Preface
Friends who know something about the history of the Ming Dynasty must be familiar with the title of celebrant supervisor.
It can be said that since the birth of the institution composed of eunuchs, it has formed a wonderful dual institution with the cabinet represented by Wenchen, and in the process of mutual struggle and game cooperation, it has maintained the operation of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years!
So then again, under the circumstance that Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, strictly ordered the eunuchs to interfere in politics, how did these eunuchs become an indispensable part of the center of the Ming Dynasty? And how can the celebrant keep pace with the cabinet for more than 200 years?
1. Don't be fooled
Speaking of popular science books about the history of the Ming Dynasty, "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" written by Mingyue back then is definitely a very good work!
It is precisely because of this novel that many people think that the rise of the celebrant was during the Ming Xuanzong period.
But in fact, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty had a high political status from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China!
Of course, some people will take the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang had strictly ordered eunuchs to interfere in politics before his death, and he also set up an iron monument as a rebuttal.
In this regard, I can only say brother, why are you so naïve? Do you believe what the emperor says?
In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang also said that he would abolish Jinyiwei, but how many emperors of the Ming Dynasty could leave Jinyiwei?
Just like Confucius said, to evaluate a person's quality or badness, don't just look at what he says, you have to look at what he does!
Although Zhu Yuanzhang did say that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in politics, considering Zhu Yuanzhang's extremely unfriendly attitude towards officials during his reign, he would destroy the nine clans at every turn!
Therefore, it is impossible to expect Zhu Yuanzhang and the ministers to work together and share the light and dust.
Therefore, in order to govern the country, Zhu Yuanzhang must find a new helper for himself.
This helper has two parts, the first part is the sons of Zhu Yuanzhang who were divided into places, and the second part is the eunuchs in the inner court!
Don't say that eunuchs mislead the country, for the emperor, compared to those who are sanctimonious and spray themselves with all kinds of sage remarks at every turn, but in fact, they don't know the so-called civil servants.
I have been with the emperor day and night since I was a child, I take care of the emperor meticulously, I put the emperor first in everything, and the eunuchs who can let the emperor kill are really much more intimate than civil officials.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang, who is 100 distrustful of civil officials, chooses eunuchs to help him deal with government affairs.
In the 17th year of Hongwu, the Daming Division was officially listed.
Although its main responsibilities are not as strong as later, they can be regarded as an important department, in addition to being responsible for the daily affairs of the imperial city, it is also responsible for diplomatic and criminal investigation work, and has a direct counterpart with Jinyiwei.
Moreover, many of Zhu Yuanzhang's replies to the ministers were also written by these eunuchs after Zhu Yuanzhang dictated.
There's no way, although Zhu Yuanzhang is an iron man, it's really unreliable for you to expect him to handle the national twists and turns alone.
It can be said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, the eunuch had become the emperor's right-hand man, and the more representative of them was Hou Xian of the Five Envoys.
Of course, the historical event that really uncovered the glorious moment of the eunuch was the Battle of Jingjing!
In 1399, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, looked at Emperor Jianwen, who sharpened his knife and cut his uncle, gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and pulled up the banner of Jingnan!
In this extremely arduous war, the eunuchs gave Zhu Di a lot of help and made countless feats! And a large number of outstanding talents have emerged!
For example, Zheng He, the first navigator in ancient China, and Yisha, a diplomat who crossed the Jurchen tribes, presided over the construction of the city of Beijing.
However, it should be noted that at this time, although the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were very active, they did not really affect the central decision-making.
So how did these eunuchs later become an indispensable part of the center of the Ming Dynasty?
Second, the emperor's helper
As the emperor's closest servant and a typical representative of imperial power, eunuchs are often inseparable from the rise and fall of imperial power.
The same is true of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty.
Although it was true that the inner study was opened during the Ming Xuanzong period and the eunuchs in the inner court were systematically educated, the event that really brought the eunuch group represented by the celebrant into the central decision-making level was actually the succession of Ming Yingzong.
This emperor, who was not very good-brained, was only nine years old when he ascended the throne, and he had no ability to handle the government independently.
Therefore, in order to prevent those cabinet ministers from bullying the young and unattachable importance to the Son of Heaven, the Empress Dowager Zhang handed over the right to approve the red to the celebrant supervisor.
So far, the center of the Ming Dynasty has formed a three-legged situation, with the cabinet that has the power to put forward plans, the celebrant who has the power to approve the plan, and the emperor who has the highest decision-making power.
It was also from this time that the eunuchs of the celebrant could not only participate in the central decision-making, but also often had an extremely close personal relationship with the emperor.
This makes many times, if the cabinet members want to do something, they have to look at the faces of these celebrants and eunuchs!
For example, the dead eunuch Wang Zhen, who single-handedly led to the defeat of Tumubao!
Although everyone knew that this eunuch was a disaster for the country and the people, Ming Yingzong respected him very much.
Even if hundreds of thousands of troops were lost because of this eunuch, and he let himself go to the grassland to drink goat's milk for a few years, it still did not affect the relationship between the two.
Even after the restoration of Ming Yingzong, he also posthumously presented this sinner!
Therefore, as the emperor's exclusive pro-army, the Jinyi Guard gradually moved closer to the eunuchs, and eventually evolved into the subordinate institutions of the celebrant eunuchs.
Here to add a knowledge, in fact, the notorious East Factory is just a shell company, in addition to the leader is a eunuch, most of the people working under it are also members of Jinyiwei!
And, with the efforts of these emperors, the eunuch institutions of the Ming Dynasty were surprisingly perfect, there were only twelve eunuchs in the early Ming Dynasty, and by the time of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, the twenty-four eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were already quite perfect.
These departments composed of eunuchs involved almost all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, such as the imperial horse supervisor who was in charge of the dispatch of military talismans, the military war bureau of weapon manufacturing, and the capital eunuchs who guarded the eunuchs in various places.
To put it bluntly, the perfection of the functions of the inner court department composed of these eunuchs is no less than that of the six departments and nine secretaries of the Ming Dynasty!
It is precisely by relying on this complete private team that even if the emperors of the Ming Dynasty often do not go to court, there has never been a phenomenon of power falling.
Then again, is the existence of the celebrant good or bad for Daming?
3. There is no good or bad, only improvisation
Speaking of the influence of the eunuch group on the Ming Dynasty, most people think that this is still needless to say? It's definitely negative, you look at how many dead eunuchs have brought disaster to the country and the people!
Indeed, there are indeed many evils in the eunuch group, such as Zhao Gao, who referred to the deer as a horse in the Qin Dynasty.
But does the eunuch's influence have to be all negative?
Take the Ming Dynasty as an example, is the Ming Dynasty's celebrant a positive institution, it's hard to say, but you say that he has no positive influence on the Ming Dynasty at all, that's also unrealistic.
Among them, the best representatives are Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng.
Emperor Wanli was only ten years old when he first ascended the throne, and he had no way to deal with the government, let alone solve the increasingly acute social contradictions at that time.
It is in this situation that Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant who has the power to draft cabinet votes, and Feng Bao, who has the power to approve the red of the celebrant supervisor, joined forces to promote Zhang Juzheng's reform and successfully renewed his life for the Ming Dynasty!
And, objectively speaking, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, except for Wang Zhen, the celebrant really did not cause much damage.
Because everyone should pay attention to the fact that the celebrant only has the power to approve, that is, the opinions given by the cabinet, whether he agrees or disagrees, and there is no way to directly intervene in the daily administrative affairs of the six ministries.
This means that if you meet a diligent emperor who personally controls the right to approve red, then these eunuchs will become decorations.
As for Dongchang and Jinyiwei, although they nominally peddled the jurisdiction of private offices, they could be transferred by the eunuchs.
But as I said earlier, Dongchang is just a foreskin company, and the people who really work are Jinyiwei.
Although the Jinyi Guard has gradually become its subordinate unit due to the rising status of the celebrant supervisor, in the final analysis, the Jinyi Guard is still a personal guard directly under the emperor's jurisdiction.
In addition, there are a large number of officers with noble sons and daughters in the Jinyi Guard, and they don't often interact with eunuchs on weekdays, at least they won't be so mad as to follow these eunuchs to rebel against the emperor.
This means that if the emperor wants to clean up the eunuchs, Jinyiwei is often the first to defect, at least it will not be the emperor to solve the eunuchs' troubles.
This is also the reason why the so-called "Emperor" Liu Jin, the nine-thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian, was so vulnerable in the face of the emperor's counterattack and could only be easily killed by the emperor.
What's even more interesting is that when the time came to the year of the Apocalypse, when the financial income of the Ming Dynasty was only a pitiful four million taels of silver.
These inner court systems, supported by eunuchs, can even provide the emperor with an income of more than 3 million taels of silver every year!
It's a pity that after succeeding to the throne, he not only killed Wei Zhongxian, but also took it with his hands and almost destroyed the inner court system that more than ten generations of emperors of the Ming Dynasty had painstakingly managed.
epilogue
Now some people say that Wei Zhongxian is immortal, and the reason why the Ming Dynasty is immortal lies in this.
Because in the past 200 years of development, the eunuch bureaucratic system represented by the celebrant and the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty has become an important power component of this empire.
This system may be imperfect, and there may be a lot of filthiness, but for a feudal emperor, it is the helper he needs most, at least it cannot be hastily abandoned.
Otherwise, the balance will be broken, and Emperor Chongzhen is not a male lord who can break the old and establish the new, and the result can only make the Ming Dynasty worse and worse.