I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 66: All the wise men are present
Under the circumstances at that time, no scholar felt that he was going to lose. They felt that they had a sure victory, so they suggested that Dou Wu take action.

Dou Wu certainly hated eunuchs as well, so he took the initiative and suggested to his daughter that they should be eliminated.

At the beginning, he did not say everything, but only suggested that Dou Miao kill the eunuchs Guan Ba and Su Kang who were "extremely evil", and this suggestion was accepted by Dou Miao.

Dou Miao accepted this suggestion not because she obeyed her father's words, but because Guan Ba and Su Kang had disobeyed her and offended her. She wanted to kill these two people purely to vent her anger.

But Dou Wu underestimated his daughter's desire for power.

Seeing that Dou Miao killed Guan Ba and Su Kang, Dou Wu felt that he had won once and would surely continue to win next time, so he suggested executing other eunuchs, intending to wipe out the whole thing at once.

At this time, Dou Miao was unhappy.

She was not a good girl. Even though Dou Wu was her father, her identity was the regent empress dowager. In the court, the ministers had to call her "Your Majesty", which was the same as the emperor.

Strictly speaking, Dou Wu was still her subject.

Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents and Teachers, Emperor comes first and parents come second. Dou Wu obviously did not notice this and ignored the change in the relationship between father and daughter brought about by Dou Miao's identity change.

In Dou Miao's view, the female minister and the eunuchs were her right-hand men. Dou Wu asked her to kill the eunuchs and the female minister, which was tantamount to cutting off her own arms and losing her power and eyes. From then on, she would not be able to compete with Dou Wu and the scholars in terms of power.

How can she be independent when the imperial power is weakened?
So she rejected Dou Wu's suggestion.

Dou Wu was naturally unhappy about being contradicted by his daughter, so he discussed privately with Chen Fan, Li Ying and others, and recruited Xun Yi, the prefect of Yuexi, as a Zhonglang officer and Chen Shi of Yingchuan as an official. He gathered the strength of scholars from all over the world in Luoyang to discuss and make plans together, preparing for a decisive battle with the eunuchs at the top of Luoyang.

That was when the court was filled with righteous people and all the wise men were present!
What a magnificent scenery!
I feel like my life has reached its peak!
Then, they flipped over.

The process of the Party group's downfall was not exciting at all.

It felt like a group of strong and vigorous teenagers who had just got swords to fight against a group of skinny soldiers. Although the teenagers were strong, they made countless mistakes, while the skinny soldiers, although weak, made every choice right.

Dou Wu and others wanted to purge the emperor's side, but the eunuchs, under the pretext of "Dou Wu advising the empress dowager to depose the emperor", instigated the young Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, who had a serious lack of security, to personally hold a sword and act together with the eunuchs.

With Liu Hong, the human-shaped imperial power device, charging in the front, the fence-sitters in the palace dared not do anything. So the eunuchs fought back and killed Dou Wu, as well as Chen Fan, Li Ying, Du Mi, Xun Yi and a series of scholars who conspired with Dou Wu.

The masterminds were arrested and executed one after another by eunuchs, and their families and clansmen were exiled to Rinnan County, the southernmost part of the empire, and were not allowed to return.

Regardless of whether their disciples and former officials were involved in the incident or not, they were all implicated and imprisoned. Even their relatives were not allowed to hold official positions. The number of victims and those implicated reached tens of thousands.

Empress Dowager Dou Miao was even more miserable as she was kept in the dark throughout the process and lost her father in complete confusion.

The eunuchs were frightened by the execution of Guan Ba and Su Kang and worried that they would be killed as well, so they no longer trusted Dou Miao.

They colluded with Zhao Rao, the head of the female ministers whom Dou Miao trusted, and when the mutiny broke out, they jointly seized the emperor's seal from Dou Miao in the name of Liu Hong.

Afterwards, Dou Miao was placed under house arrest by eunuchs in the deep palace and lost her power.

The twelve-year-old Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, inexplicably "regained" power and began to "rule the country himself", becoming the youngest "personally-ruled" emperor of the Han Dynasty.

If Liu Hong was a well-educated or gifted person who possessed certain imperial abilities at a young age, then of course there would be no problem.

But the key point is that before being chosen as emperor, Liu Hong's title was only Tinghou, and he had never received any formal imperial education.

So can he hold real power?

Obviously not.

So who has the real power?
eunuch.

After this fierce mutiny, the supreme power of the Eastern Han Empire nominally returned to Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, but in reality it fell into the hands of the eunuch group.

The Second Party Ban can actually be regarded as a coup d’état, and the subsequent twenty years of party bans were all part of the settlement process after this coup d’état.

The eunuch group used their power to brutally retaliate against the party members, hunted them down, exiled their relatives, and even turned their butcher knives against other scholars who were associated with the party members, launching one anti-party action after another.

In just two years, the eunuchs launched three rebellions, and this time was the fourth.

The first three attacks on the Hook Party did not affect Yuan Shu or Youfufeng.

But other states and counties, as well as major aristocratic families were affected to varying degrees.

In addition to the top wealthy families, some smaller scholar families were even exterminated.

However, the powerful and deeply rooted aristocratic families may not have gained any benefits.

Although the entire family was not wiped out, family members who were deeply involved or implicated in Dou Wu's rebellion were either killed or imprisoned in their hometowns and were not allowed to move or hold office.

Famous families in Yingchuan such as Xun, Chen, Zhong, and Han were all involved in this incident. Some of their family members were killed or imprisoned, losing their power.

The eunuchs' followers rose to power and were appointed as provincial governors, prefects and county magistrates. They were kept under strict surveillance, humiliated in many ways, and every effort was made to find evidence of their crimes in order to execute them.

Many scholars could not bear the humiliation and chose to commit suicide, and their families fled to distant places by river and sea.

Some scholars had to choose to have an affair with eunuchs in order to survive and protect their family business. For example, Xun Yu, who was known as the "talent of the king's assistant", was arranged by his father to marry the daughter of the eunuch Tang Heng when he was still young and ignorant. He became the son-in-law of the eunuch, which helped Xun Yu escape from the disaster.

The Hongnong Yang family "saved the country in a roundabout way". Yang Ci let his son Yang Biao marry a daughter of the Yuan family. Through the relationship of the Yuan family, he stabilized the eunuchs and escaped disaster.

For a time, the scholars were in a state of panic, and their political power and economic foundation were severely weakened.

The Yuan family stayed out of the matter and did not get involved, successfully preserving themselves in the vortex.

However, out of empathy as fellow scholars and for the sake of their own family's reputation and future, Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei also acted in secret.

They helped the families of scholars in Yingchuan and Runan areas to seek refuge, and helped young people to flee far away.

During the action, Yuan Feng considered Yuan Shu's future and thought that he could introduce Yuan Shu to some future leaders of large families in advance, help them establish relationships, and support each other in the future.

Therefore, he initially suggested that the major families with party members and on the verge of collapse should secretly send a group of young people to Yuan Shu, so that they could avoid the limelight and learn something at the same time.

Yuan Shu is very famous in Guanxi, and after inheriting Ma Rong's academic status, he is quite capable. He has also made military achievements for the court and has the ability to protect himself. He can definitely ensure the safety of the children of each family.

This suggestion was responded to by some family leaders.

After discussing among the families, they felt that Yuan Feng's suggestion was valuable. Although they didn't know whether the next head of the Yuan family would be Yuan Ji or Yuan Shu, the fact that Yuan Feng made such a proposal clearly showed that he had higher expectations for Yuan Shu.

So they selected a group of young men and sent them to Maoling in Youfufeng. While relying on the power of the Yuan family to avoid the limelight, they also wanted to allow their young men to have more exchanges with the Yuan family's talented children, which would be beneficial to their future careers.

After this cooperation was reached, someone suggested to Yuan Feng whether it was possible to take advantage of Yuan Shu's young age and the fact that he would not attract the eunuchs' attention to hide some of the party members with Yuan Shu?
Yuan Feng refused at first.

But later, Yuan Wei discussed with him and felt that although doing so would bring great risks to Yuan Shu, it would also bring great benefits, and it was a situation in which risks and opportunities coexisted.

Yuan Wei already knew that Yuan Feng had considered Yuan Shu's future, so he proposed this idea, believing that as long as he did so, no matter how long he persisted, it would greatly enhance Yuan Shu's reputation among the scholars.

Yuan Shu was not an ordinary person. He was a great man who wanted to establish his own school and become a master.

Therefore, he needs not only the recognition of the Yuan family of Runan, but also the recognition of scholars all over the world in order to have a higher starting point. Now the opportunity to gain recognition from scholars all over the world is right in front of him, so why not give it a try?
Yuan Feng loves his son and doesn't want Yuan Shu to be in danger.

Yuan Wei said that his brothers were all officials in Luoyang and had huge political resources at their disposal, so even if there was danger, they were able to protect Yuan Shu's safety.

After much thought, Yuan Feng made a suggestion to Yuan Shu and wanted to ask Yuan Shu for his opinion.

If Yuan Shu didn't want to, he would never force him and would just pretend that nothing had happened.

Yuan Shu was a little hesitant at the time, so he summoned his confidants including Lu Zhi and the Thirteen Guardians to discuss the matter. They gathered together to discuss for a day and a night, but still could not make up their minds.

Lu Zhi and most of the Thirteen Guardians thought that this action was too dangerous. If they were not careful, everyone would face a catastrophic disaster.

"Partisans are certainly respectable, but the eunuchs are pursuing us fiercely and relentlessly, with the intention of destroying our families and clans. One person's actions are minor, but the actions of tens of thousands of people are major. Mr. Yuan, the lives of tens of thousands of people in Yi Xin Hui and Liang Zhuang are at stake!"

Only a few people such as Wei Jia and Zhang Jie thought that Yuan Shu should accept Yuan Feng's advice. Wei Jia also said something to Yuan Shu.

"Eunuchs are only powerful temporarily. Most of them are of humble origins, just like duckweed without roots. When the wind blows or the water flows, they will sway with it. The party members are in trouble temporarily, but they have deep roots and flourishing branches. They cannot be shaken without great strength.

At the beginning, Duke Mu of Qin had a long-term vision and dispatched a large amount of supplies to support the State of Jin to overcome the natural disaster, demonstrating the responsibility of a major country. However, Duke Xian of Jin, for the sake of immediate interests, did not support the State of Qin that had done him a favor, and watched the State of Qin fall into famine without doing anything, which greatly lost the support of the people.

In the final battle of Hanyuan, Duke Xian of Jin was defeated, and even his own people were unwilling to save him, allowing him to become a prisoner of Qin. How could a king who lost the support of the people to such an extent not be caused by his neglect of long-term pursuits for the sake of short-term interests? "

Wei Jia’s meaning was very clear.

Helping the party members is temporarily dangerous.

But take the long view.

The benefits of helping the party members to seek refuge will greatly benefit Yuan Shu and the entire Yi Xin Hui, including his Yuan's School of Mind.

Having saved their lives before, those who have received the favor would be branded as ungrateful if they criticize Yuan Shu's future actions to promote the philosophy of mind.

This is very fatal for a scholar.

And this is crucial to Yuan Shu's future development.

In view of this, Yuan Shu was persuaded by Wei Jia.

So he ignored the opposition and supported Wei Jia's opinion. He replied to Yuan Feng and asked Yuan Feng to send those hot potatoes to him. He would properly handle them and ensure that the party members had no worries.

From that moment on, Yuan Shu had the psychological expectation of being discovered and targeted by the eunuchs.

He believed that Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei also had it, and he was confident that he could provide a guarantee so that the eunuchs would not actually play against Yuan Shu.

Therefore, before the news from Yuan Feng arrived, Yuan Shu was skeptical as to whether this wave of attack directed at Youfufeng could really hit him.

(End of this chapter)