The History of China - #252 - Ming 37: The Donglin Debacle

Episode Date: April 10, 2023

Great Ming's 15th emperor steps up to bat at the tender age of 15, but he's not terribly interested in tackling the challenges facing the empire. He'd rather sit in his room and... build models. As if that weren't enough, things go from already-bad to even-worse when a certain eunuch with a mountain of a chip on his shoulder manages to wrangle the reins of power from the teenage monarch. Time Period Covered: 1620-1627 CE Major Historical Figures: The Tianqi Emperor (Zhu Youjiao) [r. 1620-1627] Exalted Duke Wei Zhongxian [1568-1627] Madame Ke [1605-1627] Minister of War Cui Chengxiu [1571-1627] Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao [1559-1627] Minister Liu Zongzhou [1578-1645] Vice Censor-in-Chief Yang Lian [1572-1625] Xu Hengru, White Lotus rebel leader [d. 1623] The Chongzhen Emperor (Zhu Yujian) [r. 1627-1644] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. History isn't black and white, yet too often it's presented as such. Grey History, The French Revolution is a long-form history podcast dedicated to exploring the ambiguities and nuances of the past. From a revolution of hope and liberty to the infamous Reign of terror. You can't understand the modern world without understanding the French Revolution. So search for the French Revolution today. Hello and welcome to the History of China. Episode 252, the Donglin Debacle.

Last time, we finally finished off the longest reign era in the entire Ming Dynasty, the 48-year-long period of the Wanli Emperor, before buzzing through the by far shortest reign of the Ming, that of the Taichung Emperor, who managed to stay alive on the throne for a whopping two entire months. As such, here we are today with the enthronement of the 15-year-old Zhu Youjiao, who will be known as the Tianqi Emperor and as the penultimate monarch of Great Ming. The term that was chosen to define his period of rule, Tianqi, meaning the opening of a ruler's way by heaven, was selected from a passage of the Zhuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals,

and came into effect on the first day of the Lunar New Year, January 22nd, 1621. Historian William Atwell pulls no punches in his overview of this seven-year reign period. Quote, the Tianqi period was a disastrous one in Chinese history, and the Tianqi Emperor has acquired the worst reputation of the dynasty's rather undistinguished rulers. One of his father's sixteen children, only five of whom survived to maturity, the new emperor was physically weak, poorly educated, and perhaps mentally deficient. Given the highly centralized nature of government during the late imperial period, he clearly was the type of ruler the state could ill afford in a time of crisis." And given both the continued stirrings of the Manchus up in the north,

the continued devolution of internal conditions and unresolved crises within the empire itself, and the imperial court locked in factional struggles after more than two decades of a politically inactive and actively hostile emperor sitting on the throne, yeah, the realm was most definitely in a time of crisis. So, not great timing on any of that. Though encouraged by some of his advisors to try to study and take up his much-needed position as the active head of government, Tianqi would quickly grow bored of any such matters, and instead, much like his grandfather Wanli, enshrouded himself safely within his inner palace to pursue his personal interests.

One of the most famous, or perhaps infamous, of these private interests was, curiously enough, carpentry. And in this, he's said to have excelled, and he constructed fine pieces of furniture and elaborate models of his palaces. Yet while he dallied with his chairs and toys, his ministers were left to continue their destructive and self-serving courtly warfare, pitting one clique against another, and paralyzing the highest apparati of the imperial government at a time it could least afford. As such, actual day-to-day decisions on the necessary and important matters of state were increasingly left to the one faction of Ming officials who could operate around and outside of the outer court's deadlock,

the most trusted servants of the emperor's inner court, that is to say, the eunuchs. And from amongst their number, one of the most notorious figures in Chinese history would emerge. The eunuchs. Ah, yes, once again, the eunuchs, the perennial boogeyman of traditional Chinese imperial histories. But let us proceed, in as much as we can, from a more enlightened, modern position. From Atwell, quote, in recent years, it has become acceptable to play down the traditional Chinese opinion of eunuchs as evil incarnate, and to view them as simply another group of participants in the endless political battles at court, end quote. Indeed, we can look at examples just within the Ming dynasty itself of members of the caste which

stand in contrast to the old bad eunuch trope. Liu Jin's farsighted policy proposals, for instance, or Zhang Zhezhen's work during the early Wanli era, which relied on his relations with the eunuch Feng Bao, just to name a couple. Yet even so, it is difficult to find anything positive to say about the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. After an unsavory childhood and adolescence in his hometown of Suning, in modern Hubei province, Wei Zhongxian voluntarily became a eunuch in his adulthood, and is then said to have spent the next three decades

working his way into a position of influence in palace politics. And difficult as it might be for many of us to really comprehend the idea of voluntarily undergoing the eunuchification surgery, that was actually where the majority of eunuchs throughout both the Ming and Qing came from. Not from war captives, not from political or judicial prisoners, but instead, people who decided that the relatively easy life of a palace eunuch was worth undergoing the incredibly painful and risky surgery. Although some doubts have recently been cast onto his portrait of him as an inveterate schemer, it is known that by the early years of the 17th century,

Wei was serving on the staff of the concubine who'd given birth to the eventual Tianqi Emperor, Zhu Youjiao. Though he was at the time, of course, still a very young boy, most sources imply that Wei was making long-range plans. If so, then he was eminently successful. The sickly Youjiao took a great liking to the eunuch, as well as to a nurse named Madam Ke. They became his confidants and constant companions, and it was rumored that they led him into Whatever the truth of these rumors, and there's no way to verify them, Wei and Madam Ke were clearly in a good position when the Taichung Emperor died. Less than a month after the new emperor ascended the throne, both were given imperial honors,

and several of their relatives were awarded positions in the emperor's personal bodyguard. Wei himself was transferred from a relatively minor palace post into the powerful Directorate of Ceremonial, an agency that through the years had become the center of eunuch operations in the capital and in the empire at large. Because he apparently was illiterate, Wei ordinarily would not have been considered for such a high position, but it's implied in the official history of Ming that such a position was secured for him through Madame Ke's influence with the emperor. Regardless, it was from the directorate of ceremonial that Wei was to conduct a reign of terror across the mid-1620s.

And that reign of terror would be directed, first and foremost, at what is known as the Dongling faction within the imperial court. Although it's not clear when the Dongling faction officials at court first became aware of Wei and Madam Ko as political threats, such officials as Yang Nian, Zuo Guangdo, and other allies had read enough history to be deeply concerned about eunuch abuses and about the potential danger proposed by unscrupulous and ambitious women inside the palace. Despite the fact that it had been more than a century since a eunuch had last dominated the government, even a casual observer could tell that eunuch power and influence had increased during the Wanli reign. Not only had the Wanli emperor entrusted eunuchs with important economic, political, and military responsibilities,

but he had also permitted their numbers to increase substantially during the nearly five decades of his reign. Contemporary Jesuit accounts suggest that during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, as many as 3,000 eunuchs at a time were being routinely selected for imperial service, while the total number of eunuchs employed in the palace and elsewhere across the empire was about 16,000. Other sources place the figure even higher than that. Although they themselves had to deal on a daily basis with eunuchs like Wang An, it's clear that officials associated with the Donglin faction were worried about the situation in the imperial household and wasted little time in making their views known. Even before the Tianqi Emperor had been enthroned, a censor with Donglin connections

submitted a memorial demanding punishment for the eunuch physician whose medicine had worsened the condition of the Taichung Emperor, leading ultimately to his death. This was followed by an attack on eunuchs associated with Consort Li, who were accused of stealing imperial property. In the course of the ensuing investigation, an official with Donglin's sympathies was offered a bribe to play down the matter. When he complained to his superiors, he was promptly transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Works. In his new position, this official immediately became embroiled in a series of disputes with eunuchs under the control of Wei Zhongxian over misappropriation of funds and mismanagement of construction work on the tombs of the Wanli and Taichung emperors. In February 1621, Wei and Madam Ke came under

direct criticism. The censor, Wang Xinyi, protested to the throne about the gifts and honors being bestowed upon them by the emperor, pointing out that the troops fighting the Manchus would be demoralized at such news. This memorial was, surprise surprise, ignored, but later that year, Wang and other officials of the Donglin group returned to the attack. They demanded that Madame Ke be permanently barred from the palace, on the grounds that her continued presence there might prove politically disruptive. The Emperor wavered for a time, but in the end, Wang and several others were punished for their outspokenness, and Madame Ke retained her influence. She and Wei Zhongxian engineered a palace purge during the summer of 1621,

in which the eunuch Wang An, a Donglin sympathizer, was murdered, and those close to him were removed from positions of authority. Despite their growing notoriety and increasing power inside the palace, neither Wei Zhongxian nor Madam Ke should be overrated as political powers during the early 1620s. Several years were to pass before they were strong enough to challenge their enemies at court. Meanwhile, bitter political battles were being waged among the bureaucrats themselves. Among the first victims of these battles during the Tianxi reign was an old Donglin enemy, Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe, who was attacked for his handling of the red pill

and change of palace cases. His critics were particularly incensed because Fang had permitted unqualified persons to give medicine to the Taichung Emperor, and also because he had not forced Consort Li to vacate the Tianqing Palace. Although these charges may have been unfair, Fang submitted his resignation in the weeks following the Qianqi Emperor's enthronement and was permitted to retire early in 1621. Fang's departure undoubtedly pleased Donglin elements at the court. So did the retention of three grand secretaries appointed by the Taichung Emperor, Liu Yiching, Han Guang, and Ye Xianggao. Although they were not active Donglin participants, they were sympathetic and came to the aid of Donglin members in a number of controversies during the next several years. Donglin influence

was further enhanced when another of other sympathetic officials arrived in the capital in mid-1621, notably including Liu Zhongzhou. Liu made his presence felt almost immediately. Less than two weeks after taking up his new post in the Ministry of Rights, he submitted a memorial suggesting that Wei Zhongxian might become another Zhao Gao, that infamous eunuch of the ancient Qin dynasty who had been held responsible for the death of the second Qin emperor, Qin Arshe, and thereby for the dynasty's subsequent rapid collapse. Unsurprisingly, Wei was furious at such a

comparison, but he still lacked the power to bring about Liu's removal from office. During the early 1620s, then, this loosely organized Donglin group emerged as the dominant faction at the Tianqi court. Yet its power did not go unchallenged, and from time to time it, too, suffered significant political reversals. Early in 1622, for instance, two Donglin allies, Zhou Jiamou and Liu Yiching, resigned from their posts as ministers of personnel and grand secretary respectively, after having been repeatedly impeached by officials said to have been acting on the orders of Wei Zhongxian. That summer, another important Donglin supporter, the Minister of Rights Sun Shunxing, left the government following a series of bitter disputes involving

old Donglin enemies, eunuchs, and even members of the imperial family. Yet the most serious blow to the Donglin cause came in the autumn of 622. Two more Donglin allies resigned in the midst of a controversy over an academy in Beijing which they had established to promote philosophical discussions. Since most of the members in these discussions had strong Donglin connections, their opponents charged that it had been founded for partisan purposes, a big no-no in imperial bureaucracy. When the emperor ordered that the academy be closed, ministers Zhou Yuanbiao and Feng Congwu were forced to tender their resignations.

Zhou's departure seriously affected government stability. Since his return to office, he'd been the most moderate of the Donglin leaders, and as censor-in-chief, he'd tried to unify political opinion and to help the administration concentrate on the problems confronting the dynasty. After his departure, extremists on both sides rose to prominence, with consequences that were ultimately disastrous for nearly everyone concerned. While all this was going on in Beijing, even more problems continued to crop up around the empire at large. Now, we've already dealt largely with the disastrous setback against the Manchus of Nurhaci in Liaodong, and Ming's subsequent pullback

to the fortifications along the Great Wall, and especially Shanghai Pass at its eastern terminus. So for now, we will leave that be, and instead take a look at what was happening elsewhere in the early years of the Tianqi era. There were constant difficulties with the Miao and other tribes in the remote southwestern provinces of Guiz difficulties with the Miao and other tribes in the remote southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, and in the autumn of 1621, a low-low chieftain in Sichuan took advantage of the government's preoccupation with Liaodong to launch a major rebellion. A number of cities, including Chongqing, were taken, and the provincial capital at Chengdu was besieged for 102 days. Just after the court had dispatched troops to

deal with this problem, tribal groups elsewhere in Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan began to rise up against the Ming authorities. The government now faced a double threat. It could not afford the men and materiel to wage continuous war in the west and southwest, and it was deprived of substantial resources in those areas. Since Sichuan remained one of the empire's primary grain-exporting provinces for centuries, and Guizhou and Yunnan contained many of the empire's richest silver mines, the economic impact of the troubles there could not be overstated. Some six months after the siege of Chengdu began in November 1621, a new threat appeared off the

southeastern coast. Vessels of the Dutch East India Company had been preying on Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish shipping in East Asian waters for more than two decades at this point, at times seriously disrupting the maritime trade that was so important to the economies of Fujian and Guangdong especially. In June 1622, a Dutch fleet of eight ships carrying more than a thousand men attacked the Portuguese colony of Macau in an attempt to take over that city's lucrative commerce with Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Driven off only after a fierce maritime battle, in which more than a quarter of their men were killed or wounded, the Dutch sailed north along the Chinese coast and in early July landed on the Pescadores, or Penghu Islands, in the Taiwan Strait. After throwing up fortifications on one of the larger islands, the Dutch sent a representative

to the Amoy area in Fujian. He demanded direct trade privileges with China and announced that the Dutch intended to harass and disrupt Sino-Spanish and Sino-Portuguese commerce. The Chinese quickly rejected these demands and threats. In September 1622, the governor of Fujian sent a Ming official bearing letters to the Pescadorias ordering the Dutch to demolish their small fortress and leave at once. The Dutch refused, and in mid-October, their ships began to attack Chinese vessels and vulnerable locations along the coast. For a time, they were successful, but the authorities in Fujian eventually retaliated. In October 1623, a Dutch emissary who'd been offered safe conduct as a negotiator was taken captive in Amoy, and in 1624, a large Chinese

fleet forced the Dutch colonists to withdraw from the Pescadores to Taiwan. There they would remain, a nuisance but not a serious threat for the rest of the dynasty. Imperial economics were also facing dire straits. During much of the Tianxi reign, the Chinese economy stagnated and declined. One cause of this decline, and one that affected many other parts of the world at approximately the same time, was a sharp drop in the levels of silver bullion exports from the New World. In China, this drop may have been tied to a decline in Peruvian silver production. Not only did this apparently reduce the amount of bullion reaching Manila, it also reduced the level of trade between China and the Philippines, for it was silver that had drawn Chinese merchants to the islands in the first

place. Chinese merchants also feared to trade in Manila because of the dangers posed by pirates in the South China Sea. This drop in Sino-Spanish trade had a serious impact on economic activity in the coastal areas of Fujian, areas that carried an extensive commerce with many other regions across the empire. The Ming economy was also adversely affected between 1621 and 1627 by other factors. Large-scale fires swept across Hangzhou, Beijing, and other major cities, destroying tens of thousands of homes and businesses. A major earthquake struck the Pingliang area of modern Gansu in 1622, causing heavy property damage and reportedly killing more than 12,000 people. In 1623, the Yellow River, which at this period emptied into the sea south of the Shandong Peninsula,

burst its dikes in northern Nanjali, inundating vast tracts of land in and around Shuzhou. Severe flooding struck in the Nanjali area during August of 1624, with Shuzhou again being particularly hard hit. These disasters exacerbated the economic and social miseries already being inflicted by widespread military activity, steadily increasing taxation, a reduction in government orders for non-essential goods, along with what at least some observers saw as monumental bureaucratic corruption and inefficiency. Both singly and together, they provoked a series of peasant uprisings, urban disorders, bandit and pirate raids, and mutinies among government troops, all of which severely

strained the dynasty's already tenuous ability to maintain law and order. The most serious uprising, involving the members of the White Lotus Society, occurred in 1622. Groups influenced by White Lotus teachings had been active in northern China across the Wanli Reign. They've been kept under control by the authorities, who detained suspected leaders and conducted periodic campaigns of suppression. When, in 1621, refugees from Liaodong poured into Beijia Li and Shandong to escape the Manchu advance, the ensuing turmoil gave the remaining White Lotus leaders their long-awaited opportunity. That came when the economic slowdown was already reducing commercial activity on the Grand Canal, creating difficulties for those who depended on

the canal for their livelihood. A major White Lotus uprising began near the canal in southwestern Shandong in June 1622, led by a man known as Xu Hongru. Bolstered by recruits from other parts of North China, Xu's forces enjoyed initial success. In July, he took two county capitals in Shandong's Yanzhou Prefecture, and in August, he blocked the Grand Canal near the border between Shandong and Nanjia Li, capturing more than 50 imperial grain transport barges. Since this blockade cut off supplies both to Beijing and to the Ming forces defending the northern and northeastern frontiers, the government moved swiftly to deal with this situation. Efforts were at first handicapped

because many of the troops ordinarily stationed in the affected areas had been transferred elsewhere. However, imperial forces gradually regained the initiative, and in late November 1622, they retook the last of the cities held by the rebels. The rebel leader, Xu Hongru, was captured during the final stages of the campaign, and he and more than a dozen of his lieutenants were subsequently executed in Beijing. At its peak, Xu's revolt affected parts of Shandong, Beijia Li, Nanjia Li, and at least five other provinces. It may well have been the most serious internal threat to the dynasty's security since the rebellion of the Prince of Ning nearly a century earlier. The court thus had good cause to reward those who had brought Xu to justice. Even as those rewards were being handed out, though, tension between the Donglin faction and its opponents at court continued to grow, a state of affairs for which the former group must

bear considerable responsibility. Early in 1623, Zhao Nanxing, a Donglin leader newly installed as censor-in-chief, took advantage of the capital evaluation of officials, which occurred every six years in Beijing, to settle some old scores. A number of men who had opposed the Donglin group in the past were dismissed from government service, and some even had their names removed from the civil service register, rendering them ineligible for any other bureaucratic appointment. Later in the same year, Zhao continued his crusade as Minister of Personnel. He immediately set out to eradicate from the government as a whole, and from Beijing in particular, what he and many of his friends saw as intolerable levels of corruption.

Whatever the justice of his views, Zhao's moral and uncompromising attitude soon brought him into open conflict with the imperial eunuchs and others in the capital who had good reasons for maintaining the status quo. Although many of the high offices in Beijing were in the hands of the Donglin partisans and their sympathizers, Donglin power was constantly challenged. Several prominent Donglin figures had left or were driven from office in 1622, and in February 1623, Gu Bingjian and Wei Guangwei were appointed to the Grand Secretariat. Both men were closely associated with Wei Zhongxian, and it was later rumored that the eunuch had indeed secured their appointments himself. Certainly, the Donglin group viewed their appointments with grave suspicion.

Other events indicate how limited Donglin power had actually become. Early in 1623, over 40 palace eunuchs were dispatched to investigate conditions along the northeastern frontier. Sun Chunzong, a Donglin hero who was the Liaodong supreme commander, saw that such an investigation could affect the efficiency and morale of his troops, and became concerned that it might establish an unwelcome precedent. In a strongly worded memorial to the throne, he outlined his deep misgivings about the entire enterprise. Other Donglin figures were equally outspoken against eunuch involvement in military affairs. As Wei Zhongxian's influence in the palace grew, however, the group's warnings were routinely ignored.

For example, despite Donglin attempts to stop such activities, military training for eunuchs had been conducted inside the Forbidden City since the spring of 1622. generations, or take a deep dive into the Iron Age or the Hellenistic era, then check out the Ancient World Podcast, available on all podcasting platforms, or go to ancientworldpodcast.com. That's the Ancient World Podcast. Skirmishing between the eunuchs and the various factions at court continued throughout 1623, but the real battle for supremacy began in 1624. In February, Wei Zhongxian was appointed head of the dreaded Eastern Depot, a eunuch security agency answerable only to the throne and responsible for ferreting out treasonable offenses. This appointment gave Wei judicial and punitive powers with which to strike back at his enemies,

and has been regarded as an important turning point in the late Ming political history. While Donglin members continued to criticize Wei indirectly, he was not openly attacked until the Vice Censor-in-Chief, Yang Lian, submitted his famous memorial of July 15, 1624. Yang's memorial was given form and substance at secret Donglin conferences held in Beijing during the first half of 1624. He also discussed his intentions with Zhou Guangde and Miao Changqi, who helped him with the draft. However, some members of the Donglin group in Beijing did not support a direct challenge to Wei at that time. The censor Huang Cunshu, for instance, bluntly warned Yang that disaster would follow if he failed to oust the eunuch from power quickly. The chief grand secretary, Ye Xianggao, who did not wish to jeopardize the tolerable working relationship he had with Wei, also voiced his opposition.

But Yang, whose fiery personality and zeal had been tested in the 1620 change of palace case, was adamant. His memorial accused Wei of 24 crimes, including, quote, usurping imperial authority, intriguing against upright ministers, manipulating civil service His memorial accused Wei of 24 crimes, including Such a litany of accusations rocked the entire imperial court to its core. Wei's supporters at court and in the imperial household had the emperor rebuke Yang severely, but memorials supporting Yang and condemning Wei were soon pouring into the palace. The most telling one was submitted by an official in the Ministry of Works, Wang Jing, who accused Wei of having built a magnificent mausoleum for himself while refusing to supply materials for the tomb of the emperor's own father. Since Wan himself had worked on the imperial tomb in question, his testimony was most damning.

In retaliation, Wei had Wan beaten at court so savagely that he died a few days later. Shortly thereafter, a full-scale purge of Donglin elements in the government began. One of the first to go was Ye Xianggao. In August, he was permitted to resign from the Grand Secretariat, having become embroiled in another case involving an official who had offended the eunuch. By 1625, many of the positions formerly held by Donglin men and their supporters were being filled by people sympathetic to, or at least willing to work with, Wei Zhongxian. Although the tide appeared to have turned decisively in their favor, Wei and his friends were not satisfied.

In January 1625, the indefatigable Donglian organizer, Wang Weiyan, was arrested on charges related to his longstanding support for the former Liaodong Supreme Commander, Xiong Tingbi, who was still awaiting execution. Wang was tortured to death, finally succumbing early in May. Shortly before Wang's death, Wei ordered the arrests of Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdao, and four other Donglin figures who had been among his most vociferous critics. Imprisoned in Beijing, these Six Men of Superior Virtue, or Liu Junzi, as they were known in pro-Donglin accounts, were all dead by mid-October. Late in September, Xiong Tingbi was publicly beheaded at the urging of outspoken foes of the Donglin faction enemies,

such as the newly appointed Grand Secretary. Wei's reign of terror continued into the following spring, when he issued orders for the arrest of seven more political opponents, not all of whom had been closely connected with the Donglin group in the capital. Among the seven was Zhou Xuncheng, a highly respected official who since 1622 had been living in retirement in Suzhou, but whose contempt for Wei and his supporters had been well publicized. When news of Zhou's arrest was announced in Suzhou in April 1626, a number of his friends and admirers in the city began a campaign to secure his release.

Their efforts, however, failed, and Zhou was placed under special guard for transport to Beijing for questioning. Knowing that such questioning would probably lead to Zhou's death, the outraged citizenry of Suzhou staged a massive and violent demonstration during which Wei's agents were attacked and several killed. News of this uprising quickly spread throughout the Jiangnan region. It appeared that the eunuch had overstepped himself and that an armed insurrection against him might be mounted in the southeast. But Wei was able to re-establish order. Later in October of that year, Zhou and the other six men

who had been arrested with him were dead, either via torture or suicide. While he brutally and efficiently disposed of his most outspoken critics, Wei Zhongxian also worked in other ways to consolidate his position. In March 1625, he was awarded the hereditary post of Vice Commander-in-Chief in the Chief Military Commission to celebrate the completion of the Taichung Emperor's tomb. Later in the year, Wei and Madam Ke were further honored. In 1626, one of Wei's nephews was made an Earl, and then a Duke, and in November, Wei himself became an Exalted Duke, or Shang Gong, a rank and title created exclusively for him. Several months earlier, the governor of Zhejiang had requested and received permission to build a living shrine in Wei's honor. Before long,

such shrines were being constructed all over the empire. During this period, memorials to the throne were often filled with glowing references to the eunuch's virtue and ability. He was even credited with military victories far from the capital, which were attributed to his sagacious handling of administrative and strategic affairs. So long as Wei dominated the government, officials willing to engage in such flattery were treated well. For example, in early 1625, Cui Chengxiu, an official who'd been denounced for corruption in the previous year by Donglin leaders, begged Wei for protection. He was brought back into the government as a censor, and is then said to have provided the

eunuch with lists of pro- and anti-Donglin officials. These lists were consulted when bureaucratic appointments were made, and they effectively eliminated Donglin partisans from high office. Of the seven men who served in the Grand Secretariat in 1626, only one had been a member since 1624, and he's known to have been a supporter of the eunuch. Similar changes also occurred in the upper echelons of the various ministries in the capital. It was common for the victorious side in a factional dispute to write or rewrite recent history to suit its own needs and purposes. This is clearly what happened in the history written during the Tianqi reign. In 1623, for example, a version of the variable record for the Taichung era had been completed,

which apparently treated the controversial issues of the period in a manner acceptable to the pro-Donglin figures then dominating the court. However, once Donglin opponents came to power late in 1624 and early 1625, they decided that the work would have to be revised. While the project was underway, Wei Zhongxian and his supporters produced their own version of the events surrounding the three great cases of the Wanli and Taichung eras, those again being the Attack with the Club case of 1615 and the Case of the Red Pill and Change of Palace case both of 1620. This work, published in the summer of 1626 under the title of San Chao Yao Tian, or the Essential Document of Three Reigns, contains bitter denunciations of many Donglin figures for their roles in partisan controversies dating back to the late 16th century.

Wei and his cohorts used other methods of control during this period as well. Extensive blacklists of alleged Donglin sympathizers were published and distributed throughout the empire. In August 1625, the Shoshan Academy in Beijing, founded by Donglin leaders, was ordered to be destroyed. Three weeks later, another order was issued for the destruction of all such institutions in the empire, although the real targets were those academies closely associated with the Donglin movement. The first of all was the Donglin Academy itself, because duh, which during the early 1620s had become a symbol of anti-wei sentiment throughout the empire,

and especially in the Yangtze Delta, where the academy was located. To add insult to injury for those who had been caught up in the purges of 1624-26, in 1627, it was suggested that Wei Zhongxian should be honored with ritual observances similar to those performed for Confucius. When the Tianchi emperor fell ill late in the summer of 1627, one of Wei's relatives even officiated in his place at a ceremony in the imperial ancestral temple. During the mid-1620s, Ming military commanders like Sun Chongzong and Yuan Chonghuan had been successful in their efforts against the Manchus. News from other fronts were considerably more bleak. In the spring of 1620, the official responsible for the Sichuan, Guizhou, and

Huguang military region committed suicide following a disastrous defeat at the hands of a tribal leader who'd been causing serious trouble in the southwest since 1622, and would continue to do so well into the next reign. In 1626, there was also a major uprising on the Sichuan-Shanxi border, touched off by the corruption of officials assigned to the area by, who else, Wei Zhongxian, but also attributable to deteriorating economic conditions that had been affecting the region for some time now. In 1627, things worsened yet again. Insurrections broke out from Shanxi to Guangxi, pirates raided along the southeastern coasts, and the Manchus completed a successful offensive against Chinese forces in Korea. And once the Manchu forces had secured their southeastern flank, they broke a truce they'd negotiated with Yuan

Chenghuan and put pressure on his forces in Ningyuan and other strategic locations west of the Liao River. Soon embroiled in a dispute with supporters of Wei Zhongxian over various matters relating to border defense, Yuan decided that his position was hopeless. He resigned his post in August 1627 and was promptly replaced by an official with whom he had previously refused to cooperate. Similar tensions and jealousies plagued the court. As soon as Wei Zhongxian's partisans had gained control of the government, they began to disagree among themselves, because of course they did. Concerned about the harsh punishments meted out to Donglin figures during 1625, Grand Secretary Wei Guangwei memorialized the throne, and thereby Wei Zhongxian himself, to urge restraint and compassion. The eunuch was furious at this attempt to limit his

purges, and Wei Guangwei, fearing for his own safety, submitted several requests to resign. Permission was finally granted late in September 1625. Shortly thereafter, officials more amenable to Wei Zhongxian's wishes were appointed to the Grand Secretariat. Through all this, Wei Zhongxian and his family continued to amass awards and honors from the throne. Early in September of 1627, for example, two of the eunuch's relatives received the prestigious titles of Grand Preceptor and Junior Preceptor. But even as these honors were being bestowed, the Tianqi Emperor's health, which had never been good, finally failed. He died on September 30, 1627, at the age of 21. Since all five of his children had died in infancy, the throne would automatically pass to his eldest surviving brother, the then 16-year-old Zhu Yujian.

With the death of the Tianqi Emperor, so too collapsed the power base that Wei Zhongxian had been building out of sand and blood. It became evident quite early on in the new monarch's reign that he had neither forgotten nor forgiven the many excesses of Wei and Madam Ke, at least one of which had led to the death of one of his favorite caretakers, and any number of which had likely directly threatened the life of the young prince himself. It's rather remarkable, all things considered, and given the levels of lethal intrigue within the palace, that Zhu Yujian managed to survive his childhood at all.

He formally became the 16th Ming Emperor on October 2nd, 1627, and the term Chongzhen, meaning lofty and auspicious, was chosen as his reign title. The new emperor was quite unknown when he came to power, and no one in the capital was quite sure what his attitude towards Wei Zhongxian would be. The eunuch himself would be among the first to know. On October 9th, just a week after the Chongzhen emperor had been enthroned, Wei requested permission to retire, clearly sensing a change in the winds of his political fortunes. Although this was refused, the throne was soon inundated with memorials denouncing some of the eunuch's staunchest supporters.

Prominent among them was Cui Chengxiu, who after some hesitation was permitted to resign his post as Minister of War. On December 8th, Wei himself was ordered to leave the capital to assume a minor ceremonial post at the ancestral home of the first Ming emperor in northern Nanjili. Wei immediately complied with this order, almost certainly seeing any opportunity to distance himself physically from the capital as a welcome out. And within a few days, he and a large retinue had traveled about 125 miles from Beijing to Fucheng County in southern Beijia Li. It was there that he learned from his intelligent network that the Chongzhen Emperor had ordered his arrest and that he was to be interrogated for crimes listed in the memorials that were even now pouring into the palace. Rightly fearing the worst, Wei and a close eunuch associate decided to hang themselves in the city of Fucheng during the second week of December. Not long afterward, his confederate, Suicheng Xiao, also committed suicide. However, neither he nor Wei were permitted an honorable

death. Two months later, they were publicly, posthumously humiliated. Their corpses were dismembered, and their heads put on display in their respective hometowns, a warning to those who might wish to follow in their footsteps. After Wei's death, a purge of his former associates began. Madam Ke, her brother, her son, and one of Wei's nephews were among more than two dozen people who were executed or forced to commit suicide by imperial decree. Others were sentenced to military service, banished to the frontiers, stripped of official rank, or otherwise punished. The shrines constructed throughout the country in Wei's honor were torn down or put to other uses. At the same time, the emperor made a public display of his concern for the families of those who had been murdered

or otherwise persecuted when Wei Zhongxian had been in power. Now viewed as martyrs, a number received posthumous honors and titles. Their surviving family were given gifts and special privileges as a mark of imperial favor. And thus ends the troubled, ineffective, and certainly one of the most infamous reigns of the Ming Dynasty, with the death of the Tianqi Emperor, and following him into death, one of the bloodiest puppeteers ever behind any Chinese throne. Truly, Zhao Gao come again. Wei Zhangxian. Next time, we move into the final stretch of the Ming Dynasty altogether,

with the early reign of its 16th, and as it will turn out, final, ruler, Tianqi's little brother, the Chongzhen Emperor. And hoo boy, it's going to wind up being a real pain in the neck for him. Thanks for listening.

The French Revolution Thanks for listening. and above it all. This was The Age of Napoleon. I'm Everett Rummage, host of The Age of Napoleon podcast. Join me as I examine the life and times of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters in modern history. Look for The Age of Napoleon wherever you find your podcasts.