Han officials

Chapter 146: Troubled Times and Separation [1/2]

After Lu Zhi and others left Luoyang, the power of the court was basically controlled by the alliance of the Yuan and He families.

Although the eunuchs still hold power, most of their cliques are local.

Previously, there was a Jian Shuo who commanded the troops, but he was abandoned due to the compromise between the Ten Attendants and He Jin.

For a time, the power of eunuchs in Luoyang reached its lowest point, and there were almost no troops outside the imperial palace.

After discovering this, many party members began to get restless.

In order to completely eradicate the eunuchs' party, Yuan Shao and other officials in the court began to persuade He Jin to take action.

……

The next day, at the General’s Mansion.

Yuan Shao, handsome and graceful, spoke passionately, "General, you are now the emperor's uncle, and your brothers are leading elite troops. Your subordinates and officers are all outstanding and famous people, willing to do their utmost. The situation is under control. This is a time favored by heaven. General, you should eliminate this threat to the world and leave your name in the memory of future generations. Even the great Shen Bo of Zhou is nothing to you!"

As soon as Yuan Shao finished speaking, He Yong, Xun You and others stepped forward and tried their best to persuade him.

It has to be said that He Jin's thoughts were completely understood by the staff of the general's office.

Every word you speak will either be passed down to future generations or be recorded in history.

When he was surrounded by such remarks, He Jin, who was already an average person, was quickly brainwashed.

Then he actually agreed and went to the palace in person to discuss the matter with his sister, Empress Dowager He.

However, after hearing her brother's thoughts, He's beautiful face suddenly became dull.

She said with a look of disbelief, "Brother, have you gone mad? The eunuchs commanding the Imperial Palace is a Han Dynasty tradition and must not be abolished! Furthermore, the late emperor recently abandoned the empire. How can I openly work with scholars?"

It’s no wonder that He lost his composure. He Jin’s idea was really too crazy.

Because under the persuasion of the staff of the General's Mansion, He Jin not only wanted to eliminate the Ten Attendants, but also planned to uproot all the eunuchs and servants in the palace, leaving no one alive, so that the existence of eunuchs would completely disappear in the palace.

As for the future duties of eunuchs, according to the ideas of Yuan Shao and others, they can naturally be filled by talented scholars. In this way, there will be no more trouble caused by eunuchs in the future, and the world will return to the control of scholars.

He Jin saw nothing wrong with this, and even believed that he could be praised by future scholars for this achievement.

However, he did not consider his sister's future situation in the palace.

She replaced her with a group of young and energetic young men from noble families to serve in the palace. Was it because they thought her reputation was too good?
Besides, without the eunuchs, who would she command? Would her orders still be carried out outside the palace?

I have to say that He Jin's brain is indeed a bit outrageous, and his vision is not even as good as his sister's.

You have to remember that He wasn't even considered a smart person; she was crowned empress solely on the strength of her beauty. Later, her tactics in vying for favor were also quite foolish. She poisoned Concubine Wang simply because Liu Hong favored her, and the truth was discovered. When this was exposed, Liu Hong was so enraged that he threatened to depose the empress on the spot. If it weren't for the desperate efforts of the Ten Attendants, she would have been dead.

However, even so, the He family knew that eunuchs could be killed but not removed, but He Jin just couldn't understand it.

He thought that after eliminating the eunuchs, he would still be the powerful general, but he didn't know that once the eunuchs were eliminated, the power in the hands of Empress Dowager He would also be abolished.

But when Empress Dowager He fell into the control of the scholars, he, the great general, lost his foundation.

After all, since the Western Han Dynasty, there has never been an example of a queen losing power while the general is still in power!
Relatives by marriage, meaning that their roots are actually in the harem!
After being scolded by Empress Dowager He, He Jin, who had made a decision, began to hesitate again.

He is the one who is indecisive and drags his feet.

Seeing that He Jin changed his mind after entering the palace, Yuan Shao and others were speechless.

They originally wanted to continue to encourage He Jin's younger brother, General He Miao, to execute first and report later. After all, apart from He Jin, He Miao had the most troops around Luoyang.

However, Zhang Rang and other eunuchs were no idlers, having already been using large sums of money to bribe He Jin's mother, Wuyang Jun, and He Miao. After all, these eunuchs had nothing but wealth. When Yuan Shao and his men failed, they devised another plan. They immediately suggested that He Jin summon powerful generals from all over the country to lead their troops to the capital, in order to force the empress dowager to eliminate the eunuchs.

However, this strategy caused a lot of controversy in the general's mansion. Cao Cao, Xun Shuang and others felt that it was unnecessary.

However, the majority of the staff stood by Yuan Shao, and He Jin, who had no opinion of his own, was brainwashed again.

He has no discernment and can only judge whether something should be done based on who has more supporters.

In other words, as the shogun, he would listen to whoever had the loudest voice in the shogunate.

When things developed to this point, General He Jin had actually become a puppet, but he himself still did not realize it.

After all, the greatest damage caused by the influx of foreign troops into the capital would actually be to his power as the general, but he took the initiative to issue orders to summon General Dong Zhuo, the prefect of Dongjun Qiao Mao, and the military commander Ding Yuan.

Soon, the world was in turmoil and the storm started again.

As the court's control declined, Yellow Turbans began to appear everywhere like mushrooms after rain.

The Qingxu Yellow Turbans, who had been wandering around, also began to attack counties and prefectures.

Among them, Beihai Kingdom became the first county in Qingzhou to be conquered.

For a time, Beihai was in ruins, with only forts defending themselves. As for the rest of the civilian population, they were either coerced into joining the rebellion by the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, or found ways to leave their homes and flee.

Even a great Confucian scholar like Zheng Xuan was no exception.

The Yellow Turbans might respect their reputation and not dare to infringe upon it, but some Yellow Turbans were not so particular.

Faced with such a situation, Zheng Xuan had no choice but to take his disciples into Buqi Mountain to avoid the war.

Zheng Xuan originally thought that when a county in the Central Plains like Qingzhou was attacked by the Yellow Turbans, the court would quickly send troops to quell the rebellion. For this reason, he wrote letters to several old friends in Luoyang to explain the situation in detail.

However, what he didn't expect was that Luoyang had no intention of paying any attention to him. Not a single soldier was dispatched, not a single person was sent, as if nothing had happened in Qingzhou. This made Zheng Xuan very helpless.

At the same time, the food they brought into Buqi Mountain was getting less and less, and the Yellow Turbans were everywhere and the roads were blocked, making it difficult to buy food. After a long time, Zheng Xuan could no longer hold on.

After much deliberation, Zheng Xuan decided to stop teaching and send all the students east to Xuzhou to avoid the chaos.

"I heard that since Tao Gongzu took office as the governor of Xuzhou last year, he has defeated the Yellow Turban Army and stationed troops in all directions. Now, Xuzhou has returned to peace." In the thatched cottage on Buqi Mountain, the white-haired Zheng Xuan sighed softly, "If you have nowhere else to go, you can follow me to Xuzhou for temporary refuge. It won't be too late to teach again after the Yellow Turbans are pacified."

As soon as these words were spoken, more than a thousand scholars in the valley could not help but burst into an uproar.

You should know that most of them are not from Qingzhou, and they came here from afar to study for Zheng Xuan.

Now that Zheng Xuan suddenly stopped teaching, it was naturally difficult for them to accept.

And since Zheng Xuan said so, it is obvious that the current war in Qingzhou may not be quelled in a short time.

Thinking of this, many disciples became worried.

However, compared with ordinary disciples, Zheng Xuan's several top disciples had different ideas after listening to their teacher's words.

Cui Yan, Gongsun Fang, Wang Ji, Xi Lu and others exchanged glances before Cui Yan approached and said, "Teacher, since we can't teach in Qingzhou, why don't we choose a better place to stay?"

"Yes, Master." Before Zheng Xuan could speak, Xi Lü stepped forward and echoed, "Although Tao Gongzu has achieved a small victory, how can we know if the Yellow Turbans in Xuzhou will rise again? Instead of hiding here and there, why not cross the sea directly to Liaodong?"

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Fang hurriedly encouraged him, saying, "Teacher, Tao Gongzu is an outsider after all, and staying in Xuzhou for a long time will inevitably be inconvenient. However, Zini and Shuran have lived in Liaodong for a long time, and the Liaodong governor, Wei Gongwei, is also a scholar. If you go there, you will definitely be able to rest assured. I heard that the Liaodong County Academy is now flourishing, known as the Confucian Academy of the East. Don't you want to go and see it?"

After hearing what they said, Zheng Xuan suddenly became hesitant...

(End of this chapter)