Throughout ancient Chinese history, the existence of eunuchs has always been an important part of imperial power. Therefore, in all dynasties, there have been incidents of eunuchs interfering in government.
However, in different dynasties, the degree of eunuch interference in government affairs may be very different. For example, in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, eunuchs were very strong, and they might even reach the level of deposing emperors! In the Song and Qing dynasties, the impact may have been relatively small.
During the Western Han Dynasty, this special group, most of the time, also had little influence. Throughout the history of the Western Han Dynasty, most of the periods had no sense of eunuchs. Even during the reign of the previous Western Han emperors, we couldn't even talk about a famous eunuch.
However, there is one exception.
This exception is Shi Xian, a eunuch who reigned under Emperor Yuan of Han in the late Western Han Dynasty.
Throughout the Western Han Dynasty, this Shi Xian was the only eunuch who reached the level of eunuch! In the fifteen-year history, because of the inaction of Emperor Yuan of Han, Shi Xian held the central power for a long time, framed loyal ministers, and formed a party for personal gain. At the same time, Shi Xian's existence also led to the rapid corruption of the Western Han Dynasty! This laid a great thunder for the later demise of the Western Han Dynasty!
So, as the only eunuch in power in the Western Han Dynasty, what kind of person was Shi Xian? Why did the Western Han Dynasty, which has never had a phenomenon of eunuchs in power, suddenly appear such an exception to him? How did this eunuch of the Western Han Dynasty come to power? How did it disappear?
This story has to start when Emperor Xuan of Han died.
In 48 BC, Emperor Xuan of Han, who was only 43 years old, suddenly fell seriously ill and died. In the history of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuan of Han was undoubtedly a very wise emperor. The emperor, who was just born and imprisoned, experienced ups and downs in his early years. Later, he finally became emperor, and was suppressed by the powerful minister Huo Guang for a long time. It was not until Huo Guang died that he finally overthrew the Huo family and took power alone.
Because Emperor Xuan of Han had a bumpy early life, and before ascending the throne, he had traveled many times and knew the sufferings of the people. Therefore, after Emperor Xuan of Han came to power, he implemented a series of policies beneficial to the state. The entire Han Dynasty, also in his hands, was given new vitality. Therefore, later, during his reign, coupled with the previous reign of Emperor Zhao of Han, it was collectively known as the 'Reign of Zhaoxuan'.
The above words can basically be regarded as a summary of the life of Emperor Xuan of Han. There is no doubt that Emperor Xuan of Han was certainly a good emperor, even a near-perfect emperor. However, the near-perfect Emperor Xuan of Han had one of the biggest mistakes in his life.
This mistake was that he insisted on making his eldest son Liu Xi the heir.
In fact, you can't blame Emperor Han Xuan for this. Because this Liu Xi was born to Emperor Xuan of Han and his original wife Xu Pingjun. Xu Pingjun was the white moonlight of Emperor Xuan of Han, and he married Emperor Xuan of Han long before Emperor Xuan of Han ascended the throne. But later, Xu Pingjun was killed by the Huo family. This also made Emperor Xuan of Han always feel that he owed something to Xu Pingjun.
So later, even if Liu Xi grew up, he obviously did not act like a qualified prince, Emperor Han Xuan still did not move his position as crown prince, but tried to make up for him.
Speaking of which, Liu Xi is actually not a bad person. He is actually a bit like the later Emperor Huizong of Song, or Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Because he lost his mother very early, Liu Xi seriously lacked family education. Later, because Emperor Xuan of Han protected him too well, he was not severely beaten by society.
Therefore, Liu Xi seriously lacked imperial education. The education he received was the Confucian ideas instilled in him by the great Confucian masters around him. This led to Liu Xi's personality, which was somewhat too naïve. He even felt that relying solely on those truths in the Confucian texts could perfectly govern the world!
In this regard, Emperor Han Xuan must know that it is wrong. But the problem is that Emperor Han Xuan has said many times that he still can't change his son's character.
Therefore, before his death, Emperor Han Xuan could only try to stay behind, hoping that after his son took over, he would try not to make any trouble. The back hand left by Emperor Xuan of Han at that time can be roughly divided into two parts.
Part of it is normal means. During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, he basically solved most of the problems of the Western Han Dynasty. So what he left to his son was an almost perfect Han Dynasty. In the view of Emperor Xuan of Han, even if his son loses the family again, it is impossible to lose all the family business in one generation, at most, it is just to let the country go downhill.
The other part is personnel appointments.
Before his death, Emperor Xuan of Han left his son three powerful auxiliary ministers. The three auxiliary ministers were Shi Gao, Xiao Wangzhi, Zhou Kan, and Jin Chang. Shi Gao was the cousin of Emperor Xuan of Han, and the latter two ministers were Liu Xi's teachers.
In the year that Emperor Xuan of Han died, Liu Xi was already 27 years old! At this age, no matter how you look at it, it is impossible to be vacated by the auxiliary minister, and it is impossible to repeat the story of the Han Zhao Emperor in those years. Therefore, Emperor Xuan of Han set up auxiliary ministers, in fact, he wanted to leave three assistants for his son.
When all this was done, Emperor Xuan of Han finally passed away without regret. Then, Liu Xi ascended the throne, and history entered the era of Emperor Yuan of Han.
When Emperor Yuan of Han first ascended the throne, everything was harmonious. But then, Xiao Wangzhi, one of the three auxiliary ministers, was the first to break the balance.
Of course, this change is well-intentioned.
Xiao Wangzhi was a minister who was both noble and capable. Simply put, he is a good man. Xiao Wangzhi's ancestor is Xiao He, the founding minister of the Han Dynasty. When Huo Guang's power was monstrous, Xiao Wangzhi just entered the army. But later, Xiao Wangzhi was not used to Huo Guang's holding of authority, and he was not willing to rely at all, so he sat on a cold bench for many years.
It was not until later, after Emperor Xuan of Han came to power, that Xiao Wangzhi gradually came to the fore. After that, throughout the era of Emperor Xuan of Han, Xiao Wangzhi was known for daring to speak and good at planning, and later achieved the high position of Yushi Dafu. Especially at the end of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, Xiao Wangzhi participated in the particularly important Shiquge Conference, helping Emperor Xuan of Han revise the Confucian academic program.
So in the end, Xiao Wangzhi became a good minister in the heart of Emperor Xuan of Han.
But it was precisely for this reason that later, in the late reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, Emperor Xuan of Han suppressed Xiao Wangzhi. A big reason why he wants to suppress Xiao Wangzhi is that he hopes that he will always have a black face, and then the prince will sing a white face. In the future, after Liu Xi took the throne, he was able to reuse Xiao Wangzhi and gain Xiao Wangzhi's loyalty.
In short, among the four auxiliary ministers, Shi Gao, as a foreign relative, is basically a housekeeper. Xiao Wangzhi has the strongest ability and is responsible for work. Zhou Kan's ability is slightly weaker, and he is responsible for giving Xiao Wangzhi a hand.
Therefore, after Emperor Yuan of Han ascended the throne, Xiao Wangzhi began to strike first, preparing to better transform the country according to his own strategy.
At that time, Xiao Wangzhi's strategy, or the strategy of Emperor Yuan of Han, was the comprehensive Confucianization of the country!
Of course, it was actually Emperor Yuan of Han who really decided this matter. Emperor Yuan of Han himself was actually a good man, and he also wanted to govern the country well. And the education he received was that Confucianism was absolutely correct. During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, he governed the country with a 'external Confucian internal law' scheme. In this regard, when Emperor Yuan of Han was crown prince, he was very disagreeable with Emperor Xuan of Han.
Therefore, now that Emperor Yuan of Han himself has the final say, he intends to adopt Xiao Wangzhi's suggestion and fully Confucianize. The specific measure is probably to revise many systems of the Han Dynasty in full accordance with the Confucian book. At the same time, many non-Confucian officials were also deposed. A large number of Confucians were promoted to officials at the same time.
After these things were done, for a while, in the Western Han Dynasty, there was a feeling of 'all the people were in the dynasty'. Everyone is talking about it, and everyone thinks that as long as it follows the Confucian system, the country will definitely get better and better in the future!
But then, when Xiao Wangzhi's reforms gradually entered the deep water area, he found a problem.
This problem, that is, his proposals on many key issues, was not approved by Emperor Yuan of Han.
What's going on here?
You know, Xiao Wangzhi is the teacher of Emperor Han Yuan, and Emperor Han Yuan's proposition is also the basic consistency of Xiao Wangzhi. So why did Emperor Yuan of Han not adopt many of Xiao Wangzhi's suggestions?
In this regard, Xiao Wangzhi was actually a little confused at the beginning.
But soon, he finally realized what the problem was.
The crux of the matter is that the inner dynasty is not under his control.
At this point in the story, we have to pause for a moment and first explain the internal and external court system of the Han Dynasty.
Originally, when the Han Dynasty was founded, it basically completely inherited the official system of the Qin Dynasty, that is, the so-called three princes and nine secretaries system. Under this system, the prime minister was in charge of daily government affairs, the imperial lieutenant was in charge of the army, and the imperial doctor was in charge of supervision. As for the emperor, when you want to manage which specific work, just go directly to the relevant person in charge.
But under this system, obviously, the power of the prime minister and the lieutenant is somewhat too great. Therefore, after the founding of the Han Dynasty, except for rare occasions, there were basically no imperial lieutenants. Not only that, the Qin Dynasty back then actually did not set up a lieutenant for a long time.
After that, during the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, because Emperor Wudi of Han wanted to do too many things, most of the things were decided by himself. So by this time, Emperor Wudi of Han felt that the power of the prime minister was also a little too great.
So next, Emperor Wudi of Han carried out reforms and created an inner court system.
Under this system, the original prime minister and the imperial master, as well as several officials in the Jiuqing, belonged to the foreign court officials. In the palace, Emperor Wudi of Han himself built a new set of leadership groups, which were called the inner court, also called the Middle Dynasty.
Internally, China and North Korea can probably be divided into three types of people. One type of person is a general, the largest of the generals is the big sima, and below are the hussar generals, the front and rear left and right generals, and several other generals. The second type is a close courtier, the number of which is variable, which can be understood as an adviser to the emperor.
As for the third, it is Shangshu, which later evolved into Shangshutai. It was a specialized body that could be understood as the emperor's secretariat. His daily work was to write holy decrees for the emperor and take charge of various documents. The interior was divided into several official positions such as Shang Shu Ling and Attendant, and later Shang Shu Ling was renamed Zhong Shu Ling.
Obviously, as the emperor's secretary, one had to be very knowledgeable. At the same time, because they stayed by the emperor's side every day, it was better for these people to be eunuchs. Therefore, the first Zhongshu Ling in history is the famous Taishi Company Ma Qian.
Throughout the era of Emperor Wudi of Han, the power of the inner court increased, gradually surpassing that of the outer dynasty. Later, the prime minister was gradually erected. After the death of Emperor Wudi of Han, Huo Guang held the greatest power because he directly managed the inner court. When the fashion book side was under his control, the general was also his people.
Therefore, Huo Guang was able to control the dynasty until his death.
Later, in the era of Emperor Xuan of Han, this system also continued. In the era of Emperor Xuan of Han, the outer dynasty basically evolved into an executive department, and the inner dynasty evolved into a real decision-making department. Before Emperor Han Xuan died, out of caution, Emperor Han Xuan replaced many decision-making officials of the inner dynasty, especially those on Shangshu's side, with eunuchs.
In this way, Emperor Han Xuan planted a big thunder for his son!
You know, in ancient times, eunuchs could not be done by anyone. The ancients said that 'the parents of the body are affected', and ordinary people will never be able to cut their own swords. Therefore, in general, eunuchs will be punished only after breaking the law, and then enter the palace to become eunuchs.
But most of such people are not of high level. At that time, Sima Qian was different, and his family was engaged in history, but he was accidentally tortured by the palace. However, except for Sima Qian, the vast majority of people who were tortured by the palace were not very knowledgeable.
Of course, in the eyes of Emperor Xuan of Han, this is not a problem. After all, what Emperor Xuan of Han needed was someone to write a holy decree for him and do some manual work. The one who really takes the idea is himself. Nor did he need a eunuch to advise him. So in the era of Emperor Xuan of Han, there were no problems with this system.
However, after Emperor Yuan of Han ascended the throne, the problems of this system were exposed.
Because Emperor Yuan of Han was lazy.
Or to be more precise, he has a lot of things to do. According to historical records, Emperor Yuan of Han was proficient in musical rhythm, playing the piano and drums, and playing flute songs. Moreover, he also wrote a very exquisite seal book! From this point of view, he is actually the same kind of person as the later Song Huizong. He was fit to be an artist, but not an emperor.
So next, for the sake of these hobbies, Emperor Yuan of Han, who did not have so much time to deal with government affairs, naturally could only play the set of 'arching and governing'.
But in this way, a new question arises: the emperor plays art every day, so who cares about the imperial government?
Under normal circumstances, this work should naturally be done by the minister. At that time, the leaders of the civil officials of the foreign dynasties, Xiao Wangzhi and Zhou Kan, were all teachers of Emperor Yuan of Han, and Emperor Yuan of Han was indeed trustworthy. But at the same time, Emperor Yuan of Han could not fully trust them out of imperial heart.
So after that, those eunuchs of the inner dynasty began to take power.
This script is exactly the same as the script of the later Ming Dynasty.
Of course, Emperor Yuan of Han himself was still very clever, and would not be like the later emperors of the Ming Dynasty, who would not go to the dynasty directly. When people work normally, they still show up. So after that, Xiao Wangzhi had a headache in the court: Emperor Yuan of Han really listened to them and fully Confucianized the country. But at the same time, there are many things that are being decided by the eunuchs of the inner court.
The next script is still the same: Xiao Wangzhi, as the leader of the civil courtiers, is not accustomed to those eunuchs interfering in the politics of the dynasty, so he told Emperor Han Yuan to let Emperor Han Yuan replace all those decision-making officials in the inner dynasty with scholars, and cannot use eunuchs and foreign relatives. In this way, several eunuchs and foreign relatives who were in power at that time naturally hated Xiao Wangzhi and began to prepare to set a trap for Old Xiao.
As a scholar, Lao Xiao has a very high level. But in terms of political struggle, Xiao is obviously still too tender.
Before giving this suggestion to Emperor Han Yuan, Xiao Wangzhi never figured out a question: that is, how did this situation appear!
The answer to this question is actually very simple. This pattern was left by Emperor Xuan of Han, and the purpose was to create a situation in which the three major groups of 'eunuchs-foreigners-scholars' checked each other. But this situation, Xiao Wangzhi has not understood the officials behind him, never understood.
It was in this situation that the most important eunuch of the Western Han Dynasty, Shi Xian, officially appeared.
At that time, the group of eunuchs was not actually a group, but only a group. And within this group, the leader at that time was not Shi Xian, but a eunuch named Honggong.
As for Shi Xian, he can only be regarded as Honggong's deputy, or the second-in-command in this group.
And next, because Lao Xiao offended the eunuch group, Honggong and Shi Xian, the two eunuch leaders, began to lay out Lao Xiao. Soon, they found Xiao Wangzhi's biggest weakness.
This weakness is called temperament.
Xiao Wangzhi, who came from a famous family and read poetry books since he was a child, has too strong a personality. As long as he feels humiliated, he will most likely commit suicide directly. And once Xiao Wangzhi committed suicide, the entire group of scholar officials directly destroyed itself.
So, the next thing was probably like this: First, the eunuchs were beside Emperor Yuan of Han and said that Lao Xiao planned to attack the foreign qi side. In this regard, Emperor Han Yuan was also a little dissatisfied. On this issue, Emperor Yuan of Han was actually a bit like the later Jiajing Emperor, and they always felt that they were the smartest.
So after that, Emperor Yuan of Han asked Lao Xiao to report to the court captain and explain the situation well. Emperor Han Yuan's intention to do this was to let the court captain knock Lao Xiao and let Lao Xiao know his weight. But what I didn't expect was that the eunuchs played a word game at this time. They changed 'ask Lao Xiao to explain the situation' directly changed to 'Captain Ting arrested Xiao Wangzhi and put him in prison'!
The difference between these two things is too great.
In this way, Xiao Wangzhi, who did not know why, was directly arrested and imprisoned. Of course, it didn't take long for Emperor Yuan of Han to know about this and soon ordered Xiao Wangzhi's release.
In this way, Xiao Wangzhi evaded the first move of the eunuch group.
But this time, the eunuchs didn't want to directly kill Lao Xiao, they just needed such a thing to carry out the next plan.
And with Xiao Wangzhi released from prison, after that, naturally, officials who did not know why began to write to complain for Xiao Wangzhi. But what they didn't expect was that if they did this, it would make Emperor Han Yuan even more jealous of Xiao Wangzhi. Originally, Emperor Yuan of Han still trusted Xiao Wangzhi. However, after such a struggle, Emperor Han Yuan began to gradually suspect this Master Xiao.
Once the seeds of doubt are planted, it will certainly not take long for them to take root and germinate.
So, a few months later, when Master Xiao's son also began to write for his father, Emperor Han Yuan finally couldn't hold back the fire. At this time, the eunuchs saw the stitches and began to fan the flames. The eunuchs said that the ministers were disrespectful to Emperor Yuan of Han by continuously writing to complain about grievances, so they could arrest Xiao Wangzhi and beat him again.
On Emperor Han Yuan's side, after thinking about it, he felt that what the eunuchs said also made some sense, so he agreed.
In this way, the killing moves of the eunuchs finally came.
This time, because of the order given by Emperor Yuan of Han, Xiao Wangzhi was directly arrested. So next, the eunuchs directly mobilized the army and surrounded Xiao Wangzhi's home. In this regard, Old Xiao naturally couldn't bear it. This Master Xiao cherished his name all his life and was not willing to be interrogated. So in the end, when the army surrounded his house, he directly drank poison and committed suicide!
At this point, Master Xiao is offline. And with Xiao Wangzhi's suicide, the entire group of scholar officials also began to collapse rapidly.
This plot is really highly similar to the plot of the later Ming Dynasty eunuchs fighting civil officials. What is different is that the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty have precedents to refer to, and they are not so fragile. However, Lao Xiao faced this kind of problem for the first time, so in his concept, he never thought that eunuchs could still make such a game.
So in the end, Master Xiao inexplicably committed suicide.
Even more coincidentally, in the year that Master Xiao went offline, Honggong, the leader of the eunuchs, also died at the same time. After Honggong's death, the entire group of eunuchs began to be headed by Shi Xian.
Next, Shi Xian began his own series of operations. First, he began to woo a large number of foreign officials as his henchmen in the DPRK. Among them, the most famous person is the protagonist in the story of 'chiseling the wall to steal light', Kuang Heng! Later, it was with the support of the eunuch group that Kuang Heng quickly rose to the rank and became the prime minister of the Han Dynasty!
In addition to wooing foreign officials, Shi Xian also wooed several important foreign officials. The two important foreign relatives left behind by Emperor Xuan of Han, the Xu family and the Shi family, were all enveloped by Shi Xian. In this way, eunuchs, foreign relatives, and scholarly officials began to support the eunuch at the same time. Shi Xian's status was naturally elevated to the apex in an instant!
Therefore, from the middle of the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han, belonging to Shi Xian's era, officially began.
So, for these things that Shi Xian did, didn't Emperor Han Yuan know?
The answer is obvious, he knows, and it is particularly clear.
But Emperor Han Yuan thought it was good.
On this issue, Emperor Yuan of Han is a bit like the later Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Jiajing liked to refine pills and cultivate Dao, and Emperor Yuan of Han liked to play Qinqi calligraphy and painting. Because of their hobbies, they don't have so much time to deal with the DPRK, and they don't have much interest in the DPRK. In this way, they must find an agent to help them deal with the affairs of the DPRK.
The agent found by the later Jiajing Emperor was the great traitor Yan Song. Emperor Jiajing's logic was that Yan Song was greedy and easy to control. Although he is greedy, he can work without threatening his status, so he can use it.
And the agent found by Emperor Yuan of Han was Shi Xian. His logic was that Shi Xian, as a eunuch, even if he was in power, could not threaten his throne. The most important thing is to have such a stand-in to help you work and rest yourself. And if something goes wrong in the future, you can let him go to the back pot.
From the death of Xiao Wangzhi to the death of Emperor Yuan of Han, Shi Xian has always been powerful for fourteen years! Many government affairs of the Han Dynasty were directly handled by him. At the same time, Shi Xian has a high position of authority, and the means of corruption are also varied. According to historical records, after the fall of Shi Xian, everyone counted that the total amount of his embezzlement exceeded 100 million money!
What is the concept of 100 million money in the Han Dynasty? You know, during the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, the peak income of the national treasury of the Han Dynasty was about four billion dollars. By the time of Emperor Yuan of Han, this income had to decline a lot, probably between two billion and three billion. In other words, the money embezzled by Shi Xian alone was roughly equivalent to twenty-one, or one-thirtieth of the annual income of the Han Dynasty's treasury!
Of course, Shi Xian's record is still a little worse than those famous corrupt officials in the later Ming and Qing dynasties. However, this can not be regarded as his own incorruptibility, it can only be said that the social environment at that time was different, Shi Xian wanted to be corrupt, and there were not so many means.
At the same time of corruption, after Shi Xian took power, the bad impact on the country was also very terrifying.
First, because the eunuch clique began to take power, the original balance of power was completely broken. Throughout the official system of the Han Dynasty, corruption became more and more serious. This trend of corruption directly led to the rapid decay of the state apparatus of the Western Han Dynasty, which in turn led to the weakening of the country's rule.
Second, because Shi Xian's ability to govern was limited, the Western Han Dynasty made a series of mistakes in several key land policies. Therefore, from the time of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, the issue of land annexation in the Western Han Dynasty was quickly released. Just over a decade later, the wind of land annexation in the Western Han Dynasty had reached the point where it was gradually irrepressible.
This laid the biggest root cause for the later demise of the Western Han Dynasty.
And such a powerful eunuch naturally failed to get a good end in the end. More than a decade later, with the death of Emperor Yuan of Han, his son Emperor Chengdi of Han took over. After that, Shi Xian was rapidly marginalized.
Although Shi Xian had been firmly supporting Emperor Yuan of Han as crown prince in the previous years. However, after Emperor Yuan of Han ascended the throne, he was still marginalized, and then he was removed from his official position and driven back to his hometown. On the way home, Shi Xian was worried all the way, couldn't eat at all, and finally died directly on the road.
After Shi Xian's death, the originally powerful party of eunuchs also rapidly declined. In its place is the newly rising foreign party. Or to be more precise, the foreign Qi Wang family!
With the rise of the Wang family, soon after, Wang Mang officially entered the historical stage. The demise of the Western Han Dynasty gradually entered the countdown.