. They demand integrity and justice, revitalize officialdom, open up the channels of speech, eliminate the accumulated abuses of the government and the public, and oppose corruption and perversion of the law by the powerful.

These critical opinions on current affairs received widespread sympathy and support from the society at that time.

The common people, who had long suffered from the imperial court's exorbitant taxes and exploitation and the oppression of wealthy businessmen, began to turn towards the Donglin students who advocated justice.

For a time, both the literati and the people on the streets expressed support for the Donglin people.

Similarly, the voices of Donglin people also appeared above the court.

Some of the Donglin people above the court really spoke out for justice, while others only stood up for their own interests.

More of the latter.

Because most of these so-called Donglin people are bureaucrats from Jiangnan.

At that time, the imperial court collected the heaviest taxes in the wealthy areas in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, when they stand up and ask for tax relief, they are actually trying to reduce the taxes for themselves or the families behind them.

However, these opinions and voices of Donglin people were also fiercely opposed by the eunuchs and their dependent forces.

The eunuch group represents the interests of the royal family.

The Donglin people's request for tax reduction or exemption actually affects the interests of the royal family and reduces the revenue of the national treasury.

And when they criticized official corruption, they were also slapping the court in the face.

Isn't it just saying that the government is poorly managed and corrupt officials are everywhere.

To put it bluntly, the contradiction between the officials and the Donglin Party is the contradiction between the imperial power and the scholar-bureaucrat class.

The political differences between the eunuch group and the Donglin Party gradually developed and evolved, forming a fierce party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty.

The opposition collectively refers to Donglin Academy lectures and the government and opposition figures who are related to it or support sympathetic lectures as the "Donglim Party".

As early as the previous Tianqi years, most of the officials in the court were more or less related to the Donglin Party.

It was not until the appearance of Wei Zhongxian that the Donglin Party was completely suppressed.

The Donglin Party who was running rampant in the court was suppressed by Wei Zhongxian alone, and was beaten without the ability to fight back.

When Wei Zhongxian appeared, there was a rare unity in the Ming court.

Yes, you are not mistaken.

The Ming Dynasty was actually unified by a eunuch.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't do it back then. Even when Zhu Yuanzhang said something, there would be different voices in the court.

It was actually done when we came to Wei Zhongxian.

From that time on, Wei Zhongxian was the only voice in the court.

He said one is one, he said two is two.

Once Wei Zhongxian issued an order, everyone in the court would obey it unconditionally.

During Wei Zhongxian's time, the efficiency of the Ming court was surprisingly high.

Although the Donglin Party was persecuted by Wei Zhongxian, in fact the Donglin Party was not a good bird.

When the Donglin Party gained power, it continued to squeeze out officials above the court who did not belong to the Donglin Party.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty was once dominated by the Donglin Party, and no other voices could appear.

This is a very dangerous signal.

Once a certain official or a certain group was able to break away from the imperial power and control the court, it meant that the imperial power was threatened.

Moreover, when the Donglin Party was powerful, it did not do any good things for the people's livelihood.

Although they kept shouting for justice and integrity, for revitalizing officialdom, opening up the channels of speech, eradicating the accumulated abuses in the government and the public, and opposing corruption and perversion of the law by the powerful.

But when they came to power, they still did the same corrupt things.

They employ nepotism towards officials and favor people from their own faction.

Treat the imperial decrees differently. If they are of interest to you, you will delay them. If they are to suppress dissidents, you will take violent action.

He is even more greedy about people's livelihood and enriches his own pockets.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, during the Little Ice Age, natural disasters continued.

Disasters of varying degrees occurred in many places in the Ming Dynasty, and many people had no food to eat and no stable place to live.

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty was extremely empty, and there was no money or food available for disaster relief.

Many disaster relief projects proposed by officials were blocked by Donglin Party members.

Because once disaster relief is provided, the court will definitely ask these officials to collect donations, and even deduct their salaries to use them for disaster relief.

According to statistics, disaster relief efforts were blocked by Donglin Party members a total of 560 times.

The Donglin Party represents the interests of businessmen and powerful landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Therefore, they opposed the imperial court's tax collection from industrial and commercial businesses.

Cancel or reduce overseas trade taxes, mineral taxes, salt taxes, etc. in the southeast direction.

These tax revenues were the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's national strength and the survival of the Ming Dynasty's treasury.

You know how much money you can make from farming.

Moreover, at that time, we were hit by natural disasters for many years. It would be great if we could not starve to death. How could we have food to pay taxes?

But the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan are different.

The Jiangnan region has always been a land of plenty, and the handicraft industry there is well developed, while agriculture is not the main industry at all.

Whether it is industry, commerce, handicrafts, or mining, they are all extremely developed in the Jiangnan region.

Moreover, there is maritime trade in the Jiangnan region, which can always generate high taxes.

At that time, the industrial and commercial tax, salt and iron tax, trade tax and other taxes in the Jiangnan region accounted for most of all the taxes in the Ming Dynasty.

It can even be said that the prosperous Jiangnan region supported the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Donglin Party members representing the Jiangnan region asked the court to reduce or even exempt taxes on the Jiangnan region.

Because members of the Donglin Party either have their own families in Jiangnan, or they are colluding with wealthy businessmen in the Jiangnan area.

The imperial court's heavy taxation on Jiangnan was tantamount to reducing the interests of these Donglin Party members.

And once the imperial court reduces taxes on the Jiangnan region, their interests will rise.

Therefore, these Donglin Party members continued to put pressure on the court to reduce taxes in the Jiangnan area.The reduction in taxes in the Jiangnan region has flowed into the pockets of these Donglin Party members.

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty became increasingly empty, and eventually it could not even pay the army.

The taxes of the Ming Dynasty court have always been determined based on local areas.

For example, poor areas in the northwest collect less taxes, while rich areas in the south of the Yangtze River collect more taxes.

However, under the promotion of the Donglin Party, the taxes collected in the Jiangnan area were reduced, and all this part of the tax was passed on to other barren areas.

Other places are already barren, and there are even many places that need relief from the imperial court.

People from the Donglin Party did this, not only without funding from the imperial court, but also with increased taxes.

We didn't have enough to eat, and we were taxed year after year.

Therefore, it directly contributed to the riots of the local people, and even directly revolted.

It can be said that the people's riots in the late Ming Dynasty and the uprisings of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were indirectly promoted by Donglin Party members.

It can even be said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was absolutely related to the upright Donglin Party members.

Wei Zhongxian, a [-]-year-old eunuch, was criticized and supported by later generations. At least Wei Zhongxian did not touch the cakes of the people.

But people like the Donglin Party were scolded miserably by later generations, and the scolding was completely one-sided.

It can be seen that these Donglin Party, which claims to be fair and honest, is harmful to the Ming Dynasty.

These so-called patriotic and upright Donglin Party members jumped out quickly after Wei Zhongxian fell.

These Donglin Party members used the naive and mellow Emperor Chongzhen to eliminate Wei Zhongxian, and then quickly took control of the court and financial power.

After they took over the power from Wei Zhongxian, they began to encroach on the Ming Empire.

In any case, when Wei Zhongxian was still there, these Donglin Party members could not pull any tricks.

The Ming Dynasty was relatively stable.

At least it will be more stable than after the Donglin Party members came to power.

Therefore, this is why many people in later generations believe that Wei Zhongxian is immortal and the Ming Empire is immortal.

Later generations also have some positive comments about Wei Zhongxian.

First, although Wei Zhongxian was dictatorial and harmed loyal people, he was targeting the upper class.

In other words, it is to deal with those court officials and the wealthy businessmen who colluded with the officials.

He still looks down upon ordinary people, at least he himself has not done anything to exploit them.

But those members of his party couldn't tell clearly. There must be someone using Wei Zhongxian's name to do things that harm the common people.

But he himself never worked the people.

And because Wei Zhongxian himself was born as a farmer and had been involved in society since he was very young, he also saw a lot of suffering among the people and the collusion between government and businessmen.

After Wei Zhongxian took over power, he cut agricultural taxes and increased taxes on wealthy businessmen because he considered the hardships of the common people.

He knew that the common people could not make much money from farming, they were just doing it for food, and some could not even have enough to eat.

The wealthy businessmen colluded with the court officials. Not only did they become extremely rich, but they also continued to exploit the people.

Therefore, even if taxes are collected, they will start from the wealthy households.

Wei Zhongxian knows that if you kill the chicken, you must kill the fat one.

For this reason, he implemented tax reduction policies and other measures for poor places and regions, which effectively protected the interests of the peasant class.

In addition, Wei Zhongxian also opened warehouses to provide relief to victims in areas that suffered natural disasters, and also reduced local taxes so that poor people could have a chance to breathe.

Second, Wei Zhongxian is indeed greedy, and he is extremely greedy.

But Wei Zhongxian's corruption is principled and has a bottom line, which is much better than those sanctimonious hypocrites of the Donglin Party.

Because of the arrival of the Little Ice Age, disasters occurred more or less everywhere in the late Ming Dynasty.

When disasters occurred in various places, Wei Zhongxian not only reduced taxes in the disaster areas, but also used his own money to relieve the victims when the Ming Dynasty was financially tight and the treasury was empty.

If he knew that a court official had embezzled disaster relief funds, he would severely punish the corrupt official and would never tolerate it.

Because he knows that there can never be any problems at the level of the common people.

Once there is a problem with the people, there will be big problems in the Ming Dynasty, and all the powerful people he gained from relying on the Ming royal family will disappear without a trace.

Wei Zhongxian and the Zhu family royal family of the Ming Dynasty are grasshoppers on the same rope and a community of interests. Wei Zhongxian knows this very well.

In addition, he came from the bottom and has feelings for the people.

Therefore, Wei Zhongxian is very measured when dealing with ordinary people.

Third, during the period when Wei Zhongxian controlled the government, the border defense deployment was very strict and mature, leaving no loopholes for Hou Jin at all.

Huang Taiji never had a chance to enter the Central Plains, so he could only wait for the opportunity in bitter cold places like northern Liaoning.

With his support, Sun Chengzong's city-building strategy achieved brilliant results. He advanced step by step, while Huang Taiji could only retreat step by step.

Although there was still a threat from Hou Jin in Liaodong at that time, it was just a threat. They could not and did not dare to reach out to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty had hidden dangers at the border at that time, it was generally not a problem.

Even as long as time allowed, Ming could defeat Hou Jin again.

Fourth, Wei Zhongxian has no fault in employing people. He is even very original. It can be said that he knows people well and makes good use of them.

Wei Zhongxian not only knows people well and assigns them well, he also has clear rewards and punishments and works only on his talents.

Among the generals in the late Ming Dynasty, the most famous was Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan's fame and most brilliant achievements all took place during the period when Wei Zhongxian was in power.

Xiong Tingbi was not a member of Wei Zhongxian. He was not from the eunuch party but belonged to the Chu party.

Moreover, Xiong Tingbi is an upright person and will never follow others' influence or flatter others.

However, Wei Zhongxian did not suppress Xiong Tingbi because of the reason, and still entrusted him with important tasks.

Feng Quan was Wei Zhongxian's confidant, but when Wei Zhongxian discovered that Feng Quan was corrupt, he immediately dismissed him.

So, overall, although Wei Zhongxian is not a good person, he is not without merit.

Definitely much better than the sanctimonious Donglin Party members.

The reason why Wei Zhongxian was so badly hacked and scolded for being useless is because Wei Zhongxian offended too many civil servants and literati during his time in power.

Just like those Donglin Party members.

The public opinion at that time was almost controlled by the Donglin Party members, because the pen was in their hands.

Therefore, when Wei Zhongxian came to power, those people might have restrained themselves somewhat due to Wei Zhongxian's power.

But after Wei Zhongxian fell, they scolded each other more harshly than the other.

Wei Zhongxian almost became a public enemy in the scoldings of those literati.

But he was such an unworthy eunuch and such a rebellious traitor in their mouths.

But he suppressed these righteous people for more than ten years, and they were so suppressed that they could not stand up.

(End of this chapter)