In the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624 AD), Yang Lian, the left deputy capital, wrote a letter impeaching Wei Zhongxian for twenty-four major crimes, causing an uproar.
Due to the deep personality of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youxiao never showed his inner thoughts, and he liked to pretend to be stupid and often stayed in the harem to create wooden crafts.
This seems to give the Donglin Party the illusion that the emperor is flawed in terms of human sophistication.
Therefore, the Donglin Party, led by Yang Lian, was ready to take advantage of this and carry out a large-scale forced palace to try to kill Wei Zhongxian at once. How big is the scale of this forced palace? After Yang Lian wrote the letter, nearly a hundred senior officials followed up, and the whole court was full of noise for a while, talking about the discoloration of "Wei".
Four years after the Apocalypse, the Emperor of the Apocalypse was nineteen years old and was a standard adult. But the Donglin Party still fooled him as a child, which was a big taboo of imperial power.
In fact, Yang Lian should not impeach Wei Zhongxian at all, and there are many objections within the Donglin Party on this matter, and the opposition's point of view is that the content of Yang Lian's impeachment of Wei Zhongxian is untenable.
In my opinion, most of Yang Lian's twenty-four major crimes of impeaching Wei Zhongxian are really difficult to stand.
For example, the first article, as the first crime in the opening chapter, Yang Lian came up and buckled his hat: Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics is a rule set by Zhu Yuanzhang, you are not obedient to the rules of the emperor, reuse such a pickled thing, and we Donglin Party to fight for power and profit, this kind of person does not kill, do you still keep the New Year?
For example, in the second article, Yang Lian said that Wei Zhongxian excluded the ministers Liu Yiyi and Zhou Jiamu, but this was obviously what the Emperor of the Apocalypse wanted to do. Moreover, the former minister Fang Congzhe was also impeached and stepped down by the Donglin Party in turn, and Yang Lian's second major crime could also be imposed on the Donglin Party.
For example, in articles 4 and 5, the Donglin Party was demoted and the Donglin Party failed to become the first assistant, all of which were Wei Zhongxian's crimes. The implication is: Wei Zhongxian is not willing to be a dog to the Donglin Party, guilty!
For example, in article seven, the loyalists of the Donglin Party impeached Wei Zhongxian, and as a result, they were deposed by the emperor, so Wei Zhongxian was guilty, and this kind of divine logic I still have not been able to understand: I said you are guilty, you actually did not commit suicide?
For example, articles 8, 9, and 10, Yang Lian himself said that he had heard rumors, and even the name of the protagonist of the story was not clear, and he actually put the charge on Wei Zhongxian's head.
These twenty-four major sins are too many, and there are nearly five thousand words copied, which is nothing more than Wei Zhongxian's exclusion of loyal subjects, the appointment of cronies, the indiscriminate killing of innocents, and the greed for money. Friends who want to know can search for "Impeaching Wei Zhongxian's Twenty-Four Major Crimes" by themselves, and those who are too lazy to search can also leave a message to ask me, which will not be listed here.
Generally speaking, Yang Lian's logic is: We in the Donglin Party are all virtuous and good people, and Wei Zhongxian is bound to be a traitor when he opposes us.
In my opinion, Yang Lian is a person very similar to the Chaotic Error (Teacher of the Han Jing Emperor) in the Western Han Dynasty.
This kind of person has a common disease: I am a loyal subject, and I have no shame, so people who are different from me are traitors. This type of person may be a hard bone, but their biggest drawback is that they are self-conscious and cannot listen to advice.
When Chao's mistake occurred, three high-ranking officials in the court jointly impeached, which showed that Chao's mistakes were also cold-faced and ruthless in doing things; when Yang Lian did things, he always had only one trick, that is, the hard-no-gang faction.
In the "Palace Removal Case", it was Yang Lian who took the lead and hardened Li Xuanshi; in the process of impeaching Wei Zhongxian, it was Yang Lian who took the lead and hardened the Emperor of the Heavenly Revelation.
In this matter, Yang Lian was ridiculously wrong.
Yang Lian forgot the identity of Wei Zhongxian, and at this time, Wei Zhongxian was already a representative of the inner court. If the representative figures of the Inner Court are easily taken down by your Donglin Party, then who will dare to be tough in front of the Donglin Party after that?
If anyone dared to disagree, the Donglin Party only needed to say lightly, "Have you forgotten Wei Zhongxian's fate?" "It can choke the representative of the inner court to the point of speechlessness."
If the inner court was mixed up to such a point, then the Emperor of Heaven could only fully accept the guidance of the Donglin Party, which was exactly what Yang Lian hoped. But the question is: Is the Donglin Party worth relying on?
The Emperor of the Apocalypse reused Wei Zhongxian in December of the third year of the Apocalypse, when the landmark event was when Wei Zhongxian was the governor of the East Factory. Before that, the Emperor of the Apocalypse did not impose more restrictions on the Donglin Party.
Instead, when Wei Zhongxian had already used things, the group of small people attached to it, and the crowd was in the ying dynasty, and did not dare to make a big deal of it. ——History of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 244, Liechuan 132
The most powerful period of the Donglin Party was Taichang, the first year of the Heavenly Revelation (three or four years) and the early years of Chongzhen (two or three years), which had one thing in common: the emperor was young, lacked political experience, and was easily fooled. During these three periods, the Donglin Party relied on flickering to ascend to power.
But how did the Donglin Party after taking office reciprocate this trust? The answer is: talk and party strife. This was to use the Wei and Jin warrior clans to send bureaucrats from the end of the Ming Dynasty to do things, how could it not make the emperor chill?
In the early years of the Apocalypse, the Donglin Party was in a terrible position, and Daming was first beaten by Hou Jin to retreat to the west of the Liao River, and then beaten back to Shanhaiguan by Hou Jin. In the early years of Chongzhen, the Donglin Party was in a terrible position, and the Later Jin army attacked the city of Beijing.
Objectively speaking, the festering situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty was by no means the responsibility of the Donglin Party family. But the question is: At that time, it was the situation in which the Donglin Party was the only one, and when this kind of thing happened, shouldn't the Donglin Party give an explanation? But the Donglin Party's statement is equally disappointing: This is the responsibility of all of you, and it has nothing to do with our Donglin Party.
Let me give you an example: Your company started a business and there was a particularly flickering executive. During his management, no particularly appropriate guidance was given, and the company continued to have problems during its operations.
Objectively speaking, this is not a problem for the executives alone. But shouldn't this executive sit in a management position an exemplary role? But this executive threw pots everywhere, even the cleaning aunt and the front desk sister were not spared. In the face of this kind of executive, if you are an employee, how would you think of him? If you were the boss, what would you think of him?
Why did the Emperor of The Apocalypse reuse Wei Zhongxian? Why did the Chongzhen Emperor rebuild the eunuch power? It is to be disappointed by the irresponsible behavior of the Donglin Party.
After understanding the objective background of Wei Zhongxian's coming to power, let's look at what Wei Zhongxian did after he came to power.
Wei Zhongxian is a villain, but he is by no means a fool, the Donglin Party is powerful, and Wei Zhongxian also does not want to offend these people. Therefore, after the governor of Dongchang, Wei Zhongxian did not intend to comprehensively attack the Donglin Party, but always hoped to have good relations with the Donglin Party.
For example, Wei Zhongxian touted Zhao Nanxing, a cadre of the Donglin Party, saying that he had great talent, and said that Sun Chengzong was very remarkable and hoped to talk to him. However, both Zhao Nanxing and Sun Chengzong ignored Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian remembered the hatred in his heart.
Wei Zhongxian was very important, and he called him a minister before the emperor. One day, Fu Yingxingjie, the son of a disciple, was sent to see him, and the southern star was gone. When it is, loyalty is good for thieves. With the high merit of Chengzong, he wanted to be attached to it, so that Ying Kun and others expressed their wishes. It is a great pity that Emperor Chengzong did not make a word with him, and it was a great pity that he was loyal to him. ——History of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 243, Liechuan 131
In my opinion, Wei Zhongxian failed to make friends with the Donglin Party, but saved his life.
Wei Zhongxian's little cleverness played in the wrong place, why did the Emperor of The Apocalypse use him? It was by no means for Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party to talk about the wine, but hoped that he could balance the Donglin Party and even suppress the Donglin Party.
If Wei Zhongxian really dared to continue to work hard to make friends with the Donglin Party, then without Yang Lian's impeachment, the Emperor of The Apocalypse would take the lead in cleaning him up. To put it bluntly, Wei Zhongxian was the confidant of the Emperor of The Apocalypse, all his power came from the imperial power, without the support of the emperor, Wei Zhongxian was nothing.
Whether it was the setback of friendship or Wei Zhongxian's own figured it out, he had given up the illusion of maintaining friendship with the Donglin Party anyway, and was ready to attack the Donglin Party.
The bureaucracy is a very sensitive group of political creatures, and Wei Zhongxian's transformation was discovered by them, so the so-called "evil party" members who were targeted by the Donglin Party moved closer to Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian was encouraged to directly arrest Wang Wenyan, the leader of the Donglin Party.
Wei Zhongxian can be described as the weakness of the Middle East Lin Party, because Wang Wenyan has a lot of black history, and when Wang An and the Donglin Party joined forces, Wang Wenyan also jumped up and down a lot.
If Wei Zhongxian really wanted to die, I reckon that Wang Wenyan could only die in prison inexplicably. But Wei Zhongxian quickly let Wang Wenyan go, ostensibly because the Donglin Party actively rescued, Wei Zhongxian did not want to cause a big war, but the actual reason was that Wei Zhongxian tried to lure the snake out of the hole.
Not long ago, Wei Zhongxian was still on his knees licking Zhao Nanxing and Sun Chengzong, and was taken as a joke by the Donglin Party; unexpectedly, Wei Zhongxian's dog dared to attack the Donglin Party generals.
The Donglin Party began to assemble, and with the help of Wang Wenyan's incident, Wei Zhongxian begged for benevolence, and first found Han Ye, a pro-Donglin Party university scholar, to make peace. However, the Donglin Party was unforgiving, and Yang Lian directly impeached Wei Zhongxian for twenty-four major crimes, with the purpose of killing him. Wei Zhongxian saw that he was forced into a corner and understood that the opportunity had come.
Wei Zhongxian begged to see the Emperor of the Apocalypse, knelt on the ground and cried, "Those civilian officials outside are about to swallow the old slave alive and peel it alive, please ask Your Majesty to give the old slave a way to live!"
Wei Zhongxian would fall to this point, in fact, it was expected by the Emperor of the Apocalypse, because the Emperor of the Apocalypse had hoped that Wei Zhongxian would come forward to grab the cake with the Donglin Party, and it was not surprising that the Donglin Party had caused a big counterattack. Therefore, the Emperor of the Apocalypse directly told Wei Zhongxian, you give me a good dog and bite the Donglin Party gang!
Wei Zhongxian was instructed by the emperor to start fighting back, and at once he broke the Donglin Party: Yang Lian was imprisoned, Gu Dazhang was imprisoned, Zuo Guangdou was imprisoned, Wei Dazhong was imprisoned, Yuan Huazhong was imprisoned, Zhou Chaorui was imprisoned, Li Yingsheng was imprisoned, Wang Wenyan was imprisoned, Huang Zunsu was imprisoned, Zhou Qiyuan was imprisoned, Miao Changqi was imprisoned, Zhou Shunchang was imprisoned, Zhou Zongjian was imprisoned, Li Yingsheng was imprisoned, Xia Zhiling was imprisoned, Wang Zhiyu was imprisoned, Zhang Wenda was imprisoned, Zou Yuanbiao was imprisoned, Wan Yi was killed, Ye Xianggao Zhishi, Zhao Nanxing dismissed the official, Gao Panlong dismissed the official, Wang Tu dismissed the official, Chen Yuting dismissed the official... The Donglin Party fell to pieces for a time, and the birds and beasts scattered.
To be clear, not all the Donglin Party members were imprisoned for this incident, but in the following year or two, one after another, I just wrote them together.
Why did the Donglin Party fail? Simply put, the previous fight was too smooth, so this time it was big.
The Donglin Party started by manipulating public opinion and liked to use its public opinion advantage to suppress the other side. This kind of "random punch to kill the teacher" trick was good before, but it was not very good here in the Apocalypse Emperor.
Who is Wei Zhongxian? The Emperor of the Apocalypse knew best, and that was a dog he had raised. But in the mouths of Yang Lian and others, Wei Zhongxian was a wolf ready to kill the king at any time.
This is to treat the Emperor of the Apocalypse as a fool: Wei Zhongxian was hand-picked by the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and he could clean it up whenever he wanted. When the Chongzhen Emperor had just succeeded to the throne, he directly knocked the high-ranking Wei Zhongxian to the ground. I ask you, is this the "wolf of the king"?
The emperor does not understand the struggle for power and profit in the internal and external courts, as long as you do not go out of the circle, then you love to fight how to fight, the emperor is happy to see the hilarity. However, the Donglin Party played the trick of "an arrow through the clouds, thousands of troops and horses to meet each other", and nearly a hundred officials supported it at the sound of an order.
If this time the Emperor of the Apocalypse made a soft compromise with the Donglin Party and cut off Wei Zhongxian's head to negotiate, then the Donglin Party would definitely play the second and third time. If you were the emperor, would you be annoyed in the face of such naked persecution of the palace?
When many people mention the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youxiao, they always say that he is a carpenter emperor who eats and waits to die. In fact, this is an extremely absurd illusion.
The Emperor of the Apocalypse may lack the ability to govern the country, or may lack the willpower to govern the country (willing to sacrifice the necessary enjoyment for this), but he is an emperor and will certainly hope that he can make a difference.
The Emperor of the Apocalypse is like a company boss, you can get on the top if you have the ability, and you can get out of the egg if you don't have the ability. The Donglin Party could not give him a satisfactory answer, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse naturally wanted them to get out of the egg.
Don't think that the Emperor of the Apocalypse is just looking at the Donglin Party members unfavorably. Sun Chengzong was also a member of the Donglin Party, but he showed a responsibility that most Donglin Party members did not have.
When the situation in Liaodong was critical, Sun Chengzong immediately set off for Liaodong. Whether it is good or not is another matter, at least this statement is enough to move all leaders.
Sun Chengzong's military ability was limited, and he was gradually snubbed by the Emperor of The Apocalypse. But Sun Chengzong retired with great dignity, and people, including Wei Zhongxian, never dared to take care of Sun Chengzong.
Compared with the Donglin Party members who can do practical things like Sun Chengzong, shouldn't other Donglin Party members who are busy with party struggles be ashamed?