The dictatorship of eunuchs and the chaos of the court situation were an important feature of the political situation in the Ming Dynasty.
In the beginning, the eunuchs only served as the conveyors of the emperor's will, but in the process of conveying the will, the eunuchs even began to modify the will without authorization, directly undermining the imperial program, and eventually leading to the abolition of the legal system of the Ming Dynasty.
So which emperor of the Ming Dynasty caused the eunuchs? Although the initiators include Zhu Di, the Emperor of Yongle, at least Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Zhu Zhanji's ancestors and grandchildren are all British masters, carrying the banner of the development of the Ming Dynasty.
The one who really corrupted the atmosphere was Zhu Qizhen, which not only did not promote the development of the Ming Dynasty, but accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
Although Ming Taizu had formulated a series of measures to restrict the activities of eunuchs, they were not always adhered to in later generations.
During the Yongle period, because the eunuchs made great contributions in the difficulty of Jingjing, the appointment of eunuchs gradually increased.
Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne in the tenth year of Xuande, and was Ming Yingzong, with an orthodox national name. In the early years of orthodoxy, the government was still relatively stable, and it was always presided over by the cabinet ministers Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and Yang Pu. But under this stability, the power of the eunuchs never stopped growing.
At that time, Zhu Qizhen was a young man, full of enthusiasm, and his mind was relatively sober. Although he favors Wang Zhen, the ideal of a stable country is still there. When the Mongol Warat tribe was in chaos on the border, Zhu Qizhen made a bold decision desperately - to drive the expedition in person.
This decision was not only disapproved of by Zhu Qizhen's mother, Empress Dowager Sun, but also strongly opposed by the ministers in the court.
But Zhu Qizhen didn't listen to any advice, he made his two-year-old son Zhu Jianshen the crown prince, let his younger brother Zhu Qiyu take charge of the country, and then set out ambitiously.
The expedition was also concentrated in a hurry, which shows how hasty this expedition was, but Zhu Qizhen himself didn't care. Sure enough, there were many situations on the journey, and it was not smooth. First of all, the weather was not beautiful, bringing continuous heavy rain, and then the shortage of grain and grass began, and the morale of the army began to be weakened.
As a result, the army led by the dignified Emperor Ming was defeated, and Zhu Qizhen was captured. When the news came back to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen's younger brother did not fulfill his promise to support the crown prince as king, but became the emperor himself. Soon, because the tile spur failed to attack Mingdu, Zhu Qizhen was released when he sued for peace.
Zhu Qizhen's situation after returning to the dynasty was very embarrassing, because when he was captured, he had already been enshrined as the emperor, and Zhu Qiyu was unwilling to give up his position as emperor at all.
Zhu Qizhen was put under house arrest, and such a prisoner life lasted for 7 years.
After that, Zhu Qiyu suddenly fell ill, and taking this opportunity, Shi Heng and others put Zhu Qizhen on the throne again, so the famous "change of seizing the door" occurred. After regaining the throne, Zhu Qizhen indiscriminately executed many people who worked for Zhu Qiyu, including Yu Qian.
In the days when he was captured, if Yu Qian had not guarded the Ming Dynasty and insisted on not moving the capital to Nanjing, the original capital of the Ming Dynasty would have been surrendered to the tile spurs, and it can be said that Yu Qian had made great contributions. But in Zhu Qizhen's opinion, he was still in the hands of the tile spur at that time, and Yu Qian insisted on refusing to change it because he didn't care about his life. In the end, he still killed Yu Qian.
As the lord of a country, Zhu Qizhen's dramatic life experience had a great impact on the development of the Ming Dynasty, causing many talented ministers to die and lose their positions, causing the Ming Dynasty to turn from prosperity to decline.
In Zhu Qizhen's decision to drive the conquest, the eunuch Wang Zhen strongly supported it, and until Wang Zhen was killed, he was Zhu Qizhen's most trusted eunuch.
Wang Zhen is a person who actually doesn't have much real talent and learning, and he knows a little about scriptures, but because he is good at observing people's opinions, he was soon loved by Ming Xuanzong, and Ming Xuanzong named him the waiter of the East Palace and asked him to serve Zhu Qizhen, who was still the prince at the time.
When Zhu Qizhen succeeded to the throne and became Ming Yingzong, Wang Zhen was also promoted and served as the eunuch of the master of ceremonies and the seal of the seal.
The common means of eunuch dictatorship is to use their advantage of being close to the emperor, and then gain the emperor's trust, and finally achieve the goal of overthrowing the emperor, and Wang Zhen is of course no exception.
Wang Zhen first used the excuse of guarding against the minister's recklessness, and often advised Zhu Qizhen to govern the country with heavy regulations, and the so-called heavy rule of law is to govern the country by harsh legal means. But at that time, Zhu Qizhen's grandmother, the Empress Dowager Zhang, was still there, and the three major ministers were still actively assisting the government, so Wang Zhen's suggestion had not yet been adopted.
In the seventh year of orthodoxy, because of the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang, Wang Zhen began to be unscrupulous. He instigated Zhu Qizhen to use prostitution, and Zhu Qizhen was unconsciously swayed by Wang Zhen's thoughts, and for those who did not obey his will a little, he sent them to prison, and four of the six Shangshu were sent to prison.
After that, Yang Rong, one of the cabinet ministers, died, Yang Shiqi ignored the government because of his son's crime, and Yang Pu, who was old and weak, was no longer Wang Zhen's opponent at all, and Wang Zhen manipulated Zhu Qizhen easily.
He immediately destroyed the iron card that Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, had set up to prohibit eunuchs from interfering in politics, and monopolized power.
In order to further consolidate his position and establish his prestige, Wang Zhen also instigated Zhu Qizhen to repeatedly use troops against the minority areas of Yunnan in an attempt to make meritorious contributions. At that time, some people in Hanlin said that some people opposed this practice and exhorted the local eunuchs of Zhu Qizhen to seize power.
Wang Zhen was very unhappy when he learned about it, and then took this opportunity to suppress the courtiers and establish the authority of the eunuchs. At the behest of Wang Zhen, the Hanlin attendant was beaten to prison and tortured to death, which was very cruel.
In the end, on the way of Zhu Qizhen's imperial expedition, Wang Zhen was finally killed by the Ming generals who hated him because of the melee with the Tile Thorn Army.
However, as the first generation of authoritarian eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs assembled by Wang Zhen still had a huge impact on the later Ming Dynasty.
Because Zhu Qizhen opened a head for eunuchs to interfere in court politics, many eunuchs after that had an object to emulate - Wang Zhen. As the power of the eunuchs continued to expand, in the end, there was almost no one in the court of the Ming Dynasty who could make suggestions for the development of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to protect themselves, the foreign ministers fought constantly for all kinds of small interests, and they even curried favor with the eunuchs, which led to the deterioration of the entire court situation and social atmosphere.
In the end, only the old and powerless royalists and flattering officials remained in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the eunuch system of the Ming Dynasty has long disappeared from modern society, the lessons it brought should not be forgotten. Using history as a mirror, Zhu Qizhen's brutality and incompetence cannot be learned.
1] Huo Chenxin. The eunuch system of the Ming Dynasty and the enlightenment of the present era[J].Heilongjiang Historical Chronicles,2014(13):35
2] Dong Xiumei. **The Social Influence of the Ming Dynasty Eunuch System[J].Lantai World,2012(21):40-41doi:10.16565/j.cnki.1006-7744.2012.21.024.