introduction
Speaking of eunuchs, we will think of Zhao Gao, who referred to deer as a horse, Zhang Rang, one of the ten permanent attendants at the end of the Han Dynasty, Li Fuguo, who became the prime minister, Li Lianying, a big red man around Cixi, and so on. The eunuch system originated in the pre-Qin Dynasty until the end of the Qing Dynasty, with a history of about 2,000 years. Among the many eunuchs, not many can leave ink in the history books, which also reflects the generally low status of eunuchs in the feudal dynasty.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were two great eunuchs with considerable power and status, one was Li Lianying, who was the side of Empress Dowager Cixi, and the other was Li Lianying's "successor" Xiao Dezhang. In terms of popularity, the notorious Li Lianying is better than Xiao Dezhang.
Li Lianying
In terms of status, Cixi broke the imperial ancestral system of "the eunuch rank is limited to four products" for Li Lianying, and was named the chief eunuch of zheng erpin. But Xiao Dezhang is not bad, after he succeeded Li Lianying, he lived more comfortably and more comfortably.
After Li Lianying retired, Xiao Dezhang took over his class and became the last chief eunuch in China. In Xiao Dezhang, there are many interesting stories, he served two empresses, and he also married four aunts, who could do business and became a capitalist. Xiao Dezhang has experienced four major social changes in the Qing Dynasty, Beiyang, the Republic of China, and the Republic, and it is really not simple to be able to retreat from the whole body.
From the palace, he studied Peking opera and was appreciated by Cixi
Xiao De Zhang is an official name, Cixi's nickname for him, originally named Zhang Xiangzhai, born in 1876 in Jinghai County, Tianjin. Xiao Dezhang lived a hard life since he was a child, his family was poor, and his parents and himself lived by short-term work.
Xiao Dezhang is particularly envious of rich people's families, there is a rich man in his hometown, every time he goes out, he will dress himself up brightly, sitting in a luxurious double set of big carriages, Xiao Dezhang is really envious of others.
One day, Xiao Dezhang watched the carriage coming towards him with arrogance, and the envy in his heart was thinking about something, and Len was staring at the carriage motionlessly in the same place.
"Flash away", the coachman signaled Xiao Dezhang to give way, scolding and grinning in his mouth, his attitude was very sharp, and shouted to others: Which child, do not let the road find death, just look at what to do, have the ability to buy a car yourself. The coachman counted the small De Zhang who did not give way, and the others listened to the laughter, and the carriage drove away triumphantly.
Although Xiao Dezhang is young, he also has self-esteem, and he is ridiculed by the coachman, his face is red, and he is very embarrassed. Since then, Xiao Dezhang has always remembered the scene when he was ridiculed by the coachman, and secretly fiercely: I also want to get rich and see who can laugh last.
Since then, Xiao De Zhang has asked when he sees people: "I also want to buy a big set of cars, how can I get rich?" Some people shook their heads and said that they didn't know, some people made fun of Xiao Dezhang, and some people joked: "It's not easy to get rich, as long as you are willing to cut that thing, go into the palace as a eunuch, don't say buy a car, you can accompany the dragon every day, see beautiful women."
The speaker has no intention, the listener intends, and Xiao Dezhang remembers this sentence. One day, Xiao Dezhang was bullied by the children of the rich family, and ran home to ask his mother: I want to get rich, how can I get rich? His mother also knew that her son liked to get rich, and he always thought about those unrealistic things, and said in passing: "If you want to get rich, you must be a "husband"."
eunuch
In the old days, "husband" was a title for eunuchs. In fact, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt, and many eunuchs entered the palace to make a fortune, and the slightly more powerful people would send a lot of money to their families, which was enough for ordinary families to eat and drink for a lifetime. Typical is the Li Lianying family, with Li Lianying's power in the palace, his family is richer than the prince.
Of course, Xiao Dezhang's mother naturally did not want her son to become a eunuch, which was an errand that was looked down upon, and the process was also life-threatening. But after Xiao Dezhang listened to his mother's words, his heart was also quite cruel, and he endured severe pain to attack himself, but fortunately, in the end, his life was saved.
Xiao Dezhang castrated himself, and after a year of recuperation, he entered the imperial palace and became a small eunuch responsible for raising chickens and ducks. Although the starting point of Xiao Dezhang's eunuch career is not high, he has initially realized his plan, and the rest depends on opportunities and efforts.
The eunuchs in the palace have a clear distinction between high and low, which is like the current institutional unit, which has a clear relationship between superior and subordinate. The big eunuchs in the palace have a lot of oil and water, some people specially send money to ask them to do things, the little eunuchs have no part to speak, they can only do rough work, it is impossible to get rich.
Xiao Dezhang, who always thought of making a fortune in his heart, was also very clever, and he learned that Cixi liked to listen to plays, so he went through the back door and joined the drama class in the court. Xiao DeZhang pondered that only by entering the drama class, learning the drama well, and practicing a skill, could he have the opportunity to be appreciated by Cixi.
Drama class
After Xiao Dezhang entered the drama class, he studied hard, studied hard, and practiced the basic skills for three years, with only one purpose, waiting for the opportunity, winning the smile of Empress Dowager Cixi and changing his destiny.
To say that the opportunity is also reserved for those who are prepared, Xiao Dezhang is the person who is prepared. Once, when the opera class in the palace wanted to perform Peking Opera to Cixi, an actor may be too nervous, and the action during the performance is too big, and when he loses his hand, he will kick the gun off the stage.
At that time, Xiao Dezhang was still a dragon runner, but his hands were fast, a standard heel overturned, and when the gun was not fully landed, he raised his legs and picked up the gun with force, saving the scene and avoiding a performance mistake. Cixi watched from the sidelines, very satisfied with Xiao Dezhang's performance, and remembered this person.
Empress
Since then, every time Cixi came to see the play, Xiao Dezhang's performance was more diligent than usual, and Cixi was very happy. One day, after watching the play, Cixi deliberately spoke to Xiao Dezhang and gave him the name "Xiao Dezhang". Since then, the name Ofe Zhang has spread, and a small eunuch can be given a name by Cixi, and his status has risen a lot at once, and some people have begun to seduce him.
Seize every opportunity to become a big red person around Cixi
After Xiao Dezhang tasted the sweetness of being appreciated by Cixi, he always focused on how to please this woman who could change his destiny. Within a few years, Xiao Dezhang really waited for a perfect opportunity to prove that he was Cixi's loyal slave.
In August 1900, Cixi, who had declared war on the Eight-Nation Alliance, lost the battle, and the coalition army entered Beijing, and Cixi fled west in a hurry. In order to hide her eyes, Cixi put on makeup, sat on the carriage and fled for her life, all the way to the west. In the face of the great calamity, many princes and ministers only cared about their own lives, and many great eunuchs also took care of themselves, and Cixi rushed to escape, only Xiao Dezhang and a few others have been following Cixi. Tag after.
Still
The great difficulty is the best time to show loyalty, Xiao Dezhang understands this, and he begins to seize every opportunity to pat himself on the back. One day, Cixi's carriage was on its way to Xi'an, and it rained heavily, and the road was muddy and impassable. Seeing Cixi in the rain on the car, the others had nothing to do, Xiao De Zhang put Cixi on his back, splashed water and mud, walked for a long time, tired and half dead, without a word of complaint.
Cixi was also satisfied with Xiao Dezhang's performance, and when she reached the resting place, she then said, "If my son can honor me like this, I will be satisfied!" Receiving cixi's praise, Xiao Dezhang was also very interesting, kneeling on the ground and kneeling three times and nine times to give thanks, and performed hard.
Xiao Dezhang's performance was greatly rewarded, he regarded himself as Cixi's "dry son" to the outside world, and became the eunuch of the empress dowager's close attendant, and his position among the eunuchs was second only to that of the eunuch Li Lianying, who was the chief eunuch at the time, and many eunuchs were asking Xiao Dezhang to do things, or to tie the knot or give gifts, and the bureaucrats wanted Xiao Dezhang to take a word and inquire about something, and the shot was also quite generous.
Although Xiao Dezhang had become a big red man around Cixi at that time, he still did not miss every opportunity to dedicate himself. Xiao Dezhang liked to play "small reports" in order to gain Cixi's favor, and after the change of law, Guangxu was imprisoned, and the poor emperor not only lost his personal freedom, but also had to be blatantly monitored by the eunuchs sent by Xiao Dezhang.
Guangxu Emperor
Cixi was not at ease with Guangxu, afraid that he would do something unfavorable to his rule again, and Xiao Dezhang was also very cooperative, reporting Guangxu's every move to her from time to time, in order to win the trust of the empress. In October 1908, with the death of Guangxu and Cixi, two qing dynasty rulers, Li Lianying lost his patron and chose to retire on his own initiative.
Xiao Dezhang was still young, and with Li Lianying taking the initiative to retire, he naturally became the chief eunuch, and every day the princes and ministers who came to persuade him had to line up, and the amount of money they took could not be counted, completing the dream of becoming rich as a child.
After Cixi's death, Xiao Dezhang did his best to curry favor with his new master, Empress Dowager Longyu, and serve her. After a long time in the official field, the vision is poisonous, and when Xiao Dezhang saw Yuan Shikai, he thought that this person would have great development in the future. In order to curry favor with Yuan Shikai, Xiao Dezhang often provided him with court secrets. Of course, Yuan Shikai held real power in his hands, and he was also very generous to Xiao Dezhang, sending him a lot of silver.
Xiao Dezhang's officials became bigger and bigger, and their courage also grew bigger and bigger, before Li Lianying did not dare to interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, Xiao Dezhang talked about the appointment and dismissal of officials in front of Empress Longyu, interfered in the internal affairs of the imperial court, and blatantly violated the rules that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in politics.
Over the years, Xiao Dezhang became powerful and rich, realizing his childhood dream of wanting to have several big carriages. Just as the so-called gains must be lost, Xiao Dezhang lost his own health and could not become a real man.
Retired to Tianjin, married four aunts, and became a capitalist
Eunuchs marrying women also often happened in ancient times, and some eunuchs with power and status would marry the palace women as "opposites". Xiao Dezhang is also very excessive, he actually married four aunts and wives, and lived a life of leisure in Tianjin.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty had already existed in name only, and Xiao Dezhang also felt that the number of Great Qing Qi had been exhausted, and it was better for him to leave the palace as a place of right and wrong as soon as possible. In 1917, Xiao De Zhang silently packed up his family property, carried his master on his back, left the imperial palace, and came to Tianjin to live in seclusion.
Little Dezhang
Xiao Dezhang is also a person who is not willing to be lonely, and with money in his hands, he has to marry four aunts and wives for his own amusement. With endless money, Xiao Dezhang first built a mansion in Tianjin, then opened a shop, opened a factory, the business became bigger and bigger, and opened semicolons in remote places such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong, forming an industrial chain and becoming a powerful capitalist.
It is worth mentioning that although Xiao Dezhang was a eunuch and purified, after entering puberty, he was still very much looking forward to the affairs of men and women. In the palace, Xiao Dezhang's love object is Princess Rongling, this princess is not simple, has studied abroad, likes to dance ballet, the key is that she also has a good feeling for Xiao Dezhang, and the two have been in a relationship for a while.
Rong Ling's father learned that his daughter had an affair with the eunuch and intervened to prevent the deformed relationship. Rong Ling himself also understood that he and Xiao Dezhang had no future, and on the grounds that his father was ill, he left the palace and never contacted Xiao Dezhang again.
Out of the palace, to Tianjin, Xiao De Zhang married four aunts in a row, perhaps for face, or perhaps with this preference, as long as they like it, willing to throw money, the probability of success is still very high.
But Xiao Dezhang is after all an eunuch, unable to live a normal couple life with several aunts and wives, plus he is very perverted, changing the method to torture four aunts and wives, scalding them with cigarette butts, spitting and asking his aunts to use their mouths, a normal person will not be able to stand it after all, and it is normal for aunts and wives to escape.
One day, an aunt took advantage of Xiao Dezhang's lack of preparation and escaped from the house, Xiao Dezhang did not hurry to the police station, spent some money, asked the police to help, and did some efforts to find his aunt. It is not easy for a woman to run far, under the all-round search of the police, this fleeing aunt was arrested, and Xiao Dezhang tortured her very badly in front of other aunts.
During the war years, business was not easy to do, Xiao Dezhang did not make any money, the expenditure was relatively large, he lost a lot of money, and his family was not as rich as at the beginning, but he was more than enough to live. Until the founding of New China, Xiao Dezhang was still a landlord and capitalist, and the factories and shops he opened were no longer privately owned, but were changed to public-private partnerships.
Because of Xiao Dezhang's origin and rich landlord, he was forced to carry out transformation. Xiao Dezhang was also an interesting person, he actively cooperated, donated a lot of money, won leniency, and after gaining freedom, he made a living selling fried fruits until his death in Tianjin in 1958, at the age of 81.