Text/Feng Xuanyi
Eunuch dictatorship has existed throughout the ages, but the Tang Dynasty is particularly serious. The eunuch dictatorship of the Tang Dynasty almost ran through the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Taking the Pacification of the Anshi Rebellion as the watershed, after the Quelling anshi Rebellion, the eunuchs occupied an important position in the political situation of the Tang Dynasty, and until their demise, they could not solve this problem. In this century and a half, many high-powered eunuchs were produced. Among these people were Li Fuguo, an old slave who specialized in "oppressing the emperor", Ju Wenzhen and Wang Shoucheng, who personally killed the emperor, Qiu Shiliang, who had experienced six generations of emperors, and Tian Lingzi, who was known as the "father of the emperor". They forced the palace to kill the emperor, the dictatorship ran rampant, and they did no evil, leaving countless insults in the history books.
So, why was the eunuch disaster of the Tang Dynasty so severe? Today, we will sort out the development of the tang dynasty eunuch dictatorship.
I. In the early Tang Dynasty, eunuchs were strictly controlled
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, during Li Yuan's reign, eunuchs did not show special status, they were only slaves in the court. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, the world was at peace, and the administrative system of the imperial court was further standardized. In the use of eunuchs, Tang Taizong imposed strict restrictions. In order to prevent the eunuchs of successive dynasties from monopolizing power, Tang Taizong also ordered that the province of internal servants should not set up more than three officials, that is, a eunuch could only be up to four pins, and there was no room for promotion. This provision was strictly implemented during the reign of Emperor Taizong. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong and during the reign of Wu Zetian, the use of eunuchs was still severely restricted. During the reign of Wu Zetian, the functions of eunuchs were still to "guard the cabinet gate" and "sweep the inner courtyard". By the time of Emperor Zhongzong, the number of eunuchs had increased slightly, about three thousand. But the grade is still very low, and there is no special performance in politics.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, eunuchs began to participate in imperial politics
Eunuchs played a greater role in the political life of the Tang Dynasty from the Beginning of the Xuanzong Dynasty. In the early days of Emperor Xuanzong's succession, he forged ahead, and with the assistance of Yao Chong and other sages, the government flourished, so the Kaiyuan prosperous world appeared. However, as Xuanzong grew older, Xuanzong's enterprising spirit continued to fade. Coupled with The gradual mistakes made by Emperor Xuanzong in the selection of personnel, which led to the treachery of Li Linfu and his entourage, the power of eunuchs gradually grew. In the middle and late period of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, eunuchs were heavily used in the court, the number of eunuchs continued to increase, and the restrictions on eunuchs became less and less. Emperor Xuanzong's selection of eunuchs was more casual, and the history books said that as long as there was a slight, he was awarded the left and right guards of Sanpin. As time went on, the number of eunuchs in the palace increased, and the rank became higher and higher. There are historical records that in the later period of Xuanzong's reign, eunuchs "had more than three thousand people in yellow clothes and more than a thousand people dressed in purple clothes."
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, there were two powerful eunuchs. One is the famous GaoLishi, and the other is called Yang Sixun. The name of Colliers was widely spread because of the anecdote that he took off his boots for Li Bai. In terms of officialdom, Colliers was many times more successful than Li Bai. Throughout the Kaiyuan Tianbao period, Gao Lishi's grace was continuous, and the officials to the great general of the Hussars, the Kaifu Yi Tongsan Division, the Duke of Qi, and the power of the world. At his peak, Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and other prime ministers had to look at Gao Lishi's face and act. Although Yang Sixun's fame was not great, he was also favored during the Xuanzong period, and he rose to power by military merit. During the Kaiyuan period, Yang Sixun led his army to repeatedly rebel against Annam, Lingnan and other places, and won many battles and made great achievements, and was awarded the title of Grand General of the Horse Rider and General of Zuo Xiaowei and Duke of Yu.
The two eunuchs of the Xuanzong Dynasty had a relatively good image and did not appear to be in the situation of later dictatorship, and Gao Lishi was also praised as "the first eunuch of the ages". However, the eunuchs went from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, from the bottom to the top, but they started with Gao Lishi, Yang Sixun and others. Emperor Xuanzong's abuse of eunuchs laid the foundation for the future monopoly of eunuchs.
Third, a wrong decision of Tang Dezong gave the eunuch a sharp weapon
In the Anshi Rebellion, there is such a detail: after the Forbidden Army killed Yang Guifei and Yang Guozhong in Ma Songpo, Emperor Xuanzong ordered the crown prince Li Heng to stay and appease the local people, while he himself went to Chengdu. Li Heng did not want to stay, but at the strong suggestion of a eunuch around him, Li Fuguo, Li Heng stayed. After that, Li Heng, escorted by Li Fuguo, arrived at Lingwu and declared himself emperor. In this process, Li Fuguo and Li Heng formed a deep "friendship". After Li Heng succeeded to the throne, he was very gracious to Li Fuguo and appointed him the Marching Sima of the Marshal's Office, and Li Fuguo began to control the military power. Under the protection of Emperor Suzong Li Heng, Li Fuguo's power fell to the opposition. After Emperor Suzong's death, he plotted to kill Empress Zhang and the Yue king Li Shi and supported Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty to ascend the throne. This makes it even more arrogant. The real eunuch of the Tang Dynasty, Li Fuguo was the first.
Li Fuguo's control of the military power has an accidental factor. However, a decision by Tang Dezong made it a fixed system for eunuchs to control the forbidden army, which was the root cause of the increasingly fierce disaster of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty.
After experiencing the Anshi Rebellion, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty became more and more insecure, and became more and more distrustful of the court ministers and generals, and favored the eunuchs around them. Emperor Suzong believed in Li Fuguo because in the most critical time, it was not the ministers and generals who were protecting him, but Li Fuguo, the eunuch. Therefore, he was very kind to Li Fuguo.
The reason why Tang Dezong would hand over the military power of the forbidden army to the eunuchs was the same as Emperor Suzong's favor of Li Fuguo. During the reign of Emperor Dezong, the Zhu Zhu Rebellion broke out. The rebels occupied Chang'an, and Emperor Dezong fled. In the process of escaping, only two eunuchs, Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming, followed closely and did not abandon them. After that, Dezong favored the two of them. After the rebellion was put down, Emperor Dezong distrusted the Manchu Dynasty's Wenwu, and he set up a lieutenant in the Shen Ce Army, and let Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming serve as the two to jointly command the Shen Ce Army. From then on, the eunuchs led the Shen Ce Army became a fixed system of the imperial court, and it did not change until the fall of the Tang Dynasty.
This system, for Dezong himself, was not wrong, cultivating strength and protecting his own safety, which the emperor had to consider. However, the Divine Strategy Army is a double-edged sword that can protect people as well as kill people. Emperor Dezong reigned for a long time (27 years) and was wary of eunuchs, and the entire Tang Dynasty showed a zhongxing atmosphere. However, the eunuchs became more and more powerful because of the sharp weapon of the Divine Strategy Army, and when the emperor was slightly weaker and younger, they began to stir up trouble. By the time of Emperor Wenzong, the Ganlu Rebellion broke out, and the eunuch Qiu Shiliang led the Shen Ce army to hold the emperor hostage, killing more than a thousand people before and after, and the eunuch disaster reached its peak.
4. Summary
The eunuchs commanded the Divine Strategy Army, so that the eunuchs were separated from the emperor's vassals and became an independent system, allowing them to "coerce the Son of Heaven, look down on the prime minister, and the tyrants of the court like grass and mustard."
The scourge of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty shows us that when setting up a system, we must fully consider the long-term consequences of this system, not just its original intention and recent results. Because with the passage of time and the change of circumstances, a good system may also become a bad government, which in turn will devour the founder himself.