Waves at the end of Han Dynasty

Chapter 125 New Year's Eve
On the fifth day of the first month of the third year of Han Guanghe, Luoyang Palace was the capital of the Han Emperor.

The Han court has only officially started to operate since today.

Although there is a great court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month, middle-level officials from all over the capital will participate, but there will be no specific political affairs discussed on that day, only sacrifices and celebrations for the emperor of the Han Dynasty will be held.

In the next few days, the officials will also take a rest for the New Year. If there is no major military emergency, everyone will not work overtime for the New Year...

It was not until the fifth day of the lunar new year that the courtiers gathered in the palace again and began to discuss and deal with state affairs.

However, today's court meeting is different from previous ones. The reason is not because of the first working day of the new year, but because the two groups of courtiers who are facing each other seem to be preparing to fight. There is a strong smell of gunpowder before the court meeting even starts...

Since many officials with lower positions on weekdays had to make an exception to present their statements in the hall today, the court hall was also much more crowded than usual.

Zhang Chi, Governor of Taiyuan County, Duan Liang, Governor of Xihe County, Zhang Yi, Governor of Wuyuan County, Guo Shou, Governor of Yanmen County, Gao Shi, Governor of Dingxiang County, and Sun Feng, Governor of Yunzhong County, all five were eunuchs who once lived in Bingzhou He was in charge of various cases of bullying local gentry and non-compliance with laws and regulations. Now that the trials of these cases have basically ended, the court just recalled them to report the details.

But the county chiefs brought by Liu Yugang, the shepherd of Bingzhou, were only acting on their behalf, with the word "false" on their heads.

Presumably, after the dust settles on the Bingzhou gentry affairs and reassignment to eunuch disciples, it is possible for these chief officials acting on their behalf to remove the word "false".

Except for the neutral officials, eunuchs, royalists and Qingliu censors, the two groups of people naturally formed two "groups" in the court hall.

The gap formed between them seemed to be an insurmountable gulf, as irreconcilable as the contradictions between the two sides.

After a while, it was time, and several young eunuchs waited for Liu Hong to slowly walk into the hall, and a special person waited for him to sit firmly on the dragon chair before singing and drinking.

As soon as the words fell, Zhongchang servants Guo Sheng and Sun Zhang came out to play, saying that although some people obstructed, the fact that the gentry in Bingzhou bullied the local area was still verified.

For many years, the gentry of Bingzhou ran rampant in the countryside and killed the people without authorization. Their crimes are too numerous to list!
The two immediately asked people to carry the bamboo slips of the case files with serious crimes involving the core figures of the gentry to the hall, and they piled up into a small mountain in the hall...

As soon as the two of them finished speaking, Zhongchang Shi Gao Wang also came out and sued Yushitai for hindering the trial of the gentry case, and even deliberately helping to cover up the facts.

On the other side, the Yushitai Yushi and the royalists were about to rebut when they heard it, but they were stopped by Liu Hong with a wave:

"Now that the New Year Pass has just passed, and today is my first court this year, are you going to mess with my mood?"

"Your Majesty, it's not that the ministers don't know how to be respectable, but that if these tyrants and tyrants are allowed to behave indiscriminately, the people of Bingzhou will not be at ease for a moment! Your Majesty, please investigate carefully!"

Bi Lan stepped out and replied first.

Ma Rixun also came out to refute but was blocked by Liu Hong:
"Since that's the case, Ma Aiqing, wait until Ruo Youzuo treats me after reading it."

After finishing speaking, Liu Hong ordered the little eunuch to hand over the bamboo slips describing the crimes of the gentry to watch one by one.

When everyone in the party saw Liu Hong's behavior, they all thought that the master was going to support them today, they were a little excited, and they kept nodding their heads and looked at each other to signal each other.

Only Zhang Rang felt that something was wrong. He kept telling his adopted sons Zhang Chi, Zhang Yi and Li Song, who had been close friends with him on weekdays, not to go in rashly...

Liu Hong looked more carefully, and as the number of things he saw increased, his complexion became worse and worse, as if he was holding back the appearance of an imminent attack.

However, this is Liu Hong's performance, and he is very excited. After all, today is about to become his big harvest day!
But the priority now is to condemn the crimes of the gentry to death, and we can't let the two groups of people argue endlessly and miss the big deal.

He then looked at it for a while, then pretended to be furious, threw the bamboo slips into the distance, and shouted sharply:
"Is there any reason for this, Yang Fangzheng, can you verify whether these crimes are true!?"

"Your Majesty, these crimes... are indeed true."

Yang Qiu came out slowly and replied.

As soon as these words came out, there was an instant explosion in the court, and everyone talked about it.

Yang Qiu is Yu Shitai, the chief of Yushi Zhongcheng, who was ordered by His Majesty to go to Bingzhou to find out the truth and clear up the grievances of the gentry, so why did he appear at this time to testify against the crimes brought by the eunuchs...

If the royalists went with him, wouldn't they be shooting themselves in the foot?

However, as an official, he has always been upright and outspoken. Whenever there is a complaint, there must be solid evidence, so no one questioned it.

"What Master Yang said is true. The wealthy family of Bingzhou is headed by the Wang family. It is really difficult to describe the crimes committed over the years in detail. All the governors of Bingzhou have evidence to support them!"

"Besides, the current rebellion in Bingzhou is all caused by the clansmen who are unwilling to subdue the law, provoke the barbarians, and gather the minions of the family slaves. I hope your majesty will learn from it!"

The Zhongchang attendants Zhang Gong and Han Kui saw that the Yang ball bounced back, they were overjoyed and hurried forward to make up the knife.

"Since that's the case, Zhang Qing and Yang Qing, the two of you will assist Shang Shutai to issue an edict to deal with this matter strictly, and none of the people involved will be forgiven!"

After Liu Hong heard this, he ordered Zhang Rang and Yang Qiu to supervise the execution. Yang Qiu naturally agreed, he was not betraying the water, he had always followed the legalist way, in his opinion, anyone who is guilty should be punished.

He has also carefully investigated the crimes of the Bingzhou gentry. Although there are exaggerations, most of them are indeed true, so he just dealt with business.

And Zhang Rang, who had already been hiding silently, had no choice but to agree, and his sense of ominousness became more and more obvious...

This matter is certain, the gentry officials in the court were shocked, and even Yuan Wei and Yang Biao's eyes flickered. For them, no matter how conclusive evidence there is, this is a gentry of a state!
What if this continues to roll out to other states?

If those idiots in my own clan were investigated, how could there be no mistakes?

They also complained about Yuan Kui and Yang Biao, so why couldn't they come forward and organize against the eunuch party?

You see, these royalists seem to be very powerful, but what are they trying to do, they actually use cruel officials like Yang Qiu who eat inside and outside...

But Liu Hong on the Dragon Throne doesn't care about these psychological activities of the gentry officials, he is still immersed in his role:

"Since that's the case, what else do you have to do? If you have nothing to do, you can retreat."

"Your Majesty, I still have evidence that I haven't listed yet, so I ask your Majesty to make a decision after watching."

Yang Qiu played again.

"Why is there more? Oh, why didn't Yang Qing present it together just now?"

Liu Hong pretended to be a little impatient, but in fact he was looking forward to it.

"Your Majesty, the person involved in this evidence is different from the person just now, and the crime involved is even more unbearable. Your Majesty, please investigate!"

After Yang Qiu finished speaking, he asked people to carry the memorial and evidence that had been prepared into the hall.

Zhao Zhong, Gao Wang and the others realized that the situation was not good at this time, and hurriedly came out to persuade:
"Your Majesty, I'm tired of dealing with the matter of merging states today, how about discussing the rest of the matter at another day?"

"Shut your mouth, today is the first court of the new year. Your majesty has not yet said your hard work. Do you want to injure your majesty for being lazy and indolent!?"

"You..."

"Stop arguing and dealing with state affairs, there is no such thing as tiredness."

Liu Hong sighed again, reluctantly asked someone to hand over the memorial and evidence, and slowly checked it...

(End of this chapter)