The Donglin Party was a bureaucratic class political group dominated by Jiangnan scholars in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and it lasted for nearly 40 years until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

In the thirty-second year of Wanli, Gu Xiancheng and others repaired the Donglin Academy where Yang Shi lectured in the Song Dynasty.

He, Gao Panlong, Qian Yiyi and others gave lectures in it, attracting many students to come.

Donglin's lecture coincided with the intensification of social contradictions at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the Ming court was already decaying, and officials and businessmen from all over the country colluded to oppress the people.

From time to time, riots occurred throughout the country, and the imperial court had no way to deal with them except to suppress them by force.

Although the violent suppression quelled the riots, it also made the people more hateful to the court and the profiteers who colluded with the court.

Social contradictions have also become more acute.

At this time, the Donglin people stood up.

They ridiculed the government and commented on the officials, and they demanded honesty and integrity, revitalized the rule of officials, opened up the way of speech, eliminated the accumulated evils of the government and the opposition, and opposed the corruption of the powerful and bending the law.

These ideas of current politics were widely sympathetic and supported by the society at that time.

The common people, who had long been exploited by the imperial court's excesses and taxes, and the oppression of profiteers and wealthy families, began to turn to the Donglin students who advocated justice.

For a time, both literati and street people supported the Donglin people.

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

Some of the Donglin people above the court really spoke out for the sake of justice, but some just stood up for their own interests.

It's more of the latter.

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

At that time, the imperial court collected the heaviest taxes in the wealthy places in the Jiangnan area.

Therefore, they stand up and demand tax reduction, in fact, it is to reduce the tax of themselves or the family behind them.

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

The representatives of the eunuch group are the interests of the royal family.

The Donglin people's demand for tax reduction and exemption is actually moving the interests of the royal family and reducing the revenue of the national treasury.

And when they criticize the corruption of officials, they are also slapping the court in the face.

Isn't it just saying that the imperial court has no way to manage it, and there are corrupt officials everywhere.

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

The 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 refers to the lectures at Donglin Academy and the government and opposition figures who are related to it or who support sympathetic lectures.

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

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

The Donglin Party, which was rampant in the court, was crushed to death by Wei Zhongxian alone, and was beaten without the power to fight back.

At the time of Wei Zhongxian's appearance, there was a rare unification in the Ming court.

Yes, you read that right.

The Ming court was unified.

Even what Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't do back then, even when Zhu Yuanzhang said something back then, there were different voices in the court.

When I got to Wei Zhongxian, I actually did it.

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

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

Once Wei Zhongxian issued any order, everyone in the court unconditionally complied with it.

During Wei Zhongxian's period, 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 constantly squeezed out officials who did not belong to the Donglin Party above the court.

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

This is a very dangerous sign.

Once an official or a certain group can control the court without the imperial power, it means that the imperial power is threatened.

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

Although they keep shouting for fairness and honesty, revitalizing the rule of officials, and opening up their ways, they will eliminate the accumulated evils of the government and the opposition, and oppose the corruption of the powerful and bending the law.

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

Nepotism for officials and reuse people from their own faction.

Treat the decrees of the imperial court differently, if it is related to one's own interests, it will be delayed, and if it is to suppress dissidents, it will be thundered.

For the people's livelihood, they are even more insatiable and fill their pockets.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, during the Xiaoice River period, natural disasters continued.

There were disasters of varying degrees in many places in the Ming Dynasty, and many people were hungry and had no fixed place to live.

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty was empty, and there was no silver and grain to take out for disaster relief.

Many of the disaster relief issues raised by officials were blocked by Donglin Party members.

Because once the disaster relief is provided, the imperial court will definitely let these officials collect donations, and even deduct their money and use it for disaster relief.

According to statistics, a total of 563 disaster relief efforts were blocked by Donglin Party members.

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

So they opposed the imperial court to collect taxes on businessmen.

Abolition and reduction of overseas trade taxes, mining taxes, salt taxes, etc., in the southeast.

And these tax revenues are the foundation of the national strength of the Ming Dynasty and the existence of the treasury of the Ming Dynasty.

You know, farming can make a lot of money.

And at that time, there were many years of natural disasters, so it would be good not to starve to death, how could there be food to pay taxes.

But the rich businessmen in Jiangnan are different.

The Jiangnan region has always been a land of fish and rice, and the handicraft industry there is developed, and agriculture does not know the pillar industry at all.

Whether it is industry and commerce, handicrafts or mining, etc., it is extremely developed in the Jiangnan area.

In addition, there is maritime trade in the Jiangnan area, which has always been able to generate a steady stream of high taxes.

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

It can even be said that the rich Jiangnan region fed the Ming court.

However, the Donglin Party figures, who represented the Jiangnan region, demanded that the imperial court reduce or even reduce taxes on the Jiangnan region.

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

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

And once the imperial court reduced taxes on the Jiangnan region, then their interests would rise.

Therefore, these Donglin Party members constantly put pressure on the imperial court to reduce taxes in the Jiangnan area.

The reduction of taxes in the Jiangnan area has flowed into the pockets of these Donglin Party members.

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty became increasingly empty, and even the army's food and salary could not be paid later.

The taxes of the Ming court have always been set according to the locality.

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

However, under the impetus 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 to be funded by the imperial court.

was so engaged by the Donglin Party, not to mention the appropriation of the imperial court, and the tax was increased.

Originally, I couldn't eat enough, plus heavy taxes year after year.

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

The people's rebellion at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the uprising of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong can be said to have been indirectly promoted by the Donglin Party figures.

It can even be said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty has an absolute relationship with the upright Donglin Party people.

Wei Zhongxian, a nine-thousand-nine hundred-year-old eunuch, was scolded and supported by some people in later generations, at least Wei Zhongxian did not touch the cake of the people.

But these people in the Donglin Party were scolded miserably by later generations, and it was completely one-sided.

It can be seen that these so-called fair and honest Donglin Party are harmful to the Ming court.

And these so-called patriotic and upright Donglin Party figures jumped out quickly after Wei Zhongxian fell.

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

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

In any case, when Wei Zhongxian was still there, these Donglin Party figures couldn't afford to turn up tricks.

The Ming Dynasty was relatively stable.

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

Therefore, this is why in the eyes of many people in later generations, 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 authoritarian and brutalized Zhongliang, it was aimed at the upper class.

Or rather, it was against the court officials and the wealthy merchants who colluded with the officials.

He still looks down on ordinary people, at least he doesn't do the things of fish and meat people.

But his henchmen can't tell clearly, there will definitely be people who will do something under the banner of Wei Zhongxian.

But he himself never labored the people.

And because Wei Zhongxian himself was born as a farmer, he was in the society when he was very young, so he also saw a lot of civil suffering and collusion between officials and businessmen.

After Wei Zhongxian took sole power, he cut agricultural taxes and increased taxes on wealthy merchants because he took into account the difficulties of the common people.

He knew that the people couldn't make a lot of money from farming, just to eat, and some couldn't even eat enough.

And the rich merchants colluded with the court officials, not only did they get rich, but they also kept squeezing the people.

Therefore, even if you want to collect taxes, you have to start from the side of the rich.

Wei Zhongxian knew that killing chickens would kill fat.

For him, he also implemented the policy of reducing taxes in impoverished localities and regions, which effectively guaranteed the interests of the peasant class.

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

Second, Wei Zhongxian's is indeed greedy, and it is a huge greed.

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

Because of the arrival of the Xiaoice River period, there were more or less disasters everywhere at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

When disasters occurred in various places, Wei Zhongxian not only reduced taxes in the disaster areas, but also paid out of his own pocket to relieve the victims when the Ming court's finances were tight and the treasury was empty.

If he knew that some court officials were embezzling disaster relief funds, he would severely punish the corrupt officials and would not tolerate them.

Because he knows that there can be no problems at the level of the people.

Once there is a problem on the people's side, there will be a big problem with the Ming Dynasty, and the magnates he got by attaching to the Ming royal family will also disappear without a trace.

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

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

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

Third, during Wei Zhongxian's reign in the government, the border defense deployment was very strict and mature, and he did not give Houjin a gap at all.

Huang Taiji has never had a chance to enter the Central Plains, so he can only wait for the opportunity in a bitter cold place like Liaobei.

With his support, Sun Chengzong's city-building strategy achieved brilliant results, arching forward step by step, and Huang Taiji could only shrink step by step.

At that time, although Liaodong still had the threat of Houjin, it was just a threat, and he couldn't and didn't dare to reach into the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, although there were hidden dangers in the border passes of the Ming Dynasty at that time, it was not a problem overall.

Even as long as time permits, Da Ming will be able to defeat Houjin again.

Fourth, Wei Zhongxian is still not at fault in employing people, and even very unique, which can be said to know people and make good use of them.

Wei Zhongxian not only knows people well, but also rewards and punishments clearly, and is meritocent.

Among the generals at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the most famous was Yuan Chonghuan.

And Yuan Chonghuan's battle for fame and the most brilliant battles were all produced during the reign of Wei Zhongxian.

Xiong Tingbi is not Wei Zhongxian's person, he is not a eunuch party but belongs to the Chu party.

And Xiong Ting is more upright than this person, and she will definitely not tend to be inflammatory, and she will not slap the horse.

But Wei Zhongxian did not suppress Xiong Tingbi for some reason, and still entrusted him with important tasks.

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

Therefore, in general, although Wei Zhongxian is not a good person, he is not useless.

It is definitely much stronger than the sanctimonious Donglin Party figures.

And the reason why Wei Zhongxian was hacked so badly and scolded for nothing was because Wei Zhongxian offended too many civil officials and literati during his time in power.

For example, those Donglin Party people.

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

Therefore, when Wei Zhongxian was in power, those people may have been somewhat restrained by Wei Zhongxian's obscenity.

But after the fall of Wei Zhongxian, they scolded one more fiercely than the other.

Wei Zhongxian almost became the public enemy of the whole people in the scolding of those literati.

But it is such an unbearable eunuch in their mouths, such a traitor who is rebellious.

But they have been suppressed by these righteous people for more than ten years, and they are the kind that cannot be turned over.

(End of chapter)