The dynasties with the most serious interference in the eunuch dictatorship were the Tang and Ming dynasties.
In the Han Dynasty, there were also eunuchs who formed a party for personal gain and controlled the government, but only at the end of the Western Han Dynasty.
At that time, the ten permanent servants and friends were treacherous and played with the Son of Heaven in the palm of their hands, which led to the chaos in the world and the emergence of a situation in which the Three Kingdoms were established.
Although the ten permanent servants led by Zhang Rang became the culprit of the fall of the dynasty, the eunuchs in other eras of the Han Dynasty were not very powerful, and it was difficult to influence the national policy.
Some netizens may have objections when they see the title of my article.
Because no matter how arrogant the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty was, when it was the emperor's turn to clean him up, it was basically easy to take it down.
In the face of imperial power, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty had little power to fight back.
The eunuchs in power in the Tang Dynasty were more ruthless than the other.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty no longer trusted the self-respecting generals.
The eunuchs, who were confidants, were reused to check and balance the ministers of the court.
Because of the control of military power, many eunuchs were unscrupulous and did all kinds of evil.
The emperor who became a puppet naturally wanted to regain the rights that originally belonged to him.
But there are a few people who are willing to give up the right to get it, and the eunuchs are no exception.
Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, forcing the palace to kill the emperor happened from time to time, and most of this was the "masterpiece" of the eunuchs in power.
In other words, in the late Tang Dynasty, it was almost commonplace for the great eunuch to depose the emperor and control the government.
And no matter how powerful the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were, they could not shake the imperial power, and from this point of view, it is difficult to compare with the Tang Dynasty.
But what I want to say today is not only to refer to the aspect of the eunuch dictatorship, but to look at this issue from multiple angles.
The eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty were basically the ones who brought disaster to the country and the people, but the Ming Dynasty presented a different picture.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there were a lot of eunuchs who caused trouble, but there were also many eunuchs who served the country and the people, and some even both.
Like Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures we are familiar with, his seven voyages to the West are great feats that can be recorded in history.
To this day, Zheng He is still the pride of our Chinese nation.
"History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Eunuchs" mentions several virtuous eunuchs: "There are sages from time to time, such as Huai'en, Li Fang, Chen Ju, ......"
Huai En was originally a son of an official family, but he was implicated in the murder of his brother, and he was confiscated from the palace when he was young.
He went through the three dynasties of Yingzong, Xianzong and Xiaozong, and was upright and honest, and belonged to a clear stream among the eunuchs.
Wynne often advised the emperor, and many righteous ministers were spared because of him.
During the period of Ming Xianzong, Wan Guifei bewitched the emperor to abolish the crown prince, and Huai En strongly objected, thus offending Ming Xianzong and Wan Guifei, and was reprimanded to Fengyang to guard the ancestral tomb.
When the crown prince succeeded to the throne, he remembered Huaien's original outspokenness, so he recalled him to Jingshi.
Huai En was in charge of the ceremonial supervisor and did not change his true colors, and suggested that Ming Xiaozong expel Wan An, the first assistant of the cabinet, and appoint a loyal minister Wang Shu.
After his death, Ming Xiaozong ordered the construction of an ancestral hall for him and gave him the name "Xianzhong" in recognition of his merits.
Li Fang was a eunuch during the Jiajing Emperor's period, and the official was the eunuch who held the seal of the eunuch.
He is the prototype of the virtuous eunuch Lu Fang in the TV series "Ming Dynasty 1566".
Li Fang once exposed the embezzlement of public funds by Xu Gao, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and also wrote to Jiajing to reduce the excessive taxes of the people, which was praised by the ministers of the DPRK and China.
Later, he impeached the other eunuchs for their illegal acts, offending Teng Xiang, Cheng Hong and others.
These eunuchs jointly framed Li Fang and put him in prison.
After being released from prison, he was sent to Nanjing Jingjun.
When mentioning Li Fang, we can't fail to mention Huang Jin, another eunuch in the TV series.
There are not many records about Huang Jin in historical materials, but what he said is enough to make him famous in history.
At the beginning, Hai Rui wrote a "Public Security Sparse" and scolded the emperor severely.
After Jiajing saw it, Long Yan was furious, and he wanted to kill Hai Rui immediately.
At the critical moment, Huang Jin stepped forward and said that he had heard that Hai Rui had prepared a coffin at home before going to Shu, which calmed down the angry Jiajing.
Jiajing, who regained his senses, watched "Public Security Shu" several times, and realized that he would be scolded as a faint king if he killed Hai Rui, so he had to issue an order to lock up the other party and wait for the fate.
Huang Jin also deserves praise for not accepting bribes, which was particularly valuable in the Ming Dynasty at that time.
Chen Ju was also a eunuch who entered the palace during the Jiajing period, but he was still young at the time and had no opportunity to perform.
In the Wanli period, Chen Ju was in charge of the East Factory, not only did not kill innocents indiscriminately, but also tried to protect the convicted ministers.
For the cases he handles, he mostly handles them with gentle means and rarely implicates others.
Therefore, when Chen Ju was the leader of the East Factory, it was the period when the East Factory arrested the least people and the order of the Beijing Division was the most stable.
After talking about these eunuchs with good character, I will talk about a few eunuchs who are inseparable from evil.
Zhang Yong was one of the famous eunuch groups "Eight Tigers" during the Ming Wuzong period.
Although he is powerful in the court, he is a good hand at war.
Every time he went out on an expedition, the troops led by Zhang Yong were strictly disciplined and did not harass the people.
In addition, Zhang Yongneng shared weal and woe with the soldiers and hired talented people to serve in important positions in the army, so he had a high prestige in the army.
Later, the imperial court arrested Jiang Bin, who intended to rebel, relying on Zhang Yong's strength in the army.
Zhang Yong also followed Yang Yiqing's advice and brought down Liu Jin, the great eunuch who leaned towards the government and the opposition.
Although there is a selfish desire to fight for power and profit, it is also a great achievement.
Another eunuch of the Ming Dynasty who had a lot of military achievements was Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi was cunning and intelligent, and during the period when he was in charge of the West Factory, he weaved a prison, created unjust cases, and framed Zhongliang, which caused the government and the opposition to shake.
Such a eunuch villain does not seem to be as narrow-minded as people think.
Yang Jizong, the imperial history of Zuo Du, has always been not afraid of the powerful, when his mother died, Wang Zhi came to worship, and he directly ridiculed the other party.
Wang Zhi did not hold a grudge, but said to Ming Xianzong: "There is only one person in the world who does not love money, Yang Jizong." ”
Qin Hong secretly exposed Wang Zhi's illegal behavior, Wang Zhi did not frame the other party, and said in front of the emperor that Qin Hong was an honest and talented person.
It can be seen from this that although Wang Zhi is arrogant and domineering, he also knows that he attaches importance to state affairs.
For some really capable ministers, he also has the capacity to accommodate people.
Wang Zhi himself had real skills, and his military ability far exceeded that of most generals at that time.
In the seventeenth year of Chenghua (1481), Wang Zhi was the supervisor of the army, and fought against the Mongolian Wara that entered Kou Datong and Xuanfu three times, and achieved a great victory at the Black Stone Cliff.
Wang Zhi also advocated the conquest of Annan and formulated a related strategy, but Ming Xianzong did not take his advice out of fear of the failure of the past conquests.
Another contribution of Wang Zhi was to improve the martial arts system of the Ming Dynasty.
According to the "Ming History Chronicle", in the fourteenth year of Chenghua, Wang Zhi suggested that Zhu Jianshen attach importance to martial arts, and set up the township examination, the meeting examination and the palace examination with reference to the way of the literary examination.
One last thing I want to say is that when the Ming Dynasty fell, the performance of the eunuchs in the dynasty profoundly reflected the essence of this class.
When Li Zicheng led the Dashun army to attack the capital, the eunuchs Du Zhizhi and Cao Huachun directly betrayed the lord to seek glory, and opened the city gate with the officials to welcome the king into the capital.
However, the eunuch Wang Chengen led his men to defend the city, and the "History of the Ming Dynasty" recorded: "Seeing the thief's wall, he hurriedly shelled it, killing several people in a row, and Zhu Jue vented freely." ”
Later, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen hanged himself on the coal mountain, and Wang Chengen also hanged himself on the begonia tree next to him.
The so-called hundred officials knelt on the ground to offer the city, and the eunuchs carried knives to protect their homes.
Although a young man has two taels of meat, he is a true husband in the world.
Wang Chengen's integrity is many times stronger than those ministers who rushed to join Li Zicheng.
In the entire history of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were the most complex group.
Some of them have brought great calamities to the country and its people; Some people are credited to the country, and even for centuries.
From this point of view, the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty are really not as good as their descendants.