Who is the only eunuch in history who can grow a beard?

Tong Guan, a native of Kaifeng, was a powerful minister in the Northern Song Dynasty. We are familiar with him mainly because of Water Margin. In fact, Tong Guan's life is far more wonderful than the description in Water Margin.

Tong Guan created at least a few "most" in his life:

He was the eunuch with the greatest military power in the history of China;

And he is the eunuch who has held the relieving power for the longest time in China history;

He is the eunuch with the highest title in China history;

He was the first eunuch to represent the country in the history of China.

He was also the only eunuch in China history who was crowned king.

If the eunuch status is removed, these records are insignificant, but it is his eunuch status that makes these records meaningful.

According to historical records, Tong Guan was tall and tall, with bright eyes and a sparse beard on his chin. Being a eunuch can grow a beard, which is unprecedented and unprecedented.

Of course, this is a joke. None of us have really met the ancient eunuch, so it is normal to keep a few beards. If you cut that thing off, the androgen still exists. Moreover, Tong Guan didn't become clean until he was an adult, so it's not surprising that he has a long beard.

After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, some eunuchs went out of the palace and were photographed. According to those old photos, some eunuchs have such sparse beards.

Tong Guan's sparse beard is specifically recorded in historical materials, probably to highlight his warrior spirit and masculinity.

when Tong Guan entered the palace clean, he was apprenticed to Li Xian, a senior eunuch in his hometown. This Li Xian was a famous eunuch in Song Shenzong. He served as an army supervisor on the northwest border for many years, and had quite some meritorious military service.

Tong Guan stayed in the army with Li Xian every day, and learned a lot of military knowledge. This is at least the reason why he became good at holding the military power later.

When Song Shenzong was in office, Tong Guan was always a minion of others, and he was unknown, so he couldn't get ahead. Until Song Huizong succeeded to the throne, Tong Guan was finally appreciated by the emperor, but not for his military talents, but for his proper handling of Glory.

At this time, Tong Guan was over 4 years old, and he had a lot of experience in life. The emperor needed a man like him to do things.

Song Huizong is a man of culture, and an artist likes those calligraphy and paintings. Tong Guan is responsible for collecting calligraphy and painting all over the country and bringing it to the emperor. This is a beautiful job, and there is a lot of oil and water.

Tong Guan became a rich eunuch. He was generous and generous, so he met many powerful people in the DPRK, including calligrapher Cai Jing.

when I first met Cai Jing, Cai Jing was demoted to Hangzhou, which was the time when he was down and out. Cai Jing gave his treasured Wang Youjun's words to Tong Guan and helped him collect good calligraphy and painting. Tong Guan was dedicated to the emperor, and Song Huizong was very happy. He was surprised that Tong Guan, who had only studied in a private school for four years, had such a tasting skill.

Song Huizong is happy, and Tong Guan is naturally happy. He is very grateful to Cai Jing for his help. They established a deep friendship, and later Cai Jing was transferred back to Beijing. Tong Guan said a lot of good things and got through the joints.

Cai Jing, after all, is a great calligrapher and writes well, while Song Huizong likes these artists. In less than a year, Cai Jing jumped into the position of prime minister.

after Cai Jing came to power, he did not forget Tong Guan, who was grateful to him. After he presided over the national government, an important measure was to recommend Tong Guan to supervise the northwest, in order to quell the northwest rebellion and recover Qinghai and Gansu.

Tong Guan must have wanted this position himself, and his ambition is military.

Tong Guan went to Huangchuan, Qinghai, with the army after he became a supervisor. They rested their troops here and held a swearing-in meeting. At this moment, I suddenly received a command from Song Huizong to stop the war. It turned out that the palace was on fire, and Song Huizong thought it was an ominous sign and was not suitable for war.

after reading the shouyu, Tong Guan silently picked it up and kept a straight face. His subordinates asked him what the emperor's instructions were, and Tong Guan said that your majesty hoped that we would win the flag.

Tong Guan, this is to disobey the decree!

military orders will not be accepted in foreign countries. Tong Guan ignored Song Huizong's instructions and went to war as planned. He really has some skills. He fought a series of beautiful battles and quelled the northwest rebellion.

At the celebration party, everyone drank openly and was very happy. Tong Guan did a disappointing thing-took out the letter from Song Huizong before the war and passed it on to people.

everyone was stunned after reading it. Tong Guan explained: "At that time, morale was high. If we stop fighting at this time, how can we fight in the future?"

someone asked, have you considered what would happen if we lost the battle this time?

Tong Guan replied, "If I lose the battle, I will take the blame alone!" People listened with admiration to Tong Guan, and their tears almost came down. From then on, they were unswerving loyal to Tong Guan. You have to admire Tong Guan's manipulative skills.

Afterwards, Song Huizong didn't punish Tong Guan for disobeying orders. The Song Dynasty badly needed a victory, which was a long-lost military victory and could inspire the people and the imperial court. Therefore, when Tong Guan moved troops back to the DPRK, they were given a warm welcome from top to bottom.

But slowly, the political friction between Tong Guan and his old friend Cai Jing also increased.

Tong Guan, who is heavily armed, is no longer as cautious and modest as he was when he was a eunuch. He presided over the military in northwest China. When appointing and promoting officials, he often reported directly to the emperor without going through government procedures, and sometimes even acted first.

Cai Jing, as the prime minister, has a big opinion. Appointing officials must go through him first. Now Tong Guan obviously doesn't take him seriously. Cai Jing's character is vengeance will be mine, so he often plays tricks behind his back, holding back Tong Guan.

Cai Jing's handwriting is good. If you want to plot against him, it's really not as good as Tong Guan, who was born as a eunuch. Being a eunuch is exquisite, and moving people is not obvious.

The two men were fighting in secret. On the one hand, Tong Guan used his eunuchs in the palace to speak ill of Cai Jing in front of the emperor and concubines.

On the one hand, he wooed those officials who were in conflict with Cai Jing in the DPRK and engaged in impeachment work.

Tong Guan also wooed the Taoist priest favored by Song Huizong, playing that mysterious trick, saying that watching the celestial phenomena at night had something against the imperial court, because there was an official who was in conflict with the charm of Da Song, and this official was Cai Jing. Song Huizong is very superstitious, so he has to leave Bianjing and demote him to live in Hangzhou.

after Cai Jing was removed, Tong Guan became more prosperous.

Song Huizong wants to recall Tong Guan from the northwest and send him to the northern Liao country. At that time, some ministers in the DPRK objected that sending a eunuch with unhealthy physiology as an ambassador might be ridiculed by Liao people, making me look like no one in the Song Dynasty.

Song Huizong said that all the Khitans in Liao heard that Tong Guan was fighting very hard and wanted to meet him. Just take this opportunity to send Tong Guan to the Liao country to inspect the situation of the Khitans, so as to prepare for the war with them in the future.

In order to make the Khitans feel that Da Song attached great importance to this visit, he didn't just send a small official from Sesame, so Song Huizong gave Tong Guan a promotion, and was promoted to the rank of Inspector, which is the highest position of military attache and the highest military officer except the emperor.

Tong Guan made a big mistake when he went to the Liao country. He conspired with Ma Zhi, the minister of the Southern Courtyard of the Liao country, to recover sixteen prefectures. This Ma Zhi is a Han Chinese. Although he is an official in Liao country, he is concerned about the motherland. The two reached a strategy of uniting gold to resist Liao. A few years later, Song and Jin countries formed a maritime alliance.

Song people think that the alliance with the Jin people is for the sake of making friends far away and attacking near. That's true, but there's another truth, that is, the lips are dead and the teeth are cold. The Liao country was sandwiched between Song and Jin Dynasties, which could have served as a buffer, and the Song Dynasty could have pursued a balanced policy. And when the Liao kingdom perished, would the Jin people not covet the fat of Dasong?

In The Water Margin, it is written that after the imperial court enlisted the Song River and Liangshanbo, they were sent to attack the peasant rebels in Fang La. In fact, this is purely a robbery of Tong Guan's credit, and it is Tong Guan's credit to pacify the Fang La Uprising. He was named a surname for this reason, and he was also knighted as the Duke of Chu.

Shortly after the suppression of the Fang La Uprising, Song and Jin launched an attack on Liao. The main force of attacking Liao was the Jin people, who had a bitter feud with Liao, while the Song Dynasty was just thinking about recovering sixteen prefectures.

Under the attack of Song and Jin, Liao finally perished, and the Song Dynasty regained sixteen prefectures as it wished. Tong Guan was promoted to the rank of King of Guangyang County for his great achievements.

However, behind this victory, the crisis surged, which laid the foundation for Jingkang's difficulties. After Jin Taizu's death, the heir decisively tore up the Covenant and invaded the Song Dynasty in a big way.

In the face of the invasion of the Jin people to the south, Song Huizong was scared to pass on the throne to Prince Zhao Huan, who changed his name to Jingkang for the sake of Qinzong.

there is a great contradiction between Qin zong and Tong Guan. Qin Zong thought that the status of a eunuch in Tong Guan was too high, which led to disaster. But Tong Guan looked down on Qin Zong because of his series of military achievements, and there was only one master in his bones, Song Huizong.

Song Qinzong just came to power, and he also needs to establish a strong position and collect the military power. Tong Guan is his stumbling block. It is also an unwritten rule that the new emperor ascended the throne, slaughtered the former imperial ministers and consolidated his rule.

In the event of a national war crisis, it is generally necessary to find someone to be "responsible" in the DPRK. Tong Guan, who is too powerful, unexpectedly became the target of public criticism and was pulled out as a scapegoat.

Tong Guan was charged with dozens of major crimes, one of which was "making enemies with Liao and Jin, creating a border gap". This is really not wronged him. If it weren't for his alliance with Ma Zhi to fight against Liao, there might not be today's Jin people invading south.

in the first year of Jingkang, in 1126, Tong Guan was demoted to three levels. On the way to being demoted, Song Qinzong still doesn't feel at ease. Only when Tong Guan is dead can he feel at ease.

Send Zhang Cheng, the supervisor, to execute Tong Guan. On the way to being demoted, Tong Guan heard that the emperor had sent a new will to supervise the suggestion. He thought that the tight war made Song Qinzong "wake up" and had to rely on him to lead troops.

Tong Guan smiled and stroked his sparse beard and said, "I'm still indispensable!"

I didn't expect Zhang Cheng, the supervisor, to arrive. First, he read out dozens of major sins of Tong Guan again, and then announced the emperor's will-chop and make a decision!

Immediately, Zhang Cheng's men carried broadswords and cut off Tong Guan's head with one knife ...