Many people have a stereotype that after Chongzhen came to power, he reused the Donglin Party, so the Donglin Party was the only one in the Chongzhen period. However, this was not the case, and the Donglin Party was a faction that had lost power during the Chongzhen period.
The Donglin Party members were not picking up
Among the original Donglin Party members, the founders of the Donglin Eight Gentlemen Gu Xiancheng, Gu Yuncheng, An Xifan, Liu Yuanzhen, Qian Yiben, and Xue Shijiao all died before Wei Zhongxian completely took power, and the remaining two Gao Panlong committed suicide by being framed by the castrated party Cui Chengxiu in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, and the only one who lived to the Chongzhen period was Ye Maocai. However, this Ye Maocai has always been far away from power struggles and party struggles, and has not had much influence, and Chongzhen passed away in the second year.
The Donglin Party members who actually came to power were initially Ye Xianggao, a moderate reformist, who worked hard to reconcile the party struggle. However, Ye Xianggao was also tired of party strife, and in the forty-second year of the Wanli Calendar, he was asked to resign as the first assistant of the cabinet; in the first year of the Apocalypse, he became the first assistant again, but later he repeated the technique of re-performing the sixty-seven songs, and finally obtained approval to retire in the fourth year of the Apocalypse.
The retreat of Ye Xianggao and Ye Maocai is actually very representative, and the existence of a group of moderate reformists within the Donglin Party has clearly seen the true face of the party struggle, and their hopes have been dashed, and their enthusiasm has naturally disappeared. Therefore, during the apocalypse, the Donglin Party members actually had the right to speak within zhao Nanxing's radical power-grabbing faction, but this faction was the most tragically rectified by Wei Zhongxian, and it can be said that it was a heavy casualty. In particular, the six gentlemen of Donglin, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Yuan Huazhong, Wei Dazhong, Gu Dazhang, and Zhou Chaorui, were martyred, and countless Donglin parties were implicated to death, and it can be said that Wei Zhongxian basically uprooted the backbone of the second-generation Donglin party.
The rest are either Ye Maocai, a Donglin party member who has no intention of fighting and no threat, or their descendants, that is, the three generations of Donglin party members. However, they did not yet have a meritorious name, and in the Chongzhen period, they had to take the meritorious name first before they could enter the court, but this took time.
What's more, there were not many Donglin Party members left above the court, because there were still a large number of first and second generation Donglin Party members who died old and could not provide them with much shade.
In particular, Zhao Nanxing, who has the most right to speak, died in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and the Donglin Party can be said to be leaderless. A few years after the death of the leader of the donglin party of the older generation, Qian Qianyi became the leader of the donglin party. Qian Qianyi's counterpart in the eunuch's "Records of the Eastern Forest Point Generals" is Yan Qing, the prodigal son of Tianqiao Xing, whose status was not very high, and it was quite a bit of the meaning of "Liao Hua pioneer".
But more fatal problems ensued, and Qian Qianyi had no real power in his hands!
It turned out that Qian Qianyi had been blocked by wen tiren and Zhou Yanru, and had been unable to enter the cabinet. The core Donglin Party members have no spokesmen, have been unable to squeeze into the center of power, and it is difficult to get real power positions from the six ministries. Bureaucrats of other factions are busy arranging their own people to key departments, how can they be so kind as to insert competitors in the past?
Therefore, the Donglin Party people did not pick up in the early days of Chongzhen, and they could not do a single big family at all, they were actually the party that lost power. As for the reasons for their loss of power, there are also reasons such as whether they have allies, the defeat of allies, and the re-confrontation of self-organized factions against them.
The issue of party struggle is even more complicated than in the Wanli period
Chongzhen's cabinet actually had people close to the Donglin Party, such as Ye Xianggao's protégé. But he also only played the role of a transitional first assistant, and was quickly attacked by Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda, Zhou Yanru and others. Later, because he wanted to protect Yuan Chonghuan, he was afraid of being caught, and quickly followed the example of his teacher Ye Xianggao and retired. For example, Qian Shisheng was also a person close to the Donglin Party, and was initially co-opted by Wen Tiren, and later he was also squeezed out. Without Cheng Jiming and Qian Shisheng, two allies who sympathized with the Donglin Party, Qian Qianyi, who had no one to bring these three generations of Donglin Party members, it was naturally difficult to enter the center of power.
Among the six parts, in the late Chongzhen period, there was also a soldier Shangshu Li Banghua who belonged to a person close to the Donglin Party, and had a relationship with Zou Yuanbiao, a member of the Donglin Party. But this guy doesn't participate in the party struggle and doesn't help the Donglin party. Of course, you have to insist that Li Banghua is a member of the Donglin Party, and you can't scold him, because he has been opposing the party struggle. At the time of the Jiashen Rebellion, Li Banghua martyred himself; his brother Li Bangmei refused to surrender to the Manchu Qing during the Southern Ming Dynasty and died, which can be said to be full of loyal martyrs.
In fact, the fiercest fight in the power center is another group of people, whose factional problems are difficult to explain, not as obvious as in the Wanli period.
Wen Tiren may have been the leader of the new "Zhejiang Party" who worked with Zhou Yanru to squeeze out others, but the two also fell in love with each other. However, Wen Tiren's faction is not all Zhejiang, so let's call him "Wen Pai".
Zhou Yanru married the Donglin Party member Feng Quan, and rescued the Donglin Party during the Apocalypse, but in the Chongzhen period, he also opposed the Donglin Party. Zhou Yanru's faction is not all Jiangnan people, let's call it the "Zhou Faction".
Yang Sichang's father, Yang He, also rescued the Donglin Party, but during the Chongzhen period, Yang Sichang regrouped his faction and opposed the Donglin Party. I don't know if Yang Sichang is a new "Chu Party", so let's call it the "Yang Faction" for the time being.
During the Chongzhen period, there was also a faction in Sichuan, headed by Liu Yuliang, who was not a fuel-saving lamp, and had quarrels with Sun Chuanting and Kong Zhenyun. You may call his faction the "Sichuan Party", but let's call it the "Liu Faction".
Kong Zhenyun, who had quarreled with Liu Yuliang, also had his own faction, and he was close to Yuan Keli, a neutral faction during the Wanli, Taichang, and Apocalypse periods, but he was also involved in the party struggle, and once opposed Guo Jingchang. Let's call it "Kongpai" for the time being.
There was also a Zheng Sanjun in the Anhui region who tried to join the cabinet with Qian Qianyi, and I don't know if it is a new "Xuan Dang." The reasons for his alliance with the Donglin Party were complicated, but they were targeted by Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru. However, Zheng Sanjun was very good with Wu Changshi, and Wu Changshi was a close associate of Zhou Yanru. Kong Zhenyun also rescued him and Qian Qianyi, and it seemed that he was "Kong Pai". So let's stand up for the time being and call him "Zheng Pai".
The "Wen Faction", the "Zhou Faction", the "Yang Faction", the "Liu Faction", and the "Kong Faction" are still relatively clear factions, and there are many complex officials like the "Zheng Faction", and it is not easy to count all the large and small mountains.
Chongzhen tried to balance the party struggle
Chongzhen actually discovered the problem of party struggle very early on and has been trying to find a way to balance it.
When Chongzhen first came to power, he reactivated Tang Binyin, the leader of the Xuan Party, but he was old and died before he took office. At the beginning, shi Fenglai was also appointed as the first assistant of the cabinet, and this guy was the one who proposed that Wei Zhongxian build the ancestral hall. However, Shi Fenglai was frightened half to death by Chongzhen's abnormal operation, and quickly resigned his official position to save his life. Among the castration parties was the later reactivation of Nguyen Thi Shing, who was originally a member of the Dong Lam Party and later attached to the Castration Party. During the Southern Ming Dynasty, he was attached to Ma Shiying and always wanted to overturn the case for the castration party.
In addition to trying to balance the new party struggle with various old factions, Chongzhen also established many neutral factions. Fan Jingwen, one of the last to enter the cabinet, did not participate in the party struggle. He revived a whip law, advocated lightening the peasants' burdens, suggested that Chongzhen prohibit the sale of official positions, and so on. At the time of the change of Jiashen, he also jumped into the well and was martyred. Similar to Fan Jingwen, Fu Guan and others did not participate in the fierce party struggle. The official and hubu Shangshu Ni Yuanlu also suggested that Chongzhen eliminate party strife, which is also very valuable.
In addition, Chongzhen also introduced eunuchs, Zhang Yixian, Gao Qiqian, Du Xun, Wang Cheng'en, Fang Zhenghua and so on. Zhang Yixian had a bad reputation, and was a bit of a shadow of Wei Zhongxian; Gao Qiqian became a close associate of Yang Sichang and later killed Lu Xiangsheng; Some historical records of Du Xun said that he surrendered to Li Zicheng and was not in good spirits; Wang Cheng'en and Chongzhen martyred himself together, which was highly praised by later generations, but he was a close confidant of Cao Huachun and belonged to the eunuchs close to the Donglin Party; the rest of Fang Zhenghua Was killed in battle because of the defense of the city, and his loyalty and courage were commendable. The group of eunuchs introduced by Chongzhen was good or bad, and it was difficult to say clearly in one sentence.
Having said so much, you should be able to feel it, Chongzhen is really tired. Our descendants "Hindsight Zhuge Liang" still do not understand the factional issue, and most people think that only the Donglin Party is dominant, let alone him as an authority. It is no wonder that Chongzhen will sin six times, maybe he really has a weak heart.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng was approaching the Beijing Division, many ministers advised him to learn from the Song Dynasty and move south. But in the end he was tired and chose to end his precious life in Jingshan, only thirty-four years old.
Although Chongzhen lacked ability, he really tried his best.