"Wei Zhongxian does not die, the Ming Dynasty does not perish", this is a sentence commonly seen in various historical articles in recent years, which is intended to show that Wei Zhongxian is not as bad as the traditional perception of the country and the people, and he also had a certain positive effect on the Ming Dynasty.
As for Wei Zhongxian, this person has long been conclusive in history, and he has controlled the political power, chaotic the imperial program, and endangered the society. Under his authority, the outspoken civilian official Qingliu was belittled and killed, while the flattering villain soared. So, for such a historical sinner, why would someone overturn the case for him? Even to offer him such a great honor of extending the life of the Ming Dynasty?
In fact, this is because some people have found that during the reign of Wei Zhongxian, although the Ming Dynasty was dark, it had remarkable achievements in some fields, and Wei Zhongxian's "merits" for the society were really buried in the criticism and insults of later generations. One of the most important feats was to command the army against the Later Jin invasion.
So, is Wei Zhongxian really a hero who has been wronged by history? What kind of merits did he have in commanding the army?
Wei Zhongxian overturned the case
I don't know from the beginning, the historical field has blown up a tide of overturning cases for the ancients, many ancients have been taken out to re-interpret, so that today's people realize their unknown side, and Wei Zhongxian is also affected by this trend.
In fact, the matter of overturning the case for Wei Zhongxian was not a whim in the minds of people today, but it had already been seen in the Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that on the eve of King Li Chuang's entry into the city of Beijing, the dark clouds of the fallen country hung over the heads of the Ming emperors, and Chongzhen was anxious and angry, but he did not have the strength to touch the country and the mountains, so he had to scold the civil officials for being incompetent.
At this time, a eunuch took the opportunity to play that if Duke Wei was here, the situation would not have reached such a point. This sentence touched the heart of the Chongzhen Emperor, and he burst into tears at the moment, remembering in his heart the various benefits of Wei Zhongxian, and hurriedly ordered people to collect Wei Zhongxian's corpse well.
Of course, the demise of the country is imminent, and whether the people at the bottom have obeyed the orders of the Chongzhen Emperor to collect Wei Zhongxian's remains is unknown to future generations. However, this record has indeed become an important basis for Wei Zhongxian to overturn the case, and people have "discovered" Wei Zhongxian's many credits to the Ming Dynasty on this basis.
In people's re-examination and interpretation of history, Wei Zhongxian contained the Donglin Party and maintained the delicate balance of the political situation; cracked down on corruption, reformed taxes, and replenished the Treasury of the Ming Dynasty; knew how to make good use of people, commanded properly, and resisted the invasion of Later Jin. Among them, people are most concerned about Wei Zhongxian's fight against Hou Jin, after all, the war thing is the most exciting thing.
So, what happened to Wei Zhongxian after fighting against Jin? What significance was his command for the Ming army?
Fight for yourself and for others
Hou Jin, that is, the later Manchu Qing, has been coveting the splendid mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty since his rise, which is a major problem for the Ming Dynasty.
In the process of fighting against Houjin, the two sides also won and lost. In general, in the early period, the Ming Dynasty was basically able to win the battle and repulse the attack of the Later Jin, and as the Ming Dynasty's internal affairs were corrupt and the national strength weakened, it became more and more depressed in the battle with the Later Jin. And some people found that this turning point happened to be at the time of Wei Zhongxian's downfall.
In other words, when Wei Zhongxian came to power, the Ming Dynasty had an advantage in military affairs, and after Wei Zhongxian was overthrown by the Chongzhen Emperor, the Ming Dynasty's superiority was completely lost and fell into a passive beating situation. So why is this happening?
Some people believe that Wei Zhongxian was able to win the battle because he was fighting for himself, while the other generals were fighting for others, that is, the emperor.
Specifically, Wei Zhongxian took power as a eunuch, and he had to face the fierce arguments of the government and the opposition, and in order to maintain his power and position, he had to show his political achievements. So he single-mindedly resisted Hou Jin, and the army he sent was also his best confidant, so he was able to win the battle.
On the other hand, the other generals, who were subject to the emperor, were ultimately fighting for the royal family. Moreover, in the course of the war, there were also all kinds of suspicions from the imperial court, which was afraid of the border generals supporting the army and respecting themselves and confronting the central court, and also afraid of the generals and HouJin secretly communicating with each other and betraying the country and defecting to the enemy. Under all kinds of restrictions, how can the border generals do their best?
From this point of view, Wei Zhongxian seems to have really become a "hero" who defends his family and country, but is this really the case?
Third, the voice of opposition
In fact, after the tide of overturning Wei Zhongxian's case blew up, there have always been voices of opposition to counter it.
First of all, starting from the reburial of Wei Zhongxian's remains by the Chongzhen Emperor, this record has been repeatedly mentioned in various articles on the reversal, but in fact, this record does not appear in the history of the Ming Dynasty, nor in any historical records at that time, but from the novelist Feng Menglong's "Yandu Diary", although the name is a diary, Feng Menglong wrote this book but did not go to Beijing, but in Jiangnan. Moreover, after reading this record, the old people of the Ming Dynasty also pointed out that this record was so absurd that it did not need to be refuted.
Second, let's look at wei Zhongxian's relationship with the resistance against Hou Jin. In fact, the advantage of the Ming Dynasty in the early stage of the Later Jin war came largely from the red-clad cannon, and when the red-clad cannon was introduced, Wei Zhongxian was just a small eunuch in the harem who could not be named.
Commanding the Ming army against Houjin were generals such as Sun Chengzong, Mao Wenlong, and Yuan Keli. None of these generals were Wei Zhongxian's henchmen; on the contrary, Sun Chengzong, who had built a defensive line and regained lost ground, had a close relationship with the Donglin Party and was Wei Zhongxian's enemy.
Finally, to talk about Wei Zhongxian's view of "fighting for himself" in order to deal with public opinion, this view seems reasonable, but in fact it has no basis, because Wei Zhongxian is not a person who values public opinion at all, and if he really values public opinion, he will not be able to condone the people below to set up their own ancestral shrines, be born into the Temple of Confucius, and deserve to be enshrined in such a thing that will cause the world's reading population to criticize and write.
Similarly, in the face of the opposition of the government and the opposition, Wei Zhongxian's response method was by no means to make his opponent shut up with excellent battle achievements and political achievements, and his method of handling was very simple, that is, killing. During Wei Zhongxian's reign, countless people were killed for opposing him, as evidenced by the Tombstones of the Five.
epilogue
There is nothing wrong with overturning the case for historical figures, because history is complex, and what we can see is often only one side of it, so we constantly need new perspectives to broaden our cognition. However, the reversal of the case should be based on facts and be justified, and should not be overturned for the sake of overturning.
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