On July 20, the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), in order to see the last side of his mentor Zuo Guangdou, Shi Kefa ventured into the Jinyi Wei Zhao Prison, and when he saw Zuo Guangdou, who was completely disfigured by Xu Xianchun's torture, Shi Kefa could no longer control it, knelt down and hugged his mentor's broken legs and cried.
After identifying the person through his voice as Shi Kefa, Zuo Guangdou was furious, and he understood that once Xu Xianchun knew that Shi Kefa was coming, Shi Kefa would not be able to leave zhao prison alive, so he immediately shouted angrily to Shi Kefa: "Confused, hurry up and leave here, the country's power has fallen to this point, I will soon die, and the future of Daming will depend on you to save."
Twenty years later, on April 24, the first year of Hongguang (1645), standing at the head of Yangzhou City looking at the Qing army outside the city with black clouds crushing the city, Shi Kefa once again remembered Zuo Guangdou's anger, but he was already powerless to save Daming, that night, the walls of Yangzhou City were collapsed by the qing army's red-clad cannons, and Shi Kefa was killed.
After Shi Kefa's death, Liu Zongzhou and Gao Hongtu both followed bo yi's example and died.
With the successive deaths of Zuo Guangdou, Shi Kefa, Liu Zongzhou, and Gao Hongtu, the integrity of the Donglin Party members also disappeared, marked by the fact that the water was too cool, and most of the remaining Donglin Party members survived by surrendering to the Qing army.
The different choices of Zuo Guangdou, Shi Kefa and Qian Qianyi and others in the face of danger led to a polarization in the evaluation of the Donglin Party in later generations: one view was that Zuo Guangdou, Shi Kefa and other Donglin Party members would suffer the change of Jiashen if they could always be reused, while the other view was that Daming would suffer the change of Jiashen if Qian Qianyi and other Donglin party hypocrites repeatedly launched party struggles for their own selfish interests.
In fact
The existence of these two views is not contradictory, because they represent exactly two sides of the Donglin Party.
Time back to the twenty-second year of the Wanli Calendar (1594), looking at the door of Donglin Academy", "the sound of wind and rain reading in the ears, family affairs, state affairs and world affairs are concerned about everything", Gu Xiancheng, the founder of the Donglin Party and the leader of the first generation, fell into contemplation, in his opinion, although Daming relied on the inertia of Zhang Juzheng's reform to quickly win the victory in the Battle of Ningxia and the initiative in the Battle of Aid to The Dynasty, but because of Zhang Juzheng's reform, it was very seriously damaged after Zhang Juzheng's death. Therefore, the crisis of Daming's rule was more serious than before Zhang Juzheng's reforms.
In order to save Daming's ruling crisis, Gu Xiancheng, Together with Gu Yuncheng, Gao Panlong, Ye Maocai and other "Eight Gentlemen of Donglin", put forward the clear political propositions of the Donglin Party in Donglin Academy.
Rectify the administration of officials
During the period from Hongwu to Xuande, Daming implemented the "heavy canonical rule of officials", and the rule of officials was relatively clear. During the orthodox period, due to the laxity of the official administration and the eunuch Wang Zhen's control of the imperial government, the problems of official dereliction of duty and bribery of public officials began to appear. From the Chenghua to zhengde period, although the successive use of affairs by eunuchs Wang Zhi and Liu Jin and the gradual increase in the power of the civilian official clique provided a breeding ground for the corruption of officials, due to the institutionalization of inspectors and governors, the problem of corruption of officials did not become a common phenomenon in the officialdom of Daming.
During the Jiajing period, due to Yan Song's open betrayal of officials and knights after he became the first assistant of the cabinet, the problem of the corruption of the officials became a common phenomenon in the Officialdom of Daming, which was embodied in the fact that before Yan Song became the first assistant of the cabinet, the officials zhishi returned to their hometowns and neighbors asked how the official's political performance was, and after Yan Song became the first assistant of the cabinet, the officials zhishi returned to the countryside and the neighbors asked how much profit they had made.
During the Longqing and Wanli periods, the problem of corruption of officials seriously aggravated the crisis of Daming's rule.
During this period, although the examination method in Zhang Juzheng's reform solved the problem of some of the corruption of officials, with the death of Zhang Juzheng, the problem of corruption of officials was more serious than before.
In view of this, Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing, and other core figures of the Donglin Party all believed that "greed has become a trend" and that if it is not rectified, it will trigger a large-scale peasant uprising.
Today, there is greed, which has become the norm, and how cool is a greedy one, which is both creamy and poisonous, and the people are not chaotic? ——Zhao Nanxing, "The Collected Works of Wei Barberry Zhai"
In order to rectify the rule of officials, Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, Zhao Nanxing, and other core figures of the Donglin Party believed that measures such as "appointing talents from cadres" and "orders to re-picket" should be adopted.
Curb land annexation and equalization of enlistment
In the process of Zhang Juzheng's reforms, although the Donglin Party members represented by Gu Xiancheng fiercely opposed Zhang Juzheng's implementation of the Examination Law and the revival of love, they deeply agreed with Zhang Juzheng's practice of suppressing land annexation and Junping's conscription through a whip law. After Zhang Juzheng's death, the Donglin Party went even further than Zhang Juzheng in curbing land annexation and Junping's enlistment.
In the 29th year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhu Guozhen, a member of the Donglin Party, put forward the slogan of "Juntian Fixed Service to Save the Lives of the People" in Huzhou. After that, the Donglin Party members and Ma Congren, who served as envoys to Huguang, were also "glued to the Daopeng with the four characters of 'Juntian Convenience' in the whole territory of Huguang." Compared with Zhang Juzheng's whipping law, which only made the problem of land annexation and uneven conscription no longer worse, Zhu Guozhen and Ma Congzhao's "Juntian Fixed Service" was undoubtedly a big step forward.
The crowd greeted each other, and the four words of the big engraving 'Juntian Convenience People' were glued to the Road, everywhere, because the boats were scattered from Pingwang to the county town for one hundred and twenty miles, and the end of the sight was not seen, and the closer they got, the more they were, and the people who called for water were often instead. ——Zhu Guozhen's "Chung Tung Sketch"
In the first year of the Apocalypse, Zhen Shu, a member of the Donglin Party, further put forward the proposal of "dividing the land into the mu" on the basis of "Juntian Dingjun".
Once this proposal is implemented, the problems of land annexation and uneven enlistment in the late Ming Dynasty will be completely resolved.
The most bitter of the small people, one is the grain without the field, the stomach is rich, the grain in the field is stored, the one is the ding without rice, the ding is attached to the rice, the rice is pushed and the ding is not pushed. It is advisable to take the forehead and the forehead rice, and the two balances determine the number, the number of rice is a certain amount of ding, the person who buys the field collects the rice, and the person who kills the field pushes the rice and pushes the ding. In the county register, there is no loss of the quota to violate the ancestral system, and in the poor people do not leave empty ding, so that it is tired, and the officials are exempt from the difficulty of responsibility. - Records of emperor Ming Xi
Reform the examination system
The development of the imperial examination system formed in the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty has become the only way for Confucian students to enter the ming dynasty, the Punishment of fraud and other influences on the order of the imperial examination is very serious, Tang Bohu, who is known as the "first talented son in Jiangnan", can only be a wandering talent for life because he is involved in fraud in the field of science, but due to the emergence of unspoken rules such as agreeing on protégés, the Ming Dynasty imperial examination began to suffer more and more interference in the dark.
In the sixteenth year of Jiajing (1537), Zhang Juzheng, who was only thirteen years old, fell off the list for the first time when he participated in the Huguang Township Examination, and the reason for his failure to fall off the list was neither too young nor his lack of knowledge, but the huguang inspector Gu Xuan at that time hoped that he could "sharpen more to become a great instrument".
Although Gu Xuan interfered with the imperial examination and caused Zhang Juzheng to fall off the list completely out of consideration for sharpening talents for the country,
However, not every inspector, governor, and courtier of Daming can serve the country like Gu Xuan, and once people like Gu Xuan become rare in the official field of the Ming Dynasty, Daming's scientific field will be reduced to a tool for seeking private interests.
After the fraud case of Han Jingkechang in the Wanli years was exposed, it marked that Daming's science field was not far from being completely reduced to a tool for private gain. In view of this, Gu Xiancheng, Ye Maocai, and other Donglin Party members put forward the idea of reforming the imperial examination system and eliminating shortcomings.
Fraud in the field of science, dirty teeth and cheeks, and the cabinet dares to draw up the original selfless and unscrupulous purpose to deceive us. - "History of Ming. Biography of Ye Maocai
Judging from the specific content of the Donglin Party's political propositions of rectifying the administration of officials, curbing land annexation and equalizing the enlistment of military service, and reforming the examination system, the first generation of Donglin Party members headed by Gu Xiancheng, Ye Maocai, Gao Panlong, and others represented the interests of small and medium-sized landlords, bureaucrats, craftsmen, and the vast number of self-employed peasants.
Because at that time, the main force that controlled the court, interfered with the imperial examination, annexed land, and created uneven enlistment was the big bureaucracy and the big landlord class.
Although Gu Xiancheng, Ye Maocai, Gao Panlong, and others put forward the clear political propositions of the Donglin Party, because the main body of the Donglin Party was small and medium-sized landlords, bureaucrats, and other strata, their power in the imperial court was quite weak, resulting in the donglin Party's political propositions could not be put into practice, so Gu Xiancheng and others began to work hard to control the government.
In the fifteenth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1587), Gu Xiancheng, the chief official of the imperial household, instructed Zuo Du Yushixin to depose the officials of the large bureaucratic landlord class who had bad deeds in the imperial court and promote the officials of the Donglin Party, but as a result, under the obstruction of the cabinet chief Assistant Shen Shixing, Gu Xiancheng was demoted and transferred.
The twenty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1593) is another year of Kyocha, known in history as "Kyocha". In order to take advantage of this Jingcha to expand its influence in the imperial court, sun Jin, the Donglin Party member who presided over Jingcha, deposed his nephew Lü Yinchang and Zhao Nanxing deposed his own relative Wang Sanyu, but under the blows of Zhao Zhigao, Wang Xijue, and other cabinet assistant ministers who represented the interests of large landlords and big bureaucrats, the Donglin Party's attempt to expand its own power was once again shattered, sun was forced to return home, Zhao Nanxing was dismissed from his post, and Gao Panlong was demoted.
Although the defeat of Ding Hai Jingcha and Yu Wei Jingcha caused heavy losses to the Donglin Party in the imperial court, the overall power of the Donglin Party was not only not weakened, but more powerful than before, and the political ideas of the Donglin Party and its performance in the two Jingcha made the reputation of the Donglin Party spread all over the world.
The Donglin Party has won the unanimous support of the big landlords, the people who are worried about the country and the people in the big bureaucratic class, and the small and medium-sized landlord bureaucrats and the cold disciples.
In this case, the Donglin Party had already risen to become a majority faction in the imperial court in the twenty-second year of the Wanli Calendar after the Jingcha of Yan, and in order to curb the rise of the Donglin Party, the big landlords and the big bureaucracy launched the xuan, kun, Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang five parties.
After that, in order to ensure that he had great power in his hands, The MingShen Sect, who lived in the deep palace, constantly used the struggle between the five parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang and the Donglin Party to make them check and balance each other, and at the same time, in order to prevent any of them from dominating the family.
Emperor Myeongshin mostly used officials of the five parties as cabinet assistants, and mostly used Donglin party officials as six shangshu.
Emperor Mingshenzong's approach made the Donglin party members deeply realize that it was almost impossible to control the government during the Wanli period, so the Donglin party pinned their hopes of controlling the government on the crown prince Zhu Changluo.
In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar, Emperor Mingshenzong died, Emperor Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo succeeded to the throne, and the Donglin party finally took full control of the government, and after the death of Emperor Mingguangzong, Yang Lian, a member of the Donglin party, consolidated the control of the Donglin party over the government with the help of the palace transfer case after Zhu Youzong succeeded to the throne. In this case, Zhen Shu, a member of the Donglin Party, put forward the proposal of dividing the land into the mu.
The Donglin Party's control over the government and its proposal to spread out the land into the acres caused strong dissatisfaction among the big landlords and the big bureaucracy.
Therefore, the five parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang all turned to Wei Zhongxian and used Wei Zhongxian to attack the Donglin Party.
Under the blows of Wei Zhongxian, the Donglin Party with Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, and others as the core was dying, and although the Chongzhen Emperor once again reused the Donglin Party as the main leader of the government after he ascended the throne, because the Chongzhen Emperor dealt too much blow to the five parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang who threw themselves at Wei Zhongxian, the five parties became street rats, resulting in a large number of small people who tended to be inflamed and dependent, and the interest spokesmen of the big landlords and big bureaucrats in the dprk in the dprk turned into Donglin party members. In this case,
Qian Qianyi, who was a bureaucratic landlord, became one of the core figures of the Donglin Party.
Marked by Qian Qianyi's becoming the core figure of the Donglin Party, the Donglin Party degenerated into a spokesman for the interests of large landlords and large bureaucrats, and Shi Kefa and others who adhered to the political ideas of the Donglin Party were constantly excluded and far from the center.
Through the entire process of the Donglin Party from putting forward political propositions to Qian Qianyi becoming a core figure, combined with the essence of the political party pointed out by Mr. Li Wenliang, "a centralized representative of the interests of a specific class", "with a clear political proposition", "to seize, influence and consolidate the leading power of the government" and several other key points, it is completely possible to regard the Donglin Party's attack by Wei Zhongxian as a watershed for the Donglin Party.
Political parties are essentially the concentrated representatives of the interests of a particular strata, a political organization composed of some of the most active elements of a particular strata, with clear political views, and activities to seize, influence and consolidate the dominance of the government. - Li Wenliang
Before being attacked by Wei Zhongxian, a series of actions of the Donglin Party were more like political parties than the Tories and Whigs, and after being attacked by Wei Zhongxian, the representatives of the interests of the big landlords and the big bureaucratic class became the core of the Donglin Party, the inflamed villains became the mainstream of the Donglin Party, and the Donglin Party completely degenerated into a friend party. In this way,
The Donglin Party also has two sides of the party and the friend party.
[The Sixty-second Lecture on the History of the Late Ming Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period, References: "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty", "Records of the Ming Dynasty", "Records of the Ming Dynasty", etc. 】