The initial status of eunuchs was very low, because the emperor and the princes and nobles needed male slaves in their backhouses, and in order to ensure the chastity of harem concubines and noble ladies, castrations appeared.
Although eunuchs have lost the ability to reproduce, they are also human beings, and they all have the mind to climb upward.
They all want to be eunuchs closest to the center of power. Even if there are cripples in life, it is not in vain to come to this world.
Therefore, after the continuous efforts of successive generations of eunuchs, their status gradually improved, and they could even dominate and change emperors at will.
In particular, the eunuchs of the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties were the most powerful.
Eunuchs and doll emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In the Han Dynasty, he could not be called a eunuch, he was a gelding.
The rise of eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty actually originated from the Western Han Dynasty. The prosperity of the Western Han Dynasty, the Lü clan, and the Wang clan made the emperor misworthy of the name, resulting in the successful usurpation of the throne by Wang Mang of the new dynasty.
But even if the middle generation is interrupted, it still does not stop the chaotic government of foreign countries.
Especially in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the seven or eight emperors who succeeded to the throne were young. Emperor He was ten years old, Emperor An was thirteen years old, Emperor Huan was fifteen years old, Emperor Ling was twelve years old, and so on. The youngest is a drooling two-year-old doll.
At this time, the emperor's hopes were all on the Empress Dowager, but a Queen Mother, who had been competing for favors and tricks in her mind for the first half of her life, and did not understand political scheming at all, could not tutor the young emperor.
Therefore, the Empress Dowager's advent is just an opportunity for the Empress Dowager's mother's family, those foreign relatives who are ambitious wolves, to play with the regime.
Before these young emperors understood what it meant to be an emperor, their words and deeds were manipulated by foreign qi.
And whenever the emperor grew up and gradually realized that his life was just a puppet controlled by others, he would try to resist.
The Empress Dowager favored her mother's family, and the only person she could trust was the gelding who had been by the emperor's side since she was a child.
And the castrated people have no descendants, and they have nothing else to rely on except the emperor. Naturally, it is easy to become the emperor's cronies and become their intimate people.
Therefore, the eunuch force was personally supported by the emperor to fight against those foreign relatives who were addicted to profit and manipulated the powerful ministers.
But once people's ambitions are deliberately provoked, it is difficult not to care. Just like a person who has tasted exquisite dim sum and lived a life of spending money, he is not willing to go back to nibbling dry steamed buns and eating wild vegetables.
During the Huan Emperor period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor eliminated foreign qi, but also raised the appetite of the castrations.
The two major castration groups of "Five Waits" and "Ten Constant Attendants" successively controlled the imperial court. became a new class of power.
Although the eunuch's actions caused some scholars' dissatisfaction, their strength was weak, and they eventually became the ghostly soul of the castrate.
This is also the reason for the eventual collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The eunuch who killed the emperor and changed lords
The title of eunuch was correctly established after the Sui and Tang dynasties.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the power of eunuchs rose rapidly. Not only ranked as the third duke, but even crowned king, contact military power.
In the middle and late Tang dynasties, eunuchs became the masters of the political arena, they held military power, political power, and could force the palace at will, kill and depose the emperor at will.
There is Li Fuguo, the "Diao slave who oppresses the emperor", Wang Shoucheng and Ju Wenzhen, who killed and forced the palace, and Qiu Ziliang, who became the emperor's righteous father after six dynasties, and Yang Fugong and Liu Jishu and other heinous and notorious eunuchs.
Emperor Suzong of Tang was cowardly and lacked the ability to govern the imperial government, and because of Li Fuguo's support, he handed over military power to Li Fuguo.
At this point, Li Fuguo said everything, from the emperor's edict to the movements of the ministers of the central government, he needed to nod.
So much so that the emperor was just a useless ornament, and even the prime minister and the imperial prince had to nod to him and retreat.
Emperor Shunzong of Tang succeeded to the throne and did not dare to be at the mercy of eunuchs, so he attempted to reform by relying on Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi and other scholars. But unfortunately they failed.
At that time, the eunuchs who held the imperial government were Ju Wenzhen and others, and in order to protect their own interests, they joined forces with the crown prince Li Chun to force Tang Shunzong to abdicate and become Emperor Xianzong of Tang. Poor Tang Shunzong was only seven months as emperor before he was forced to step down.
In the later period of Tang Xianzong, he was irritable and fickle because he took a large amount of pills, and he killed the eunuchs around him at every turn, so that he attracted the jealousy of Wang Shoucheng and other eunuchs, and together with other close attendants, Tang Xianzong suffocated Tang Xianzong in the Zhonghe Hall.
Later, Tang Jingzong was secretly killed by Liu Keming and others in the middle of the night, and after six dynasties, the change of his son Liangganlu, who had controlled the dynasty for more than 20 years, kidnapped Tang Wenzong, and wantonly slaughtered more than 1,000 officials, causing blood to flow in the inner courtyard of the palace and put everyone at risk.
The Tang Dynasty was the most rampant and tyrannical dynasty in history for eunuchs and did not regard the emperor as a person, and it was also the dynasty with the highest status of eunuchs and the most control of dynastic government.
The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were the most good at chaos
In the Han and Tang dynasties, the price of eunuchs' chaotic government made Emperor Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang learn a lesson and strictly manage eunuchs, leaving a warning that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in government.
However, the Ming Dynasty did not escape the eunuch rebellion after all, and since the Ming Emperor Zhu Di established the East Factory, eunuchs have gradually been reused, such as Zheng He, who once traveled to the West seven times and became an excellent military general and diplomat.
Later, when he came to Yingzong, he allowed eunuchs to read, increased the institution of eunuchs, and raised a sinister and vicious eunuch Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen was originally a scholar, and because he wanted to fly too much, he voluntarily castrated himself into the palace to become a close attendant at the emperor's side.
He did not hide his ambitions and desires at all, monopolized power, corrupted the law, and even destroyed the iron plate set up by Zhu Yuanzhang that the eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in government.
This person was not in the right mind, and in addition to buying and selling official posts, he also brutally killed Liu Qiu and dismembered him. However, he was extremely stupid and persuaded Yingzong to drive his personal conquest, resulting in Yingzong becoming a prisoner of Vara and he was killed.
There are also many historical dramas, and the famous West Factory Governor Wang Zhi is deeply trusted by Xianzong. During his reign, he suppressed dissidents and persecuted many ministers in the dynasty, and because of his meritorious service in the Liaodong Campaign, he became the first eunuch in the Ming Dynasty to take charge of the forbidden army.
During the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin was very good at controlling imperial politics. When he came to power, he scoundreled the people, corrupted the law, and became the richest man at that time.
Liu Jin was guilty of a vicious crime, and was eventually sentenced to death by Ling Chi. The executioner cut off 3,357 pieces of meat from his body and sold it for a penny.
There is also the eunuch Feng Bao, who colluded with the powerful minister Zhang Juzheng, and the "nine-thousand-year-old" Wei Zhongxian, who was good at meeting the will and befriending the powerful.
Although the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were not as bold as the Tang Dynasty's emperor and change of lord, they also acted as powerful people and became traitors and evil parties and other figures.
Brief summary:
In the court, the rise of one force will inevitably lead to the development of another force, which controls the imperial power and exceeds the responsibilities of their positions.
The elevated status of eunuchs meant that those in power could not resist the mercy of foreign relatives and powerful ministers, so they re-established eunuchs who had no descendants to resist manipulation.
Although the eunuchs of successive dynasties lost the ability to pass on their lineage, few people could resist the temptation of supreme power and desire.
Everyone wants the position that controls the life and death of the world, but few people in this world can truly understand that power and desire go hand in hand, and the greater the power, the greater the desire, and eventually people will be manipulated by desire and become unrecognizable.