Introduction to Liu Jin!

The eunuch with extremely high power in the Ming Dynasty was Liu Jin, except Wei Zhongxian at the time of the apocalypse. Liu Jin is from Xingping, Shaanxi. "Today's son, according to the officer liu, take its name. Filial piety, sitting when you die, is exempted. Already, I have to serve five East Houses. " (Biography of the History of Ming Dynasty 192) After Wu Zong ascended the throne, all eunuchs who had served in the East Palace were "old and fortunate" and were called "eight tigers", and Liu Jin was the first one. Liu Jinyuan was born a street thug. In the palace, "into the eagle dog, singing and dancing, to the corner, leading the emperor." The emperor was so happy that he gradually gained prestige and entered the camp of the inner official prison and the governor's regiment "

After the success, Liu Jin finally became a eunuch of Sili prison. He was originally a minister, and his power could be large or small, depending on whether the emperor was diligent or tired. It happened that Wu Zong was greedy for pleasure and neglected politics. Liu Jin didn't dare to make a claim at first, but every time he asked for instructions, "Since Wu Zong needs to get angry, he said,' I feel free to use it? "bother me!" Naturally, I won't play, no matter how big or small, I will judge arbitrarily, and I will keep my word, but I don't know much about the world. "(Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 43) Wu Lede was at leisure, moved out of the palace, and built a so-called" Leopard Room "at Xihuamen, where he played all night. Liu Jin can replace the emperor's Zhu Bi ticket and gain power. At that time, the internal and external chapters were played, and the competent officials "first revealed the red version, compiled the red version, and then went to the General Political Department to compile the white version". Bai Ben is for Wu Zong. This is just a procedure, and the decision is entirely up to Liu. Therefore, the cabinet made suggestions, either "violating the principles" or "clarifying the principles before writing" (Biography of Ming History 192). Finally, Liu simply took it back and "planned a trip to a private house", just like the "emperor" ridiculed by the people.

Liu Jin is not incompetent, nor does he take state affairs seriously. Historically, after Liu Jin brought the paper back to her private parts, she consulted with her sister-in-law, Sun Cong, the minister of rites, and Zhang Wenmian, a native of Huating, and was polished by Jiao Fang, a university student, and issued after being reviewed by Li Dongyang, the cabinet. Still very cautious. During his career, he carried out many reforms in the political system and introduced some new laws in view of the current disadvantages. The so-called "Liu Jin reform". According to the "Ming History", "It is the law to ask for money to make sacrifices and offer wine." According to "Wu Jianzong of Tong Ming", "Xin Chou, the military department has given you a bow. Please send Liu Jin's" seeing the case ",compile an integrated book, and publish it at home and abroad in the order of six to show the statutes. Write a letter to the courtiers to discuss the trip. "However, for autocratic eunuchs, the official history can never have the slightest positive evaluation, so the historical materials are basically not included in the reform measures and their effects proposed in the case of seeing the line. However, according to Biography of the Ming Dynasty 192, "The courtiers played the Jin Reform, with 24 official departments, more than 30 household departments, 18 Ministry of War and 13 Ministry of Industry, which is no different from the old system. "From this point of view, its measures probably involve four departments, including 85 measures in personnel, civil affairs and military affairs.

Now we can only get a general understanding of Liu Jin's reform measures from some relevant records, including the right to establish an internal factory to clamp down on the east and west factories. "When the East Factory and the West Factory were caught, it was hard to be afraid on the road. Jinfuli has established an internal factory. " In addition, the law enforcement of "severe punishment and severe law" is very strict, quite like Zhu Yuanzhang's demeanor. Spare no effort to crack down on official dereliction of duty and corruption, taking "polished rice" and the salary of dereliction of duty officials as a unique example. "At the end of Ding, the engineering department gave Wu Yi's nuclear warehouse losses and losses in Ningxia and Guyuan, robbed Xu Tingbo ... and other 16 people from previous governors, assistant minister Shuo Zuo and food doctor, agreement and minister Xu Jian 18 people, and sentenced Dong Quan. They also robbed Liu Xian, the governor of Ningxia, Liu Xian, the governor of Shaanxi, Yang Yiqing, the right deputy governor of Shaanxi, and more than ten people, including Shiquan, Magistrate, and Guantun Weigong, all of whom were fined, ranging from 500 to 300 stones, and half of them were officials. "Another example," Xin Chou, Bai Sicheng, Yu Shushan, etc. , participated in the Liaodong warehouse from the 15th year of Hongzhi to the 3rd year before and after Hongzhi, but the number of coconuts was lost, so I suggested Yi ... and dozens of people such as Langzhong, Yu Shizhen and Yu Shi. Don't chase except the dead. Others will be fined for throwing rice, ranging from a thousand stones to three stones. " ("Tong Ming Wu Jianzong")

Liu Jin's reform measures also include reducing taxes and reducing the burden on farmers. "In March, Chen Jia aggravated the hunger in Zhejiang ... and stopped donating 62,000 yuan to help the people this year." Establish an irregular inspection system for officials. "Self-sufficiency, it doesn't take time for the Ministry to visit Beijing Palace." In order to prevent the commander in charge of the garrison from fighting for self-protection or fighting alone, in terms of border defense, "please imitate the stories of Wang Yue and Qin, and still set up a civil servant minister to control the three, and exercise restraint below the town and patrol." For the chariot system, Liu Jin ordered a new comprehensive exploration, cleaned up some extralegal fakes, and rectified the salt law, which was also effective. "In the autumn of 1898 and the Reform Movement of 1898 in July, Liu Fu corrected it. ("Tong Ming Wu Jianzong")

During Liu Jin's tenure, he organized the compilation of A Compendium of General Jing. In addition, he also adjusted the number of imperial examinations in various provinces, increased the number of students enrolled in Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi and other places in the western region, and reduced the number of students enrolled in Jiangxi. There are also some informal measures that seemed strange at that time, such as "letting widows marry and those who are not buried burn to death", which attracted people's attention.

It is worth mentioning that although Liu Jin was born as a eunuch, during his autocratic period, eunuchs were forbidden to engage in official duties and their power was restricted. "When Kim was dictatorial, he demanded too much, and Yong Cheng and Yong both complained." His cronies are all foreign ministers, such as Jiao Fang, Liu Yu, Cao Yingyuan, Bi Heng and June. And none of them are eunuchs, which even the palace envies. Ironically, this became an important reason for his stepping down.

In the fifth year of Zheng De's reign, Zhu Jian, the king of Anhua, rebelled, and Liu Jin "appointed Yang Yiqing, an imperial adviser to the capital, and Zhang Yong, the eunuch, as the governor, and invited himself." After the rebellion was put down, Zhang Yong returned to Beijing. "After giving the prisoners, the emperor bought wine for Lao Yong, and Jin served them. In the evening, Kim retired and left forever because he played 17 illegal things. The emperor was drunk, lowered his head and said, "Kim failed me." Yong said, "This cannot be delayed." Yongcheng and others also helped. So he took the gold, attached to the vegetable factory, and sent officials to seal its private property inside and outside. "In this way, while the emperor was drunk, caused a fait accompli. However, Wu Zong did not want to severely punish Liu Jin. "The next day, after Yan State, the emperor showed his cabinet forever, and Jin Feng was appointed to serve the royal family and lived in Fengyang." When the property was seized, because the eunuch had tampered with it in advance, he got a fake seal with 500 palace cards on it, as well as various prohibited items such as armor, crossbows, mourning clothes and jade belts. He often holds a fan and hides a dagger. At first, he was furious and said, "Slavery is against fruits." Prison is fun. Prison furniture, written in the city, first, prison word execution, illustrated in the world. Both the people and anti-party elements should be punished. "(Biography of Ming History 192)

By that time, Liu Jin was over sixty years old. If you really want to talk about rebellion, I'm afraid your heart is not strong enough. After the downfall, because there was no genitalia, in addition to being reviled, the previous achievements were written off and wiped out, leaving only faint traces in history. Liu Jin's authoritarian time is not long, only a few years from two to five years. The crimes listed in the official history can basically be attributed to accepting bribes and hurting loyal officials. "Tong Mingjian" said that at first, "I was willing to pay bribes at first, but I couldn't hope for a hundred gold." (Liu) When Yu won 10,000 gold medals for the first time, I would like to say with great joy,' Why is Teacher Liu so kind to me! ""After the autumn, it developed to "all officials who go to Hajj and send envoys have rich gifts." This trajectory is basically the only way for unsupervised power holders. As for the power struggle of Chang Cheng's downfall, ups and downs are impermanent, and there is no eternal winner, which is also the necessity of imperial politics. Wang Anshi and Reng Zhang are inevitable. As a eunuch, Liu Jin is doomed to be a loser, which is not surprising.