Eunuch Wang Zhen: The first eunuch in power in the Ming Dynasty, maybe he is not that bad

In history, few people took the initiative to become eunuchs, and most people who took the initiative to be eunuchs were great people. There was one in the Qing Dynasty, Li Lianying. Another is the protagonist of today's article Wang Zhen, the first eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.

There is a basic threshold for the profession of eunuch, that is, you must first go through an operation. In ancient times, medical conditions were limited, and there was a high probability of failure in the operation. According to some historical records in the relatively mature Qing Dynasty, The mortality rate of castration surgery is still around 10%. Moreover, most of the eunuchs are children. The children's organs are immature, and the risk of surgery is relatively low. In addition, children who have no autonomy are basically forced to be eunuchs.

Adults who want to be eunuchs must face three difficulties. The first is the risk of surgery. According to Li Lianying's recollection, when he was in his thirties, he was determined to cleanse. , The hands-on master told him that only one in ten survived at his age. The second is to overcome the inner fear. It is quite difficult to take the initiative to take the knife. Finally, the palace does not like adult eunuchs. Even if you succeed in cutting and survive, there are very few who can enter the palace. less.

Wang Zhen is one of the few "lucky guys".

Wang Zhen is a scholar who has failed many exams and became an honorable rural teacher. The deeds of the eunuchs in the Eastern Han and Tang dynasties inspired him, and he thought of a shortcut to get ahead without reading a book-to succeed, swing a knife from the palace.

Wang Zhen was lucky. He successfully completed the operation and survived. After entering the palace, he accompanied Zhu Qizhen, who later became the emperor. Wang Zhen has one of the biggest advantages over other eunuchs, that is, he is educated. When an eunuch is educated, he is destined to be no ordinary eunuch.

Zhu Qizhen has always regarded Wang Zhen as a teacher, and has always called Wang Zhen as Mr. The story behind

is relatively old-fashioned. It is exactly the same as the script of the eunuch's dictatorship in history. Wang Zhen gained the trust of Zhu Qizhen, began to persecute Zhongliang in the court, and lived extremely luxuriously. Wang Zhen’s greatest "contribution" was the imperial conquest of Zhuqi Town, which resulted in the famous Tumu Fortress. The Ming Dynasty’s elite troops were all lost. As the emperor, Zhu Qi Town became a prisoner of the Mongol army, and Wang Zhen also Was chopped into mash during the war (it is said that it was killed by the Ming army).

Wang Zhen will become a template in subsequent history books. When later generations of civil servants accept advice, they will mention Wang Zhen as long as they mention the eunuch's authority.

First of all, it is questionable whether Wang Zhen is the culprit of the Civil War. Although the history books of later generations believed that the failure of the Ming army at that time was because Zhu Qizhen listened to Wang Zhen’s words, there are many points in it that are obviously logically unreasonable. For example, once the Ming army’s marching route was changed. In order for Qi Zhen to go to his hometown to take a look at Wang Zhen, this seemed unbelievable during the imminent military operation at the time.

Everyone pay attention to one thing. Although Zhu Qizhen was captured in the Tumu Fortification, he successfully returned to the Ming Dynasty and regained the throne through the coup. He wrote the history books for later generations. Zhu Qizhen went from being a prisoner of the Mongolian army on Emperor Island to being imprisoned in a deep palace, and becoming an emperor again. His experience is probably the most ups and downs among all the ancient emperors. When Zhu Qizhen faced such a tragic failure of Tumubao, how could he attribute the mistake to himself, and Wang Zhen became the best man of the pot, so the repeated command errors of Zhu Qizhen by later generations were attributed to Wang Zhen. Not surprisingly.

土木堡之变蜡像

Another critique of Wang Zhen is to injure Zhongliang. This point also needs to be considered in depth. It is true that some ministers were framed by Wang Zhenluo at the time. Yes, but it would be impossible without Zhu Qizhen's consent. If you look at the historical data of the Ming Dynasty, you will find that although Zhu Qizhen had been a prisoner, it was a military failure. Zhu Qizhen still has a way of governing the country, and he is not faint. In the early days of Zhu Qizhen’s succession, although there was a cabinet known as the strongest cabinet of the Ming DynastySanyang's cabinet, but that was above the court and was not the appearance of the rule of Ren Xuan, but there was some twilight. Zhu Qizhen needs to get rid of the old and put on the new if he wants to break this twilight, and Wang Zhen is his thug.

In fact, the later generations of scholar-bureaucrats belittled and abused Wang Zhen in such a way, which also meant to criticize Sanghuai.

The author is not trying to reverse the case for a person who has been qualitative in history. If you are a professional case for Wang Zhen, you can read the article by Mao Peiqi, an expert on Ming history. No matter where he started, Wang Zhen brought disasters to the Ming Dynasty, even if he was not the mastermind, he was threatened. I want to say that any social problem must have reasons and backgrounds that we can't see. If a certain historical event was caused by a single person, it is probably unfair.