What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the management of eunuchs was also very strict. Ming Taizu stipulated that eunuchs were "not allowed to read and write", "must not concurrently hold the title of foreign minister", "do not exchange with Wen Qian", and "carry iron plates to the palace gate: 'Internal ministers must not interfere in political affairs, and those who foresee it are beheaded". In the tenth year of Hongwu (1377), "there were internal servants who served in the inner court for a long time, and generally talked about the imperial court, and returned to their hometowns on the same day, and they were disdainful for life." These strict precautions effectively eliminated the eunuch dictatorship from the system. However, during the time of Chengzu, the political status of eunuchs gradually improved, because Zhu Di relied more on eunuchs during the Battle of Jingnan and found that household subjects were available, and eunuchs were the most effective self-defense suits attached to the imperial power. In the third year of Yongle (1405), Zheng He was sent to lead a fleet to the West; in the eighteenth year (1420), he set up the East Factory. And some eunuchs were selected to teach them to read and write, and "to choose instructors to teach them inside." During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, there was the eunuch Wang Zhen's monopoly, and after that, the eunuch dictatorship occurred from time to time.
The institution composed of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was called the Neifu Yamen, and there were twenty-four inner palaces, namely: the Ceremonial Supervisor, the Imperial Household Supervisor, the Inner Guanjian, the Imperial Horse Supervisor, the SiShi Supervisor, the Shang Bao Supervisor, the Divine Palace Supervisor, the Shang Shan Supervisor, the Shang Yi Supervisor, the Printing And SlowIng Supervisor, the Zhidian Supervisor, and the Duzhi Supervisor, the four divisions of the Salary Division, the Bao Banknote Division, the Bell and Drum Division, and the Mixed Hall Division, and the Eight Bureaus of the Soldier's Staff Bureau, the Towel hat Bureau, the Needle Bureau, the Inner Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, the Wine and Vinegar Noodle Bureau, the Siyuan Bureau, the Laundry Bureau, and the Silver Work Bureau.
The most powerful of the twenty-four gates was the Si Li Supervisor, who had one member of the Viceroy Eunuch, one member of the Palm Seal Eunuch, and eight or nine members of the Bingbi and Suitang eunuchs. The Viceroy Eunuch was in charge of all the large and small eunuchs, "Palm Seal in charge of the internal and external chapters and the imperial survey." Bing pen, follow the hall palm chapter to play the document, according to the cabinet vote to approve Zhu." The cabinet ticket is the cabinet's draft opinion on Zhang Song, and after the emperor examines and approves it, he asks the eunuch to write out the instructions with a red pen, which is "approval of Zhu" or "approval of red". If the emperor was not diligent enough to govern, let the bingbi eunuch approve Zhu on his behalf, and the eunuch would have the possibility of interfering in the government of the dynasty. Si Lijian held the right to approve the red about before Xuanzong, "Under the seal of Si Li, the eunuch bingbi was the most important, and every day (chapter) played the documents, and from the imperial pen to personally approve several books, all the internal officials of the pen followed the words of the ticket, used the Zhu pen to approve the line, and then made exchanges with the outer court." Except for Taizu and Chengzu, who were called Ming jun, most of the other emperors of the Ming Dynasty were relatively mediocre, and some emperors even ignored the government of the dynasty, and the red power was firmly grasped by the eunuchs, forming a right of supervision and restraint over the cabinet scholars, and the cabinet ministers could not operate the political power at will.
Wei Zhongxian (魏忠贤), also spelled Wu (字完吾), was a native of Suning, whose original name was Li Jinzhong , was a idle scoundrel who owed a lot of gambling debts because of good gambling, and in order to hide debts and seek wealth, he entered the palace from behind the palace. Wei Zhongxian was good at flattery, and curried favor with the eunuch Wang An, the eunuch Wei Dynasty, and The Xizong nursing mother Keshi. The relationship between the Wei Dynasty and the Ke clan was particularly close, and it was a relationship between food, that is, the eunuchs in the palace and the palace women married together and lived like husband and wife. After Emperor Xizong ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian knew that their opportunity for development was coming, and was soon appointed as the eunuch of Bingbi, the superintendent of ceremonies, and also the viceroy of Baohe and Sandian, but he could not read, and Keshi was named Lady Sheng, and her son Hou Guoxing, younger brother Ke Guangxian, and Wei Zhongxian's brother Wei Zhao were all appointed as Jinyi Wei Qianhu. He knew deeply that his promotion was entirely pleasing to Keshi, and if he still wanted to climb up, he had to get rid of the Wei Dynasty, who was closest to Keshi. Wei Zhongxian deliberately quarreled with the Wei Dynasty and was jealous, and also went to the imperial court to ask Emperor Xizong to give them a ruling, at this time, Keshi's intentions were already biased towards Wei Zhongxian, and Emperor Xi followed the wishes of this nursing mother and drove Wei Chao out of the palace. Later, he took advantage of the situation to send Wang Anfa to the South China Sea and sent assassins to kill him on the road.
Emperor Xizong was a famous carpenter emperor in history, who liked to do carpentry work, and Wei Zhongxian deliberately lured him to play, often asking him to approve the recitation when Emperor Xizong was having fun, and Emperor Xizong asked Wei Zhongxian to do it. According to historical records, Emperor Xizong was "good at walking horses, good at playing small plays, good at building houses, self-wielding axes and sawing, and skillful craftsmen could not reach." Good painter", 'The old and close ministers Tu Wenfu and Ge Jiusi created day and night. Cause and rejoice, and soon abandon; Abandon and become, do not tire of also. When its pound is cut with a knife, it is not allowed to peep at the unclothed plate. Whenever Wang Tiqian and others were in charge of their affairs, they would pass on the documents from the side. After listening to it, I said: 'I have done it with my heart, and I know!' So Tai'a moved down, and the loyalists manipulated Ruyi." The power fell into the hands of Wei Zhongxian, and the entire inner court was under Wei Zhongxian's control.
In the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), Wei Zhongxian was appointed as the eunuch of the governor of the East Factory, in charge of the affairs of the East Factory. Wei Zhongxian and Keshi made waves in the palace and plotted to frame the empress dowager and make Emperor Xizong's heirs thin. For the sake of greater interests, Wei Zhongxian recruited a large number of opportunistic officials, such as Huo Weihua in the matter, Gu Bingqian in charge of the Zhan Shifu in the Libu Shangshu, Wei Guangwei, Ruan Dacheng, and Fu Yingxing in the Nanjing Ceremonial Department, who formed a huge clique and suppressed the upright officials, known as the castration party. It became a major power group in the DPRK, and many eunuchs and evil officials defected to Wei Zhongxian, forming a castration party force with Wei Zhongxian as the core. However, Wei Zhongxian's power came from having no institutional guarantees and relying only on Emperor Xizong's personal favor. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), Emperor Xizong died. Wei Zhongxian immediately fell, and the castration party was also torn apart. His successor, Emperor Sizong, sent Wei Zhongxian to Fengyang, and Wei Zhongxian died on his way to Fengyang.
The emergence of the Ming castration party on the one hand made the Ming rule darker, and on the other hand, it effectively restrained the expansion of the power of the cabinet and other courtiers, and shocked the courtiers with a powerful deterrent force, so that they did not dare to cross the line and act within their own boundaries. In addition, the Ming Dynasty did not give eunuchs the power to directly handle military and political affairs, as in the late Tang Dynasty politics, so although Emperor Xizong ignored the government, the imperial power was not replaced by courtiers.