title: The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (SUNY series in Chinese Local Studies)
author:  Shih-shan Henry Tsai 
description: This book is a detailed and intellectually sophisticated study of Ming eunuchs that illuminates the entire history of the Ming. The author is aware of the systematic anti-eunuch prejudice of the sources (all composed by civil officials), and has adopted a critical stance throughout. This has permitted him to assess objectively the achievements of the eunuchs and to let them speak for themselves to the extent that the sources permit.  Edward L. Dreyer, University of Miami
zlib_text: CHAPTER 4
  T'AI-TSUNG (REIGN 626-49)
  THE CONSOLIDATOR
  The future T'ai-tsung, Li Shih-min, the second son of Kao-tsu, was born
  in the year 6001 in Wu-kung county in modern Shensi. His mother was
  a member of an extremely powerful clan, the Tou. Her elder sister was
  the consort of Yang Kuang, the future Sui emperor Yang-ti. Their clan,
  which like the Sui and T'ang imperial houses was of partially alien
  origin (their original surname was Ho-tou-ling),2 continued to be very
  influential throughout the early T'ang, producing two empresses, six
  consorts of royal princes, eight husbands of royal princesses, and a great
  number of officials of the highest ranks.3 T'ai-tsung's mother had been
  brought up at the court of her uncle, the emperor Wu-ti of the Northern
  Chou (whose younger sister was her mother), where Li Yuan is said to
  have won her hand in an archery contest. She died in 614.4
  During his childhood Li Shih-min was, of course, simply a son of a
  nobleman, and thus would not have received a