No, someone whitewashed Wei Zhongxian?
There will always be some people who come up with inexplicable arguments to prove that Wei Zhongxian is actually a very upright official or a very influential official.
But any evidence in this regard is either nonsense or historical failure.
But at the same time, we can't deny that when Wei Zhongxian came to power, the Ming Dynasty did successfully survive one difficulty after another, and it was far from reaching the point of subjugation.
Since you said that Wei Zhongxian was so bad, then why did the Ming Dynasty not perish when Wei Zhongxian held power?
The reason for this situation can be analyzed from the following 3 points:
Point 1: When Wei Zhongxian came to power, the Ming Dynasty was far from the most critical time
Do you know what was the most critical time in the last years of the Ming Dynasty?
There are two areas that are most critical:
The first is the fiscal deficit;
The second aspect is the occurrence of droughts, floods, and plagues in the world.
Friends who are familiar with history will know that that during that time, it was simply not something that ordinary people could compete with.
Some people say that the crisis at the end of the Ming Dynasty reached what extent, I am afraid that only by inviting Zhu Yuanzhang out of the mountains can the crisis be resolved.
Please note that we are talking about the possibility of resolving the crisis, because the time and place are favorable and from that time, the Ming Dynasty is simply terrible, including but not limited to the bad ecological environment and natural environment.
Unfortunately, all this was encountered by the Chongzhen Emperor, and when Wei Zhongxian held power or fiddled with power, the ecological crisis of the Ming Dynasty was far from reaching such a level.
I can't help but think of a strange picture when reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang spent his life finally trapping Sima Yi in a small place, ready to destroy Cao Wei's soldiers in one fell swoop through fire attack.
However, I did not expect that just after lighting the torch, it rained heavily in the heavens, so that Zhuge Liang, who was on the side, could not stand it a little, and roared angrily on the side, Dao Cangtian helped Cao cao not to help Liu.
Even at this stage, in the face of great natural crises or disasters, such as earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more or super tornadoes, even the most developed countries in the world can only be helpless and cannot kill the disaster in the cradle.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty at that time, there was a super earthquake in the south, a super drought in the north, a strong wind in the east, heavy rain in the west, and occasionally a plague.
The entire Ming Dynasty can be described in almost one word, miserable, miserable.
However, in the face of these crises, Wei Zhongxian was replaced early on, and did not have any rights in his hands, so Wei Zhongxian did not have to carry the pot, and at the same time he could not carry the pot.
Therefore, the existence or non-existence of Wei Zhongxian and the demise of the Ming Dynasty are not completely related.
Point 2: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a deficit in property and a large fiscal deficit
Then some people said, why did Wei Zhongxian not have a fiscal deficit when he took power, and the Chongzhen Emperor just became emperor and kicked away the old man Wei Zhongxian, and then the Ming Dynasty had a fiscal deficit?
Doesn't this mean that Wei Zhongxian is very good at governing the country?
If you think so, you're naïve, naïve to the bone.
When Wei Zhongxian held power, the Ming Dynasty already had a fiscal deficit.
In fact, although the Ming Dynasty at that time supported countless troops, the total cost of these troops was not as large as we thought.
The biggest expense of the imperial court was that some of the clans did not have to pay taxes, and the descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang were also supported by the imperial court.
These two parts are the huge expenses, and the expenses of these two parts are already difficult to support with the strength of the imperial court.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially when the Chongzhen Emperor officially became emperor, the Ming Dynasty experienced a series of natural disasters, and the people had no grain to eat, let alone enough surplus grain to pay taxes.
So the entire Ming Dynasty collapsed from the bottom up, and the people had no way to pay enough taxes without money.
This tax could not reach the imperial court, and the imperial court had no money to raise soldiers, to support Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants, and certain family families.
Eventually there was a rebellion, and these problems boil down to one word, money.
Point 3: Wei Zhongxian himself has a bigger problem
Everyone should pay attention to the fact that Wei Zhongxian, as the ultimate peak of the eunuchs of the entire Ming Dynasty, can be described in one sentence, that is, good things never do bad things, all do all for Wei Zhongxian, the so-called etiquette, righteousness, shame, not worth the so-called gentleness and frugality, that is even more nonsense, for Wei Zhongxian, how to get money, how to make yourself comfortable has become extremely important.
Therefore, throughout the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially when Wei Zhongxian completely grasped power and successfully stepped into the peak, it is not difficult to find that there seems to be a shadow of a eunuch in the imperial court.
This eunuch cannot be said to be innocent and does not do evil, but it is basically to do all bad things, it can be said that from the perspective of being a person, Wei Zhongxian is a big difference, and the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu is basically Wei Zhongxian's lackey. When the name Wei Zhongxian held power, the courtiers were proud to be able to build an ancestral hall for Wei Zhongxian and become Wei Zhongxian's confidants, and Wei Zhongxian also took the opportunity to gather countless people, although Wei Zhongxian could not have children for personal reasons and had no children, but Wei Zhongxian's banner raised countless dry sons and grandsons, and these dry sons and dry grandsons, that basically adhered to a characteristic of Wei Zhongxian, good things do not do bad things.
If we regard the Ming Dynasty as a precarious dynasty, then Wei Zhongxian undoubtedly took an axe on this precarious dynasty, slashed left and right, and was eager to push the Ming Dynasty into a desperate situation, but because of the favorable circumstances of the time and place, coupled with the fact that Wei Zhongxian held power, there were indeed a few people in the imperial court who could still do some personnel work, plus some karmic coincidences to maintain the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty.
However, there is no correlation between the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty itself and the Ming Dynasty that Wei Zhongxian maintained, and it cannot make any comments on Wei Zhongxian, in other words, the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian is Wei Zhongxian, there is not much correlation between the two, if there must be a correlation factor, then it can only be said that it is precisely because of the existence of Wei Zhongxian that the Ming Dynasty collapsed so quickly.
Point 4: The Great Problem of the Chongzhen Emperor Himself
In the last period of the so-called glorious peak of the Ming Dynasty, it has to be admitted that the Chongzhen Emperor was a very industrious, very brave and accomplished emperor.
But at the same time, the Chongzhen Emperor also had many drawbacks, and these drawbacks also laid the groundwork for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
It can be said that the Chongzhen Emperor was the first person in charge of the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but he was not the main person in charge, the main person in charge was ranked from top to bottom, and the Chongzhen Emperor even ranked behind Wei Zhongxian.
The Chongzhen Emperor himself was suspicious of gods and ghosts, believing that a courtier today would not trust a courtier tomorrow, he gave Yuan Chonghuan great power, and later easily destroyed Yuan Chonghuan.
From a moral point of view, it is very unreasonable to do so, Yuan Chonghuan has made such a big mistake, at this time there is no point in distinguishing who wins and who loses.
As an emperor, you should accept the shortcomings of the courtiers at the first time, and after a little discipline, you don't look at where the enemies have been hit, at this time you have engaged in the set of brothers and brothers, is this not pushing the Ming Dynasty into the fire pit?
In addition, when the Chongzhen Emperor was in power, he did not show much personal charm, so that some officials in the imperial court were afraid of their heads and tails, and always felt that if they helped the Chongzhen Emperor at this time, they might repeat the same mistakes.
In this way, the Chongzhen Emperor became an isolated and helpless person, and when the Chongzhen Emperor was saddled with infamy, he did not dare to bear the insult, and the typical representative of it was that he did not dare to lead a group of courtiers to Nanjing.
It was only because several officials here repeatedly advised the Chongzhen Emperor not to do so, and the Chongzhen Emperor actually listened to the other side's point of view, and then decided to lead the troops to the city of Beijing.
This move by the Chongzhen Emperor directly gave the Ming Dynasty one last chance.
Because once the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the so-called Southern Ming Small Imperial Court was almost negligible.
At this time, the Chongzhen Emperor still naively believed that the Manchu courtiers were all towards him.
As everyone knows, when the Chongzhen Emperor began to let the courtiers collect donations, and the courtiers began to pretend to be poor from top to bottom, the Chongzhen Emperor had already lost, and it was a complete loss.