Eunuchs were a very special group, they were originally crippled people, and their status was also very lowly, but because they wandered among the powerful, they should not be underestimated. Folk are known as "the seven pin officials of the prime minister's door", not to mention the eunuchs who accompany the emperor all day long?
Generally speaking, if the Ming Emperor is in power and can be good at restraining his close attendants, then it is difficult for eunuchs to do so. However, after all, not every emperor is a wise and divine warrior. Therefore, there is no shortage of great eunuchs in history who have hands and eyes in the sky. This was the case with Wei Zhongxian during the Ming Dynasty.
In many film and television dramas, Wei Zhongxian is a hot character, and even the emperor is afraid of him. However, Wei Zhongxian in literary and artistic works was eventually magnified. There were many emperors in the Ming Dynasty who favored eunuchs, and there were many powerful eunuchs, but there were few who could really threaten the imperial power.
If you find some words to describe Wei Zhongxian, you may be able to use words such as fox fake tiger power and dog fighting human power. Because during the Apocalypse Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian was able to become greater mainly because of the favor and connivance of the Ming Xi Sect, and one of his powers was mainly based on "correction".
The so-called correction is to give orders in the name of the emperor, so as to secretly mix his will with the divine decree. Unfortunately, Emperor Mingxi indulged in carpentry work all day long, ignored the government and politics, and especially favored Wei Zhongxian. Since then, Wei Zhongxian has come to the party under the guise of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to fight against the same party and grab benefits.
Wei Zhongxian gained power because he was attached to the imperial power; Wei Zhongxian fell because he fell out of favor with the new king. Although Chongzhen was the half-brother of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, his personality was very different from that of the carpenter's brother. Zhu Youjian was an emperor who worked hard to rule, and he was also an almost harsh monarch. After he ascended the throne, he had already decided to get rid of Wei Zhongxian, and all that was left was to push the boat along the water.
Long before Chongzhen ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian's perverse behavior had already aroused the opposition of his courtiers, but it had failed to achieve results due to the faintness of the apocalypse. After Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, Qian Jiazheng impeached Wei Zhongxian and listed all kinds of evil deeds of the castration party. In this way, Chongzhen began to order people to investigate Wei Zhongxian, and there was only one way to die waiting for Wei Zhongxian.
Many people describe this struggle as thrilling, but in fact, the problem itself is not complicated. At that time, Wei Zhongxian saw that the general trend had gone, and soon committed suicide in fear of sin. Chongzhen, on the other hand, ordered a thorough investigation and the crimes of the relevant personnel were thoroughly investigated. It should be known that although Chongzhen ascended the throne at this time, he had not yet changed his yuan, and Wei Zhongxian was still cut off his head after his death and shown to the public.
From this point of view, Chongzhen's removal of Wei Zhongxian could not be said to use the word "overthrow", because there was an original disparity in strength between the two, and it was really not difficult for the emperor to let a eunuch die. It can be said that Wei Zhongxian's gain and loss of power are all proof of a truth: in the era of high concentration of imperial power, others are just like ants, although they can spoil the monopoly, it is difficult to compete with the emperor.