When it comes to eunuchs, many people may think of eunuchs. In fact, the term eunuch did not appear until the Qing Dynasty, and eunuchs are a part of Chinese history that cannot be ignored, and the eunuch system is also inextricably related to the emperor system.
There is such a passage in the "Zizhi Tongjian": "The official of the temple people, since the life of the three kings, is embodied in the "Poem" and "Rite".
It can be seen that at least in the Warring States period, there were already eunuchs. At that time, part of their work was indeed in the inner court, but not all eunuchs were castrated.
It was not until after the Eastern Han Dynasty that eunuchs truly became synonymous with gelding. Most of them were people who were sentenced to palace punishment for being bought and sold or committing crimes, and their status was low, and they generally did some cleaning, guarding palace gates, transmitting orders, and serving the life and living of the emperor's concubines.
Later, some eunuchs with outstanding abilities were also promoted and given official positions. Eunuchs can have the real power of the prime minister, can handle some government affairs, and have the right to build and lead troops. But they are subject to the supervision of the prime minister, and their status is inferior after all.
No matter which dynasty, eunuchs will be subjected to various voices from the outside world, and it is simply common to be discriminated against. Therefore, even if they have official positions, they are not always taken seriously.
In the eyes of everyone, the district eunuch is still a person with fertility, what kind of storm can be set off.
Such a group of people, when the slaves were abandoned, only they survived. Not only that, but in the years to come, they formed their own rights. Even, some eunuchs directly controlled the imperial power and became the ones who really controlled the power of the state.
This has to mention one dynasty - the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty with an unprecedented expansion of the eunuch system, when eunuchs directly connected with the emperor, and even high-ranking officials of the imperial court had to nod to them. It is clear that the eunuch system was formed very early, but this phenomenon did not appear until the Ming Dynasty?
Development of the eunuch system
The emergence of a thing is often inevitable, and the eunuch system is no exception. As we all know, since the Xia Dynasty, China has entered the era of hereditary throne. There are many concubines in the emperor's harem, and those who serve are naturally indispensable. If the palace is mixed with fish and dragons, it is inevitable to do something that damages the face of the royal family.
On the other hand, it is also to guarantee the royal orthodox bloodline. But you can't use all the palace women, and the palace women's physical strength is no better than that of men, and some jobs can't be done. For various reasons, the eunuch system came into being.
The origin of the eunuch system is still inconclusive, let's start with the earliest Spring and Autumn Warring States. At first, the eunuchs did not have a clear official position, but were just a group of subordinates who worked for the kings, and did not play much role in politics. It was not until the end of the Eastern Dynasty, when the annexation war became more and more intense, and the etiquette collapsed, and the status of eunuchs improved.
At that time, eunuchs began to participate in government affairs, although they still did insignificant little things, but gave clear official positions. With the blessing of official positions, they also began to enter the political arena as a political force.
Time came to the Qin and Han dynasties, and the reasons why these two dynasties have always been mentioned together are that the Qin dynasty lived for a fairly short time, and the second dynasty died; Second, China's feudal system of thousands of years was jointly established by these two dynasties. For the next thousand years, China lived under the feudal system.
At the same time as the feudal system took shape, the eunuch system also entered a new stage. It can be said that the eunuch system was perfected, mainly for the purpose of maintaining imperial power. The Qin Dynasty may not have been obvious at that time, but in the Han Dynasty, it was obvious.
In the late Han Dynasty, foreign government intervention became a prominent problem. At first, because the emperor died early, the new emperor was too young to make a claim, and there was only one way to let the empress dowager participate in politics. But power has always been a fascinating thing, and once you have tasted it, you can let it go so easily.
In addition, the marriage of ancient emperors was generally a political marriage, and the concubines were from famous families, and the strength behind them should not be underestimated. With the support of the family, harem women can sometimes be above the court. Therefore, even if the emperor wants to take back power when he becomes an adult, he does not dare to use tough means.
In order to curb harem interference, the best option is to develop a completely new force. Eunuchs, as close attendants, are undoubtedly the perfect candidates. But over time, it was difficult to ensure that eunuchs would not become another force that interfered with the imperial power. In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, the emperor made a clever decision that all the eunuchs should be purified
This method is described in the Book of the Later Han as follows: "Eunuchs are castrated, and they are not complicated to transfer other people." Castrated people are unable to give birth and their status is not high, so they can naturally achieve the effect expected by the emperor. As everyone knows, this decision has left a permanent hidden danger for Jiangshan.
After the baptism of the Han Dynasty, the eunuch system was quite mature in the Wei and Jin dynasties. During this period, there were institutions and appointment systems and conditions exclusive to eunuchs. And the areas in which eunuchs can participate in politics have become much broader, and they have more official positions. It can be said that the eunuch system has become an indispensable part of politics.
The power of eunuchs further grew during the Tang Dynasty and had their own place in the imperial court. Although these officials are not in the ranks of the prime minister, and their power is not protected by law, they have the right to be on a par with the prime minister. Moreover, because Xiangquan and Imperial Power are two opposing forces, they are naturally not welcomed by the emperor.
Eunuchs, on the other hand, had their rights granted by the emperor and were symbols of imperial power. Therefore, the emperor was willing to give the eunuchs greater rights and confront the prime minister in separate courts to achieve the effect of strengthening the imperial power.
Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, eunuchs had the real power of the prime minister, the right to adjudicate government affairs, and they could also lead troops on expeditions, and the right to infiltrate politics and the military.
The Song and Yuan dynasties followed the eunuch system of the Tang Dynasty, but added the inner eunuch province to the Tang internal service province to strengthen the management of eunuchs, and the eunuch system was more standardized from then on. If you want to say the highlight of the eunuch system, it must be in the Ming Dynasty.
The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were simply terrifying, and even the emperor, who initially gave them supreme power, had to give three points of courtesy to this group of people in the end, which shows how much the eunuch system has expanded. With the bloody example of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty began to strictly control eunuchs, and the eunuch system declined.
Establishment of the Cabinet and the West Factory
What kind of transformation this institution initiated by the Ming Dynasty will bring to the eunuch system must be analyzed from the establishment of the cabinet. The contradiction between Xiangquan and imperial power for a thousand years finally ended after Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system. Since then, China has no real prime minister.
But the existence of the prime minister as an auxiliary to the emperor's work has now been abolished, and all the big and small things fall to the emperor. A model worker like Zhu Yuanzhang who sleeps at twelve o'clock at night and gets up at three o'clock in the morning to work is fine. When it comes to the prince and grandson who are pampered, they can't stand it.
Finally, Zhu Di, who was unable to bear it, could no longer stand it, so he created a cabinet on the basis that did not affect the imperial power. The initial members of the cabinet were all internal attendants and eunuchs, who also had very little power, only having the power to approve red and vote votes. Later, officials will be selected to enter the cabinet and become cabinet scholars, which is equivalent to another form of prime minister.
After this, the eunuchs seemed to begin to withdraw from the work of the cabinet, and the civil servants led the operation of the cabinet. However, in order to monopolize the power, the emperor firmly controlled the power of decision-making in his own hands, so he separated the right to vote and the right to approve reds. Cabinet ministers may have the power to vote for them, and the power to grant dividends is given to eunuchs.
What is a ticket is that some of the recitals are reviewed by cabinet members, and then the criticisms and opinions are written on a small slip of paper, and then pasted on the recital, which is a suggestion to the emperor. But if these suggestions are to work, they have to be approved.
From this point of view, it is obvious that the red approval has a greater advantage than the vote. Putting these aside, eunuchs, as people close to the emperor, naturally have more opportunities to gain the emperor's trust. Therefore, the eunuchs have greater confidence and disdain the cabinet, and the contradiction between the two is particularly prominent.
But after all, whether it is the cabinet or the eunuchs, their rights come from the emperor, and both sides maintain basic decency on the surface. In this great battle between the cabinet and the eunuchs, the two are comparable, and no one has taken advantage. But for eunuchs, their power has increased dramatically.
The status of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was like that of the prime ministers of the past. And this is because there is a cabinet that suppresses eunuchs, and another institution can be called the expansion of the eunuch system, that is, the West Factory.
The secret services of the Ming Dynasty can be described as extremely rich, including the well-known Jinyiwei, the East Factory, and the West Factory. This West Factory is completely the world of eunuchs, and even the biggest rulers are eunuchs. Whoever dares to offend them, as long as they convict you of intent to rebel, will surely die.
During the Ming Dynasty, the status of eunuchs made a qualitative leap, and if they made the emperor happy, they would be infinitely prosperous. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, some people not only did not consider eunuchs ashamed of themselves, but also squeezed their heads to become eunuchs.
"Gongshan Tang Bieji Zhongguan Kao 10" recorded: "More than 970 clean men in Nanhai households returned to begging for income. That is to say, in the Ming Dynasty, many people were clean.
Eunuchs are never good, and first they have to accept unsound bodies. But I can't bear to fight for myself a chance to ascend to the sky step by step, which is as fascinating as "Sunflower Treasure Book". For people to make such a big sacrifice, power must be supreme.
In fact, it is also true, some high-ranking eunuchs can easily decide the life and death of others, even the emperor can be controlled. During the Ming Dynasty, many famous eunuchs appeared, such as Zheng He.
He went to the West seven times and made a good contribution to the tribute trade of the Ming Dynasty. But eunuchs like Zheng He are rare after all, and more are authoritarian like Wang Zhen and Liu Jin.
Advantages and disadvantages of the eunuch system
Anything arises because of its advantages, and the consequent disadvantages have long lurked in it. The advantages of the eunuch system were obvious, especially for the emperor. First of all, eunuchs, as people close to the emperor, are relatively easy to control. Once the eunuchs disobeyed, the emperor could immediately get rid of the people.
Secondly, since the emperor could easily give eunuch power, he could naturally take it back at will. On any given day, the eunuchs lost their use value, and the emperor gave an order, sent people directly back to do some sweeping work, returned to being internal attendants, and continued to lower their eyebrows to others.
Last but not least. Eunuchs can play a role in decentralizing power and helping the emperor achieve the role of centralizing imperial power and realizing autocracy. And the eunuchs do not even have the ability to reproduce, naturally there are fewer unnecessary struggles, even if they have ambitions, it is just a toss.
Regarding the above three points, in the "Later Han Book Eunuch Series": "The four stars of the eunuch are on the side of the imperial throne, so the "Zhou Li" has an official and there are also a number." The Yan guards the prohibition of the middle gate, and the temple people are in charge of the rings of the female palace. There are five people in the Cloud King's Zheng Nei. Suffice it to say.
Since the advantages are enough, it is necessary to talk about the shortcomings, the eunuch system removes those trivial shortcomings, and there is also the most fatal hidden danger - the dictatorship of eunuchs.
The dictatorship of eunuchs began very early, and when the emperor of the Han Dynasty used eunuchs to suppress foreign interference in government, the seeds of the dictatorship of eunuchs had already been sown. In the early stage, the role of eunuchs was vividly played, and the power of foreign qi was completely suppressed, replaced by the emperor's doppelgänger eunuch.
Eunuchs are the emperor's right-hand men, and wherever the emperor points out, the emperor's use of land is quite smooth. The emperor then relaxed restrictions on eunuchs. The eunuchs who have been freed from power are like wild horses, out of control. In the end, the emperor could not control the eunuchs.
But are the eunuchs content with this? Do not forget, this is a group of flawed people whose psychology has come close to perversion after a long period of suffering. When they hold great power, they must set off stormy waves and turn the world upside down in order to bring them a little comfort.
By the late Han Dynasty, eunuchs could even influence the deposition of emperors. In addition to the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was also a dynasty with a serious dictatorship of eunuchs. After the "Anshi Rebellion", the emperors of the Tang Dynasty began to use eunuchs, but this could not save the imperial power.
The topic goes back to the beginning, the eunuch system of the Ming Dynasty. To talk about other dynasties, the dictatorship of eunuchs was sometimes present and sometimes absent, but in the Ming Dynasty, the power of eunuchs shrouded the entire imperial court. Their power covers the whole world, and this group of people has its own center of power.
The eunuch system of the Ming Dynasty was quite perfect, even surpassing the previous system of prime ministers. The right to prime minister, which was eliminated by Zhu Yuanzhang, all fell into the hands of eunuchs. Moreover, this group of people does not put the self-cultivation of the Qi family and the world in words every day like the prime minister, and the eunuchs only have power in their eyes.
Eunuchs will not suppress their madness for the sake of etiquette, as long as they hold on to power, they will not care whether the other party is the emperor or a commoner, they will all step on it. This is the most terrifying place for eunuchs, and it is also the reason why eunuchs in previous generations cannot be on the table.
The aberration of the eunuch system is a historical inevitability. The emperor's desire for autocracy is like someone blindly forcing it. The forced end is often disappointing, so it is better to go with the flow and get a peace of mind.
Bibliography:
"General Guide to Governance"
"The Biography of the Eunuchs of the Later Han Dynasty"
"Dragon Mountain Hall Collection, Zhongguan Examination Ten"
History of Ming