The opening of the Three Kingdoms inherits the bravery of the overlord of Chu

Chapter 164 The Origin of Buying and Selling Officials
Facing Xin Qiji's aggressiveness, Yuan Shao had no choice but to succumb again. What he worried about was not Xin Qiji's arrogance, but poisoning the deep-rooted policy of buying and selling officials at the end of the Han Dynasty. I'm going to be crushed again.

The corruption of buying and selling officials in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Officials are the famous instruments of the country.

Looking at the corrupt dynasties in history, most of them had the phenomenon of buying and selling officials.But even the very corrupt imperial courts are secretive when they sell their officials, and they use clever tricks to manipulate them.

However, Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, pushed the behavior of selling officials to the extreme: not only opened a special store for selling officials in a grand manner, and the price was clearly marked for public sale of officials, but also institutionalized and continued the behavior of selling officials for several years. years long.

The reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and his predecessor Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty was the darkest period of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Even Liu Bei, who was hypocritical and benevolent, "sighed and hated Huan Ling" every time.

What Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty left to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was a mess riddled with holes.

After Emperor Hanling ascended the throne, the politics of the Han Dynasty was already very corrupt. Droughts, floods, locust plagues and other disasters flooded the world.

Coupled with the seizure of power by the eunuchs and relatives, the eunuch finally overthrew the relatives Dou and put the Queen Mother under house arrest, and won the power. He also killed more than 100 righteous students such as Li Ying and Fan Tan, and exiled and imprisoned more than 800 people. (These people died tragically. in prison), and tortured to death the Taifu Chen Fan who dared to speak out (Chen Fan's famous saying "If you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world" has a great influence on later generations).

The progressive forces of virtuous, loyal and righteous have been dealt a complete blow.

Through suppression, the eunuchs eliminated the forces that directly contended with them, and their dictatorship reached the peak of history.

However, eunuchs are a very decadent political group. Their physical disabilities and social contempt make them have despicable personalities and a strong sense of revenge.Therefore, when this group controlled the emperor, managed the government, and took over the power, the fate of the Eastern Han Dynasty inevitably declined.

However, the fatuous and licentious Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, in addition to indulging in wine and sex, also blindly favored eunuchs, and respected Zhang Rang and others as "ten permanent servants" (the permanent servant is the most powerful position among the eunuchs, responsible for managing the emperor's documents and issuing imperial edicts on behalf of the emperor), And often said shamelessly, "Zhang Changshi is my father, and Zhao Changshi is my mother." The eunuch relied on the emperor's favor, acted mischievously, extorted money from the people, and searched for the people's fat and anointment.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was very lewd. He would use any beautiful woman he liked in the harem anytime and anywhere. For his convenience, he would do everything possible.

In the third year of Zhongping (186), Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty built a thousand naked pavilions in the West Garden. Emperor Ling and many concubines played naked here, often all night long.

Emperor Ling asked the inner eunuchs in the palace to learn how chickens crow, and built a cock crowing hall on the north side of the naked tour hall, where many chickens were raised. Learn from the crowing of chickens, and wake up Lingdi with fakes and real ones.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty loved doing business very much, and he can be called the first emperor in history "Stubborn Lord".

He specially opened up the "Gongzhong City" in the harem, imitating markets, markets, various shops, and street vendors. Some of the maids and concubines dressed up as various merchants hawking, the other part as shopping customers, and some dressed as Those who sell singing, those who play monkeys, etc.And he himself puts on the clothes of a merchant, pretends to be a merchant who sells goods, walks around in this man-made market, or drinks and has fun in the tavern, or quarrels, fights, fights with the shopkeeper and the customer, How lively.

Emperor Ling wandered here and had a great time.The goods in the shop are all rare treasures that were looted, and they were stolen one after another by the greedy court ladies and concubines, and they even secretly fought endlessly because you stole more and I stole less, but Lingdi didn't know it at all.

Emperor Ling also used a donkey to drive a cart, and personally controlled the bridle and whip, and drove in the garden.This incident was known by the people in the capital, and they rushed to follow suit. For a while, the price of donkeys, which was originally cheap, suddenly rose, and the price was the same as that of horses.

Such absurd behavior can be tolerated, because after all, it did not cause much loss to the country.But the sad thing is that Emperor Ling of Han soon developed his interest in business to the aspect of selling officials and nobles. In this way, the serious consequences are naturally unimaginable.

Some emperors before Han Lingdi also sold their officials, but they only did so occasionally, and the money they got was usually "urgent use of the country".

By the time of Emperor Han Ling, everything was naked. The most absurd thing was that Emperor Han Ling opened an official exchange in Xiyuan, clearly marked the price, and sold officials openly.

All the money from the sale of officials flowed into Emperor Han Ling's own pocket.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty personally formulated the regulations for selling officials: the price of local officials is twice as high as that of imperial officials, while the price of county officials is different; officials must also pay according to the price for promotion.Generally speaking, the price of an official position is calculated based on the official's annual salary. For example, the price of an official position with an annual salary of two thousand shi is 2000 million yuan, and that of an official position with an annual salary of 400 shi is [-] million yuan. That is to say, the price of an official position is the official's annual income. ten thousand times.

In addition to the fixed price, it also increases or decreases at any time according to the status and property of the applicant.

It can be said that Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty sold his officials too much, and he never let go of any opportunity. Even Zhang Wen and Duan Jiong, who made great contributions and had high reputations, paid enough money to buy officials for Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. , before ascending to the throne.

Although Zhang Wen and others have a reputation for meritorious service, they all trade in goods and wealth, and they are ascended to the throne.

Later, it became more serious, and officials had to pay one-third or one-fourth of the official position price for transfer, promotion, or appointment of new officials.Many people who want to be an official have no choice but to sigh because they cannot pay such a high "official fee".

Among them, the story of Cui Lie buying an official is very funny.

Cui Lie was born in a famous family in the north, and served successively as county guard and court minister. In March of the second year of Zhongping (185), Cui Lie wanted to be a Situ, so he spent 500 million yuan to buy a Situ through his connections.

On the day of worship, the palace held a grand worship ceremony. Emperor Ling came to the hall in person, and all the officials stood down the steps. Looking at Cui Lie's proud appearance, Emperor Ling suddenly felt that the position of Situ was too cheap for him. Zhu Zhu regretfully muttered to his entourage: "This official has sold out at a loss, and he should have asked for 1000 million."

The Zhongchang attendant next to him interjected: "He can pay 500 million, which is already very good. Your Majesty, you need to have a little brand awareness. How can a celebrity in Jizhou like Cui Gong be willing to buy an official easily? Now even he recognizes His Majesty's products. It just happens to give us free advertising, and this official position will be more popular in the future."

Afterwards, Cui Lie asked his son Cui Jun one day: "I live in Sangong, how do you feel about it?"

It means, what are people talking about when I become a sangong.Cui Jun told the truth: "The commentators think it stinks of copper."

This is the origin of the term "copper smell".

(End of this chapter)