Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 60 Born of Fame, Died of Fame (Please vote!)

Zhu Youjian's figure was stretched long and thin by the sunlight, making him appear somewhat frail in the vast throne.

He held the list in his left hand and scribbled on a piece of white paper with his right, feeling something was very wrong.

As a time traveler from a later era, he had a vague and stereotypical impression of the "Donglin Party" label in his mind—the spokesperson for the Jiangnan gentry group.

However, the results after sorting out were not like that.

Judging from their place of origin, among the 108 heroes selected by the Donglin Party, the number from Southern Zhili (present-day Zhili) was the largest, with the most coming from Changzhou.

However, this small group of people from Changzhou were basically all people associated with the Donglin Academy mentioned by Gao Panlong.

However, besides this... there are also quite a few people from Shaanxi, Shandong, and Hubei.

Even in Zhejiang, which he thought was the stronghold of the so-called eunuch faction, five people were actually on the list.

This does not appear to be a political group formed simply by regional solidarity.

Zhu Youjian's suspicions grew stronger.

He then compiled another list, including the hometowns of more than 130 officials who had also been dismissed due to "factionalism" but were not included in the "Donglin Generals List".

When two rough forms are placed in front of you, compare them side by side.

That feeling became even more pronounced.

Comparing the two sets, there is actually no obvious regional concentration trend.

If there's anything unusual, it might be that the proportion of Donglin Party members from Zhejiang is slightly lower, but it's still within the normal range.

As for the fact that both lists from Southern Zhili topped the list, this actually coincides with the proportion of officials selected in the Ming Dynasty. Southern Zhili has always been a province with a large number of successful candidates in the imperial examinations, which is understandable.

Zhu Youjian put down the brush in his hand and gently tapped the table with his knuckles, making a soft "tap, tap" sound.

He already had a vague guess in his mind, but he couldn't be completely sure yet.

If it weren't for place of origin, then...

Perhaps it's an academic faction?
Are people who gather together because of their teacher-student relationship or doctrines, only to be ultimately defined and packaged together?

He picked up the book again and patiently began to search for clues in the resumes, mentors, and friends of each official, trying to piece together the academic factions behind them.

This is truly a massive and complex project.

His eyes were almost blurry from looking at it for so long before he finally managed to draw an extremely ugly picture on the white paper in front of him.

It was covered with various arrows and circles, and he had made all sorts of corrections and alterations. The ink and vermilion marks were mixed together, making it look messy and chaotic.

But it was this picture that made him see many things clearly.

Gu Xiancheng, the founder of Donglin Academy, belonged to the Wang family school in southern China.

The other founder, Qian Yiben, was from the Jiangyou Wangmen.

Qian Qianyi, known as the "leader of the Donglin Party," studied under Gu Xiancheng in his youth, belonging to the Wang School of Southern China. Later, he also became a disciple of the Taishan School.

The Taishan School is the school that produced the famous eccentric "Li Zhi," and it is known as the "left wing" of the Wang School, which is incompatible with other schools of Wang's Neo-Confucianism.

In addition to these, the list also includes Wang Xizhi studies from Guangdong and Fujian, central Zhejiang, central Hubei, and the North...

The academic schools of thought represented by the individuals on this list are like a profusion of flowers blooming from Wang Yangming's philosophy in the late Ming Dynasty, encompassing almost everything.

The key issue is that not everyone on the list is a disciple of the School of Mind!
Ye Xianggao and Zhao Nanxing were standard followers of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, while Shen Congwu was a representative figure of the Guanzhong School of Qi.

What do you mean by "Donglin academic clique"?
It was almost a simultaneous manifestation of the intellectual chaos of the late Ming Dynasty!
Zhu Youjian picked up the two sets of place of origin statistics, then looked at the messy academic origin chart in front of him, comparing and examining it repeatedly.

The hall was completely silent, with only the occasional crackling of the candlelight.

The confusion in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented clarity.

He figured it out.

Firstly, the so-called "Donglin Party" was, at least at the end of the Tianqi era, a party "defined" by its political enemies.

It has a "name" but no "substance".

In order to eliminate dissidents, Wei Zhongxian labeled all those who opposed him and refused to submit to him with this label, and wiped them out in one fell swoop.

While some small groups existed within this group, bound by academic affiliation, regional ties, or mentorship, a unified "Donglin Party" with a clear platform and organization simply did not exist. Secondly, the effect of regional affiliation was far less powerful in this era than later generations might imagine.

Each province has its own academic factions and its own interests; even within a single province, there is no monolithic unity.

Just like in Southern Zhili, the conflicts between Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Huizhou, and Huaibei are probably even greater than their conflicts with Shandong and Shanxi.

Take, for example, the “Shexian Silk Case” he saw in the book. Even in a small Huizhou Prefecture, there were conflicts between the counties. How much more so in the entire Southern Zhili?

This is actually quite reasonable.

It's important to understand that Jiangsu in later generations was fragmented, let alone in the late Ming Dynasty when transportation and communication were extremely backward.
Having clarified these two key points, Zhu Youjian's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed completely.

He let out a long breath, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his heart.

Previously, he had been misled by the popular literature of later generations, and regarded the Donglin Party, Southern Zhili, and the landlord class as a monolithic and powerful force.

Unfortunately, this so-called "Donglin Party" contained many talented individuals whom he would later become familiar with, so he had no choice but to use them.

This forced him to constantly think about how to balance the struggle between the Donglin Party and the eunuch faction after the Donglin Party's restoration, and how to prevent the resurgence of factional strife.

Looking further ahead, I always wonder how to deal with the huge academic and economic group "Donglin" when the reforms extend to land, finance and taxation, officialdom, and even ideology.

Looking back now, it seems that I was thinking in the wrong direction and using the wrong effort from the very beginning.

Name and reality can be interchangeable.

The name "Donglin Party" was artificially defined, so naturally its members would gradually gather together.

Over time, even without Donglin, there was still Donglin.

Just like in history, after the second year of Chongzhen's reign, the Donglin Party was completely abolished, and they served as an opposition party in local areas for more than a decade.

Being targeted and attacked day and night as part of the Donglin Party, this pressure actually forced them to truly unite and become a nascent political party, eventually even able to manipulate the selection of prime ministers through local literary societies...

But then again.

When it comes to matters of name, shouldn't the emperor be the one with the most say?

A playful smile appeared on Zhu Youjian's lips.

When the King of Qin unified the six kingdoms, he placed the law above all else.

Emperor Wu of Han dismissed all other schools of thought and exclusively honored Confucianism.

Later, the Song Dynasty adopted Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as the official doctrine, and both the so-called new and old schools of thought sought support from Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Throughout history, official schools have invariably suppressed private schools.

It was only in the late Ming Dynasty, when the country was in decline and people's hearts were yearning for change, that the School of Mind became so prevalent.

It is interwoven with Neo-Confucianism, Qi theory, and Western learning, making it a truly rich and complex mixture!

But I am the new emperor.

A new emperor will usher in a new era!
A new era should also bring new ideas and new "ways" to be articulated!
Let me see whether your Confucianism, which has been passed down for thousands of years, is stronger, or whether my dragon-slaying technique from later generations is more powerful!

As for the so-called Donglin Party and the eunuch faction, since they were born out of fame in the past, they will surely die out of fame in the future!

　In fact, there are at least seven lists of Donglin members, such as "Donglin Comrades Record", "Donglin Faction Record", "Tianjian Record", and "Donglin Gang that Stole the Handle", etc.

　　I simply don't have time to read it all. So I'll use "Donglin Generals' Record" as a guide, since it includes the 108 heroes of the Water Margin, which is more interesting and less tiring to read.

　　-
　　Besides those on the Donglin list, many others were dismissed because of their factional affiliations. I found this data in the Veritable Records of Emperor Xizong of Ming, which lists a total of 130 people. I suspect I've missed quite a few, so please bear with it.

　　-
　　I've included both of these lists in the book "List of Dismissed Officials During the Tianqi Era" related to my work. You can take a look and see if you can identify more talented people—I only recognized these few before I wrote this book, haha.

　　-
　　The academic schools of thought of each member in the Donglin Academy are referenced in Huang Zongxi's "Ming Confucian Scholars' Cases".

　　-
　　The "Shexian Silk Case" mentioned in the article is actually the prototype of the "Top Student Must Die - Huizhou Silk Case" in Ma Boyong's "The Ming Dynasty Under the Microscope".

　　This matter began in the fourteenth year of the Jiajing reign and dragged on until the seventh year of the Wanli reign, when a papering solution was finally put together.

　　If you're interested, you can search for it yourself; it's a great story that uses a small detail to illustrate the grand scale of the Ming Dynasty.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)