Why did most of the literati who advocated loyalty to the monarch and patriotism in the Ming Dynasty have no integrity?
In the early Ming Dynasty, many upright civil and military officials emerged. After the war of Jingnan broke out, Zhu Yunwen was defeated, and most officials around him were upright. For example, Fang Xiaoru would rather punish ten northern families for not surrendering, Tie Xuan did not kneel when he was executed, and Huang Zicheng punished nine families. During the "etiquette debate" when Emperor Jiajing came to power, more than 200 officials knelt outside Zuo Shun's door and wept bitterly, hoping that the emperor would change his mind. This is all integrity. Yu Qian resisted the invasion of the northern nationalities by pushing the crowd to stop the capital from moving south, which was also upright. Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty was just established and the politics was clear, in the face of the invasion of foreign enemies, the officials of the whole court were honest, and there were also many honest people. These figures often become role models for officials in China.
But the treacherous court official like Yan Song appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, which destroyed the atmosphere of the whole court. There are great eunuchs like Wei Zhongxian, Feng Bao and Liu Jin. The imperial court is all cronyism and intrigue. There are fewer people who really do practical things, and officials can have no integrity. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Qing army went south, 100,000 elders in Jiangyin fought with 240,000 Qing troops, killing and injuring more than 70,000 people. In the face of foreign invasion, this loyalty to the monarch and patriotism is also integrity.
Therefore, whether officials have integrity is closely related to the imperial environment and foreign invasion. In the early Ming Dynasty, especially in the battle of Jingnan, many upright civil servants appeared in order to maintain orthodoxy. But in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many powerful ministers and eunuchs appeared. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, in the face of foreign invasion, the literati and people of the Ming Dynasty regained their integrity.