According to the Ming History written by Lu Ya in the Ming Dynasty, "Anyone who flatters the imperial court is worshipped as the godfather, and he is called' 9900-year-old grandfather'." Literally, "nine thousand years old" actually means that Wei Zhongxian is in the position closest to the emperor in the monopoly of imperial power, and one person is above ten thousand people and above all beings.
When it comes to Wei Zhongxian, there are naturally different opinions. So, is the "nine-year-old" a eunuch who accelerated the demise of the Ming Empire or one of the few "life-saving straws" in the late Ming Dynasty?
At present, there are two mainstream views on the Internet. First, Wei Zhongxian monopolized the state affairs, blinded the saints and corrupted the platform; Second: Lin Dong misunderstood this country. "If Zhong Xian were here, current events would not end here." The author talks about his own views from several aspects.
1. Who is the bane, Lindong Party or Yen Party?
The end of a dynasty is by no means overnight.
This should start with the phenomenon of intensified party struggle in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In order to gain benefits, local officials formed almost independent political parties in a huge government agency. They focus on striving for common interests and use all means to crowd out, suppress and oppose other officials who disagree with them.
Later, it evolved into: Lindong Party representing the interests of Jiangnan gentry group; Qi Party, Zhejiang Party, Chu Party and eunuch group headed by eunuchs represent imperial power.
As the leader of the eunuch party, Wei Zhongxian represents the imperial power and is the "servant of the emperor". This is naturally incompatible with the Lindong Party, which represents the interests of southern businessmen.
Therefore, no matter how greedy Wei Zhongxian was, whether he plundered the wealth and cream of the people, suppressed the literati class, or built temples in various places to eliminate dissidents by bloody means, all these were carried out with the acquiescence of the Emperor Apocalypse at that time.
The struggle between parties is actually a contest between the royal family, nobles, eunuchs and gentry capitalists handed down from generation to generation. It is not so much an inner-party struggle as a cruel class struggle.
Give a simple example: the mine supervision tax during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
As soon as this tax came out, it was bombarded by Lindong Party. Lindong Party wantonly criticized that "mining supervision tax is the emperor's struggle for profits with the people!" Who is the benefit of this tax? Mine supervision tax infringes the interests of mine owners, that is, capitalists. How can we compete with the people for profits?
Let's see how Wei Zhongxian and his eunuch did it.
Salt tax, tea tax, mining tax and customs duties; Collect taxes from monopoly officials and businessmen, big smugglers and Japanese pirates; Reduce the agricultural tax in the north.
It seems that greed is insatiable. In fact, to a certain extent, the poor peasants were given a way out, and the salaries of the Nine Frontier Army were basically paid in full, which reduced the phenomenon of unpaid salaries and stabilized the army from the root.
Lindong Party advocates tax reduction, but tax reduction is for its own benefit class. In the late Ming Dynasty, the national finance collapsed, and the Lindong Party advocated increasing the agricultural tax for the poor, which led to a large number of farmers who could not survive. Civil strife and uprisings across the country accelerated the demise of Daming. Wei Zhongxian, as a "political hooligan", specialized in exploiting businessmen of all sizes and exploiting gentry groups, without increasing the burden on farmers.
Therefore, the eradication of Wei Zhongxian is a trivial matter, and the national financial problem is a major event. As far as the country is concerned, what Mr. Lin Dong did probably had a greater impact on the situation at that time than what Wei Zhongxian did.
Is the age of two or nine loyal or treacherous?
After talking about financial problems, we deeply analyze whether Wei Zhongxian is a good person. Many people in the world concluded that Wei Zhongxian was a traitor on the grounds that Wei Zhongxian was in charge of state affairs. This statement is not to the point.
Four years after the apocalypse of Ming Dynasty, Ming Xizong used Wei Zhongxian to crack down on Lindong party member. I'm afraid this can't be completely said to be the result of Wei Zhongxian's manipulation and deception.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty was in a special period. There are riots and rebellions all over the country, and the Lindong Party is still arguing in the hall, which has no effect at all. The apocalypse emperor had a terrible headache, but there was nothing he could do.
In the same year, Yang Lian and others of Lindong Party impeached Wei Zhongxian's "twenty-four major sins" and tried to kill Wei Zhongxian, which turned the tables. Speaking of this, Lin Dong's party has nothing to do when it is full. Originally, Wei Zhongxian was not too arrogant at that time, and Yang Lian and others had already regarded it as an object that seemed even more hateful than Nurhachi, gnashing their teeth and committing crimes in Luo Zhi, and they had to destroy it quickly.
Of course, Emperor Apocalypse didn't want Wei Zhongxian to be executed or exiled, and Wei Zhongxian had to fight back to save his life. In this way, it contributed to the apocalypse emperor increased the power of Wei Zhongxian, let him to deal with Lin Dong side.
Wei Zhongxian did everything he couldn't bear to do, but the apocalypse turned a blind eye, which made Wei Zhongxian suppress the desire of Lindong Party with great public pressure and numerous accusations. But it can be said that the failure of Lindong Party was by no means the result of Wei Zhongxian being manipulated by the apocalypse because of political laziness. On the contrary, it was mainly the result of Wei Zhongxian being used by the Emperor of Apocalypse and some civil servants who opposed Lindong Party.
It can be seen that Wei Zhongxian only took the blame for the apocalypse, and there were many such examples in the Ming Dynasty. Others say that Wei Zhongxian is cruel, cunning, heartless and illiterate, but in fact he is full of self-love.
How can a capable person like Emperor Apocalypse reuse an illiterate Wei Zhongxian?
Considering that Lindong Party killed Wei Zhongxian and Lindong wrote the Ming history, would Lindong Party deliberately write the story of Wei Zhongxian? Excuse me: a eunuch who is a ceremonial supervisor can't read, and can enter the apocalypse just because of a kind word from Hakka? It can be seen that Wei Zhongxian and the Apocalypse have been vilified deeply.
The author speculates that it is more likely that Wei Zhongxian reached the position of holding a pen because of his ability, and then suppressed Lindong with the acquiescence of Emperor Apocalypse, which seriously violated the interests of Lindong gentry group, so Lindong killed Apocalypse and Wei Zhongxian.
Emperor Apocalypse froze to death after falling into the water at the age of 23, and Emperor Zheng De fell into the water and died in his prime. How similar is this? Behind these conspiracies is a huge group of civil servants.
On the other hand, judging from Wei Zhongxian's cronyism, corruption and bribery, he is indeed a traitor; But he is loyal to the emperor and the country, and can also be regarded as a loyal minister; Moreover, during his reign, he can also make the state machine work normally. Judging from a big mistake, he is a capable minister.
Third, if Wei Zhongxian dies, will history be another ending?
There are also many people who believe that not dying at the age of nine can make Daming live for decades.
This statement is based on the fact that during the reign of Wei Zhongxian, the internal problems of the whole Ming Dynasty were very stable, basically nothing serious happened, and some small-scale civil commotions and mutinies were "perfectly" solved. For the war between Liaodong and Jianzhou Jurchen, Wei Zhongxian, who lacked political vision, was very self-aware and knew that he was not the material, so he never commanded military commanders by civilians and experts by laymen like the traditional Ming system.
Instead, the military power was safely handed over to the following military commanders, which can be said to be a more competent leader.
In terms of corruption, Wei Zhongxian is more principled, and basically does not take the state's money to enrich itself. Even corruption will rob the rich of their money.
Judging from these, Wei Zhongxian was really embellished by those who wrote history books. But since ancient times, the winner is the king and the loser is the kou, and the failure of eunuchs is bound to be blacked out. Therefore, there is still no basis for the saying that "the loyal and virtuous will not die, and Daming will not die".
Wei Zhongxian, after all, didn't have so much talent and courage. In the late Ming Dynasty, under the chaos of the Apocalypse and Chongzhen Dynasties, Wei Zhongxian played the role of a swordsman. The emperor is the man with a knife behind his back. When the imperial power no longer needed this knife, Wei Zhongxian was the first victim. It is not so much "Zhong Xian does not die, Daming does not die" as "the apocalypse does not die, Daming does not die".
Summary:
Wei Zhongxian is corrupt, cruel and insidious. We can't deny that he is a villain. However, under the background of peasant uprising, post-Jin Kouguan, and constant party struggles, why did you propose to levy mining tax and business tax, without asking farmers for money, and extending your hand to gentry and businessmen to maintain military pay and stabilize the country?
Wei Zhongxian and his eunuchs did persecute Zhongliang and did evil, but it was not necessarily a bad thing for the country, and things should be demonstrated in many ways. The so-called "good people doing good things may not be beneficial to the country, and bad people doing bad things may not be harmful to the country." Historical figures often can't be judged by pure good or bad.
It depends on whether it is beneficial to the country. Wei Zhongxian has committed heinous crimes, and it is useless to die in the country. If he doesn't die, Emperor Chongzhen will be able to suppress the civil service group and the national finance will not collapse. So that taxes can be collected; Can eliminate disasters; Can pay; The Ming dynasty will not run out of its last strength in repeated rebel uprisings and Nuzhen's entry into the customs.
He is a real eunuch, but not a disaster; He is also a capable minister, but he is powerless. Wei Zhongxian, nine years old, bad, but not stupid. If he is a bad person, he will die.