Liu Jin is one of the typical representatives of the Ming Dynasty, who was a eunuch during the Ming Wuzong period, because of the serious power gain, and was also known as the "Emperor of Lidi".
Ambitious
Liu Jin was a native of Xingping, Shaanxi, who had purified himself as early as the age of six, and his ancestral surname was Tan, because he followed the eunuch surnamed Liu into the palace, so he changed his surname to Liu.
During the Jingtai period, Liu Jin, who had just entered the palace, was just a small servant and had no power, and once he was almost executed for making a major mistake, and later, through the recommendation of the eunuch Li Guang, he went to the Eastern Palace to serve the crown prince Zhu Houzhao, later Emperor Wuzong of Ming.
Liu Jin is a person who is good at reflection, he learned the lessons of his previous mistakes, began to speculate on people's hearts, observe the color, not only that, Liu Jin himself is also very smart, sharp teeth he is the most loved by Zhu Houzhao.
In 1505, When Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, Liu Jin began to take charge of the Bell and Drum Division, mainly responsible for the bells and drums of the emperor's usual dynasty, and also responsible for the dance music, acting, juggling and so on in the palace.
Liu Jin was extremely ambitious, and he regarded Wang Zhen, a eunuch who had wielded power during the orthodox years, as an idol to follow, hoping that he would be able to turn into a phoenix one day and fly up the branches to become the head of a generation of eunuchs who were in power and opposition.
At this time, he also began to win the hearts and minds of the people, organizing seven eunuchs who had served Emperor Wuzong of Ming, Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong, Ma Yongcheng, Qiu Ju, Luo Xiang, Wei Bin, and Gao Feng, to form a group of eunuchs headed by Liu Jin, historically known as the "Eight Tigers".
When Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, he was only a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, and he did not have the slightest self-control over glory and wealth and greed for pleasure.
Liu Jin threw himself into his favor, widely selected flying eagle singers, exclusively for Emperor Wuzong to find fun, and secretly took the emperor out of the palace to play, the young emperor only cared about these novelties in front of him, and the East Palace at that time was called "a hundred theaters".
In the long run, Emperor Wuzong had long ago forgotten the state's government and politics, indulged in it all day, wasted his life, and eventually became a famous emperor in history known for his absurdity.
All this was just as Liu Jin wished, a set of combination punches down, had already waited for Emperor Wuzong to be smiling, and soon, Liu Jin was appointed as the eunuch of the inner palace, responsible for the construction of some palace rooms or the production of utensils.
In addition, Liu Jin was also the main force of the governor of Kyoto, and the cause of eunuchs was booming.
Disasters in the government
People's desires will never be satisfied, and Liu Jin saw that he was getting more and more powerful, so he started the idea of amassing wealth.
He was well aware that the eunuchs were a position that was easy to amass wealth, and he wanted to go against the emperor's proposal to abolish the admiral's military camp and the city gates and bureaux, and asked the eunuchs in office to pay 10,000 or 20,000 pieces of silver to keep their positions, which was equivalent to a "contract fee", in order to provoke Emperor Wuzong to loot oil and water and fatten himself.
In order to amass more wealth, Liu Jin also requested the establishment of more than thirty imperial palaces, covering an area of more than 37,000 hectares, and the people in power in the imperial palaces ran amok, making the people around the capital miserable and deeply affected.
Some ministers with a sense of justice in the imperial court, such as Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, and others, came to the court one after another, demanding that Emperor Mingwu rectify the discipline and abolish the imperial palace, but Emperor Mingzong ignored it and did not allow it.
Gradually, more and more ministers were dissatisfied with Liu Jin's actions, and more and more people spoke up, and no matter how hard Emperor Wuzong was, favoring Liu Jin, there was also a slight wave in his psychology.
Hindered by the relationship between the two sides, he had no choice but to adopt a compromise approach and negotiate with the cabinet to send Liu Jin to Nanjing.
However, Liu Jin had already aroused the people's indignation, and the evil practice of the "Eight Tigers" had long since reached a point that ordinary people could not tolerate, and Liu Jian and others were determined to execute Liu Jin and others in order to put an end to the consequences.
There were also some upright eunuchs in the cabinet who supported the execution of Liu Jin, and Liu Jin was also frightened in the face of such a strong momentum, and he used the bitter meat trick to find Emperor Wuzong and cry out loudly, tearfully saying that it was an outsider who maliciously provoked and wanted to frame the emperor.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Wuzong was furious and believed what Liu Jin had said, and also appointed Liu Jin to be in charge of the ceremonial superintendent, and sent the eunuchs that Liu Jin said wanted to frame to Nanjing to charge the army.
The Ming ministers knew that the situation was powerless to return to heaven at this point, and they were only helpless in their anger, so they had to choose to resign and go away, and Liu Jin was already in the position of the most powerful eunuch, gradually showing the momentum of covering the sky with one hand.
Liu Jin knew very well how to score inches, he specially selected when Emperor Wuzong was indulging in song and swallow dance, waiting for the opportunity to inquire about some matters about playing, whenever this time, Emperor Mingwuzong was always very impatient, Liu Jin naturally had the right to make up his own mind and do all the emperor's work.
In order to prevent anyone from opposing him, Liu Jin set up an insider factory outside the East Factory and the West Factory, which was directly taken over by himself, and if he was caught by the Neihang Factory, it must be severely tortured, so as many as a thousand people were persecuted.
The arbitrary Liu Jin wantonly gained power, and some magnates also had to give him three points of courtesy and prostrate their heads, and the people did not dare to say more when they saw him, for fear of provoking the disaster of killing himself.
Deserve
At this time, Liu Jin no longer put anyone in his eyes, and he was no longer limited to being a person who made decisions for the emperor, so he began to intervene in various changes.
He intervened in the salt law, shangshu asked the world to play the salt of the household registration, prohibited the smuggling of salt, and also required the inspector of salt to personally examine and not let go of those who violated the regulations, while Liu Jin himself transported private salt in the name of transporting seafood.
Liu Jin also proposed a method of punishing rice, and all the ministers who had offended him had to transport the surplus grain from their families to the frontier to enrich the military treasury, so that the capital Yushi Yang Yiqing and others were ruined.
The above changes are only a small microcosm of Liu Jin's evil, and finally Liu Jin, after five years in power, triggered a rebellion by the King of Ning, and Zhang Yong, one of the "Eight Tigers", had long resented Liu Jin's uneven distribution, and for this reason he was also ostracized by Liu Jin, he wanted to take this opportunity to overthrow Liu Jin, and Yang Yiqing, who had been framed by Liu Jin, also stood up to win Zhang Yong over.
Yang Yiqing persuaded Zhang Yong to tell the emperor the real reason for King Ning's rebellion, and if the emperor did not believe it, he cried to show his loyalty.
As soon as Zhang Yong heard that it was feasible, he presented Emperor Wuzong with the fact that Liu Jin wanted to rebel and wrote seventeen of Liu Jin's accusations, which were also confirmed by Ma Yongcheng, one of the "Eight Tigers".
Emperor Mingwuzong suddenly woke up and immediately sent someone to arrest Liu Jin, who was defenseless and was directly imprisoned.
The next day, Emperor Wuzong of Ming went to Liu Jin's home to raid his home, and sure enough, he found the emperor's jade seal carved privately, as well as the dragon robe and other objects that only the emperor could use.
Emperor Mingwuzong was furious and completely believed the fact that Liu Jin wanted to rebel, and immediately ordered Ling Chi to be punished.
On the day of the execution, the people around the execution site were surrounded by water, and they all had to see with their own eyes how the criminals who committed the most heinous crimes died tragically, and the people who had been persecuted by Liu Jin also spent money to buy Liu Jin's flesh to pay tribute to the dead, and Liu Jin, the eunuch who had caused chaos in the government, finally received the punishment he deserved.
How much property Liu Jin had looted is still unknown, but as far as the "Supplement to the Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty" is concerned, the total amount of gold is 1,257,802, and the total amount of silver is 25,953,600, which can also be said to be a major corrupt official in history.