In the history of China, eunuch power was particularly rampant in three dynasties, namely the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. The downfall of these three dynasties was directly related to the rise of eunuch forces. Both the ten ministers in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the father of the ten armies in the Tang Dynasty, and Mr. Wang, who was nine years old in the Ming Dynasty, are representatives of the evil forces of eunuchs in these dynasties. They collude with concubines and consorts, interfere in political affairs, take bribes and pervert the law, and damage loyalty. Be hated by future generations. However, I think that the evil forces of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty did the most serious harm to the society at that time, far exceeding the Han and Tang Dynasties. First of all, it is closely related to the horror politics of the Ming Dynasty. After the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang unified the world, although eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in state affairs, ironclad evidence was set up in the DPRK to prohibit eunuchs from interfering in politics. Even deprived the eunuch of the right to read and write. But Zhu Yuanzhang was very distrustful of the ministers who had made great contributions to him. Zhu Yuanzhang, who was harsh by nature, finally killed almost all the heroes for various reasons. When he was in office, he sent eunuchs to spy on the private life of the minister. Although he didn't let eunuchs participate in state affairs, it has laid the groundwork for eunuch intervention in the future. Zhu Yuanzhang is dead.
Later, Zhu Yunwen, the great-grandson of Qin Shihuang, succeeded to the throne. Before Zhu Yunwen reformed the drawbacks left over from the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, Judy, the prince of Yan, launched the battle of Jingnan and finally captured Nanjing. Zhu Yunwen's whereabouts were unknown, and Judy ascended the throne. From then on, Judy followed in her father's footsteps, wantonly killing ministers who worked for Zhu Yunwen, and the means were extremely horrible and cruel, far exceeding Zhu Yuanzhang's. In order to exercise her power, Judy watched his ministers. After moving the capital to Beijing, notorious spy agencies-Dongchang and Xichang were established. The members of these two spy agencies are basically eunuchs. They didn't have much real power in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, and they have been waiting for opportunities. Judy's approach just gave them an excellent opportunity to expand their power. They took this opportunity to expand their power. Because Judy trusted them and strongly supported their activities, which virtually encouraged the arrogance of these eunuchs. They began to crack down on dissidents, establish partisans, and cultivate cronies in North Korea and other places. In the twenty-two years of Judy's accession to the throne, although the eunuch power gradually became stronger, it did not have the ability to control the state affairs. They just use their power to run amok in a local area, which has little influence on the political situation. When Zhu Gaochi was in power, he lost more eunuchs, but Zhu Gaochi died only half a year later. During Zhu Zhanji's ten years in power, eunuchs didn't have much influence.
The eunuch power was really rampant in Ming Dynasty when Zhu Qizhen, Ming Yingzong and Zhu Qizhen became emperors at the age of nine. Because of his youth and ignorance, he especially likes the eunuch Wang Zhen, who almost obeys Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen is an evil traitor. In order to control the regime alone, he cheated Zhu Qizhen by many unfair means. After nine years of orthodoxy, the regime of the Ming Dynasty was actually controlled by Wang Zhen. Large and small things can only be implemented with the consent of Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen established his own regime while taking full power. At that time, many ministers attached themselves to his head and willingly joined the political power groups in Wang Zhen to work for him. The eunuch dictatorship in the Ming Dynasty officially entered the historical stage.
The Ming dynasty began to show signs of decline after the change of the civil fort. When Zhu Qizhen proclaimed himself emperor for the second time, he still reused eunuchs. Because eunuchs destroyed the stability of the political situation, the Ming Dynasty was actually on the defensive in the military stalemate against Waci at that time. Some upright ministers in the DPRK strongly demanded to get rid of eunuchs to interfere in politics, but objectively, the eunuch power group saw that they wanted to control the state affairs for a long time, so they had to get rid of these anti-ministers, thus persecuting the upright courtiers even more.
The struggle between the eunuch forces in the Ming Dynasty and the righteous forces at that time was fierce and cruel, but on the whole, the eunuch forces were obviously stronger than the cabinet forces. In the struggle, the cabinet forces are always at a disadvantage and very passive. The result of the struggle is often that the cabinet forces against eunuchs are either killed or lost. Although in the seventeenth year of Chenghua (1482), Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen cancelled the West Factory, but the eunuch power did not.
This situation has not changed much. The main reason is that when the emperor disagrees with the cabinet, he can only force the cabinet to accept the emperor's will with the help of powerful eunuch forces. Every time this happens, it contributes to the rapid growth of eunuch power. When Zhu Houzhao was in the Ming Dynasty, the power of Liu Jin, the great eunuch, reached its peak. While confusing Zhu Houzhao with a beautiful woman, Liu Jin launched an all-round counterattack against the cabinet that opposed him, giving a heavy blow.
By the time of Emperor Sejong Zhu Houqi in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houqi had severely reduced the eunuch power, so during his forty years as emperor, the eunuch power was no longer as rampant as before, and the cabinet power gradually increased. However, this situation changed again in Zhu Yijun, Ming Shenzong, and eunuch forces rose again. When Zhang was in power, eunuchs were powerful, but they were only in the recovery stage. After Zhang's death, the eunuch power was in the recovery stage. Cabinet troops were forced to retreat again. At this time, the eunuch forces not only controlled political rights, but also controlled economic rights. They not only eliminated dissidents politically, but also plundered economically, which seriously interfered with the normal economic order. Economic chaos inevitably leads to extreme political corruption. Due to economic reasons, the people in the south of the Yangtze River suffered the most. In the last twenty years of Zhu Yijun's rule, rebellions of farmers and craftsmen often broke out in the south of the Yangtze River. The economic chaos in the south of the Yangtze River has seriously affected the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty politically. Eunuchs joined forces with the big landlord class, brutally exploited farmers and small-scale craftsmen, and bankrupted a large number of farmers, small-scale craftsmen and small and medium-sized owners. A large number of bankrupts fled their hometowns and flocked to other areas, which dealt a heavy blow to the development of these economically underdeveloped areas. These political and economic corruptions made the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty crumble when Zhu Yijun was in power.
When Emperor Mingxi ruled Zhu Youxiao, the power of eunuchs reached its peak. Because Zhu Youxiao was stubborn and not good at governing the country, power once again fell into the hands of a big eunuch. This man is Wei Zhongxian, who is notorious in the history of China. He is more arrogant than Liu Jin, a powerful eunuch in Zhu Houzhao. He not only controlled the political and economic power, but also messed up the palace and engaged in obscenity in it. During the years when Wei Zhongxian was in charge of state affairs, he killed a large number of upright cabinet ministers and upright people. At this time, the rule of Ming Dynasty was on the eve of collapse, and a large-scale peasant uprising broke out in China. Coupled with the rapid rise of Manchu outside the customs, they often fought with the Ming Dynasty. There is almost no record of winning wars in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Although Wei Zhongxian finally went to where will you go, the eunuch power gradually weakened in the actual rule of the Ming Dynasty, but at this time, the corruption of the Ming Dynasty reached the extreme, surviving for seventeen years. Although dying, it doesn't help. In A.D. 1644, Li Zicheng peasant rebels captured Beijing, and Zhu Youjian, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hanged himself in Jingshan Park, and the Ming Dynasty perished.
To sum up, the Ming Dynasty, like other dynasties, actually perished due to extreme political corruption. However, one of the main reasons for the political corruption in the Ming Dynasty was the existence of eunuch forces. The eunuch forces in the Ming Dynasty were already an actual ruling group, holding actual political and economic power. Because they are an extremely reactionary and selfish evil group, they are a special political group between the landlord class and the peasant class. Unlike the landlord class, they can be passed down from generation to generation. Eunuchs are basically from the peasant class, but their class attributes are very different from those of the peasant class. Although the eunuch forces are fighting against the cabinet forces, it is the peasant class that suffers the most. Eunuchs have no genetic ability because of their own physiological characteristics. There is also a struggle for power and profit within eunuchs. But they have one thing in common, that is, human nature is extinct and extremely selfish and cruel. Their existence itself is not the cause of the problem, but because of the emperor's ulterior motives and incompetence, the eunuch power can change from weak to strong, from power struggle to interference in state affairs. Generations of eunuchs continue their instincts and have a particularly strong ability to survive. In addition, some external factors are conducive to the rapid rise of his desire for power, which makes the eunuch's power passed down from generation to generation until the political situation is out of control and finally ends with the emperor.