On the morning of March 19th, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Emperor Zhu Youjian of Chongzhen, accompanied by eunuch Wang Chengen, boarded Jingshan Park and hanged himself on a crooked old pagoda tree near Shouhuang Pavilion on the mountainside. Wang Chengen was also hanged from a nearby begonia tree. At noon, Li Zicheng entered the palace, and ordered that "Xian Di should be rewarded with all kinds of gold and made an earl". Invisible genocide. "Chongzhen's body hung in the tree for three days and was not discovered until March 21st. Stop outside the east gate and put it in the willow coffin. Li Zicheng ordered Chongzhen to be buried on April 4th. When I was at Axe King, I was loyal. After thanking him, he was praised by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty and once erected a monument for Wang Chengen near Siling.
Classic review
He is not an ordinary good man. He is a good man who does bad things. What he did for the emperor and the country.
The most loyal eunuch in history-the tragic life of eunuch Wang Chengen in the late Ming Dynasty
Empty time rolls relentlessly, like turbulent waves, splashing waves, rolling red dust, ups and downs of fate, joy and sadness. The past is like smoke, brewing a cup of old bitter wine in the salty taste of the storm, tasting the aftertaste and sighing for future generations. The long years, in the bitter wine it brewed, reflected a sad historical elegy. Among them, the erratic and colorful historical picture scroll seems to be locked in the sleepless night on March 19, Chongzhen seventeen years. The western horizon outside the Forbidden City is bloody, Daming overturns, the sky is falling, and it is at stake. Nuoda, the majestic capital, is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of troops in northern Shaanxi. These armies, under the command of Li Zicheng, are indestructible. This imperial city with an iron wall is shrouded in a huge and unusual magic. The atmosphere is so heavy and horrible that even a bird can't fly. The once-in-a-century bloody disaster is coming to Beijing officials and people. It can be said that the rain came, the dark clouds overwhelmed the city, and the sad songs of blood and tears were staged.
At three o'clock in the morning of March 19th, the city collapsed and the desperate Emperor Chongzhen screamed in the sky. He ordered the Empress Zhou and Yuan Guifei and other concubines to hang themselves in the Palace of Kunning. With a sword in his hand, Emperor Chongzhen personally killed Princess Zhaoren and wounded Princess Changping. Heartbreaking cries and chilling wails came from the harem. The crazy Emperor Chongzhen, with long hair and a trance, was led by eunuch Wang Chengen. In the face of the war and smoke in the city, Emperor Chongzhen bit his finger bitterly and left a will with blood: "I am humble, and I have done a guilty thing under heaven, which led to the anti-thief pushing the capital. All the ministers misunderstood me. When I died, I didn't have the face to see my ancestors underground. Since I am wearing a crown and hair, let the thief chop me up. Don't hurt anyone. "
Then, with the help of Wang Chengen, Emperor Zhu Youjian of Chongzhen, full of grief, loneliness, loneliness and despair, hanged himself on a crooked-necked pagoda tree near Shouhuang Pavilion on the mountainside of Jingshan Park. At the age of 35, Wang Chengen hit his head on the ground, bleeding profusely and crying. After reading the emperor's body, his eyes filled with two lines of sad tears, and he turned and left.
At noon the next day, King Li Zicheng led Dashun troops into the Forbidden City and ordered the city to search. If there is a "Xian Di", he will get a gold medal and the count will be sealed. "At this time, an invisible genocide happened. The frozen body of Emperor Chongzhen has been hanging on the locust tree for two days. It was not until the third day that the surrendered eunuch discovered that the bodies of Emperor Chongzhen and Queen Zhou had been transported to Donghuamen for parking and then put into wicker coffins. Li Zicheng, a murderer in troubled times, expressed deep sympathy for the tragic experience of Emperor Chongzhen's family being burned to death and self-mutilation. He ordered the Ming Dynasty adherents to transport the coffins of Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou to Changping by ox cart and bury them in Tian Guifei's tomb in the Ming Tombs. The emperor and Tian Guifei were buried together. Later generations named her Siling in memory of the unfortunate last emperor. As a loyal minister of the emperor, Wang Chengen was buried beside the commander-in-chief, accompanied by his underground master Emperor Chongzhen, and walked day and night with his bones and glory.
Later, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the young the emperor shunzhi, a poetic and emotional emperor, was deeply moved by Wang Chengen's loyal deeds and took aim at Wang Chengen's monument and biography. According to the legend of unofficial history, the emperor shunzhi wrote a touching eulogy for Wang Chengen with tears. The top of the monument has the words "Royal Loyalty". This royal stone tablet still stands quietly on a barren hill not far from Siling. It can be said that the green hills are there and the loyal bones are there. Because of its remote location, only a few tourists from afar occasionally come here every year to remember and cherish the pain of national subjugation in the late Ming Dynasty.
History is merciless and creates people. Like Emperor Chongzhen, Wang Chengen had a miserable childhood. Wanli, the grandfather of Emperor Chongzhen, was born to maids. Emperor Chongzhen's father Taicang's biological mother is also a maid-in-waiting. Emperor Chongzhen's own mother also belonged to Shu Ren, and his position in the palace was very humble. Is this a historical coincidence or necessity? Emperor Chongzhen grew up in the palace in his early years and lost his mother at the age of five, while Wang Chengen was born in Qukeng Village, Shijiazhai, Lantian County. His parents died when he was very young, and he became a lonely orphan. He was sent to the palace by distant relatives and castrated into a little eunuch. From then on, he began a bumpy eunuch career. The only difference is that there was once a beloved woman in Chongzhen, Tian Guifei, who was gentle, kind, intelligent and beautiful, while Wang Chengen was deprived of the right to love because she was castrated. All his life, he never enjoyed the gentleness and thoughtfulness of the woman he loved, nor did he say that he wanted to love each other. This may be the misfortune, humiliation and shortcomings of all eunuchs in the imperial era, including many wicked people full of evil.
According to Biography of Wang Chengen in Ming Dynasty, "Wang Chengen hated writing eunuchs in the name of eunuch Cao Huachun. In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng was short of troops, and the emperor ordered Paul to be the prefect of Beijing camp. By this time, things have passed and there are almost no guards in the city. Thieves fly the ladder to attack the west, Pingze and Desheng. When Paul saw the thief's wall, he rushed up and blew it up, killing several people, but Zhu Jun ran away without scruple. The emperor asked Cheng En to prepare all the officials and officials. At night, the inner city fell. At dawn, the emperor fell in Shouhuang Pavilion, and Cheng En hanged himself. When I was at Axe King, I was loyal. This dynasty gave 60 mu of land, built temples and monuments faithfully, and buried them on one side of the main mausoleum.
Wang Chengen tomb
With the tragedy of Wang Chengen's martyrdom, who can say that only eunuchs could do nothing in the history of the Ming Dynasty? Wang Chengen used his generosity to die to deny historical mistakes and misunderstandings. There were loyal and patriotic eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty! Wang Zhen in Ming Yingzong's time, Wang Zhi in Ming Xianzong's time, Liu Jin in Ming Wuzong's time and Wei Zhongxian in Ming Xizong's time are all villains who run amok and serve the country and the people. Among them, the "Eight Tigers" headed by Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian, known as the "big brother of nine thousand years", is a notorious political villain. In contrast, Wang Chengen's death saved some face for the notorious Ming eunuch in history. At least let future generations know that there were some kind eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who were loyal to the victims and died for their country. -Rainbow is kind. At the same time, he died in this country in his own tragic way, paying the price for thousands of eunuchs who enjoyed imperial power in the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty. From this point of view, although Wang Chengen died gloriously, he kept the eunuch's personal dignity and loyalty. This dying spirit will bleed, which many government officials and literary masters can't do, not to mention have it both ways, for example, and Duquesne. They stole peace, defected to the enemy, and traitors won glory.
Loyal eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty included Zheng He, who made six voyages to the West in Yongle, Wang Anshi, who helped record Zhang's political reform in Wanli, and Wang Anshi, who paid attention to state affairs in Tainian. Rainbow, they are all good eunuchs loyal to the country. It can be seen that eunuchs, like other social groups, are divided into loyal subjects, treacherous court officials, good and evil, gentlemen and villains. Not all eunuchs are cynical and reckless thieves.
More than 60 years later, on this rainy night, looking back,1March 644, Wang Chengen, the eunuch of Emperor Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged themselves in Jingshan Park and died for the stormy Ming Dynasty. He ended his miserable life, a rare loyalty! Whenever I look back on this painful historical period, I feel sad and sympathetic, and my face is covered with tears. I don't know how many literati were moved by the tragic story of Wang Chengen's martyrdom, so there was the famous classic drama Hate in the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties in the Republic of China. The author now extracts a line as the conclusion of this article to commemorate Wang Chengen's unfortunate and heroic tragic life:
Wang Chengen's heart is like a knife stuck in the door of the palace. She kept crying and took off her wet robe. Biting my fingertips, I wrote a bloody book on behalf of my Lord. The company commanders from all walks of life listened carefully to Gen Miao's words and said, "Our thief is in danger of offending the mountain gods. Jin gave it to himself at first sight. " Looking at the starry night in Manchu's heart, the thieves Li hurriedly handed out the gauntlet. I hope Xingyiquan can sweep away thieves and Lingyan Pavilion will go down in history. I wrote a damn book. I hope that God will come out and save the Ming Dynasty.
The supernatural is at stake. Li Zicheng will fight like a flood, trying to win over the Chinese people in Daming Royal Guards. Without a clever Wu Wen plan, my main palace mourned day and night. There is nothing to pay. Second, serenade. I hope reinforcements can come earlier, kill the thief and beat Dan.