I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 116 From Han Minister to Han Traitor
On the day Dou Wu launched the coup, the eunuchs' ultimate weapon against Dou Wu was Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, who had not yet officially taken power and had not yet obtained the emperor's jade seal and imperial seal.

The reason why Liu Hong stood on the side of the eunuchs and charged forward with them was that the eunuchs told Liu Hong that General Dou Wu was going to submit a petition to the Queen Mother to depose you from the throne!
Afterwards, Liu Hong fought bravely for his throne.

In the end, Dou Wu was defeated and committed suicide.

After one night, it was no longer General Dou Wu and Empress Dowager Dou who supported Liu Hong to sit on the throne, but the court eunuchs. The most important credit for following the emperor was no longer due to Dou, but to the court eunuchs.

In addition, Empress Dowager Dou was placed under house arrest because she was implicated by Dou Wu, and the emperor's seal and imperial seal were taken away and handed over to Liu Hong. Empress Dowager Dou also lost power and was placed under house arrest.

In other words, after a coup, Liu Hong, with the help of eunuchs, forcibly seized the imperial power that, according to the rules, should not have belonged to him.

For a young emperor, this was against the rules.

But as long as he "wins", the rules are trampled under his feet.

Therefore, after this, the basis of Liu Hong's political power shifted from Empress Dowager Dou and Dou Wu to the court eunuchs.

The court eunuchs became an important foundation of his regime. Dou Wu and his cronies were all traitors. The Party Imprisonment was a purge action after the coup. Killing all the traitors who participated in the rebellion became his absolute priority.

In the eyes of the young Liu Hong, those scholars who were captured and imprisoned by the eunuchs were all threats to his throne and deserved to die. Simply imprisoning them instead of killing them was a huge favor!

Imprisoning and killing scholars had in fact become the political correctness of Liu Hong's reign. As long as Liu Hong was alive, eunuchs would always be the foundation of his regime, and the Party and Faction Persecution was the absolute political correctness.

Anyone who raises objections is not discussing the matter at hand, but is questioning the legitimacy of Liu Hong's power and the illegitimacy of his position as emperor.

Even if Liu Hong grows up and learns the inside story of the incident and knows that the matter is actually a bit complicated, as the actual biggest beneficiary, he cannot reverse the verdict, otherwise he will be questioning the legitimacy of his own power.

Why did Your Majesty rebel?
During this period, the eunuch group was the "founding heroes" of Liu Hong's reign. According to the custom at the time, they were directly qualified to share imperial power with Liu Hong.

To attack the eunuchs is to attack Liu Hong, to attack the Han emperor, and it is rebellion!

This was a logical chain that was fully recognized by the rules at the time.

Therefore, when Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei forced the emperor to abdicate, they specifically asked Yuan She to inform Liu Hong and tell him that we are not against him or the eunuchs, but that Hou Lan, this grandson, has gone too far. He is seeking personal revenge and wants my son to die. I have no choice but to do this.

The strategy was to discuss the matter objectively and focus the conflict on Hou Lan alone, without escalating the issue to the level of attacking the eunuchs, in order to dispel the doubts of Liu Hong, who was already officially in power in name only.

Only then could the Yuan family successfully overthrow Hou Lan.

Later, Yuan chose to repair the relationship with the eunuchs, which was actually an option he had no choice but to choose.

They were not rebelling, nor did they intend to depose or enthrone the emperor or reshape the legal system of imperial power. As long as Liu Hong was still alive and was still the emperor, they had to abide by this set of lame rules.

This was also the underlying logic behind the eunuchs' fearlessness and arrogance during Liu Hong's reign.

Therefore, Yuan Feng must figure out how Yuan Shu intends to crack down on the eunuchs, and whether Yuan Feng is clear about what cracking down on the eunuchs means in Liu Hong's reign.

Yuan Shu was of course clear about this. He had understood the underlying logic long ago, which was why he had never taken any countermeasures against the eunuchs' harm and manipulation.

Otherwise, if the eunuchs had made him sit there all day, Yuan Shu, who was petty and extremely vindictive, would have drawn his knife and killed them.

But when it comes to revenge, Yuan Shu has no intention of giving up. Compared with those scholars who do oral gymnastics, the eunuchs who fight with real swords and guns are more worthy of his revenge.

However, since Liu Hong is involved, we must be careful in this matter. Otherwise, if we accidentally offend the Emperor of Han, the consequences will definitely be bad.

However, Yuan Shu had long had the idea of playing the game of Nine Clans Candy Crush with the nine clans of the Yuan family. Now, he had a bold idea -

Instead of watching the eunuchs become heroes who support the emperor and have the qualifications to share the imperial power with Liu Hong, and fight against the wind, why not learn from the eunuchs' excellent experience?
Eunuchs were able to enthronize emperors and manipulate imperial power. Was it because they were born smarter than him, Yuan?

It's definitely not.

They were just lucky and decisive. Compared with the scholars who wore shoes, they were barefoot, braver and more willing to go all in, so they wiped out Dou Wu's party who were full of concerns.

In the Han Dynasty, to be an emperor or a prince one had to have the surname Liu, but to enthronize the emperor one did not need to have the surname Liu.

Any last name is fine.

To put it bluntly, the Yuan family has already reached the position of "the second most powerful family in the world". In a while, it may be possible for three officials in four generations to become the family with the highest status and the most prosperous heritage since the founding of the country.

If you don't strive for higher power, but continue to hide under the tyranny of the eunuchs and do this and that, there won't be much meaning.

As soon as this thought came to mind, something called ambition began to grow wildly in Yuan Shu's heart.

He suddenly felt that the reason why the Runan Yuan family became a famous family that fell from grace in history was not because the family was not strong enough, nor because the seventh generation of descendants were not awesome enough... but because the family did not complete the transformation from the thinking of prosperous times to the thinking of troubled times in a timely manner.

In other words, the transformation from Han minister thinking to Han traitor thinking has not been completed.

Until Yuan Wei was killed by Dong Zhuo, the Yuan family still focused on the role of Han ministers. Even after the death of Emperor Ling of Han, their biggest political demand was to overthrow the eunuchs, rebuild the foundation of the emperor's regime, and seize power in the court.

However, this family never realized that the collapse of the Han Empire was irreversible from that moment on.

The dignity of the Han emperor was repeatedly trampled upon and rubbed to the ground by them, and after being done they stepped on it a few times. Then they turned around and said to everyone - I am still a minister of the Han Dynasty, and I still obey the Han emperor.

There is a serious disconnect between their actions and their thinking. Their bodies have entered the realm of Han traitors, but their brains are still at the stage of Han ministers. Such a disconnected cognition and actions are the reason for their disintegration.

Friends who often act like thieves know that when it comes to being a thief, you either don’t do it at all, or do it to the end. You can’t stop before you’ve done halfway.

It has always been the butt that determines the brain. How can the brain determine the butt?
So when Yuan Shu saw that there was no one around, he approached Yuan Feng and spoke in a low voice.

"Father, I feel that Dou Wu, Chen Fan and others were overthrown by eunuchs purely because of their incompetence, not because they were too stupid to think of a solution. But now, scholars are still suppressed by eunuchs, which means there is something wrong with their brains."

After hearing this, Yuan Feng was full of questions.

"Shu, what do you mean?"

Yuan Shu chuckled.

"Father, the main reason why the eunuchs seem to be unscrupulous and reckless is that they supported the emperor, have the merit of supporting him, and have won the emperor's trust, so they can grasp the righteousness and power.

The righteousness and power come from the emperor, from the process of their supporting the emperor and seizing the imperial power. We all know this, so why don't we follow the eunuchs' example and follow their path again? "

"???"

Yuan Feng became even more confused, and a bad premonition gradually arose in his heart.

He frowned and looked at his own son Qilin in disbelief.

"Imitate the eunuchs? Follow the eunuchs' path again? What do you mean, my son?"

"Eunuchs can support the emperor, but why can't we?"

Yuan Shu said softly: "The eunuchs are cruel and arrogant, but they are nothing more than the merit of supporting the current emperor. If this is the case, as long as the current emperor is no longer the emperor, and my Yuan family is the master, supporting the new emperor to ascend the throne, what is the point of the eunuchs?"

"!!!"

Yuan Feng's eyes suddenly widened, his face full of surprise. He was petrified because of being too surprised. It took him a while to react. He quickly looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, he immediately stepped forward and covered Yuan Shu's mouth.

"Fool! Is that something you can say? Do you want to destroy the three branches of the Yuan family? Do you want to destroy the six generations of the Yuan family? This is rebellion! This is rebellion! If you are not careful, everything will be lost! How dare you?"

Yuan Shu was not surprised at Yuan Feng's reaction. He touched Yuan Feng's hand calmly and nodded at him, signaling him to relax.

Yuan Feng then slowly relaxed his tense muscles, released his hands, and patted Yuan Shu on the head.

"Foolish child! Do you think that everyone is praising you, so you feel invincible? Do you think you can do whatever you want? Your father calls you Qilin'er, not the Son of Heaven! Don't mention such words again!"

Yuan Shu wiped his mouth, shook his head and sighed.

My father is indeed a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

However, he did not say that we should rebel now. Rebellion is something for the future. Why rebel now?

I'm not an adult yet!

It's just a matter of deposing and enthroning the emperor. Is it necessary for dad to be so excited?

So he shook his head helplessly.

"Father, I didn't say I wanted to rebel. I just wanted to depose and enthronize the emperor. That's very different from rebellion, right?"

"Deposing and enthroning the emperor... that's all?"

Yuan Feng stared at Yuan Shu and said angrily, "That's just shouting? Foolish boy! Do you know that deposing and enthroning an emperor is only a thin line away from usurping the throne and ending up in disgrace? Since ancient times, how many ministers have been able to have a good ending after dethroning and enthroning an emperor?
Apart from Yi Yin and Huo Guang, who else would have a good ending? Even Huo Guang's family was destroyed after his death! Even Huo Qubing's relationship couldn't save them! Do you want the Yuan family to follow the old path of the Huo family? Or do you think you can be on par with Yi Yin?"

(End of this chapter)