If you mention the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, the first thing that comes to mind is Wang Zhen. After all, although Wang Zhen was not the most powerful eunuch in the Ming Dynasty, he was the first eunuch, and with his "own strength", he wiped out the 500,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty (actually 200,000), and also made the sixth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, be captured by the Wara people, making Zhu Qizhen the only emperor among the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty to become a prisoner.
01 The first eunuch of the Ming Dynasty - Wang Zhen
What's going on here?
Wang Zhen is a landed talent, who knows a little about scripture and history, and later passed the examination. Perhaps because Wang Zhen felt that the imperial examination was too difficult, Wang Zhen castrated himself into the palace and became a eunuch. Because he had read books and was good at understanding people's opinions, he was soon loved and reused by Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji. Xuanzong asked Wang Zhen to go to the East Palace and serve by the side of the crown prince Zhu Qizhen.
Zhu Qizhen relied heavily on Wang Zhen, and in 1435, Zhu Qizhen, who was only 9 years old, succeeded to the throne.
Wang Zhen, as Zhu Qizhen's most trusted eunuch, was promoted to the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch of the palm seal, and his status in the palace was already very high.
Wang Zhen was quite ambitious and wanted to intervene in the government.
However, because there was Empress Dowager Zhang (Empress Cheng Xiaozhao, Renzong Zhu Gaochi's wife Zhang), and the cabinet "Three Yangs" (Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu, Yang Rong) were doing their best to assist the young Yingzong, so Wang Zhen had no way to start even if he wanted to interfere in politics, not to mention that Wang Zhen was very jealous of Empress Dowager Zhang.
However, in 1442, Empress Dowager Zhang died of illness;
And Sanyang is also old and has passed away one after another.
At this time, Wang Zhen won Zhu Qizhen's favor and respect, just like a wild horse that has escaped the reins, no one can restrain him. Soon Wang Zhen became a powerful eunuch who was very feared by the court, inside and outside the palace, and was in power for 8 years. Yingzong respectfully called Wang Zhen "sir", and the ministers of the court and the central government honored Wang Zhen as "Weng Father", and the truth was against Wang Zhen.
In 1449, the Warat people led their troops south to invade the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court could have sent brave and warlike generals to conquer them, but Wang Zhen's idol was Zhu Qizhen's great-grandfather Zhu Di, who reigned for 22 years and drove five times. Wang Zhen tried his best to persuade Zhu Qizhen to be able to recruit in person like Song Zhenzong, so that he could leave his name in history. Of course, Zhu Qizhen also hopes to be like his great-grandfather Zhu Di, and personally lead his troops into Mobei to establish great military achievements.
What's more, Zhu Qizhen originally listened to the words of "Mr. Wang Zhen" very much, and this time was no exception.
As the saying goes: Soldiers and horses go first before they move grain and grass! However, Zhu Qizhen was not ready for the expedition in just two days from the time he decided to drive the expedition in person to the time he led the troops to set off. In this way, Zhu Qizhen led an army of 200,000 (known as 500,000) from the capital, but the whole army was wiped out at Tumubao, and Zhu Qizhen was captured alive.
Most of the people who followed Zhu Qizhen on the expedition this time were brave and warlike generals in the court, important ministers of the imperial court and elite troops in the capital, but it was a pity that they all died in Tumubao because of Wang Zhen.
Fortunately, Wang Zhen also died on the battlefield of Tumubao.
Zhu Qiyu, who was in charge of supervising the country, ordered Wang Zhen's entire family to be beheaded and confiscated his family property.
Since then, the first eunuch of the Ming Dynasty has finally disappeared.
It was precisely because Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was so fond of the eunuch Wang Zhen that he gradually became the eunuch of the imperial court, and it was precisely because Zhu Qizhen listened to Wang Zhen's words that he was captured as a result of the imperial expedition, which led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty.
Since Wang Zhen, there have been several powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, even greater than Wang Zhen's power:
Cao Jixiang, a powerful eunuch from Wang Zhenmen, was meritorious because of his participation in the "Nangong Restoration", and all his sons and nephews were added to the knighthood. Many ministers in the court are because of their dependence on Cao Jixiang and rise to prominence, Cao Jixiang is very powerful in the court, and he is called "Cao Shi" with the loyal prince Shi Heng.
Xianzong Zhu Jianshen and Wan Guifei were very fond of the eunuch Wang Zhi, who was powerful and powerful; every time they went to a prefecture or county, the local officials knelt down to greet them
During the reign of Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, Liu Jin, the eunuch, was known as the "Emperor Li", while Wuzong Zhu Houzhao was called the "Emperor Sitting"; in this way, it can be seen that Liu Jin's position in the court, it was Liu Jin who really held the power, not Wuzong.
Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch of Ming Xizong Zhu Youxiao, was known as "nine thousand nine hundred years old", and people in Xizong's dynasty "only knew that there was Wei Zhongxian, but did not know that there was an emperor", and he was only one step away from the emperor of "long live".
Therefore, many people believe that Yingzong Zhu Qizhen is the culprit of the Ming Dynasty's power and eunuchs.
But in fact, did it really start with Yingzong Zhu Qizhen?
非也非也!
Although Yingzong favored the eunuch Wang Zhen, which led to Wang Zhen's dictatorship, in fact, it was Yingzong's father Xuanzong Zhu Qizhen and Yingzong's great-grandfather Zhu Di who really allowed the eunuchs to intervene in politics step by step and even have the opportunity to have dictatorship.
02 The eunuch system during the period of Emperor Taizu
In fact, the Ming Dynasty was not the first dynasty in which eunuchs were rampant, and such a phenomenon already existed during the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty:
During the Han Dynasty, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor was generally relatively young when he succeeded to the throne, so he could only rely on his relatives in court politics, and relied on eunuchs in daily life. However, as the emperor got older and older, the contradictions between him and the powerful relatives became bigger and bigger, so one of the biggest characteristics of the eunuchs in the Han Dynasty was to help the emperor and take back the power in the hands of his relatives.
In the Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs had relatively large rights, they had military power in their hands, and if they were loyal to the emperor, they were the emperor's weapon to deal with the military generals of the feudal towns.
As the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, how could Zhu Yuanzhang not know the stakes of the eunuch system?
I saw the historical biography, the last Han and Tang dynasties were all eunuchs defeated, and they could not be saved, so I did not regret it.
However, the reason why the eunuch system can exist for so many years in history must also have its value, so in 1367, Zhu Yuanzhang set up an internal supervisor and officially began to use eunuchs. And in the second year of Hongwu, the internal service system was formulated.
The internal service system formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang can "prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics" to a large extent:
All eunuchs are not allowed to concurrently hold civil and military titles, let alone wear clothes that can only be worn by foreign ministers, and the highest rank of eunuchs is the fourth rank. The monthly salary is one stone, and all the food, clothing, housing and transportation are all in the inner court.
In other words, the internal servant system in Zhu Yuanzhang's land limits all the powers of the eunuchs to the affairs of the inner court.
"It's just for sprinkling and sweeping, and giving orders. ”
Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang also set up a special post of internal chief in the sixth year of Hongwu, which was specially responsible for supervising the words and deeds of eunuchs and whether there were any illegal acts.
In the tenth year of Hongwu, there was a eunuch who had served in the palace for many years, relying on his seniority, and discussed the government in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry, and directly drove the eunuch out of the palace, and ordered that this person should not return to the palace. As a eunuch, what else can you do if you leave the palace?
Not only that, Zhu Yuanzhang also decreed: All eunuchs in the palace are not allowed to read and write.
I have to admit that Zhu Yuanzhang's move can indeed prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics to a large extent.
In the seventeenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang directly set up a plaque at the palace gate, which read:
"Ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and offenders will be beheaded"
Zhu Yuanzhang did this because he didn't want these eunuchs who were serving in the palace to collude with the ministers in the court and exchange news with each other. It can be seen that although Zhu Yuanzhang uses eunuchs, he knows very well the power of eunuchs, so he will never allow the internal officials and eunuchs (the twenty-four yamen of the Ming Dynasty) to collude with the courtiers, let alone allow the eunuchs to participate in court politics.
However, the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang himself had to be broken in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu:
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Nie Qingtong, the inner servant of the ceremonial eunuch, to go to Hezhou to take charge of tea and horse affairs.
This was the first time that eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty participated in politics, and then Zhu Yuanzhang used eunuchs many times to handle affairs:
In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent eunuchs to Shaanxi to issue an edict and ordered Shaanxi to command and train soldiers;
In the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered eunuchs to go to Guilin and other places to buy cattle
......
Since Zhu Yuanzhang knows that eunuchs are very good at interfering in politics, why should he do this?
In fact, this is also related to the historical background of the late Hongwu Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang had to do it as a last resort:
Since Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, in order to strengthen the imperial power, the Hu Weiyong case was launched to abolish the prime minister system that had existed in history for more than 1,000 years, and the six ministries were directly under the control of the emperor, achieving the concentration of power. However, without the prime minister to help the emperor deal with the government, Zhu Yuanzhang could only find someone else to assist him. Zhu Yuanzhang did find many ministers in the court to assist him, but Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature and could not fully trust the courtiers.
So unconsciously, he began to use eunuchs.
Eunuchs are different from courtiers: they are completely in the inner court, and their every move is under Zhu Yuanzhang's control; and most of the eunuchs are children of poor families who enter the palace, and they do not have any background, so they naturally will not have the intention of rebelling and usurping the throne, and they are easy to control.
Although in the last years of the Hongwu Dynasty, eunuchs participated in more and more affairs, but it is worth mentioning that under the rule of Zhu Yuanzhang, even if the eunuchs were "entrusted with important tasks", they did not dare to be pampered and prestigious, and they could do their best to handle affairs.
03 Zhu Di allowed eunuchs to interfere in politics
However, by the time of the Yongle Dynasty, the status of the eunuchs was very different, which actually had a lot to do with the Battle of Jingjing.
In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, after the crown prince Zhu Biao died of illness, Zhu Yuanzhang followed the advice of the courtier Liu Sanwu: Zhu Biao's son was established as the emperor's grandson and inherited the throne in the future. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang's other sons had no possibility of inheriting the throne.
However, when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, he had already named all his sons as vassal kings, especially the "Nine Great Vassal Kings" with heavy troops, which could not only help his nephew Emperor Jianwen protect the Ming Dynasty, but also be a thorn in the side of Emperor Jianwen that he was very afraid of. If the vassal king rebelled, Emperor Jianwen's throne would probably be lost. Therefore, as soon as Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, he began to cut down the feudal domain, and soon in less than a year, he cut off five feudal kings. It is likely that the next one is Zhu Di, the king of Yan, who preemptively launched the Battle of Jingjing, and replaced his nephew on the throne through the four-year Battle of Jingnan.
Zhu Di sat on the throne through rebellion, and naturally he would be despised by the civil officials who had always adhered to the way of Confucius and Mencius, and obeyed etiquette and etiquette.
However, if Zhu Di wanted to govern the Ming Dynasty well, he had to rely on the civil official group, but the relationship between Zhu Di and the civil official group was still somewhat tense throughout the Yongle Dynasty. But the eunuchs of the inner court were different:
In the Battle of Jingjing, although the emperor in Nanjing was Emperor Jianwen, many eunuchs in the palace were inclined to Zhu Di, so they secretly passed on a lot of news about the imperial court for Zhu Di; Zhu Di's success in Jingjing naturally had a lot to do with these eunuchs.
In addition, in the Battle of Jingyan, many of the eunuchs of the original Yan Wangfu followed Zhu Di to the battlefield to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, although Zhu Di could not make them marquis and let them enter the court to participate in the court politics, but many important things could be handed over to these meritorious eunuchs to do.
Among them, the one who is famous in history and we are most familiar with is Zheng He, the "Three Treasures Eunuch".
During the Hongwu Dynasty, the generals Fu Youde and Lan Yu in the seventeenth year of Hongwu were ordered to conquer Yunnan, and Zheng He was captured in this battle and went to Nanjing with the army. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Fu Youde was ordered to go north to Beiping, and Zheng He went north with the army again. Those who know the history of the Ming Dynasty should know that Zhu Di was named the king of Yan, and the fief was Beiping, so after Zheng He came to Beiping, he entered the palace of King Yan as a waiter.
Zheng He likes to read, can be called well-read, because of his cleverness, so he was soon favored by Zhu Di and became a close attendant, serving by Zhu Di's side in the morning and evening.
In 1399, Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingjing, at this time Zheng He was about 30 years old, and he charged into battle with King Yan and made many military exploits. In 1402, Zhu Di led his troops into Nanjing and officially ascended the throne as emperor.
Zhu Di originally liked Zheng He very much, coupled with Zheng He's outstanding performance in the Battle of Jingjing, he promoted Zheng He to the eunuch of the internal official, and not long after, he was promoted to the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch of the seal. Those who understand the eunuch system of the Ming Dynasty should know that the eunuch who holds the seal of the master of ceremonies is the head of all the eunuchs, so it can be seen that Zhu Di attaches great importance to Zheng He.
And in 1404, Zhu Di officially gave him the surname "Zheng", and Sanbao changed his name to Zheng He.
Zhu Di was a majestic monarch, in the Yongle Dynasty, he set his sights on the vast sea frontier, and wanted to establish friendly relations with overseas countries; and Zhu Di heard that Emperor Jianwen had fled to Nanyang, Zhu Di was worried that Emperor Jianwen would resurrect, so he decided to send people to the West.
And Zheng He was the most suitable candidate, and was appointed by Zhu Di as the chief eunuch of the Qincha to organize the fleet to go to the Western Ocean.
In the Yongle Dynasty, Zheng He went to the West five times.
Of course, there is another reason why Zhu Di reuses eunuchs:
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he naturally had to consider the candidate for the crown prince, Zhu Gaochi was the son of Zhu Di when he was the king of Yan, after all, Zhu Gaochi was the eldest son born to Empress Xu, so he was naturally the most suitable candidate for the crown prince; however, Zhu Di preferred the brave and warlike second son Zhu Gaochu, and Zhu Gaochu saved his father Zhu Di's life many times in the Battle of Jingjing, established a lot of military exploits, and was supported by the military generals of the DPRK and China.
Although Zhu Gaochi was finally made the crown prince, the struggle between Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaochu, and even the third son Zhu Gaosui, for the crown prince lasted for many years. As a result, the vast majority of the forces in the DPRK and China were also involved, including Zhu Di's most trusted Jinyiwei. Ji Gang, the leader of Jinyiwei, as Zhu Di's most trusted person, should be Zhu Di in everything, and should also remain neutral in the matter of establishing the prince, but Ji Gang resolutely supported Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han. This made Zhu Di very uneasy about Jinyiwei, so Zhu Di had to start reusing eunuchs.
In the eighteenth year of Yongle, the East Factory was formally established to supervise Jinyiwei.
However, as Zhu Di became more and more trusting of the eunuchs, he began to let the eunuchs be responsible for handling many affairs, which would inevitably involve the government.
But the ancestral precept left by Taizu is: Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics!
In order to "follow the ancestral teachings", Zhu Di stipulated: eunuchs must not be approved by the emperor, and they are not allowed to transfer a soldier without authorization.
Although Zhu Di stipulated this, it can be regarded as completely allowing eunuchs to interfere in politics.
But in the Yongle Dynasty, no matter how the eunuchs interfered in politics, they were all under Zhu Di's control, and there was no phenomenon of eunuch dictatorship.
The prosperity of the temple began with Xuanzong
Both Emperor Taizu and Emperor Yongle allowed eunuchs to interfere in politics, but eunuchs did not have much power, and the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty officially began to enter the political arena, starting with the Xuanzong dynasty. That is, when Zhu Di's grandson Zhu Zhanji was in power, so there was such a saying:
The prosperity of the temple began with Xuanzong
Those who know the history of the Ming Dynasty should know that Zhu Zhanji's father, Renzong Zhu Gaochi, was able to sit on the throne and had a lot to do with the civil official group. Therefore, after Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, he attached great importance to the civilian-official clique, which led to the rapid increase in the power of the civilian-official clique. However, Zhu Gaochi died of illness after only ten months of reign, and Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne.
Although Zhu Zhanji is the son of Zhu Gaochi, in fact, Zhu Zhanji was raised by his grandmother Empress Xu since he was a child, and he is also the imperial grandson raised by his grandfather Zhu Di. Therefore, in many things, Zhu Zhanji is more inclined to his grandfather Zhu Di, hoping to establish Wenzhi and martial arts like his grandfather.
However, after Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne, he had to be subject to the civilian clique, which made the monarch of a country very dissatisfied.
In order to be able to deal with the civil official group, Zhu Zhanji thought of eunuchs.
When Zhu Zhanji was in power, the power to draft votes was in the hands of the cabinet, and the power to approve red was in the hands of Zhu Zhanji.
The Ming Dynasty's power to approve red and vote was a system of power distribution between the emperor and the cabinet. The right to approve the red means that the emperor can agree or disagree with the opinion of the cabinet after reviewing the proposed recital of the cabinet vote, and use a red pen to give instructions on the recital.
However, the government was busy and there were too many twists and turns, and Zhu Zhanji was really too busy, so he asked the eunuch who was the celebrant to copy down the content of the cabinet vote, and then approved it on his behalf. The eunuch who replaced Zhu Zhanji's approval of the red was the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Bingbi.
However, the eunuch of the celebrant is not the most powerful eunuch, but the eunuch of the celebrant is the eunuch of the palm seal.
After all, although the eunuch can replace the emperor's approval, all the instructions of the chapter need to be stamped before they can be executed. If the eunuch in charge of the seal can concurrently serve as the eunuch of the East Factory, it will be the real power of the government and the opposition. For example, Wei Zhongxian and Feng Bao in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
Of course, if the eunuch wants to replace the emperor's approval, he needs to read and write. Emperor Taizu once decreed: eunuchs are not allowed to read and write. However, after Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, in the first year of Xuande, he made an order: to set up an "inner study hall" to teach eunuchs to read and write.
Prior to this, although eunuchs could interfere in politics, after all, their cultural attainment was relatively low, and they could not recognize a few words, so they naturally could not participate in important discussions on government affairs; although the inner study hall set up by Zhu Zhanji mainly taught the eunuchs how to judge and answer the rules of the outer court and how to approve the red, Zhu Zhanji's move undoubtedly improved the eunuchs' ability to interfere in politics to a certain extent.
Moreover, it was the imperial court officials who taught the eunuchs to read, so that the eunuchs had the opportunity to associate with the courtiers; Emperor Taizu once stipulated that eunuchs were not allowed to make friends with courtiers, but his great-grandson Zhu Zhanji directly violated this rule. In addition, the teachers of the inner study hall gradually changed to be in charge of the Hanlin of the Hanlin Academy.
There was a saying in the Ming and Qing dynasties: non-Jinshi did not enter the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin did not enter the cabinet.
In other words, these Hanlin, who taught eunuchs to read and write, are likely to enter the cabinet in the future and become important ministers of the government and the opposition. In this way, the relationship between the cabinet ministers who leaned towards the government and the opposition and the eunuchs who held the power to approve the red was likely not to be mutually contained, but to cooperate with each other.
In addition, the eunuchs who studied in the inner study hall either entered the clerical room after graduation, or taught in the palace, or served by the prince's side, such as the eunuch Wang Zhen beside Zhu Qizhen.
epilogue
It can be said that Zhu Zhanji's original intention in setting up the Inner Study Hall was to cultivate a group of eunuchs loyal to the emperor and contain the civil official clique, but in fact, the gradual development of the eunuch clique would run counter to Zhu Zhanji's original intention.
Although Zhu Zhanji's move was really helpless, it did completely open the reins that bound the eunuch group.