明朝后期,内阁纷争,各派倾轧,阉党专横,“狱囚积至千人,莫为问断”;人事无常,贿赂成风,“职业尽弛,上下解体”吏治日益腐败,政治极端黑暗。经济方面,土地兼并有增无减;皇亲勋戚、达官显贵“求田问舍,无所底止”。郑廉在《豫变纪略》中描述当时的情形:“缙绅之家,率以田庐,奴仆相雄长。田之多者千余顷,少亦不下五、七百顷”。号称河南“四凶”的曹、褚、苗、范四大家,更是“田庐满地,仆从如云”。在江南,“巨绅有膏膄达万顷者”。边远的云南,也是“膏膄半属巨室”。随着土地的高度集中,大批农民破产 In the late Ming dynasty, the cabinet disputes, the factions fought, the tyranny of the party, “prison prisoners up to a thousand people, as inquiring”; personnel impermanence, bribery into the wind, “career exhaustion, from top to bottom,” the increasingly corrupt administration, political darkness . Economic aspects, land mergers unabated; royal relatives, dignitaries, “begged Tian Wushou, no end.” In the Book of Changes, Zheng Lian described the situation at that time: “The house of the gentry, the rate of Tianlu, the slaves and the male and the long .Tianzhi more than a thousand ares, less nor less than five or seven hundred are.” Known as Henan “four fierce” Cao, Chu, Miao, Fan four everyone, but also “Tian Lu Montreal, servants from clouds.” In the south of the Yangtze, “Giant gentry has reached ten thousand hectares.” Yunnan is also far-off, but also “gratin half a giant room.” As the land is highly concentrated, large numbers of farmers go bankrupt