Since ancient times, during the feudal dynasty period, the most famous of the dynasties in which eunuchs seized power was the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties, and from the perspective of the time when eunuchs seized power to influence the government, the Han Dynasty was mainly the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was after the Anshi Rebellion, and the influence of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty was the longest from the beginning to the end, from which period of the Ming Dynasty began? Recently, the historical drama "Daming Fenghua" starring Tang Wei, Zhu Yawen, Wang Xuexi, Liang Guanhua and so on is being broadcast, and the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty have been reused from several emperors in the play.
The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty began to fully enter the political arena during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, so that there were later generations
''The prosperity of the eunuch temple, since the beginning of Xuanzong''
statement. Previously, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty did not say that they were specially taught to read, and the training pool of the Ming Eunuchs,'' the "Neishutang," was initiated and set up by Zhu Zhanji, and according to the records in the "Ming Tongjian", the "Neishutang" that cultivated and taught the culture of eunuchs trained hundreds of young eunuchs at a time, and also specially selected erudite Hanlin scholars, and even let the cabinet university scholars teach them:
At the end of the opening of the library in the Inner Province, Liu Chong, the chief of the Punishment Department, wrote for Hanlin, specializing in teaching Xiao Nei envoys, and selected 200 or 300 people who were about ten years old to read among them. Later, Chen Shan, a university scholar, also took up a full-time job, so he decided that the four Hanlin officials would teach them as a matter of course.
The purpose of teaching all the eunuchs who were originally full-time servants to become talents is self-evident, that is, to use them to participate in politics, during the Zhu Zhanji period,
The eunuch was authorized to act on behalf of the emperor and exercise the power of "approving the red", that is, the power to be handled by the emperor in the cabinet was given to the eunuch
Of course, except for particularly important military and state affairs, the celebrant of ceremonies bingbi eunuchs
''Interior Minister''
This is where the name begins. In addition, under Zhu Zhanji's instructions, the eunuch's hand in government affairs became longer and longer.
Town guard eunuchs are scattered throughout all military towns and provinces, and civil affairs, military affairs, and supervision are all grasped
When Zhu Di reigned, there were already town guard eunuchs, but the scale was not large, only set up in important military towns, after Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, in the Ming Dynasty's two capitals and thirteen provinces all the places and military towns set up town guard eunuchs, including grain, water transportation and other important materials and transportation departments, the town guard eunuchs also managed particularly widely, local civil affairs, military, supervision and impeachment of officials are all their authority, the most powerful shenji battalion in the capital janissaries is also handed over to the eunuchs to manage, although these were briefly all dismissed after Zhu Zhanji's death. But it has already left an example for future emperors, and it is only a matter of time before it is revived.
The procurement of royal goods in the imperial palace was all appointed eunuchs out of the palace to buy in the localities, and there were cases of exploitation of the people
There was a huge consumer population in the palace, the emperor, concubines or high consumers, all of these consumption needs were assigned to the eunuchs to buy, and special items were specially used by eunuchs to customize and purchase. In addition, the eunuchs who went out to the town also had the task of helping to collect rare objects in the palace:
The officials of each town competed for the soil they were in, which was called 'filial piety'. ''
During Zhu Zhanji's time, there were many cases of eunuchs procuring local tyranny and exploiting the people's property, and the people's anger was extremely great, and Zhu Zhanji would deal with it, but his trust in eunuchs did not flinch.
Eunuchs were appointed as envoys to foreign countries many times, and the eunuchs were insatiably greedy
Eunuchs to foreign countries is not Zhu Zhanji's first original, Zhu Yuanzhang has this precedent from the beginning, Zheng He, who went to the West seven times during the Zhu Di period, actually had the mission of serving as an envoy, and when Zhu Zhanji came to power, this eunuch was used as a diplomat to make the most frequent appearance in other countries, they were different from the civilian officials and envoys, and the civilian officials were still worried about some face, but the eunuchs relied on the power of the Ming Dynasty to seek endlessly, so that the Korean king at that time complained angrily
:'''The words of Yin Quan of the Present Dynasty, the present imperial court who are envoys to outsiders, all the ignorant people of the eunuch temple, have endless lust, and their passages are invaded by all kinds of fishing, and they are not tired of taking people's things, and they are whipped unceasingly'"
。
The eunuch group is also divided into good and bad, and the behavior of these eunuchs zhu Zhanji knows? Surely he knew, even if he didn't know, the civilian-official clique would let him know that Huang Ze, who was the leftist politician in Henan at that time, had written a special letter accusing eunuchs of running amok in the local area and warning Zhu Zhanji:
''This generation should be alienated from everything and should not use things. Han and Tang have already done things, and Zhangzhang can be supervised''
。 But it was useless, he originally wanted to support the eunuch forces, as long as he did not arouse too much public anger, he would only let it go.
Zhu Zhanji, who ruled in a prosperous era and "the rule of Benevolence", had a positive evaluation in the history books, and the "History of Ming" said:
''The officials call their offices, the government is peaceful, the gang ji is repaired, the cangyu is full of envy, and the lu yan is happy. Years can't be scary. Gai Mingxing is the sixty years of the calendar year, the people's morale is gradually relaxed, and the steaming has the image of peace'
。 However, such a positive image of the emperor created the phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in politics that affected the political trend of the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years, which was really not linked to the image of Ming Jun, so why did he want to fully use and support the eunuch forces? The source is actually the cause and effect planted by many elders for him
First: Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister and set up a cabinet, and the future emperors could not replicate his enthusiasm for work
Zhu Yuanzhang is a workaholic, he abolished the system of prime ministers who have led hundreds of officials to govern political affairs for thousands of years, created a cabinet system, and turned the power of the prime minister who can compete with the imperial power into a secretariat under the leadership of the emperor, so that big things and small things have to be worried about by the emperor alone, Zhu Yuanzhang also carried it down hard, in addition to the system of the prime minister, eunuchs were also an important force affecting the stability of the imperial power, and Zhu Yuanzhang also made arrangements in advance:
However, customized, must not concurrently foreign ministers civil and military titles, can not be crowned by foreign ministers, officials have no four products, one stone of moon rice, clothing and food in the inner court. The iron medal was engraved at the palace gate: "The internal ministers shall not interfere in political affairs, and those who foresee it shall be beheaded." ''
After these regulations were made clear to the world in the name of the ancestral system, the so-called emperor's autocracy can be regarded as a great success, Zhu Yuanzhang estimated that future generations of descendants can do a good job as an emperor with great power as long as they follow the methods he prescribed, but it is obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang thinks too much, and he himself is eager to bury himself in the pile of official documents every day to deal with political affairs, but not all emperors like this, the emperor is also a person, and he also needs scientific office, and he also needs to entertain his body and mind. Zhu Yuanzhang's method was to force the future emperors to find helpers, and the eunuch was obviously very suitable.
Second: Ming Chengzu Zhu Di raised merit for the eunuch and tore open the mouth of the eunuch who reused it
The ancestral system formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang is still very effective, it is an effective means of restraining the emperor and hundreds of officials, but the rules have never been set in stone, only the eunuch system is concerned, it was soon broken, and it was Ming Chengzu Zhu Di who did this, this emperor seized the throne by means of rebellion, so the scruples about the ancestral system were much smaller, and the rebellion was done, let alone the system? One of the main purposes of his reusing eunuchs was to raise merit, because in the Battle of Jingnan, some eunuchs made meritorious contributions:
Spying on palace affairs, most of them took Emperor Jianwen's left and right as their eyes and ears
In addition to the eunuchs in the former Nanjing Imperial Palace, most of the eunuchs he had been following around him also had military merits, such as Zheng He, who had "made meritorious contributions from the beginning of the army" in the Battle of Jingnan, and Zheng He's deputy and eunuch Wang Jinghong who had seven voyages to the West also had military merit in the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Di was a cheerful person, the eunuchs helped him, he was also happy to let the eunuchs rise to higher ranks and get rich, from the time of Zhu Di, he successively appointed eunuchs to be supervisors in military towns in various places, there was the idea of monitoring the army, and there was also the meaning of letting the meritorious eunuchs take turns to enjoy.
But at that time, Zhu Di did not appoint eunuchs out on a large scale, after all, the meritorious ministers were a minority, unlike Zhu Zhanji, who was everywhere in the country, Zhu Di really began to pay attention to the power of eunuchs from the establishment of the east factory of the secret service agency, Zhu Di was usurpers, so the relationship with the hundred officials was relatively tense, in addition, because the eldest son Zhu Gaoxu and the second son Zhu Gaoxu competed for the heir to the throne, so that the emperor's most important secret service agency Jinyi Wei was also involved, so that Zhu Di began to worry.
To this end, Zhu Di set up a special institution on top of the Jinyiwei to help him supervise the inside and outside, and also helped him supervise the Jinyiwei who had not been so relieved, the East Factory was headed by eunuchs, although he did not participate in the government affairs, he could arrest the imperial officials at will, unlike Zheng He, although the power was great, he did not interfere in internal affairs, the establishment of the East Factory was the beginning of the Ming Dynasty eunuchs really began to go to the forefront, in the same way, Zhu Di's successive reuse of eunuchs also tore open the mouth of Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system, and later Zhu Zhanji had no scruples about reusing eunuchs.
Third: After Akihito Succeeded to the throne, Emperor Akihito reused the civilian bureaucracy, elevating their status, and the power of their subjects soared
After Zhu Zhanji's father Emperor Akihito succeeded to the throne, he began to reuse the civilian official clique and attached importance to their suggestions, in addition to Zhu Gaozi's concept of governing the country and the civilian official clique were relatively close, but also for the sake of fundraising, when Zhu Gaozi and his brother Zhu Gaoxu, who was the most threatening to his crown prince, competed for the right to inherit, the civilian clique died in the back of Zhu Gaozi, and many civilian officials showed their precious lives for this, including the first talented man of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the cabinet university scholar Xie Jin.
Therefore, Zhu Gaozi was very grateful to the civilian official clique, and most of the time during his short reign, he re-transformed the Ming Dynasty according to the thinking of the civilian clique, and most of the power to handle political affairs was also delegated to the clique of civil officials, but this also caused a consequence, that is, the power of the subjects rose sharply, the imperial power decreased, and by the time Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he may have felt that his emperor would be subject to the clique of civil officials in most of his affairs, and in fact, this was indeed the case.
Zhu Zhanji was actually the emperor cultivated by his grandfather Zhu Di, he longed to have outstanding merits in civil rule and martial arts like Zhu Di, but why did he finally converge, in addition to the fact that the national strength was not fully restored under Zhu Di's profligacy, the restraint of the civilian official clique was also an important factor, they could not wait until the tossing Zhu Di died, but they did not want another Zhu Di, Zhu Zhanji could not reason with them, so he remembered the eunuchs and used eunuchs to deal with the civilian official clique.
Fourth: Zhu Zhanji was an artistic emperor who copied Emperor Huizong of Song and used eunuchs to shut the mouths of the civil bureaucracy
To reuse eunuchs requires cultivation, which takes time and cannot be replicated for the time being
''Yongle Flourishing''
In desperation, Zhu Zhanji began to be the prince of Taiping Shoucheng and wanted to enjoy life well. Zhu Zhanji has an important label in history, he is the same as the Song Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty
''Emperor of Art''
He is good at writing poetry and painting, and also loves sports, which is what taiping tianzi should do without tossing, and his artistic achievements are particularly high.
For the emperor, the civilian official group is a particularly nosy troublesome group, the emperor who loves to toss and tosses they want to advise, the emperor who does not toss but concentrates on art will also advise, the civil officials and scholars like to let the emperor do things in the circle they stipulate, tossing is not OK, engaging in art is not OK, what to do? Learn from the predecessor Song Huizong, don't look at Song Huizong to toss the country away, but when he was emperor, the imperial power was so great that among the emperors of the two Song Dynasties, it was second only to the two emperors at the beginning of the founding of the country, and the reason was to reuse eunuchs.
Half of the most famous traitors during the Song Huizong period, the "Six Thieves", were eunuchs, and with these eunuchs against the clique of civil officials, Song Huizong could be an arbitrator from above, so that he did not have to worry about the civil officials nagging in their ears and engaging in artistic creation without distraction. Zhu Zhanji also loved art, so he also began to reuse eunuchs, let eunuchs help him deal with government affairs and perfunctory civilian officials clique, artificially erected a firewall, and also gave the imperial power and the civilian bureaucracy a certain buffer before the conflict.
Based on the above analysis, the cause and effect of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji's creation of eunuchs to interfere in politics is roughly clear, and it was the actions of several Ming emperors before Zhu Zhanji that jointly created his need to reuse the eunuch clique. If you don't do this, you can't do anything, and even some artistic activities may be criticized. Moreover, in the hearts of most emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only the eunuchs were their own people, the right-hand men of the imperial power, not the scourge of the country and the chaotic government in the eyes of the civilian officials, and the so-called disasters of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty actually all came from the mouth of the scholars, because the main targets of the eunuchs were them.
The most famous eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, such as Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi, Liu Jin, Wei Zhongxian, etc., their arrogance, in fact, were formed under the acquiescence of the imperial power, when they appeared, basically when the imperial power was weaker than the subject power, when the eunuch force completely suppressed the arrogance of the civilian official clique, the emperor would stand up to deal with the eunuchs, to calm the long-accumulated resentment, to return to the situation of hello and good everyone, and to keep a balance, so The promotion of the eunuch group to balance the civil official clique is probably also an important legacy left by Emperor Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji for the descendants of the Ming emperors who did not love official duties, of course, the "change of tumu fort" that caused the Ming Dynasty to suffer deeply was also one of the evil consequences of his legacy.
References: "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Ming Tongjian", "Wan Liye Won", etc
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