The Ming Dynasty was arguably the last dynasty ruled by the Han Chinese. In the centuries-long rule of the Ming Dynasty, many celebrities appeared, including loyal ministers and traitors, and the most widely known of the traitors was none other than Wei Zhongxian.
As a fairly good eunuch in history, Wei Zhongxian was not only cruel enough to others, but also to himself. Wei Zhongxian loved gambling when he was young, so he was heavily indebted and humiliated.
This situation made Wei Zhongxian desperate, in order to be able to soar in one fell swoop, Wei Zhongxian chose this way to enter the palace, the lowest person for a man to enter the palace is to be a eunuch, Wei Zhongxian can not manage so much, a knife down, castrate himself, and then remarry his wife, he opened the second half of his life in the palace.
Wei Zhongxian did not have any culture, but his greatest skill was to brag about patting horses, judging the situation, and soon after entering the palace, he was mixed up. Those with lower status must be honored with the title of "Duke of Wei".
During the apocalypse years, Wei Zhongxian's power had reached a certain height, and the eunuch party had also grown, known as the "castration party". The other faction was the "Donglin Party", which was composed of scholars. The Donglin Party was composed of Chinese people and doctors, who pointed out to the emperor every day, and the emperor had a headache for them, and urgently needed a party that could be loyal to their own use.
At this time, the "castration party" led by Wei Zhongxian became the emperor's confidant, and the emperor handed over everything to the eunuchs who were loyal to him, and Wei Zhongxian also got a perfect opportunity to expand his power.
Wei Zhongxian acted decisively and viciously, using the emperor as a backing to constantly suppress the Donglin party. In this kind of conspiracy and cunning, those literati masters were far inferior to Wei Zhongxian's methods, so many Donglin party members who were disliked by the emperor were solved by Wei Zhongxian one by one. In addition, Wei Zhongxian also attacked the Donglin Party in another way and profited from it, that is, to collect an "industrial and commercial tax".
The industrial and commercial tax was to obtain money from the hands of those landlord classes, and because taizu of the Ming Dynasty was also a peasant, the taxes on peasants were not levied much in successive dynasties. However, the imperial court needed money to replenish the national treasury for military wars and other expenses, and Wei Zhongxian set up industrial and commercial taxes that had been abolished in the early years in some prosperous areas with developed trade and high economic incomes.
This kind of behavior was greatly opposed by the Donglin party, but for those active opponents, they were all eliminated by Wei Zhongxian by various means, and many of them were raided, and in the end, basically no one dared to touch this provision.
After the war with the Emperor Taiji army, the Ming Dynasty's army has not been left behind, and it can even be said that it has a great advantage. A big reason for this is that the military's financial expenditure has been able to keep up. Although Wei Zhongxian embezzled a lot of money, in the army war, Wei Zhongxian was a wise man, and as far as possible, he increased the financial support and supply of the army war, and most of this money was collected from the Donglin Party.
Wei Zhongxian used the power he had gained to suppress the profiteering industries invested by the Donglin party members in the localities; without Wei Zhongxian's consent, the landlords' business was very difficult to do, and someone would come to check today at any moment, or ask you to invest and pay taxes. Therefore, those merchants all worked hard to woo Wei Zhongxian, hoping to be taken care of, and took the initiative to donate a lot of money or shares, which also allowed Wei Zhongxian to get a huge fortune.
Although Wei Zhongxian embezzled the regency, made chaos within the imperial court, and suppressed the scholar class, he made no small contribution to consolidating imperial power and increasing state revenue. The national war had already made the people miserable, and Wei Zhongxian also knew clearly that the national treasury could not be enriched by squeezing the people, and the only way was to loot from the rich landlord class, such measures made the late decadent Ming Dynasty persist for decades.
In addition to financial support and help, Wei Zhongxian also made changes to the previous "civilian system of martial arts", in the past, the military generals fought outside, but in the back which civilian official looked at you unfavorably, played you a book, and the military generals on the front line also had to obediently accept punishment.
But now, as long as Wei Zhongxian is well sought, the military generals will not have to care what bad things are said behind the backs of those Donglin Party members, which will help the war to a certain extent. It is no wonder that some people say: "Wei Zhongxian does not die, the Ming Dynasty does not die."
After the fall of Wei Zhongxian, the Chongzhen Emperor wantonly suppressed the castration party, which in turn led to a complete imbalance in the power of the DPRK and China. The Donglin Party had no restraints and began to control the government of the dynasty, and wrote to the emperor to abolish the industrial and commercial tax.
Although the emperor held the imperial power, the emperor at this time did not have his own confidants, and it was impossible for one person to oppose the entire Donglin Party, and in case these scholars were not satisfied one day, it was not impossible to establish an emperor again.
There is no way, the emperor can only abolish the industrial and commercial tax, but there is no industrial and commercial tax, the treasury is empty, the war is burning money, the emperor can only increase the peasants' taxes, the war for many years, how can the peasants have money, this has touched the people's anger, all places have revolted and rebelled, and the Ming Dynasty's qi has finally come to an end.