 | THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty |  |
Eunuch control of the government; Confucian attacks upon and eventual
victory over the eunuchs
The actual control of governmental business during this reign was
neither in the hands of the Confucian scholars in high civil position nor
of the imperial maternal relatives in control of the army, but in the
hands of Emperor Yüan's favorite eunuch, Shih Hsien. The custom
of employing eunuchs as imperial private secretaries was begun by
Emperor Wu. He spent much of his leisure in the imperial harem, to
which ordinary persons were not admitted; hence he needed eunuchs
for his private secretaries. They were entitled Palace Writers, and
should be distinguished from the Masters of Writing, who were noneunuch
imperial private secretaries.
At the end of the previous reign, when Emperor Hsüan was dying,
he selected his maternal cousin, Shih Kao, together with the two learned
Confucians who were the Grand Tutor and Junior Tutor to the Heir-apparent,
Hsiao Wang-chih and Chou K'an, to be the persons who should
guide the Heir. The two Confucians were concurrently made Intendants
of Affairs of the Masters of Writing, usually the key position in
the government.
Hsiao Wang-chih was perhaps the most learned and famous Confucian
scholar of the time. He had been highly honored and influential under
Emperor Hsüan and, while he had been the future Emperor's Tutor, had
Confucian Emperor was on the throne, Hsiao Wang-chih thought that
the opportunity had come for introducing Confucian reforms into the
government. His clique included the famous Confucian, Liu Hsiang4,
who was Superintendant of the Imperial House.
The rise of the eunuch Shih Hsien to a position of influence came about
when Shih Kao found his power checked by that of Hsiao Wang-chih, who
had been made General of the Van. Shih Kao was jealous of the favor
shown by Emperor Yüan to these Confucians and found two influential
Palace Writers, Hung Kung and Shih Hsien (the latter was no relative of
Shih Kao), who were glad to league with him. They were both men
who in their youth had fallen foul of the numerous and involved laws
enacted by Emperor Wu, had been made eunuchs, and had been selected,
first as members of the eunuch Yellow Gate, and later as Palace Writers.
Hung Kung proved capable in the law, knew historical precedents, and
was skilled in preparing memorials, so was made Chief Palace Writer.
Shih Hsien was made a Supervisor, and, when Hung Kung died several
years after Emperor Yüan came to the throne, Shih Hsien was promoted
to be Chief Palace Writer.
Emperor Yüan was quite ignorant concerning the mechanics of running
a government, whereas Hung Kung and Shih Hsien had long occupied
their positions, knew how to handle affairs, and were well acquainted
with the laws. Hence Emperor Yüan soon found them indispensable.
He was ill and did not attend to government business, giving his time to
music. Shih Hsien had no outside connections, was attentive and
reliable, and was able to anticipate Emperor Yüan's wishes, so Emperor
Yüan entrusted him with making decisions in great and small affairs.
Shih Kao in the court and Shih Hsien in the imperial private chambers
were thus quite able to check and defeat for a time the Confucian influence
(later they made terms with it).
Hsiao Wang-chih recognized the source of his opposition, and proposed
to Emperor Yüan that eunuchs should not be employed in such a confidential
and important capacity as imperial private secretaries, for
which only unmutilated persons should be used. He urged that the
employment of eunuchs in such a capacity was not an old constitutional
practise, and that it was contrary to the Confucian principle (now found
in the Book of Rites, I, i, iv, 52; Legge, I, 90) that a person who had been
punished should not be allowed to be by the side of a prince.
Hsiao Wang-chih, Chou K'an, and Liu Hsiang4 went so far as to discuss
the proposal of asking the Emperor to dismiss his imperial maternal
to the Emperor, the imperial relatives had a Confucian (whom Hsiao
Wang-chih had failed to promote) slander the Confucian clique. The
matter was brought to Emperor Yüan's attention on a day when Hsiao
Wang-chih was on leave from the court; Hung Kung was appointed to
investigate the charge. He reported that Hsiao Wang-chih, Chou K'an,
and Liu Hsiang4 had formed a cabal to promote one another, slander
high officials, and degrade the imperial maternal relatives, in order to
seize the power themselves, which constituted disloyalty and inhumanity,
and he begged that they be given in charge of the Commandant of
Justice. Emperor Yüan had just come to the throne and did not know
that a summons to the Commandant of Justice meant imprisonment,
so he approved the request. When he later asked for Chou K'an and
Liu Hsiang4, he was astounded to be told that they were in prison,
whereupon he had them immediately released. Hsiao Wang-chih,
because he was General of the Van, seems not to have been imprisoned
at this time. Hung Kung and Shih Hsien now had Shih Kao memorialize
that since these persons had been in prison, they should be pardoned and
dismissed from their offices. In 47 B.C., Emperor Yüan accordingly
dismissed the Confucians from their posts.
Several months later he recalled Hsiao Wang-chih and ennobled him,
intending eventually to make him the Lieutenant Chancellor. Hung
Kung and Shih Hsien, however, reminded Emperor Yüan that Hsiao
Wang-chih was proud and that he believed he would never be brought
to task for what he did, so that it was necessary to send him to prison in
order to humble his pride. Emperor Yüan feared that Hsiao Wang-chih's
pride would never allow him to be taken to prison, but they replied
that if he were sent to prison on a petty charge, he would have nothing to
fear. So Emperor Yüan agreed to their plan. Shih Hsien and the
others thereupon ordered the police to surround Hsiao Wang-chih's
residence, and a messenger gave him the warrant for his arrest. He
wanted to commit suicide, but his wife stopped him, telling him that the
Emperor did not want his death. A disciple, who loved resolution,
however encouraged his master to be firm and to avoid disgrace by
ending his life. Hsiao Wang-chih sighed that for him, a former General,
to go to prison in order to save his life would be shameful, so he drank
poison. Emperor Yüan was shocked at what he had done. He wept
and would not eat. He wanted to punish Shih Hsien and the others
because they had not advised him concerning the consequences of his
act. They begged his pardon and explained at length, and the matter
blew over. Thus they disposed of their most dangerous enemy.
Whenever there was a calamity, Emperor Yüan would ask his subjects
to explain to him what was to blame, and several good Confucians blamed
the anger of Heaven upon Shih Hsien's machinations. Each time,
Shih Hsien heard about it and managed to have the complainant caught
up and punished on some crime, so that this eunuch came to be feared
greatly by the officials in the capital. A famous Confucian authority on
the Book of Changes, Ching Fang, secured Emperor Yüan's ear and
pointed out to him that the ancient rulers who had wicked ministers had
been warned by a succession of calamities such as those that occurred in
the reign of Emperor Yüan. Then he drew the conclusion that the person
at fault was the Emperor's most intimate and confidential advisor, whom
Emperor Yüan confessed was Shih Hsien. Nevertheless, Emperor Yüan
could not spare his favorite eunuch. Shih Hsien soon had Ching Fang
promoted to a position away from the capital. He discovered that
Ching Fang had repeated to others what the Emperor had once said to
him in the imperial private apartments, which was a capital crime.
Thereupon he had Ching Fang executed.
Shih Hsien was afraid that Emperor Yüan would eventually listen
to criticism of him, so he kept searching out his critics relentlessly
and had them executed for one crime or another. People generally
said that he had killed Hsiao Wang-chih. When the famous Confucian,
Kung Yü, came to the court, Shih Hsien hence purposely sent someone
to tell him that he wished him well and wanted to aid him, and recommended
him to Emperor Yüan. Thus Kung Yü eventually became
Grandee Secretary and was able to bring about many reforms. Then
people ceased to believe that Shih Hsien had killed Hsiao Wang-chih.
Before Emperor Yüan died, Shih Hsien, who was afraid of punishment
after his patron's death, resigned his office as Palace Writer and took a
low position in the harem. Nevertheless, he was still highly favored by
the Emperor and was given large grants. He was active in bringing
Emperor Ch'eng to the throne, and was rewarded by the latter with
a high official position. The Confucian Lieutenant Chancellor, K'uang
Heng, and the Grandee Secretary, Chang T'an, now dared to bring
Shih Hsien's evil deeds to the attention of Emperor Ch'eng. Shih
Hsien was dismissed, exiled, and sent back to his home with his wife and
son. On the way he would not eat because of worry, became ill, and died.
The office of Palace Writer was abolished in order to keep eunuchs out
of government affairs. Thereafter, eunuchs had little influence in the
government until Later Han times.
An emperor with such a pitifully inadequate knowledge of human
nature and of the governmental machinery as that displayed by Emperor
He could only be pulled about by the various personalities who managed
to get his attention. Emperor Yüan's reforms were accordingly not his
own deeds, but the creations of the persons by whom he was surrounded,
and even those achieved by Kung Yü were only enacted because Emperor
Yüan's eunuch, Shih Hsien, for selfish reasons, assisted Kung Yü.
Emperor Hsüan had disliked his Heir-apparent and had failed to train
him in the business of government. Before his death, Emperor Hsüan
had wanted to change his Heir, but was dissuaded. The untrained
Emperor Yüan was little more than a dignified puppet in the hands of
those around him.
Confucianism was thus a predisposing cause of the favoritism shown
to imperial maternal relatives and of the very sordid influence wielded
by eunuchs, and was both hampered and aided by that influence. Some
Confucians dared to attack this eunuch influence and suffered death;
other Confucians made peace with it as long as it was unassailable, but
overthrew it as soon as the coming of another Emperor made successful
attack feasible.
| THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty | |