In the history of the late Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party is definitely an unavoidable topic.
Regarding the Donglin Party, the controversy has never ceased in later generations.
There are various opinions, some applauding and many criticizing.
What's more, they even put the responsibility for Ming's death on the Donglin Party.
But not many people can tell clearly what the Donglin Party should be like.
In fact, the Donglin Party during the Chongzhen period was completely different from the original Donglin Party.
"When Duke Jingyang gave lectures on Donglin, who were his followers? They were just merchants, craftsmen, and ordinary people in the market. Although many of the sages of Donglin were officials in the court, were there cabinet ministers and dignitaries? None."
Zuo Mengeng was waiting quietly on the side, and Hou Xun and Liu Zongzhou didn't take him seriously.
Although he has shown good martial arts and military talents, in the eyes of the two bosses, he is only a military general at best.
What does a child know about government affairs?
But Zuo Mengeng's silence was nothing more than a blockbuster.
When Hou Xun and Liu Zongzhou were worried about the Donglin Party's fierce fire, Zuo Menggeng was shocked and said bluntly that the reason for the changes in the Donglin Party was that the nature of the Donglin Party had changed.
The Donglin Party was not an aristocratic party at the beginning, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it started out of recklessness.
The people who founded Donglin at that time were basically petty officials.
Even Gu Xiancheng is just a member of the civil service, while Zhao Nanxing is a doctor who takes the exam, not a top boss.
When Gu Xiancheng was giving lectures at Donglin Academy, the people who came to listen to the lectures at first were almost all businessmen, craftsmen, and common people.
Although these people are all untouchables, they are of extraordinary significance.
Because of the prosperous trade in Jiangnan, the economic development far exceeded that of other regions. The common people here are no longer satisfied with three meals a day, but have begun to have higher pursuits.
In the past, they had no avenues, but Gu Xiancheng's lectures gave them a path to progress.
As a result, tens of thousands of people gathered and the momentum rapidly expanded, and this was the rise of the Donglin Party.
It can be said that the Donglin Party at the beginning represented the interests of merchants, handicraftsmen, craftsmen, and civilian traders.
Judging from the entire historical process, this is undoubtedly progressive.
After all, the transition from feudal society to capitalist society is the general trend.
In the late Jiajing period, including the early Longqing and Wanli periods, the performance of the entire Donglin Party was high-spirited and full of positive significance.
Among them, the opening of the sea in Longqing was a painstaking work of the Donglin Party.
One of the views of those who criticized the Donglin Party in later generations was that the Donglin Party opposed opening up the sea, which prevented China from opening its eyes to the world.
This statement is extremely wrong.
Because it was the Donglin Party members who took the lead in opening up the sea in the late Ming Dynasty.
Tu Zemin, the governor of Fujian who fired the first shot of the Longqing Switch, was a member of the Donglin Party.
Xu Fuyuan, the governor of Fujian at that time, was even a student of Zhan Ruoshui. The person who promoted and reused him was Donglin boss Zou Yuanbiao.
Xu Fuyuan was Liu Zongzhou's teacher.
Are these relationships enough to prove it?
Many views of later generations say that the Donglin Party was the representative of big landowners and big capitalists.
This is even stranger.
Since the Donglin Party is the representative of big capitalists, why does it not support the opening of sea?
Which capitalist dislikes making less money?
What?
Monopoly on smuggling?
Come on, how much can you make from smuggling?
Longqing finally chose to open the sea in Fujian, or a small place like Yuegang. The reason was that the inherent power of Jiangnan was too strong, which made it a helpless choice to implement the policy here.
The biggest mistake in this view is that the Donglin Party represents the entire Jiangnan power.
In fact, the Donglin Party is not the most powerful force in the Jiangnan region.
The people who really monopolized the finance and trade in the Southeast and obstructed the opening of the sea were actually the nobles, big landowners and aristocratic families in the Southeast.
For example, the Duke of Wei, the Zhejiang Party, etc. These people are the representatives of the big landowners.
It is even more ridiculous to say that the Donglin Party has a monopoly on smuggling.
At that time, the Donglin Party had neither power nor soldiers. How could they overcome the maritime embargo and transport goods out?
Those who can really do this must be the nobles and aristocratic families who control the military power and political power in the southeast.
This is also why Qi Jiguang, Hu Zongxian, Tan Lun and others needed to recruit additional troops to fight against the Japanese during the Jiajing Dynasty, and Yu Dayou was born in Fujian, not Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
After the anti-Japanese war, Hu Zongxian died tragically, Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun were transferred to distant places, and Yu Dayou retreated to Fujian. This was the result of the counterattack of the nobles and noble families in the southeast.
Similarly, because the nobles and aristocratic families in the southeast were too powerful, the Donglin Party had to move the sea to Fujian.
Later, the purpose of the Donglin Party in supporting Zheng Zhilong was also because it could not break through the blockade of Southeast nobles and aristocratic families on land, so it had to solve the problem from the sea.
At that time, the contradiction between the Donglin Party and the noble families was that the merchants and handicraftsmen represented by the Donglin Party produced goods but could not sell them, so they could only accept the exploitation of the noble families and use the hands of the noble families to Sold overseas.
It is precisely based on this fact that the Donglin Party at that time played a positive role in the policy formulation and national policy operation of the Ming Dynasty.
Since when did the Donglin Party deteriorate?
It was precisely in the late Wanli period, especially during the Tianqi period.
Because the two generations of emperors Wanli and Tianqi reused eunuchs and exploited people everywhere to make money, the Donglin Party and the noble families in the southeast quickly merged.
Think about it, Wanli and Tianqi sent so many mine supervisors and tax supervisors to occupy the mines and transportation, and imposed exorbitant taxes.
And who do these mines and trade roads originally belong to?
Whose goods belong to each trade route?
He is not from a noble family.
In other words, the perverse actions of the two emperors Wanli and Tianqi allowed the Southeast Xungui Family and the Donglin Party, who were originally enemies, to quickly form a united front.
This is also one of the reasons why the struggle between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party was so fierce during the Wanli Period.
Because the Donglin Party has greater support behind it, it has the energy and courage to fight.
However, although this merger is in line with the struggle situation, it does not bring good things to the Donglin Party.
This originally positive force quickly began to corrupt, and then gradually became the spokesperson of the big landowners.
If the image is metaphorical, the Donglin Party is like the later KMT.
At the beginning, it was a progressive force that was anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, anti-oppression, and pursued national independence and national strength. But later it became the spokesperson of imperialism, the comprador class, and the big landlord class, and degenerated into a reactionary force.
The knowledgeable people in the Donglin Party may be able to see this change at this time, but they certainly cannot explain why.
After all, this is caused by the limitations of the times.
People with keen eyesight, such as Hou Xun and Liu Zongzhou, only noticed the crisis, but they did not know what the crisis was, where it came from, and how to solve it.
On the contrary, Zuo Menggeng has the concept of future generations, and he is really sharp-eyed and can tell the truth.
Today's Donglin Party is no longer a progressive force representing the bourgeoisie, craftsmen, and ordinary people, but has degenerated into a powerful landlord class.
The change in class attributes is the source of the Donglin Party's crisis.
Nowadays, the top leaders of the Donglin Party have long forgotten the prosperous years of the past. They only have eyes for the high positions vacated by the imperial court. Even their own people have to fight for them.
This was the situation when Han Xu returned to the DPRK.
During the Taichang and Tianqi years, Han Xu was already a bachelor. Among today's Donglin, he is the top boss.
It was also for this purpose that Chongzhen recalled him as the chief minister of the cabinet.
It is worth mentioning that Han Xu was also a native of Puzhou, Shanxi, and was often appreciated and promoted by Wang Chonggu when he was young.
The Donglin Party and the Jin Party were originally allies.
But as soon as Han Xu came back, Qian Longxi was in trouble.
He is the first cabinet minister to be "uprightly" drawn from the golden urn. Logically speaking, this chief minister should be his.
As a result, a Han Xu parachuted down, and one can imagine how Qian Longxi felt.
Although Chongzhen used Yuan Chonghuan to supervise Liaodong to appease Qian Longxi, can Yuan Chonghuan compare with the chief minister of the cabinet?
Besides, Qian Longxi probably didn't know that Yuan Chonghuan had second thoughts at this time.
The conflict between Qian Qianyi and Zhou Yanru is even more difficult to resolve.
These two people are both rare and famous people with outstanding talents and outstanding literary talent. After the older generation of Donglin Party members, they have now become stars in the Donglin Party.
But the conflict between the two has been going on for a long time.
Zhou Yanru was a native of Yixing, which is today's Wuxi.
Qian Qianyi is from Suzhou Prefecture.
As the saying goes, Su Songchang is the only one in Jiangnan.
Are you from Yixing worthy of staying in the Soviet Union?
And their paths to rise are also different.
Zhou Yanru is a typical academic who excels in exams if he can't do anything else.
Qian Qianyi is more like an art student. He is proficient in chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and poetry, and is top-notch in everything.
In the eyes of top academics, what is an art student?
slacker student.
What is an academic master in the eyes of art students?
bookworm.
However, within the Donglin Party, Su, Song, Chang and others had the largest number of members, and they all gathered around Qian Qianyi to praise and build momentum for him.
Zhou Yanru was one of the excluded and had no friends at all in the Donglin Party.
His situation made the emerging forces within the Donglin Party quite sympathetic and supported him one after another.
This emerging force is Fushe led by Zhang Pu.
Hou Xun and Liu Zongzhou may not know that Zhou Yanru had second thoughts at this time and was preparing to join forces with Wen Tiren of the Zhejiang Party to jointly deal with Qian Qianyi.
Faced with the chaotic situation, they thought hard but could not find a good solution, and they were unable to do anything.
Zuo Mengeng was straightforward.
"In today's Donglin, both the sages and the latecomers have been blinded by power, fame and fortune. Why don't you two old men start over again, follow the example of Duke Jingyang, reopen the sun and the moon, and rebuild Donglin?"
