Eight Tigers
Led by Liu Jin, the remaining members of the coterie were Ma Yongcheng (馬永成), Gao Feng (高鳳), Luo Xiang (羅祥), Wei Bin (魏彬), Qiu Ju (丘聚), Gu Dayong (谷大用), and Zhang Yong (張永).
They controlled the court's luxury workshops and managed the tributes from the provinces and foreign countries, and they were often made the heads of official missions abroad.
From the early days of his rule, it was clear that the young emperor distrusted government officials and was partial to eunuchs who took an active role in raising him.
Shortly after the emperor's ascension to the throne, the Eight Tigers swiftly took control of important positions not only in the imperial court but also in the secret service and the army.
A joint plan was finally agreed upon and set in motion with a direct petition to the emperor, asking for Liu Jin's execution and banishment of the other members of the group from the imperial court.
Liu Jin proceeded to retaliate against those who spoke out against him, leading to a string of dismissals, incidents of torture, and imprisonments of a number of high government figures.
[9] For example, he required the thirteen provincial administration officials to pay him 20,000 taels of silver when they visited the capital, three times a year.
[9] In October 1511, he asked the emperor to allow him to select 6,000 troops from the Capital Garrison reserves to be specially trained as assault forces for times of crisis.
Emperor Zhengde reopened it in 1506[12] after 25 years of dormancy, with Gu Dayong as its leader, due to his desire to have a more comprehensive intelligence agency.
In August 1511, Gu Dayong was appointed overall superintendent of military affairs, and he led a group of troops south of the capital to fight the rebel forces of the Liu brothers.
In 1510 and 1512, he restored the Southern Park's Lingtongmiao, the Yanfasi outside of the city's western gate, and the Huguosi (so that it could house Central Asian monks).
Although Zhengde spent all his money and time on palace entertainments, the Eight Tigers never criticized him and always obeyed his wishes, which caused him to trust them greatly.
Due to Gu Dayong's dutiful execution of this order, the other government officials could do nothing but wait until the emperor got bored with his new life and returned to Peking in 1518.
In March 1507, he issued an edict that made him and the other Eight Tigers equal in rank and authority to the highest provincial officials, as well as the right to investigate any administrative or judicial matter.
For instance, the eunuch Director of Ceremonies usually controlled the Western or Eastern Depots, as well as the Embroidered-Uniform guard, who "exercised almost unlimited police and governmental authority", with a greatly feared prison.
He claimed that the decline in revenues was due to mismanagement and corruption, and decided to run a general investigation and fine the ineffective officials.
He also targeted abuses by the local elites, punishing ineffectual officials with jail time or heavy fines paid in grain, which was then shipped to the north and west.
Zhang Yong and Yang Yiqing, who had been dispatched to defeat the rebellion, arrived to escort the prince back to the capital for his execution.
His companion during the travels was Yang Yiqing, the supreme commander of the army, who was once forced out of office by Liu Jin in 1507 and held a grudge against him.
Yang Yiquing managed to convince the eunuch that Liu Jin was planning an operation that would put Zhang Yong's life in danger.
The system built by Liu Jin that bestowed significant authority upon the eunuchs was swiftly dismantled by the government officials after his death.
He appointed Wei Bin and Gao Feng as the new Directors of Ceremonies, and had the rest continue to run the garrisons and surveillance agencies.
[1] Additionally, the imperial censors, who sometimes criticized powerful eunuchs directly to the emperor, viewed the defeat of Liu Jin as a victory for the strength of China's empire.
He claims that the extensive intelligence network run by the eunuchs caused the empire to fall into a period of panic, and that the imperial estates uprooted peasants from their land and livelihoods, lending more support to the rebellion.
[9] The dragon cloaks worn by the emperor's chosen Eight Tigers came to symbolize great power, which was desirable to young men trying to make a career.
[8] Overall, the Eight Tigers add credence to the many stories told in the classical Chinese histories and in modern scholarship about how much power eunuchs had in imperial China.
A few examples: Liu Jin, as head of the Inner Branch Depot, was powerful enough to demand that officials kneel before him and to order flogging punishments, sometimes until death.
In Bajian qixia wuyi pingmen qianhou zhuan and Sanmenjie, Liu Jin lures the emperor from the capital's safety to Suzhou, promising him beautiful women and scenery.
Using his connections with three bandit chiefs, who have an army of ten-thousand men based in Qingzhou, Shandong, Liu Jin has the imperial entourage attacked.
The game revolves around the protagonist, Shao Jun, hunting down the Tigers one by one as revenge for their purge of the Chinese Assassin Brotherhood years prior.
