Bandits, Eunuchs, and the Son of Heaven

Men of Force and the Son of Heaven

99 5 Men of Force and the Son of Heaven Such labels as “bandit” and “man of force” were products of social negotiation in at least two senses. First, societies—or, more accurately, ruling elites—define the formal parameters of criminal behavior, through the creation of official law codes. Ever-shifting considerations of private profit, personal prestige, local security, official duties, and political expediency , however, deeply influenced how and when such categories were applied, which then determined whether men like Zhang Mao, the Liu brothers, and Tiger Yang were perceived as unfettered heroes, valued members of the local constabulary, grasping bandits, or defiant rebels. The same behavior—intimidation, physical violence, and even robbery —might be ignored, tacitly condoned, or even openly encouraged. The careers of men examined in this chapter demonstrate that such dichotomous pairs as public and private, national and local, and licit and illicit were relative terms, whose boundaries were in constant flux. Given that the basic economic, social, political, and military structures of the Northern Metropolitan Area did not change dramatically from the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, it is not surprising that the mounted bandits described in chapter 3 did not disappear during the sixteenth century. That the patterns of violence and criminality transformed themselves into one of the largest rebellions of the sixteenth century, however, requires some explanation, which leads us back to the strange gathering of bandits, eunuchs, bodyguards, and the emperor of China in 1509. The following two chapters explore a case study of the role of violence and men of force in the capital region during the early sixteenth century. Chapter 5 traces the fascinating set of personal relations that linked men like Zhang Mao, the Liu brothers, and Tiger Yang to prominent civil officials, imperial eunuchs, and even the emperor. It explores the strategies adopted by all players to maintain useful ties without sacrificing personal interest or autonomy. It concludes at a time when, 100 Men of Force and the Son of Heaven in large part because of political rivalry at court, patronage networks in the capital region had shifted dramatically, creating new opportunities and new dangers for the court, local officials, eunuchs, and men of force. Chapter 6 chronicles the course of the rebellion, the rebels’ chief strategies, and the imperial government’s response. At the same time, it draws out what the rebellion reveals about wider questions of Ming social history: the ongoing role of force in society, the relations among men of force, officials, local elites, and communities in crisis. Many issues introduced in chapters 2, 3, and 4—patronage networks , negotiated order, links between Beijing and the capital region, the role of eunuchs, and the influence of military garrisons in local society—converged during the course of the rebellion with unusual clarity. The rebellion provoked a sense of crisis, intense policy debates, an increased flow of government documents, and greater attention to the workings of local society. The resulting paper trail suggests that Ming China was shaped by a complex system of unlikely relations that bound court politics to local society, connected the most exalted personages to the lowest, and tied the specificity of individuals and their motivations to larger enduring social structures of the capital region. Thus, the 1510 Rebellion and its origins tell us much about how China functioned in crisis and also suggests much about how it operated during less tumultuous and less heavily documented times. Patronage Networks: Bandits, Eunuchs, and Officials Let us begin with Zhang Mao, a critical figure in the complex web of connections linking bandits, eunuchs, government officials, and, incredibly enough, the emperor himself. According to the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty, an imperially compiled daily chronicle of the empire: Zhang Mao was a great bandit of Wenan. [His] house had multistoried buildings, rows of rooms, thick walls, and deep vaults. [He] gathered together desperadoes. Liu Chen [Liu the Sixth], Liu Chong [Liu the Seventh], Qi Yanming, Li Long, Li Rui, Yang Hu [Tiger Yang], and “Battalion Commander” Zhu were all his followers. [Zhang] Mao also had connections with and passed bribes to all of the emperor’s personal attendants in the Leopard Quarter. Eunuch Director Zhang the Loyal [Zhang Zhong] had the courtesy name Northern Grave Zhang. Zhang’s residence was contiguous with [Zhang] Mao’s. They had taken an oath as brothers. Through Zhang, [he] was able to bribe everyone, [including ] Ma Yongcheng, Yu Jing, and Gu Dayong. Consequently, [he [3.142.35.75] Project...