The role played by eunuch forces in strengthening bureaucratic society and suppressing aristocratic society is also manifested in the fact that as central and local bureaucrats, eunuchs participate in social decision-making and govern the people and have achieved remarkable results, such as advising the emperor, putting forward suggestions conducive to maintaining rule, implementing imperial orders, actively promoting social and social reforms, serving at the central and local levels, and maintaining local stability.
The Northern Wei eunuchs' ability to manage government was extremely effective
As the personal representative of the emperor, eunuchs were able to carry out the emperor's orders and fulfill their duties. Eunuchs participated in and even presided over the construction of royal projects, such as Bai Quan, Wang Zhi, and Liu Teng all built grottoes when they were the Grand Changqiuqing, Wang Yu presided over the design and construction of Siyuan Temple, Pingcheng East Guowai Temple Complex, Qiaofu Temple and other temple buildings, Wang Yu also supervised the construction of some other projects, the construction of these projects, on the one hand, to meet the emperor's desire to show authority, such as the construction of Luoyang palace; On the other hand, in order to satisfy the religious beliefs of the emperor or the empress dowager to worship the Buddha, a series of caves and monasteries were built for this purpose.
As courtiers and local administrators, eunuchs have done many good things in governing the people and have achieved remarkable results, which are mainly manifested as follows: First, they offer suggestions and suggestions. The second is to strictly implement the central edict and promote social change. During his reign, Emperor Xiaowen carried out the famous 'Xiaowen Reform', established a cultural and educational system, prohibited marriage with the same surname within Xianbei, and implemented a series of policies such as the Yulu system, the average field system, and the three-chief system, which promoted the development of Northern Wei society. In the process of reform, many Xianbei aristocrats strongly opposed and even sent troops to rebel. In order to implement the reform, in addition to vigorously enlisting the sinicized Xianbei aristocracy and the Han landlord class, the eunuchs also became an important force to rely on and made certain contributions to the reform.
Third, eunuchs serving in the central government are also able to fulfill their duties. If there is doubt, "since the general secretary of the official selection department, the position is near, and all the proposals will lead to resistance", Zhao Hei "the official selection department shangshu, can be self-respectful, as an official and can do anything, quite able to win people", the appointment of the shangshu of the official department or the official department shangshu also Qiao Chengzu, Wang Yu, and Wang Zhi, Mao Wuguang believes that "the four eunuchs are all fortunate to occupy the position, and they have no possibility of consulting private elections for their descendants except to help the monarch."
Fourth, there are quite a few achievements in governing local areas. For example, Zhao Hei appointed Dingzhou to assassinate the history, "self-denial, thrift, worry about public and private interests." From time to time, some people want to engage in private bribery, and the black one says: 'High-ranking officials are generous enough to provide for themselves, and they are not willing to sell public and private interests.' 'In the end, nothing happened. "Sun Xiaoren and the prefecture assassinated the history," more than 100 people in the four counties of the prefecture praised its politicization. Later, the history of the Jizhou assassination was claimed, which was less than before. However, in the Qing Covenant, the shepherd was incapable at that time. ＂
The good results of the eunuchs in the pre- and mid-Northern Wei dynasties were related to the fact that the highest power was the means of governing the political situation, such as Empress Dowager Feng, who was "strict in nature, pretending to be favored, and not indulgent." Left and right fibers think about it, move and pound, more than a hundred, less than dozens. However, if there is no regret in nature, it will be as it was before, or it may be richer because of it. It is because everyone cherishes the desire for profit and dies without retreating. Emperor Xiaowen even made great efforts to govern, promoted sinicization, and implemented a policy of dividing and suppressing eunuchs. In the late Northern Wei dynasty, eunuchs governed the localities, and they were mostly corrupt and lawless and profitable.
The burial sites of the Northern Wei eunuchs were chosen to form a bureaucratic group attached to the imperial power
The emperor and the eunuchs followed each other and were inseparable, which constituted an extreme special relationship between monarchs and vassals. The emperor was both a monarch and a patriarch. Eunuchs were both subordinates and domestic slaves. Eunuchs, whether individuals or groups, lacked the possibility of independent existence in the social structure. Because the actual rule of the Northern Wei eunuchs far exceeded the boundary between internal and external officials, the eunuchs were either the general center, or the uncles of the past, and they had little martial power with the courtiers", the dependence of the Northern Wei eunuchs on the imperial power was more obvious and prominent than that of eunuchs in other eras.
The Northern Wei regime had regulations on the selection of burial sites for officials and citizens. During the capital of Pingcheng, in order to strengthen the management of the displaced people, the Northern Wei regime strictly restricted the burial of new people who had migrated to Pingcheng. Eunuchs served or served in the capital, or were appointed as prefecture assassins, county guards, and county orders, but after their deaths, judging from the epitaphs of eunuchs and their relatives seen so far, most of them were buried in the capital. The most typical is the king's rule.
Wang Zheng operated in Jizhou for many years, and "Gaozu and Empress Dowager Civilization toured Jizhou in the east" once personally fortunate his home in Jizhou. Houwang returned to Beijing and "retired at home", and this family was the Pingcheng family. Emperor Xiaowen moved to Luo, Wang "helped the old man from Pingcheng to Luoyi", and his wife Guo's epitaph stated that Guo's Yongping was "buried in Jingshi" for four years, and the two were "buried together in Beijun Zhiqiao".
The epitaph of the demon slave says that "the family cauldron of the history, the first Kui Jing Ji", it can be seen that his relationship with the village was almost broken. The relocation of the demon slave to the village was due to the revitalization of the Chaohai Feng family, represented by his adopted son Feng Hui, with the intention of rebuilding the relationship in the township, improving the family mouth, and restoring social status, so the move was made. Only a family like Feng Devil Slave, the descendants of the Chaohai Feng clan will rebury them in the family cemetery in the township for the purpose of returning to their hometown with honor and reconstructing the relationship between the village.
In sharp contrast to the fact that most eunuchs were buried in Luoyang's Northern Qiu Mountain, Han scholars, especially the children of the great families, were mostly buried in the family cemetery in the township, even if they died in Luoyang, Jingshi. The burial of eunuchs in the capital shows the dependence of Northern Wei eunuchs on imperial power as courtiers, and is also a manifestation of eunuchs' willingness to become bureaucrats under imperial rule. Han scholars are buried in the family cemetery in the township, indicating that their township is more dependent. The dependence of the Northern Wei eunuchs on the imperial power and the importance attached by the Han scholars to the township were mainly due to the different degrees of intimacy between the eunuchs, the Han scholars, and the township.
The township provides more shelter for the survival of the Han people and provides more favorable conditions for their development, so they are more dependent on the township. Influenced by the traditions of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin, the township is also where the no-clan people cultivate their names. Han clan power is entrenched in rural society, and they often return to their hometowns when they are frustrated in officialdom, reluctant to take up their posts, or resign due to old age.
For example, Liu Sengli, Book 55 of the Book of Wei "Liu Fangchuan's Brother and Sangli Biography" contains:
The Fang brothers and monks are wealthy, control wealth and heroes, and even have a sense of homesickness. Gao Zuxing Xuzhou, introduction, goodness, worship Xuzhou don't drive. Taishou of Qianpei County. Later, he calmly went to the township and was not happy with Taiwan officials.
Liu Sangli's son Liu "Shiming returned to the hometown." Since he did not return to the dynasty, he often used hunting as a suit. Gao Chang not only calmly in the township, but also smiled at his brother Gao Yunhua, who was an official in the Jingshi court, which shows that the township is where the ancient Han people can be "calm" and "pleasant".
Tang Changxiu believed that Emperor Ming Yuan recruited the "county state haoyou" to Jingshi "in order to collude and control the inherent local forces", "but since these county and state haoyou forces were based on clan villages, they were not willing to easily migrate within the family, so they did not hesitate to gather and resist." The reason why the "Han scholars" gave a negative or negative evaluation of the life of the officials in the capital was because the people of the times were interested in... There was a taboo and dislike of life in the capital, which came from the idealization of the social life of the township party at that time and the suspicion of the bureaucracy. ＂
Jingshi will give eunuchs more opportunities to develop. The early monarchs of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xianbei Ligui, did not have the discriminatory vision and precaution against eunuchs by the Wei and Jin emperors and families, and the meritorious doctrine embraced by the upper rulers of the Northern Wei period also helped eunuchs get rid of their humble status as court slaves and become the new nouveau riche by contributing their intelligence and loyalty to the monarch. Therefore, there are eunuchs who stay away from the countryside and become eunuchs.
Even if a eunuch is promoted to a high position and has great power, whether he can be accepted by the township varies from person to person, such as Cheng Cheng as the chief zhongzheng of Yanzhou, which seems to be accepted by the township. Fengjin is not "returned to the prefecture and township", and the Book of Wei, volume 94, "The Legend of the Official Fengjin", contains:
At the beginning of Emperor Suzong, the Mahayana enemy of Luzhou rose up and gave consolation. Jin Shi does not live in Duozi, so he is not a state wife.
Although eunuchs may be in high positions, "in the context of Shi society, it is difficult for them to gain the recognition of the Shi class for their humble origins", and they are naturally not "returned to the state and township".
Eunuchs voluntarily or forcibly left the countryside and entered the court and imperial court to serve as officials, becoming central bureaucrats, which was actually a symptom of the bureaucratization of the aristocracy under the Northern Wei imperial power. As far as the Han clan of the Central Plains was concerned, the Northern Wei dynasty was already a large number of social leaders, and did not fully enter the bureaucratic system. Compared with the south, the Northern Wei Shi seem to be mostly 'urban and rural dual family form', and in the second half of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the centralization of the Han Shi ethnic group has begun to trace,...... Most of the Wushi have both central and local forces." "When most members of the clan became more 'bureaucratized' clans who lived by servants and served as eunuchs, they gradually distanced themselves from the villages", especially the large family families, and the eunuchs who were basically vulnerable in the townships were more alienated from the countryside because of their positions in the central government, so that the burial place chose the capital instead of their hometown.
The burial of eunuchs to Jingshi shows that bureaucratic groups dependent on imperial power began to form, and by the end of the Northern Wei and Sui and Tang dynasties, the number of Han scholars who served as Jingshi and became central bureaucrats was gradually increased near the capital, such as those buried in the countryside of Shandong families.
The construction of the eunuch system of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the legitimacy and authority of imperial power
"Northern Wei rose up and became indifferent, Sinicization gradually changed, the old and the new competed, and the Hu Hua was mixed", the early social system was Hu Wu "double play", under this system, Hu Wu conflicts occurred from time to time, and in the later period, it was reformed by Taihe and did not become significant, but the Hu-Han contradiction has not disappeared. Cui Hao's historical prison, Emperor Xiaowen's fight against Xianbei and the old situation, and the Six Towns Uprising are all prominent manifestations of the Hu-Han conflict. The surging struggle between the Sinicization and anti-Hanhua forces in the foreign dynasties also led to an undercurrent of eunuch power, and the Northern Wei eunuchs were divided into different social groups, either dependent on the Huhua forces, or subordinate to the Wuhua forces, and involved in the conflict between the slaves.
In the process of social struggle, the cultural tendency of the eunuch forces changed, that is, from Hu to Sinicization. The process of the deification of eunuch power lagged behind the pace of sinicization of the Northern Wei ruling family, so the eunuch forces in the early and middle period of the Northern Wei Dynasty mostly relied on Hu Hua to oppose the narrowing forces, and during the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, the tendency of eunuchs to become eunuchs and scribes was revealed, and they began to oppose the Xianbei martial artists. The incongruity between the eunuchs and the Northern Wei emperors' cultural tendencies changed at a different pace, resulting in eunuchs sometimes standing against the emperor and even threatening the security and stability of the monarchy.
Yan Gengwang pointed out that "the establishment of the state in the early Northern Wei Dynasty actually evolved from the tribal system, and the king was weak and the subjects were strong, and things were of course; It is Hua Hua who is happy for the monarch, but jealous for the Miao, and the non-heroic and powerful king cannot do what his subjects want. Taizu ruled the country as a young orphan, and expanded the territory for thousands of miles in a few years, which is very talented, so he can forge a revolution, enlighten the Chinese style, use Hanshi, and build Taiwan Province, especially Teya. Although the monarchs of the early Northern Wei Dynasty repeatedly sinicized to strengthen imperial power, they also faced the dilemma of choosing between Han law and old customs, and they not only wanted to enhance the legitimacy and authority of imperial power through the use of Han law, but also needed to maintain old customs to appease the Xianbei and noble forces, which was particularly evident in the Daowu Emperor Tuoba Jue, who Yan Gengwang praised as "the great enlightenment style, using Hanshi".
Emperor Daowu's policy of killing Li Li, who was "simple and rude", and He Digan, who was "like a Confucian", was not only related to the alternating implementation of the policies of Tianji Emperor Daowu, Tianci Dynasty, and anti-Sinicization, and also showed the difficulty of Emperor Daowu in choosing between old customs and inability. Non-Sinicization cannot be "humble and humble under the control of the masses", and excessive and radical decentralization is insurmountable in national theory. This also caused the phenomenon of "a little Chinese classics, Hu customs and national customs, and mixed and chaotic" in the social life of the pre-middle Northern Wei Dynasty.
The construction of the eunuch system is a manifestation of the Northern Wei regime's "slightly more Chinese classics", indicating that the Northern Wei monarchs took an important step from the dilemma of choosing the old customs of Han and law. The construction of the eunuch system was conducive to meeting the ruling needs of the Northern Wei monarchs to "make the humble and humble manners under the group", and gradually get rid of the "Hu customs and national customs" through the "slightly-kaihua dian", laying the foundation for the promotion of imperial power and the gradual strengthening of it.
A fairly complete system of eunuchs had been established in the Northern Yan regime, and eunuchs were not only used for questioning, but also for guards, and the position of lieutenant minister often granted to eunuchs by Northern Wei also appeared in the Northern Yan official system. The reason for this is that the eunuch system has a symbolic significance that reflects the legitimacy of the monarchy. Yu Huaqing said in "The History of China's Eunuch System": "The orthodox characteristics of China's eunuch system are first manifested in the fact that the eunuch system has become an important part of the country's formal social system. "As the eunuch system and the absolute monarchy became more closely related until they were fully integrated, the symbolic significance of the eunuch system as a manifestation of the power of the monarchy became more and more intense. As if only the practice of eunuchs could embody the authority and dignity of an absolute monarch; On the contrary, it seems that it is not enough to become its emperor system. Because of this, when dynasties change, the victor's side always immediately counts and receives the symbol of monarchy that destroys the country.
During the Tianxing period, Emperor Daowu was "determined to reform the system, enlighten the Chinese style, and use Hanshi" and actively promote the reform of Sinicization. Yu Huaqing believes that "in the process of feudalization of the Northern Wei regime, not only did the eunuch system appear, but also led to the rapid growth of eunuchs", and "at the latest during the period of Emperor Taiwu, the eunuch system of Northern Wei had been caught up with the system." "As a unique eunuch system of the Han dynasty, together with the Qinjian monarchy and the restoration, began to be inherited and accepted by the Northern Wei regime", indicating that the Northern Wei monarchs began to take an interest in the Han way of rule and absorb it.
In summary, the construction of the eunuch system and the use of the Northern Wei imperial power over the eunuch power were one of the compromise solutions adopted by the Northern Wei rulers to break through the dilemma of choosing the old customs of Han and law, and to introduce "Chinese classics" such as the slightly superior eunuch system to reflect the legitimacy and authority of the imperial power.