Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 58 He Should Not Have Been the Emperor
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Emperor Chongzhen had beheaded Wei Zhongxian, he showed a very satisfied expression.

He nodded in approval of Chongzhen's approach.

"Not bad, not bad. As expected of the descendants of our Zhu family, they are really decisive in killing.

Humph! How dare a eunuch shit on our emperor's head? Such a thing that cannot leave offspring should be killed with one sword!"

"Alas! Your Majesty, this is wrong."

"Hmm? What do you mean? Do you also think that it is a good thing to let Wei Zhongxian, the Nine Thousand Years Old, suppress our emperor?"

When someone refuted him, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally wanted to know the reason behind it.

Zhu Biao was naturally a little nervous for his "descendants". Could it be that this decision not only failed to restore the imperial power?

Instead, it accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty?
He could only judge what the conspiracy was based on Yang Chen's words.

Yang Chen looked at everyone and said immediately:
“Although Wei Zhongxian is nine thousand years old, since ancient times, the power of eunuchs has always relied on the emperor to exercise.

Without the emperor, the eunuchs would exist in name only, am I right?"

Although eunuchs are hated, this is all from the perspective of a modern person like Yang Chen.

If we look at it from another perspective in the long river of history, we can find that no matter how powerful the eunuchs were, they could interfere in politics to a certain extent.

In the end, he could only rely on imperial power to act.

In many cases, the extremely powerful eunuchs were actually the emperor's white gloves.

This point was also recognized by Zhu Biao, who had been studying various historical sites since he was a child.

He read through all the books that were based on time and events, such as "Zizhi Tongjian", "Han Ji", "Hou Han Ji", "Bamboo Annals", etc.

"You are right. There have been records of eunuchs being involved in politics since ancient times, but no matter what, they dare not stand in the open.

There is no need to say much about Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty. He called a deer a horse just to test whether his ministers were afraid of him.

Zhang Rang of the Eastern Han Dynasty is also a living example.

He served as Xiao Huangmen, Zhong Changshi and other positions, and held great power.

He instigated Emperor Ling of Han to set up the "Four Gardens Official Selling Office" to openly sell official positions to make money.

Although he committed many evil deeds, he did not dare to overstep the authority of the emperor and remained a 'servant of the emperor'. "

"That's right! Biao'er's knowledge really makes father feel gratified."

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the chair above, looked at his son and said happily.

There are some things that he doesn't need to understand himself, his son can help him solve them.

This process made him feel extremely proud, as it showed that the son he had raised was quite perfect.

"In this case, Chongzhen's killing of Wei Zhongxian was really a mistake. Without Wei Zhongxian, the Nine Thousand Year Old, according to what this bastard just said.

The Ming Dynasty court was already riddled with problems and party competition was fierce.

No wonder the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by Chongzhen. No! In addition to these civil servant groups, there must be more than just the eunuch party left. Where are the descendants of our dukes? Where are the descendants of our military generals?

And! The power of the eunuch party is too great. I clearly remember that the imperial precepts of the Ming Dynasty mentioned that eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in government affairs, and those who do will be executed.

Why is this eunuch so powerful? "

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice sounded a little anxious.

He was not stupid. After his son reminded him of this, he quickly realized that the structure of the court could not be a three-party balance of power.

Take the current Ming Dynasty for example. In addition to the royal family, there are many forces within the country. Xu Da and others are his brothers since childhood.

Their sons all married each other's daughters, and even many princesses married their brothers' sons.

The civil service group represented by Li Shanchang was not of one mind. Although Liu Bowen was dead, his disciples of the Zhejiang Party were still active in the Censorate.

The Censorate was the predecessor of the Censorate of the future Ming Dynasty. In the future, the Ming Dynasty would mainly rely on the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Censorate to monitor all officials.

Faced with this question, Yang Chen thought about it carefully, and finally glanced at Zhu Di.

Why were eunuchs so powerful in the late Ming Dynasty? Of course, it was due to the contributions of Zhu Zhanji, a descendant of Zhu Di.

This guy is known as the Hexagon Warrior, but he became slack in government affairs after being seriously injured.

He was obsessed with playing crickets behind the scenes of the palace all day long. The reason why the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were so powerful was because he made a decision that went against his ancestors.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow eunuchs to have high positions, but he refused. Not only did he open a school for the eunuchs, he also let the eunuchs set up relevant organizations to work for him.

It can be said that during the existence of the Ming Dynasty, almost all matters related to the eunuchs' mischief were related to him.

Who made him the source?

"Go ahead, why don't you say anything?"

Seeing that Yang Chen didn't answer, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to smell something unusual, so he began to urge the other party.

Zhu Di, who was standing in the corner, just noticed Yang Chen's gaze and instantly became furious.

I wondered if this had anything to do with him?
Thinking of this possibility, and then thinking of the punishment his second brother had just received, Zhu Di suddenly felt uncomfortable.

Yang Chen looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and touched his chin:

"The matter concerning the eunuchs and the military commanders involves the other two emperors.

Your Majesty, are you sure you want to know this now?"

Zhu Zhanji and his good son Zhu Qizhen, the god of war of the Ming Dynasty, one violated the ancestral teachings and raised the status of eunuchs, and the other led the Northern Expedition and caused the Battle of Tumu, which destroyed the elite of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, most of the military generals were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and there were not many left. Mu Ying and others were sent to Yunnan to garrison.

The remaining team that remained in the capital also had some generals who died in the war because of Zhu Di's seizure of power.

It can be said that during this period, there were basically no military generals like Xu Da in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with Yang Chen talking about two emperors.

Just hearing what Yang Chen said, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly and subconsciously wanted to ask another question.

But Chongzhen's affairs had already given him a headache. If the other two emperors spoke at the same time, and with the same tone, he would know that it was definitely not a good thing.

Even one emperor couldn't bear it. If three of them attacked together, Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that he would faint on the spot.

"That's not right. Since Chongzhen was able to become the emperor, didn't he understand the importance of the eunuch party?
The Ming Dynasty had no military generals to restrain it, and there were no other forces to compete with the Donglin Party. He had no choice but to join the eunuch party. So why did he still kill the eunuch party?
This is the mindset that an emperor must learn. How come the descendants of Chongzhen give us the impression that they don't know it at all?"

Zhu Yuanzhang questioned his inner confusion. It was possible to kill the emperor, but it was completely random killing.

Even if he is bloodthirsty, he would not commit murder for no reason, especially when it comes to the power of the imperial court.

If he killed one side, he would inevitably kill the other side to balance the power, but Chongzhen directly killed all the important members of the eunuch party.

But he did not take action against the Donglin Party.

This caused an imbalance of power in the court, which was a big taboo for the emperor.

Yang Chen answered Zhu Yuanzhang with a serious face.

“I have to say, Your Majesty, you are so smart that you can conclude that Emperor Chongzhen has never learned the art of ruling based on just a few words from me.

I know that your Majesty and all of you must be very confused in your hearts. As an emperor, you have never learned this thing.

But if I tell you that Emperor Chongzhen was a carefree prince before he ascended the throne, I think you will understand why he did this."

(End of this chapter)