Speaking of Wei Zhongxian, this is a famous figure in the last years of the Ming Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Mingxi, Wei Zhongxian served as a eunuch in Si Li Bingbi and was so favored that he was known as "Nine Thousand Years Old", so that people "only knew that there were loyal sages, but not the emperor". In people's hearts, this is a big traitor who is flying high, excluding dissidents, and arbitrarily ruling the country's politics.
Of course, the eunuch party led by Wei Zhongxian did not pretend to cover the sky with one hand in the dprk, and it was not false to mutilate Zhongliang, but he actually had another side that was not known -- when Wei Zhongxian was in power, the Ming Dynasty suppressed the emperor Taiji in the Liaodong battlefield and defeated Hou Jin. But these feats have been overshadowed by history.
During Wei Zhongxian's reign, he not only flattered the upper class, but also treated the subordinates and excluded dissidents, but he also saw that Daming's internal and external troubles had long been in danger, especially houjin in the Liaodong region, which had been coveting Daming for a long time.
Therefore, after Wei Zhongxian ascended to the throne, he attached great importance to Jurchen, and he successively appointed famous generals such as Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Chengzong to use troops against Jurchen. Therefore, the Ming army at that time had always firmly blocked Houjin from the Guan, so even though Emperor Taiji had been fighting all his life, he had not been able to step into Shanhaiguan.
Wei Zhongxian had a natural view of the overall situation in the war. He clearly knew the importance of the Liaodong battlefield and could not let Houjin enter the customs, so he placed Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan to ensure that the situation in the Liaodong battlefield would not deviate greatly, and at the same time gave great support to Yuan Chonghuan.
In order to ensure the logistical supply of the Liaodong Army and Yuan Chonghuan's Jinzhou Army, Wei Zhongxian adopted a number of tax policies for the rich southeastern generation, filling the national treasury while also making the front army sufficient with grain and grass, and also implementing a policy of tax reduction and exemption for the arid and barren northwest region, which played an important role in stabilizing the inland and giving the army fighting in the front no worries.
Eunuchs and scholars were two groups that were naturally opposed, so Wei Zhongxian had been suppressing the Donglin Party when he was in power, and the Donglin Party was eager to execute all these eunuchs who had manipulated the regime.
Later, before Wei Zhongxian was executed by Chongzhen, he also told Chongzhen that if you kill me and rely on the Donglin Party, Daming will die. In fact, Zhu Youjian may not have known that the Donglin Party was unreliable, but if Chongzhen wanted to sit firmly in the dragon chair, Wei Zhongxian, who controlled the government, was doomed to stay. However, Wei Zhongxian died, and Chongzhen was unable to regain his power, but instead allowed the Donglin party to regain power and thus control the government.
The pedantic and cowardly Donglin Party advocated peace with Houjin, which gave Houjin, who had been beaten to death, a chance to recuperate, and later the Jurchens made a comeback, and peasant uprisings were everywhere in the country.
When Li Zicheng besieged the capital, the demise of Daming was a foregone conclusion, and Cao Huachun, Chongzhen's favorite eunuch, once said: "If the loyal are there, current events will not end here." ”。