The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 312 Donglin is coming
It's already a bit cold in Beijing in November.

At night, a thin layer of ice formed in the moat, so you had to wear a cotton jacket when going out during the day.

Wanli didn't feel cold at all.

He connected the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace with a closed corridor. Moreover, coal stoves were installed in the positions where the eunuchs and palace maids were on duty, so the corridors were very warm.

After returning to Beijing, he neither went out nor attended court meetings. He spent his days either reviewing memorials in the Imperial Study or making babies in the Qianqing Palace. He lived a very comfortable life.

However, the civil officials in the court were having a very unhappy time at this moment.

Especially those upright people, they were all annoyed by the Zhejiang Party.

Shen Yikuan was clearly forming a clique for personal gain. This guy took advantage of the young emperor's favor to control the Ministry of Personnel and unscrupulously placed his cronies in the court.

Now the Zhejiang Party members in the Ming Dynasty court are so numerous that no one knows how many there are.

The clean officials in the court could no longer tolerate it and finally started to go crazy.

Early in the morning at about noon, Wanli came to the imperial study humming an unknown tune. He was about to review the memorials when a cough suddenly sounded outside.

Yu Youcai is sick?
This cough was not the kind of clear cough that sounded like reporting something, but a rapid and heavy cough.

Wanli was stunned for a moment, then said loudly: "Bingzhong, come in quickly."

Upon hearing this, Yu Youcai quickly covered his mouth and walked in.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli couldn't help but ask with concern, "Bingzhong, what's wrong with you?"

Yu Youcai panted slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I am fine, I just have a slight cough."

Are you really okay?
Wanli said solemnly: "You must take care of your health. If you have a cough, you must take medicine immediately. Don't let a minor illness turn into a serious one."

Yu Youcai quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

Wanli looked at the memorial in his hand and then asked, "What's the matter? Is there something important today that you actually came here in person?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Youcai respectfully handed over the memorial in his hand, then sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, it seems that the upright officials in the court have reached the limit of their patience."

What do these guys want to do?

Wanli took the memorials, opened the top one and was stunned.

There is such a long list on this memorial.

Zhao Nanxing, Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Reward Department, and Gu Xiancheng, Yuanwailang, jointly submitted a memorial accusing Shen Yikuan of cultivating cronies and forming a clique for personal gain.

These officials are all Shen Yiquan's confidants. They are all immoral and incompetent. They only know how to abuse their power for personal gain. Their test scores are appalling. It is recommended that they all be dismissed to clean up their official careers.

Gu Xiancheng!
Is Donglin coming?
In history, Donglin did not seem to have come so early.

However, the situation now is different from that in history. The Zhejiang Party had been matured by him early on, so it is not surprising that Donglin appeared early.

Gu Xiancheng, Zhao Nanxing and others were dismissed because they offended the powerful officials in the court. They were dissatisfied, so they ran back to give lectures, discuss state affairs, criticize current ills, and instigate the Qingliu to fight against the Zhejiang Party!
Needless to say, the powerful person in the court is the Zhejiang Party in power.

Now the Zhejiang Party has almost matured, it’s time to mature the Donglin Party as well, and let them bite it to death!
Wanli thought about it carefully, then picked up the memorial and said, "Should we let Zhao Zhigao write the draft for this?"

what?
Should this memorial be given to Zhao Zhigao to draft?
Can Zhao Zhigao let Qingliu deal with his own people?
That's impossible!
Zhao Zhigao would definitely not agree to dismiss these officials, he would only tell Shen Yikuan about this.

Shen Yikuan will definitely turn around and deal with Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng!

This time, Qingliu might not just be in chaos.

His Majesty is lighting firecrackers.

The clear stream will probably explode endlessly like the firecrackers set off during the Chinese New Year.

Yu Youcai subconsciously shrank his neck, then quickly nodded and said, "I understand."

You can imagine what happened next.

Zhao Zhigao naturally wanted to protect his own people. He simply made empty statements and found no evidence, so he suggested keeping the money in the palace and not sending it out.

Shen Yikuan is gradually becoming more and more crazy at this moment. It is good enough that he does not look for trouble to deal with Qingliu. Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng of Qingliu even want to deal with his confidants. How can this be tolerated?

He directly mobilized the Zhejiang Party censors to make up all kinds of rumors and false accusations, and frantically impeached Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng. Then he ordered people to submit a memorial, advising that Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng be removed from office.

Wanli pretended to be confused and approved it.

At this point, Zhao Nanxing and Gu Xiancheng were furious. Were they wrong to advise against the removal of Shen Yiguan's confidants?
Shen Yikuan is cultivating his cronies and forming a clique for personal gain.

Instead of dealing with the officials with problems, the young emperor dealt with those officials who raised the problems.

Outrageous!

Gu Xiancheng was so angry that he ran home immediately. Together with his brother Gu Yuncheng, he restored the Donglin Academy where the Southern Song scholar Song Shi had lectured, and engraved a famous couplet he had written.

The sound of wind and rain and the sound of reading are in my ears, and I care about everything in the world, including family affairs, national affairs, and everything in the world.

Then he invited those demoted and dismissed officials to discuss state affairs and criticize current ills under the pretext of giving lectures.

Zhao Nanxing, Gao Panlong, Qian Yiben and other frustrated scholars flocked to the position, regardless of the long journey, and ran over. Some of the demoted scholars simply did not take up the position and directly resigned and went to Donglin Academy.

Soon, Donglin Academy was packed, and even the student dormitories could not accommodate the number of students who came.

In a short time, Donglin became famous and became a holy place in the eyes of the elite. Students who came to study there were as numerous as crucian carp crossing the river.

Even the upright officials in power in the court admired him so much that they came from thousands of miles away to respond to him.

This is a historical necessity, or in other words, this is what Qingliu likes.

As for the Qingliu, there are many young and ignorant people who like to point fingers and make comments, and they can easily offend those powerful people who should not be offended. Therefore, there are countless Qingliu officials who have been demoted or even dismissed.

Most of these people will become fenqing, or angry young people.

Although most of them are already quite old, the anger in their hearts has not diminished at all.

These people are full of anger and just want to curse people, curse those corrupt officials, curse those powerful officials who abuse their power for personal gain, curse those who deal with them, and even curse those who do not follow their ideas.

The problem is that there has to be someone to listen to them when they curse. If someone curses at home, not only will no one listen, but their family will also think they are crazy.

Donglin Academy is a great place.

In this place, not only students listen to the insults, but also fellow enthusiasts of the Qingliu school listen to them, and some of them join in the insults, or in other words, criticize the current social ills.

This place is simply tailor-made for them. For those frustrated and unsuccessful people, this is a holy place.

If they brag about it a lot, this place will naturally become a holy place for all the pure streams.

To be honest, Donglin was quite pure at the beginning. They were just a bunch of frustrated young people.

They were not thinking of forming cliques or fighting for power and profit. They just wanted to curse people or find a place to vent their anger.

This can be seen from Gu Xiancheng's final destination.

After he restored the Donglin Academy, he continued to teach at home. Even as Donglin gradually grew in power, many officials petitioned Wanli to allow him to resume his official duties. Wanli agreed and appointed him as the Shaoqing of the Nanjing Guanglu Temple.

If he really wanted to fight for power and profit, with his prestige in Donglin, it would be quite easy for him to be promoted to the position of Chief Minister of the Five Temples or even the Minister of the Six Ministries as long as he returned to officialdom.

But he didn't go. He stayed at home and taught until his death.

Including his younger brother Gu Yuncheng, who was also a Jinshi. He also taught at home until his death and never took up any official position in the court.

Therefore, the original purpose of Donglin was not to form a clique for personal gain or to fight for power and profit.

At least that was not the purpose of the founders, brothers Gu Xiancheng and Gu Yuncheng.

It was only later that officials with ulterior motives joined Donglin and gradually took control of it, and Donglin became a tool for those officials to fight for power and profit.

Especially after those officials with Shanxi and Huizhou merchant backgrounds joined Donglin, Donglin was no longer a clear stream, but a pool of turbid water.

Of course, these are all later stories, so we will skip them for now.

In short, Donglin is now at its peak among the Qingliu.

Those upright officials in the court also gradually leaned towards Donglin, including Gao Maocai, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Inspectorate, Xin Zixiu, the Minister of Justice, Zhang Mengli, the Minister of the Supreme Court, and so on, all of whom began to speak out in support of Donglin.

Historically, there were no such people among the officials close to Donglin, because these so-called clean officials were purged before Donglin was born.

Now, thanks to Wanli's blessing, they have not been persecuted, so they will naturally become close to Donglin.

This is also a historical necessity, because the Donglin Party was scolding their political enemy, the Zhejiang Party, and they scolded it so well!

(End of this chapter)