Eunuchs usurped independent military power in Tang Dynasty. What was the chaos of eunuchs in Ming Dynasty?

Eunuch chaos is common in the history of China, especially in the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

The eunuch chaos in the Tang Dynasty was that eunuchs held military power and could abolish the emperor at will, which was the dynasty in which domestic slaves bullied their masters the most.

As for the eunuch chaos in the Ming Dynasty, we are familiar with it, such as eunuchs Wang Zhen and Wu Zongchao who encouraged Ming Yingzong to personally expedition and eventually brewed the change of the civil fort? The emperor? Liu Jin and Emperor Chongzhen cleaned it up? Nine years old? Wei Zhongxian, wait.

Many people even think that the eunuch chaos in the Ming Dynasty was the most serious dynasty in China history, even worse than the Tang Dynasty. Although the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty did not abolish or even kill the emperor, their influence spread all over the country, accompanied by most of the Ming Dynasty.

However, it was after the Anshi Rebellion that the eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty mastered the military power and began to bully the Lord. At that time, the central government declined and there were many buffer zones, which means that the actual control scope of the central government was already very small, so the scope that eunuchs could influence was very small. Therefore, it is considered that the eunuch chaos in Tang Dynasty was not as serious as that in Ming Dynasty.

Of course, it is controversial about which dynasty eunuch chaos was the most serious, and there is no clear conclusion. In fact, generally speaking, the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty have their own advantages. However, the two dynasties with the most serious eunuch chaos were definitely the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

But it's also eunuch chaos. The two dynasties were actually quite different. The reason why eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty were chaotic was that eunuchs mastered independent military power. The reason why the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were chaotic was that, for the sake of balance, they took the initiative to delegate power to eunuchs, so they were given the opportunity to be chaotic. What's going on here? Today, An Song came to talk about it in detail.

Let's talk about the eunuch chaos in the Tang Dynasty.

Eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty began to hold real power during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin customized eunuchs in order to limit their power. Isn't the chamberlain a doctrine officer? It means that eunuchs can't be officials and wise.

When Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty arrived, eunuchs were not restricted, and eunuchs who were slightly in line with Emperor Xuanzong's wishes were rewarded? About the third grade, General Guard? Eunuchs can also serve as jailers, send missions to the frontier, manage teaching workshops and so on.

After the Anshi Rebellion, eunuchs soared. First of all, eunuch Yu Chaoen led the local army Shence Army to guard Tang Daizong. Due to the separatist regime of the buffer region at that time, the emperor was in urgent need of an army that could be directly controlled and trusted by himself, so the Shence Army was upgraded to an imperial army and became an army that could be directly controlled by the central court and maintained its rule. Later, after more than ten years of evolution, eunuchs thoroughly mastered the Shence army and formed a convention.

Eunuchs hold the military power of Shence Army, and they have independent military power. Coupled with the fact that there would be no loyal guards of the emperor in the buffer region at that time, the eunuchs naturally had no worries, and they arbitrarily abolished or even killed the emperor.

Let's talk about the eunuch chaos in the Ming Dynasty.

There are two biggest differences between eunuchs in Tang Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.

First, the eunuch rebellion in the Tang Dynasty was based on his independent military power, while the eunuch in the Ming Dynasty had no independent military power at all. Even during the reign of Ming Daizong, eunuchs began? The prefect Beijing camp? In other words, you can be in charge of the military affairs of the Beijing Army, but eunuchs have more military power and have no independent military power from beginning to end.

Because the military power of the Ming army is generally contained by three parties, and eunuchs, civil servants and military commanders generally control each other. In the end, only the emperor has independent military power.

It is precisely because eunuchs have no independent military power that eunuchs, no matter how powerful they are, are only built on the emperor's favor. Once the emperor wants to punish him, it is only a matter of words. For example, the cynical Ming Wuzong wants to clean up those who have long rebelled? The emperor? Liu Jin, it didn't take much effort. With one order, Liu Jin, who is extremely powerful, was cleaned up.

Second, the eunuchs in the Tang dynasty had independent military power, which was tantamount to stealing the power of the emperor, while the eunuchs in the Ming dynasty had power because the emperor voluntarily delegated power to eunuchs.

As for why?

Because the Ming Dynasty was a dynasty with a high concentration of monarchical power, the biggest sign was that after Zhu Yuanzhang killed the prime minister Hu in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, he conveniently abolished the prime minister system, leaving the province of Zhongshu, and the emperor personally took charge of six departments, which greatly strengthened the absolute monarchy, that is to say, all the power was concentrated on the emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, was afraid that the later emperor would reset the prime minister system. Hongwu twenty-eight years in June, he specifically said? When I am the prime minister, I set up the government, the Ministry and the Douchayuan, and the power belongs to the court. Heijun is not allowed to re-establish the Prime Minister. Will we dare to reward the inviter? .

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang considered for future generations, left the ancestral system, forbade them to re-establish the prime minister, and will continue to abolish the prime minister system.

But what kind of existence is the Prime Minister?

Generally speaking, the emperor is similar to the president of a country today, but he has great decision-making power and holds the general direction. The Prime Minister is the head of government, and he is in charge of all public affairs.

Since the Qin dynasty, the head of government has been the prime minister. Although the names of dynasties are different, they are essentially the same, which means that both positions are held by two people.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang combined these two positions for the first time. It is conceivable that there are multiple government affairs to deal with every day, but Zhu Yuanzhang, after all, is the founding emperor, with high prestige and energy, and can only barely persist.

However, the later emperors didn't have the prestige and energy as high as Zhu Yuanzhang's, so during the reign of Zhu Di, the emperor formally established a cabinet that the emperors could share, and this secretarial team became more and more mature, even after the middle and late Ming Dynasty? Cabinet records? The post was called by many people? Item? Think about it, just like the Prime Minister.

Actually, it's not. No matter how powerful the cabinet and its records are, they are far less powerful than the prime minister, because whether the emperor likes it or not, the prime minister has his own set of directly affiliated institutions and his own subordinates, such as the six departments in the early Ming Dynasty, which means that the prime minister has his own independent team and has the power of deliberation, supervision and administration.

Although the power of cabinet records in many places is close to or even comparable to that of prime ministers, this situation is often not caused by the system, but by the temporary privileges granted by the emperor, and the core powers such as decision-making power are still in the hands of the emperor.

On the other hand, in addition to the core decision-making power, the prime minister has certain decision-making power, or the prime minister is in charge of all common affairs, which is unmatched by cabinet records.

The reason why this happened is actually that the later emperor didn't have so much energy, so he appropriately delegated power to the civil servants, so the cabinet appeared.

However, it can only be divided appropriately, not too much. Otherwise, the power of the cabinet is no different from that of the prime minister of that year, so the division of power is too much, which is equivalent to the efforts of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor.

Therefore, at this time, the eunuch group began to step onto the core political stage. First of all, it can be shared by the emperor like a cabinet, and only needs proper decentralization. Second, the cabinet and the highest institution in the eunuch group, Silijian, contain each other, while the emperor is in the middle and will not be excluded.

So the emperor began to consciously delegate power to eunuchs. For example, Judy in Ming Taizu set up the East Factory, and Zhu Zhanji in Ming Taizu, together with Chen Shan and eunuch Jingtai in Ming Taizu, formally set up an inner bookstore to teach illiterate imperial attendants? The prefect Beijing camp? , not completely lifted.

And the highest officials of these two institutions, the eunuchs of Li Si prison, are there? Interior? The name of the cabinet record is also called? Item? To some extent, it can be understood that these two institutions have inherited most of the power of the Prime Minister, and together they are almost equivalent to the full power of the Prime Minister. Although the emperor took the initiative to delegate power to them, this setting is quite clever. To put it bluntly, they can play most of the role of prime ministers, share worries for the emperor and contain each other.

Of course, the defects are also obvious. Like a eunuch with a broken body, his psychology is mostly distorted. After gaining power, they relied on the status of the emperor's cronies to run amok and do whatever they want.

The emperor often knows the evil deeds of eunuchs, but as long as eunuchs don't touch the bottom line and rebel, and as long as they are conducive to the emperor's rule, the emperor often turns a blind eye, so the bad political environment that caused the chaos of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty is a major drawback of the Ming Dynasty.