Strange things in Ming Dynasty: How did a false eunuch cheat all the way from Nanjing to Fuzhou?

Wang Zhi inspected the Ningwu-Changzhou-Suzhou-Hangzhou-Shaoyong line all the way. I heard that Wang Zhi was coming, and the local authorities and transportation departments along the way prepared delicious food and fun in advance, waiting for Wang Zhi's hand in fear and trembling. For Wang Zhi, officials at all levels love and fear. On the one hand, they look forward to the stars and the moon, on the other hand, they tremble at the thought of seeing him soon. Why is this?

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Eunuchs went south to scare off many soft officials.

In the 13th year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty (1477), a senior official from Beijing disturbed the calm of Jiangnan officialdom. This senior official is a eunuch named Wang Zhi.

Wang Zhi inspected the Ningwu-Changzhou-Suzhou-Hangzhou-Shaoyong line all the way. I heard that Wang Zhi was coming, and the local authorities and transportation departments along the way prepared delicious food and fun in advance, waiting for Wang Zhi's hand in fear and trembling. For Wang Zhi, officials at all levels love and fear. On the one hand, they look forward to the stars and the moon, on the other hand, they tremble at the thought of seeing him soon. Why is this?

It turns out that this Wang Zhi is no ordinary role. His position at that time was "an imperial eunuch in charge of the official school of the West Factory". To put it more bluntly, he is called "the prefect of the West Factory" and is the head of the management of the West Factory.

As we all know, Dongchang is the most famous spy agency in Ming Dynasty. Dongchang was established during the reign of Judy, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, and lasted for more than 220 years until the demise of the Ming Dynasty. The East Factory has been under the direct command of the emperor. The head of the East Factory is often the most trusted person of the emperor. This "the most trusted person of the emperor" can influence the emperor's thoughts and has hot power. Therefore, North Korean officials at all levels and even officials are lucky to make friends with them.

Another secret service in Ming Dynasty, Xichang, only existed in Ming Xianzong and Mingwuzong, with a total time of only 10 years. Although the West Factory has not existed for a long time, its power is even greater than that of the East Factory-it can detect not only the people, but also the East Factory, and it has more spies than the East Factory. Therefore, as the head of the West Factory, Wang Zhi's arrival caused a sensation in Jiangnan.

The emperor's spies mingled with the common people.

According to the Ming History, Wang Zhi was originally a eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and a "demon man" incident in the 12th year of Chenghua made him stand out.

In July of the 12th year of Chenghua, a man named Li Zilong made friends with eunuchs by magic and entered ouchi privately. When it came out, Li Zilong was killed. Although Li Zilong died, Ming Xianzong and Zhu Jianshen thought there were dangers everywhere, so they were very nervous and suspicious. In order to prevent similar things from happening again, they have to understand the feelings of the people. How did you know? Only let the trusted eunuch go out.

Zhu Jianshen chose the clever Wang Zhi, put him in plain clothes, and asked about the situation outside the palace with several followers. Shu Ming records that Wang Zhi "wore a cloth hat, rode a donkey or mule, and wandered inside and outside the capital." "Major issues, dialects and dialects are well known." In this way, after nearly a year of investigation, Wang Zhi reported what he saw and heard to Zhu Jianshen. Zhu Jianshen naturally very happy.

In the 13th year of Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen established the West Factory, and Wang Zhi was appointed as the "prefect of the West Factory". After the establishment of the West Factory, spies spread all over the capital, Wangfubian towns, important places in the north and south rivers, and even provinces, prefectures and counties. Agents should index trivial matters such as quarrels and fights, cockfights and dog-scolding in the homes of ordinary people in Luo Zhi, and deal with them with heavy punches at every turn. Because of the large and dense scope of investigation, the number of spies in the west factory is twice that in the east factory.

Shortly after Wang Zhi prefected the West Factory, he did something that made Zhu Jianshen very satisfied.

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The emperor was satisfied with the case handled by Wang Zhi.

In the early Ming Dynasty, salt dealers committed crimes to death. Nevertheless, in order to get high profits, some people are desperate, and most of them are powerful officials. In order to stop this situation, in the 13th year of Chenghua (1477), Zhu Jianshen issued a special decree reaffirming that all domestic and foreign officials, whether they know it or not, are guilty.

However, the imperial edict only frightened the timid, and Qin, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, didn't take the law seriously at all. In the 14th year of Chenghua (1478), Qin took the opportunity to pay tribute to Beijing, and on his way home, he loaded nearly 100 ships of smuggled salt. Qin Li Peng was the emperor's favorite, so when he arrived at each checkpoint, the people below knew it well, but they didn't dare to ask more questions, and all the way was peaceful.

When the fleet arrived in Wucheng County, it happened that a Dian Shi surnamed Fan was ignorant of the times and stopped Qin's fleet to find out. Qin Li Peng flew into a rage, knocked out two front teeth of Fan Dianshi and shot an arrow to death one of Fan Dianshi's entourage.

Fan Dianshi, who comes from an honest and frank background, can't stand this kind of anger. He went to Beijing to complain. When this matter was reported to the East Factory, the "East Factory Magistrate" was still too scared to accept the case. When Fan Dianshi reported to the West Factory, Wang Zhi weighed it and thought it was a good opportunity to get ahead. After taking this case, Wang Zhi behaved in a businesslike manner. While releasing public opinion, he really sent people to Nanjing to arrest Qin, escorted him back to Beijing and put him in the prison of the West Factory.

When Zhu Jianshen learned about this, he not only didn't scold Wang Zhi for being "incompetent", but even felt that Wang Zhi was very loyal and could help the emperor exorcise evil spirits. Later, Qin tried his best to save him from death, but the official lost his face.

After the Qin case, the love for you reached its peak and your arrogance became even more arrogant. He appointed Wei Ying, a hundred families in the Royal Guards, as his confidant, and "repeatedly promoted prison".

Of course, although Wang Zhi is arrogant, if an official happens to please him, he may be promoted to a higher position.

For example, Huang Ming Shi Shuo Xin Yu recorded that every time Wang Zhi went to various counties, local officials had to go out of the city to meet him on their knees and try their best to entertain him. Once Wang Zhi is dissatisfied with these officials, he will ask people: "Do you know whose hat is on your head?" The subtext between the lines is obvious.

Once, Wang Zhi got a funny answer, and the county magistrate who was asked actually replied, "A tulle hat was bought with silver San Qian in a blacksmith's alley." In the face of this seemingly disrespectful answer, Wang Zhi smiled and didn't blame the county magistrate.

Wang Zhi's achievements are also mentioned in Biography of Yang Jizong in Ming Dynasty. Yang Jizong was one of the "four honest officials in the world" during Chenghua period. When he was the magistrate of Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, he reduced taxes for the people, made the officials clean and won the hearts of the people. A eunuch passed by Jiaxing. Yang Jizong gave him a lotus root and an almanac, but the eunuch insisted on gold and silver. Yang Jizong then sent an official letter to take out Kujin and give it to the eunuch, but he had to find someone to sign and seal before he could collect the money. The eunuch ran away naturally. Later, Yang Jizong went to Beijing to meet the emperor. Wang Zhi sent someone to express his wish to see him, but he refused. At that time, Wang Zhi was the toast of the emperor. Others are trying to send something to curry favor with him, but Yang Jizong refused to pick it up. Wang Zhi also admires people like Yang Jizong. Later, Zhu Jianshen asked Wang Zhi, "Who is the most honest official in Beijing?" Wang Zhi honestly replied: "Only Yang Jizong doesn't love money!" Listen to the trusted eunuch, Zhu Jianshen more believe that Yang Jizong's incorruptibility.

Yang Jizong was later promoted to Zhejiang provincial judge. After he came to power, he offended many people, and some people in the DPRK spoke ill of him to the emperor. Zhu Jianshen asked, "Are you talking about Yang Jizong who never stole a penny?" Because of Wang Zhi's trust, Yang Jizong avoided an unnecessary dispute.

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As for other officials, as long as they please Wang Zhi, "they are promoted to assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, and there is a saying:' Du Xian kowtows like garlic, and assistant ministers pull their legs like onions'."

The fake Wang Zhi traveled from Jiangsu to Fujian before being exposed.

The king who turns his hand for the cloud and covers his hand for the rain travels south of the Yangtze River. Local officials naturally have to be careful to accompany them, and some people with grievances also expect to seek innocence through "imperial envoys." For a time, "officials and people often sue or reason with lawsuits."

After traveling in the south of the Yangtze River, Wang Zhi continued to go south along Taizhou-Wenzhou-Chuzhou (now Lishui City, Zhejiang Province)-Jianning (now Jian 'ou City, Fujian Province)-Yanping (now Yong 'an City, Nanping City, Fujian Province, Yanping District, Sanming City, Youxi City, Shunchang City) and plundered the wealth of the people all the way. Wang Zhi's way of asking for money is very clever. He kept saying he wanted to be honest, but his captain kept asking for money, so he put the money in his pocket and went to Fuzhou. Fuzhou officials, big and small, are unambiguous. "From the third department officials, only welcome." If a small official annoys Wang Zhi, dragging him out is a stick.

Just as Wang Zhi was throwing his weight around in Fujian, an accident happened. Lu Sheng, the eunuch guarding Fuzhou, is a cautious man. He found that although Wang Zhi claimed to be the magistrate of the West Factory and an imperial envoy, he didn't have any royal tokens in his hand. After careful investigation, Lu Sheng came to the conclusion that "Wang Zhi" was actually a fake.

Who is so bold as to pretend to be Wang Zhi? Soon things will come out.

Fake Wang Zhi, whose real name is Yang Fu, is from Jiangxi. I have worked as an internal envoy in Chongwangfu and have been to Beijing. Then he escaped and wanted to go back to his hometown. When passing by Nanjing, Yang Fu met an acquaintance. Acquaintances found that Yang Fu looked straight, so Yang Fu had a plan and decided to pretend to cheat some money. The acquaintance pretended to be a captain's attendant around him. Two "mixed" swindlers took a gamble in Wuhu first, and without showing any flaws, they got the nerve to go downstream and then went south along the coast of Zhejiang. Because yangfu has been in Beijing, he knows a little about court etiquette. No matter where he goes, no one doubts whether they are true or not.

Now that the incident has happened, the fake Wang Zhi case has caused a sensation in the ruling and opposition parties. Nature is unforgivable. In July of the 14th year of Chenghua (1478), yangfu was executed.

A satirical sketch made the emperor doubt Wang Zhi.

Fake Wang Zhi died, and within a few years, the fate of Real Wang Zhi also took a turn for the worse.

There were many artists in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, and one of them was called "Ah Chou", which was very popular with Zhu Jianshen. This "Ah Ch 'ou" is very well written, and he often rehearses some satirical sketches of current events. One day, Achou was ordered to perform for the emperor. He plays a drunken little eunuch, drunk. The singer across the street scared him to say "the emperor is coming", but he didn't take it seriously at all. Then the man said, "eunuch Wang is here." He immediately wrapped a cat around his waist and ran away, saying, "Everyone knows eunuch Wang today."

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This Ah Ch 'ou is compared with Wang Zhi. Knowing that Wang Zhi likes to lead troops, he acted the scene of Wang Zhi leading troops in front of the emperor. Ah Ch 'ou, dressed as Wang Zhi, came to the emperor with two cymbals and said, "I want to use these two cymbals to take my army to war." This kind of cymbal is an ancient weapon, a bit like an axe, which prevailed in Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty. Because its lethality is not as good as that of Mao Ge, its position in actual combat is greatly reduced, and it was later used for ceremonies and decorations. So, people ask, "What is your cymbal?" "Wang Yue and Chen Yue," said Achou. In fact, Wang Yue and Chen Yue are two ministers who are very close to Wang Zhi, and both of them hold military power.

Zhu Jianshen saw Ah Ch 'ou's performance vividly and couldn't help laughing, but after laughing, it was inevitable that he had thoughts in his heart. In the seventeenth year of Chenghua (A.D. 148 1), Wang Zhi, who was on an expedition, asked his troops to return to Korea. Emperor Chenghua was not interested in Wang Zhi and told him to continue to resist the enemy. Soon after, he ordered all the troops to retreat. Later, Wang was sent to Nanjing as the royal horse supervisor, and the West Factory was cancelled. After that, Wang Zhi died in Nanking and never returned to the emperor.

After this incident, counterfeiting cases still emerge one after another.

Although the fake Wang Zhi died, the real Wang Zhi was deprived of power. However, after Wang Zhi, the incidents of posing as spies in the name of East Factory or West Factory and Royal Guards continued to emerge one after another. For example, when Ming Shizong was in Zhu Houzong, a robber disguised as a Royal Guards came to the county government and kidnapped the magistrate.

Volume 22 of Ming History records that during Jiajing period, robbers pretended to be a Royal Guards and broke into the county government of Hua County, kidnapping Zhang Jiayin, the magistrate of a county, and demanding a huge ransom. Zhang, the magistrate of a county, was not afraid of danger, saying that he had no money, but he could let the big families in the county gather together first, and then give the robbers a "white note" with the names of ten big families written on it, so that the robbers could take it to the big families to withdraw money. Poor robber, he didn't have many words, so he really took it. In fact, Zhang Jiayin wrote the name of the county policeman on the note. Seeing the handwritten documents of the magistrate's adult, the arresting officer immediately dispatched, and Zhang Jiayin was out of danger in time.

"If the fake is true, it is true." Fake spies frighten officials at all levels, so that sometimes even real spies dare not recognize them. According to Ming Taizu Sun Maochuan, a Royal Guards visited Guangdong in the fourth year of Jiajing. Sun Mao, the deputy envoy, and Zhang You, the provincial judge, suspected that it was false and arrested the Royal Guards for questioning. They deserve to be unlucky. After the incident, both Sun Mao and Zhang You went to prison.