I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 161 Duan Ying's Iron Fist

Yuan Shu had long anticipated that plans could not keep up with changes, but he was unable to predict to what extent the changes would occur.

It was like he could never have anticipated that there would be a stubborn student who would write the words "The world is in chaos, Cao Jie and Wang Fu murdered the Queen Mother, all the officials are dead, there is no one to give honest advice" on the Suzaku Que of the imperial palace out of righteous indignation.

The participation of students in politics was a rather special social phenomenon in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty. Ever since the Deng and Liang families, who were relatives of the emperor, came to power, students from the Imperial College had been unable to stand the absurdity and corruption in the court and the country and had repeatedly commented on government affairs and criticized officials, which caused a great response.

In a place like the Imperial Academy, where tens of thousands of intellectuals gathered, the slightest disturbance could cause a response tens of thousands of times greater, so that a considerable number of powerful bureaucrats were wary of this phenomenon.

Later, during the two Factions and Factions Persecutions, the Imperial Academy was targeted by the court, but this did not destroy the Imperial Academy's tradition of political discussion.

After the eunuchs came to power, they did not dare to destroy the Imperial Academy openly and were very wary of it. So when Yuan Shu verbally attacked the Imperial Academy, the eunuchs were happy to see it and fanned the flames, which led to Yuan Shu's attack on the Imperial Academy. However, it also promoted the rise of Zhixing Academy on another level.

Then the Imperial Academy and the Zhixing Academy discussed state affairs together.

Where is political discussion not political discussion?
This caused the eunuchs a lot of headaches.

But no matter how much of a headache I had before, it was not as severe as it was after this writing incident.

Someone actually slandered them for "murdering" Empress Dowager Dou? !

What a joke!
Empress Dowager Dou was the stabilizer of their power. They only wanted to imprison and torture her to satisfy their own abnormal psychology. How could they want to kill her?
Killing Queen Mother Dou would not benefit them in any way. It would only put them in a dilemma and give other people with ulterior motives the opportunity to covet the throne.

How could they do such a stupid thing?

It was clear that Empress Dowager Dou died of despair and killed herself. How could she blame the eunuchs?
But now someone is pointing the finger at them?

Cao Jie and Wang Fu, whose names were written down, were furious, feeling hatred and fear, so they submitted a petition to Liu Hong, asking him to make the decision for them.

Liu Hong was also very annoyed. He did not believe that this was done by the eunuchs. He felt that someone must have evil intentions and wanted to clip his wings and shake his power.

So Liu Hong ordered the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, Liu Meng, to investigate the matter. Once it was confirmed, he would attack immediately and send them all to heaven!
Liu Meng, the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, was born into a royal family and had always been dissatisfied with the phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in politics. He also felt that the death of Empress Dowager Dou was a bit strange and even believed that Liu Hong was responsible for it. Privately, he felt that Liu Hong was ungrateful and did not sympathize with his benefactor, which was really too much.

Therefore, he had no intention of actually looking for the person who did this job. He just pretended to obey and sent a few people out to hang around every day, as if he had done the job.

You must know that although the position of the Inspector of the Capital was not high, he had great power. He supervised all officials in the capital, from the three highest officials to minor clerks, and all of them were within the scope of the Inspector of the Capital's investigation.

If anyone is targeted by the Inspector of the Imperial Guard, the 1,200 armed troops under his command will not joke with him.

That's a powerful punch that can send someone to heaven in any moment.

The eunuchs were looking forward to finding the criminals who slandered them as soon as possible and killing all these daring guys. However, Liu Meng spent a month investigating slowly but still got no results.

Liu Hong could not help asking, but Liu Meng evaded the question by saying that there had been no progress. This made the eunuchs extremely angry, and they said nothing more and collectively submitted a petition to impeach Liu Meng.

Liu Hong was also very angry about Liu Meng's non-violent non-cooperation behavior. He felt that Liu Meng was despising him and ignoring the imperial order, so he removed Liu Meng from his position in anger.

After removing Liu Meng from his position, the eunuchs realized that none of these Guandong scholars were willing to work hard for them. If they really wanted to solve this problem, they had to start from the source.

Find the "eunuch party" who are truly willing to work hard for them and take the "powerful position" of Sili Xiaowei into their hands so that they can strike at opponents at any time.

So who is the most suitable candidate for the position of Inspector of the Imperial Guards in the court?

Wang Fu stepped forward and recommended a candidate.

The Chief Censor, Duan Xing.

Duan Xing, a native of Liangzhou, was a second-class citizen who was deeply discriminated against by the scholars from Guandong. He could not fit into any scholar circle in the capital and was ostracized and isolated everywhere. He almost lost his job because of this, so he turned to eunuchs in a fit of anger and became a member of the eunuch party more than two years ago.

With the support of the eunuchs, he gained a firm foothold in the capital and often interacted with the eunuchs, especially Wang Fu.

The eunuchs had no more suitable candidate, so they approved this candidate, but required Duan Xing to produce results within half a month to deter the villains.

Otherwise, they are real, but someone wants to take advantage of Empress Dowager Dou's death to retaliate against them.

Then they are completely finished.

Duan Xing's political future was closely tied to the eunuchs. He was fierce, good at fighting, and had no good feelings towards the scholars in Guandong. He was full of resentment and charged at those who made trouble for the eunuchs with a beast's mind. Compared with Liu Meng's lip service, Duan Xing's actions were quite direct. He was willing to investigate things that Liu Meng was unwilling to investigate, and he was willing to investigate clues that Liu Meng was unwilling to investigate. After a few rounds, he confirmed the identity of the suspect in just three or five days.

Tai students!
He could also be a student of Zhixing Academy!

Only the students in these two places had the leisure time and courage to mock the eunuchs and write big-character posters. Apart from them, ordinary people did not dare to do so.

The students of the Imperial Academy have this tradition, but the Zhixing Academy...

Could it be that Yuan Shu or the Yuan family was behind this?

Duan Xing was a little worried and reported the matter to Wang Fu. Wang Fu was immediately in trouble when he learned that the matter might be related to Zhixing Academy.

"Are you sure this matter has something to do with Zhixing Academy?"

"It is certain that the students of the Imperial College were involved in this matter. Someone saw the person who wrote the rumor running towards the Imperial College. As for Zhixing Academy, there is no clear clue yet. I just have some doubts. After all, you have had an unpleasant past with the Yuan family."

After Duan Xing said this, Wang Fu paced back and forth for a while, then shook his head.

"As for Zhixing Academy, as long as the Yuan family does not make any further moves, you should not take the initiative to provoke them. The Yuan family is very powerful and is currently an existence we need to win over. Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not have any conflict with them.

As for the Imperial College, arrest the suspects. Arrest all of them. It is better to arrest the wrong ones than to let them go. Then punish them severely to deter the villains. As long as it can have a deterrent effect, it will be enough. "

Duan Ying nodded, but was still a little hesitant.

"What if this matter is really related to Zhixing Academy?"

"If there is... then we'll talk about it later."

Wang Fu shook his head: "The matter related to the Yuan family is too complicated to be explained in a few words. We should deal with those who can be dealt with first, and don't let any of them go. We can't act recklessly with the Yuan family. We need to be cautious and discuss more."

"understood."

After receiving the instructions, Duan Xing knew what to do next.

In mid-August of the first year of Xiping, Duan Xing, in his capacity as the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, mobilized 300 Zhongdu officials and slaves, and rushed to the Imperial College with wooden swords and sticks, saying that he would take away some students who had "spread rumors and slandered ministers" to assist in the investigation.

As expected, it was met with resistance and rebellion from the students.

Because the seven students who were specifically named to be arrested were quite prestigious in the student community and were considered student leaders, the rest of the students naturally could not ignore their arrest.

They said that they did not spread rumors or slander ministers. If someone thinks this is a crime, it just proves that what was said is true and the queen mother was really killed!
"Investigate the Queen Mother's death thoroughly!"

"Give the Han people a clear and bright world!"

"The traitor is plotting to murder the Queen Mother!"

"An important official of the imperial court beat someone up!"

When Duan Xing wanted to arrest people, the students shouted loudly and resisted the arrest of the Zhongdu officials and prisoners. They struggled hard, and several people even worked together to pin down a Zhongdu official and prisoner and beat them with turtle punches until their faces were bruised and swollen.

How could a brave general like Duan Xing tolerate such provocation?
How dare you defy the Inspector of the Imperial Guards’ order to arrest you?

This is no longer an ordinary student, I must use a heavy punch! Iron fist!

His eyes suddenly turned red, and in anger he ordered the use of force.

Although it was a fight, Duan Xing did not want to cause any casualties or make the matter too big of a deal, so he did not use real weapons. He only used wooden swords and sticks to disperse the crowd of students and capture the people he wanted to capture.

Most of the officials and slaves in Zhongdu were not born in good families. If they were not from decent families, they were at least full of evil deeds. Usually, if a dog on the street bumped into them, it would be slapped twice, let alone a human.

After joining the government system, he received training and became quite powerful. Before setting off, he received rewards from Duan Xing and was very willing to obey orders. He then waved his wooden sword and stick and attacked the students.

They swung the wooden swords and sticks in their hands, leaving afterimages, trying their best to vent the desires in their hearts. With every move, they beat the students until they cried out.

(End of this chapter)