After the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, became the emperor through Jingnan. During his reign, the strength of the civil service group and the military general group represented by Guixun was strengthened. Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, established a bachelor's degree among the civil servants.
This is to re-establish the position of prime minister in disguise. Although the power of the bachelor at that time was not great, the civil servants finally had the core of leadership. A large number of heroes and generals who had been in trouble also joined the ranks of noble honors.
.However, because Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was relatively strong, the situation in the court could remain stable under the balanced confrontation between the civil servant group and the general group represented by Guixun.
However, with the death of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, the balance of power between the civil servant group and the general group represented by Guixun was broken. The power of the civilian officials became more and more powerful, because the civilian officials controlled the transfer and promotion of generals through the Ministry of War.
The Ministry of Household Control controls the distribution of military pay, which puts the general group represented by Guixun in a weak state. And because, after all, not every emperor is like Zhu Yuanzhang, a model worker among emperors who can take over all the affairs of the country.
Under this situation, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Zhanji set up an inner study room to cultivate the eunuchs' reading and political management skills, and used those eunuchs as the emperor's assistants and secretaries. In this way, the Ming Dynasty's
The eunuch group emerged.
Wang Zhen, who was introduced earlier, was the first teacher of the inner study room at that time. Therefore, his influence on Zhu Qizhen, the son of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Zhanji of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, was very great. But Wang Zhen wanted to be a good and bad eunuch (
If the moon was bright that year), Zhu Qizhen, the Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, was deceived into going to the Mongolian grassland. The Ming army was defeated miserably in Tumubao. A large number of elites of the Honorable Group, headed by the then British Duke Zhang Fu, died in this battle. From then on,
From then on, the status of the Xungui Group in the politics of the Ming Dynasty plummeted. This can be seen from the selection of queens in the palace. Before the Tumubao Incident, the queens were basically from Xungui families. After that, they were basically from private families.
From then on, the situation in the court of the Ming Dynasty was basically a history of the struggle between the civil official group and the eunuch group.
Here, the author wants to correct some people's misunderstandings about eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty.
The first misunderstanding is that the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were all greedy for money and life, and had no knowledge or skills. The first half of this sentence is basically correct, and the second half is completely wrong. In the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs who were the eunuchs who held the pen
Their educational level was very high (with the exception of Wei Zhongxian, who was illiterate), and some of them had reached the level of being elected or Jinshi. Moreover, their level of governance was also very high. It is no exaggeration to say that they were a group of elites who governed the country at that time.
In the palace, a group of young eunuchs are selected every year to study in the inner study. Their teachers are great scholars invited from the Hanlin Academy. After receiving a very strict cultural education, they have to go to various yamen for internships and learn about each yamen.
Operations and rules. Only eunuchs with such qualifications can enter the Department of Ceremonies and serve as eunuchs with pens.
Therefore, if we only look at the level of governing the country, the level of the eunuch group is the highest, surpassing the civil servants who only know how to study hard and pass the imperial examination to become officials. Of course, the level of civil servants who can become bachelors is also very high. More
There are some outstanding civil servants, such as Zhang Juzheng, such as Shen Mo (I really like "Guanju Yipin"). On the contrary, the emperor with the lowest level of governance is the emperor who has little social experience. Emperor Chongzhen was alienated because of Wei Zhongxian.
The eunuch group, and he frequently changed ministers, and could not get the support of the civil servants. He just relied on his poor governance skills to drag this broken car of the Ming Dynasty through the mud. How could he not
What about dragging it to pieces? This was also one of the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. To be honest, if Emperor Chongzhen had completely handed over the country to any eunuch who was in charge of rites or a bachelor in the cabinet, the process of the demise of the Ming Dynasty would have been greatly slowed down.
, will not even perish.
The second misunderstanding is that the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty had great power. This is not entirely correct. The eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were somewhat similar to the current Central Office. The orders issued by the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty must also be issued by civil servants.
To implement it. If the civil servants do not implement it, they have no good solution. Because the eunuchs control the special agents such as factory guards at most. They can send these agents to catch disobedient civil servants, but they have no way to let these agents arrive.
The government or county specifically implements certain government affairs. This is a bit like the current court enforcement. If there is a lawsuit brought by a citizen against an official, and the court decides that the agency loses the case, but the agency refuses to implement it, then the court has no good solution.
What's more, the power of eunuchs comes entirely from the emperor who trusts them. If a certain eunuch gains trust, he will definitely be prosperous, but once he loses the trust of the emperor, he will immediately fall into the abyss. For example:
Liu Jin during the Zhengde period, Emperor Zhengde gave an order, and Liu Jin was cut to pieces. Another example is Wei Zhongxian, Emperor Chongzhen gave an order, and Wei Zhongxian was so frightened that he hanged himself. It was in the Han and Tang Dynasties that eunuchs had great power.
Dynasty. Their eunuchs at this time could put the emperor under house arrest, control the replacement of the throne, control the imperial army, kill ministers, etc.
So what are the characteristics of civil servants in the late Ming Dynasty? Many works have been introduced, so here is a brief introduction:
First of all, the political skills of the civil servants are very high. Because they are basically from the imperial examination, their strong point is to be eloquent;
Secondly, civil servants serve as political spokespersons for local large landowners and large businessmen, so they strive to maintain certain policies that are not good for the country but beneficial to large landowners and large businessmen. For example: low taxes or even no taxes on business.
; Tax-free policy for the gentry; sea ban, etc.;
Third, the civil servants in the late Ming Dynasty formed political groups because of their relationships with teachers, students, fellow villagers, and peers, among which the representative was the Donglin Party. These groups not only fought against the eunuch groups, but also fought among themselves, so that they reached the point where
Regardless of whether a certain policy is beneficial to the country, as long as the other party agrees with it, I will oppose it. This is the point where I cannot distinguish between right and wrong;
Finally, because civil servants are basically famous local scholars, their opinions are well accepted by the people. Moreover, their articles will be widely disseminated, so they control public opinion propaganda.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the nobles basically had no power. Except for certain special occasions, special people. For example, the Xu family of Wei Guogong in Nanjing were the guards of Nanjing. However, they still had huge wealth and retained certain privileges.
.On the contrary, because the military generals controlled the army and the central government of the Ming Dynasty could not fully pay the military, they robbed civilian wealth or developed their own financial resources, forming warlords. Such as Wu Sangui and Zuo Liangyu. Of course, this book
The protagonist Wu Shigong will do the same in the future (friends who like world hegemony and war content can be happy, there will be many exciting war scenes in this book in the future).
(After so much verbosity, does it sound like watching "Hundred Schools of Lectures"? Let's get back to the point.)
After arriving at the Wei Mansion, Wei Zhongxian told his young eunuch to quickly prepare wine and food, and then went to the study with Xue Lian. After the two sat down, seeing Xue Lian looking cheerful, Wei Zhongxian asked with a smile: "Xue Hou, what's the matter?
Are you so happy?"
Xue Lian smiled and nodded and said: "Wei Gong, we finally have some ideas about disaster relief. I already have a plan."
"Oh? Tell me."
So, Xue Lian explained the plan they had just discussed to Wei Zhongxian in detail. After listening to the plan, Xue Lian looked at Wei Zhongxian, waiting for him to express his opinions. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhongxian frowned and said
He didn't say anything, as if he was thinking about something carefully. After a while, Wei Zhongxian suddenly slapped his thigh and said: "Okay! Very good! Great!"