In the sixth year of orthodoxy, the three palaces that were damaged by disasters in the Yongle years: Fengtian Palace, Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall were completed, and Zhu Qizhen of Ming Yingzong held a banquet in the palace, feasted hundreds of officials, and celebrated with the ministers. On this night, all the officials above the fifth grade in Beijing participated, and the scene was very spectacular. According to the ancestral system, eunuchs were not allowed to participate in such a banquet. Therefore, Wang Zhen, the respected "Mr. Wang" of Yingzong, did not come to the banquet.
But in Mr. Wang's absence, Yingzong always felt very uncomfortable as if he was missing his right-hand man. I even wondered: Will the gentleman be angry that he didn't come to the banquet? So I sent someone to take a look at Mr., when the people sent by Yingzong arrived at Wang Zhen's house, Wang Zhen was angry: Can't I, as the Duke of Zhou, who assisted the king, have a place?
It stands to reason that if a eunuch or courtier said such a thing, it would be a great sin of disobedience.
However, Yingzong not only did not get angry, but felt guilty, so he ordered to welcome Mr. Wang to the banquet, and also asked Mr. Wang to open the middle gate of Donghua and let Mr. Wang enter through the east gate. Wang Zhen rode a horse to the Donghua Gate, and the hundred officials knelt in front of the Donghua Gate to greet him, as if to welcome the emperor. And Wang Zhen strode in front of the hundred officials, and only left the banquet when he was drunk.
Yingzong did this, which undoubtedly violated the ancestral system, and directly improved Wang Zhen's status. But Yingzong is the king of a country, and even if the ministers are dissatisfied, they can only obey.
The following year, Empress Dowager Zhang (Empress Cheng Xiaozhao, grandmother of Yingzong) died of illness, and no one could restrain Wang Zhen.
It was also from this year that Wang Zhen became a real eunuch, with power leaning towards the government and the opposition, and no one could restrain him. Directly destroy the OEM of "eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics" left by Emperor Taizu.
In the first month of the tenth year of Xuande, Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji was seriously ill, and the crown prince Zhu Qizhen was only 9 years old and could not govern himself. Xuanzong appointed Yang Pu, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Hu Hu and Zhang Fuming as "ministers of orphanage", assisted the young prince to succeed to the throne, and decreed that the Empress Dowager Zhang would hold the power, and all major events in the court and China needed to be reported to the Empress Dowager Zhang, and the Empress Dowager could only be implemented after obtaining the consent of the Empress Dowager. Although Empress Dowager Zhang does not listen to politics, she is controlling the overall situation.
When Yingzong first ascended the throne, Wang Zhen had already been promoted to the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch with the highest status and the most power among all the eunuchs. And he has done many things to interfere in politics and troubles the government, why didn't the Empress Dowager Zhang and the "Five Ministers of Xuanzong Tuogu" get rid of or stop Wang Zhen, but instead sit back and watch his rise?
I have to admit that Wang Zhen is indeed "smart" and very good at "pretending", and he has concealed the "five ministers of Tuogu".
And the "five ministers of Tuogu" all have the handle in Wang Zhen's hands, and Wang Zhen "got rid of" them one by one, making his position in the court more and more stable.
01
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, summed up the shortcomings of eunuchs in power in previous dynasties, so he stipulated: eunuchs are not allowed to study or interfere in politics; And hang an iron plaque at the palace gate: a number of eunuchs, beheaded!
Throughout the Hongwu Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict with the eunuchs.
By the time of Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, the "ancestral system" was slowly broken, and most of the people who passed the news back and forth between Beiping and Nanjing were eunuchs in the palace of Emperor Jianwen. Moreover, many of the people who followed Zhu Di to the battlefield to kill the enemy were eunuchs, such as Sanbao, who made a lot of contributions in the Battle of Jingnan.
After Zhu Di became emperor, he gradually let the eunuchs deal with some important things, such as sending envoys and supervising the army;
Even in the eighteenth year of Yongle, the East Factory was set up, and his own cronies and eunuchs served as the leaders of the East Factory.
By the time of Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, Xuanzong gave the emperor's red right to the eunuchs, and set up the eunuchs of the celebrant and the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch of the celebrant seal. And in order to allow the eunuchs to help them copy the contents of the fold, let the eunuchs begin to read and write, and set up an inner study hall.
Wang Zhen was a native of Ulzhou and was originally a showman, but Wang Zhen felt that the road to the imperial examination was too difficult, so he castrated himself into the palace and became a eunuch. Wang Zhen had originally studied, so he was selected by Xuanzong and awarded the East Palace Bureau Lang to accompany the prince Zhu Qizhen to study.
In fact, before Wang Zhen, there was a eunuch named Liu Ning who was very favored and was awarded the title of celebrant eunuch. Because Liu Ning was illiterate, Xuanzong asked Wang Zhen to ghostwrite for him. Soon Liu Ning was ordered to send an envoy to leave the capital, and Xuanzong asked Wang Zhen to temporarily replace Liu Ning as the eunuch of ceremonies
Later, Liu Ning was transferred to Nanjing as a garrison, and Wang Zhen became the chief eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor, replacing the emperor's management and approval of the folds.
Even the emperor's dictated orders had to be recorded and handed over to the cabinet for promulgation.
The celebrant eunuch took the emperor with him all day long, and the emperor lived in a simple place, and the opportunity to meet with the outer court was limited, so the celebrant eunuch could deceive the superiors and subordinates, and when approving the recital and conveying the emperor's orders, he came according to his own heart, and Wang Zhen often did this.
In the tenth year of Xuande, Emperor Xuanzong died of illness and was succeeded by Yingzong, who was only 9 years old.
Because Yingzong was young and Empress Dowager Zhang was unwilling to listen to the government, the early dynasty was canceled and the "Sanyang" presided over the government, which was the "Sanyang auxiliary government" in history.
Because Wang Zhen accompanied Yingzong when he was still the crown prince, and knew how to make Yingzong happy, Yingzong relied on him very much. In addition, Yingzong succeeded to the throne at the age of 9, and there are not many trustworthy people around him, "Sanyang" and Empress Dowager Zhang are both old, and they are busy dealing with court affairs, and only Wang Zhen can always be by Yingzong's side.
Youngjong was crowned crown prince after only a few months, and he was the crown prince for nearly nine years, an age when young children were more dependent on their elders. And Empress Dowager Sun (Yingzong's biological mother) and Xuanzong can't accompany him all the time, but Wang Zhen, as the director of the East Palace, is always by Yingzong's side, so Yingzong is very dependent on him, and he can't even see Wang Zhen for a day.
Even after Yingzong succeeded to the throne, he also called Wang Zhener "sir".
And Wang Zhen is very good at using "little loyalty and little faith" to cover up his big evil:
Once Yingzong and a group of little eunuchs bowed together, and the next day when Yingzong was in the cabinet, Wang Zhen ran forward and said to Yingzong: The previous emperor liked to bow, and even almost lost the country for a bow, how can you be like them, not for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's Jiangshan Society?
Yingzong was ashamed, and "Sanyang" sighed when he heard Wang Zhen's words, and said: I didn't expect there to be such a person among the eunuchs!
Therefore, when Wang Zhen came to the cabinet to deliver the decree again, "Sanyang" was very respectful and polite to Wang Zhen.
02
Because of this, Wang Zhen's power is getting bigger and bigger. even used the name of the little emperor's military parade to collect military power and use it to suppress civilian officials. In this process, Zhang Fu, one of the "Five Ministers of Ming Xuanzong", was also implicated, but because Zhang Fu was an old minister of the Three Dynasties, Wang Zhen naturally did not dare to use heavy punishment, so he beat the two officials to 20 boards each.
When the Empress Dowager Zhang learned about it, she immediately issued an edict to stop Wang Zhen, but it was too late.
Empress Dowager Zhang was very worried about this, so she planned to take two measures: select auxiliary ministers for the emperor and severely suppress Wang Zhen's arrogance. One day, the Empress Dowager Zhang summoned the "Five Ministers of Tuogu" to the side hall, and in front of the little emperor Yingzong, she granted the five ministers the right to take care of their lives. Immediately afterwards, Wang Zhen was summoned and scolded Wang Zhen very angrily:
You served by the emperor's side, but you did a lot of excessive things and gave you death.
As soon as Empress Dowager Zhang finished speaking, Wang Zhen was frightened, and the palace maid beside him had already put the sword on Wang Zhen's neck. Seeing this, Yingzong hurriedly interceded for Wang Zhen, and the five ministers of Tuogu also interceded for Wang Zhen together.
Empress Dowager Zhang gave up, but then reprimanded Wang Zhen: If you interfere in politics, be careful of your head.
After this incident, although Wang Zhen has reined in a lot, his ambition has never changed.
Once, the Zhang family sent Wang Zhen to the cabinet to ask about some things, and Yang Shiqi, one of the "three Yangs", was in charge of the matter of the resolution before a final result was discussed, and Wang Zhen interjected a few words, which made Yang Shiqi very displeased, so he did not go to court for three days.
When Empress Dowager Zhang learned about it, she directly ordered Wang Zhen to be flogged and asked Wang Zhen to make amends to Yang Shiqi. Warning Wang Zhen: If you commit it again, it will be your death.
Although the Empress Dowager Zhang saw the trend of Wang Zhenyou interfering in politics and would send someone to teach Wang Zhen a lesson, but after all, she did not stop it, which made a complicated situation in the early days of the Yingzong Dynasty, Wang Zhen not only became more and more arrogant, but also made the article to the head of Sanyang.
made Sanyang gradually lose his position in the mind of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and also lost his position in the court.
03
In October of the tenth year of orthodoxy, Liao Mo, a member of Fujian, directly killed Yi Cheng, and this Yi Cheng was a fellow villager of Yang Pu, one of the "Three Yangs", and Liao Mo was Yang Shiqi's fellow countryman, and Yang Pu directly convicted Liao Mo of death in order to avenge his fellow countryman. And Yang Shiqi naturally wanted to keep his fellow countrymen, so he said that Liao Mo was "executing his subordinates in the line of duty", not a personal grudge.
In this way, the two sides were deadlocked, and they came to ask the Empress Dowager Zhang to make a ruling.
For the Empress Dowager Zhang, this matter is very tricky, after all, neither end can be neglected. Wang Zhen came up with an idea for the Empress Dowager Zhang: Liao Mo, Yi Cheng and Ge Lao are all in the township, if Liao Mo is allowed to pay for one life, the punishment will be too heavy; If it is said that he executed his subordinates in the line of duty, it was too light, why not transfer Liao Mo from the capital after being demoted?
If you do this, you can not offend Sanyang.
Empress Dowager Zhang thought that this method was feasible, and Wang Zhen gradually gained the trust of Empress Dowager Zhang, so she allowed Wang Zhen to interrogate the government and government, and many ministers' statements and suggestions were made by Wang Zhen.
As a result, Sanyang's prestige was reduced, and the Empress Dowager Zhang did not have the same trust in Sanyang as before. Wang Zhen took the opportunity to show his talents in front of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and at the same time, Wang Zhen often grasped some mistakes of the ministers to gradually reduce their prestige. The Manchu Dynasty civil and military, except for Yang Shiqi, can't take Wang Zhen well.
Yang Rong is indeed a decisive and talented old minister, but he can not be absolutely incorruptible, and there are many good horses given to him by the border generals at home.
In the fifth year of orthodoxy, Yang Rong returned to his hometown to sweep the tomb, and when he returned to his hometown, he accepted the gift, and Wang Zhen seized the matter to strictly investigate Yang Rong. And Yang Rong also died in July of this year, and Yingzong ordered a thick burial.
Yang Shiqi has always been upright and fair, and he is a cabinet minister with great prestige, but he has no way to teach his sons, and his son Yang Ji does many illegal things and jokes about other people's lives. And Yang Shiqi is very doting on this son, and when a magistrate wrote to Yang Shiqi and told Yang Shiqi what his son did, Yang Shiqi did not believe it, and wrote to his son Yang Ji: If you take it seriously, you must correct it. Unexpectedly, Yang Ji not only did not admit it, but framed the other party.
Yang Shiqi naturally believes in his son more, if someone praises Yang Ji in front of Yang Shiqi, Yang Shiqi will be very happy.
Therefore, if Yang Ji does anything illegal again, it will not reach Yang Shiqi's ears.
But from time to time, people impeached Yang Ji for his actions, and the court did not punish Yang Ji because of Yang Shiqi's face. And Yang Shiqi said: It was the people around him who instigated him to do those things, and the people around him were not good.
Later, because Yang Ji was too much, he was arrested.
Wang Zhen seized Yang Shiqi's shortcomings and took the opportunity to attack Yang Shiqi.
In the face of Wang Zhen becoming more and more rampant and the court becoming more and more chaotic, Sanyang was not only at a loss, but also could only choose to protect himself because of his own affairs. Since his son Yang Ji was arrested, Yang Shiqi began to escape from reality and stopped talking. Yang Rong said helplessly: How to remedy the matter now! Shame on you!
The "Three Yangs" are still like this, and the other ministers have retreated.
Even Wang Zhen persuaded "Sanyang" to leave the court, once Wang Zhen came to the cabinet, and asked "Sanyang": After you, who will replace the suitable? You've all worked your whole life, it's time to rest.
Yang Shiqi said: I am willing to dedicate my life to the court.
Yang Rong said: We are all too old to do things, and there should be young talents to replace us; Being able to cultivate the next generation of talents is our best reward to the emperor.
Hearing Yang Rong's words, Wang Zhen left satisfied.
"Sanyang" is like this, what about the other two ministers?
04
The other two auxiliary ministers were the British Duke Zhang Fu and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Hu Hu, Zhang Fu's father Zhang Yu was one of the four dukes of Jingnan, who died for saving Zhu Di. Zhang Fu was also a hero of Jingnan, and was named an earl by Zhu Di, and later Zhang Fu was awarded the title of duke for his outstanding military exploits. Moreover, one of Zhang Fu's younger sisters is Ming Chengzu Zhu Di's Zhaoyi concubine, and one of Zhang Fu's daughters is Ming Renzong's Zhu Gaochi concubine. It can be said that Zhang Fu is not only a relative of the emperor, but also a veteran of great achievements, and his status in the court is extremely high. However, Zhang Fu was good at fighting and leading troops, and was not good at dealing with court politics, so he was naturally despised by the eunuchs.
Once, one of Zhang Fu's houses was occupied by Wang Zhen's henchman Xining.
Zhang Fu naturally refused to hand over the house, but Xining actually led someone to destroy the house directly, and beat Zhang Fu's family, resulting in the death of Zhang Fu's wife. This matter went to Yingzong, who favored Wang Zhen and did not ask Xining about the crime, but only sent Xining's younger brother Xisheng to Guangxi.
Xisheng was very unconvinced, so he sued Zhang Fu for taking the castrated person at home as a slave without authorization.
Yingzong did not blame Zhang Fu, but sent the house slaves taken in by Zhang Fu to Guangxi.
As a relative of the emperor and an auxiliary minister, he actually lost to the eunuchs, and this matter has to make people think deeply.
And in fact, Zhang Fu will stand on Wang Zhen's side in many things, so naturally he can't talk about suppressing Wang Zhen, but can "help" Wang Zhen become more and more rampant.
As for Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he is very generous and has worked hard all his life. But for Wang Zhen, there is no threat at all.
epilogue
Wang Zhen is absolutely trusted and relied on by Yingzong, so Yingzong will not only not stop Wang Zhen, but Wang Zhen is the biggest assistant.
Although the Empress Dowager Zhang taught Wang Zhen a lesson from time to time, she did not get rid of or stop Wang Zhen's actions.
And "Sanyang" was deceived by Wang Zhen's "loyalty" at first, and later because of his own affairs, even if he knew what Wang Zhen did, he couldn't care about it, so he could only seek self-preservation. What's more, at this time, the "Sanyang" was also gradually getting old, unable to do it, and passed away one after another.
As for Zhang Fu and Hu Hu, they are almost no threat to Wang Zhen.
In this way, after the death of the Empress Dowager Zhang in the seventh year of orthodoxy, Wang Zhen rose rapidly and became the first eunuch of the Ming Dynasty.
Empress Dowager Zhang died only seven years ago, and then there was a "Tumubao Change", Yingzong was captured by the Warat people, Wang Zhen died in Tumubao, the first crisis of the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, with Empress Dowager Sun, Ming Dynasty Zong Zhu Qiyu, Yu Qian and others, the Ming Dynasty was preserved
Resources:
The Continuation of the Collection, Volume 9, and the Heroes of the Martyrdom
Tribute to the Imperial Dynasty, Vol. 5
History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 154, Biography 42
Records of Emperor Yingzong Rui of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 356
History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 169, Biography 57
"Ming History Chronicle, Volume 29: Wang Zhen's Use"
History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 304, Biography 192
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