Eunuchs gain power, why do successive emperors reuse them? He doesn't reuse eunuchs, who does he reuse?
Film and television drama Wei Zhongxian
Let's take the Han Dynasty that Huaixia Shusheng talked about before as an example, in the early Han Dynasty, there was Empress Lü who interfered in government, Emperor Jing of Han and Emperor Wudi of Han in the early years, and Empress Dowager Dou interfered in government. After Emperor Han Zhao succeeded to the throne, Huo Guang became a government official. After Emperor Cheng of Han, the foreign qi of the Wang family appeared again, and finally the Western Han died at the hands of the foreign qi Wang Mang.
Dou Yifang Empress Dowager Dou stills
It can be said that the dictatorship of foreign qi runs through the entire Western Han Dynasty. And the eunuchs can be reused, which is related to the powerful foreign relatives of the Han Dynasty.
During the reign of Liu Wei, the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign forces rose again. After the death of Emperor Zhang of Han, Han and Emperor Liu Zhao succeeded to the throne, Empress Dowager Dou ruled the dynasty, and the Dou clan spread throughout the court and the public. Liu Zhao could not get close to his internal and external ministers, and all officials large and small in the DPRK and China were dependent on Dou Xian. The fourteen-year-old Han and Emperor conspired with the eunuch Zheng Zhong to eradicate the Dou clan and seize power.
Han and Emperor Liu Zhao
This was the beginning of the Eastern Han emperors and eunuchs conspiring against foreign qi, and after that, the foreign qi and eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty took turns to strangle, forming a vicious circle.
Foreigners and eunuchs confronted
For example, Emperor An of Han conspired with the eunuchs Li Min and Jiang Jing to eliminate Deng's foreign relatives, and formed a situation in which Empress Yan's brother Yan Xian and others jointly ruled with the eunuchs. Emperor An of Han died, and nineteen eunuchs including Sun Cheng of Zhonghuangmen joined forces to kill Jiang Jing and others to install Liu Bao as emperor, and then Liu Bao destroyed Yan's foreign relatives and reused eunuchs. Later, the eunuchs colluded with the foreign qi Liang clan and began the Liang dictatorship for more than 20 years, and after Emperor Huan of Han succeeded to the throne, he conspired with the eunuch Shan Chao and others to eliminate the Liang clan's foreign qi, and since then the eunuchs have monopolized power.
Emperor Huan of Han conspired with the eunuch Shan Chao and others to eliminate the Liang family
From the above process, it is not difficult to see that eunuchs are often reused because foreign relatives are too powerful. Because from the beginning of the Han and the emperor, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne at a young age, and the emperor needed the empress dowager to assist the government at a young age, and the empress dowager would reuse his own relatives, and as a result, the foreign qi took power.
The Empress Dowager assisted the government
The emperor is dissatisfied with the dictatorship of foreign qi, and if he wants to seize power, he needs to have the power that can be used by himself, but foreign ministers and officials are often attached to foreign qi and have no power to use, they have to use internal attendants such as eunuchs to help seize power, after all, eunuchs come from humble backgrounds and go to power, and live by the emperor's side all year round, compared to foreign qi and foreign ministers, they are more like their own people without family power.
Emperor and eunuch stills
Although the Tang Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty were different from the Eastern Han Dynasty, they basically needed these eunuchs around them to contain other forces.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Di Jing was difficult to succeed, in the Yongle period, Jinyiwei's command made Ji Gang conspire against Zhu Di began to distrust Jinyiwei, plus Jinyiwei was located outside the palace, Zhu Di was inconvenient to use, so he set up the East Factory, and his favorite eunuch served as the head of the East Factory. The power of the East Factory was above Jinyiwei, and was only responsible to the emperor, and without the approval of the judicial authority, it could arbitrarily supervise the arrest of subjects, and at the same time monitor Jinyiwei on behalf of the emperor.
Jin Yiwei commanded Ji Gang stills
On the one hand, the eunuch of the eunuch and the eunuch of the palm seal shared the government affairs for the emperor, and at a deeper level, the emperor used the power of eunuchs to contain the cabinet, so as to achieve a political balance to ensure that the imperial power was not infringed.
Ming Dynasty Ceremonial Supervisor and Cabinet
During the Zhengde period, Emperor Wuzong of Ming reused Liu Jin in order to fight against the civil clique. Therefore, the eunuch group was actually attached to the imperial power, and they were reused because the emperor wanted to strengthen the imperial power.
Liu Jin
And without the imperial power, the eunuchs were nothing. Whether it was the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, the new emperor ascended the throne, pay attention to the new emperor, as long as they wanted, basically they could get rid of the eunuchs and regain power. For example, Wei Zhongxian, who was known as nine thousand years old, could say that eradicating the castrated party would eradicate the gelding party when he was not firmly established at the beginning of Chongzhen's accession to the throne.
And if foreign relatives and ministers hold power, they often empty the imperial power, and it is quite difficult for the emperor to regain power. For example, the foreign relatives of the Wang clan of the Western Han Dynasty have always been too big to lose, and finally usurped the Han Dynasty to stand on their own.
Wang Mang
Therefore, although there are lessons learned from the power of eunuchs, compared with the interference of powerful ministers and the dictatorship of foreign relatives, eunuchs seem to be less threatening and easier to control, and can strengthen imperial power. And the original sin of the eunuch's power is not that the emperor reuses the eunuch, but that the emperor loses control over the eunuch, what do you think?
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