The Ming Dynasty eunuch Wei Zhongxian was the most powerful eunuch in history, known as 9,900 years old in history, and he was extremely favored. Wei Zhongxian didn't know a single word, and he climbed the big tree of Ming Xi Sect by love.
Wei Zhongxian not only has love, but also a vigorous love triangle. He also had wives and children before entering the palace, and it is said that because of gambling debts, his wife and children were taken to pay off debts, in order to hide debts, Wei Zhongxian gritted his teeth and entered the palace.
Generally speaking, a eunuch who wants to soar in the palace must have three conditions: literacy, cunning, and strong ambition. However, Wei Zhongxian was illiterate, and after entering the palace, he was often teased by some treacherous eunuchs, so he also got a nickname "Fool".
After entering the palace for 30 years, Wei Zhongxian was still a food administrator of the Eastern Palace talents, and he was often complacent about it. Just such a foolish illiterate who is still content to be happy at the age of 50, how can he sit in a high position in the future?
Wei Zhongxian ascended to the throne by the Ke clan
In ancient times, eunuchs and palace women were deep in the palace all year round, and for their own psychological needs, they often formed a "vegetable household" or "food" similar to the relationship of husband and wife. The Ming Shi Yi'an Later Biography records a phenomenon: "The palace people who are childless, each chooses an internal prisoner as a partner, called a 'vegetable household', with property and property as a family, and love each other like a husband and wife." ”
Wei Zhongxian's pair of food is called Keshi, Who is mingxizong's wet nurse, and Mingxizong, who lacks maternal love, has a very deep affection for his nursing mother. After ascending to the Ke clan, Wei Zhongxian soon became a close confidant of Emperor Mingxi, and at the age of 53 became the largest eunuch in the palace, the eunuch of Si Li Jian Bingbi.
The "History of Ming" records that whenever the carpenter Emperor Ming Xizong concentrated on carpentry work, Wei Zhongxian took the song and asked for approval, and Ming Xizong casually replied every time, "The carpenter emperor has learned it, and the Ru generation is good for themselves." In this way, Wei Zhongxian slowly seized the supreme power of the state.
In this love triangle, strictly speaking, Wei Zhongxian is a small third who intervenes. When Wei Zhongxian first entered the palace, he was serving the eunuch Wei Dynasty, and the Wei Dynasty's counterpart was Keshi. Later, wei dynasty positions became higher and higher, and naturally more and more things happened, and he spent less and less time meeting with Keshi. At this time, Wei Zhongxian, the head of the cooking class, took advantage of the void to enter and have a long-term relationship with Keshi, and gradually developed into an object.
Wei Dynasty later discovered that he had a green hat and took the matter to the emperor. However, Ming Xizong only cared about his mother's feelings and let Keshi choose for himself, and as a result, Keshi finally chose to be with Wei Zhongxian. It was in this way that Wei Zhongxian gained the emperor's trust by relying on keshi's connections.
Wei Zhongxian purged the Donglin Party
In the third year of the Apocalypse, in order to balance the high-ranking Donglin Party, some courtiers began to defect to Wei Zhongxian, the governor of Dongchang, triggering a cruel party struggle between the 55-year-old eunuch and the Donglin Party. At this time, how did Wei Zhongxian deal with his political enemies?
According to the "Ming Confucian Lecture Examination", Wei Zhongxian was good at government, the group of small people echoed and created, and all the gentlemen in the sea were referred to as Donglin party members. Wei Zhongxian's nemesis Cui Chengxiu compiled the Records of Heaven and the Records of Comrades, respectively, of the Donglin Party and the non-Donglin Party opposition.
The Records of the Generals of Donglin Points, compiled by Wang Shaohui of the Imperial Household of The Imperial Household, are like the book of life and death in the hands of King Yan, and the Donglin Party members are given the rank of the Donglin Party in the name of the good man of Liangshan in the "Water Margin", such as the Thirty-six Heavenly Stars with Timely Rain Leaves Xianggao, the Prodigal Son Qian Qianyi, the Flea Wang Wenyan on the Drum, and the Great Dao Yang Lian; the Seventy-two Lands have Gu Dazhang, the Blue-Faced Beast Zuo Guangdou, and the Dryland Kulu Youshi Ren.
Therefore, Wei Zhongxian followed the roster and used the carpet method to kill or demote all the people who opposed him one by one, and also killed a large number of upright Donglin Party officials. In the fifth year of the Apocalypse, after eliminating all political enemies, the entire imperial court formed a pure Wei Party, and Wei Zhongxian's power reached its peak, and at the same time became 9,900 years old under the praise of everyone.
Wei Zhongxian's cult of personality
Nine thousand nine hundred years old, only one hundred years less than the emperor. This also clearly shows a truth, eunuchs are always eunuchs, eunuch dictatorship is no one is satisfied, Wei Zhongxian can not become an emperor in any way, after all, there is no precedent in history for eunuchs to be emperors, so wanting to "leave a name in history" has become his pursuit in life.
As a result, the inflammatory followers around Wei Zhongxian who were good at observing and observing colors began to cater to him, which triggered a fanatical cult of personality during the Apocalypse.
The "History of Ming" records that during the apocalypse years, many readers suggested that the eunuch Wei Zhongxian should cultivate a shrine. Ancestral halls, as the ancestral halls of the living, are generally built by the people for those who benefit one party. However, in order to cater to the wishes of the superiors, Zhejiang Inspector Pan Ruzhen was the first to play the Jiansheng Ancestral Hall to Wei Zhongxian, and the Mingren's notebook "First Dialing ZhiShi" recorded the song of this Pan Inspector to the emperor: "Dongchang Wei Zhongxian, diligent in heart and body of the country, nian cut the people, Dai De infinite, please build a temple." ”
The Ming Dynasty Not only agreed, but also rewarded the first shrine with a plaque. The first Inspector Pan, who slapped his ass, was promoted to Shangshu of the Nanjing Punishment Department for this reason, while the Inspector of Zhejiang was deposed a day late. As soon as this example was introduced, the Jiansheng Ancestral Hall was flooded, and even Lu Wanling, the superintendent of the Guozi, had the ingenuity to propose the construction of the ancestral hall in the Guozijian and compare Wei Zhongxian with Confucius.
I believe that when all the officials saw this, they all felt quite ironic, an illiterate eunuch was actually compared with Confucius of the Master of The Ten Thousand Worlds, and I am afraid that The Sage of Kong would jump out of the grave in anger after he knew it.
According to historical records, at that time, Wei Zhongxian was really touted to the point of common indignation among the gods, except for Lu Wanling, who advocated putting Wei Zhongxian next to Confucius, the governor of Jiliao at that time, Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao at the time, built 7 ancestral shrines for 9,900 years old by himself; Inspector Liu Zhaoxing not only built a shrine, but also worshiped him five times and three buckles; the official Shangshu Wei Guangwei, in order to seduce Wei Zhongxian, initially respected him as a brother, and later depreciated himself and called him an uncle; The Rebbe Shangshu Gu Bingqian was already old and wanted to recognize Wei Zhongxian as a dry father. However, considering that the beard was already white, he made his son the grandson of Wei, in other words, according to the generation, this white-bearded grandfather was still Wei Zhongxian's son.