In Chinese history, eunuchs often caused trouble to the emperor. But if there is a period in which eunuchs were the most capable of causing trouble, it would probably be the Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, learned from the lessons of eunuchs in previous dynasties who had caused chaos in government, and stipulated that eunuchs were not allowed to read or read, and were not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor who had a clear distinction between love and hate. In his eyes, eunuchs were not good people. Therefore, during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, the life of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was quite miserable.
A few years after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, his fourth son, King of Yan Zhu Di, launched the "Jingnan Campaign" and seized the throne from his nephew Emperor Jianwen, becoming the famous Yongle Emperor in history. During the "Battle of Jingnan", many eunuchs risked their lives to provide Zhu Di with a lot of important information, which helped Zhu Di successfully defeat Emperor Jianwen. Therefore, for Zhu Di, these eunuchs were both his meritorious ministers and subordinates worthy of his trust. From then on, eunuchs gradually emerged on the political stage of the Ming Dynasty.
There were many things that caused trouble to the court by eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. For example, Wang Zhen, the eunuch during the Yingzong period of the Ming Dynasty, not only used power and power in the court, but also encouraged the emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty to personally conquer Oara. Wang Zhen himself became a prisoner of Wala during the "Revolution", and Wang Zhen himself also lost his life in the war.
After experiencing the "Tumu Fort Incident", many officials in the Ming Dynasty deeply hated eunuchs, but the emperor still had a "soft spot" for eunuchs. Instead of weakening the power of eunuchs, he continued Delegate important responsibilities to each position. So later, in the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs like Wang Zhi, Liu Jin, Wei Zhongxian and others appeared who were powerful in both the government and the public. These people eradicated dissidents in the court, framed Zhongliang, and had a great destructive effect on the Ming Dynasty.
What is even more exaggerated is that the emperor also sent eunuchs to serve as supervisors in the army. Because the eunuchs who oversaw the army had great power, senior generals in the army did not even dare to show off when standing next to the eunuchs. As a result, eunuchs who did not understand military affairs gave random commands on the battlefield, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army further declined.
Then the question is, the eunuchs’ destructive power to the Ming Dynasty was so obvious, couldn’t the emperor see it? Why did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty have a "soft spot" for eunuchs?
In fact, although there were many strange emperors in the Ming Dynasty, most of them were still extremely smart. How could they not know the dangers of eunuchs? But the emperor had to reuse eunuchs. This is about another powerful force in the Ming Dynasty - the civil servant group.
The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty are very famous in history. They are full of loyalty, filial piety and etiquette, and are good at using various sages' sayings to restrain the emperor's words and deeds. Once the emperor's will conflicts with theirs, many civil servants often Will threaten strikes and death remonstrances. Since the suggestions put forward by civil servants can always be justified by "higher" reasons, the emperor often had to compromise with the civil servant group. This trick has no effect on strong and diligent emperors like Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di. However, if the emperor himself does not have the talents and strategies like Taizu and Chengzu, he will have no choice but to give in to the civil servants. .
In order to deal with the civil servant group, the emperor began to reuse eunuchs, who controlled the civil servants. Because eunuchs have no heirs, their only reliance is the emperor, so the loyalty of eunuchs is much higher than that of civil servants. More importantly, despite the fact that the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty had overwhelming power, once they made the emperor feel uncomfortable and issued an edict from the emperor, these eunuchs were often doomed. This is much simpler and more convenient than dealing with civil servants who have complicated relationships.
As for why the emperor sent eunuchs to serve as supervisors and let laymen guide experts, it was also because he had no choice but to do so. For example, when Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty first came to the throne, he ordered the removal of military eunuchs from all over the country, so that the governors, governors, and general soldiers who were on the battlefield could freely display their military talents. But what is the result? Concealing and lying about military information continued to occur in various places. It was obvious that they had suffered a huge defeat, but the battle report said a great victory. Emperor Chongzhen saw the good news of the Ming army's victory every day in the capital, but the wars across the country were intensifying.
Later, Emperor Chongzhen discovered this problem and had to send out eunuchs to supervise the army again. However, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was not far away at this time.