Why can eunuchs in the Northern Song Dynasty play so well?

At the highest power level of China's feudal empire, several forces intertwined and restricted each other around the imperial power, and jointly played a symphony of power. These forces are: imperial relatives, empress relatives, eunuchs, scholars (before the Tang Dynasty, it was a royal family, and after the Tang Dynasty, it was a royal family) and frontier generals (the forces of military commanders in frontier towns). Among them, the eunuch group has always been a bright "political star" and a group of people on the historical stage of China. From Zhao Gao in the Qin Dynasty, Shidong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huang Hao in Shu, and Li in Yu Chaoen in the Tang Dynasty, the eunuch group was very active and omnipotent. In the Northern Song Dynasty Empire, no matter the forces of the post-Qi Dynasty, eunuchs and military commanders in border towns, almost all of them disappeared from the power stage of the empire, and almost all of them were monologues by literati groups. In the words of Zhao Kuangyin, the founding father of our country, this is called "ruling the world with scholar-officials".

But the eunuchs in the Northern Song Dynasty are no longer in politics. During the Northern Song Dynasty, eunuchs held relatively low official positions, and their treatment was quite different from that of their predecessors. And they want to get few performance opportunities on the stage, and there is only one way-grabbing books.

The rice bowls of the fallen generals. Military post. Emperor Zhao's precautions and suspicions against military commanders are hard to beat. He often sent literati or eunuchs (mainly the latter) to the army as prison troops, giving the prison troops greater power. The prison army can often make military decisions instead of the commander-in-chief, which shows that the eunuch forces have embarked on the military road.

The official position provided a hotbed, and a large number of military talents appeared in the imperial eunuch team. The Biography of Eunuchs in Song Dynasty records 43 eunuchs in Northern Song Dynasty, of whom 27 led troops to guard the border. In the early days of the empire, the most beautiful words in the military were Dou Shenxing and Dou Shenbao. The Dou Shi brothers came from a eunuch family, and their father, Dou Siyan (adoptive father), was a eunuch in the Five Dynasties and the early Northern Song Dynasty. The official was an imperial envoy, and the Dou Shi brothers inherited their father's career, and they all became eunuchs. Although the founding stars are like clouds, the Dou brothers have gained a place in the military field by virtue of their military talents. Dou once led the guards to conquer the southern Tang Dynasty and obtained the senior military post of General Zuo.

And his younger brother Dou Shenbao became a legend in the Imperial Army.

Although Dou Shenbao was fat, he was brave when he started fighting. When he was a little eunuch, he followed Emperor Taizong and Zhao Kuangyi to Taiyuan. During the siege, Fat Dou took the lead, captured Taiyuan Tower with his foot soldiers, hung an arrow, and was appreciated by Zhao Kuangyi.

In order to further exercise Dou Fatty, he was sent to supervise the Bing garrison. Fat beans did well when they first arrived in Bing. He sent troops to attack mountain thieves many times, broke 36 shanzhai before and after, beheaded more than a thousand people, obtained armor, horses, cattle and camels, and handed over a beautiful answer sheet to his boss. Zhao Guangyi later sent him to Zhou Xia. In Zhou Xia, Dou Shenbao led the troops to smash some 14 schools that had long rebelled against Song Ting, such as Galois, and became famous at one fell swoop. Dou Shenbao's later military career was mainly against Li, the savior of the Tangut. As early as Song Ting wanted to use the Tangut to deal with the Khitans, Dou Shenbao, who was familiar with northwest frontier affairs, wrote to the court, saying that the ambition of the Tangut would become a catastrophe in the court sooner or later, and more precautions should be taken.

. Later, Li Qibing fought against the Song Dynasty, and Dou Shenbao led his troops to fight with him for a long time in the northwest. In the early years of Taoism, Li Lingbing attacked Lingwu City, and Dou Shenbao led the troops to stick to it. Xixia people besieged the city for more than a year, during which there were more than 200 days of earthquakes. Dou Shenbao and Li have been guarding Lingwu City.

In this earthquake, a series of offensive and defensive wars were staged, but in the end, we chose to retreat. Dou Shenbao made a big splash in World War I and worshipped Ambassador Xijingfang with military exploits. Dou Shenbao fought against the Tangut in the northwest for decades, no less than any famous soldier of his time. Later, like his father, he became an official in the imperial city and lived to be seventy-one.

Although the Doushi brothers fought in the battlefield all their lives and made great achievements, they were still unpopular with scholars. The stories about the two Dou generals are all jokes. About the story of Dou Hu Zi, there was a very famous painter named Guo Zhongshu (later called Jiehua).

Zhao Guangyi, the father of Emperor Taizong, heard his name, called him to Beijing and arranged to live in Dou's mansion. Guo Zhongshu was originally a handsome guy with a beard (the poet looks good with a beard, such as Su's beard Dongpo), but when he arrived in Doufu, he shaved all his beard. Dou Shen Xing inexplicably asked.

Why did Guo Shuai suddenly shave? Painter Guo said he would imitate you. Didn't General Dou have a beard? Say that finish laughed. Dou certainly felt wronged and angry at this shame. Naturally, he sued, and his impression of Guo painter suddenly became much lower. Beating a dog depends on the owner (not to mention Dou is such a fierce German shepherd). Soon Guo painter made a small mistake.

Lao Zhao exiled him to Dengzhou, and Guo painter later died halfway. Dou Shenbao fought in the frontier battlefield for decades. Song people did not write down many of his heroic deeds in notes and chats, but he always took his obese figure as a reference. There is a record that in the second year of Taiping and Xingguo, the Bianshui River flooded, and Zhao Guangyi sent the imperial army of Zezhou to lead Liang Jiong to lead three thousand troops.

Also attending the flood fighting and emergency rescue were Dou Shenbao, a little eunuch of Huangmen at that time, and Li Jilong, a young general who was just a rookie. Li and I came to the ferry by the river, one good and one bad. Both Dou Liang are fat, so they can't be the same.

In terms of qualifications, Liang Jiong is naturally much higher than Dou and Li, so Liang Jiong took a good boat alone, while Dou Shenbao took another bad boat. As a result, the boat was in the river and the fat man was too heavy. Besides, this ship is a bad one. It didn't take long for it to leak and fall apart, Li Dou.

They almost died. Fortunately, they found an old tree in the torrent, which saved their lives and saved two outstanding military generals for the empire (Li Jilong was the four great generals in the early Northern Song Dynasty). In addition to the Dou Shi brothers, there is a eunuch Wang Jien with more military talent. After the gentleman died in Zhao Kuangyin, the original queen ordered him to call Prince Fond to take care of the affairs. However, Wang Jien went to Fu Nan to summon Zhao Guangyi and made great contributions to the rule of Emperor Taizong. Wang Jien is there.

Yongxi was the logistics minister of the Third Army in the third year of the Northern Expedition. Later, he was appointed as the ambassador of Bo and Chuan by Zhao Guangyi, and led the army into Sichuan in two ways to suppress Wang Xiaobo's Li Shun uprising and capture the rebel leader Li Shun alive. At this time, Wang Jien has reached the highest quality of eunuchs.

To this end, Zhao Guangyi has set up a new official ambassador for Wang Jien. In the middle and late period of the empire, on the one hand, military commanders became more and more restrained, and they became farther and farther away from the center of political power. On the other hand, the power of eunuchs is slowly expanding. However, Mao, the founder of the founding of the People's Republic of China, was only admitted to the imperial court for 50 people. In the Injong dynasty, this number increased to 180, the empire.

The number of eunuchs reached more than 4000. By the time of Qin Hui, the number of eunuchs was even more, and they participated in the military operations of the empire more frequently. In the Xixia period, Zongshen launched a large-scale five-way northern expedition, and two of the five-way generals were eunuchs. Among them, there is a father-in-law known as the most able to fight in history, Li Lixian.

Li Xian, Zi Zifan, was born in Kaifeng. Injong entered the palace as a eunuch, and became a sacrificial palace from Bapin before Zongshen Zhao Yong ascended the throne. Zongshen carried out political reform and adopted an active policy of opening the border militarily, and Li Xian also had the opportunity to show its talents.

Ren Yongxing, Taiyuan Fu Road (official name, members of all walks of life, mostly three classes of envoys and eunuchs, responsible for reporting the borders of all walks of life). During his tenure, Li Xian made many suggestions to the emperor on the local border situation and the future military strategy of the empire, which was recognized and common sense of the emperor. From the fourth year of Xining, Zhao Yong was appointed as the commander of Wang Shao and Li Xian as the army supervisor. In the fifth year of Xining, Wang Li defeated the Qiang Muzheng, recovered Xizhou and set up Xihe Road. In the sixth year of Xining, Wang Lijun acquired He (located in the southwest of Linxia City, Gansu Province) and Tao (located in Lintan, Gansu Province).

County), Min (now Min County, Gansu Province), Dang (now Dangchang County, Gansu Province),? [mé men] (now Menyuan County, Qinghai Province) and other prefectures, most areas of Hehuang were included in the territory of the Song Empire. After recovering Hehuang, Li Xian was promoted to be the ambassador of Dongran Hospital and became the Imperial Medical Hospital. Subsequently, Li Xian continued to be active in the northwest frontier fortress, conquered Keno City, lifted the siege of Hezhou, suffered a crushing defeat, forced down the Wood Sign Department and destroyed the Dragon Ridge Department of Qiang Tusi. Li Xian's report card in Northwest China is quite excellent, and his official position has risen again and again. Xi Ning made a declaration when she was nine years old.

Eunuchs can be the highest-ranking officials. The imperial court fought with Xixia for years, and its finances were once tight. Zhao Zhuan ordered Li Xian to manage the finances of Xihe Road, and Li Gonggong was a good soldier in financial management. At one time, it saved six-tenths of the extra expenses and achieved remarkable results. However, Li Xian's famous work was Yuanfeng's four-year Western Expedition. In Yuanfeng's Western Expedition, as one of the commanders of the Fifth Army Corps, he led Xihe and Qin to the northeast. Lien Chan's winning streak, Li Xianjun first conquered the envoy city of the Western Regions, and then conquered a large number of strategic materials that Xixia people needed to collect.

After a series of victories, he built Lanzhou City and nailed a nail in the territory of Xixia people. Xixia people attacked several times in the process of building the city, but they were all repelled by Li Xian.

After the completion of Lanzhou City, Li Xian left General Li Hao stationed and continued to lead his troops in the direction of Tiandu Mountain. Because it was too powerful, Queen Liang of Xixia ordered the ministries to give way to the city, but it was still breached one by one in various mountains and rivers. Li Xian was at the eastern end of Qilian Mountain, Wuqu Mountain.

Defeated Yu Zangying, the head of the Wangs, and forced Yu Zangying into four parts, and finally went straight to Nanmou Palace, an extremely luxurious palace built by Zhao Deming in Tiandu Mountain. And set it on fire. The famous Xixia star took Ding Ling and led the army to save Nanmou. Where is Li Xian? Where does it hurt? /p & gt；

Confrontation, defeated by thousands of people. Later, Li Xian sent his troops to Mandingchuan, where he broke the famous army. Yuanfeng's western expedition, the 5 th Route Army, and the 3 rd Route Army were defeated. Although the record of the planting department is also brilliant, the loss is also great because of the weather. Li Xian alone marched on Wan Li Road, beheaded tens of thousands, built Lanzhou City, and destroyed Nanmou Palace. At that time, no one in Xixia could stop its edge. After Yuanfeng's Western Expedition, Li Xian was promoted to Fengjing Fudian and Wu Xinjun Garrison. Jingyuan Road appeased the envoys, and after knowing Lan Zhou, he became the most prestigious military general in the empire after Qi's death.

It's a pity that he is just a eunuch. Imperial literati were never afraid of eunuchs, and they were also afraid of military commanders who had high prestige and made great contributions. For eunuchs who can fight and make achievements, it is a direct change from fear to fear. From the first day when Li Xian led the troops to fight, he was criticized.

The sound never stops. In the ninth year of Xining, Annan (now Vietnam) rebelled and captured Lianzhou and Qinzhou. I began to prepare to take Tianzhangge to find Zhao. Recruiting envoys as Annan Road, while Li Xian recruited envoys as imperial edicts to lead the troops to quell the chaos. When the emperor ordered it, it met with strong opposition from civil servants. They said that the Annan rebellion in the barbarian land was a minor disaster, and Li Xian took the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, which was a major disaster. Let Li Gonggong go out to war, it is better to give those wild places where rabbits and grass are barren to Annan people. Under the strong opposition of all, Zhao Yong had to cancel this appointment. Finally, Guo Kui, ambassador of Xuanhui South Hospital, was recruited into the Annan camp. Zhao? For the deputy, send troops to conquer. Li Xian didn't go to Annan, Zhao Yong continued to send him to the northwest, responsible for Qin Feng and Xihe, and the second-line generals listened to him. As soon as this order came out, a stone stirred up a thousand waves again. In this proposal, Cheng Dengrunfu, Zhou Yin, Cai Chengxi and Peng Ru wrote in succession. How can a eunuch be in power?

With such a large military force. Have you forgotten Yang Sixu and Yu Chaoen in the Tang Dynasty? Zhao Yong was not persuaded this time and insisted on his appointment. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng, the Northern Song Dynasty Empire suffered heavy losses in the northwest Yongle City, and 200,000 soldiers were in ruins. People in Xixia were in high spirits and wanted to pull out all the fortresses inserted by the Northern Song people in the northwest. The next target after Yongle City is Lanzhou City built by Li Xian, which is in February of the sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083).

In June, Xixia people led hundreds of thousands of troops twice (the last time was 800 thousand) and stormed Lanzhou for ten days and nights. Li Xian's insistence on Lanzhou finally forced Xixia people to look away from Lanzhou. Li Xian sent the good news of repelling the Xixia people to Tokyo, but North Korean civil servants said they would hold Lanzhou.

What's the big deal? It's also worth reporting for credit. In the proposal, he even wrote to the emperor to oust Li Gonggong, lest he make waves in the northwest and anger the Tangut.

Therefore, when Zhao Yong, the boss who supported him, died, the spring in Li Xian was over. After Zhao Xu, the new philosopher, came to power, Li Xian began to be demoted, first as the deputy governor of Yongxing Army Road, then as Xuanzhou Observatory, and then as the right general Niu Wei. Imperial literati don't want him in the west.

The war in the north disturbed the friendly Tangut, and his return to Tokyo was also a thorn in his side, so he found a good place for him-Chen Zhou. Di Qing, a great star, died unjustly, and Li Gonggong naturally understood what the literati meant. Like Di Qing, Li Xian finally died in Chen Zhou.

The most funny thing is the evaluation of Li Xian's life in the biography of Li Xi 'an in the Song Dynasty, saying that he "took China as the general, although he could expand the territory and conquer the enemy, he did a lot of harm to people and eventually suffered from China Cloud". Since we can defeat the enemy, there is no need to harm the people. In the end, China will suffer. Historians' logic is easy to understand. It can only be said that eunuchs who can fight are a sin in the eyes of imperial literati.

Special contributor to "Looking at History by the Column": Night Wolf/Wen