In people's daily free time, watching movies and TV dramas is also one of the ways for people to relax and entertain. There was a time when ancient palace dramas were particularly popular among popular drama fans.
Although the film and television drama has a relatively large creative component, it was ultimately adapted based on the background of the times at that time, and the most fundamental historical facts of historical development have not been changed to a large extent. Especially palace fighting dramas, the various touching plots in them often attract a lot of attention.
As we all know, under the rule of the ancient Chinese feudal dynasty, in the palace, in addition to the absolute "male number one" emperor and several powerful princes and ministers who were listed as male number two, three, four and five, there was also a very special kind of Occupation plays the role of many male n-numbers.
The establishment of the eunuch system
In fact, when it comes to these male n-numbers, many people may still analyze and view them with some special eyes. So in the ancient royal society, why was it necessary to establish such a special profession?
In ancient society, the change of royal power was based on a hereditary system. If a dynasty was overthrown and replaced, then the dynasty would also have to change its surname with the new leader who took over. Otherwise, the imperial power would always be taken over by the descendants of their family. Governing.
As the emperor, in addition to the national affairs that should be the most important to him, the most important thing for the emperor is to continue the bloodline of the royal family and select the best royal heir. This is the most fundamental reason why the emperor has three thousand beauties in the harem. .
The entire Forbidden City is the royal family's own home. This home is much larger than anyone else's home, and the members of this family are unprecedentedly large.
The supreme status of the royal family members and their large population definitely require many servants to serve them.
In fact, the most obvious class system in ancient society can be fully reflected at this time. In order to help the children of the poor at an age when they should be cared for by their families, many of them had to be pushed out and sent to the palace. Afterwards the royal family members went.
The palace ladies are fine, they just need to sell some of their physical strength to serve the ladies tea and water, and dress up. But when it comes to eunuchs, in addition to shouldering the burden of life at a young age, what's even worse is that they also have to remove their own lifeline to continue future generations.
So why on earth did the royal family have to remove their lifeblood? The reason is actually easy to understand. Because the emperor is the most noble man in the palace and in the world, everything should be the best and most perfect.
But after all, there is only one emperor, but there are three thousand in the harem. The emperor is really too busy to take care of the needs of all his concubines every time. So in order to meet the needs at this time, if something happens to the concubines and the "men" closest to them, wouldn't it be a disaster? Just like a cuckold to the emperor?
This is the case in that patriarchal society where men are superior to women. A man can have multiple wives, but he must require women to serve only one person wholeheartedly.
If the servants serving the concubines in the harem can maintain their original physiological characteristics, then if something happens and the concubines are left with only one and a half daughters, wouldn't it be very easy to disrupt the harem? In order to maintain the order, a child can pretend to be of royal blood. In this way, the competition for the successor to the throne will become even more intense.
For this reason, in order to ensure the purity of the royal bloodline, the royal family can only avoid this phenomenon through castration.
Some people may have doubts again. Since you don’t want men other than royal blood to confuse the harem, then you might as well not recruit those male servants.
But the daily groceries in the palace are not just as simple as helping the ladies to dress up. There are also a lot of dirty and tiring jobs, such as chopping wood and lighting fires in the royal kitchen, and the heavy work of repairing the palace. At this time, men still need physical strength. They are much better than weak palace maids, so the existence of eunuchs is inevitable.
China and Japan, which have close exchanges,
Speaking of Japan, a small island country, some people may also know that in ancient society, it once existed as a dependent country of ours, so it often needed to come to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire and learn by the way. .
According to detailed historical records, Japan has sent envoys to China many times for study and exchange since the seventh century AD, and the exchanges have been very close.
By the time of Tang Dynasty , the cultural exchanges between China and Japan had reached the highest level in all dynasties. As we all know, Japan is also a country that is very good at "learning".
So why didn’t the Japanese learn from the eunuch system that played a powerful role in the feudal dynasty at that time? This, of course, must be analyzed in light of Japan's own national conditions and appearance at the time.
The reason why the Japanese emperor felt it was "unnecessary"
First of all, the population problem in Japan is an important reason why they do not learn from our eunuch system.
Because its land area is very small, and the various necessary resources for people around it to survive are relatively scarce, Japan's population growth has always been a big social problem.
If some men are sent for castration, Japan's fertility rate will be even pitifully lower. Only with a population can Japan develop further. Otherwise, Japan will become an uninhabited island if this continues.
Furthermore, although the Japanese emperor system also has the establishment of "emperor", it is only literally similar to China's feudal autocratic monarchy at that time. In fact, the establishment of the Japanese emperor can be said to be just an empty shell. It does not have the real power of the country.
And their real hero behind the scenes is actually General Zhengyi. He has the most fundamental military power to rule the country, so they don't actually need to pay attention to whether the so-called "emperor's" blood is pure.
The size of their royal family is actually very small. The emperor only allows one queen and two concubines, so it is unlikely that any concubines will be overly needy, and the emperor can still take care of them.
Secondly, even if they want to maintain the purity of the royal bloodline, they have already established relevant systems. The continuation of their royal bloodline can be said to be entirely caused by incest marriage. In their view, men and women can unite and have children as long as they are not so close as to be born from the same mother.
So such examples were actually under the shogunate era at that time. We can see that for example, the empress of Emperor Nakaai was his niece, the empress of Emperor Kogeki was his granddaughter, etc.
Finally, there is another most important reason: they don’t know how! In fact, becoming a eunuch also requires a very high technical level, and Japan does not have precise castration technology.
Castrating a living man actually requires a high degree of difficulty. The position and technique are all particular. There are also many things that need to be paid attention to in the "post-operative recovery" after castration. Otherwise, if you are not careful, the castration will not be successful. A man's life will be lost in vain.
And as the author just explained, their population is already sparse. If they lose a man due to a mistake, it will be a huge loss for them, so Japan at that time would never risk such a thing. Big risk.
Based on the above considerations of Japan's domestic affairs at the time, they did not need to learn the eunuch system.
