Gu Xiancheng, the founder of the Donglin Party

Niu Ren 1: Gu Xiancheng, the leader of the Donglin Party, who was able to manipulate the imperial court after disobeying the emperor, replacing the first assistant, and cutting his post to the people.

If it is said that an official from the fifth rank disobeys the will of the emperor, works against the head of the cabinet (the largest official with power second only to the emperor), and even decides who will be the first of his own boss (Zheng Erpin), and actually wins, this is probably a fantasy in the Ming Dynasty, where the imperial power decides everything, right? However, Gu Xiancheng, a bull man, actually did it.

If we want to make things clear, we must first talk about the "struggle for the country" incident. The so-called struggle for the country is the fundamental issue of establishing a prince and deciding who will be the emperor in the future. The fate of one person determines the fate of a country, which is a tragedy for our nation, but it is a pity that this system has been used for too long. If the crown prince is a low-IQ person, how can the country be rich and strong? Unfortunately, there is no shortage of low-IQ emperors in all Chinese dynasties, especially the IQ of some emperors in the Ming Dynasty, which is quite low!

At that time, Comrade Wanli had three dragon species, and it was orthodox for the eldest son Zhu Changluo to be the crown prince. When Zhu Changluo was 9 years old, the ministers asked for him to be canonized as the crown prince in order to consolidate the country, but Comrade Wanli was unwilling. Wanli likes Zheng Guifei, and he can't stand the wind blowing on his pillow, so he wants to make Zhu Changxun, the third prince born to Zheng Guifei, the crown prince, the prince, but he can't find a reason to abolish the eldest son, so he adopts the tactic of "dragging". What did Wanli think in his heart, how could the ministers not guess? Let a woman manipulate state affairs and break the rules, wouldn't we, the ministers who had studied for decades and managed to survive to get to the current position, all eat dry food? So the ministers risked demotion, fines, The risk of dismissal was sparse one after another, requiring the early establishment of the crown prince, for which the dismissed officials were innumerable, but the upright ministers still went to the ground one after another to relieve the effort, which can really be described as seeing death as home, and finally even the first assistant Shen Shixing, who was second only to the emperor, was also implicated and cut to the people (the removal of the most capable Shen Shixing proved that Wanli was self-destructing the Great Wall, and the party struggle in full swing began, and the Ming Empire began to decline).

The one who took over the position of Shen Shixing's first assistant was Wang Jiaping, because he was upright, he often worked against the Wanli brothers, and scolded Wanli directly, and was quickly won by Wanli (it can be seen that not only the Donglin Party is upright and virtuous), replaced by the old fritter Wang Xijue, in response to the conspiracy of Comrade Wanli, and engaged in a "three kings and seal" incident, which is nothing more than to pave the way for the three princes to become princes in the future, and finally failed, leading to their own resignation, and the Donglin Party began to rise.

said that Wang Xijue was an old fritter because he was old and began to know how to compromise with Wanli. In fact, since he entered the imperial court, he has always been known for his hard bones. When Zhang Juzheng was in power, he ran to the house to make a big fuss and almost forced Zhang Juzheng to commit suicide; after Zhang Juzheng died of illness, the ministers began to counterattack and stomp on him, but he stood up and said that Zhang Juzheng was a national meritorious hero; his student Li Zhi overthrew Shen Shixing and helped him to come to power, but he denounced Li Zhi and asked for his resignation; his son was the first in the township examination, and some people suspected him of cheating, so he let his son go home, and it was not until he stepped down thirteen years later that he let his son take the exam, and the result was that he would take the second test and second in the palace test. It can be seen that Wang Xijue's integrity is not inferior to that of the Donglin Party, but after he became the first assistant, he and Wanli had a three-king seal. My understanding is that people do become a little sleek when they get old, but there is a more important reason: I didn't become the first assistant, and I don't know the difficulties of the first assistant. Not in his place, he does not know the weight of the burden on his shoulders. It is easy to speak up for righteousness, but it is even more difficult to compromise and maintain the overall situation! The righteousness is awe-inspiring, and many righteous scholars can do it, but it is not possible for an excellent politician to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens to maintain the overall situation, which reminds me of the amiable and respectable Premier Zhou Enlai. Compromise in a reasonable and restrained manner to achieve a win-win situation is the homework that politicians should devote great efforts to study.

In terms of historical facts, in the event of fighting for the country, it was most of the officials in the court who went to the emperor one after another, and they did not divide factions, let alone the Donglin Party, because the Donglin Party had not yet been formed at that time, but the Donglin Party was a veritable backbone in supporting Zhu Changluo as the prince, and fought for it for more than 20 years, after Zhu Changluo and his son became emperors, the power of the Donglin Party reached its peak.

The fight for the country is a long-term struggle, although it has been under Gu Xiancheng's control since then, there is no shadow of Gu Xiancheng at this time. Gu Xiancheng's appearance on the stage of history began with the Jingcha incident. Jingcha is similar to the current assessment of cadres by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, which is held once every six years.

In the twenty-first year of Wanli (1593), Jingcha began, and the people in charge of this Jingcha were Sun Yan, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Zhao Nanxing, Langzhong, the secretary of the Gonggong, who was equivalent to the current director and deputy director of the Central Organization Department. These two people seem to want to use Jingcha to make some trouble, and they came up and dismissed the two officials, one is Zhao Nanxing's in-laws are Wang Sanyu in the matter, and the other is Sun Yan's nephew, Lu Yinchang, a member of the Wenxuan Division. The meaning of taking one's relatives is obvious: officials from all walks of life, in this year's assessment, none of you want to pass the test easily by giving two red envelopes and inviting two people to a meal. As a result, a large number of officials in the imperial court and local governments were dismissed one after another, and even the hardcore credulity of Wang Xijue, the first assistant of the cabinet, was not spared. This time, Wang Xijue quit, and finally began to fight back, and the result was: Sun Yan, the secretary of the ministry, was fined one year's salary, and Zhao Nanxing was demoted by three levels.

On the surface, Wang Xijue won in this power struggle, but he didn't expect that the struggle had just begun, because there was someone behind Zhao Nanxing and others who was manipulating everything, and this person was Gu Xiancheng.

Zhao Nanxing and others at the front desk have just finished class, Gu Xiancheng has made a move, Li Shida, Yushi of the left capital, Yu Kong Jian and others have gone up one after another, and the spearhead is directly aimed at Wang Xijue Wang. At the critical moment, Comrade Wanli once again proved that he was righteous and angry with Wang Xijue, who worked hard for him, so Sun Yan, the secretary of the ministry, was dismissed, and Zhao Nanxing was reduced to the people.

To gain the trust of the emperor, Wang Xijue seemed to have won the war, but in fact, he soon found that Zhao Nanxing, who was demoted to the people, was famous all over the world because of the hard top of Wang Xijue, and was known as a representative of the resistance to power. At that time, it was rumored that it was better to lose an official than to be ashamed. Every year, hundreds of people send a message to the emperor, asking Zhao Nanxing to return to be an official. Twenty years later, this benevolent brother really lived up to his expectations, the official worshiped the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, and in the third year of the Apocalypse, he once again presided over Jingcha, eradicated traitors, and appointed talents. Of course, this is all the Donglin Party operating behind the scenes, this is a later story, and I will not mention it for the time being.

This time, Zhao Nanxing and others eliminated a large number of officials who violated the law and discipline, but in good conscience, Jingcha also gave the opponent the pretext of eradicating dissidents, and it was a veritable partisan dispute. The brutal party struggle led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty. The exclusion of dissidents and the inability to win the hearts of the people were the fundamental reasons for the defeat of the Donglin Party in the future, because their opponents Wang Xijue and others were also strict in the law, fair and honest officials, and in addition to not being a faction with them, it can be said that they were outstanding scholars and doctors at that time. The Donglin Party was finally knocked to the ground by Wei Zhongxian, a virtuous, talentless, despicable and shameless eunuch, and was wiped out, because the party struggle had broken the blood of the Donglin Party leader and made countless enemies.

In this party dispute, Sun Yan was dismissed, Zhao Nanxing was cut to the people, and Gu Xiancheng, the behind-the-scenes commander, was promoted, and the merit secretary Wailang (from Wupin) became the first fat poor Wenxuan Shilang of the Ministry of Officials. With Gu Xiancheng's upright temperament, this is really an incredible thing, but what is even more surprising is that because Sun Yan, the secretary of the ministry, was dismissed, Wang Xijue planned to take the opportunity to recommend his cronies Luo Wanhua to succeed him, and was supported by Emperor Wanli, but Gu Xiancheng opposed it and recommended Chen Younian, the imperial history of the right capital. The result was jaw-dropping: Chen Younian was appointed as the secretary of the ministry. To add another point, the official department is Gu Xiancheng's top boss, which means that this superior is recommended by his subordinates.

The contest between a Wen Xuan Langzhong and the head of the cabinet backed by the emperor is like a contest between a director and the premier of the State Council, and he actually won, deciding who will be the minister of his ministry, which has to make us study Gu Xiancheng and his person.

Gu Xiancheng, a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu, when Zhang Juzheng was the first assistant, he was against Zhang Juzheng everywhere, which shows that this person is quite thorny. (Privately believe that Zhang Juzheng is a rare political far-sighted reformer in China's feudal society, the leader of the Donglin Party is so to Zhang Juzheng, it can be seen that his political views are also average) It is precisely because of the resistance that he has never been promoted, but he has not been demoted, he has been mixed in the imperial court for more than ten years, obscure, and there are not many deeds about him during this time in the history books, but with his future actions, one thing can be speculated: this person will have made friends with the same people in the past ten years, and a large number of people have been around him, and he has begun to form an invisible small group. In the past ten years, although Gu Xiancheng's official position is not high, he has been engaged in the work of managing cadres, and the promotion of all cadres has passed through his hands, which is equivalent to the current organizational department. Although he did not have the right to decide, he had the right to know, which laid the foundation for him to make friends with his colleagues. When Emperor Wanli ordered to recommend candidates for the cabinet, Gu Xiancheng's first recommendation was Wang Jiaping, who tossed the emperor to a lot. Now Wanli couldn't bear it anymore, and finally reduced Gu Xiancheng to the people.

Generally speaking, no matter how high the position is and how capable it is, once it is cut down, it will slowly fade out of the stage of history. But Gu Xiancheng was an exception, and being sent home was the beginning of his move from behind the scenes to the front desk, and the stage that belonged to him had just begun.

Gu Xiancheng was driven home, not only did he not fade out of people's sight, but on the contrary, his reputation skyrocketed, and he became a representative of the rebellion against the imperial power, and everyone recommended him to come out of the mountain again. It can be seen that during the Wanli period, he was still relatively polite to the minister, which is really a hundred times better than Zhu Yuanzhang. If Zhu Chong's eight elders are stubbornly reincarnated, ten Gu Xiancheng will also be killed, and don't want to make a fuss at all.

After Gu Xiancheng returned home, his younger brother Gu Yuncheng and fellow villager Gao Panlong also resigned and went home. The official is not right, but the political ambition in his chest cannot but be realized. With their prestige, it is not difficult to run an academy, and the Donglin Academy was soon established, and the Donglin Party was formally formed. In the decades that followed, the Donglin Party brought together the best and most ambitious scholars of the time, and it radiated incredible magic. The political views it propagated against dictatorship and the high wind and brightness of the jade shattered became a kind of faith, and many scholars and doctors rushed to cling to it and became its loyal followers, and finally formed a powerful political force, big enough to control the current situation of the Ming Empire.

After Gu Xiancheng opened the academy, he never became an official again until he died of illness, but he knew all the major events of the imperial court, and he could change the direction of many things. Let's take a look at two sentences from his article:

"The puppet Lanxi, Siming, baby Shanyin, and the new construction are just curbing the ears of the Loujiang River. ”

"People also know that Fuqingzhi was able to settle down in his position because of Lou Jiangzhi's failure...... Isn't the secret revelation from Cao Fuye's first merit of the society?"

What does the first sentence mean? Xinjian, Lanxi, Siming, Shanyin, and Loujiang are five place names that allude to Zhang Wei, Zhao Zhigao, Shen Yiyi, Zhu Geng, and Wang Xijue. Among these five people, except for Zhang Wei, they have all served as the first assistant under one person and above ten thousand people, and their official residence is superb.

In the eyes of others, these five human rights are all over the world, but in Gu Xiancheng's eyes, Zhao Zhigao and Shen have always been just puppets, and Zhang Wei and Zhu Geng are just babies.

A commoner, far away from the capital, regards the court officials as puppet babies, and this person is either bragging or really powerful. It is obvious that Gu Xiancheng belongs to the latter, which can be seen from the second sentence.

The Fuqing in the second sentence refers to Ye Xianggao, who had a close relationship with the Donglin Party and was the first assistant at that time; Cao Fu refers to Li Sancai, a member of the Donglin Party, who privately demolished the letter from the teacher Wang Xijue to Wanli for the benefit of the Donglin Party, and altered the letter and betrayed the teacher, which finally made Wang Xijue completely ruined, and Ye Lingao sat firmly in the position of the first assistant.

Judging from this incident, the Donglin Party members are also unscrupulous in order to compete for power. I don't want to criticize the character of the Donglin Party here, because in the political struggle of life and death, it is often the tragedy of losing everything because of the kindness of a woman. Throughout history, politicians who have made achievements, whether it is Qin Emperor Han Wu, Cao Cao, or Li Shimin, are all vicious people.

My view is that moral character and political brilliance are two different things. Can you deny Wu Zetian that she is a qualified emperor because of the corruption of her private life? We Chinese often demand both ability and political integrity in our election officials, but perfect people like Zhuge Liang and Zhou Enlai are really hard to find in a hundred years. If I have to choose one of the two, I tend to choose talent. It reminds me of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A friend invited him to be the officiant, but he was attracted by the beauty of the bride Cecilia, and flirted with the bride on the spot, launching a tireless love offensive for twelve years, and finally the two divorced and came together. Friend's wife, don't be bullied, this matter has to be put in China, Sarkozy has to let his saliva drown, there is no political future at all. Another thing is that this old man was the most powerful assistant of Chirac's campaign team when his predecessor Chirac was seeking re-election, but he did not expect that at the most critical moment, Sarkozy threw himself into the camp of Chirac's rivals. This is a typical sell-off in China, and after Chirac's re-election, Sarkozy returned to Chirac's camp. If this were in China, Sarkozy would never turn around. This dude has a fiery temper, and after becoming president, he also quarrels with ordinary citizens in public. is such a bad character, not paying attention to his identity, Sarkozy, but the French voted in him. After he became president, he rapidly improved relations with the United States, Russia, and China, raised France's position in the European Union, played a leading role in the war in Libya, and France's economy began to improve......

The words are far away, let's talk about the Donglin party. For their personality qualities, I bow down and admire the five bodies to the ground. They are honest and honest officials, not afraid of power, have the country in mind, and are indomitable in the struggle against evil forces, and many people would rather be broken than destroyed, all of which are the essence of Chinese civilization and will always be worthy of our inheritance. But if they are not afraid of power, if they go to extremes and oppose authority for the sake of authority, they will expose their political superficiality. If it is said that they are fighting with the mediocre Wang Xijue and Shen Zhengzhi, it is a kind of paranoia and short-sightedness that they have trouble with Zhang Juzheng, who has great political talent, which is caused by the unique self-appreciation of the old intellectuals. Regardless of whether the other party is honest and talented, officials of the Zhejiang Party, Chu Party, and Qi Party, who are not of the same faction, all hold the viewpoint that "if they are not of our race, their hearts must be different," they all crack down on and exclude them, thus exposing the inferiority of the Chinese in being good at internal fighting. Party strife has forced honest and honest scholars like them into the camp of the eunuch party, and this is the fundamental reason for the failure of the Donglin Party! The bad roots of infighting have not died out to this day; on the contrary, in large and small units, especially in places where intellectuals gather, this inferior root still has fertile soil, and its branches and leaves are flourishing.

Besides, Gu Xiancheng was a person, because he was always the mastermind behind the scenes, so he was able to die well. But most of the Donglin Party and its followers founded by him were not so lucky, and many people not only died very miserably, but also were punished by the Eunuch Party and the Nine Clans, which was miserable. This will be described in detail in the accounts of Yang Lian, Wang Yanshen and others.

Gu Xiancheng single-handedly founded the Donglin Party, which resisted dictatorship and was honest and upright, and wrote a strong stroke in history. At that time, we could not expect him to establish parliamentary systems in countries such as Britain and France, and his ideas against dictatorship were already valuable.

Whenever I see Gu Xiancheng's name, I will see a large group of scholars who are mindful of national affairs running in the bloody wind for the sake of national fortune, and I will see a large group of seemingly weak scholars calmly dying in the shadow of swords and swords for the sake of faith. It was Gu Xiancheng who reminded me of the incident in which more than 1,000 people signed a joint letter after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki; or Gu Xiancheng reminded me of the news of the failure of diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference and the vigorous May Fourth Movement held by patriotic students at Peking University. Do the patriotic actions of these scholars have the shadow of the Donglin Party?

Gu Xiancheng, let me know where the arrogance of traditional knowledge comes from. The image of the traditional knowledge of the people gradually became clear in my mind.