The Ming Dynasty Si Li Jian was the head of the Twelve Prisons, and there were four divisions and eight bureaus under it, collectively known as the "Twenty-Four Yamen". The rise of the Celebrant of Ceremonies originated from the unique system of voting and approval of red in the Ming Dynasty, the so-called Bingbi eunuch was mainly responsible for exercising the approval of red on behalf of the emperor, while the palm seal eunuch was responsible for the review and sealing after the "approval of red". In terms of power, the power of the palm seal eunuch is greater than that of the Bingbi eunuch.
The rise of the eunuchs stemmed from the Ming Dynasty's unique system of votes and approvals
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), after the Hu Weiyong case, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang abolished Zhongshu Province and Cheng Xiang, and assigned the authority of Zhongshu Province to Six Ministries, which were directly responsible to the emperor. Thus, although the imperial power was highly concentrated, the emperor's workload suddenly increased, and in order to cope with the complicated government affairs, the cabinet system came into being.
Under the cabinet system, the emperor firmly holds the decision-making power, the cabinet has the deliberative power, and the six ministries hold the executive power. All important matters of the imperial court were first drafted by the cabinet, written in pen and ink on the ticket, and then submitted to the emperor for approval, and this process was called the draft of the vote. The emperor only needs to make the final decision according to the advice provided by the cabinet, which greatly reduces the workload of the emperor, and the final decision is still the emperor's "Zhu Batch".
After learning the lessons of the previous dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor, in order to prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics, ordered that eunuchs should not be allowed to read. However, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, in order to make the eunuchs help him process documents and become a bridge between the emperor and the cabinet, he set up the "Inner Book Hall" in the palace in the first year of Xuande (1426) to teach the young eunuchs to study in the hall and receive education.
This change enabled many eunuchs to have a rough understanding of literature and ink, and some even achieved success in learning, and even reached the goal of learning and understanding ancient and modern times, and to make up their minds. Later, Zhu Zhanji also set up the eunuch Bingbi and the eunuch in charge of the seal to assist him in handling official affairs, of which the eunuch of Bingbi was responsible for the power of "approving the red" in place of the emperor, and the eunuch of the palm seal was responsible for the final examination and sealing.
From the perspective of the authority of the celebrant, the power of the palm eunuch is greater than that of the Bingbi eunuch
The Superintendent of Ceremonies was first established in April of the seventeenth year of Hongwu (1384), and initially his authority was to be in charge of the court ceremonies, and then in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu (1395), the eunuch institutions were adjusted, and the duties of the Superintendent of Ceremonies were changed to be in charge of wedding and funeral ceremonies, rewarding pen and ink paintings, and supervising the Guanglu Division's provision of palace feasts. After the emergence of the system of ticket preparation and approval of red, the eunuch bingbi and the eunuch of palm printing came into being.
Although the system of voting and approving red reduced the emperor's workload, it proved that it was difficult for one person to approve a large number of chapters, especially in the long run, which was a huge test for the emperor. Therefore, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor often handed over some less important folds to eunuchs for approval, and eunuchs trained by neishutang began to become important helpers of the emperor, which made the eunuchs of The Ceremonial Supervisor Bingbi and the eunuchs of the Palm Seal gain certain decision-making power and began to rise rapidly.
From the perspective of his own work, the eunuch Bingbi, the superintendent of ceremonies, is mainly responsible for approving the red in place of the emperor, while the eunuch of the eunuch is responsible for the final review and seal, if the opinion of the eunuch of Bingbi is not correct, the eunuch of the palm seal also has the right to return the fold to the re-approval. It can be seen that the palm print eunuch actually has certain restrictions on the Bingbi eunuch.
In addition, with the expansion of the power of the eunuchs, they gradually concentrated all the power of the eunuchs in their own hands, and the hanging tags of the eunuchs in the town, the prisons of the three laws, and the viceroys of the Jingying, the East Factory, and the West Factory all belonged to the Eunuchs. In terms of organizational form, the Celebrant has formed a huge bureaucracy headed by palm seals and pen eunuchs and corresponding to the cabinet and ministries.
As recorded in the History of the Ming Dynasty, "Where the internal court is in charge of the seal, the power is like the outer court Yuanfu; the power in charge of the East Factory is like the general constitution." Bing pen, follow the hall to see the public. Each has a private minister in charge of the family, a head of the class, a division and other members. The Admiralty West Factory is not permanent, but Wang Zhi and Gu Da are used to put it away. Liu Jin also set up the Xinei Factory. Looking for a revolution. Admiral Jingying, Admiral eunuch, sitting eunuch, gun supervisor, commander, and shu shu are all undetermined. ”
In terms of actual power, the Celebrant of Ceremonies has formed another cabinet in the inner court headed by the palm seal eunuch and the bingbi eunuch, of which the palm seal eunuch has actually become the "internal minister" who is close to the first assistant of the cabinet, and the eunuch of the bingbi can be regarded as a subordinate.
As for which eunuchs held these two positions in the history of the Ming Dynasty, there is really no way to count, check the "Records of the Sacrifice of the State Dynasty", there are about the following people: Qin Chang, Wang Zhen, Cao Jixiang, Mai Fu, Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Huang Jin, Zhang Hong, Xiao Jing, Feng Bao, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Cheng'en and others.