Talking about the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that the vast majority of people will grit their teeth when they hear it, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Zhen, Liu Jin... They not only disrupted the imperial program, but also made the people of the world in the depths of the waters, but also could not shirk the fate of the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty. But as the saying goes, there is natural loyalty to adultery, and not all the eunuchs in power in the Ming Dynasty are great traitors and greedy people, including one eunuch... Of course, it is not Zheng He, who not only has remarkable literary achievements, but also one of the greatest heroes of the New Deal of Daming Longqing and Wanli Zhongxing, and is known as a generation of eunuchs, reformers, and finally the governor of Dongchang - Feng Bao, who was killed because of political struggles.
Feng Bao had been working as an errand boy in the palace since the Jiajing years, and because of his high literary accomplishment and knowledge reserves, coupled with a good brush and proficiency in piano skills, he was mixed with the Admiral East Factory and the Imperial Horse Supervisor as early as the first year of Longqing. We don't know about Feng Bao's origin and family lineage, but most of the people who were willing to castrate into the palace as eunuchs at that time were bitter cold people, and naturally it was impossible to receive any education, which made Feng Bao, who could read and write, naturally stand out. Therefore, in the sixth year of Longqing, Muzong died, and he and the first assistant of the cabinet, Gao Gong, the second assistant Zhang Juzheng, and Gao Yi, were awarded the posts of ministers of Shenzong Gu orders, assisting the ten-year-old Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun to ascend the throne. And after the Wanli Emperor ascended the throne, he was immediately promoted to the position of palm seal eunuch, and was also responsible for the education of the little emperor, and the little Wanli Emperor called Feng Bao "Feng Da companion" to show his intention to accompany himself.
That is to say, by the time of the first year of the Wanli Calendar, Feng Bao was actually the first person of daming, and his power was much higher than that of the first assistant of the cabinet. And according to the historical records, when Feng Bao was the emperor's teacher, he was extremely strict in all aspects of the education of the little Wanli Emperor, which made Wanli afraid of his three points from an early age. For example, the following paragraph records:
Empress Dowager Zisheng met Emperor Yan. Bao Yi was too late to hold the emperor hostage, and the emperor was very afraid of it. When playing with the small inner vertical, see Baojin. Yuanzheng is sitting in danger and saying 'big companion comes'.
Here it is explained that Feng Bao's real background and source of power was Empress Li, the birth mother of the Wanli Emperor. However, according to our consistent impression of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, did Feng Bao, who would be in power and opposition, want to amass national wealth, eradicate dissidents, disrupt the imperial program, and do nothing evil?
When I was a child, the old man said, people, you must read more, this sentence can be said to be very accurate on Feng Bao. First of all, let's take a look at Wei Zhongxian's family is poor and illiterate from childhood; Wang Zhenluo's first Xiucai is slightly stronger than Wei Zhongxian, and as a result, he has not seen the shadow of the cold window for ten years, and finally he is discouraged and castrated himself into the palace; Liu Jin has been a eunuch in the palace since he was a child, let alone reading and literacy.
Only Feng Bao reads a lot and has feelings. He engraved books such as the Four Books, the Book of Books, and the Interpretation of the Scriptures during his tenure as the superintendent of ceremonies, which not only made music and ceremonies, but also made a good violin by himself, which was passed down by the people. With this feeling, it became the biggest gap between him and Wei Zhongxian and three other people of the same profession, he had strong political ambitions, and hoped to leave a strong mark in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
First of all, as we mentioned earlier, Feng Bao was able to fox false tiger power in front of The Little Wanli Emperor, all relying on the support of Empress Li, and in the cabinet, zhang Juzheng, the second assistant at this time, was Empress Li's person, so the three of them formed an incomparably strong and alliance. For the three of them, there was only one wall in front of them at the moment, and that was the first high arch. Therefore, as soon as Emperor Xiao Wanli ascended the throne, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao plotted to dismiss Gao Gong for the crime of "supporting the king of the clan and assassinating the emperor", and together with all of Gao Gong's henchmen in the court, Zhang Juzheng was naturally promoted to the position of first assistant.
The little emperor has not yet personally governed, the empress dowager, the boss of the palace, and the boss of the imperial court are all in a group, so what else can the entire Ming Dynasty stop them? Fortunately, although Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng eradicated dissidents from controlling the imperial court, Feng Bao and Wei Zhongxian were different, and Zhang Juzheng and Yan Song were also different. At this moment, the Ming Dynasty was already in danger, in order to save this building that was about to fall, Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng promoted the national reform without hesitation, so there was an extremely rare "internal minister" and foreign minister in Chinese history to cooperate for the country and the people. In addition to vigorously promoting reforms, Feng Bao also tried a large number of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, leaving a good reputation for singing in the folk at that time.
Sometimes, however, when power is extremely strong, it will be extremely weak, and this is not the case in all dynasties. On June 20, 1582, the tireless Zhang Juzheng died in the first assistantship, the three-man alliance collapsed, and a vacuum of power appeared. This, however, was extremely eager for the Wanli Emperor, who had been in power for two years but had no real power, which meant that the time had come for him to truly grasp the power of Daming himself.
So at his behest, only four days after Zhang Juzheng's death, Yushi began to impeach Zhang Juzheng's student Pan Sheng, who was pulled down from the upcoming cabinet, and then the yanguan pointed the spearhead at Zhang Juzheng, and the Wanli Emperor stripped him of all the glory in front of him next time and raided his home. However, Zhang Ju was working in the civil service system for so many years, if the Wanli Emperor only exterminated Zhang Juzheng in order to hold power, he was afraid that it would have an impact on the foundation of Daming, and at this time, Feng Bao would become the biggest victim.
Because for the Wanli Emperor, it would not be wrong to choose to kill Feng Bao.
Less than half a year after Zhang Juzheng's death, in October of the same year, Jiangxi Province's Imperial History Li Zhishang impeached Feng Bao for twelve major crimes, of which "Feng kept the auxiliary seat and mastered the center" has clearly revealed his relationship with Zhang Juzheng's party. Coupled with the fact that he had heavy power in his hands, it was inevitable that there would be a stain of corruption and bribery, which became an irrefutable crime for Feng Bao. He was immediately placed under house arrest by the Wanli Emperor in Nanjing, and died of illness soon after.
Zhang Juzheng's reform was an important revitalization reform in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and without this reform, it is difficult to say that the Ming Dynasty could last until the Chongzhen Year. But when we put all the credit on Zhang Juzheng, don't forget that without Feng Bao's support, Zhang Juzheng's reform is an empty word.