A eunuch is a castrated male who serves in the court or clan. The phenomenon of eunuchs appeared earlier than the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and it was also widespread in the ancient world. Eunuchs formed a political force capable of controlling the government for a long time, and appeared three times in Chinese history, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty was the first wave of eunuch disasters, and its characteristic was that eunuchs were the tools of the emperor's power struggle.
The interference of foreign relatives in politics was the political norm of the Western Han Dynasty and the political norm of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the Inner Dynasty, the power of the Three Dukes of the Outer Dynasty has been weakened. Relatives and eunuchs often went in and out of the inner court, and became two forces that had the opportunity to interfere in the government.
Emperor Wang Wu Image
With Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty appointed a full-time eunuch as a regular attendant to assist the emperor in handling government affairs, enjoy the benefits, and establish a set of power systems to prevent the power of foreign relatives.
Later, the young monarch Han and Emperor He ascended the throne and could not govern state affairs, so the empress dowager listened to the government. The queen mother often invoked her relatives to hold important positions, and the power fell into the hands of her relatives, resulting in the dictatorship of her relatives. Back to reality, Emperor Han He ascended the throne at the age of 10, failed to govern in person, and the Empress Dowager Dou came to the court, and the Empress Dowager appointed her brother Dou Xian as a servant, and the power fell into the hands of the Dou family. It wasn't until Emperor He grew up and felt that the monarch's power was restricted, and the eunuchs were pushed into the political arena.
When the monarch grew up, he used the eunuchs around him as a tool to regain power, and the eunuchs took power by virtue of their merits, and eunuch disasters appeared. Back to reality, his cousin Dou controlled the government, and it was difficult for Emperor He to find support in the court, so he used the eunuch Zheng Zhong to launch a coup d'état and kill Dou Xian. Emperor He not only rewarded meritorious deeds and granted land, but also often discussed politics with Zheng Zhong, forming a situation of eunuch dictatorship.
After the death of Emperor He, there was a reenactment of the story of Emperor An. Emperor An ascended the throne at the age of 13, and was ruled by Empress Dowager Deng, and Deng Qiu was in power. When Emperor An grew up, he relied on the eunuch Li Yan and others to regain power, and then the eunuchs took power. In short, the monarch of the Eastern Han Dynasty was short-lived, when another young monarch succeeded to the throne, the queen mother came to the dynasty, and the relevant relatives followed, and the monarch grew up and relied on eunuchs to seize power, forming a political situation in which relatives and eunuchs alternately took power, and the cycle continued, and the Eastern Han Dynasty also went into decline.
The disaster of eunuchs, more precisely, the rivalry between eunuchs was the remote cause of the decline and fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The so-called far, the focus is not on time, but on providing the necessary conditions, but this cause does not necessarily lead to that effect. The eunuch is just an infighting in the court, and political wrestling has existed in all dynasties, which will not necessarily lead to the demise of the country. However, a few factors of the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty can be traced back to the rivalry between Qi and eunuchs, although it is far away, it is closely related to the proximate cause.
The long-term power struggle between eunuchs and relatives turned against each other, causing political turmoil. In order to consolidate power, both sides employ cronyism, exclude dissidents, and use selfish interests to gather power. In this environment, the quality of officials naturally declined, and they either sold their official positions, corrupted the law, or neglected their positions, neglected government affairs, and eventually led to the corruption of official governance and the decline of national strength.
In the face of a corrupt political environment, some upright ministers and young students attached great importance to the integrity advocated by Confucianism, had the courage to criticize the gains and losses of the government and government, and evaluated the figures in power. This style of clean discussion made the eunuchs dissatisfied, and even violently retaliated, causing two disasters of party rebellion during the period of Emperor Huan Ling. Those who participated in the purging were either arrested and imprisoned, or banned from serving as officials. Since then, the eunuchs have become more arrogant, the court has withered, and politics has become darker.
Relatives and eunuchs worked hard to establish cronies and lead the government, and their henchmen spread all over the world. These local officials are often tyrannical and cruel to the people, and only know how to loot people's money, but fail to channel people's grievances under natural disasters. During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out with the Taiping Road as the call, and the chaos spread throughout the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, completely destroying the foundation of the Eastern Han regime. In addition, the imperial court mishandled it, and originally intended to use the state pastor to quell the chaos, but it brought the state pastor to divide the territory.
The fatal knife of the Eastern Han Dynasty is also related to eunuchs. Emperor Shao of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, and his relative He Jin hoped to prevent the eunuchs from having a chance to fight back, so he summoned the courtier Yuan Shao into Beijing and killed the eunuchs. General Dong Zhuo responded to enter Beijing and set up another emperor, but the governors refused to cooperate, and the Eastern Han Dynasty existed in name only.