In today's Beijing, No. 5 Lumicang Hutong, there is a small and mysterious check-in point.
Here is Beijing's only Ming Dynasty wooden wheel collection and ancient court genealogy originating from the Tang and Song dynasties.
Its daily performance, the palace sound is faint.
I saw that the plaque at the main entrance had five words written on it: "Zhizhihua Temple".
In fact, this is not a royal temple of a certain dynasty.
It is the family temple of the eunuch in charge of the eunuch and the governor of the East Factory, Wang Zhen.
Who is Wang Zhen?
Zhihua Temple Cultural Relics The only Ming Dynasty wooden wheel collection in Beijing
This person can be regarded as the founder of the dictatorship of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty.
From him, the Ceremonial Supervisor, who specialized in serving the emperor, became an institution on an equal footing with the cabinet.
The implication is that today's imperial house may be the noble person who will mention Shoufu tomorrow.
So, how did he get to this peak of power step by step?
Ludi Xiucai passed through the history, and Zhongju was castrated into the East Palace
Zhu Yuanzhang once set up an iron plaque in a conspicuous place in the inner court that "internal ministers must not interfere in political affairs, and those who are expected to be beheaded" were killed.
But it backfired.
He would never have thought that the Daming Dynasty would eventually lose at the hands of eunuchs.
Maybe it's not fast.
The internal eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were strongly revolted.
Its status has not diminished, but has been rising.
After the establishment of the cabinet, the power system of the chief assistant of the cabinet as the "external minister", and the chief assistant of the cabinet as the "external minister", and the chief eunuch as the "internal minister".
This means that Ming Taizu's ideal inner court eunuch who is only responsible for sweeping the court can be on an equal footing with the scholars of the palace pavilion.
If the seal of the superintendent of ceremonies is combined with the title of governor of the East Factory, it seems that it is not an exaggeration to say that he is above 10,000 people under one person.
The Ming History Book 74 contains: "Whoever is in charge of the internal court is in charge of the seal, and the power is like that of the outer court Yuanfu; Palm East Factory, power like the general constitution. ”
The "Outer Court Yuanfu" is the chief assistant of the cabinet, the de facto prime minister.
The general constitution is the chief of the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office, who is responsible for impeaching the hundred divisions.
The eunuch became the chief supervisor of the Inca East Factory, which can be said to have touched the highest decision-making power and supervision power of the empire.
This sense of steering and the sense of condescension of controlling the fate of others are far from being comparable to the glory of taking a normal career and working hard all your life.
Therefore, some people sharpen their heads and want to be among the cardinal places of this noble man.
They dreamed of starting as a waiter who managed the master's food and living.
All the way into the superintendent of ceremonies, he became a eunuch with a red ticket.
Until he sat in the top position of the palm seal eunuch.
This also includes some young talents who are flourishing and could have embarked on a completely different path in life.
Wang Zhen is one of them.
As a young man, Wang Zhen was born in Yuzhou (present-day Wei County, Hebei), not far from Jingshi.
Like the students at that time, he studied hard for his fame.
Because of repeated failures, he once became a teacher.
Later, after unremitting efforts, Wang Zhencai finally passed the exam.
At this time, there were two paths in front of him.
The first is to continue to work hard to take the exam, and obtain the tribute and jin shi, until the title of the gold list and the title of official and the ranking.
The second is to be a low-level official in the capacity of raising people, and the highest is only eight or nine grades.
Further up, the channels for development are extremely limited.
But there are no exceptions, and later Hai Rui did the county edict of Zhengjiupin as a person.
According to the normal trajectory, he should retire in this position in Nanping County.
But who would have thought that he would open all the way and finally become the right capital of the second grade.
It is already rare in the pile of people.
The above two paths are for ordinary people to choose.
But Wang Zhen is not an ordinary person.
He chose the third path: brandishing a sword to castrate himself into the palace, betting on the wealth of future generations.
This is a dangerous road with no way back, but Wang Zhen is quite important.
After entering the palace, he was first appreciated by Zhu Zhanji, the "son of promoting weaving heaven", Emperor Xuanzong.
He was then sent to the crown prince of Fang Chengling.
Since then, he has "served the East Palace of Yingzong and served as a bureau lang", and became the dearest "companion of the king" of the next generation of Tianzi Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen when he was a child.
The birds ascended to the pavilion with the birds, and the Daming internal and external ministers
There is no doubt that Wang Zhen's gambling has rewarded him with amazing rebates.
Zhu Qizhen became emperor at the age of nine, and in the same year promoted Wang Zhen to the position of eunuch in charge of the ceremony.
Compared with successful scholars of the same age, the best political starting point for others is only the Hanlin Academy editor and shuji who was awarded by the junior scholar.
These are at most "storage phases".
And his starting point is already the "internal minister" of Daming, who is on an equal footing with the head of the cabinet.
The "History of Ming" records the scene after Wang Zhenzhang printed the ceremonial supervisor.
"Zhen is cunning to Di Huan... The emperor used heavy ceremonies to deceive the minister. So the ministers went to jail endlessly, and they were inspired by the power of the city. ”
From this time on, Wang Zhen, who was in charge of Zhu Zhu's jade seal, began to use his close relationship with Yingzong as a lever to leverage the imperial situation.
He knew that the more the ministers were afraid of the emperor, the more convenient they would be in controlling and scheduling the inner court.
However, Wang Zhen, who was at the beginning of Yingzong's accession to the throne, did not dare to be too ostentatious.
He also had to be careful to achieve his goal by making small movements at the emperor's place.
After all, at that time, Zhu Qizhen's grandmother, Empress Dowager Zhang, was still alive.
She is de facto regent, the "commissioner cabinet".
He gave full trust to the three elders of the Dynasty at that time, Yang Tuqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu.
The imperial grandmother was old and heavy, and the cabinet performed its duties, ensuring the smooth handover of the imperial throne and the government and the government of the orthodox dynasty for a long time.
However, the trees are quiet and the wind does not stop.
In the seventh year of orthodoxy, the Zhang family died, and the "three Yangs" have also withered away one after another.
Yang Rong passed away.
Yang Shiqi was harshly used by Wang Zhen and others because his son committed a life lawsuit, so he had to return to his hometown.
Yang Pu, on the other hand, was old and frail and almost semi-retired.
As for the two new cabinet members who entered the cabinet, Ma Yu and Cao Nai.
One of them was after the famous general Ma Yuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the other was after the famous general Cao Bin of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Although the family tree is brilliant, the ancestors are rigid.
But these two people are still much inferior to the seniority of "Sanyang".
In this regard, the "inner minister" has deep roots, and the "external minister" is sincerely afraid to walk on thin ice.
The balance of checks and balances in the centers of power has begun to tilt.
The time and place are favorable and the people have all returned to Wang Zhen.
At this time, he reached the top of his life as he wished, gambled heavily, and the spring breeze was smoked.
Not only that, but it was like a nobleman who had just burned incense and bathed.
The "stench" that I could tolerate in the past can no longer be smelled, and the "sand" that I could rub in my eyes in the past cannot contain it.
When Yushi saw that he did not kneel, he was assigned to the edge of the iron ridge;
When he inspected the Guozi School, he was not well received, and the sacrificial wine (principal) was shackled in front of the gate of the Guozi prison for three days and three nights;
Yu Qian, a famous Ming courtier, wrote poems ridiculing him, and was also arrested and imprisoned as a capital offense.
Later, Wang Zhen also built a luxurious mansion to the east of the imperial city, and built his own family temple in imitation of the "Seven Halls of Garan" in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
That is, the later Zhihua Temple.
As the saying goes, one person gains the way, and the chicken dog ascends to heaven.
The vassals of Wang Pawyin also quickly sat down from Lang Zhong to serve Lang.
His two nephews entered Jinyiwei to become commanders and assistants.
Wang Shan and Wang Lin, the adopted sons who had no ink in their chests, also sat under the command of the capital governor.
In addition to enjoying prosperity and wealth, Wang Zhen also has the ambition of fame in history.
It's just that although he has more than enough ambition, he is not worthy of virtue.
In the sixth year of orthodoxy, he united with a group of ministers to strongly advocate a joint army of 150,000 troops to conquer the restless southern frontier Tusi Luchuan.
Wang Zhen thought that although Luchuan was small, although those who committed strong crimes would be condemned from afar, they could not let people look at the Bian Heavenly Empire.
However, Liu Qiu, a famous counselor at that time, believed that "the side trouble is in the north, not in the south."
If we ignore the Vara and Tatar tigers in the north, relax and weaken the northern border defenses, and spend troops on the small countries in the south for the sake of face, the gains may outweigh the losses.
In this regard, Liu Qiu bitterly persuaded the emperor:
"As far as the Northern Emperors, the ancient Xuanqi and the Xiongnu, the world is a border trouble... Rong Ma is still public, but there is no guarantee that he will not be killed in the end... He wanted to move to Gansu to march south, fearing that the soldiers along the border meant that the imperial court would take this as a lack of concern, so he was slack, and his border guards were alerted, fearing that they would be at a loss. ”
Liu Qiu is dedicated to Daming, and the words are beautiful.
But in Wang Zhen's eyes, it became a naked provocation.
Eight years of orthodoxy, when Liu Qiu went to the book again, Wang Zhen, who was like the sky, did not need to endure it anymore.
He directly arrested him and imprisoned him, and ordered his close confidant Jinyiwei to command Ma Shun to dismember Liu Qiu alive in prison.
In the last years of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Chen Zilong, who successively served as the imperial history of the left capital and the shangshu of the military department, once commented on Liu Qiu's advice with regret: "Wang Zhen did not obey this omission. After that, the north side was empty, and the people who brewed civil engineering were also half tied to it. ”
In the thirteenth year of orthodoxy, the Battle of Luchuan, which "stirred the world with a corner", was finally reported as a "great victory".
Ming Yingzong was immersed in the pure brew of victory.
But he did not know that when the palace music rose, the remnants of the western Yunnan Luxe River, which had not been completely wiped out by the strength of the whole country for several years, began to gather and riot again.
But he had no time to look south.
Because on the northern front, the leader of the Vara tribe, a descendant of Mengyuan, was also forced by Wang Zhen to cut the price of horses because of the Gongma mutual market, and he was brewing Fa Ming.
The lieutenant was at the helm of the thousand-year-old army, and the army was defeated by the kings and subjects
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, 30,000 soldiers of Vara slammed into the realm, and Datong almost fell.
At Wang Zhen's suggestion, Yingzong was in good spirits.
Ignoring the opposition of the courtiers, he led the elite army of 200,000 Ming troops, drove his own army, and crossed out of Juyong Pass all the way to the west.
The cunning Vara army used the cavalry advantage to play the place where it needed to gallop, and repeatedly retreated to lead the Ming army deep into the steppe.
People of insight who accompanied the army constantly suggested that the troops should retreat, but they were all suppressed by Wang Zhen.
It can be seen that the Zhongguan Wang Gonggong is already in the army like a commander, just like Tong Guan of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Shang Shu Kuang and Wang Zuo rebelled against him and were "punished to kneel in the grass";
Chengguo Gong, Zhu Yong and other distinguished generals should also "march on salty knees" when they say and report on their deeds.
The vision has long focused on the Ming court in the south, and the accuracy of intelligence collection on military affairs in the north has been greatly reduced.
It was not until the direct enemy army was laid out and the Ming army forward was severely defeated, Yingzong and Wang Zhen knew that they were afraid.
However, in times of crisis, the most fearful of panic, should be calm and stoic, and set up a tight camp to stay firm.
But the master and servants of Yingzong and Wang Zhen, who were already frightened and frightened, were in chaos and blindly commanded without any order.
They switched directly from a full-scale attack to a complete retreat, without taking into account intermediate schemes.
Subsequently, the two also decided to return to Beijing via Bauhinia Pass, passing through Wang Zhen's hometown of Weizhou, so that Yingzong could visit his former residence.
Fu was worried that the army would "ravage the countryside and crops", so the army was diverted to Xuanfu Town, and Juyong was put into the customs.
With such a toss, the "sergeant ran back" and finally crashed into the Tumu Fort, the end of the story, like a headless fly.
Thus unveiling the embarrassing ending of being sighed at by posterity for hundreds of years.
The Ming History Scroll records:
"The Vara soldiers chased after them, and the division collapsed. Di Mengchen, Zhen Nai was killed by the chaotic soldiers. ”
As if the incident with Jingkang was repeated, Yingzong was captured.
During this period, Zhu Qiyu, the king of Zhu Qiyu, who was ordered to stay in the capital, withstood the hatred of the country and the family, and liquidated Wang Zhen's party as soon as possible.
Two of his righteous sons were executed in the city.
Ma Shun, who dismembered Liu Qiu, also set a record in the history of the Ming Dynasty that no one has ever come.
He became the only commander of Jinyiwei to be beaten to death by his ministers in the court.
In the end, only Wang Zhen's family temple, Zhihua Temple, was not demolished because it was built.
Although Yu Qian and Empress Dowager Sun chose to establish a new monarch, they had already intended to give up Yingzong's two-year-old crown prince and establish a new prince.
However, the crown prince who was appointed by the emperor and appointed someone else was ultimately inconsistent with the ancestral system, and his name was not justified.
However, the removal of Wang Zhenyi's party by Zhu Qiyu won the hearts of the people in the world, and also laid the foundation for his accession to the throne in the extraordinary period.
During Zhu Qiyu's eight years as Emperor Jingtai, Wang Zhen's image has always existed as the culprit of civil engineering changes and the villain of the troubled dynasty.
Until the sudden change in the future, Yingzong knocked on the door and returned to the dynasty.
After a few years of forbearance, he successfully rehabilitated his "royal companion" and erected a monument and statue sacrifice in Zhihua Temple.
This ancient temple of the Ming Dynasty has survived to this day and has become a calling card of that era.
epilogue
Even when Yingzong was defeated and captured, he never complained about his childhood companion Wang Zhen.
It can be seen that Wang Zhen really has the essence of binding people's hearts, or at least it shows that there is still love between this master and servant.
And Wang Zhen was an extremely powerful minister as a first-class official, and he influenced the situation of the dynasty and the national fortunes, and also became a benchmark for the power and eunuchs of the Ming court to follow in later generations.
Wang Zhi of the Xianzong Dynasty, Liu Jin of the Wuzong Dynasty, and Wei Zhongxian of the Xizong Dynasty all have the shadow of Wang Zhen.
Even during the rich Wanli period under Zhang Juzheng's rule, half of the credit went to Yuanfu Zhang's ability to find a way to live in harmony with Feng Bao, the then chief superintendent and the emperor's companion.
Ming Yingzong said that Wang Zhen always has hard work even if he has no merit, even if it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad, but he can never ignore his influence.
bibliography
History of Ming
The Book of the Legend
Emperor Ming Jing Shiwen Compilation