Although Qiu Shiliang's name is Yan Huan, he is a fertile fake eunuch. He has a wife and children. His wife, An Dinghu, was the daughter of Hu Chengen, the third secretary of Kaifuyi, the prince of proofreading, and the imperial censor. She and Qiu Shiliang had five sons.
An age-old anecdote: Eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty actually got married and had children.
After Tang Wenzong's death, Qiu Shiliang still harbored a grudge against Tang Wenzong. All the people Wenzong loved during his lifetime were demoted or condemned one after another. When Tang Wenzong was alive, the lucky concubine Yang Xian once made Mu Zong's son Wang Anli Rong the emperor's younger brother. In order to show his loyalty to Tang Wuzong, Qiu Shiliang exposed the matter and persuaded Tang Wuzong to execute Yang Xianfei, Wang An, Li Rong and Wang Chenli. Soon, Prime Minister Li Jue was dismissed, and Tang Dynasty envoy Liu Hongyi was killed. Because of Dai Yi's meritorious service, Qiu Shiliang was promoted to General of Hussars and Duke of Chu, and built 300 food cities. He also sealed the gate of the mansion, the third division, the right guard general and the prisoners inside.
What’s even more incredible is that although Qiu Shiliang’s name is Yan Huan, he is actually a fake eunuch with a wife and children. His wife, An Dinghu, was the daughter of Hu Chengen, the third secretary of Kaifuyi, the collation prince, and the censor. She and Qiu Shiliang had five sons. In October of the fifth year of Kaicheng, Qiu Shiliang named his son Niu Qian in the name of Kai Fuyi and the Third Division. The upright Li Zhongmin retorted: "If you are an official of the Third Division, you should protect your wife and your son. But where did the prison for traitors come from?" At that time, Qiu Shiliang's face was red, ashamed and angry, I don’t know why the emperor didn’t pursue the matter later. Soon, Li Zhongmin was demoted to the governor of Wuzhou.
In February of the first year of Huichang, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty presented Zhou Shiliang with a stele of Jigong, and ordered his right servant Li Cheng to inscribe it. In August, Junrong was added. Although Tang Wuzong was promoted to Qiu Shiliang many times, he was not willing to be bound by his official position. "Although a scholar who is eager to learn has meritorious service, he should be regarded with suspicion as a sign of respect." Therefore, Tang Wuzong relied more on Prime Minister Li Deyu, and the emperor and his ministers worked together. At that time, the imperial court was quite active, and the power of eunuchs was suppressed, which made the once arrogant Zhou Shiliang feel fearful and uneasy.
In April of the second year of Huichang, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty ascended to Feng Dan Tower and announced his pardon. Qiu Shiliang threatened, "The Prime Minister will write a letter of pardon and reduce the food and fodder of the Imperial Army." He also urged the Imperial Army officers and soldiers, "Now that the high school entrance examination has not been decided, you can fight in front of the building." He tried to instruct the imperial soldiers to take the opportunity to cause trouble. Li Deyu was keen and decisive, and told Tang Wuzong about the incident, exposing Zhou Shiliang's conspiracy. Tang Wuzong immediately ordered a messenger to tell the soldiers of the Shence Army: "Pardon is what I want. What is the Prime Minister's wish? Do you dare to do it?" When Zhou Shiliang's soldiers were told to act rashly, his plot was destroyed. .
After that, Qiu Shiliang felt that the matter was serious, and he was restless all day long, thinking: He had been in power for a while and made enemies all over the country. Now, it is better to retreat temporarily or avoid being killed, so as to save Ronglu. In the third year of Huichang, Zhou Shiliang asked the emperor to be relieved of his rank due to old age and illness. Tang Wuzong gave him an "on-the-job supervisor" and asked him to manage the affairs of the in-service province, so Zhou Shiliang had to go down the ladder. Soon, Qiu Shiliang proposed to retire and return to his hometown, but Tang Wuzong had no intention of retaining him, so he had to show off and agreed to his request.
On the day Zhou Shiliang left, the eunuchs in the palace held a farewell party for him. When the wine was hot, Qiu Shiliang reviewed his more than 40 years of palace career, and taught his disciples and apprentices a set of eunuch strategies that had been effective and made him "powerful and polite". Qiu Shiliang said profoundly: 'When dealing with the emperor, you must never let him be idle. Whenever he has free time, he must study or receive Confucian officials. Therefore, he adopted the advice of the courtiers, increased his wisdom, and no longer pursued eating, drinking and having fun. In this way we will not be favored or tyrannical. For your future plans, let me tell you a good idea, which is also my experience: find ways to get money for the emperor to squander, and find ways to make the emperor pursue debauchery all day long, so that he can only think about how to eat, drink, have fun, and live in luxury every day. Do it to the best of your ability and don’t leave any free time for him to linger on eating, drinking and having fun. In this way, the emperor would not have time to listen to any classical knowledge, and would turn a blind eye to all political matters except for pleasure and excitement. This way, everything is under our control. Where else can our trust and strength go? This decree made all the eunuchs present overjoyed and paid tribute to Zhou Shiliang one after another. Of course, Qiu Shiliang only told half of the secret, and the other half was not revealed, which was to firmly control the Shence Army and threaten the imperial court with the forbidden army.
This confession of Qiu Shiliang's resignation vividly depicts the evil face of a eunuch who stole the country and seized power. After all, Qiu Shiliang was old and died soon after his retirement. However, the secret of eunuch power that he left behind to force the emperor to obtain "eternal gifts" was "the art of following the party."
In the fourth year of Huichang, a eunuch exposed Zhou Shiliang's conspiracy and found thousands of weapons and countless treasures in his home. That is, Tang Wuzong issued an edict to reduce his official rank and confiscate his furniture.
Qiu Shiliang's corruption and violence for more than 20 years was exactly when the central imperial power of the Tang Dynasty was weakened. Taking advantage of the emperor's incompetence and the ministers' struggle for power, he gradually controlled the emperor and gained power over national affairs. For more than twenty years, he served six masters, established two emperors, participated in the government affairs, interfered in the government affairs, seized the emperor, led the prime minister, killed them, whatever they liked or disliked. He successively killed two kings, a princess, and four prime ministers. Especially in the "Manna Incident", he arbitrarily killed ministers and ministers. Countless courtiers and officials died at his hands. It can be said that he was guilty and guilty of blood debt.
On the one hand, he controlled the imperial army and constantly set up party members in the left and right armies to exclude dissidents and make the imperial army only listen to him; on the other hand, he was very skillful and cunning in playing politics. Eunuchs were the emperor's chamberlains and domestic servants. They dealt with the royal family and the court all year round. They served the emperor and met the conditions that most people did not have to be close to the supreme ruler. In an era when imperial power was supreme, due to the emperor's ignorance and incompetence, the eunuchs' likes and dislikes often affected the supreme emperor, causing chaos in the country and harming the people, not to mention conspirators like Zhou Shiliang who deliberately wanted to seize power.
The way the fake eunuch Qiu Shiliang made himself successful was to let the emperor corrupt him and ignore political affairs, so as to seize the "right of favor" and achieve the ultimate goal of "I have every opportunity".
The pseudo-eunuch Zhou Shiliang had a disgraceful life. Although he was imitated by some conspirators who later stole the country and gained power, he was a true sinner and was always denounced and flogged by history. Regardless of past, present or future, he will be cast aside by honest people.