In ancient times, there was a peculiar group, most of whom could only stay in the deep palace and become servants of the feudal kings and the court, that is
eunuch
。
In the ancient court, the services and miscellaneous services needed by emperors, empresses, and concubines in their daily living life were almost mainly provided and undertaken by eunuchs.
The Chinese imperial palace is strictly controlled, and the palace is even more idle people who are not allowed to cross the thunder pond for half a step, and the eunuchs who guard the palace gates are eunuchs.
In fact, the Chinese court is simply said to be the palace women are filled, the eunuchs guard it, that is, the women are enriched, and the eunuchs imitate the guard, serve, and guard.
China's vast royal family is a big family that unites the country and the family, and this family naturally needs much more services than any of the world's richest people.
Eunuchs were responsible for taking care of the lives of their masters in the court, and their division of labor was naturally very fine, so a well-established internal court service organization was born, which was the eunuch institution.
Eunuch institutions were varied, and they took over the services of the masters of the palace.
In the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch institutions in the palace were the most developed, completely organized, and fully functional, and even the non-eunuch institutions that used to manufacture palace utensils were incorporated into the eunuch institutions, and the eunuchs were responsible.
The eunuch institutions that provided full services in the Ming Dynasty were collectively known as the Inner Palace Yamen, which included the Twelve Supervisors, the Four Divisions, and the Eight Bureaus, which were collectively known as the Twenty-Four Yamen.
The most famous of the twenty-four gates is the Si Li Supervisor, which is the chief yamen of the Twenty-Four Gates of the General Administration Court, and the Si Li Supervisor is also called
"Inner Court"
The power was so great that it competed with the cabinet, and the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial superintendent became on the same level as the first assistant minister of the cabinet
"Interior Minister"
In addition to the twenty-four full-time yamen of the court, there are more than thirty special institutions engaged in special services.
Tall and strong eunuchs were usually assigned to practice carrying palanquins, umbrellas, and ceremonial guards.
When the emperor traveled in the palace, these eunuchs who were promised and followed by them carried palanquins and carried them steadily on their shoulders, while the rest carried boxes filled with bows and arrows, rewards and other things, and followed the royal driver.
The goods that the emperor gave to the ministers were presented by the chief with the orders of the chief; the civil and military officials and magistrates of the imperial court were given to the emperor
Table chapters
Gifts were also deposited by the eunuchs.
The eunuch who carved the leaky room was responsible for taking care of the hours, and during the day he was on duty behind the Wenhua Hall, and when the hour came, he would enter the palace to change the hour cards; at night, he was on duty outside the Longzong Gate, and he was on time with a shout.
There were one long and silent street after another in the court, and the street was paved with bricks and stone slabs, and there were street lamps on the road, and the headlamp pedestal was made of stone, and every night, the eunuchs of the Inner House Supply Depot were responsible for adding oil and lighting lamps.
Safety in the palace at night is very important. Eunuchs have a heavy responsibility to ensure safety and foolproofness. In the event of a mistake, the eunuchs were severely punished, and some even lost their lives.
The promised and long-entourage who served in the deep palace generally lived in low, simple and small houses around the palace.
After nightfall, these slaves must be wary of any bright light coming from the gap in the palace door, because the ancient palace is basically a wooden product, it is easy to walk the water, once there is a water situation, immediately play the report, all the personnel will immediately throw themselves into the fire, and the emperor will be reported by special personnel.
In the palace room, there are eunuchs on duty in the main hall at night, who are in charge of the seal, the pen, and the steward; there are also eunuchs on duty everywhere in the palace, waiting for the emperor to sleep, and these eunuchs are scattered everywhere on duty.
The gates of the palace closed one after another. The eunuch in charge of the coat and hat strung together the clothes and hats of the eunuch on duty with two straps,
Called one
Put the lotus so that when there is an emergency, it can be clean and neat, and the sound should be in place.
Ancient emperors generally regarded eunuchs as their own families, while magistrates and people became outsiders.
Usually, local officials bullied eunuchs, and the emperor generally favored eunuchs.
For the emperor, the eunuch is his own person, and not respecting the eunuch is disrespecting the emperor.
Emperors of all Chinese dynasties needed eunuchs.
If there is no eunuch around the emperor, it is like a blind man without a crutch, who does not dare to move a step, nor can he move a step, and even the emperor will get lost in the palace where he has lived for many years, more than ten years, and decades, and does not know where he is.
Without eunuchs, the emperor could not live, his clothes were not well dressed, his food could not be eaten steadily, and even the toilet, the emperor did not know where.
No one can replace the eunuch to guard the emperor's side all day and all night, take care of it at any time and anywhere, and beware of accidents.
To whom can the lonely emperor give trust and peace? Concubines? lady-in-waiting?
None of them, only eunuchs, only eunuchs worthy of his trust.
This trust did not come out of thin air, but based on the judgment of the emperor, the emperor believed that the eunuch was the most loyal to him, so the emperor trusted the eunuch.
For eunuchs to be the emperor's most loyal servants, this can be seen in an allusion to the Song Dynasty.
Feng Shining was the eunuch who served the longest in the court of the Song Dynasty, who had been in the court for 60 years before and after, loyal, cautious, taking care of the emperor meticulously, thinking about the emperor, never having any mistakes, and not worrying about tranquility.
Late one night, the near attendant reported to Zhao Xu of Song Zhezong that Princess Yangguo's illness had worsened. Emperor Zhezong liked Princess Yangguo very much, and when he learned that the princess was critically ill, he planned to visit the palace immediately and ordered him to prepare the car.
Feng Shining, who was in charge of the emperor's security guards, immediately dissuaded the emperor, saying that in the middle of the night, he was afraid of accidents and insisted on not letting the emperor out of the palace.
Song Zhezong was impatient and angry, and he must go out of the palace to visit. The monarch quarreled.
Song Zhezong was just about to get angry, thinking about it, isn't Feng Shining doing this for my own good? It is the fear that out of the palace in the middle of the night, an accident will occur, which is out of loyalty!
Zhezong felt relieved, and the anger on his face turned to a smile for a moment.
The eunuchs provided the emperor with a comprehensive and genuine service, and the eunuchs were unconditionally and absolutely loyal to the emperor, which was consistent with the facts in real life, provided that there was a clear and stable master-slave relationship between the emperor and the eunuchs.
No one is more loyal to the emperor than eunuchs; empresses and concubines are far worse than eunuchs in loyalty, especially in sudden critical times, when eunuchs who are desperate to protect the defenseless emperor can protect the weak concubines, and the weak concubines are too busy to take care of the emperor.