Wei Zhongxian was one of the three most notorious eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty. He got absolute power during the reign of Tianqi Emperor and caused tremendous damage to the Ming Dynasty’s culture, politics, and economy.
Actually, Wei Zhongxian originally was a gangster in the street. The reason why he became a eunuch was that he was humiliated and castrated himself out of remorse.
Later, he ushered in his lucky day in 1620 because of his close relationship with Tianqi Emperor’s nanny.
In 1620, Tianqi Emperor came to power, and he was the fifteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Due to the trust of emperor, Wei’s spring of power also was approaching and gradually reaching its peak.
Political System
The Ming Dynasty was a feudal dictatorship with a high concentration of power. The emperor took all measures to ensure the security of his throne. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, although he knew the dangers of eunuchs interfering in politics, he would still reuse eunuchs to monitor officials.
In 1402, the Yongle Emperor became the supreme ruler of the Ming. He further expanded the power of eunuchs to protect the legitimacy of his throne. Importantly, Yongle wanted to repay eunuchs for their contributions in Jingnan Campaign with this method.
To make matters worse, there were powerful eunuchs like Wang Zhen and Liu Jin before Wei Zhongxian got absolute power. Therefore, the main reason for eunuch Wei Zhongxian’s getting absolute power was that the political system of the Ming Dynasty was ill.
In fact, the high concentration of imperial power provided a prerequisite for Wei Zhongxian to got absolute power. The eunuchs were more like a pair of gloves or agents of the emperor, and once they gained the emperor’s trust, they would quickly reach the peak of power.
Incompetent Emperor
Eunuchs’ interference in politics was a feature of Ming history, but not every eunuch who gained the emperor’s trust was able to get absolute power. The eunuchs were never granted absolute power from the competent and energetic emperors.
Unfortunately, not all Ming emperors were as capable as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. There were many incompetent emperors in the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty. They couldn’t control ambitious eunuchs effectively, such as Tianqi Emperor.
The real name of Tianqi Emperor was Zhu Youxiao. He was obsessed with carpentry and had no interest in the emperor. What’s worse, Wei Zhongxian often chose to report affairs when Zhu Youxiao was addicted to woodworking after he became an agent of imperial power.
Under this circumstance, the incompetent Tianqi Emperor would not listen to Wei Zhongxian’s report at all but would be very angry. At the same time, the emperor usually handed over many important matters of the Ming Dynasty to Wei Zhongxian so that he could concentrate on carpentry.
In this way, Wei Zhongxian became the emperor’s agent and could exercise the highest decision-making power on behalf of the emperor.
We have to admit that eunuchs who have absolute power are very cunning. Not only do they entice the emperor to indulge in fun, but they also choose to report affairs when the emperor is busy enjoying.
Political Struggle
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a fierce political struggle. A large number of eunuchs and some officials formed a political party called Castrated Gang, while the opposition was almost scholar-bureaucrat.
In order to crack down on political opponents, Castrated Gang chose to cooperate with Wei Zhongxian, who was trusted by the emperor. Due to the imbecile of the emperor, many opponents were eliminated. As a result, Wei Zhongxian effectively wiped out the opposition and became chairman of Castrated Gang.
After Castrated Gang winning the political struggle, they did many sensational things. For example, no criticism of Wei Zhongxian was allowed to control public opinion.
Even more surprising was that some officials, for the sake of their future, violated Confucian etiquette by calling themselves the son or grandson of Wei Zhongxian. It’s a distorted reality of officialism in the late Ming Dynasty.
The weak-minded emperor met the ambitious Wei Zhongxian, and the collapse of the Ming dynasty had become an inevitable trend.
In Conclusion
After gaining absolute power, Wei Zhongxian apparently became a eunuch emperor. He had no fear of anyone but the emperor. In fact, this is the disadvantage of autocracy.
In 1627, Chongzhen Emperor decided to eliminate Wei Zhongxian to shrink Castrated Gang’s power. When Wei Zhongxian knew the emperor’s plan, he chose to commit suicide.
In fact, although Wei Zhongxian was notorious, he still could not command the army, which determined that the emperor could choose whether to eliminate the eunuch who had helped him. Compared with eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian was pathetic.
