The decline of feudal dynasties was often accompanied by the dictatorship of the eunuch clique, because the decline of the dynasty represented the weakening of imperial power. Dynasties that were originally balanced or had prominent imperial power suddenly became unbalanced between the monarch and the vassal or between the central and local governments, and in order to balance this relationship, the imperial power had to be compensated in other forms.
In the era of imperial power, after the decline of the dynasty, eunuch groups were generally used to divide the power of courtiers or localities. Thus came the appearance of the eunuch clique, and it was easier for the eunuchs who had been buried in the inner court to take advantage of this monopoly. Coupled with the fact that eunuchs have contributed to the consolidation of imperial power, it is normal to gain favor with merit and then hold power with favor.
First, the villain has the ambition
Tang Xuanzong created the greatest era of the Tang Dynasty, the Kaiyuan Dynasty, but due to mistakes in his later years, the Tianbao crisis situation appeared. Coupled with the subsequent Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty, which flourished for a time, declined. In the process of the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs in the Tang Court did not sit on the mountain to watch the fire, and the first eunuch who stood on the trend of the times was a eunuch named Yu Chao'en.
Yu Chao'en was a native of Luchuan, Luzhou (present-day Lu County, Sichuan), and during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he entered the Court of the Tang Dynasty and became a eunuch. At first, Yu Chao'en was only an obscure little eunuch in the inner court of the Tang Dynasty, who came to the Tang court to make a living by self-destructing his body just to seek a way to survive. In the last year of Tianbao, Yu Chao'en was able to enter the Inner Servant Province with a slight rank. However, the creation of the human world has always been impermanent, and the Tang Dynasty, which was once popular in clinker, later encountered the Chaos of An Shi.
After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Yu Chao'en had to flee with Tang Xuanzong's holy car. Later, when I went to this place in Ma Songpo, Tang Xuanzong and the crown prince Li Xiang, who were originally on the same side, had a disagreement here. Tang Xuanzong continued to flee west, while Li Xiang chose to go north to quell the rebellion. In 756, without the permission of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the crown prince Li Xiang, with the support of his courtiers, proclaimed himself emperor of Lingwu as Emperor Suzong of Tang.
When Ma Songpo was separated, Yu Chao'en decisively chose to follow the crown prince Li Xiang. It is said that the children of poor families have long been in charge, and Yu Chao'en is no exception, he has experienced a set of skills for dealing with the world very early. In the process of serving Li Xiang, Yu Chao'en gradually gained Li Xiang's favor. Therefore, when Li Xiang became empress, Yu Chao'en was reused.
Yu Chao'en was initially appointed as a supervisor of the army, and later he was later appointed as the inspector of the three palaces, and the left guard general Zhi Nei Shi (eunuch boss) and other positions. Originally a small official in the inner province, after a turmoil, he directly became the eunuch boss and had military power, and the road to Yu Chao'en's monopoly began. In 758, Yu Chao'en was appointed as the guanjun Rong Xuanwei disposal envoy, directly responsible for supervising the hundreds of thousands of troops of the nine jiedu envoys. At this point, Yu Chao'en's power reached a small peak.
Second, frame the good general
Yu Chao'en is just a good fate, although there are some small clever but not big talents. For the monopoly of Yu Chao'en, it can also be discussed by villains. The Anshi Rebellion gave Tang Suzong a defense against the military generals, and in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, Tang Suzong did not set up a marshal of the unified army after coming to power, but only let Yu Chao'en supervise the army. Yu Chao'en did not understand the art of war at all, so there was a bitter lesson in the defeat of the Xiangzhou army.
However, after the defeat of the Xiangzhou army, Yu Chao'en pushed the responsibility to Guo Ziyi, and Tang Suzong, who did not know right and wrong, deposed Guo Ziyi's military power, which was undoubtedly a loss for the Tang Dynasty at that time. When Luoyang was recaptured, Yu Chao'en listened to rumors and instigated Tang Suzong to arbitrarily send troops, and finally not only confiscated Fudongdu but also lost Heyang and Huaizhou. As the overseer of the army, Yu Chao'en was estimated to have been too eager to make a quick profit at that time, and he did not expect to end up running away in a hurry.
In the matter of recovering Luoyang, Yu Chao'en miscalculated. However, five years later, Tubo's invasion gave Yu Chao'en a great opportunity to make up for it. In 763, the Tianzi of the Tang Dynasty had been replaced by the Tang Dynasty Emperor, and since most of the Tang Dynasty's army was sent to fight the Anshi rebels at this time, the western defense was empty. Tubo took advantage of this situation and attacked Chang'an City.
Seeing that the emperor was not protected, Emperor Tang had to choose to flee, and this time the emperor fled, Yu Chao'en was later awarded the title of Rong Xuanwei of the Tianxia GuanJun because of his meritorious escort, and he also became the commander of the Jingshi Shence Army. However, it has to be mentioned that in a hurry, Emperor Tang dynasty promptly activated the veteran general Guo Ziyi, and Chang'an City, which fell 15 days later, was recovered. Emperor Tang was able to return to Chang'an and continue to be his emperor.
Third, the dragon has regrets
Yu Chao'en became a meritorious servant in front of the new emperor again, and his path of dictatorship became broader, and the supervisor of the later consular state (roughly equivalent to the minister of education and the minister of personnel) and the envoys of Hongxu and protocol gradually grasped the power of the imperial court. Villains generally become rampant, and Yu Chao'en is no exception. The imperial court belonged to the Li family, and at this time, in Yu Chao'en's heart, the Li family became his. As an internal official, he not only interfered in political affairs, but even later did not even pay attention to the Tang Dynasty.
Yu Chao'en's power is not played out, nor is it tested, but is completely stolen by good luck and small cleverness. Therefore, after the dictatorship, yu Chao'en inevitably expanded, so that he embezzled and bribed to extort courtiers. In short, the eunuch dictatorship derived from the decline of the Tang Dynasty began with Yu Zhao'en. In the "I Ching", there is a saying that "the dragon has remorse" means that people in high positions will fail and regret if they do not abstain from arrogance in the future. Caught in the fish Chao'en did not know and had never been exposed to this sentence.
Yu Chao'en did too much, so that Emperor Tang could not see it anymore, so he and The Prime Minister Yuan Zai hunted him down. The Cold Food Festival in 770 was no different from the past, but a deliberate murder was staged in the palace of the Tang Dynasty. The target of this murder was the eunuch Yu Chao'en, and on the day of the Cold Food Festival, the Tang Dynasty Emperor set up a banquet to entertain the courtiers, and after the banquet, he left Yu Chao'en alone to say that there was something to discuss.
Prime Minister Yuan Zai had already bribed Yu Zhao'en's close associates Zhou Hao and Emperor Fuwen in advance. Coupled with the fact that Yu Chao'en was accustomed to monopolizing power, there was no doubt about the special "hospitality" of the Tang Dynasty Emperor and there was no defense. Later, Yu Chao'en met Emperor Tang, who deliberately rebuked him for plotting against him. Yu Chao'en wants to defend himself, but has been captured by Zhou Hao and others. In this way, a generation of monopoly eunuchs Yu Chao'en was eventually hanged.
The emperor and the prime minister join forces to bribe and trap at the same time. Yu Chao'en was eventually eliminated, but the tang eunuch dictatorship had only just begun. There is a dead fish Chao'en and many more fish Chao'en waiting in line, the emergence of Yu Chao'en strengthened the strength of the Tang Dynasty eunuch clique and encouraged the arrogance of the eunuch dictatorship, and the situation of the eunuch special area in the middle and late Tang Dynasty also laid the groundwork here.