The Donglin Party was a bureaucratic class political group dominated by Jiangnan scholars in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, which originated from the Donglin Academy built in Wuxi in 1604 by Gu Xiancheng, a subordinate of the government.
In the course of more than ten years of development, by the time Ming Xizong ascended the throne, the Donglin Party had developed into a powerful political force that controlled the government.
Gu Xiancheng, a down-and-out bureaucrat, became a key figure in the rise and development of the Donglin Party. However, only five years later, Wei Zhongxian, a newly powerful eunuch, smashed this academic ** group to pieces.
This biggest political tragedy in the Ming Dynasty is not only the problems of the Donglin Party itself, but also deeply rooted in the deep-seated reasons of imperial power. The evolution from an academic group to a political interest group has witnessed the rise and fall of the Donglin Party.
Gu Xiancheng, a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu, was born in a scholarly family, was a jinshi in 1580, and successively served as the head of the household department. His outspokenness, courage and uprightness are known as the clear stream of officialdom.
After Wanli became pro-government, he often criticized the wrong decisions of the imperial court together with Zhengzhi**. In the dispute over the country, he opposed the abolition of Wanli and the establishment of young people, so he was disgusted.
Later, he was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, who was in charge of the promotion and transfer of officials, but the cabinet candidates nominated by him made Wanli deeply disgusted, and finally Wanli took the opportunity to cut his official status and dismissed him home.
After returning to his hometown, he decided to give a lecture at Wuxi Donglin Academy, which had been the place where Yang Shi, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, gave lectures.
Due to Gu Xiancheng's reputation among scholars, he received the support of many local people and even the prefect of Changzhou and Wuxi, and successfully restored the academy in 1604.
All of a sudden, well-known literati and artists from the south of the Yangtze River gathered here, and the Donglin Conference was held regularly. Donglin Academy not only emphasizes integrity and practice, promotes Cheng Zhu Lixue, but also expresses its own political views.
Gu Xiancheng and others believe that it is not advisable for the courtiers to not care about the affairs of the court, or for the local officials to not care about the people's livelihood, or for the reclusive people in the countryside to be indifferent to the world.
They also often discuss how to change corrupt politics and difficult living conditions. They read and give lectures in close connection with state affairs. With the increasing reputation of Donglin Academy, many ** and people with lofty ideals who have been belittled for criticizing the government and politics, no matter how far away the road is, will come one after another, and the number of people is so large that even Donglin Academy cannot accommodate it.
Some of the same ministers in the court echoed the Donglin Academy, whose main members were merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the Jiangnan landlord class, so they opposed the imperial court's collection of taxes on industrialists and merchants.
With the growth of influence, Donglin Academy gradually changed from a social group that simply commented on current affairs to an interest group with its own political demands, and became a powerful political force in the imperial court.
Ye Xianggao, a member of the Donglin Party, served as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, and he was in charge of the cabinet for seven years, during which the Donglin Party developed rapidly, and the "party" divided by nationality, such as the Qi Party, the Chu Party, the Xuan Party, and the Kun Party, began to take shape.
They cling to royal family officials, colluding with eunuchs, and rejecting **, while the Donglin Party criticizes these "parties". In the face of the rise of the Donglin Party, other "parties" took attacking the Donglin Party as their first priority, and the Donglin Party seized the shortcomings of the other party to carry out the first time, and the party struggle at the end of the Ming Dynasty entered a new climax.
The battle for the throne] At the end of the 16th century, the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty led to a fierce struggle. According to the feudal etiquette system, the eldest son Zhu Changluo should inherit the throne. However, Emperor Wanli favored the Zheng family and wanted to make his son Zhu Changxun the crown prince.
This decision was strongly opposed by the Donglin Party members, who were guided by Confucian etiquette. Although cabinet scholars Wang Xijue, Shen Yiyi, and Fang Congzhe also advocated the establishment of the eldest son as the crown prince, they were sometimes ambiguous for fear of offending Wanli, which led to constant friction between the Donglin Party and the cabinet.
Beginning in 1586, a fifteen-year struggle for the capital of the country began. In the end, Wanli compromised and appointed the twenty-year-old Zhu Changluo as the crown prince. The Donglin Party was equally divided with the local factions in the imperial court and held a certain amount of power.
Power Struggle] At the same time, the Donglin Party and the anti-Donglin factions engaged in a sharp power struggle around Jingcha. Jingcha is a system of assessment of Beijing officials in the Ming Dynasty, once every six years, the competent will be rewarded or promoted, and the incompetent will be punished or reprimanded.
In 1605, Yang Shiqiao, a member of the Donglin Party, presided over the Jingcha, and the Donglin Party began to crack down on different parties, demanding the punishment of the cabinet chief assistant Shen Consistent's henchmen, ** Shen has always been cronyistic, bullying superiors and subordinates, and Shen has always retired the following year.
In 1611, Ye Xianggao presided over the government, and the Donglin Party became even more powerful, and dismissed many important members of the court of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, Kun and other parties in one fell swoop. However, the aggressiveness of the Donglin Party did not bring an overwhelming advantage, and in 1617, Fang Congzhe entered the cabinet to administer the government, and the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang and other parties made a comeback, occupied important positions, and vigorously excluded the Donglin Party.
Until Wanli's death in 1620, although the Donglin Party occupied a considerable weight in the imperial court, it did not control the government for most of the time.
During the time of Zhu Changluo**, the imperial court formed two political forces of local factions such as the Donglin Party and Qichuzhe. However, after Zhu Changluo ascended the throne in July 1620, he died not long after taking only one red pill offered by Li Kezhuo, the head of Honglu Temple, causing chaos in the imperial court.
The first assistant Fang Congzhe also planned to give Li Kezhuo fifty taels of silver, which made Yang Lian, Hui Shiyang, Gao Panlong and others from the Donglin Party write successively, **Fang Congzhe from the Zhejiang Party, and proposed to let the sixteen-year-old emperor's eldest son Zhu Youxiao**.
However, Zhu Youxiao's adoptive mother, Li Xuanzhi, tried to use Zhu Youxiao to control the government, and still lived in the Qianqing Palace and was unwilling to move out. She also bribed the first assistant Fang Congzhe to gain support.
These small actions were caught by the Donglin Party and fiercely attacked. In this controversy, Li Xuanzhi and Fang Congzhe were not only at a disadvantage in theory, but they did not yet hold the supreme power at that time.
Therefore, the Donglin Party had the upper hand, and finally Li Xuanzhi was forced to leave the Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Youxiao, with the support of the Donglin Party, became the Ming Xizong. At this time, the Donglin Party successfully controlled the cabinet, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the six ministries, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Zhao Nanxing, Gao Panlong, Sun Chengzong and Yuan Keli and others all held important positions in the imperial court, while Fang Congzhe and others were gradually squeezed out, forming a situation of "Donglin is prosperous, and everyone is prosperous".
The Donglin Party's inability to unite and concentrate superior forces has led to other local factions being pushed to the opposite side. These local factions could not compete with the Donglin Party, but the emergence of Wei Zhongxian changed the situation.
Wei Zhongxian was a native of Cangzhou, Hebei Province, and his family was poor in his early years, but he was good at catering to others and won the trust and love of Zhu Youxiao. After Zhu Youxiao succeeded to the throne, Wei Zhongxian relied on his clever words and the help of the Hakka family to be promoted to the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, breaking the situation of the dominance of the Donglin Party.
From this point of view, the defeat of the Donglin Party was the inevitable result of the imperial power, and Wei Zhongxian's success was the embodiment of his personal ability and interpersonal relationships.
Zhu You was well aware of Wei Zhongxian's morality, but he understood that once the Donglin Party gained power, there was a danger of overthrowing itself. Therefore, he chose to support Wei Zhongxian to balance the Donglin Party.
With the support of Zhu Youxiao, Wei Zhongxian made no one in the palace dare to disobey them by integrating the celebrant and developing wings in the palace. Although the Donglin Party knew about Wei Zhongxian's viciousness, they organized the imperial history to try their best to discourage it, but the result was often reprimanded or degraded.
In this way, the local factions in the court that were ostracized by the Donglin Party chose to defect to Wei Zhongxian, and finally he integrated the palace and courtiers together to form the Eunuch Party.
Although the two factions attacked each other and the party struggle intensified, Ye Xianggao was an auxiliary government, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Nanxing, Gao Panlong and other officials were in high positions, Zuo Guangdou, Wei Dazhong, Huang Zunsu and others were talking about the road, and Wei Zhongxian was still unable to occupy the advantage.
In this case, Wei Zhongxian chose the strategy of overtaking on the side, and with the trust of Emperor Zhu Youxiao, he gradually grasped the control of the government. In 1623, Zhu Youxiao, in the opposition of the Donglin Party, ordered Wei Zhongxian and Hou Guoxing, the son of the Hakka family, to grant hereditary succession, and in the same year, he ordered Wei Zhongxian to take charge of the East Factory.
From 1623 to 1624, many imperial historians of the Donglin Party admonished Wei Zhongxian, but Zhu Youxiao never ignored it, and even reprimanded him by falsely transmitting a holy decree.
Yang Lian, the deputy capital of the left, as one of the leading figures in the Donglin Party, has considerable weight, representing the showdown between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's attitude has become very crucial, and his tendency represents the trend of the entire court situation.
Wei Zhongxian was frightened after the performance, and he immediately ran to Zhu Youxiao to cry and resigned from his position in Dongchang. At the same time, Hakka also explained to him from the side. Zhu Youxiao did not hesitate between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, and the next day he called back Yang Lian's recital and severely reprimanded him.
Seeing this scene, the Donglin Party realized that things were not good, but they could no longer turn back and could only make a desperate bet. Soon, more than 70 people from the six imperial histories of the Donglin Party played one after another, ** Wei Zhongxian's illegal behavior.
Ye Zhengchun, the head of the cabinet, also asked Weng Zhengchun, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and Rites, to send Wei Zhongxian back to his private residence to quell public accusations, but Zhu Youxiao was not intimidated and instead sent all the requests back.
Wei Zhongxian realized the danger signal and decided to fight back. Soon after, Langzhong Wanxian of the Ministry of Industry wrote a letter accusing Wei Zhongxian, and he was immediately killed with a rod. After that, Wei Zhongxian insulted Ye Xianggao again, and Ye Xianggao had no choice but to resign and leave.
At this point, the eunuch party began to carry out a comprehensive liquidation of the Donglin party.
In October 1624, Wei Zhongxian falsely issued a decree, accusing Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others of "disrespecting the king and behaving rudely", dismissed them from their posts as citizens, and hunted them down.
In March of the following year, Wei Zhongxian framed Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others, and arrested them and the leaders of the Donglin Party and imprisoned them.
Soon after, Yang Lian and others were tortured in prison and died one after another. In August of the same year, the imperial court ordered the destruction of the Donglin Party lecture academies in various places, and the Donglin Party suffered a devastating blow.
On the surface, all this was done by Wei Zhongxian, but in fact, the choice of imperial power was the decisive factor in the downfall of the Donglin Party. It was Zhu Youxiao's acquiescence and inaction that made Wei Zhongxian grow step by step, and finally completely subverted the Donglin Party.
In 1627, shortly after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian was demoted to Fengyang Mansion in Nanzhili to guard the imperial mausoleum, and then committed suicide, and the members of the eunuch party were dismissed, imprisoned and even executed, so far, the eunuch group was completely eliminated.
Therefore, the change in the attitude of Emperor Chongzhen allowed the Donglin Party to survive. In 1629, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the restoration of the reputation of the Donglin Party and ordered the restoration of the Donglin Academy.
To sum up, at the beginning of Zhu Youxiao's accession to the throne, the Donglin Party was powerful, and Zhu Youxiao sought the security of imperial power by using Wei Zhongxian to fight the Donglin Party. Zhu Youzhen saw Wei Zhongxian's threat to imperial power, eliminated him, and reactivated the Donglin Party.
Although their methods are different, the purpose is the same.