Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1564
The emperor's imperial chariot was walking on the road leading to the Qianqing Palace, when the emperor in the imperial chariot suddenly lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and asked Chen Ju who was accompanying him, "Chen Ju, you heard what the Empress Dowager Cisheng said just now, what do you think of my answer?" ?”

Chen Ju didn't stop walking, but at the same time, he bowed slightly, with a bit of fear in his tone, and replied: "The emperor is wise and wise, and the answer is naturally excellent. How dare slaves speak?"

"Since the 'servant' dare not, what about the 'subject'?" Zhu Yijun asked lightly, it seemed that he did not intend to let him go easily.

After Zhu Yuanzhang’s death, the status of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty began to increase significantly, especially during the Yongle period. Not only did they gradually grasp the real power of the inner court, but they also gradually invaded Jinyiwei, and finally formed a "factory guard" system. Sometimes, some eunuchs were able to directly or Indirectly gain command of the army.

The appellation changed with the change of status, so after the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty reached a certain status and mastered a certain power, they had the power to call themselves ministers in front of the emperor, not just the status of domestic servants.This point is very clear from the memorials Zheng He wrote to the emperor.

Of course, Zheng He is more or less a special case, but even if Zheng He is not counted, many eunuchs after Yongle were able to call themselves ministers in a very ordinary tone, and both the emperor and the officials in the court also recognized this title .For example, in many imperial decrees and official documents in the historical records, the guarding eunuchs in various places are called "guarding ministers", and the admiral of the East Factory is called "factory ministers", etc. This is evidence.

Since he is a minister, he not only bears "primary responsibilities" such as taking care of the emperor's daily life, but also has the same responsibility as the officials to assist the prime minister in governing the country.Although Chen Ju has long been humble and self-confident, calling himself a slave, his status is clear, and no matter how you look at it, he can bear the word "inner minister".

But eunuchs are still deformed products of the feudal social system after all. The vast majority of people in the world believe that those who have been purified have since lost their dignity as a human being and their qualifications as husbands. The psychological imbalance is conceivable. Yes, so except for a few people who are kind-hearted, most of them are scum, a group of bad guys with sores on their heads and thick feet.

It is not completely unreasonable to think so, after all, in the ranks of eunuchs with strict ranks, the young eunuchs who have just entered the palace have to serve the senior eunuchs with high status, serving tea and water, emptying the urinal, even doing laundry and wiping their backs, twisting their feet and massaging, In order to please and gain profit, they speak human words in front of their faces and talk nonsense behind their backs. It is not surprising that their hearts are extremely dark.

There are many people who cheat each other, turn their hands into clouds and turn their hands into rain. These people are used to being sweet in front of each other and kicking their feet.

If we want to discuss it in detail, although most of the eunuchs in the Qin and Han Dynasties were eunuchs, they also quoted some scholars.After the Eastern Han Dynasty, most eunuchs "use eunuchs all the time, and don't make complicated adjustments to other scholars." Since then, eunuchs, the royal family, and imperial power have become one.

In later generations of the Ming Dynasty, the label of "eunuch's monopoly" was often attached to the forehead. As analyzed in the previous article of this book, the so-called "eunuch's monopoly" in the Ming Dynasty was far inferior to that in the Han and Tang Dynasties, especially in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. The eunuchs who established the emperor were as easy as drinking water and eating.

After Zhongming, the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty actually had a lot of self-policing and self-examination. For example, Chen Ju was quite disciplined. He had been the admiral of the East Factory for so many years, and he never did a single thing to actively suppress civil servants.This is because the eunuchs at this time already had a considerable understanding of their own position, power, fate, etc., and the origin of these understandings probably originated from Wang Zhenshi.

The orthodox eunuch Wang Zhen, a native of Yu County, Hebei Province, had studied in his hometown.Wang Zhen entered the palace from the palace and gave letters to the palace servants.At that time, although ordinary young eunuchs also studied in the inner school and were taught by the scholar Chen Shan, they were much inferior to Wang Zhenlai.Moreover, Wang Zhen had been in the officialdom and had a certain amount of social experience, so no other eunuch could compare with him in terms of writing and playing tricks.

Xuanzong died, and Yingzong was young. After succeeding to the throne, he was in awe of Wang Zhen, and even called Mr. Wang Zhen anonymous.Wang Zhen also had a trick to hide and hide, pretending to be kind and playing tricks, in order to gain the favor of the cabinet minister "San Yang" at that time.

One day, Zhu Qizhen and the little eunuch were hitting balls in the palace, and they "stretched until they stopped".The next day, when Zhu Qizhen was in the pavilion, Wang Zhen knelt down and said: "The emperor is a pawn, and he misunderstood the world a few times. Your majesty will follow suit, just like the world!" He made a loyal look, which moved the three Yang, sighed, "unexpectedly, among the internal officials, you are better than others", which changed San Yang's view of him from then on.

There is also a legend that one day after Yingzong came to the throne, Empress Dowager Zhang summoned the British public Zhang Fu, the scholar Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu and Shangshu Hu to the hall, and said to Zhu Qizhen: These five people are "the first emperors". Those who benefit the emperor must follow the plan if they have something to do, and it is not feasible unless the five people agree.

Then he called Wang Zhen and said: "You serve the emperor so irregularly in daily life, I will give you death now." After the request of Zhu Qizhen and the ministers present, Wang Zhen was spared, and it was stipulated that "from now on, you must not be ordered to do state affairs. "

It is said that the Empress Dowager emphasized the need to listen to the advice of Gu Ming and the five ministers before the newly enthroned emperor, but behind her was a warning to Wang Zhen, which shows her wisdom.But this matter is mostly untrue: at that time, Wang Zhen entered the palace not long ago, and his bad deeds had not been exposed. There was no need for Empress Dowager Zhang to do this.

In October of the fourth year of orthodoxy, Liao Mo rode to death a post official in Fujian according to the inspection incident. This post official was the hometown of the cabinet minister Yang Pu, and Liao Mo was the hometown of the cabinet minister Yang Shiqi.Yang Pu wants to avenge the post minister and wants to put Liao Mo to death.But Yang Shiqi tried every means to protect Liao Mo.In the name of "killing someone on duty", the dispute is unresolved, please judge it by the Queen Mother.

Wang Zhen took the opportunity to say to the Empress Dowager: "Both of them rely on their hometowns, and their lives are too heavy. Because of their duties, they should be downgraded."Seeing Wang Zhen's "impartiality" in handling things, the queen mother gradually trusted him.

A treacherous person doesn't have a label on his face, so you can tell it clearly at a glance.They are loyal on the surface, but there is a conspiracy hidden in their hearts. When this kind of people are immature, they will hide and hide, and once they gain power, they will form cliques and do whatever they want.

In the sixth year of Zhengtong, the construction of the three halls of Fengtian, Huagai, and Jinshen was completed, and Zhu Qizhen held a banquet for all officials.According to the etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty, "Although eunuchs are favored, they are not allowed to pre-order royal banquets."But Yingzong was afraid that Wang Zhen would be unhappy, so he sent someone to investigate in private.

Sure enough, Wang Zhen was furious, and compared himself to the Duke of Zhou, saying, "Duke Zhou has become king, and I can't sit alone!" Yingzong quickly sent someone to open the main gate of Donghuamen, and let Wang Zhen come to the banquet.

Speaking of which, although Sanyang was called a virtuous prime minister, he couldn't see through Wang Zhen's behavior when he was young, because he couldn't judge others; when he was not in power, he couldn't stop him in time, because he couldn't get rid of the diseased Yu Chumeng. .

Later, Empress Dowager Zhang died of illness, Yang Rong died first, and Yang Shiqi was arrested and imprisoned because of his son Yang Ji's murder.At this time, only Yang Pu is in the court among the three Yang, and he is old and lonely, so Wang Zhen is even more unscrupulous.

He first removed Zhu Yuanzhang's prohibition card in the palace that "officials must not interfere in political affairs". Since then, he has become more daring and reckless.

Wang You, a doctor of the Ministry of Industry, would be regarded as a department-level cadre in later generations, but shamelessly recognized the thief as his father and called himself Wang Zhen's adopted son. Later, Wei Zhongxian's adopted son Manchu Dynasty probably started from this.It can be seen that Wang Zhen's power was so powerful at that time, and the so-called eunuch monopoly in Ming Dynasty also started from Wang Zhen.

But Wang Zhen's fate also became a lesson for the great eunuchs to remind themselves later.In the Tumu Fort change, Yingzong was captured, 20 main forces of the Beijing camp were defeated, Wang Zhen finally died in the rebellion army, and almost all the dozens of civil and military ministers who joined the conscript died in battle.When the news reached the capital, all the officials wailed loudly in the court.

Later, the Empress Dowager ordered Yingzong's younger brother, King Zhu Qiyu, to supervise the country.Chen Yi, the imperial envoy of the imperial capital, played the king face-to-face and counted Wang Zhen's crimes. They said with grief and indignation: "Wang Zhen's crimes cannot be punished, and he will die. If Your Highness doesn't punish his family in a canonical manner, the ministers and others will all die here today." I can't get up on my knees.

At this time, Ma Shun, Wang Zhen's best friend, was still protecting Wang Zhen and driving away the officials.During the incident, seeing that Ma Shun was still putting on airs, Wang Hong was so furious that he stepped forward to grab Ma Shun, punched and kicked him, and killed him on the spot.The angry people killed Wang Zhen's other two buddies on the spot, the eunuch Mao Gui and Wang Changsui.

At this point, Zhu Qiyu ordered to kill Wang Zhen's nephew, Wang Shan, and his family to punish Wang Zhen's party, and dragged Ma Shun's body to the street for public display.

Although after the restoration of Yingzong, Wang Zhenping changed his name again, and used fragrant wood as a statue of Wang Zhen to worship the soul.In the first year of Tianshun, Yingzong also built Jingzhong Temple for Wang Zhen in the north courtyard of Zhihua Temple in Beijing to worship the dead.However, at this moment, the people of the world have already concluded the coffin for Wang Zhen. Even if Yingzong did this, it was only seen as saving face for what happened to him back then.

Wang Zhen was defeated, and Liu Jin followed, but relatively speaking, Liu Jin's power was not as good as Wang Zhen's, and his death was worse than Wang Zhen's.Therefore, since then, the great eunuchs have been vigilant because Emperor Jiajing and Longqing did not delegate too much power to the eunuchs, and because of the fate of the first two "predecessors", so even Feng Bao and others in the original history , and never dared to be too tough on the civil official group, until the appearance of Wei Zhongxian broke the "tradition" - but Wei Zhongxian's ending is well known, and he still did not escape the pattern of those two "predecessors", so I won't go into details up.

In short, Chen Ju himself is an "honest man", and he learned from the fate of the "predecessors", so when faced with the emperor's question, he broke out in shock, and said cautiously: "I am stupid, and I have never understood the way. , I only know that the harmony between the monarch and his ministers is the blessing of the world."

The emperor said "Oh", and he didn't know whether he believed it or not, but the emperor quickly asked again: "In your opinion, do you believe the Empress Dowager Cisheng what I just said?"

Chen Ju was startled, and said in surprise, "How can the Queen Mother not believe it?"

"Ha, it would be great if everyone in the world were as honest as you." Zhu Yijun chuckled, shook his head, and lowered his voice a little: "I didn't say what I said just now to the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother might just find it strange. I'm afraid most of them don't believe it."

Chen Ju was taken aback, and said: "Didn't you say it to the Queen Mother?" Then suddenly, his hair stood on end, and he asked in a trembling voice: "Then the emperor said this to..."

Zhu Yijun glanced at him, and said nonchalantly, "Of course it's for the sake of being pragmatic."

Chen Ju quietly swallowed a mouthful of spit: "It was just now in the Palace of Compassion and Ning..."

"If what I said in the Palace of Compassion and Peace, it's fine if it's irrelevant. Since the matter is practical, he should know the details, don't you think so?" Zhu Yijun continued with a light smile.

Chen Ju thought it was not the right way to go, and finally made up his mind. First, he stopped the emperor's ceremonial guard, then knelt down and bowed his head and said: "My lord, I have been trusted by you. I have been in charge of the East Factory for more than ten years, and I have always had some personal friendship with Gao Situ. If the lord It means that if someone in the palace has an affair with the outer court, and has internal and external connections, the minister will bear the brunt of the crime, and his crime cannot be pardoned. I ask the emperor to come down, and the minister is willing to die to thank the king for his kindness."

Zhu Yijun looked at him seriously for a moment, and said, "Get up, I know."

"The guilty minister dare not."

"I told you to get up!" Zhu Yijun's tone became a little more serious, and he repeated: "Get up and talk."

Chen Ju didn't know what the emperor wanted for a while, so he had to stand up first, but he still stood there with his head down, waiting for his punishment.

But Zhu Yijun said, "Come closer." Chen Ju stepped forward.

"Closer." Chen Ju took another step forward, reaching the distance where he could whisper to the emperor with his head stretched out.

Only then did Zhu Yijun lower his voice, and said, "I ask you, have you ever been unfaithful to me?"

Chen Ju shook his head and said, "Go back to the emperor, never."

"I also know that you have never done this. If so, why do you deserve to die?"

Chen Ju was taken aback for a moment, and replied: "But the minister has a very close relationship with the ministers of the foreign court, this is..."

"What is this? I also have a close relationship with pragmatism." The emperor's words were obviously irrational, but he didn't give Chen Ju a chance to say more, but immediately continued: "I am not blind and deaf, let alone a fool. Those who have a lot of friendship with the foreign court have never been known in the past dynasties, and there was never a day when they were able to ban them!"

Chen Ju was silent.This is of course an obvious truth, and it is impossible for the emperor to be ignorant of it.

Zhu Yijun snorted softly, then sighed again, and said: "Governing the world is like governing a river. Blockage and dredging cannot be neglected, and human nature cannot be banned all at once. Just like this palace, it is said to be a forbidden area in the inner city, but in fact it is not the same as the streets and alleys. What's the difference? My words and deeds are not only pragmatic, but also the ministers and workers of the outer court must be able to know, there is nothing more than a difference in order.

When the Empress Dowager mentioned those things just now, I could not answer, but I think it is better to answer than not to answer.Some things are hidden from everyone and everyone feels uncomfortable, but if you really say it, it's just like that.It's just that "speaking" itself has to be a bit particular. If I go to the Qianqing Palace to say this to you gentlemen, then of course I can't, but if the news comes out quietly from the inner court...do you understand what I mean now? "
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(End of this chapter)