In history, whenever eunuchs are mentioned, they are always associated with dictatorship and disaster to the country and the people. In the thousands of years of feudal history, they were like maggots of the tarsal bone, breeding above the imperial power, and were highly criticized by people, such as Zhao Gao, who tampered with the will of Qin Shi Huang and conspired with Li Si and Hu Hai; even more like Wang Zhen, who instigated the ming Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen to go on a campaign, and even Wang Zhen, who changed the Tumu Fort, and so on. They live in different eras, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they are all at the node of history, which influenced the development of dynasties and situations at that time.
And when history developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the situation was not on the side of the Ming Dynasty, a eunuch who was arrogant enough to call himself "Nine Thousand Years Old" was also the same, and his power was tilted towards the opposition, but when he was different from Zhao Gao and Wang Zhen, his series of actions were all dynastic, and he was facing the danger of the situation, leaving a 13-character proverb. Unfortunately, the heavens and the earth were all working together, and the heroes were not free, but the Chongzhen Emperor did not listen, and finally the Ming Dynasty, the last Han Dynasty, also collapsed in the attack of the peasant army and the attack of the Manchu Qing.
He was Wei Zhongxian. Born in Suning, Hebei Province, he was not a eunuch at first, and even had a daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law, but he had a big hobby, that is, he loved to gamble money. But the gambling money kept losing, and eventually the house, the daughter-in-law, and the daughter became collateral.
Although in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang once strictly controlled gambling, and even in the "Jinling Lock Zhi", Zhu Yuanzhang imprisoned gamblers on the banks of the Qinhuai River, so that they were only allowed to gamble, were not allowed to eat, and starved to death; in the end, it was difficult to suppress the unearned mentality in human nature. Obviously, Wei Zhongxian was the culprit of this mentality, and even when there was nothing to sell, he went to gamble again, and finally there was nothing to pay off the debt. Therefore, in his heart, he became a eunuch in his own palace.
Of course, now it seems that this is perhaps the most correct thing he has done in his life. After entering the palace, although he was illiterate, the advantages of "being able to take responsibility, Gu Chai was very self-conscious, and happy things were still good" also made him quickly become a powerful person under the Wei Dynasty.
Who was the Wei Dynasty? Zhu Changluo's biological mother, Wang Cairen, was a clothing and food eunuch. Although Zhu Changluo's position as crown prince was obtained by the struggle between the Qunchen and the Wanli Emperor for more than ten years; Wang Cairen was even less favored than Zheng Guifei; but as a follower of the future crown prince's mother, the Wei Dynasty can be said to be a very good tree. As a result, Wei Zhongxian was also arranged by the Wei Dynasty to read to Zhu Changluo's son Zhu You.
Finally, in 1620, the Wanli Emperor died and Zhu Changluo ascended the throne. However, Zhu Changluo did not take a year off, and the Red Pill case finally took away the young emperor who had reigned for less than a month, and under the influence of the ghost, Wei Zhongxian also became a confidant of the new emperor Zhu Youxiao.
Moreover, Wei Zhongxian also attached another confidant of Zhu Youxiao, the wet nurse Keshi. Ben Keshi and Wei Dynasty used to be opposites, but Wei Zhongxian chased after The Keshi had two magic weapons: "sixty dishes and one seat, costing up to five hundred gold", and "although Wei was rotten, the situation was not exhausted, and he also used the techniques in the room to charm and win the pleasure of the guests". Willing to spend money and have the ability, Keshi naturally abandoned the Wei Dynasty and became Wei Zhongxian's internal helper.
Therefore, under the efforts of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who liked carpentry work and had no intention of going to politics, Keshi and himself soon achieved great power.
Under the control of the government, he wore a python robe, excluded dissidents, and the five tigers and ten children under his command were numerous. At this time, in the Ming Dynasty Hall, there were actually Donglin Party members. The Donglin party members, who pride themselves on being gentlemen, naturally could not tolerate the eunuch dictatorship, and wrote to Chen Wei Zhongxian for his crimes.
However, Wei Zhongxian brutally killed Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, and Wei Dazhong, and in this regard, he was definitely not a loyal subject, and he was extremely evil. However, when he flaunted his might, the Emperor of the Apocalypse died unexpectedly, and eventually zhu Youjian ascended the throne, although before emperor Tianqi died, he had told his brother that Wei Zhongxian was available. Unfortunately, this ambitious young new monarch had not received an imperial education, and at the beginning of his reign, he decisively eliminated the castration party led by Wei Zhongxian. However, before his death, Wei Zhongxian still said a total of 13 words: "Reuse the Donglin Party, and the fall of the Ming Dynasty is not far away."
After that, Zhu Youjian began to appoint Donglin Party members as cabinet ministers. Unfortunately, as the situation unfolded, he found that everything had changed. Originally, when Wei Zhongxian was in power, he could also appoint Zhao Nanxing, Sun Chengzong, Yuan Keli and others to travel through the northeast to achieve balance with the Manchu Qing and suppress their offensive, which was gradually broken. In 1630, yuan Chonghuan, who had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility, did not know that the Guanning Defense Line, which was heavily built by Emperor Taiji, led an army of 100,000 people to invade Gyeonggi. The finances, which could still be barely supported, were even more stretched after the abolition of the three taxes.
Why?
A very harsh historical reality is that history is flat. It does not simply deduce results because of wisdom, age, and power, it wants consequentialism. For the Ming Dynasty at that time, what it needed was to be able to suppress the peasant revolt of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong internally, and to be able to collect taxes; externally, to be able to resist the offensive of Emperor Taiji and Dolgun, and it was obvious that the Donglin Party members who talked about benevolence and morality were not a choice.
When the Chongzhen Emperor faced Li Zicheng's peasant army, he repeatedly proposed to move the capital, but all of them were blocked by the courtiers led by the Donglin Party, and when 1644 came, and finally he sent people to collect Wei Zhongxian's remains for burial, perhaps he understood this truth. But it was too late, Daming was dead, and he himself hanged himself on the crooked neck tree of coal mountain, which was the wind bone; but this was even more incompetent.