At the same time, the temple also hopes that the old eunuch will use it as a retirement place. On the one hand, because the eunuchs in the palace basically have savings, on the other hand, because eunuchs are related to royalty and high officials and dignitaries, it is good for the temple itself to accommodate a few eunuchs who used to be a little powerful. Moreover, after powerful eunuchs leave the palace, they can also get close to dignitaries such as monks and Taoists. In this way, there will be more ways for temples to make money. Of course, this is also related to the fact that most eunuchs believe in Buddhism.
In order to avoid revealing the privacy of the harem, some dynasties in history expressly stipulated that old eunuchs were not allowed to go home. Instead, they all moved to temples, burned incense every day, and were supplied with clothes and rice by the palace. In the Ming Dynasty, there was also a well-being hall in Bei 'anmen, where sick eunuchs were placed and dead eunuchs were arranged. After the funeral, he left Bei 'anmen and incinerated in Jingle Hall outside Xizhimen. Some eunuchs and maids-in-waiting, who have no relatives, store their ashes under the tower after incineration in Jingle Hall.
In the Qing dynasty, except for a few eunuchs who made special contributions, they were all allowed to be decorated in the palace. According to the regulations, people who are old or sick must leave the palace. For the eunuchs who stayed in Beijing after retirement, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty mostly adopted the method of forced return to their original places. "Those who secretly stay in Beijing because eunuchs don't return home, the infantry commander will instruct them to return home quickly." Some upper-level eunuchs have amassed a lot of money through various channels such as corruption, bribery, extortion and rewards, and they have no worries about food and clothing after leaving the palace. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the famous Li bought 36 hectares of land in his hometown, countless jewels, gold and silver, and seven or eight properties in Beijing. After his death, the four stepsons each received 402,000 yuan in silver, a big bag of jewelry, 202,000 yuan for other nephews and 0/72,000 yuan for two daughters. In a word, the amount of silver distribution alone is more than 3.4 million. Li's graveyard was built outside Deshengmen, the capital of China. It is said that when it was buried and covered, it was filled with sand, lime, loess, protein and glutinous rice soup, so that all the eggs within a dozen miles of Fiona Fang outside Deshengmen were bought, and the yolk was discarded everywhere. It was spring at that time, and the yolk on the ground quickly deteriorated and stinked, which made the locals want to vomit when they saw the eggs within a few years.
Xiao succeeded Li Ren as the supervisor, and had far more wealth than Li. He not only bought a lot of land in Gai Lou in his hometown of Tianjin and Beijing, but also opened a pawn shop, a satin shop and a foreign goods shop with huge sums of money, and concurrently served as the managing director of Zhizhong Bank. With this money, Zhang Xiaode lived a rich life in Tianjin for decades after he left the palace. It is said that when he was building a new house in Tianjin, he once said to the construction workers, "You lay the foundation firmly and I will give you foreign money one inch thick." Every afternoon at two o'clock, Zhang Xiaode will go to check on time and take some silver dollars with him. When he was satisfied, he scattered the silver dollar into the pit of the foundation and let the workers divide it themselves. The building was built in 1924. The floor in the building is inlaid with soft and hard solid wood, with exquisite patterns and gorgeous indoor furnishings. In addition to the steward, cashier, concierge, cook, handyman and maid, there are four or five little eunuchs who are responsible for burning cigarettes, pouring tea and entertaining guests.
Of course, there are very few people like Li Hexiao who can live such a rich life after leaving the palace, and ordinary eunuchs who have been poor in the palace all their lives are not willing to take them in. In order to solve the problem of poverty and helplessness in his later years, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the governor of the palace, Liu Niu, assistant minister Xiao, etc. 9 1 person established the Wanshou Xinglong Temple Pension Society. The eunuch who joined the partnership donated some money and bought more than 200 acres of land in the southern suburbs of Beijing. It is stipulated that eunuchs who join the club should pay 100 silver first, and after three years, they can go to the temple to which the pension association belongs, without paying room and board. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Eunuch Pension Association also stipulated that eunuchs must pay membership dues 180 yuan.
In recent years, an ancient relic was discovered near Yuhuatai, Nanjing. The monument is carved with bluestone. It is very high, with a height of 100 m and a width of 100 m. The head of the monument has moire patterns such as relief and double phoenix. The lower part of the pedestal is engraved with sea water, river teeth, mountain peaks and four-in-one moire patterns, and the upper part is decorated with Yunyan and Xiangyun. Exquisite craftsmanship, the front of the monument is engraved with branches, and the word "Huang Ming" is vertically engraved on the tablet. In the inscription, there are the words "Nanjing Silijian and other eunuchs in yamen and other official monuments", which list the names and native places of 27 eunuchs. Nanjing in Ming Dynasty was the Southern Capital after Yongle, and the eunuch power was quite powerful. This tablet belongs to the "Yi Hui" of eunuchs and others, which shows that the eunuchs in Nanjing had a collective "friendship" party out of some demand, perhaps mutual assistance.
This self-supporting self-help organization partially changed the eunuch's lonely life in his later years, but after all, it was based on the premise that eunuchs were rich. The salaries of eunuchs in Qing Dynasty were mainly monthly silver, monthly rice and public money. The highest monthly silver is eight or two, and the lowest is two or two; The highest month is eight meters, and the lowest is one and a half meters; According to the records of the Qing Palace Collection in Guangxu period, every month, the palace supervisor received eight taels of silver and eight taels of rice, and made a string of three hundred dollars at public expense. The main waiter and deputy waiter of the palace supervisor gave seven taels of silver, seven meters of welcome and two hundred strings of public funds. Five taels of silver were given to the palace guards, five meters were given to welcome guests, and a pile of silver was made at public expense. Shi Jian gave four taels of silver, four taels of rice and seven hundred at public expense. Pen paste Shi Jian gave three taels of silver, three meters to welcome guests, and 700 yuan at public expense. The rest of the eunuchs were given three taels of silver and three meters of welcome; Give silver 225 yuan, two and a half meters; Give two pieces of silver, one and a half meters; The above three public funds are all 600. In addition to official salaries, the income of court eunuchs also includes various rewards. The names of awards include annual holiday awards, special holiday awards and additional silver awards. The reward is not only silver, but also jewelry, jade, silk, antique calligraphy and painting. Due to the differences in the status and status of eunuchs, the rewards they receive are often very different. Eunuchs often get more rewards than salaries every year. Especially the upper eunuchs, the annual reward far exceeds the formal salary. The reward of the lower eunuchs for one year is often extremely limited.