In fact, at first, Wei Zhongxian had thought about cooperating with the Donglin Party. Wei Zhongxian once wanted to recruit officials with the surname of Wei to repair the genealogy, but only wei Dazhong, a member of the Donglin Party, refused to go along with him. Wei Zhongxian once wanted to befriend Zhao Nanxing and Sun Chengzong, but they were also turned away. Wei Zhongxian built a tomb for himself at Yuquan Mountain and asked the Donglin party member Miao Changqi to write a tombstone for himself, but he was also refused. In June of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, when he was impeached by Yang Lian and asked the cabinet to mediate, He was also coldly rejected. The reason why Wei Zhongxian repeatedly wanted to make friends with Donglin was that in addition to their control of the political situation of the imperial court, it was also related to their control of public opinion, but the Donglin party members repeatedly refused to show favor to him, which made Wei Zhongxian change his attitude towards the Donglin party members in his heart.
▲Zhao Nanxing
Because of Wang An's death, the Donglin Party members were angry with Wei Zhongxian, and coupled with Wei Zhongxian's own character, the Donglin Party members disdained him. In this regard, Gao Panlong, the old leader of the Donglin Party, pointed out that Donglin's refusal to cooperate with Wei Zhongxian was indeed inappropriate. In addition, in the Jingcha of Yanhai, some of the excluded officials became the political enemies of the Donglin Party, and they threw themselves into the Wei Zhongxian camp and made enemies of Donglin, including many officials with good official reputations. For example, Zhang Jie had many commendable suggestions in the DPRK, but was squeezed out by Zhao Nanxing as a deputy envoy to Jiangxi; Li Chunye dared to speak out in the dprk, and because he disagreed with Donglin, he was expelled from the imperial court and sent out to participate in the politics of Huguang. After being reactivated by Wei Zhongxian, these people were full of hatred for Donglin and spared no effort to help Wei Zhongxian fight against the Donglin Party forces.
Going back to Wang Wenyan, after he was arrested and imprisoned, Wei Dazhong once went to Liu Qiao, the commander of Jinyiwei, and asked him: "Wang Wenyan is not sorry, but we must not let him talk indiscriminately, so that everyone will suffer." Wang Wenyan once gave great help to the Donglin Party, but at the critical moment, the Donglin Party members did not apply for rescue, but in order to protect themselves, they planned to let him take responsibility alone and clear his relationship with himself. This kind of utilitarian interaction between the Donglin Party members is indeed chilling.
In June of the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624), Yang Lianshang, a backbone of the Donglin Party, impeached Wei Zhongxian for twenty-four major crimes, which marked a complete break between the Donglin Party and Wei Zhongxian. In fact, before Yang Lian was on the road, there were different opinions within the Donglin Party. Miao Changqi once said to Zuo Guangdou worriedly: "Now that there is no Zhang Yong inside and No Yang Yiqing on the outside, can the impeachment of Wei Zhongxian be like the overthrow of Liu Jin back then?" Huang Zunsu also dissuaded Yang Lian, but Yang Lian insisted on insisting on Shangshu. As an aside, Miao Chang's moral situation was worrisome, and during his tenure at the Hanlin Academy, he had even molested Feng Quan, a young and handsome Hanlin scholar. Feng Quan's father, Feng Shengming, fled the front line while serving as a soldier in Liaoyang. In order to save his father, Feng Quan begged his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy, and just when he was in danger, Miao Changqi took the opportunity to take advantage of Feng Quan. It can also be seen from this incident that the Donglin Party is mixed.
Yang Lian's "twenty-four major crimes" of impeaching Wei Zhongxian boil down to the following points: Wei Zhongxian interfered in foreign affairs with internal officials and undermined the patriarchal political system for more than two hundred years. 2. Severe punishment and cutting off dissidents. Third, indiscriminately attack the grace and shade, and trespass on the normal. Fourth, take charge of the East Factory and overthrow the courtiers. 5. Kill Wang An and persecute concubines.
▲Yang Lian
In fact, a careful analysis will reveal that most of the twenty-four charges proposed by Yang Lian are nonsense, especially the persecution of concubines and other articles are more hearsay, And Emperor Xizong Zhu You is not a faint prince, how can he sit idly by and ignore the affairs of his own palace?
Yang Lian's impeachment still caused Wei Zhongxian's panic. He once asked the cabinet to mediate, but was refused. He also asked to resign from the East Factory, and Wei Guangwei, a member of the Cabinet University, planned to comfort and persuade him to stay. His henchmen Keshi, Wang Tiqian, Li Yongzhen, and others kept speaking kindly in front of Emperor Xizong, and Emperor Xizong knew in his heart that Yang Lian's impeachment of Wei Zhongxian, except for those things that caught the wind and catching shadows, were all things that he allowed, so how could he punish Wei Zhongxian?
Not only was Wei Zhongxian fine, but Yang Lian was also dismissed from his post by Emperor Xizong. Gongbu Langzhong Wanyi continued to impeach Wei Zhongxian, only to be killed by Emperor Xizong's order. After being imprisoned, Wang Wenyan, under the torture of Wei Zhongxian's confidant Xu Xianchun, refused to admit that the Donglin Party had accepted bribes. Xu Xianchun still said that Yang Lian and others had accepted bribes based on a questionable confession. As a result, in March of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Yuan Huazhong, Wei Dazhong, Zhou Chaorui, and Gu Dazhang were arrested and imprisoned for accepting bribes.
It has to be said that Wei Zhongxian's arrest of the Donglin Party members on this crime and imprisonment are indeed insufficient evidence, and there are false facts. After suffering inhuman cruelty, the "Six Gentlemen" headed by Yang Lian died tragically in prison.
▲Gu Dazhang
In the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), Cui Chengxiu gave the Records of Heavenly Records and the Records of the Eastern Forest Points to Wei Zhongxian. They ingeniously arranged the Donglin Party members in the order of one hundred and eight in "Water Margin". In December of the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), Emperor Xizong promulgated the "List of Donglin Party Members", which listed a list of three hundred and nine Donglin Party members, who were stripped of their official status or arrested to pursue the stolen dead and posthumously honored. The Donglin Party suffered a heavy blow.
Source: History of daming Author: Zheng Yunpeng
Image source: Network
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