Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty was one of the feudal emperors of the Ming Dynasty.
As a well-known monarch in the world, Zhu Zhanji also has some shortcomings, such as the treatment of eunuchs - improving the rights of eunuchs, improving the status of eunuchs, and opening the "eunuch rebellion".
Zhu Zhanji supported the eunuch forces
In Chinese history, the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty were regarded as the three dynasties with the "most severe disaster for eunuchs". In fact, during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the control of eunuchs was very strict. And in the palace, there is an iron plate of "ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and those who are predetermined will be beheaded", and it is expressly forbidden for eunuchs to interfere in politics.
In the battle of Jingjing, Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, relied on eunuchs to "spy on the affairs of the palace, and mostly took Emperor Jianwen as his eyes and ears". These eunuchs were born and died on the battlefield, made great contributions, and became more and more reused, and their status was significantly improved.
In order to strengthen the training of eunuchs, a special eunuch education institution was formally set up in the palace——— Neishutang, which allowed eunuchs to read and write, dance and write, and then became customized.
This is obviously contrary to Taizu's stipulation that "ministers are not allowed to read and write" - the establishment of the inner study hall has not only cultivated a large number of knowledge-based eunuchs, but also the upper eunuchs are the only way to the peak of power.
During the Xuande period, some eunuchs were favored, such as Jin Ying and Fan Hong, the eunuchs of the ceremonial eunuchs, who were given the edict to avoid death in the seventh year of Xuande.
Later, he gave Jin Ying and the imperial eunuch Wang Jin's imprint, which was engraved with the words "Loyal to the Liver and Righteous Courage", "Golden Sable Distinguished Guest", "Loyal and Self-motivated", and "Shuangqing Heart". Enjoying the seal and the right to avoid death, such an excessive privilege is beyond the reach of even the Auxiliary Minister.
Therefore, the commentator said: "If Wang Jin and Jin Ying are given the seals, they will be the same as the ministers of secrets." Giving Jin Ying, Fan Hong and others an edict to avoid death, it is no different from the iron coupon of the lord. "The iron coupon is a kind of certificate with the nature of rewards and covenants given by the emperor to meritorious and important ministers, and they enjoy the special privilege of avoiding crime and death.
Ming Taizu stipulated that those who did not have great merit were not allowed to receive iron coupons, and the so-called "all lords who are not merit in the community and military merits shall not be sealed" and "dukes, marquis, and uncles shall be worshipped, and iron coupons shall be given".
Jin Ying, Fan Hong and others were exempted from death only because of "pro-trust affairs", "occupying the right elegance", "involving history, and being good at writing", even the later Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, and Wei Zhongxian never had such a special encounter. It can be seen that the political status of eunuchs has been substantially improved during the Xuande period.
The prosperity of the temple began with Xuanzong
In addition to vigorously supporting the power of eunuchs, Xuanzong also reused eunuchs to participate in political affairs. As for the issue of eunuchs interfering in political affairs, although Zhu Yuanzhang had strict control over eunuchs and prescribed many systems, it was he who took the lead in destroying the system he had set when eunuchs began to interfere in court politics during the Hongwu period.
Just like Long Wenbinyun: "(Ming Taizu) is self-forbidden and self-disordered." After the Yongle Emperor, it was gradually reused, "the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty sent envoys, special levies, supervised the army, divided the towns, and assassinated the subjects and hidden affairs, all of which began from Yongle."
However, the Xuande Dynasty was even more than that, whether from the central to the local, or from the military to the civil affairs, the eunuchs have fully intervened in almost all fields of politics, military, diplomacy and other affairs.
(1) Acting as an agent for the right to "approve red". Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister, returned to the six ministries, and set up a palace scholar to act as an adviser to the emperor. When Ming Chengzu selected Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and other Zhiwen Yuan Pavilion, they began to participate in the maintenance of the machine, but at this time the cabinet was still just a private secretary.
But all this changed dramatically in the Xuande period, and Zhu Zhanji promulgated the decree of the joint assistant government of the ceremonial supervisor. The Cabinet was required to deliberate on the proposals submitted by officials and propose appropriate dispositions for the Imperial Approval ("Vote Draft"), which would then be approved by the Emperor ("Approval Red").
In order to reduce the burden of handling government affairs, he delegated his power to the eunuchs of the celebrant and the eunuch, which meant that when the emperor was not there, they were equivalent to the emperor and exercised the right to "approve red" on their behalf. Therefore, once the internal officials have to be "eunuchs with a pen", just like courtiers entering the cabinet, it can be said that they have ascended to the sky in one step, and their power can be imagined.
(2) Zhongguan out of town. During the Hongwu Yongle period, at this point in time, the number of eunuchs guarding the border towns and other military departments was very small, but this situation changed dramatically in the Xuande period, and almost every province and border town had a town guard eunuch.
Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne in June of the first year of Hongxi, and then only one month after ascending the throne, he sent Zhongguan Yunxian to Yunnan to guard, and in August of the first year of Xuande, he ordered the internal official Tan Shun and the internal envoy Chen Jin to go to Huai'an to help Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan to guard the "Ming Tongjian" record: "Xuande ten years of the first month of Gengyin, the thirteen political envoys to guard the middle officials, but Nanjing garrison, Zhubian town guard, and Xuzhou, Linqing to collect grain, Huai, Zhejiang salt patrol as before."
It was not until after the collapse of Xuanzong that the town guards set up in the provinces were dismissed, and the town guards on the sides still existed. Professor Fang Zhiyuan believes that during the Yongle period, the officials were sent by the emperor to leave the town, which was basically arbitrary, and after Xuande, the appointment procedures were gradually proceduralized, and increasingly became an important part of the local political system in the Ming Dynasty.
The functions and powers of the lieutenant guards are very extensive, such as supervising civil affairs, spying on the people's feelings, accompanying the army on expeditions, supervising the army, supervising and impeaching local officials, etc., all fall within his scope of authority.
(3) Participation in military and political affairs. As mentioned above, Zhu Zhanji's town guards and lieutenant officers in various provinces and border towns played an important role in military and political affairs. Its duties included pacifying the army and civilians, and dispatching officers and troops to suppress popular resistance. In addition, Zhu Zhanji ordered the generals to be in charge of many military operations such as staying in Beijing and mobilizing troops.
For example, in the third year of Xuande, Zhan Ji personally conquered Wuliangha, and the class master triumphed, "then ordered the governor to serve as the eunuch Yang Qing and others to lead 20,000 officers and soldiers, and left the generals to return." In another five years of Xuande, "the eunuchs Yang Ying, Lin Jingfang, Li He and others guarded the inside and outside of the imperial city, and all the officials and envoys in the yamen such as the various supervision bureaus of the inner government were under control, and they should discuss with Li Xian, the Marquis of Fengcheng, and others."
Zhu Zhanji also handed over the artillery troops to the control of the eunuchs, and "ordered the eunuch Yang Qing and others to lead the Shenji battalion to Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other places, and prepare for the palace with the governor Chen Jingxian." With this force, these eunuchs were able to compete with the generals of various places.
Sure enough, in the ninth year of Xuande, the deputy commander-in-chief of the army supervised Fang Zheng: "The internal official Xiao Yu is a cronie villain, good at being a prestige, a private soldier, and all border affairs are arbitrarily interfered with the government, and if he wants to use the magic weapon to disagree, he will be criticized, or the army will be transferred out of the country without permission." "These eunuchs pride themselves on their high power, override the commander-in-chief, interfere in military and political affairs, and do whatever they want
(4) Procurement of tribute. During the Xuande period, an important mission of the eunuchs was to procure local tributes for the royal family, which was called "filial piety". Lu Rong's "Shuyuan Miscellaneous Records" cloud: "The officials in each town guard compete for the soil where they are located, which is called 'filial piety'."
There are many names and quantities of filial piety, including supervising the production of porcelain, purchasing playthings, and purchasing supplies. During the Yongle and Xuande periods, the eunuchs grew in power and began to serve as the pottery supervisor, specializing in the pottery administration of the Jingdezhen Imperial Ware Factory.
Zhu Zhanji often sent eunuchs to various places to procure, for example, in Suzhou, there were often five or six eunuchs sitting in the town, among which the eunuch Luo was especially long, "or weaving, or picking and weaving, or buying birds, flowers and trees, all relied on to strip the people, praying for no wormwood." Not only in Suzhou, but also in other places, "(in the first year of Xuande), the internal officials sent envoys to buy things in Zhejiang City."
Although the status of the eunuchs is not high, they rely on the royal family to act as a prestige and harm the locality. For example, Yuan Qi and Ruan Ju's team, "when they first went to Guangdong and other places on business, they plundered military and civilian property in the name of procurement." Incidentally, Xuanzong ordered Ling Chiqi to kill the giant team and other ten people." Although Zhu Zhanji punished some lawbreakers, he still favored and reused eunuchs as always.
(5) Missions to foreign countries. The eunuchs' envoys were mainly for "rewards and rewards" and to ask for tribute, but most of these eunuchs were insatiable and unscrupulous. For example, when Changsheng went to North Korea, "people say that they have many desires, but their private cabinets are not more than thirty or forty." The ark of prosperity is multiplied by the hundredth, so that there is no such person as the greedy minister."
Their arrogance was denounced by the king of Joseon as a bunch of unqualified beasts. Xuanzong's favor for the eunuchs has affected his friends. Zhu Zhanji favored and appointed eunuchs, but these eunuchs were greedy and harmful to the people, harassed the localities, and acted recklessly, which aroused the worries of some officials.
For this reason, Huang Ze was sparse, he took the Han and Tang Dynasty as a reference, and pointed out that pampering the eunuchs had all kinds of harm and no benefit, but it was a pity that Xuanzong ignored it and "sighed". The eunuchs became even more unscrupulous, and even bullied hundreds of officials, and some bureaucrats could not bear it anymore, so that the phenomenon of officials beating eunuchs appeared.
In the seventh year of Xuande, Xuanzong sent the eunuch Liu Ning to the counties to investigate the corruption and bribery of eunuchs.
It can be seen that due to the heavy use of eunuchs in the Xuanzong Dynasty, the eunuchs were more arrogant than the previous generation, and they had become a "public nuisance" in the world. The Qing people said: "The prosperity of the eunuch temple has been since the beginning of Xuanzong" is credible, and it is by no means imaginary.
Zhu Zhanji inadvertently started the "eunuch disaster"
In the Xuande Dynasty, there was indeed a phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in politics and disturbing the people, and it was also more prominent in the Ming Dynasty. However, because Ming Xuanzong was still a diligent emperor, although the eunuchs were favored, they did not dare to be too presumptuous, so they did not form an autocratic situation. However, due to Zhu Zhanji's support and connivance, he inadvertently laid a hidden danger for the eunuch dictatorship.
In the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449), Wara invaded, and Yingzong listened to Wang Zhen's words and personally conquered, which led to the "civil change". Zhu Zhanji had nothing to do with this fiasco, and Wang Zhen was trusted at the beginning of Xuande.
According to the record of "Ming Xuanzong": "(July of the first year) Liu Guan of the imperial history of Zuodu was imprisoned, seventy people were executed, and the eunuch Wang Zhenzhi was ordered. It can be proved that Wang Zhen is a favored eunuch, and his expertise in orthodoxy is not accidental.
Therefore, some scholars believe that "Wang Zhen's power and Yingzong's incompetence led to the fiasco of the 'Civil Engineering Change'...... which was the general outbreak of political hidden dangers in the Xuande period, which was not only a tragedy of the feudal system, but also a personal tragedy of Zhanji." It shows that Wang Zhen's autocratic power was the result of the reuse of eunuchs during the Xuanzong period.
Coincidentally, other eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, such as Wei Zhongxian, served as the supervisor of the celebrant supervisor. During the reign of Wu Zong, Liu Jin controlled the government by stealing the power of the red batch, "the power is good in the world, and the power is willing", and Ma Yongcheng, Gu Dayong, Wei Bin, Zhang Yong, Qiu Ju, Gao Feng, Luo Xiang, etc., are known as the "Eight Tigers", and he is also known as "Emperor Liu" and "Emperor Li".
What's more, the eunuch Feng Bao, after Mu Zong's death, was so bold that he changed the emperor's edict privately, and in this way he became a minister who took care of his life, and Wanli Chu was in charge of the ceremony, and his power was for a while.
During the time of Xizong, Wei Zhongxian was the eunuch of the Si Li Bingpen, because Emperor Xizong "was good at the matter of axe sawing and lacquer, and he was tireless for many years", so "every time the rope was sharpened and the ink was sharpened, the loyal and virtuous generations played things". Wei Zhongxian gradually became proficient in government affairs, leaning towards the government and the opposition, placing dead parties all over the party, and eunuchs all over the government and the opposition, known as "nine thousand years old", pushing the eunuch dictatorship in Chinese history to the peak.
Zhu Zhanji wanted to use eunuchs to restrain the cabinet, so that he could control it in the middle. He never expected that the emperor's right to "approve red" would fall into the hands of eunuchs, and eventually caused a disaster for eunuchs. Meng Sen sighed with emotion: "The calamities of the past dynasties, aren't they all created by Xuanzong!"