In the diplomatic arena of the Ming Dynasty, with the establishment of the Pedestrian Division, eunuchs gradually emerged and became the main candidates for diplomatic envoys sent by the imperial court. However, this phenomenon can be traced back to the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty.
During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly forbade eunuchs to interfere in politics, and even set up iron cards as a warning. However, he did not completely exclude eunuchs from court affairs. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that as long as the eunuchs did not hold military and political power, they would not pose a threat to the country. Therefore, in addition to transmitting edicts in the inner palace, eunuchs were also entrusted with the duty of conveying decrees and rewarding them. At the same time, a series of problems also arose in the official diplomatic agency of the Hongwu period, the Xingren Division, which made the eunuchs gradually enter the diplomatic arena of the Ming Dynasty.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Department of Pedestrians to be responsible for foreign affairs. The Pedestrian Division includes the chief officer, the deputy secretary and 345 pedestrians, whose duties cover the promulgation of edicts, the canonization of the clan, the encouragement to the four directions, the recruitment of talents, the reward and condolences, the almsgiving, military affairs, sacrifices, etc. In particular, the "Fu Quartet", that is, the diplomatic affairs between the Ming Dynasty and the surrounding countries, were responsible for the pedestrian division. However, at the beginning of its establishment, the Pedestrian Division was only a nine-grade yamen, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not pay much attention to foreign affairs. It was not until the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu that the rank of the pedestrian division was raised to the seventh grade, and it was stipulated that the pedestrian division must be filled by a jinshi, and the number of people was reduced to forty. This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang is not keen on diplomatic matters. In the tenth year of Hongwu, the envoy sent by the Ming Dynasty to Nanyang was killed in Java, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not make any response. This is also understandable, after all, under the devastation of the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang needed to focus on restoring the domestic economy. With regard to neighboring countries, he pursued a policy of appeasement and even limited the size of the mission. Therefore, restricting the development of the pedestrian division was also a reasonable decision at the time.
However, with the accession of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di to the throne, everything changed. During the Yongle period, Zhu Di was keen to let eunuchs play the role of diplomatic envoys, and became the main candidate for envoys sent by the imperial court. Why does Zhu Di favor eunuchs so much?
First of all, eunuchs had a special status within the imperial court, and they were not bound by family power, making it easier to obey the emperor's command. In contrast, civil officials or military generals are often subject to family power and are more conservative in their ideological concepts. And eunuchs, because they had no sons to inherit, were more inclined to maintain the stability of imperial power. This allowed Zhu Di to trust the eunuch's performance in foreign affairs even more.
Second, Zhu Di was eager to restore the Ming Dynasty's international reputation and influence. He hoped to establish friendly relations with the four countries through diplomatic means and expand the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty. As representatives of the imperial court, eunuchs have the characteristics of high loyalty and strong execution, and are more suitable for the role of diplomatic envoys.
In addition, the eunuchs had a wealth of court experience and were familiar with affairs inside and outside the court. They have a deeper understanding of the imperial court's policies and foreign relations, and are better able to negotiate and convey information on behalf of the imperial court. Moreover, due to the special status of eunuchs, their words and deeds are often more likely to attract the attention and attention of other countries.
The Ming Dynasty Xingren Division, the institution that dealt with foreign affairs, has not changed despite some downgrading and downsizing under Zhu Yuanzhang's rule. Especially after being taken by the ** from the Jinshi, the pedestrian division is facing a serious problem, that is, these ** are not proficient in foreign languages. This has undoubtedly caused great trouble in foreign affairs.
In the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty, foreign jinshi were not common. In the fourth year of Hongwu, there was a Jinshi from Goryeo, Jin Tao, who won the top three Jinshi and became a few exceptions. However, such a situation is only rare, and most of the ** who have passed the imperial examination do not know foreign languages, so they are unable to handle foreign affairs. At the same time, however, the Ming regime had a large number of "foreign" eunuchs. Some of these eunuchs were inherited from the Yuan dynasty, and they came from various ethnic groups. Especially during the Hongwu period, Korea, Annam, Ryukyu and other countries "contributed" a large number of eunuchs to the Ming court, and even in the process of the Ming army's conquest of the Quartet, there were also cases where captives were selected for castration and used as eunuchs (Zheng He should be one of them).
Because of this, among the eunuchs in the inner palace of the Ming Dynasty, there was no shortage of people who knew foreign languages. It is only natural that these eunuchs gradually played a role in the diplomatic arena of the Ming Dynasty and became assistants to envoys or civil envoys. During the Hongwu period, there were many records of sending Korean eunuchs to the Korean Peninsula. In the Yongle period, the status of eunuchs was further enhanced. Zhu Di seized the throne in the Battle of Jingjing, a classic battle in which the few won more and the weak defeated the strong. Zhu Di not only faced a shortage of soldiers and territory, but also a lack of talents. Therefore, after the Jingnan, many of the lords he conferred were middle and low-level officers in the Hongwu period, such as Zhu Neng, the Duke of Chengguo, who was originally only the deputy guard of Yanshan. In this case, Zhu Di relied on his eunuchs to participate in the war. And these eunuchs also lived up to Zhu Di's expectations, and many of them made great achievements.
In the diplomatic arena of the Ming Dynasty, the role of eunuchs gradually became prominent. They knew foreign languages and were familiar with diplomatic etiquette and rules, and became an important bridge between the Ming Dynasty and foreign countries. Compared with ordinary **, eunuchs were able to be more comfortable in foreign affairs and played an active role in the foreign policy and interests of the Ming Dynasty.
However, this situation undoubtedly caused a lot of controversy and doubts at the time. As eunuchs, eunuchs had a low social status in the Ming Dynasty and were discriminated against and ostracized. Their foreign-related activities have also attracted a lot of criticism and accusations. But in any case, the participation of eunuchs in foreign affairs in the Ming Dynasty undoubtedly brought a certain vitality and change to the diplomatic relations of the Ming Dynasty.
To sum up, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was keen to let eunuchs play the role of diplomatic envoys, mainly because eunuchs had a special status within the imperial court, high loyalty, and strong execution, and could help Zhu Di restore the international reputation and influence of the Ming Dynasty. Although this phenomenon was relatively rare in the diplomatic history of the Ming Dynasty, it became a common phenomenon during the Yongle period.