Research On The Phenomenon Of Eunuchs’ Wealth Gaining During The Reign Of Emperor Zhengde

During the reign of Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty,eunuchs gained the trust of Emperor Zhengde and their influence was expanded to all aspects of national governance.Their power was significantly grown than in the early Ming period.This also created conditions for eunuchs to gain wealth.Eunuchs accepted various appointments and gained authorities in different positions.Based on this,they could be divided into two types,namely the dispatched eunuchs of guarding,shipping,procurement,and serving as envoys,and the palace eunuchs.Their ways of gaining wealth were diverse.The dispatched eunuchs could accumulate wealth mainly by taking military credit,embezzling military pay,operating imperial stores,selling illegal salt,purchasing prescriptions,being envoys,and collecting tax.As to the palace eunuchs,they mainly made money through receiving rich rewards from the emperor,manipulating the promotion and demotion of officials,charging fines,colluding with seigniors to collect money and so on.Meanwhile,the palace eunuchs and the dispatched eunuchs shared similar ways of making money,such as occupying land illegally,embezzlement and bribery,as well as managing imperial stores.Through these ways,the financial situation of eunuchs during the reign of Emperor Zhengde was getting better greatly.Their fortune was brought by their enlarging political power.Eunuchs’ desire for wealth was partially related to the gradually extravagant social ethos,and the culture that wealth defined social rank,which was resulated from the trend of social commercialization during the period of Chenghua and Hongzhi,and weath accumulation of the whole society.So they took advantage of the Emperor’s indulgence and their political power to accumulate wealth by any means.Their methods of gaining wealth was different in capital regions,bordered cities and others,and the impact was also different.They spent the money in such areas,like building temples,giving donations to temples,repairing ancient bridges,and rebuilding the schools,which reflected their intention to consolidate their political status and showing grace and power.The process of accumulating wealth by eunuchs during the Zhengde reign had a bad influence on society in the mid-Ming dynasty.From the political perspective,the large amount of wealth accumulated by eunuchs was used to suppor them in political conflicts directly.Eunuchs formed a complicated network of relationship with civil and military officials.Though conflicts were often occurred between eunuchs and officials due to the uneven distribution of interests or different political parties,a relationship of cooperation or even dependence appeared necessary,which affected the stability of the whole political situation and atmosphere.What could not be neglected was that imperial power was essential for the eunuchs to gain wealth.The phenomenon of eunuchs’ seeking for wealth was actually accompanied by the expansion of imperial power.The expansion of the emperors’ selfish desire would inevitably lead to a squeeze on the country’s finance,while in the process of gaining wealth by eunuchs,the destruction of local taxes was particularly astonishing.From the perspective of local regions,gaining wealth by eunuchs increased civilian’s taxes and corvée.Moreover,making money from the local finance caused pressure on civilians’ lives and work dramatically,which in turn resulted in refugee problems,local instability,disturbance of business activities,as well as the spread of bad social ethos.