Eunuchs, as the emperor's trusted "house slaves" and "internal officials", have repeatedly abused power in the era of feudal imperial power in our country for more than 1,000 years, although they ended up being exterminated, but the "disaster of eunuchs" has been poisoned for decades at that time, and has even caused huge and irreparable damage to the country. So how did the specific eunuchs interfere in court politics? Is it true that his words alone can make the emperor obey his words? In fact, this is not the case, today we will analyze and discuss the disaster of eunuchs in ancient China from the three periods when the three eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the late Tang Dynasty were the most rampant and extremely harmful.
In ancient China, the emperor was in charge of state power, and the imperial power was supreme, but some trivial administrative power was handed over to the main responsible person for processing. Therefore, if the emperor forms a party for personal gain and deceives the emperor together, then the emperor will easily lead to misjudgment when he receives wrong information, and judge the devastation through the information he received as the four seas are peaceful and the world is in harmony, and it is very dangerous if the supreme ruler does not get the true situation under his rule. From this point of view, the formation of eunuch power is not unrelated to the monarch's need for political balance.
When it comes to the Han Dynasty, we must think of the Waiqi Group, Empress Lu, and Wang Mang, who usurped the Han Dynasty, both of which are typical representatives of the Waiqi Group. Relatives restrained imperial power, and if the Han emperor was a little lax, they would take advantage of it, and the emperor would use the means of promoting eunuchs to oppose it. It is especially reflected in the reign of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
In order to avoid risks or political balance, the two generations of young monarchs of Huan Ling often promoted the trust and authority of the chamberlain, forming a situation of low power of eunuchs. If the eunuch is powerful, he will promote the scholar to assist the government, so the situation is not out of controlThat is, the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" said that "the Han Dynasty was chaotic and did not die, and for more than 100 years, the power of several dukes was also".。Many Han Dynasty monarchs also mainly relied on eunuchs to check and balance the foreign relatives group, but in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the embarrassing situation of the two major groups of eunuchs and foreign relatives took turns to "sit in the village" and dictatorship. HuanEmperor, Emperor Ling's methods were not clever at all, laying the groundwork for the final demise of the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that the hand of balance is not something that everyone can play.
When the eunuchs were in charge of the government, it not only caused the dissatisfaction of the foreign relatives and nobles, but also caused the dissatisfaction of the Qing scholars and doctors, and attacked the eunuchs twice, if the emperor restrained the eunuchs at this time, then perhaps the Eastern Han Dynasty could continue to maintain its rule, butIt was the second emperor of Huan Ling who favored the eunuchs too much, "pro-villain, far virtuous ministers", and the scholars were severely attacked by the ruling group, and the ruling group successively hunted and killed the "sages and celebrities" praised by the people at that time, such as the imperial servant Qing Du Mi, the imperial history of the Cheng Chen Xiang and other important ministers and Chen Yu, Fan Fan and other scholars, these people were dissatisfied with the eunuch group's tyrannical expropriation and tyranny, and acted arbitrarily, and had a "party dispute", which was called "the disaster of the party" in history.
After the two disasters of the party, the upright ** was either killed or imprisoned, and the eunuchs did whatever they wanted, mutilating the people, and the disasters of the eunuchs were especially serious. Later, the relatives and scholars changed their thinking and invited the local armed forces to help eliminate the eunuchs, but soon Dong Zhuo, the dictatorship of the martial arts, was not beneficial to the country, not only finally provoked the people's uprising, resulting in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but also made the binding force of the country completely lost. The disaster of eunuchs can be said to be one of the important reasons for the fall of the Han Dynasty.
The eunuchs of the middle and late Tang Dynasty had a profound adverse impact on the development and political stability of the Tang Dynasty, and even some times the eunuchs actually controlled the succession to the imperial throne. For example, Tang Suzong was able to successfully proclaim the emperor with the support of the eunuch Li Fuguo and others. The emperor who is the king of a country relies on eunuchs to ascend the throne, which shows the emperor's trust in eunuchs.
One of the most striking features of the eunuchs in the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty was that they had an armed force as the support of their dictatorship.
The eunuch commander began in the Tang Dynasty, and during the reign of the emperor, the eunuch Yu Chaoen commanded the Shence army of the Beijing Division. Later, during the reign of Tang Dezong, the eunuch dictatorship reached its peak, and due to the armed rebellions in many places under Dezong's rule, the military coup d'état in the capital that impressed him the most, and the lessons of the Anshi Rebellion, he had a high degree of distrust of foreign ministers and military generals. Tang Dezong needed someone to lead the army for him, so he shifted his attention to the eunuchs around himThe two lieutenants of the guardian army and the two middle protectors were all used by the eunuchs beside him to lead the left and right gods.
This made it common practice for eunuchs to control the forbidden army during the Dezong period, and later during the Xianzong period, the post of privy envoy was added, and the eunuch was still selected, and later the eunuch was in charge of the privy council and became a fixed system.
Politically, because the eunuchs did not read history books and only knew how to accumulate money, politics became more corrupt, and for the imperial power, the struggle between the eunuchs and the court officials was protractedStruggles such as the "Two Kings and Eight Sima Incidents" and the "Manna Change" all weakened the imperial power in disguise, and the victory of the eunuchs also made the eunuch group more unscrupulous, and the disaster of the eunuchs continued to spread.
In terms of military affairs, the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty could ostensibly allow the emperor to get the latest information and grasp the loyalty of the generals, which was conducive to the emperor's management of the army, and at the same time, it was also convenient for uploading and disseminating, but in fact, the eunuchs were self-serving in the local army, not only did not achieve the effect of moderation of the generals that the emperor wanted, but made the generals commanderyNot one, unable to unite with foreign wars,In their eyes, delaying a fighter plane is a trivial matter, not to mention the cruelty of Zhongliang, once a general does not want to do anything else, he will make false accusations. To a certain extent, the combat effectiveness of the army has been weakened.
The forbidden army is also up and down, the eunuchs rely on the forbidden army to do evil politically, and the forbidden army relies on the protection of high-ranking eunuchs, and is rampant and domineering in Beijing, bullying men and women, and doing everything possible to accumulate money, oppressing the people, and the original intention of the establishment of the forbidden army is very different。It not only slackened military discipline and lowered combat effectiveness, but also undermined the country's economy and brought great disasters to the people.
The last years of the Tang Dynasty were similar to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the situation of eunuchs was also ended with the strong intervention of the local armed forces, but it was also the same as the end of the Eastern Han DynastyIf the emperor of the Tang Dynasty gave the eunuchs a ban on the army in order to restrain the envoys of various local festivals with great power, then when the eunuchs were completely eliminated, the ** regime also completely lost its control over the whole country.
In short, the Tang Dynasty gradually fell under the destruction of the eunuch dictatorship. It is worth noting that when the eunuchs are still there, the local government still listens to the orders of **, and after the eunuchs are completely eliminated, ** has no power, so we can be sure that the monarch is the power of the eunuchs**, and if these eunuchs are dedicated to their duties and loyal to the country, then it must be the blessing of the country, but unfortunately there is no if in history, maybe when they are promoted, they also swear to the emperor that I can. History is a lesson, the rule of man cannot last long, and only a society governed by the rule of law can achieve long-term peace and stability.
Unlike what we said earlier, the disaster of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty was characterized by an armed army in charge, MingThe power of the eunuchs of the dynasty was not so great, but they were extremely subject to the imperial powerIn the Ming Dynasty, the power of eunuchs only came from the emperor's trust, and once the emperor's trust was lost, then this eunuch was not worth mentioning.
So how did eunuchs, who had almost no power of their own, become the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty? I think the essential reason for the disaster of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was that the emperor firmly held power, enjoyed power but was too lazy to assume the obligation to rule, and was obsessed with ruling and ruling rather than administering.
The eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were involved in court politics for a long time, although they had no formal powerBut relying on the emperor, he gradually gained institutional legitimacy. As a dynasty in which the feudal system was further improved, the Ming Dynasty developed many systems, and the eunuch institutions were also like this.
The eunuch institutions of the Ming Dynasty had 12 eunuchs, 4 divisions, and 8 bureaus, collectively known as the "24 Yamen", and the supervisors of them were called "eunuchs". Si Li Bingbi eunuch or on behalf of the emperor to review the folds, everyone has learned,Therefore, the celebrant is the head of the "24 yamen".
Politics,The Ming Dynasty set up a factory and health system, which is familiar to everyone with the east factory and the west factoryIn the political and social activities of the Ming Dynasty, spy supervision occupied a prominent position. The main persons in charge of the various secret services were eunuchs, which was also the backbone of eunuchs' participation in political activities. Economically, eunuchs mainly served the emperor, the emperor's "private money" was managed and earned by asking the eunuchsThe eunuchs not only managed the imperial store, but also expanded their industries in various places and increased the emperor's taxes. Of course, whether it is more into the emperor's purse or into the eunuch's pocket, we all know it in our hearts. In terms of military affairs, the eunuchs of the supervising army still accompanied the army to monitor, and the supervising army at this time was beneficial to the emperor.
After talking about the institutional basis of the eunuch dictatorship in the Ming Dynasty, we will list here the cases of two great eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty interfering in politics and causing disaster to the country
1) Wang Zhen in the Ming Yingzong period was in power, Wang Zhen once accompanied the king to read articles, and later became the master of ceremonies, in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy (1449) when Wara entered the border of Kou Daming and tried his best to persuade Yingzong to go on the Northern Expedition, maybe he wanted to live for a hundred generations but because he was really incompetent and the emperor had little combat experience, he repeatedly messed up, and finally led to the defeat of the Ming army in Tumubao, Yingzong "Northern Hunting", Wang Zhen also hammered the generals, leaving a reputation for the ages. From then on, the Ming army shifted from overwhelming superiority to strategic defense, passively defending one side.
2) Wei Zhongxian during the Ming Xizong period**, he won the trust of Xizong when Xizong was young, became the eunuch of the ceremonial and took charge of the East Factory, he took advantage of the emperor's youth, gathered extremely ** feathers, and wantonly suppressed the Donglin Party, when Wei Zhongxian was like the sun, the world bowed down to him, the countryman did not dare to speak, the people were more afraid of not daring to speak out to correct the hearing, and there were more flatterers who called it at the age of nine thousand, and the world sighed.
At this time, the eunuch power penetrated into almost all aspects of the state bureaucracy, and as an extension of the imperial power, it looked down on the world. Wei Zhongxian also died on this, after the new emperor ascended the throne, the world only knew who the nine thousand years old was, and I didn't know who the long live was, how could this make the new emperor feel at ease? So this extension of imperial power was easily eradicated by the monarch. It's a pity that the veteran elites of the Donglin Party were all ** by Wei ZhongxianAs a result, Chongzhen did not cultivate a qualified **, which is also related to Emperor Chongzhen's frequent replacement of cabinet chiefs. In short, Wei Zhongxian did not have enough convictions except for excessive prestige, but the smoky officialdom environment was mercenary, and he was close to the eunuchs in order to ask for the emperor's rewardThe people who don't trust the people, etc., these are the harm of Wei Zhongxian, and the important reason for the death of the Ming Dynasty cannot be without the disaster of eunuchs.
The eunuch power is a manifestation of the strengthening of the monarch, and the eunuch dictatorship is often accompanied by the intensification of internal contradictions, the political darkness, and the rise of the people, which eventually leads to the fall of the old dynasty. It can be said that the eunuch dictatorship and the monarch are mutually reinforcing, the monarch needs the eunuch dictatorship, and the eunuch dictatorship will hinder the monarch, from this point of view, it is not difficult for us to understand the old saying "the water is clear, there is no fish".