Is the Donglin Party the real villain?

On this issue, Zhu Youxiao thought about it over and over again, and soon he realized that it was really likely to be the case. The Ming Dynasty perished due to financial bankruptcy, so aren't these Donglin Party the culprits of the financial bankruptcy of the Ming Dynasty?

But these words are Li Jinzhong's one-sided words, this guy is Wei Zhongxian in history, maybe he is a guy who can bluff people.

"Who should I trust?" Zhu Youxiao believed Li Jinzhong's words, but he still had two doubts. For the sake of his own life, Zhu Youxiao went to court the next morning and never mentioned the matter of collecting commercial taxes again.

Early that day, the palace transfer case officially came to an end. The first auxiliary party Congzhe and Ye Xianggao, the leader of the Donglin Party, secretly reached a deal and reconciliation. So this morning, the two of them unanimously set the basic tone of the palace transfer case -- the ministers are guilty. The concession of the Donglin Party came at the cost of Fang Congzhe's voluntary resignation from the post of head assistant to the cabinet.

Zhu Youxiao sat on the dragon chair and looked at Fang Congzhe carefully. Zhu Youxiao learned from Li Jinzhong that Fang Congzhe was not only the most favored courtier of the Wanli Emperor, but also his cheap son Zhu Changluo after he came to power.

It's just that before the reform began, Zhu Changluo was killed by quacks, first prescribed laxatives, and then prescribed warm and tonic drugs, and the next life was a whimper.

Fang Congzhe, who had been the first assistant of the cabinet for six years, was about to resign to the emperor at this time, and Zhu Youxiao suddenly felt a deep sense of crisis. If Fang Congzhe leaves, won't he become a complete puppet emperor?

So Zhu Youxiao said to stay, but Fang Congzhe had already made up his mind, and finally resigned from the post of head assistant of the cabinet. The Donglin Party was overjoyed, when Wanli was alive, in order to pull Fang Congzhe down from the position of first assistant, they poured so much dirty water on Fang Congzhe that they couldn't count it, but they all failed under the death guarantee of Emperor Wanli.

Wanli's bastard is finally dead, and Xizong is finished. Now that the new monarch is on the throne, they finally got their wish and dragged Fang Congzhe down from the position of first assistant.

The candidate for the new first assistant was quickly determined, and the Donglin Party uniformly elected Ye Xianggao into the cabinet as the chief scholar of the cabinet, that is, the first assistant.

Zhu Youxiao found that he could not interfere in personnel appointments at all. Officials below the third rank can be appointed by the cabinet chief, and above the third rank is recommended to the emperor by the ministers, and the emperor only needs to nod.

The levy of commercial taxes was also opposed by the Donglin Party, and the courtiers refused to enforce it, what could the emperor do? It's no different from a puppet.

If Fang Congzhe is here, then the Donglin Party will not be able to monopolize personnel appointments. But Fang Congzhe is gone, and the appointment of officials below the third grade is basically what the Donglin Party says.

Above the third grade, Zhu Youxiao is powerless to intervene.

This made Zhu Youxiao completely aware of the crisis, and at the same time found that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was not supreme, and the civilian-official group was very powerful, even to the point of launching a coup d'état, but this coup was still relatively hidden.

For the sake of his life, Zhu Youxiao was so frightened that he didn't dare to jump anymore, and he didn't say a word about the business tax, and then he would see the situation clearly. As a traverser, he is not so familiar with the system of the Ming Dynasty, which makes Zhu Youxiao not know how to get rid of the control of the Donglin Party for a while.

Before leaving, Fang Congzhe obviously left a hand and made careful arrangements for the feast. The feast is a system that appeared in the Song Dynasty, that is, the courtiers gave lectures to the emperor, and the Ming Dynasty followed and attached great importance to it, and it was divided into two semesters every year, and every single day entered the palace to give lectures to the emperor.

Zhu Youxiao, as a new monarch who has just ascended the throne, must go to the banquet.

After the morning of this day, the banquet speaker appeared, a civil official in his fifties, who looked iron-faced and sword-eyed, bearded and halberded.

"Ministers and grandsons Chengzong, knock on the emperor." Sun Chengzong entered the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, saw the emperor sitting there in a daze, and then paid a visit to the emperor. Zhu Youxiao, who was in a daze, was stunned, Sun Chengzong?

This seems to be a very famous loyal minister in the late Ming Dynasty, and he is good at military talent. However, Zhu Youxiao didn't know much about the specific aspects, and only knew that when Sun Chengzong was the governor of Liaodong, he beat the wild boar skin and retreated, stabilizing the situation in Liaodong.

"Aiqing is flat." Zhu Youxiao hurriedly helped Sun Chengzong up, and then said to Li Jinzhong: "Give Sun Aiqing a seat." ”

"Your Majesty." Sun Chengzong bowed, and then the two monarchs and ministers sat facing each other and began the first day of lecturing. Sun Chengzong first told the emperor some principles of life, but Zhu Youxiao didn't have the heart to listen, and he was still thinking about how to get rid of the problem of the Donglin Party.

Sun Chengzong saw that the emperor was not serious about listening to the lecture, so he asked, "What does the emperor want to hear?" ”

"I want to hear how to govern the country." Zhu Youxiao asked casually: "Aiqing tell me about the hidden dangers of the Ming Dynasty today!" ”

Sun Chengzong nodded, and then said directly to the essence: "The strictest problem in the Ming Dynasty today is finance. Since the beginning of the Wanli period, a large amount of land in the north has been abandoned. In the south, because of the rise of merchants, land was annexed by merchants in large quantities, which has shaken the country's capital, and the income from land endowments has been decreasing year by year. ”

Zhu Youxiao's spirit was shocked and asked, "Why does the north abandon the wilderness?" ”

"One is the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, and the other is that the water conservancy has been in disrepair for a long time. In general, the imperial court's finances were insufficient, and there was not enough money to invest in water conservancy repairs. Sun Chengzong replied.

Zhu Youxiao suddenly realized that the frequent occurrence of natural disasters was a sign of the Xiaoice River period. As an agrarian civilization, every time the temperature drops by one degree, the farming line will move one or two hundred kilometers to the south, and a large number of meteorological disasters will occur.

"Then why was the South so much annexed by merchants?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"Before my Ming Dynasty was in Jiajing, the status of businessmen was very low, and the children of businessmen could not participate in the imperial examination. At that time, only scholars who had obtained meritorious service could be exempted from Tian Fu. Although scholars could be exempted from the field tax, the officials at that time were relatively incorruptible and did not have enough financial resources to annex a large amount of land, and even if a large amount of land was annexed, if their descendants could not obtain fame, they would gradually lose. Therefore, the land annexation before Jiajing was not strict. Sun Chengzong elaborated: "After Jiajing, it will be different, and the children of merchants can gradually participate in the imperial examination. Once the merit was obtained, coupled with the huge financial resources of the merchants, the momentum of land annexation could not be contained. ”

"Before the children of merchants could participate in the imperial examinations, although the merchants were rich, ordinary people could still live with their own land. When the land was annexed by the merchants, many people could only rely on the merchants, which made the power of the southern merchants expand rapidly. At the same time, businessmen have a great advantage in the imperial examination, their children do not have to worry about food and clothing, they can study hard, and they can also hire famous teachers, and even bribe examiners. So much so that after Jiajing, a large number of businessmen's children gained fame. Especially after the establishment of Donglin Academy, these scholars from industrial and commercial backgrounds were screwed together, forming a powerful Donglin Party in the DPRK. ”

Sun Chengzong's words deeply inspired Zhu Youxiao, it turned out that the Donglin Party was formed in this way, and it was completely in conflict with national interests.

If you look back at history, you will find that the reason for the demise of most dynasties is basically land annexation, which leads to the misery of the people and social turmoil, and the emperor becomes a target in the turmoil, and then perishes.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao was already completely sure that the Donglin Party was the real villain. Not only did they annex land, but they also opposed the imperial court's imposition of commercial taxes, and were the main culprits in the financial bankruptcy of the Ming dynasty.

In addition, because there are businessmen behind the Donglin Party, they control public opinion and often bewitch the saints. The reason why Zhang Juzheng changed the law was because the country's capital had been shaken by businessmen, so he wanted to improve his finances. After Zhang Juzheng's death, the Donglin Party began to control the government, and the Wanli Emperor was initially bewitched and listened to, and under the control of the Donglin Party, the results of the reform were wasted. Later, Emperor Wanli realized the problem of the Donglin Party, so he did not go to the early dynasty for many years, and could only rely on his ministers to go out of the palace to collect mining taxes, barely maintaining the situation of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Chengzong said something that he didn't know as a traverser, which made Zhu Youxiao suddenly enlightened.

"Then I have to do this to get rid of the control of the Donglin Party?" Zhu Youxiao asked Sun Chengzong, he didn't know that Sun Chengzong was also a member of the Donglin Party.

"If the emperor wants to get rid of the control, he must first control the Dongchang and Jinyiwei, which the emperor can directly govern, and the Donglin Party cannot interfere. After taking control of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, the emperor reliably fought corruption and eradicated the Donglin Party. Most of the Donglin Party members are Jiangnan scholars, who seek officials for thousands of miles just for money, and most of them are not clean. Sun Chengzong said that although he is also a faction of the Donglin Party, he is considered a moderate within the Donglin Party, and he is a scholar from the north. Although the Donglin Party is called a party, it is not the same as the party of later generations, it is not such a tightly organized group, and it is mainly divided into radicals and moderates. The reason why Fang Congzhe recommended Sun Chengzong as the lecturer of the scripture banquet before leaving his post was because Sun Chengzong was also an acceptable figure in the Donglin Party.

"Why is that?" Zhu Youxiao asked in confusion.

"Jiangnan has developed commerce, businessmen are poor and luxurious, and Jiangnan scholars are affected by its atmosphere, so they are naturally impetuous and greedy for money. After becoming an official, he will inevitably be corrupt and pervert the law. Sun Chengzong said.

Zhu Youxiao was stunned, isn't this money worship in the 21st century? Once money worship is formed, any ideals and disciplines will be thrown aside. Some people even said: "How much is a pound of discipline?" Give me a few pounds, too. ”

Sun Chengzong continued: "Now that the Donglin Party is in control of the government, it is also an opportunity for the emperor. The Donglin Party will inevitably stir up party strife and vigorously exclude officials from the landlords' courts. At that time, the emperor can unite those excluded officials and rely on anti-corruption to eradicate the insect horses in the Donglin Party. ”

"Why did the Donglin Party vigorously exclude officials from the landlord class?" Zhu Youxiao asked in confusion, and Sun Chengzong said: "As a traditional scholarly family, they have not been in business for generations, and they despise businessmen, which is the root of the contradiction between the two sides. ”

I see! Zhu Youxiao completely understood.