When Gu Xiancheng gathered a large number of like-minded gentlemen in Wuxi Donglin Academy, he probably didn't expect that a brand-new political faction Lindong Party was taking shape. What he didn't expect was that the opposing Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party and even Yan Party were formed with no effort. Up to now, many scholars believe that the party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty is the main reason for the demise of the dynasty.
1, aim high
1550, Gu Xiancheng was born in Li Jing, Wuxi County, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili. His family belongs to a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River. Later, his family declined. His father, Gu Xue, makes a living by running a tofu workshop. Because of his big family, he often has to borrow money from others to make ends meet. The house where his family lives is shabby and sheltered from the wind and rain. For all this, Gu is pitiful. He is optimistic and curious by nature, loves reading miscellaneous books, has a broad vision and is knowledgeable. He likes to talk about world events. Speaking of feelings, "I don't want to worry too much." Because of this, he was elected as the director of the exhibition hall. This character is undoubtedly inherited from Gu Xiancheng.
Gu Xiancheng is precocious, pure in quality, self-motivated, independent and ambitious. He went to school at the age of six, read The Analects of Confucius at the age of eight, Mencius at the age of nine, Shangshu at the age of ten and Han Yu's articles at the age of eleven. He has a strong thirst for knowledge and studies hard. He often stays up late reading books. Sometimes, for fear of influencing others, he covers the lights with curtains and continues his studies. In my early years, I wrote couplets on the wall to motivate myself:
He takes reading as a pleasure and takes Yan Hui as a metaphor to express his views on the rich and the poor. An inspirational teenager, it is quite advanced to have such a view. At the age of fourteen, Gu Xiancheng said reading essentials:
He does not blindly follow and dares to question the classics. He is a confident and independent man. Later, Gu Xiancheng took Welly Zhang, a famous scholar, as a teacher and asked Gu Xiancheng not to take the imperial examination as the purpose, but to strive for a higher level.
In the fourth year of Wanli (1576), Gu Xiancheng took the provincial examination and won the first place, which helped him win the top prize in high school. In that exam, his article Xue Ji expounded the relationship between selecting and employing people and governing the country. He began to pay attention to personnel, worked in the personnel department, and played a role in the future.
In the eighth year of Wanli (1580), Gu Xiancheng went to Beijing to take the exam and got the second place in Dimethyl.
2. Integrity is the official.
Gu Xiancheng, a newcomer to the official career, dares to stick to his personality, which is not bad. One thing says a lot about Gu Xiancheng's character. 1582, Zhang was seriously ill, and the DPRK officials knew that Zhang liked compliments, so they jointly raised money to go to Dongyue Temple to pray for Zhang. Gu Xiancheng didn't attend, and his kind colleagues worried that he would be hit in the future, so they signed it for him. When Gu Xiancheng learned the news, he immediately rode to erase his name. Later, he died of Zhang's serious illness and was not investigated.
Once in a chat, Wang Xijue's record said to Gu Xiancheng: "The strangest thing now is that the court thinks it is right, and outsiders must think it is wrong; What the court thinks is wrong, outsiders must think it is right. " It means blaming the officials and the people for not asking the court for help. Gu Xiancheng replied tit for tat: "I think it should be said that outsiders think it is right and the court must think it is wrong;" Outsiders think it is wrong, and the court must think it is right. " It is pointed out that the responsibility for state affairs lies with the imperial court, not below.
Gu Xiancheng first worked in the real estate department, but was demoted to Guiyang because he wrote to the court that "there is nothing to hide from the gains and losses of current politics". Later, he was promoted to the Zhejiang provincial government. In the 20th year of Wanli (1592), the imperial court conducted a clean government inspection on local officials, and Gu Xiancheng was promoted to the position of director of the examination department of the official department because of "advocating clean government is the best in the world".
Gu Xiancheng believes that selecting and employing people is the top priority of governing the country. In the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), Gu Xiancheng was promoted to Doctor of Literature and Art of the Official Department, and was in charge of the promotion and transfer of official grades, which was equivalent to the selection of cadres by the Central Organization Department. This is a key department. In this position, it is surprising that Gu Xiancheng fully exercised his authority and dared to refuse the nomination of records. Although he is only a director, he can decide the appointment of ministers. "Ming history" records:
This historical material is very interesting At that time, the official department was short of ministers, and Wang Xijue wanted to appoint Luo as the official department minister, but Gu Xiancheng, the director, disagreed and had to appoint Chen Younian, a candidate recommended by Gu Xiancheng. Gu Xiancheng can not only go beyond the will of the record, but also appoint and dismiss his superiors. His ability is beyond the authority of the Chief Secretary, which is too blatant.
Soon after, Wang Xijue of Huiji retired in old age, and Emperor Wanli ordered the official department to select six or seven officials who were qualified for the position of Huiji according to their personal tastes. Gu Xiancheng and Chen Younian, the official department minister, refused to ask for help and drew up a list of seven people according to their tastes. Unexpectedly, people nominated by Gu Xiancheng were hated by Wanli. Wanli accused the official department of favoritism and fired Gu Xiancheng. Many honest ministers wrote to save Gu Xiancheng and typed hundreds of letters. I didn't expect Wanli to go her own way and punish the officials who applied for assistance, while Gu Xiancheng did harm for the people. From then on, Gu Xiancheng ended his career for more than ten years and returned to his hometown of Wuxi.
Gu Xiancheng dared to do so because of the support of a large number of honest ministers, who dared to disobey the emperor's orders and even criticized him to express their loyalty to state affairs. So, although Gu Xiancheng went home, his reputation was higher than before.
3. Lin Dong gives a lecture
In September of the 22nd year of Wanli (1594), Gu Xiancheng returned to his hometown of Li Jing, Wuxi. He is in poor health. After a period of rest, he began to make friends and move around in the name of giving lectures. Gu Xiancheng thinks that although he can't realize his ambition in North Korea, he should do something useful in his hometown. Giving lectures can impart knowledge, be a teacher, support orthodox theories and cultivate talents for the country. This is consistent with his political thought of attaching importance to talents and public opinion, so he concentrated on giving lectures.
On the one hand, Gu Xiancheng used his popularity to attract many people to listen to his Confucian thought of saving the world. Many people come here to listen to the lecture. Gu Xiancheng treats rich and poor alike and warmly welcomes them. Later, too many people came to give lectures. The temples, inns and neighbors in Li Jing Town were full of guests, but they still couldn't receive them. Gu Xiancheng discussed with his brother to build dozens of bookstores in the south of his home for people to live in. For a time, in the north and south of the Xijiang River in Beijing, the sound of books was loud during the day and the candlelight was brilliant at night, which was a scene of hard study. Gu Duan Wengong Chronicle records:
During this period, Miao Changqi, Ma and Zhang Ke Da became famous historical figures. Miao Changqi died in the struggle with eunuch Wei Zhongxian, Ma died in Li Zicheng's entry into Beijing, and Zhang Keda died in the battle with the mutinous rebels in Wuqiao.
On the other hand, Gu Xiancheng took the practice of going abroad and often gave lectures in Suzhou, Changzhou and Yixing, and held academic discussions with Wuzhong scholars in Suzhou, Songjiang, Changshu, Taicang, Jiaxing and Yixing. In the process of giving lectures, Gu Xiancheng felt an urgent need to have a fixed lecture place, so as to turn the scattered lectures into an organized and coordinated unified activity.
In the thirty-second year of Wanli (1604), after many efforts, the government finally approved the reconstruction of Donglin College in the former site of Dongmen, Wuxi City. In September, the project came to an end, and * * * spent more than 1200 taels of silver. As one of the founders, Gu Xiancheng donated the most silver, and he also mobilized Wu officials and gentry to donate money to help repair, which made great contributions. In terms of software, Gu Xiancheng is also hands-on. He reviewed the purpose and specific ceremony of the college lecture.
In October this year, Gu Xiancheng, together with eight gentlemen, including Gu Yuncheng, An Xifan, Liu, Qian Yiben, Xue Fujiao and Ye Maocai, initiated a meeting. According to the Lindong Convention, the meeting will be held once a year, with a short time every month, and they will talk regularly, except in severe cold and summer.
4. Party struggles for disaster.
Lin Dong's lectures are based on the reasonable words of various factions, rather than focusing on short points and not sticking to doorways. The lectures mainly focus on Confucian classics and historical works, commenting on political gains and losses. Donglin Academy was not a simple school from the beginning, but a club of opponents with obvious political intentions. It was founded by a group of unwilling opposition figures, and its main activity was to build an academic platform and sing operas in politics.
Lindong College has woven a huge network of relationships. Every year, the congress sometimes reaches as many as 1000 people, which has accumulated huge political energy and gradually expanded from the opposition to the imperial court, attracting more and more officials to join it and gradually forming a powerful Lindong Party.
From ancient times to the present, no academy can develop into a political faction that affects history, and Donglin Academy has done it.
Although Lindong Party stands on the commanding heights of morality, calls for integrity and morality, and pretends to be a gentleman, one thing is certain: it must be selfish and destroy the balance of power. Donglin Academy has a famous couplet:
This couplet is flawed. It challenges the ruling authority of North Korea with the moral strength of the opposition and weakens the administrative efficiency of the country. In ancient society, a person should know how to advance and retreat, keep his duty, don't listen to what he shouldn't listen to, don't care about what he shouldn't care about, can't "care about everything" and can't influence national politics with a political faction.
Forty years of Wanli (16 12), Gu Xiancheng died in his hometown. Because of Gu Xiancheng's high prestige in Lindong Party, when future generations attack Lindong Party, they must regard him as the primary target. Gu Xiancheng did not expect that his moral standards can only change and influence a small number of people, but seriously interfere with national politics. Many scholars in later generations believe that Lindong Party members regard honesty as a commodity, take criticism as capital, and sell their reputation for honesty, which is called "a gentleman sells straightforwardness". Their moral quality is beyond reproach, but they initiated the politics of moral kidnapping, which was initiated by Gu Xiancheng.
After the appearance of Lindong Party, it caused a chain reaction. Because Lindong Party destroyed the political ecological balance and threatened the interests of other non-Lindong Party members, many non-Lindong Party officials protected themselves by region and formed gangs led by senior officials. There was a time when China, Zhejiang, Chu and Qi joined forces to crack down on party member. The struggle gradually evolved from the original cabinet system struggle and portal struggle to the party struggle, which was further upgraded in scale, more serious in nature and worse in influence, and the party struggle deteriorated sharply until the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
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