At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 49: Sleeping against the collapse
Cao Cao said sadly: "The scourge of the party's imprisonment affects the five clans. If one person is guilty, the consequences will be extensive. Many families will be imprisoned and cannot be officials."

He looked up at Zhou Qi and asked, "If things go on like this, how can the world not be chaotic?"

When Zhou Qi heard this, a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

"Brother Meng De, why do you think the disaster caused by the party's imprisonment started?"

Cao Cao said without hesitation: "Naturally, it is the emperor who favors and trusts the eunuchs. The eunuchs cause chaos in the court and cannot allow scholars to be clear, so they encourage the emperor to carry out the disaster of the party."

Cao Cao's thinking is not wrong, at least in this era, it is the consensus of almost everyone.

Since ancient times, the eunuch group has been at odds with the scholars. It is reasonable for them to slander the emperor in order to suppress the scholars.

But Zhou Qi has escaped from this era, but his vision is farther-sighted than many people.

He said softly: "Who is the person who always relies on the servants in the palace?"

Cao Cao answered as a matter of course: "Of course he is the Son of Heaven."

"Since the Zhongchang servant relies on the emperor, as long as he can get the emperor's attention, no matter how the scholars attack him, the eunuch can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai. Why should he spare no effort to frame the scholars?"

Cao Cao frowned when he heard this.

Zhou Qi asked again: "Why do all the emperors in the past dynasties favor eunuchs?"

"Eunuchs, the Son of Heaven is an eagle dog. Your Majesty needs them, but they are wild dogs. There is no need for them, just an edict, and soldiers of three or five can easily kill them."

"Eunuchs are hated by everyone in the world, so they can only rely on and be loyal to the emperor, otherwise their heads will be lost and their families will be destroyed!"

"It is precisely because eunuchs are easy to use, loyal and can give up at any time that they have been highly valued by emperors of all generations."

Cao Cao is very intelligent. Before that, he was only in the middle of the game and didn't look at the problem fundamentally, so he was a little confused.

After Zhou Qi reminded him so, he felt a little chill on his back. Looking at the young man who was younger than himself, he asked in a dry voice, "Why would the Son of Heaven do this?"

Cao Cao asked this, which does not mean that he did not expect the answer, but that he was not willing to believe it.

Zhou Qi sighed: "It's as if Wang Fu and Cao Jie falsely murdered the whole family of the King of Bohai, and even the Empress Song's family was implicated. Could it be that just two eunuchs have such power? Or is it true that His Majesty is really a marionette, influenced by others?" The two hold back?"

"No!"

"First, His Majesty wanted to kill the King of Bohai, and then Wang Fu and Cao Jie falsely accused him. First, His Majesty wanted to depose the Queen, and then Wang Fu falsely accused her."

"Killing King Bohai and destroying the Song family caused a huge disaster. The clan and the aristocratic family became aggressive and forced their Majesty, so Wang Fu became an abandoned chess piece."

"Perhaps the title of Champion Marquis that His Majesty conferred on him is compensation."

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi looked at Cao Cao, who was already a bit out of his mind, and said: "The same is true for the disaster of the party's imprisonment. First, His Majesty wanted to imprison the party members and suppress the gentry, and then Cao Jie and others contributed to the flames."

"No matter how violent they are, they are nothing but vicious dogs in His Majesty's hands."

After being so straightforwardly pointed out by Zhou Qi, Cao Cao suddenly felt that all his strength was drained, and he said in a daze, "Your Majesty, why did this happen, why did this happen!"

In fact, Cao Cao may have thought about this direction a long time ago, but he quickly put an end to the idea.

He would rather believe that it was the eunuchs who were exercising power, falsely accusing Zhongliang, and deceiving the emperor, than that his Majesty was deliberately targeting members of aristocratic families and party members.

Because if this is the case, Cao Cao's so-called abolishing the ills of the court is equivalent to going against the emperor.

At this time, Cao Cao was still loyal to the Han family, and he was naturally duty-bound to deal with eunuchs such as Wang Fu and Cao Jie who exercised power, but he was unwilling to fight the emperor.

Perhaps it is for this reason that many scholars, including Cao Cao, deliberately did not think about this aspect.

Even if they thought about it, they would only bury it deep in their hearts, pretend not to know, and then continue to point the finger at the eunuch.

Looking at Cao Cao who was in a daze, Zhou Qi continued to ask: "Brother Meng De, have you ever wondered why since the first emperor, the Son of Heaven began to restrict party members and aristocratic families?"

Cao Cao frowned, but he really couldn't figure it out.

It's not that Cao Cao is not smart enough, it's just that he is in the middle of the game and stands in the position of a noble family, so he may not be able to understand many things.

This is the limitation of the times.

Not to mention Cao Cao himself, even many top counselors during the Three Kingdoms period may not be able to discern this point if they fail to stand on the shoulders of giants and systematically explore the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the eyes of Cao Cao and many scholars, most of the party members who were imprisoned and persecuted were of high moral character, loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and the emperor had no reason to treat them in this way.

Moreover, most of the families of these party members have a long history of scholarship, and the scholars trained in their families are also the pillars of the country.

Many of them have the enthusiasm to serve the country like Cao Cao, and this enthusiasm should not be ignored or let down.

It is really incomprehensible for the emperor to abandon these pillars and instead reuse eunuchs and villains.

This is true.

In terms of morality, integrity, and ability, eunuchs have no way to compare with scholars, and only scholars can help the emperor to govern the country well.

However, the emperor and the scholars were in different positions and naturally looked at the problem from different angles.

In addition, the emperor's political skills are extraordinary today. He promotes and appoints scholars from time to time, which makes the scholars think that the emperor still relies on them. At the age of only 14, he can turn his hands to make clouds and rain.

Today, with the help of eunuchs, today's son caused an unprecedented disaster of party imprisonment, but he picked himself up clean, so that everyone in the world thought it was the eunuchs who caused the chaos. This is Liu Hong's brilliance.

Having said this, many people may still think that they are looking down on Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, thinking that these are just coincidences, and that the suppression of the nobles is just a fight between the eunuchs and the nobles.

If this were the only thing, it might be true.

But looking at the major events promoted by Liu Hong during his reign, and connecting them all together, you will find that things are not simple.

Politically, Liu Hong's misfortune of party imprisonment greatly weakened and suppressed the gentry, did not allow the implicated gentry to be officials, and implemented the three mutual laws, which greatly restricted the possibility of gentry colluding with each other and recommending each other.

In terms of culture, Liu Hong ordered Confucian masters to correct the text of the "Five Classics", and ordered Cai Yong to write in ancient script, seal script, and official script, and engrave it on stone tablets for people to copy and copy.

Although this move cannot break the aristocratic family's monopoly on culture and scriptures, it can still open a hole.

In addition, Liu Hong also founded Hongdumen School, which recruited common people's children for further studies. At its peak, the number of students reached a thousand. The monopoly of teaching and officials.

It's a pity that this move greatly violated the interests of scholars, and the students of Hongdu School were attacked, discredited, and despised by scholars and imperial students.

Hongdu School also gradually died out with the death of Emperor Hanling.

To sum up, the seemingly absurd actions and policies of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty actually had only one purpose: to strengthen the imperial power and break the aristocratic family's monopoly on culture and official positions.

(End of this chapter)