Eunuchs in Chinese history have appeared as early as the Xia and Shang dynasties and have always been in line with the ancient Chinese dynasties. In the development of eunuchs in ancient China, their grasp of financial power did not start in the Tang Dynasty, as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, eunuchs already mastered a part of the financial power.
The eunuch's envoy power in the late Tang Dynasty refers to the power that eunuchs directly or indirectly held in the process of financial revenue and expenditure operation through serving as envoys after the Anshi Rebellion. The tang dynasty eunuchs' control of wealth can be traced back to the Wu Zhou period, down to the third year of Emperor Zhaozong's tianfu (903) Zhu Quanzhong's eunuchs. In the Inner Court Imperial Family, eunuchs made their positions of financial power, including the management of the Inner Warehouse, the management of the land and gardens of the official mansions and palace gardens, the management of the cultivation of horses, cattle, sheep, eagles and dogs, the repair of the inner court, the manufacture of palace utensils and costumes, and the procurement of palace materials.
Warehouse management related financial rights
In the late Tang Dynasty, warehouses such as the inner warehouse and the inner warehouse were forbidden to store treasure goods, grain and other materials, and most of these warehouses were managed by eunuchs. The author intends to start from the relevant envoy positions such as Qionglin Treasury Envoy, Daying Treasury Envoy, and Beijing Envoy held by eunuchs, and explore the issues of the establishment of the forbidden Treasury, the scale system, the operation of revenue and expenditure, and the specific links for which eunuchs are responsible.
The Inner Treasury was a treasury set up in a forbidden place to store the emperor's private property. Regarding the person who managed the inner treasury, the inner treasury was originally controlled by the inner servant province in the early Tang Dynasty, and the daying and qionglin second treasury, as the emperor's private treasury, had also been managed by eunuchs since its establishment. According to this, the management of the inner treasury was in the hands of the eunuchs, and the foreign ministers did not know that there was abundance and frugality in it.
Since Daying and Qionglinku are in the hands of eunuchs, we can start from the functions of the two envoys to investigate the relevant financial power of the eunuchs. The first is the management of the treasury. Daying and Qionglin Ku make the management of the inner treasury, and have subordinates who hold the gongmu and are specifically responsible for recording the treasury, if they can do it without abuse, they think they can. In addition, he also hid cashiers in the palm of his hand for the needs of the imperial court.
Secondly, the inner treasury envoy also has the authority to manage the construction of the barn. Third, Qionglin Ku also had the position of managing his own workshops and apprentices. The eunuchs mainly grasped the power of the inner treasury management cashier and the warehouse building by serving as Daying and Qionglin Kushi, and the Qionglin Kushi was also responsible for managing subordinate workshops and apprentices to process gold and silverware. However, there is no record of eunuchs managing the operation of the internal treasury revenue and expenditure, and the eunuch should not be in charge of the transfer of the internal treasury revenue and expenditure.
There are also envoys related to the management of Cangmiao, such as The Capital Envoy. In the historical records, it is seen that in the late Tang Dynasty, such as the Jing envoys and the Judges of the Jing Dynasty, were eunuchs, such as the Jing envoys, who were in the hands of eunuchs and had fixed administrative organs in the inner court.
Kyo envoys served as cashiers in charge of the warehouse. In the Tang Dynasty, the envoy of Rujing was supposed to be in charge of the Inner Cangmiao, located in the Taiji Palace of TangXi Nei. In addition, Yuan Heshi also set up an envoy in the inner warehouse, and was served by a eunuch. Examining the various warehouses in Chang'an City, this inner warehouse is likely to be the inner warehouse, which was opened like the Beijing envoy or changed its name from the Xijing Inner Warehouse.
Land and garden related financial rights
The land managed by eunuchs under the system of internal envoys mainly consisted of the imperial gardens and the mansions of the officials under the heavenly government, which belonged to the imperial family. Eunuchs were appointed as envoys for the inner mansion, superintendent, inner garden, and planting, so the eunuch also had the financial rights related to the management of such land and gardens.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the management of industries such as the land of the official mansion was mainly the responsibility of the zhuangzhai envoy. What financial-related functions did the eunuchs have in charge of as envoys to the inner mansions? Kato Shigeru once examined the functions of the Uchijo mansion, believing that his main official was the Betsusho, the First House, and the Pastoral Estate, which were bought and confiscated by the government, and the local donations and inheritances were owned by the previous generations, and the specific purposes were for the imperial court's own use, giving, giving, renting, etc.
First, the inner mansion is responsible for collecting taxes on industries such as official estates and shops. The Zhuangzhai Envoy Division leased the zhuangzhai shops and other industries under its jurisdiction to the people, collected the rent lessons, and the people operated them for profit. The jurisdiction of the estate is not static.
After the fifteenth year of Yuan He (820), the jurisdiction of the Inner Zhuang Mansion was reduced to Jingzhao and Henan Erfu, and the imperial court had permanent residences and offices in these two provinces. In addition, the taxes owed by the zhuangzhai envoy industry were mostly found in the release of the pardons in the late Tang Dynasty, indicating that it had become a fixed income of the government in the late Tang Dynasty.
Second, the envoy of the Inner Zhuang Mansion was responsible for the construction, collection, and sale of the official mansion industry in the capital and Tongzhou Changchun Palace. The source of the money that is not small in the operation of the zhuangzhai is likely to be the tax income of the official manor land, and one of the purposes of this money is to be used as the cost of buying and repairing the official mansions in the capital.
According to the construction of the walls of the neighborhoods of the capital in the fourth year of zhenyuan, and the repair of the Tang Dynasty during the Yuan and Yuan dynasties, it can be seen that the construction costs of the official mansions are not entirely from the money of the mansions, but also from the two taxes, the income of the people, and the money given by the emperor. In addition to the capital, the construction of the Mansion in Changchun Palace in Tongzhou was also under the management of the Zhuang Mansion.
Third, the envoy of the inner mansion was also responsible for collecting civil women, that is, bribing civil women to fill the harem. Within the first year of Kaicheng, the zhuang mansion was responsible for buying off the people's daughters, which was actually beyond the scope of his original position. The lady of the mansion only saw this piece of historical data, and it is uncertain whether she was temporarily dispatched or fixedly responsible for this matter.
Livestock-related financial rights
Under the system of internal envoys, eunuchs also had envoys in charge of the management of horses, cattle, sheep, eagles and dogs, etc., so as to control the financial power related to animal husbandry.
According to the different growth stages of horses, they can be divided into two categories: herding horses and service horses. The Imperial Horses under the System of Inner Envoys are horses for the service handed over by the overseers and pastors, and are mainly managed by the envoys of the Idle Stables, Flying Dragons, and Pony Fang. The Flying Dragon Envoy was a eunuch from the beginning of his own envoyship.
From the first year of the Reign of Heaven (696) to Emperor Daizong, the Flying Dragon envoy only held the Flying Dragon Stables, and after Emperor Daizong, he seized the position of Idle Stable and ruled over the Imperial Horses. According to the records in the epitaphs of these eunuchs, it is known that the Wyvern envoy was responsible for feed management, the handling of horses, the inspection of horse stacks, and the stables of herding horses.
The Wyvern also manages its subordinates to supervise the production of horses and the taxes of the ranch. The Wyvern envoy is not only responsible for the use of horses, but also directly manages and supervises the production and purchase of horses. The Flying Dragon Envoy is also in charge of the rent of the land that has been suspended. The development of the authority of the Feilong envoys in the late Tang Dynasty was not only reflected in the expansion of the scope of management of the service horses, but also in the extension of the authority to the production of horses, and the direct management of the subordinate supervision and animal husbandry horse market and horse affairs was directly managed by the funds sent by the duzhi.
In the early Tang Dynasty, cattle and sheep were raised for the imperial affairs to be under the jurisdiction of the Taibu Temple. By the end of the Zhenyuan Dynasty, cattle and sheep livestock were still under the control of the superintendent and pastoral envoy, and had not yet been independently set up to set up special envoys to manage. In the late Tang Dynasty, there were cattle and sheep envoys, who were in charge of cattle and sheep animal husbandry. The cattle and sheep actually grasped the duties of the original pastoral and sand court supervisors, and received the cattle and sheep sent by the pastors and herdsmen for the needs of imperial meals and sacrifices. Cattle and sheep have both the office of shepherding cattle and sheep, and there are also pastures under them.
Wufang refers to the five squares of eagles, eagles, harriers and dogs, and the envoys of Wufang are the envoys who specialize in managing such eagle dogs. There should be a special relationship between the Wufang envoy and the idle stable envoy. In the early Tang Dynasty, the envoys of Wufang must be appointed as envoys of the idle stables, and the envoys of the five squares should be concurrently appointed as the envoys of the idle stables. Regarding the identity of the Wufang envoys, before the Anshi Rebellion, the Wufang envoys did not see any eunuchs. In 756, Li Fuguo served as the overseer of the palace and the envoy of the idle stables and wufang, which was the earliest example of a eunuch serving as an envoy of wufang.
Wufang envoys are mainly responsible for collecting and domesticating Wufang eagle dogs for time hunting. Specifically, first of all, Wufang envoys have the duty of hunting birds and beasts in Gyeonggi; secondly, Wufang envoys are responsible for breeding and training eagle dogs; Wufang pin officials are also responsible for stocking eagle dogs.
Handicraft-related financial rights
In the early Tang Dynasty, the affairs of the Inner Court Hundred Work Techniques and Civil Engineering Construction were mainly under the responsibility of the Shaofu and the General Supervisor. In the late Tang Dynasty, under the envoys, eunuchs were assigned to serve as envoys such as Wude, Zhongshang, Neizuo, Shang food, dyeing workshop, and winery, and mastered the affairs of miscellaneous utensils, inner court repair, and food weaving, dyeing, and winemaking.
Later Tang Wude made Ben in charge of the chores in the palace, and belonged to one of the internal envoys. By this reasoning, it is likely that the Tang Dynasty Wu De Envoy was also one of the internal envoys who managed the affairs of the palace. The wude envoys seen in the historical data are all eunuchs, and most of the envoys are eunuchs.
Funeral utensils for the emperor and officials were made by the five workshops and placed under the custody of wu de envoys. , Wu De envoy Dang also has the instrument responsible for the music suspension. In the early Tang Dynasty, the Music Hanging Curse, the funeral rite system, and the various sishi objects were produced by the General Supervisor Left School Office, and it is likely that Wu De envoys have usurped the functions of the original Left School Office.
In the late Tang Dynasty, under the system of envoys, eunuchs also had the right to manage handicraft-related affairs such as food supply, weaving and dyeing, and winemaking in the inner court by serving as food, dyeing workshops, and wineries. In the late Tang Dynasty, the supply of Tianzi's diet was mainly controlled by the Shang Food Envoy, who came from the Shang Food Envoy of the Imperial Household in the Early Tang Dynasty. Emperor Dezong built the late Xingyuan Dynasty when there was already a food to set up.
It is very likely that the internal and external divisions of the Shang Food Envoys refer to the fact that the young supervisors in the lower halls of the temple are in charge of the affairs of the Shang Food Bureau. By the time of Emperor Wuzong, the shangshi envoy was no longer divided into internal and external, and was filled by eunuchs, and it is likely that at this time, the shangshi envoy had completely seized the power of the province in the palace, that is, the food supply affairs were completely controlled by the eunuchs.
In short, the affairs controlled by eunuchs involved all aspects of royal clothing, food, housing, and transportation, that is to say, the eunuchs under the system of internal envoys actually took over the financial power related to the royal consumption expenditure. As a slave of the Tianzi family, the eunuch's job is to provide services for the members of the imperial family, the most understanding of the consumption needs of the imperial family, and the close trust of the emperor, compared with the foreign officials in the forbidden is more convenient, so it is natural for the eunuch to take over the affairs related to the consumption of the court.