Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

When Xue Lian was on his way to Wei Zhongxian's home, the Wei Mansion, he happened to meet Wei Zhongxian who had just returned from serving Emperor Tianqi from the palace.The carriages of the two pedestrians joined together immediately, and Xue Lian got off his horse and entered Wei Zhongxian's carriage.Seeing each other, both of them were very happy. Xue Lian even joked with Wei Zhongxian: I didn't even eat my dinner, and I'm going to Wei's mansion today to make Wei Zhongxian poor.Wei Zhongxian laughed heartily, feeling helpless towards the rascal behavior of his little brother.

The relationship between Xue Lian and Wei Zhongxian is quite close, and their friendship has even surpassed the feelings between ordinary brothers.Don't say that Xue Lian can joke with Wei Zhongxian casually, and don't say that Xue Lian can recruit his daughter as a son-in-law. This kind of private matter is entrusted to Wei Zhongxian. Just from Xue Lian's address to Wei Zhongxian, you can see It shows the friendship between Xue Lian and Wei Zhongxian.Xue Lian called Wei Zhongxian "Wei Gong", and Wei Zhongxian also liked Xue Lian calling him that.Because, before Wei Zhongxian made his fortune, both of them were in the mansion of the eldest son of the emperor (the eldest son of the emperor had not yet become the prince), Xue Lian respectfully called Wei Zhongxian "Wei Gong".Although now, people outside all call Wei Zhongxian "nine thousand years old", but Wei Zhongxian understands that when they call themselves this way, they are either flattering or forced by their coquettish prestige. Few of them treat themselves sincerely.And Xue Lian's respect and friendship towards him have been almost the same for nearly 20 years and have never changed.

In the mansion of the eldest son of the emperor at that time, eunuchs such as Wang An and Wei Zhongxian, gentlemen (civil officials) who taught the eldest son and grandsons of the emperor (civil officials), officials (civil officials) such as the chief historian of the eldest son's mansion, and companions such as Xue Lian (Xungui), these dozen or so people, in order to promote the eldest son of the emperor to the position of prince, formed a very tightly united small group.Moreover, this small group made great contributions in the process of pushing the eldest son of the emperor to become the crown prince.The bitterness and suffering in this process made people like Wei Zhongxian and Xue Lian unwilling to recall it.

But when the eldest son of the emperor finally became the prince and successfully inherited the throne, the people in this small group immediately parted ways, and in order to fight for power, they fought fiercely to the death.Its tragic degree is also unimaginable.And Wei Zhongxian won the final victory in the fight with these evenly matched former comrades-in-arms, but he was also bruised all over his body.In the battle with these people, Xue Lian's attitude towards Wei Zhongxian was unwavering, and Xue Lian himself was also an important weight. When he was escorted to Wei Zhongxian's side, the dawn of victory appeared in front of Wei Zhongxian .

The importance of Xue Lian is manifested in two aspects:

The first aspect is that he has a high status and influence in the noble circle.Because at that time, he had been the companion of the eldest son of the emperor. According to folk rules, the current Emperor Tianqi should also be called his uncle. Therefore, Xue Lian has a very close relationship with the royal family, so he naturally became the honorary uncle. The spokesperson who is expensive in front of the emperor.There is another aspect, his wife, Mrs. Zhang, is the daughter of the old British Duke and the younger sister of the current British Duke. Therefore, Xue Lian's wife's family is also very powerful.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Zhang family of the British, the Zhu family of the Chengguo, and the Xu family of the Dingguo in Beijing, together with the Xu family of the Wei Guogong in Nanjing and the Mu family of the Qianguo Gong in Yunnan (in Yunnan, it is Tu Emperor, but the influence on the court is relatively small), they together formed the leader group in the noble circle.Although, after the Tumubao Incident, Xungui's influence has been greatly reduced, but a small influence does not mean no influence. When Wei Zhongxian fights with an evenly matched opponent, these influences can completely become the last straw to overwhelm the opponent .

Another aspect is that Xue Lian has a reputation for knowing military strategies in the entire noble circle, and even in the court.It should be said that Xue Lian's political skills, whether it is political sense or political struggle methods, are not very superb.Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, whether it was civil servants or eunuchs, there were a group of monster-like political struggle masters, which seemed very common.However, due to Xue Lian's knowledge of military strategy, his status is particularly important in the environment where there are few people who know military strategy in the entire Ming court.

Here, the author wants to briefly introduce the political environment in the late Ming Dynasty and the ins and outs of the formation of political groups.

As long as there are any works and documents about the Ming Dynasty, there is one person that cannot be bypassed, and that is the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty——Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

The emperor Zhu Yuanzhang has two biggest characteristics:

One is that Zhu Yuanzhang's desire for power is particularly strong.In fact, in any dynasty, there are always many conflicts between the emperor and the ministers on the issue of power distribution, and Zhu Yuanzhang also encountered this problem.So after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, as soon as the domestic situation stabilized, Zhu Yuanzhang launched several large-scale campaigns to cleanse heroes.Taking advantage of this opportunity, he abolished the highest position among civil servants, the "Prime Minister", leaving the civil official group without a leader;As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang completely controlled the power in the court, allowing the decimated civil servant group and the noble group to check and balance each other.In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang alone decided on all affairs in the court.Of course, this method of governing is based on the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang is a model worker among the emperors—on this basis, because the intensity of Zhu Yuanzhang's daily work can make any work maniac fall down.

Another characteristic is that Zhu Yuanzhang treats his relatives, especially his children, very lovingly, even to the point of doting.Zhu Yuanzhang established the political structure and bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, which was so mature that it was basically used until the end of the Qing Dynasty.He also stipulated jobs for all the people in the world, and these jobs must not be changed, and must be passed on to future generations (such as military households, craftsmen, etc. Even the craftsmen are clearly stipulated whether they are carpenters or blacksmiths).So in the end, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that as long as his descendants followed the system he formulated, they would enjoy the country smoothly and pass on the Ming Dynasty to all generations in a safe and secure manner.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also has some other small characteristics.For example, he was very concerned about the lives of ordinary people, so the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were very low.Business tax is only one-thirtieth (think VAT at 17.00% now).Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang killed the heroes, no one dared to rebel.Because no common people will support them.

Due to Zhu Yuanzhang's prestige and prestige as the founding emperor, some systems and policies he formulated greatly affected the political decision-making after the Ming Dynasty.The policies formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang may be in line with the actual situation of his ruling years, but with the development of society, especially the emergence of capitalism in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, the policies he formulated have been unable to solve these emerging situations up.However, since the later Ming Dynasty government wanted to maintain the ancestral system, these untimely policies could not be changed, and eventually this led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.One of the main reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was that the big private merchants and landlords were very rich, but the Ming government government could not collect taxes from them due to policy reasons, which led to the government's bankruptcy.In addition, in order to solve the government's financial crisis, the government of the Ming Dynasty levied huge taxes on the majority of free farmers, which happened to encounter a famine again, causing farmers to rebel.It's really a standard official coercion.