Portrait of Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, the first year of Xuande, 1426 AD, the second year of the reign of the fifth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This year, Zhu Zhanji made an unusual decision to set up a new institution in the Forbidden City, the Inner Study Hall.
This institution is composed of two types of people: one is the Hanlin bachelors selected by the Hanlin Academy, especially those who are talented, rich in learning, and willing to teach; The second is the eunuch in the palace.
These two groups of people operate together, and the institution officially becomes operational. The scholars took turns to be on duty in the inner study hall, while the eunuchs came in groups to study and read books in order to improve their cultural literacy and ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
On the surface, it seems that the emperor is working for the welfare of his employees, but in fact, there are some problems hidden behind it. First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, once explicitly forbade eunuchs to read and write, so as not to interfere in politics.
This is historically recognized. Because many eunuchs in history have interfered in politics, posing a threat to the independence of the imperial power. Therefore, Ming Xuanzong's move to set up the inner study hall caused some controversy.
On the one hand, this seems to be to improve the cultural quality of eunuchs and their ability to distinguish between right and wrong; On the other hand, it may also give eunuchs the opportunity to interfere in politics.
The power of the emperor is shared by relatives, clan relatives and subordinates, and the most complex and contradictory of them is the family relationship. Both wives and sons may have conflicts with the emperor or even usurp the throne because of the ** of power.
At the same time, the emperor's relatives and subordinates could also become obstacles to the emperor's power, and they would use the emperor's trust for their own personal gain. As a result, the emperor often felt lonely and helpless, and he could not fully trust anyone and could only rely on the eunuchs around him.
However, although Zhu Zhanji of the Ming Xuanzong wanted to use the eunuchs to serve him, their education level was generally low, and they were not competent to handle the administrative work of handling documents, which was also a problem he faced.
In order to improve the cultural level of eunuchs, Zhu Zhanji deliberately set up a school in the palace called"Inner Study"of schools to improve their abilities. Some people will ask, the Manchu Dynasty had a large number of civil and military forces, why did the emperor trust the eunuchs alone?
The answer was simple, because the Emperor thought that only these personal servants would treat him sincerely, and it would be more comfortable to leave some private documents to them.
The other bureaucrats went to and from work, which was just a job for the Forbidden City, and the eunuchs were loyal comrades-in-arms of the emperor and were able to provide loyalty and privacy. In addition, eunuchs would see the emperor as their master, while ministers would see the emperor as their boss.
Therefore, Zhu Zhanji not only began to train eunuchs, but also set up official positions such as the eunuch Bingbi and the eunuch of the celebrant Zhangyin, which had huge power and could handle government affairs for the emperor and deeply participate in national decision-making.
From then on, eunuchs could no longer avoid participating in political affairs.
Mingrenzong Zhu Gaochi Portrait) Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji is also worthy of a generation of Ming monarchs, who put down the rebellion of his uncle Zhu Gaochu when he ascended the throne, appointed Sanyang to further improve the cabinet system, carried out supervision reforms, clarified the rule of officials, and also created the supervision system.
He understands the dangers of eunuch interference, and he also knows the lessons of the past. He once mentioned to his ministers more than once in public about the disaster of eunuchs in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. So why did he reuse eunuchs?
The reason is simple, because the emperor can control them. The reuse of eunuchs was not a whim, but the result of administrative development since the beginning of the dynasty. Before Ariake, the emperor's work was relatively easy, with the prime minister and the six departments as his right-hand men.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, abolished the prime minister system, and the emperor's workload increased suddenly. Therefore, Zhu Zhanji had to reuse eunuchs to relieve his work pressure.
After Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's son Zhu Di took over power, he created a cabinet so that the six ministries no longer had real power. Although the power of the cabinet was great, it could not control the real power of the emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen are all willing to put their work first, but Zhu Zhanji is a person who is keen to write poetry, paint, read and fight crickets.
Copywriting newly written: Although Zhu Zhanji, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, knew that hobbies and work could not be taken into account, he could not avoid the heavy affairs and rapid development momentum of the Ming Dynasty. In desperation, he began to use eunuchs to participate in court politics, which became an inevitable result of the administrative development of the Ming Dynasty.
Although the emperor used eunuchs heavily, he was also able to control them well. However, Zhu Zhanji did not realize that his lifespan was not eternal, and his children and grandchildren might be passive and neglect their duties.
At this time, the eunuch may take advantage of the situation to take off and become a powerful eunuch. However, all this quietly changed when Zhu Zhanji established the Inner Study Hall and personally selected eunuchs to receive formal education.
Wang Zhen, a clever eunuch, became the right-hand man of the royal family. But Zhu Zhanji didn't realize that what he did was slowly changing the historical trend of the Ming Dynasty.
He didn't realize that only a short ten years of imperial life was enough to change the direction of history.