People who have seen the movie "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" should be deeply impressed by the evil and vicious villain role played by Chen Kun, the evil and vicious villain, and the image of the Xichang Factory Gong, who is highly skilled in martial arts, is based on the famous eunuch Wang Zhi in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Zhi is a figure that cannot be ignored in history, and together with Wei Zhongxian, Liu Jin, and Wang Zhen, he was known as the "Four Great Powers", and once his power was tilted towards the opposition. In history, the evaluation of Wang Zhi is mostly negative, and the image created in film and television dramas is good and bad. But there is never black and white in the world, fiction, film and television have their truth, and history has its falsehood.
The character of Wang Zhi has a complex and multi-faceted nature, but how did he go from a humble little eunuch to an amazingly powerful and important person?
The little eunuch counterattacked the road
In the first year of Chenghua, the rebellion of the Yao people in Guangxi was quelled by the Ming army, and the teenagers and children of the clan were captured, and the 6-year-old Wang Zhi was one of them. After being captured, Wang Zhi was sent to the palace as a small eunuch, and from then on, his life was changed.
Because of his clever appearance and flexible hands and feet, Wang Zhi was sent to serve in front of Emperor Mingxianzong's favorite Concubine Wan Guifei. When he was around Wan Guifei, Wang Zhi knew how to please his master with good words, and he was even more meticulous in doing things, so he was deeply loved by Wan.
Emperor Xianzong loved Both Wu and Wu, and admired the eunuchs who served their favored concubines. At this time, although Wang Zhi was only a small eunuch, he was also respected. It can be said that Wan Guifei is the first step for Wang Zhi to start a family.
In the twelfth year of Chenghua, there was a collusion between the wizard and the eunuch in the palace. After the matter was revealed, the relevant personnel were all killed, but Ming Xianzong had always been worried about this matter and was worried all the time.
At this time, the eunuch Wang Zhi, who had been waiting for Wan Guifei for a long time, was already the object of Xianzong's trust, and coupled with his clever nature, Xianzong sent him and some Jinyi guards to disguise themselves outside the palace to spy on folk strange things.
This is the first step in Wang Zhi's secret service career, and it also shows his talent as a secret agent. The cunning and clever Wang Zhi was never recognized or exposed outside the palace, and he reported many hidden things he learned to the emperor, which made the emperor very satisfied.
When the emperor was upset, Wang Zhi, who was good at observing the color, also led the emperor out to find fun. Emperor Dayue, who favored Wang Zhi even more, promoted him to the position of imperial eunuch.
Emperor Mingxianzong gradually discovered that the secret service agencies set up by the previous dynasty, namely the East Factory and the Jinyi Guard, had gradually deviated from the original direction of their positions during the years of fighting, and could no longer be used by the emperor.
After much deliberation, the Emperor decided to set up a new secret service, but who would put in charge of it was an important question. At this time, Wan Guifei recommended Wang Zhi to the emperor. Wang Zhi had always been deeply appreciated by the emperor, so the emperor appointed Wang Zhi as the adjutant of the new secret service agency Xichang.
The duty of the West Factory is nothing more than to spy on various hidden plots for the emperor in order to consolidate the power of the emperor, and the East Factory and the JinyiWei are no different, the difference is only that the two institutions of the East Factory and the Jinyiwei have been established for a long time and have deep roots, but the internal corruption problems are very serious, and the emperor is not completely subservient to the orders, while the West Factory was created by the emperor's orders and is a sword in the hands of the emperor.
Since then, Wang Zhi, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, was in full charge of the West Factory at the behest of the emperor, and gradually stood at the peak of his power with his own ability.
Tough style
The establishment of the West Factory is undoubtedly a threat to the East Factory and Jinyiwei, so the two agencies often join forces against the West Factory. The ministers of the court were also very jealous of this eunuch's authority.
Therefore, on the surface, it seems that the survival of the West Factory is not easy, but in fact, Xianzong gave the West Factory many privileges to suppress foreign ministers, and Wang Zhi, as the admiral of the West Factory, was even more determined by his tough style and vigorous work efficiency, all the way through the thorns and thorns, sitting firmly in a high position.
Shortly after Wang Zhi took office, Yang Ye, then a Fujian military officer, and his father Yang Tai ran amok in the township and killed people, and after being reported, the father and son fled to Kyoto to pay bribes.
After Wang Zhi received the news, he immediately had Yang's father and son arrested and imprisoned in Xichang Prison and tortured, under the torture to extract confessions, many ministers were implicated, and Xichang made a great contribution in front of the emperor.
In the same year, Qin Lipeng, a eunuch in Nanjing, took more than 100 boats to smuggle salt for huge profits, and along the way, he constantly harassed the people of the prefecture and county, causing the people's resentment to boil. Qin Lipeng even ordered someone to beat up one of the county officials who questioned him and shot another person. When Wang Zhi learned of this, he immediately arrested Qin Lipeng and reported it to Emperor Xianzong, who was eventually executed. The high efficiency of the West Factory was deeply appreciated by Xian Zong.
In addition, Wang Zhi also asked the emperor to open a martial arts and select military attaches like a jinshi, and Xianzong tried this way for several years according to his words, which was quite effective, which made Xianzong regard Wang Zhi as his right-hand man, and ordered him to go to Liaodong to assist in handling border affairs and to "act cheaply", which was equivalent to giving him a lot of power.
For a time, the West Factory was "the power of the favor, all the people looked sideways", the arrogance completely overwhelmed the East Factory and the Jinyi Guard, And Wang Zhi naturally became a hot figure, and even the heavy ministers of the DPRK had to let him score three points.
Some ministers in the DPRK admired Wang Zhi's tough style, but some people believed that Wang Zhi's methods were too fierce, and if he let him rise all the way, it would definitely be a scourge.
Flying
The gradual increase in power is often easy to make people forgetful, and the young and vigorous Wang Zhi is no exception. When the power was enough to cover the sky with one hand, he began to make waves, flying and flying, as if he did not pay attention to everything.
Wang Zhiluo woven several big prisons, the means of torturing prisoners were extremely vicious, and the subjects who did not pay attention to it would be accused of the West Factory, once they entered the West Factory Prison, they were better off alive than dead, from the officials of the DPRK to the people of the world, mentioning that the West Factory was a little afraid. Wang Zhike directly ordered the unauthorized arrest of officials of the Three Pins in Jingzhong, and the officials of some important departments, including the emperor's close attendants, were also replaced at will. Many ministers snuggled to please Wang Zhi, and saw him wagging his tail and begging for mercy...
Because Wang Zhiquan was really arrogant and arrogant, the scholars of the DPRK and China jointly sent a message to the emperor, requesting the abolition of the West Factory and the revocation of Wang Zhi's power, and Xianzong had no choice but to abolish the West Factory. However, Emperor Xianzong's trust in Wang Zhi remained undiminished, and he still sent him to spy on the hidden affairs of the officials and the people, and the West Factory was only abolished for a month before it was re-established, and Wang Zhi was still the powerful man.
The restoration of the West Factory has undoubtedly further deepened the contradictions between all parties, and a new round of power struggle has been launched between the DPRK and China in the palace. Wang Zhi re-became the admiral and showed more loyalty to the emperor, and in the whirlpool of struggle, he never lost, but Wang Zhi, who was in his twenties, chose to advance in another way.
Drinking horses border pass, integrity
Wang Zhi has unlimited political scenery, but the biggest ideal in his heart is to make military merit and defend his family and country on the battlefield with a passion. In the fifteenth year of Chenghua, Jurchen offended the ming border, and Wang Zhi took the initiative to ask Miao to quell the Jurchen disaster, and Xianzong agreed and ordered him to supervise the army. Wang Zhi used the means of seduction to lure the Jurchen generals into the gates of Jianzhou, let the Ming army ambush in the city, and seize the opportunity to attack the enemy.
In the end, the Jurchens were really deceived, many were killed, and the army collapsed, and the Ming army won a huge victory in Jianzhou, and Wang Zhi made military achievements in this way. He took the first step on his ideal path, and his position was more secure.
The following year, the Tatars sent troops into Hetao in an attempt to invade the Central Plains, and Wang Zhi again served as the overseer. He and Wang Yue spied on each other's military intelligence, and after learning the specific location of the Mongol king, he dispatched 20,000 elite soldiers to attack at night, catching the enemy by surprise, and in the end, the Ming army won a complete victory. Wang Zhijia was enfeoffed with the title of Yiyi, and Wang Yue was promoted to Weiningbo, becoming one of the only three civil servants in the Ming Dynasty to be honored with military merits.
In the following years, Wang Zhi went to the border many times to supervise the war, continuously made military merits, and together with other generals, defended the territory of the Ming Dynasty. During that period, Wang Zhi's power was at its peak.
The legendary life came to an end
After Wang Zhi's power reached its peak, it was followed by a decline. Because he had been focusing on the battlefield for many years, his political power had weakened, and his opponents naturally had the opportunity to fight back. The courtiers of the court constantly secretly injured him and repeatedly impeached him to the emperor; the eunuchs of the East Factory continued to slander him; and some border officials who opposed him constantly reported to the emperor that Wang Zhi had done some things on the border to hurt the people and money.
In the political struggle, Wang Zhi also fought back against the officials who impeached him, but Xianzong was already troubled by this, and no longer had the same trust in Wang Zhi as before, so he transferred him from the post of supervisor of the army.
In the second year after Wang Zhi was transferred, the Ming army lost a major battle and almost lost important cities. The generals all knew that the mistake was in transferring Wang Zhi and Wang Yue, but no one dared to tell the truth to the emperor. The emperor, tired of Wang Zhi, abolished the West Factory and transferred him away from Kyoto.
Since then, Wang Zhi's deeds have rarely been recorded in history, his legendary life seems to have come to an end, and the power of the opposition has become a thing of the past. But fortunately, Wang Zhi was finally able to get away from some disputes, spend his life safely, and die a good death, which was very fortunate compared to Wei Zhongxian, Liu Jin and others. People always despise Wang Zhi, a once powerful eunuch, more than praise, but his multi-faceted nature lies in the combination of good or bad qualities such as treachery, integrity, fierceness, cruelty, loyalty, patriotism, etc.
He will deal with prisoners in prison with cruel means, and he will also strike at some evil things with integrity; he will be arrogant in the dprk, but he will not hesitate to praise the incorruptible people and elect them to the emperor; he will win in political struggles with cunning means, and he will spare no effort to defend the territory on the battlefield with a warm heart...
We never know whether the history we see is true or false, but we know that we can never judge a person from an absolute point of view. Wang Zhi must have a legendary life, there must be a dark side, and there must be a shining place of justice, but in any case, he deserves a place in that real history.