The Donglin Party is not a political party in the modern sense, but a loose group of literati with the same political views.

The political propositions of the Donglin Party are roughly as follows:

First, it strongly demanded that the situation of eunuch dictatorship and disorderly government be changed, and advocated that "political affairs should be attributed to the six ministries, and public opinions should be paid to the officials";

Second, he vigorously opposed the emperor's dispatch of mine supervisors and tax envoys to various places to carry out frenzied plundering and expropriation, and advocated attaching importance to both agriculture and industry and commerce, and demanded that merchants benefit the people, reduce taxes, reclaim wasteland, and build water conservancy;

Third, we oppose the frequent fraud in the imperial examinations, and advocate that scholars should be hired according to their talents and intelligence, regardless of rank, and according to their talents.

Fourth, strengthen the military force in Liaodong and actively defend against the offensive of Houjin.

To sum up, it is these four political propositions, so how did the Donglin Party become the shameless literati referred to by Qianfu?

The first point should be understandable, the past dynasties and dynasties because of the eunuch dictatorship and the world chaos and even the kingdom examples are not uncommon, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is at the entrance of the palace erected an iron card, engraved "ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, the predetermined beheaded", later Wang Zhen and Liu Jin also used practical actions to confirm how terrible the eunuch dictatorship and chaos is.

The third point should also be correct, the fraud in the imperial examination is definitely wrong, the method of fraud is generally to bribe the examiner, in order to gain fame, so that the officials who are admitted, first of all, not to mention his ability, it is difficult for them to do the most basic honesty and dedication.

The fourth point is not to mention, Houjin has come over, and if you don't strengthen your defense, do you want to lose the country?

The reason why the Donglin Party was pointed out by thousands of people should be the second point, they opposed the emperor sending mine supervisors and tax envoys to various places to carry out frenzied plunder, wanton expropriation, and demanded that the merchants be compassionate and the people should be relieved.

It is rumored that the Donglin Party opposes the collection of mining taxes and commercial taxes, which makes the state finances unable to make ends meet.

Obviously, this is a quote taken out of context, or rather, it is a deliberate rumor.

They were opposed to sending mine supervisors and tax envoys to various places to carry out frenzied plundering and expropriation, not to the collection of mining taxes and commercial taxes.

Why did they oppose the dispatch of mine supervisors and tax collectors?

This has a lot to do with the corruption of eunuchs in the late Wanli Dynasty, the so-called mine supervisors and tax envoys are actually eunuchs, according to historical records, eunuchs act as mine supervisors and tax envoys, and they are corrupt and scared to death.

This is not empty nonsense, there are relevant records in the "History of the Ming Dynasty" and many other history books.

For example, in the middle of the Wanli Dynasty, the corruption of Li Feng, the tax supervisor of Guangdong, crowned the entire Wanli Dynasty, according to the revelations, he took the secret solicitation, ten puzzled, his house of gold and jade jewelry piled up, exquisite foreign objects filled his door, he embezzled silver reached 50 million taels, other treasures are not counted.

For another example, Liang Yong, the lieutenant of the Shaanxi tax supervisor (the former imperial palace eunuch), regarded himself as a messenger, and under the pretext of patrolling, he ran rampant and plundered rich towns and cities around the country. Poisoning Shaanxi, when Liang Yong collected the looted gold and silver treasures, he paid one-tenth of the tribute to Shenzong. Nine out of ten of his cronies were escorted to Beijing. It is transferred from home to the suburbs of Beijing, and there are more than ten warehouses for collecting gold and silver treasures.

For another example, in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, Sun Long, the internal supervisor, went to Suzhou to serve as a tax supervisor, and he ordered that in addition to the taxes, each machine should add three coins of silver, and each silk fabric would add three points of silver to self-fertilization, so the machine households stopped working, thousands of weavers and dyers were unemployed, and 2,000 weaving and dyeing craftsmen who had no way to live gathered in Xuanmiaoguan, setting off a civil uprising.

Shouldn't these mine supervisors and tax collectors be opposed to the local extortion and plunder?

These, after all, are available in historical data, and they will be broken as soon as they are poked, so later rumors developed into the Donglin Party shielding the landlords and heroes, fighting for the profits of the rich businessmen and tycoons, and opposing the collection of taxes.

This is a clear confusion of referring to a deer as a horse.

First of all, whether it is a mining tax or a commercial tax, the Donglin Party has no objection to collecting it, but only opposes the dispatch of mine supervisors and tax envoys.

Then, the Donglin Party demanded that the merchants be compassionate to the people and reduce taxes, which not only referred to the mining tax, tea tax and salt tax, but also included the land tax.

Finally, the most important point is that the people who mine are also the common people, the people who grow tea are also the common people, and the people who boil salt are the common people. Could it be that the mine was dug by Haoqiang, the tea was planted by the landlord, and the salt was boiled by Haoqiang?

Literati are sometimes terrible, and when they take things out of context, distort facts, and slander literati, they don't realize that they are literati themselves.

There is no most terrible, only more terrible, and the rumors that come later are even more terrible.

What Wei Zhongxian can save the Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party is the culprit of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the reason why the Ming Dynasty fell was because Emperor Chongzhen killed Wei Zhongxian, and no one cleaned up the Donglin Party!

First of all, the most unreasonable thing about this rumor is that everyone knows that Wei Zhongxian was not killed by Chongzhen, he committed suicide, and the rumor that Emperor Chongzhen killed Wei Zhongxian can even be created!

The rumor-mongers probably understood that no matter who it was, a little glance at the historical materials would expose this lie, so they made another big move later.

They moved the Donglin Party of the Wanli Dynasty against the dispatch of mine supervisors and tax envoys to various places to carry out frenzied plundering and expropriation, and moved it to the Chongzhen Dynasty, and turned it into the Donglin Party against tax collection.

They also moved the power of the Donglin Party in the early years of the Apocalypse to the Chongzhen Dynasty, creating the illusion that the Chongzhen Dynasty was the world of the Donglin Party, and the holy decree of the Chongzhen Emperor could not leave the palace!

The Donglin Party's opposition to taxation, as mentioned earlier, is purely taken out of context, confusing the public, and referring to the deer as a horse.

Then, let's see if the Chongzhen Dynasty is in power or not.

The Ming Dynasty began with Zhu Yuanzhang's dismissal of the prime minister, and implemented the system of cabinet auxiliary, that is, to be in power, at least to control the cabinet.

So, did the Donglin Party control the cabinet in the Chongzhen Dynasty?

According to historical records, Emperor Chongzhen was suspicious by nature, but the Chongzhen Dynasty changed more than 50 cabinet scholars in a total of 17 years!

How many of these more than 50 cabinet scholars are in the Donglin Party? How many of the Donglin Party have become cabinet chiefs? How long have they been in the cabinet?

First, let's take a look at the list of all the cabinet scholars of the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Huang Liji entered the cabinet in the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and the seventh year of the Apocalypse

Come to Zongdao and enter the cabinet in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and the first year of Chongzhen

Yang Jingchen entered the cabinet in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and Chongzhen was in the first year

Li Biao entered the cabinet for seven years, and Chongzhen was appointed for three years

Zhou Dao ascended to the seventh year of the Apocalypse, entered the cabinet and Chongzhen in the second year

Qian Longxi entered the cabinet in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and Chongzhen was in the second year

Liu Hongxun entered the cabinet in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and Chongzhen was resigned in the first year

Shi Feng came to the seventh year of the Apocalypse and entered the cabinet in the first year of Chongzhen

Zhang Ruitu entered the cabinet in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and Chongzhen was in the second year

Han Yi Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the first year and Chongzhen was a three-year official

Li Guopu Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the first year of Chongzhen, and Chongzhen was in the first year

Cheng Ji ordered Chongzhen to enter the cabinet in two years, and Chongzhen to serve in three years

Sun Chengzong Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the second year, and Chongzhen was promoted in four years

How to favor Chongzhen in the second year and Chongzhen in the fourth year

Qian Xiangkun Chongzhen entered the cabinet in two years, and Chongzhen was promoted to the office in four years

Zhou Yanru Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the second year, and Chongzhen was in the sixth year

Chongzhen entered the cabinet again in the fourteenth year, and Chongzhen died in the sixteenth year

Wen Tiren Chongzhen entered the cabinet for three years, and Chongzhen was a member of the cabinet for ten years

Wu Zongda Chongzhen entered the cabinet for three years, and Chongzhen eleven years ago

Zheng Yiwei Chongzhen entered the cabinet for three years, and Chongzhen died in six years

Xu Guangqi Chongzhen entered the cabinet for five years, and Chongzhen died in office in six years

Wang Yingxiong Chongzhen entered the cabinet for six years, and Chongzhen was appointed for eight years

He Wupeng Chongzhen entered the cabinet for seven years, and Chongzhen was in office for eight years

Qian Shisheng Chongzhen entered the cabinet for six years, and Chongzhen was promoted to the office for nine years

Wen Zhen and Meng Chongzhen entered the cabinet for eight years, and Chongzhen was appointed for eight years

Zhang Zhifa Chongzhen entered the cabinet for eight years, and Chongzhen eleven years to Shi

Kong Zhenyuan Chongzhen entered the cabinet for nine years, and Chongzhen eleven years to Shi

Huang Shijun Chongzhen entered the cabinet for nine years, and Chongzhen eleven years ago

He Fengsheng Chongzhen entered the cabinet for nine years, and Chongzhen was ten years old

Lin Yan Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the ninth year, and Chongzhen died in May of the tenth year

Liu Yuliang Chongzhen entered the cabinet for ten years, and Chongzhen was a member of the cabinet for twelve years

Fu Guan Chongzhen entered the cabinet for ten years, and Chongzhen eleven years ago

Xue Guoguan Chongzhen entered the cabinet for ten years, and Chongzhen died in fourteen years

Cheng Guoxiang Chongzhen entered the cabinet for 11 years, and Chongzhen was 12 years old

Yang Sichang Chongzhen entered the cabinet for ten years, and Chongzhen died in office for ten years

Fang Fengnian Chongzhen entered the cabinet for ten years, and Chongzhen eleven years to Shi

Cai Guo entered the cabinet with Chongzhen for ten years, and died in Chongzhen thirteen years

Fan Fucui Chongzhen entered the cabinet for 11 years, and Chongzhen was 14 years old

Yao Minggong Chongzhen entered the cabinet for 12 years, and Chongzhen was 12 years old

Zhang Sizhi Chongzhen entered the cabinet for 12 years, and Chongzhen was 15 years old

Wei Shao entered the cabinet in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, and Chongzhen was fifteen years old

Xie Majesty Chongzhen entered the cabinet for thirteen years, and Chongzhen was reduced for thirteen years

Chen Yan Chongzhen entered the cabinet for thirteen years, and Chongzhen begged for seventeen years

Jiang Dejing Chongzhen entered the cabinet for fifteen years, and Chongzhen was appointed for fifteen years

Huang Zongfang Chongzhen entered the cabinet for fifteen years, and Chongzhen was sixteen years old

Wu Fu Chongzhen entered the cabinet for fifteen years, and Chongzhen was sixteen years old

Li Jiantai Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the sixteenth year, and Chongzhen was executed in the seventeenth year

Fang Yuegong Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, and was plundered to death in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen

Qiu Yu Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and was plundered to death in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen

Fan Jingwen Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and was martyred when Beijing fell in the seventeenth year

Wei Zaode Chongzhen entered the cabinet in the sixteenth year, and Chongzhen was plundered to death in the seventeenth year

In the 17 years of the Chongzhen Dynasty, there were more than 50 cabinet scholars, and there were only six Zhengdong Lin Party members, plus a total of 11 suspected or known as Donglin Party, namely Han Yi, Zhou Daodeng, Qian Longxi, Cheng Jiming, He Ruzhong, Sun Chengzong, Wen Zhenmeng, He Fengsheng, Cheng Guoxiang, Fang Fengnian, and Fan Jingwen.

Among these eleven people, only three became the first assistant of the cabinet, namely, Zhou Daodeng, Han Yi, and Cheng Jiming.

Zhou Daodeng, Chongzhen's first year in June of the first year, Chongzhen's first December Zhishi, a total of six months, however, he is only suspected of the Donglin Party, not the real Donglin Party, and he, the first assistant, is still caught by lot.

Han Yi, Chongzhen served as the first assistant in December of the first year, and Chongzhen was appointed in March of the third year, a total of 14 months.

Cheng Jiming, Chongzhen was appointed as the first assistant in March of the third year, and Chongzhen was appointed in September of the third year, a total of six months, and his first assistant was only a transitional first assistant.

That is to say, the Chongzhen Dynasty has been in charge of the cabinet for a total of seventeen years, and the Donglin Party has only been in charge of the cabinet for a total of two years and two months, while Wen Tiren, the representative of the Eunuch Party, has been the first assistant for nearly eight years!

It can be seen that Chongzhen is not a puppet, he appointed the Donglin Party just to clean up the eunuch party, and when the eunuch party is almost cleaned up, he is worried that the Donglin Party will take power, and he will start to reuse the remnants of the eunuch party until the country finally dies.

Who is in power in the Chongzhen Dynasty, it should be said that first Emperor Chongzhen, then the remnants of the eunuch party, as for the Donglin party, it is just a gun for Chongzhen to deal with the eunuch party, and he threw it aside after the fight.

The most obvious example, Huang Zongxi, the eldest son of Huang Zunsu, one of the Seven Gentlemen of Donglin, a famous writer in the late Ming Dynasty, was raised in high school in the fourth year of Chongzhen.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, he was not admitted to the Jinshi in the end, and he couldn't pass the imperial examination of the great writers, is it strange?

It's not surprising at all, because his father is an authentic Donglin person, because Chongzhen is basically a remnant of the eunuch party who hates the Donglin Party after four years, so he can't pass the Jinshi exam, which shows that it is a joke that the Chongzhen Dynasty is the Donglin Party in power.

Of course, there are many other rumors.

It is rumored that the Donglin Party is corrupt, and a few representatives of the Donglin Party are named.

For example, Han Yi, when he was the first assistant of the Tianqi Dynasty, he was forced by Wei Zhongxian to resign and return to his hometown, and Wei Zhongxian ordered his godson Cui Chengxiu to frame Han Yi for harboring 2,000 taels of stolen silver, and forced Han Yi to sell his property and land and borrow money from relatives and friends before repaying the so-called stolen silver.

In the end, Han Yi had nowhere to live, so he could only live in the cemetery of his ancestors, and the whole family was hungry and unclothed, which was extremely miserable.

Is this corruption?

Another example is Yang Lian, Wei Zhongxian framed him for accepting a bribe of 20,000 taels from Xiong Tingbi to recover the stolen goods, but he was pitiful that his family's property was less than 1,000 taels, and he had already defrauded a lot when he rode to Yingshan to arrest him.

After Yang Lian was imprisoned, his family sold all the family property, and it was far from enough to make up 20,000 yuan.

Although people in the know sympathized with them and helped them one after another, they still could not make up enough 20,000, and the family could only continue to suffer persecution until Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne and the eunuch group was ambushed, and this endless chasing and persecution ended.

Is this corruption?

Another example is Wei Dazhong, Wei Zhongxian framed him for accepting a bribe of 3,000 taels from Xiong Tingbi, and his eldest son Wei Xueyi ran around in many directions after his father was imprisoned, and complained bitterly, and finally borrowed 3,000 taels, and after handing it over, he thought that his father could always come out as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, the eunuch party added another three hundred taels, and just these three hundred taels forced Wei Dazhong's eldest son, Wei Xue, to death.

After Wei Dazhong was killed, the eunuch party instructed the local government to strictly urge, Wei Xue's babbling went back and forth between Jiashan and Zhejiang, borrowing and begging, and finally he was unable to pay off the stolen silver, and finally died in fear and anger.

Is this corruption?

The Donglin Party was persecuted by the eunuchs, framed, and chased the so-called stolen silver, and the families of the Donglin Party members were forced to beg on the street not one or two, but more than ten, which is corruption!

It is rumored that after Li Zicheng conquered the capital, he forced out more than 70 million taels of silver from officials at all levels.

This should be true, but the good deeds are planted on the Donglin Party!

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the only recorded Donglin party member in the court was Fan Jingwen, he was martyred after Chongzhen hanged himself, and it was impossible to force him to pay silver to help him, right?

In other words, when Li Zicheng was forced to pay the salary, there was no Donglin Party member in the court, and these more than 70 million taels were planted on the Donglin Party, which was really ridiculous!

It is rumored that the Donglin Party is greedy for life and afraid of death, and it is bent to the knee in Houjin.

This, the Donglin Party who fought with Houjin is not one or two, and it is a bit uncountable.

For example, Sun Chengzong, two years after Chongzhen, Jin hit the capital, he was pulled out to fight the fire at zero hour, and after beating Houjin, Chongzhen immediately kicked him off.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the Qing army attacked Gaoyang, and Sun Chengzong led the people and their families to defend the city.

For another example, Huang Daozhou committed a straightforward admonition, and Chongzhen scolded him: "You can only do one piece of learning in your life!" ”

On September 19 of the first year of Longwu (1645 AD), the zodiac Zhou raised thousands of people, only more than ten horses, raised a month's grain, went out of Xianxia Pass, fought against the Qing soldiers, was captured after the defeat, and would rather die than give in, hunger strike for 12 days, and finally, the Qing army had to kill him.

For another example, Shi Kefa, Fan Jingwen, Yuan Yingtai, etc., all the Donglin Party members who fought with Houjin were either killed in battle or unyielding, except for one Qian Qianyi.

Finally, let's talk about this Qian Qianyi, the eunuch gave him the evaluation of Qian Qianyi, the prodigal son of Tianqiaoxing, what does the prodigal son mean, in ancient times, it refers to the idle, suave, and wandering brothel of the Qinglou.

He called himself the leader of Donglin, this leader doesn't know how to come, in the thirty-second year of Wanli, when Gu Xiancheng initiated the Donglin Conference at Donglin Academy, he was just a romantic talent who lingered in the Qinglou, and he didn't even know where the door of Donglin Academy opened, who did he lead?

Then, his personality, conceit, talent, and corruption are serious, which is incompatible with the theme of Donglin, and he doesn't know how his identity as a member of the Donglin Party came about.

Let's take a look at his official experience.

In the first year of the Apocalypse, Qian Qianyi served as the chief examiner of the Zhejiang Township Examination, turned to Zhongyun in the right Chunfang, and participated in the revision of the "Records of Shenzong". In the second year of the apocalypse, he died due to illness.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Qian Qianyi made a comeback, mainly responsible for the compilation of the "Records of the Divine Sect", and in the same year, he was impeached by the imperial historian Cui Chengxiu and Chen Yirui, and was dismissed and returned to his hometown.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Qian Qianyi returned to serve as Zhan Shifu Zhan Shi and the Ministry of Rites, and when he promoted the ministers, he had a grudge with Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru took advantage of the pursuit of Qian Qianyi Zhejiang Township to try to accept bribes, and Emperor Chongzhen personally summoned him to confront him in the Wenhua Palace, and Qian Qianyi was dismissed from his post and punished with a cane.

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Qian Qianyi attached himself to Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, the remnants of the eunuch party, and strongly recommended Ruan Dacheng of the eunuch party as the squire of the military department, and was rewarded and served as the secretary of the Nanming Rite Department.

In May of the first year of Hongguang in the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Qing soldiers approached Jinling, and the soldiers approached the city of Jinling, and Qian Qianyi surrendered with Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng.

From the sixth year of Shunzhi to the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, Qian Qianyi actively contacted the anti-Qing and Ming restoration forces in the southwest and southeast, and tried his best to atone for his crimes, but it was too late.

Qian Qianyi is indeed a capricious person, he claims to be the leader of Donglin for a while, attaches to the eunuch party for a while, surrenders to the Qing court for a while, and restores the Qing Dynasty for a while, which is indeed a little ignorant.

However, he is not the real leader of Donglin, and even the identity of the Donglin Party is a bit far-fetched, a Qian Qianyi, representing the entire Donglin Party, I don't know how this rumor came out.

It is impossible to guess what the people who created these rumors were for, and later, the court battle of the Chongzhen Dynasty will begin immediately, and I would like to summarize the true historical background of the Chongzhen Dynasty.

In the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen Dynasty, more than 50 cabinet scholars have been replaced, and one word can be summed up, chaos, chaos in the court, how can Zhang Bin take power in this complex environment?

At the end of this volume, let's see the next volume break down.