Shared-Cause Factional Erosion / 共同目标下的派系侵蚀

Definition

Shared-cause factional erosion / 共同目标下的派系侵蚀 is the process by which a coalition’s declared common objective fails to control rivalry over claimants, succession, kinship, office, prestige, or private advantage, eventually directing more conflict inward than the shared cause can absorb.

Current Synthesis

The episode uses two nested cases in 《鹿鼎记》. 天地会 and the Mu Prince’s Residence both oppose Qing rule but fight over which Ming descendant deserves restoration. Inside the Zheng regime, competing heirs gather different supporters, and Chen Jinnan’s alignment against his rival is complicated by family interest. A common enemy supplies a slogan and some coordination, but not a settled rule for succession, legitimacy, or distribution of power.

The process becomes tragic when loyalty to the coalition prevents exit even as internal struggle turns lethal. 陈近南 refuses to abandon or retaliate against the Zheng order and is killed by the faction he continues to protect. The case suggests that shared purpose requires conflict-resolution institutions and an agreed decision rule; moral commitment alone cannot substitute for them.

Key Claims

• A shared enemy does not settle who should rule after victory or speak for the cause now.
• Rival legitimacy claims can turn nominal allies into active competitors.
• Succession uncertainty invites networks organized around heirs, kinship, and private advantage.
• Personal virtue at the top cannot replace explicit mechanisms for resolving internal disputes.
• Refusal to exit or revise loyalty can let a coalition consume its most committed members.
• Internal erosion can defeat a cause before its external opponent does.

Evidence

Rival restoration claims

• 032 教师节特辑 | 韦小宝和他的师父们 describes conflict between Tiandihui and the Mu Prince’s Residence over different Ming claimants despite a common anti-Qing program.

Succession and private alignment

• 032 教师节特辑 | 韦小宝和他的师父们 presents competing Zheng heirs, Chen Jinnan and Feng Xifan’s opposing alignments, and possible kinship interest as interacting sources of division.

Coalition consuming loyalists

• 032 教师节特辑 | 韦小宝和他的师父们 makes Chen’s death at Zheng-faction hands the clearest consequence of unresolved internal conflict combined with unconditional loyalty.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The concept is grounded in a fictional and interpretive case. Factional disagreement can expose real differences, prevent domination, or improve strategy rather than merely corrode a cause. The source does not establish the historical structure of Tiandihui or the Zheng succession struggle, nor does it prove that formal rules alone would have resolved conflicts rooted in legitimacy, violence, and personal power.

What Changed

• Created the concept from the episode’s paired restoration-coalition and Zheng-succession conflicts.
• Added conflict-resolution rules and loyalty revision as organizational boundaries.

Related Concepts

• 天地会 / Tiandihui - resistance organization whose shared cause contains unresolved claimant rivalry.
• 陈近南 / Chen Jinnan - loyal leader destroyed by internal factional conflict.
• Concrete Reciprocity Over Abstract Loyalty / 具体互惠高于抽象忠诚 - neighboring account of how personal and doctrinal obligations diverge.
• Conscience Over Faction / 良知高于党派 - alternative in which judgment can outrank camp discipline.
• 制度忠诚胜于个人依附 / Institutional Loyalty Over Personal Loyalty - highlights explicit rules and public mission as constraints on private alignment.