In the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs 'schools educated very "professional" students became popular

In the feudal and imperial society, eunuchs have always been a special group that cannot be separated from but must be guarded against. It is inseparable because people must do the work in the palace; it is guarded because eunuchs can often enter the field of political life by operating daily affairs, which will bring negative impacts.

As we all know, the work in the palace is not just manual work such as cutting firewood and carrying water, but more technical work such as managing classics and documents. It is not enough to be illiterate, and it is not enough to just read without understanding the meaning. The court also had to adapt to the situation and opened a eunuch school in the palace. How is the school? What books do you read? Let's listen to Lao Liu's analysis.

Learning situation: Strong teachers must read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is the most popular one

Everyone knows that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was the most wary of eunuchs. In the 17th year of Hongwu, that is, in 1384 AD, Lao Zhu put up a sign in the palace stating: "Internal ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and those who intervene will be beheaded." After Zhu Yuanzhang died, the actual effect of this brand expired and became invalid. Gu Yanwu also said: "After Yongle, this order will not work." Zhu Di, the son of Lao Zhu, the grandfather of Ming Dynasty, began to use eunuchs to manage some affairs related to writing and culture, such as books, literary records, regulations, etc. To manage these things, it is not enough to be illiterate, and it is not enough to just read without understanding the meaning. In other words, it is imperative to use civilian eunuchs.

For example, if the emperor asks a eunuch to fetch a book, the eunuch must know the title. If the request is higher, the eunuch must check the pages and lines of the book. The eunuch must understand the meaning of these pages. The issue of improving the cultural literacy of eunuchs was put on the table. Therefore, Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty considered providing cultural training for eunuchs and began to regularly select some cultural instructors to enter the inner court to provide cultural training for eunuchs.

Hanlin Scholar serves as a teacher

By the time of Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, a special eunuch school was established, with the specific name "Nei Shu Tang". The specific establishment date was July of the first year of Xuande, i.e. 1426.

According to the records in the twelfth volume of the Qing Dynasty notebook "Jiaoxuan Suilu", the students came from eunuchs in the palace. The age of admission was about 10 years old, and the number of students was about two to three hundred. Later, the enrollment was expanded. According to a professor at the school named Xu Xianqing, he has eight to nine hundred students.

From the perspective of teachers, the Eunuch School can be regarded as one of the best prestigious schools in the Ming Dynasty. The teachers are all Hanlin Scholars. The first teacher is Grand Scholar Chen Shan, and there are four Hanlin Scholars serving as teaching assistants. Professor Chen is not a simple teacher. He was a Jinshi during the Zhu Yuanzhang period. He participated in the compilation of the "Yongle Ceremony" during the Yongle period. He served as a full-time teacher for the emperor's great-grandson. One year he rode a horse and wrestled and his foot suffered a small injury. Emperor Renzong of the Ming Dynasty even personally applied medicine for him.

I won't list many famous teachers one by one. Let me talk about another one. Yan Song, a great traitor in the Ming Dynasty. Teacher Yan has a bad character, but his knowledge is superb.

What textbooks are you using? The first-hand information of the Ming Dynasty eunuch school is recorded in the "Zhuzhong Zhi" written by eunuch Liu Ruoyu: "Hundred Names","Thousand Character Wen","Filial Piety Book","Da Xue","The Doctrine of the Mean","The Analects of Confucius","Mencius", which are elementary, and more advanced ones include "Zhenguan Political Leaders" and "Literature General Examination", which are suitable for students of different grades and different qualifications. The teaching materials are collectively called "Inner Orders". However, popularity is the king's way. Among a large number of textbooks, the most popular one is Teacher Luo Guanzhong's "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The specific reasons need not be explained.

Teaching situation: It is difficult to get along with respecting teachers and valuing education

When entering the school, etiquette was required. Of course, students bowed to the portrait of the saint, which was to respect the saint; next was to respect the teacher. When Confucius accepted students, he asked for dried bacon. The meeting gifts given by students to teachers in the eunuch school were as follows: white wax, handkerchiefs and dragon coat incense. Tuition fees must have been paid by the relevant institutions of the Ming Dynasty.

This is just a small gift, and it is not a small extravagance. According to Professor Zhang Wei and Professor Yu Shenxing and other faculty members of the school, the school will send an invitation to teachers the day before teaching.

On the day she left to teach at the school, 40 student representatives were waiting for her at Chengtianmen. After receiving the teacher, they went to the end door to set up a dinner. Student cadres and school supervisors would respectfully send some red paper posts, a total of nine letters, with the words "XX and XX bowed."

The so-called student cadres are the elected seniors, and the so-called school supervisors are the prefects of the supervisors. Along the way, students were waiting in batches to greet them."There were those who were in the lead, those who followed, and those who were invited from the side to sit in the court room to rest less and set up meals."

Presumably, teachers should have a sense of accomplishment when they are surrounded by each other.

Teacher Yan Song went to teach on November 21, 1517. He recalled that all students would bow to him four times. Teacher Yan received the gifts standing and did not have to return the gifts.

However, eunuchs schools are polite to teachers but not so good to students. There are many barbaric corporal punishment systems. According to the records in "Jiaoxuan Suilu", once a student failed to pass the standard of endorsement, or his writing was really unsightly, or his books were defaced, or there were other offenders who committed violations, the teacher from Hanlin certainly could not punish him personally, so he handed it over to the prefect of the supervisor for repairs.

How to repair it? There are also records that, according to the seriousness of the circumstances and nature, the punishment measures are as follows:

The lightest one is for the senior to use an iron ruler to beat him; the heavier one is punished by kneeling in front of the portrait of Confucius; the heavier one is more difficult to operate. Stand in front of the portrait of the saint, stand upright, with the upper body down against your legs, and use both hands to hold the two footboards. The legs cannot be bent, which is probably equivalent to standing leg pressing in physical education class. But in our physical education class, we use dynamic leg pressing and the upper body can move. In the inner book hall, students who are physically punished must remain motionless.

How long will it last? If the seniors are more polite and have a better relationship with you, they will be fined half an incense stick's time. If they are more strict, they will be fined one incense stick's time. Think about it if you put your head down for a long time and always pull on the ligaments. It will be as painful as it can be.

The side effect is corporal punishment for half a stick or an incense stick. The punished person is often "dizzy and stiff, and even vomited to become sick." Fang Junshi, author of "Jiaoxuan Suilu", also condemned this inhuman behavior: "This is the coolest and unreasonable method."

Every holiday, there is also a day off and some cultural and artistic activities are also held, such as writing poetry, which is nothing more than a children's version of poetry such as "The clouds are calm and the wind is light". However, this kind of entertainment is also risky. When everyone is queuing to leave, if anyone accidentally stands in the wrong line, the students will attack them in groups, both verbal and physical, scolding and beating.

Students will also be assigned to work in various yamen

How to arrange students 'work? Of course, most of them are absorbed internally, but they will also provide students to other units. For example, if major yamen lack writing, they will report to important officials in the Inner Book Hall, and the court will issue an order to arrange writing staff for each yamen.

It is said that these cultural eunuchs are quite popular. They have been hired to serve as clerks when they were still students. Sometimes, students are robbed by various yamen and no one has classes in the school. They also had to divert eunuchs from other departments to replenish students.

Situation in the Qing Dynasty: Qianlong suppressed this

It is a history that everyone is familiar to the Ming Dynasty that suffered from the autocracy of eunuchs. The most famous one is Wei Zhongxian. However, this seems to have little to do with the eunuchs 'reading. Wei Zhongxian happened to be a eunuch who did not read.

Until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was also an eunuch school in Wanshan Hall in the Forbidden City, where a Han teacher taught cultural knowledge to young eunuchs.

Emperor Qianlong was very dissatisfied with this. In the winter of the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong, that is, 1769, Qianlong issued an edict to the cabinet. The meaning was roughly this: eunuchs are used to order them around. Even if they read a little book, they would only know a few words. Why bother the scholars selected by the court to teach them so that they can be familiar with liberal arts and sciences? Aren't the lessons of the dictatorship of eunuchs in the former Ming Dynasty severe enough? Regarding this kind of abuse,"I condemn it every time I deeply disagree." Learning from the lessons of the past, we must strictly prevent eunuchs from interfering in government affairs. For safety, even if eunuchs are illiterate, what hinder them?

In the future, teachers will no longer need to hire heavyweights. They will just select an official from the Internal Affairs Office who handles documents and has read Chinese books-and teach the eunuchs simple cultural classes in a handwritten manner.

Qianlong said that in the future, there would be no need to hire high-quality Han culture instructors, and that it would be "stopped forever."

Is the high-level eunuch school coming to an end? It cannot be determined without research, but Qianlong's precautions against eunuchs can be seen from it.