Why was Liu Jin, the great eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, wiped out by the emperor overnight?

Eunuch autocracy is a peculiar sight in Ming Dynasty. Liu Jin is a wonderful flower in this land.

Liu Jin is from Xingping, Shaanxi. He is used to speaking with his mother's surname. Because of his poor family background, he entered the palace with eunuch Liu Shun at the age of 6 and became a eunuch, changing his surname to Liu.

As the saying goes, "companions are like tigers." Liu Jin's eunuch road was not smooth. In Ming Xiaozong Zhu? During the reign of Min, Liu Jin should be executed according to law for committing crimes. However, Liu Jin was pardoned and arranged to serve the Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao in the East Palace, later known as Ming Wuzong.

This is the beginning of Liu Jin's career.

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1505, Zhu Houzhao acceded to the throne as Ming Wuzong. At this time, Zhu Houzhao was only 14 years old, which was the age to have fun. In the palace, he played with a group of eunuchs called "Eight Tigers", led by Liu Jin.

At that time, Liu Jin was 54 years old. How can such a "bad old man" please the emperor? Four words: do whatever you want.

The emperor likes to play, so Liu Jin presented toys such as eagles and hounds, and introduced songs and dances, wrestling and other games to make the emperor enjoy himself.

The emperor likes traveling, so Liu Jin took the emperor traveling incognito to experience life outside the palace.

The emperor likes to be curious, so Liu Jin tied firecrackers to the monkey and lit them, which made the monkey roar and scream, making the emperor laugh.

On one occasion, Zhu Houzhao was whimsical and wanted to experience the pleasure of doing business. This is not easy to handle? Liu Jin immediately opened a market in the palace. The "Eight Tigers" played vendors and people, and the emperor played wealthy businessmen. Everyone imitated the fair trade in the palace, and the cries of hawking came and went, which made the emperor shout loudly.

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The emperor is comfortable, and Liu Jin's life in the palace is becoming more and more comfortable. After he was promoted several times, the official worshipped the eunuch.

What is the origin of Li Sijian? The Ming dynasty prison was one of the "twelve prisons" of the eunuch group who participated in court affairs, and had the right to "approve the red". "Red criticism" refers to the examination and approval of the memorials written by cabinet members, which was originally the emperor's power, but due to the laziness of most emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the right of "red criticism" fell to the secretary. It can be seen that Jianshe is the most powerful institution among the "Twelve Supervisors".

The eunuch in charge of the official seal is responsible for the final review of the "red batch". If he thinks it is feasible, he will stamp it and release it; If you think it is impossible, you have the right to call back and "approve the red" again. There is no way to oppose Li Si's decision to supervise handprint eunuchs. Because all their objections will be stamped by the eunuch who pressed Li Si's handprint-do you think the eunuch who pressed the handprint will stamp it?

Based on this unique political structure, the eunuchs printed by Jane have great power. In fact, famous Ming eunuchs, including Liu Jin, Feng Bao and Wei Zhongxian, came to power through their official seals.

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Power is a double-edged sword. Some people use it to benefit the people and the world, while others use it to do evil and poison the people. There is no doubt that Liu Jin belongs to the latter.

After Liu Jin held the power, he began to collect property. The method of collecting money is nothing new, but accepting bribes from the following people. The eunuch in Li Si prison wanted to collect some money, but the following people didn't send it up obediently? When foreign officials came to Beijing at that time, the first thing they did was not to see the emperor, but to see Liu Jin and give him a "gift". This "meeting ceremony" is not low, ranging from several thousand two hundred silver to five thousand two hundred silver.

Some officials are relatively clean and can't afford the "meeting ceremony". What shall we do? Rich people in Hunan and Beijing have to borrow money, which is called "Beijing debt".

In order to make power more unimpeded, Liu Jin also cracked down on differences and excluded dissidents. Before he became a eunuch, cabinet college students Liu Jian, Xie Qian and Li Dongyang, eunuchs Wang Yue, Fan Heng and Xu Zhi impeached the Eight Tigers to lure the emperor to play, regardless of state affairs. As Zhu Houzhao hesitated, Liu Jin and others ran to him and began to cry-finally, this kind of crying received good results. Liu Jian and Xie Qian who participated in the impeachment were forced to resign, and Wang Yue, Fan Heng and Xu Zhi were sent to exile in Nanjing.

Then let it be. Of course not. Liu Jin sent someone to kill Wang Yue and Fan Heng on the way and broke Xu Chu's arm alive.

No one in the DPRK dared to offend Liu Jin again.

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"the wind rises at the end of qingping." Who would have thought that Liu Jin, who was in power in the world, was brought down by a distant rebellion?

That was 15 10 years ago. At this time, Wang Zhu of Anhua? In Anhua (now Qingyang County, Gansu Province), he drafted a campaign in the name of crusade against Liu Jin and launched a rebellion. Zhu Houzhao sent suggestion Yang Yiqing and eunuch Zhang Yong to suppress the rebellion. Soon, the rebellion subsided.

The rebellion has subsided, and it's not over yet. Yang Yiqing and Zhang Yong discussed getting rid of Liu Jin. What's Liu Jin's feud with these two people?

Let's start with Yang Yiqing. Yang Yiqing, who is both civil and military, is a very powerful figure. It is said that he is a "Wulin master", but he once offended Liu Jin during his tenure as general manager of Trilateral. Later, Liu Jin was thrown into prison on the grounds of "corruption and bribery" and almost lost his life. With the help of Li Dongyang and Wang Wei, college students successfully escaped from prison.

Besides, Zhang Yong. Zhang Yongben is one of the "Eight Tigers" and has a good relationship with Liu Jin. However, he was later dissatisfied with Liu Jin's behavior, and the two had a contradiction. Liu Jin complained to Zhu Houzhao that Zhang Yong was going to Nanjing. Zhang Yong refused to accept it and quarreled with Liu Jin in front of the emperor. Speaking of excitement, I actually hit Liu several times. Later, under the persuasion of the emperor, a storm passed. But the seeds of hatred were sown between them.

Zhang Yong returned to Beijing and held a ceremony to present prisoners of war. Zhu Houzhao warmly welcomed Zhang Yong. In the dead of night, after Liu Jin left, he took the opportunity to kill Zhu? A battle exposed Liu Jin's 17 sin. Zhu Houzhao is already drunk. He lowered his head and said, "Kim failed me." Zhang Yong said while the iron was hot: "This matter can't be delayed any longer."

In this way, overnight, Liu Jin changed from a hot eunuch to a prisoner. He was arrested and detained in a vegetable factory.

However, until now, Zhu Houzhao still has no intention to completely liquidate Liu Jin. He decided to go to Liu Ba himself and seal it up. "I got a fake seal, wearing five hundred palace cards, armor, crossbows, mourning clothes and jade belts. He often holds a fan and hides a dagger. "

Zhu Houzhao was furious: "Angry against the country." Immediately, Liu Jin was sentenced to death that year.

According to the management, the death penalty can only be executed in autumn and winter, but not after the start of spring. But Zhu Houzhao ordered the immediate execution, "Zhang Cai was shot in prison and his body was cut off". According to records, Liu Jin's death sentence lasted for three days because he offended too many people. Many people who have suffered from it have bought a piece of meat and put it on their bodies to pay homage to the deceased; Some people even eat raw food to vent their anger.

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Once upon a time, Liu Jin was very powerful and was called "Emperor Li", just like his "Sitting Emperor". Why did Zhu Houzhao knock him down so easily?

Simply put, there are three reasons.

First, although Liu Jin has the power of the world, he has never held real power. Apart from serving as a eunuch in Li Si, he has never held any other positions of power, such as government officials and cabinet ministers. He has no military power and no single soldier. Such a person is doomed to turn over no big waves;

Second, Liu Jin is too mean. He offended too many people in his life. Looking around, Manchu was the enemy, and even his former cronies stood on their opposite side. This made him fall, "the tree fell apart", and almost no one stood by him to help him speak;

Third, Liu Jin's power (approving and auditing) comes from imperial power. He operates by "being a fox and pretending to be a tiger". Once the emperor realized that something was wrong and wanted to take back his power, Liu Jin became worthless and vulnerable.

References:

Ming History, People's Archives Database and so on.