The Wanli Emperor, who had been defeated in the struggle for the country, was deeply hurt, and he began to refuse to communicate and communicate with civilian officials, without praise, criticism, promotion, or appointment of vacant official positions.
Wanli, who retreated into the deep palace, did not know whether he reflected on his own failures and changed his strategy. Wanli no longer went to the front desk to make instructions, but appointed a cabinet to control the handling of the government. This invisibly forced the cabinet to be placed on the opposite side of the entire civilian clique.
The civilian-official clique also naturally shifted the target of the attack to the cabinet, and a conversation between Wang Xijue and Gu Xiancheng is a true reflection of this situation.
Wang Xijue (first assistant to the cabinet): There are strange things recently, do you know? What the Cabinet does, the outside world must be wrong. What the Cabinet does not do, the outside world must think it is.
Gu Xiancheng (吏部郎中): There are also strange things in the outside world. What is said is that the Cabinet must think wrong. If the outside world is wrong, the cabinet must think so.
Gu Xian imaging
In the twenty-first year of the Wanli Calendar, contradictions between the two sides broke out. Gu Xiancheng and Zhao Nanxing used the six-year Jingcha to challenge the cabinet with the purpose of getting rid of Wang Xijue. Then through the push, let the people of their own faction into the cabinet. The noise of the previous dynasty soon alarmed the Wanli Emperor, who understood the purpose of the civil officials and did not hesitate to drive Gu Xiancheng and Zhao Nanxing's party home cleanly.
This struggle also made Wang Xijue feel uneasy, because he knew that once he did not have the support of the emperor, he would not be able to retreat completely. Therefore, he insisted on Zhishi, and to put it bluntly, he also wanted to seek self-preservation. This was the embarrassment of the cabinet ministers, who either formed a party or gained the support of the emperor in order to protect themselves. If the party is formed, the emperor is afraid to deal with it, and if he surrenders to the emperor, he will be attacked by the group of courtiers, and once the emperor gives up, the end will be tragic.
Gu Xiancheng, who was forced to serve Shi, knew that he had no hope of making a comeback, but he was not willing to fail. After summing up, he felt that the reason for the failure of this struggle was that it was not well organized and failed to concentrate its strength. So he decided to form an organized group through "association", which was the Donglin Party.
As soon as the Donglin Party was born, a large number of imperial court bureaucrats were absorbed, and other officials of the imperial court were forced to form a party in order to protect themselves in the face of the increasingly powerful Donglin forces. Zhejiang nationals formed the Zhejiang Party, Huguang nationals formed the Chu Party, Shandong nationals formed the Qi Party, and so on.
At this point, the civil servants of the court basically belonged to the Donglin, Zhejiang, Chu, Qi, and other parties. These factions are fighting each other, and the focus of contention is the cabinet. Since all the energy of everyone has been put into the struggle, then the government naturally has to put it aside first, of course, the cauldron of slack government has to be carried by the Wanli Emperor.
Explanation: Because of the party struggle, many thorny cross-departmental government affairs are very difficult to deal with, because this is a natural tool of struggle.
The "Demon Book Case" of wanli in the twenty-ninth year and the "attack case" in the thirty-fourth year of the Wanli calendar are not clear to the present, the cause and effect, the right and wrong, and the reason is not how complicated the case is, but the officials at that time did not want the case to be clear. Cases are nothing more than tools of their struggle.
However, the purpose of these two cases is obvious, that is, to bring down the cabinet. And after the collapse of the cabinet, who benefited the most? At that time, there were no Donglin people in the cabinet, and you said that if the cabinet collapsed, who would benefit the most?
Although Wanli's political skills are average, he can also see the connection, and Donglin will inevitably further bully him after he comes to power. Therefore, these two political storms, Wan Li personally came forward to deal with, with only one purpose, to quickly calm the storm, and warn the courtiers not to use this to make trouble.
Although Wanli could not completely surrender the civilian bureaucracy and act according to his own wishes, it was still no problem for him to maintain balance. He let the three parties of Zhejiang and Chuqi enter the cabinet, and then let the cabinet compete against Donglin. Throughout the Wanli Dynasty, the Donglin forces had been unable to enter the cabinet.
In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar, with the death of Wanli and Taichang (wanli's son Zhu Changluo's era name, who reigned for only one month) within one month, Donglin's opportunity came.
Emperor Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo's era name was Taichang
Donglin first used Guangzong's violent illness to create the "Red Pill Case" to attack the first assistant of the cabinet, Fang Congzhe. Then he launched the "Palace Transfer Case", on the grounds that Emperor Guangzong's favorite concubine Li Xuanshi wanted to emulate Wu Zetian, he rushed into the harem and carried out Zhu Youxiao. With this merit, Donglin took control of the cabinet, which was the first time that the "Zhongzheng Ying Dynasty" was held.
The right and wrong of the Red Pill Case and the Palace Transfer Case are the same as the previous Demon Books and Strikes, and it is not easy to say clearly now. Here I just want to say the reason for Donglin in the "Palace Removal Case", "Li Xuan wants to listen to the government and imitate Wu Zetian."
The development of the imperial dynasty to the Ming Dynasty was particularly important to tradition and ancestral system, and Empress Zhang, who had an orthodox period before, explicitly refused to bow the curtain and listen to the government, which eliminated the way for future empresses to interfere in politics. On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty strictly restricted the power of foreign relatives from the beginning of the country, and the mothers and families of empresses and empresses only had titles and no real positions, not to mention organizational forces.
Li Xuanshi did not say empress, not even a noble concubine, why did he bow to the government? Is it possible to sit behind the curtain and command the world? If so, what else would Wanli spend decades fighting with the civil servants? So this is a ridiculous reason for Donglin to seize power. At least the Emperor of the Apocalypse saw it very clearly.
Although zhu Youxiao, the emperor of the apocalypse who ascended the throne, although he was young and playful, he did not want to ponder carpentry work in the harem at this time. He wanted to be the real emperor. In fact, he did it, and his grandfather spent his whole life unfulfilled wishes.
Tianqi first used Wei Zhongxian to take control of the inner court by removing the eunuch Wang An (Si Li Jian, who was in charge of the eunuchs) in the inner court who was biased towards Donglin. But the foreign court is not so easy to do. But the Donglin Party itself gave the Apocalypse a chance.
After the Donglin Party controlled the court with the "palace transfer case", it felt that there were still too many idle people (non-Donglin) in the imperial court. So he grabbed the three major cases (the strike, the red pill, and the transfer of the palace) and began an indiscriminate attack on the non-Donglin party. Under the instructions of the apocalypse several times, he did not give up.
If this continues, it will not be long before the entire court will be completely controlled by the Donglin Party. At that time, whether they will let Tianzi be a puppet or assist Tianzi to become a Mingjun, I think the Apocalypse has seriously thought about it.
Emperor Mingxi Zhu was given the title of Heavenly Revelation
Realizing that the situation was not right, Apocalypse instructed Wei Zhongxian to deal with the Donglin Party. Some people will say that the apocalypse was seduced by Wei Zhongxian, which is also too high to look at Wei Zhongxian's ability. Tianqi had considerable respect and trust for his teacher Sun Chengzong (Nine Thousand Years never dared to say a word of denigration in front of Tianqi), and Sun Chengzong was a hardcore Donglin Party member. If the Apocalypse was really seduced by Wei Zhongxian, Teacher Sun only needed to educate, and Wei Zhongxian would fall to the ground.
Explanation: The relationship between Tianqi and Sun Chengzong can be seen from his title of Sun Chengzong, and after Tianqi ascended the throne, he did not change the exclusive title of Sun Chengzong "Wushi".
When it comes to eunuchs, everyone thinks of the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, because these two dynasties were both powerful and castrated. At the same time, many people also wonder why they are all power castration, the Tang Dynasty can abolish the emperor, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty can get the power castration with one note?
This question is actually not complicated, and we can see where the power of the eunuchs came from. The power of eunuchs comes from the emperor, and if the eunuch wants to suppress the emperor and the imperial court, he must have more power than the emperor and the civil official clique.
The eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty were powerful because the imperial court was no longer able to control the localities (controlled by the Jiedushi) to gain support, so the eunuchs who took the place of the emperor to control the forbidden army had an overwhelming advantage, and the civilian official clique had no ability to resist.
However, the local power of the Ming Dynasty was still firmly controlled by the imperial court, and the eunuchs who could only control the Beijing division controlled the imperial court? What if the emperor is kidnapped? Are the civil servants still afraid that the eunuchs will not be able to tear up the tickets? Didn't he first kidnap Yingzong with tens of thousands of troops?
Wei Zhongxian, who understood the holy will, organized the non-Donglin people (mainly the Zhejiang, Chu, and Qi parties) who had been beaten and discarded by the Donglin Party to form the Castration Party, and after receiving the blessing of imperial power, the balance of strength changed, and soon the Donglin people in the court were purged.
The actual castration party is not a formal organization, it is just a loose alliance of non-Donglin people. Lack of cohesion, without a unified programme, it will fall apart when the common threat disappears. But these shortcomings are all advantages in the eyes of the apocalypse.
Using the correct method, Apocalypse, who was younger than Wanli at that time, easily controlled the entire court.
The imperial court was temporarily quiet, and the situation at this time was somewhat similar to that of Jiajing's time. The cabinet became a meeting place for the representatives of the various factions, and the factions secretly wrestled with each other to win the holy family. It's just that Tianqi didn't want to directly manipulate The Wenchen, but put the rope in the hands of his slave Wei Zhongxian and went to play carpentry himself.
Apocalypse's younger brother was not accustomed to his brother's approach. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the 22-year-old Apocalypse died, and zhu Youjian, the king of letters, ascended the throne and changed his name to Yuan Chongzhen. Like Jiajing, he succeeded to the throne as a foreign domain, and naturally became jealous and mean like Jiajing, but he did not have the wisdom and rationality of Jiajing.
Chongzhen first suspected that Wei Zhongxian was plotting to kill him or establish another emperor, and if nine thousand years old really had this ideal, when the apocalypse was about to die, he would "arrange" for Zhu Yu to die of a violent illness or not tolerate his brother's loneliness and follow him.
In fact, even if Chongzhen is suspicious, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if he changes people, and it doesn't matter if he recalls the Donglin Party, after all, he is a courtier. But Chongzhen should not upset the balance, he should sweep away the castration party.
Things went more smoothly than Chongzhen expected, first of all, nine thousand years old did not have the ability to depose the emperor at all, and he was praying for the new emperor's favor (or Kai'en to give him a chance to retire). Secondly, the nine-thousand-year-old filial piety and filial piety realized that the new emperor was going to change people, and they all stood up to kill their relatives in righteousness (which once again proved that the castration party was not a party), and the nine thousand years old of the lonely family was soon given death by Chongzhen.
The rapid disintegration of the castration party once again proved that the power castration of the Ming Dynasty was really nothing in front of the emperor. After the return, Donglin also followed Chongzhen's intentions and began to purge the castration party in the court. The Donglin Party members also entered the cabinet one after another, and Daming ushered in the second "Zhongzheng Ying Dynasty".
However, the imperial court of the "Zhongzheng Ying Dynasty" did not look new and prosperous as Chongzhen imagined, but was depressed. Why is that? First of all, after the Donglin Party came to power, on the grounds of "fighting for profits with the people", it abolished the commercial and mining taxes sent by the Tianqi Dynasty, so that the revenue of the imperial court was sharply reduced (later, in order to pay for military expenses, on the basis of Liao's salary, it was also levied and trained, but these three salaries were all for peasant households).
Second, the vigorous purge of the castration party has caused a large number of officials who are proficient in government affairs to be questioned and reprimanded. In a short period of time, the imperial court did not have the corresponding manpower reserves to replace, and most of the fillings were Only good at "ideal" Donglin people. As a result, the efficiency and effectiveness of the imperial court's administrative handling were greatly reduced.
Note: For example, with regard to the purge of bureaucrats, the main reason why Wang Zhichen, the governor of Jiliao, was dismissed at that time was that he was a member of the castration party. Before this was over, Man Gui was his subordinate, and he was also classified as an eunuch and dismissed from class (hanging a Chinese military book in the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army). That's how Man Gui left Liaodong.
And after the emasculation party was cleared, new conflicts also broke out quickly. In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, Chongzhen planned to increase the number of cabinet personnel, and Chongzhen had the right people in mind, such as Zhou Tingru (Chongzhen also greeted the officials). As a result, the imperial court would push all the Donglin Party members who were selected under qian Qianyi's operation. Looking at the list Chongzhen should have some understanding of why the Apocalypse had to strike at the Donglin Party so severely.
As a result, the Donglin Party suffered the first blow of the Chongzhen Dynasty, Qian Qianyi was dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown, and several Donglin Party members were demoted. Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, who were not members of the Donglin Party, entered the cabinet. However, there is no possibility for the Donglin Party to cooperate with the Non-Donglin Party, and party struggle is inevitable. The Donglin Party launched an all-out attack on Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru.
The Donglin Party members cannot do government affairs or struggle. Wen and Tuesday used the "change they have made" to drag the Donglin Party into the water. The crime was that Yuan Chonghuan had killed Mao Wenlong and privately discussed peace with the cabinets Han Ye, Li Biao, Qian Longxi, and The Bingbu Shangshu Wang Qia.
After Chongzhen took office, he worked hard to rule, hoping to revitalize Daming. However, not long after ascending the throne, he was beaten by Hou Jin to the city of Beijing, which was nothing less than a great irony for Chongzhen. Coupled with the suspicion and meanness of his personality, in the face of failure and the reality that the Donglin Party members are not very suitable and can only talk, Chongzhen naturally blames the Donglin Party for all the failure.
Chongzhen had the idea of dismissing the Donglin Party altogether. With a stubborn and extreme personality and the provocation of Wen and Tuesday, Chongzhen lost his cool and brutally executed Yuan Chonghuan (beheaded, but slashed with a thousand knives), Qian Longxi and Wang Qia were imprisoned, Han Ye and Li Biaozhishi deposed the Donglin cabinet, and a large number of Donglin people in the court were also expelled.
From the ascension to the throne of The Apocalypse to the second year of Chongzhen, in less than ten years, the Ming Dynasty experienced four major purges, brutal struggles, leaving the officials to be silent and think of self-preservation; the purge also led to a serious lack of business bureaucrats in the imperial court and a serious backlog of government affairs.
These feedbacks are that the administrative efficiency of the imperial court has decreased sharply, and many policies cannot be implemented or have no effect after implementation. However, the stubborn Chongzhen believed that it was all the problem of the officials, and he was often reprimanded and executed. This has fallen into a vicious circle in which officials are more afraid to do things and the backlog of government affairs is more serious.
The imperial court was already rigid, coupled with the double failure of military and economic at this time, the Ming Dynasty came to an end. On March 19, 1777, Chongzhen ordered the empress and concubines to commit suicide, killed their daughters, and hanged themselves at Jingshan, ending the Ming Dynasty.
Description: Before Chongzhen hanged himself, he ordered Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, to escort his three sons (Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong, Yongwang Zhu Cijiong, and Dingwang Zhu Cihuan) south to Nanjing. But unfortunately, after leaving the city, they did not have any news.