The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 60 Bloodstains

After Jia Chong returned to his mansion, his expression changed from panic to coldness.

He waited until nightfall, making sure the emperor had gone to bed, before sending someone to call Li Sheng and the others to his presence.

Four eunuchs and two eunuchs were now standing in front of Jia Chong, each with a different expression.

Jia Chong remained unmoved, as if nothing had happened.

He looked at the people in front of him calmly, "I am not a traitor. I sent people to monitor the emperor's every word and action simply because he is young. I am afraid he might do something wrong, so I can correct it in time."

"This is not something I wanted to do on my own, but was ordered by the general."

"Don't worry too much, everyone."

"Today, His Majesty summoned me to inquire about your affairs. Since His Majesty has spoken, I cannot lie to His Majesty, lest I commit the crime of deceiving the monarch."

"However, Your Majesty is still young, and he still needs the general's assistance in all matters."

"When you were in Yuancheng, Your Majesty was bullied by villains, and today it is even more so."

Jia Chong mainly looked at the two eunuchs.

As for the eunuchs, he didn't even look at them.

As a traditional scholar-official, he had a deep resistance to eunuchs. This was not an isolated case. The scholar-officials as a whole were very disgusted with these eunuchs.

They believed that the entire chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty was caused by these eunuchs.

The emperor is wise and sage, so it is impossible for him to make mistakes. They are all virtuous people who care about the world, so it is impossible for them to make mistakes either. So the fault must lie with the eunuchs and the Ten Attendants!
The wise and powerful Emperor Wen, Cao Pi, realized this, and thus abolished the position of Zhong Changshi.

Sure enough, after the eunuchs disappeared, the court was filled with wise men, the world was peaceful, the people were prosperous, and all industries were thriving.

Wise men feared that the people would be overworked, so out of kindness they took their farmland for themselves and treated them as their tenants to show their love.

They were also worried that small merchants might encounter danger while traveling around, so they annexed their properties, exiled them to the border, and openly robbed their property to prevent them from being robbed by bandits.

They were worried that the emperor would be too tired to handle government affairs, so they kindly took over the responsibility on his behalf.

A few decades later, a great disaster occurred in Liangzhou. Famine was everywhere, and the people were living in dire straits. They had to exchange their own children for food. The wise and virtuous people were kind-hearted and could not bear to see such a tragic situation, so they quickly sent brave generals to lead elite soldiers to "relieve the victims." When these brave generals had almost killed all the people, there was enough food, and the disaster was indeed well controlled.

Later, these wise men were afraid that too many of their own soldiers would be killed or wounded in the war. For the sake of kindness, they summoned the Hu people outside the Great Wall to fight for them. However, after the war, they were unwilling to pay them wages, and even asked them to plunder the untouchables as military expenses.

At this moment, Jia Chong, as one of the representatives of the wise and virtuous masters, began to appease these humble little people in front of him.

"Everyone, His Majesty still needs to pay attention here."

"Your Majesty now believes that you will no longer be watching him, so you should agree to his request. However, as ministers, how can we condone His Majesty's mistakes? Even if it means sacrificing our own reputation, we must assist His Majesty!"

Jia Chong spoke with great righteousness.

Jiao Bo had a smile on his face, but in his heart he just wanted to spit in his face.

What a shameless old thief!!
Your Majesty is right, you are a fickle, treacherous and evil dog!
No one knew what they were thinking, but at this moment they all bowed and agreed.

"Mr. Jia."

"I don't want to do that."

The smile on Jia Chong's face suddenly froze.

He looked over and saw that it was Zhou Sheng, one of the eunuchs.

Zhou Sheng was a taciturn man. He entered the palace at a young age and worked diligently, staying in the palace for many years.

At this moment, he was looking directly at Jia Chong.

"Mr. Jia, I have been receiving salaries from the government for many years. Although I am not qualified to discuss morality, I do know that those who accept salaries from others and betray their masters will suffer divine punishment."

"Your Majesty has been very kind to me and has never even blamed me for my evil deeds. I will not aid the evildoers again."

Jia Chong laughed, and his expression suddenly became extremely terrifying.

"You are a birdless eunuch, a fatherless, motherless, and childless wild animal. How dare you talk about betraying your master?"

Li Sheng and others were extremely frightened and wanted to persuade Zhou Sheng, but they were speechless. Jiao Bo and Zhao Cheng looked at him in astonishment.

Zhou Sheng's face was calm, and he didn't show any anger even though he was insulted by Jia Chong.

"Mr. Jia, your father is a wise man."

Jia Chong was like a rat whose tail had been stepped on. He was furious and pointed at Zhou Sheng in front of him and shouted, "Someone, come here! Take this guy away! Take off his clothes and beat him! Beat him to death!!"

Immediately, two servants rushed in, grabbed Zhou Sheng and dragged him out.

From beginning to end, Zhou Sheng said nothing and did not curse, allowing the servants to drag him away.

"Are you worthy enough to talk about my father?!" Jia Chong's father, Jia Kui, was recommended by Cao Cao to serve as Cao Cao's private official. Later, he served as an official in the local area.

He personally organized the people to develop water conservancy projects, improved local farmland irrigation conditions, dredged some rivers in the Central Plains, and opened a canal of more than 200 miles, facilitating transportation. It was known as the "Jia Hou Canal".

After Jia Kui's death, he was mourned by the officials and people of Yuzhou. They carved stone statues of him, erected monuments and built temples to commemorate him. This was rare among the officials of the Wei State.

As for his son, that's even rarer.
There were screams coming from outside, Zhou Sheng still couldn't withstand the beating.

The cry frightened several people in the room, especially the other eunuchs, who were trembling with fear.

Jia Chong might not dare to execute the eunuchs at will, but he could kill eunuchs like them at will.

In fact, there were laws in the Wei and Jin dynasties.

In fact, killing is illegal.

In the Han Dynasty, scholars and officials could not kill people at will. Even if you were one of the Three Dukes or a prince, if you were involved in a murder case, you would be punished. For example, Zhang Buzhi, the son of Liu Hou in the early Han Dynasty, was stripped of his title for murder. Even if it was a private slave in your family, you could not kill him at will.

The only person you can legally kill is your son. If your son is disobedient, you can kill him, and the government will help you do it.

But in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the literati began to kill people openly and at will without any sanctions. For example, Shi Chong, the greatest sage in the early Jin Dynasty, often summoned beauties in his mansion to accompany his guests for drinking. If the guests did not drink up, he would kill the beauties without any scruples. Even Jie and Zhou had to drink a glass of wine to hear this.

Jia Chong's wife even killed two wet nurses in a row and did not receive any punishment.

The screams outside gradually stopped, and the study was very quiet.

Jia Chong looked at the other eunuchs with a grim smile.

"He's a wild animal without a father or a mother, but you all still have your own families, right?"

"Don't take it upon yourself to do what I have given you. Just do the things I have given you. Everyone will be rewarded."

"Someone is coming!"

Jia Chong pretended to give money to everyone to show his tolerance and magnanimity.

Then he ordered everyone to pretend to agree with the emperor, and then continue to monitor his every word and action and inform him at any time.

They are also not allowed to tell anyone what happened today, otherwise their entire clan will be killed.

Everyone could only agree.

Only then did Jia Chong impatiently drive them out.

When they walked out of the study, there seemed to be traces of blood on the ground.

They walked out of here in silence, stepping on the bloodstains.

The eunuchs didn't dare to say much. Their eyes were filled with sorrow as they walked silently towards the palace.

But Zhao Cheng sighed.

He glanced at Jiao Bo beside him with a complicated look in his eyes.

"I never thought that today I am even worse than a eunuch."

Jiao Bo quickly reminded him, "Zhao Jun, be careful with your words!"

Zhao Cheng turned his head and took a look at Jia Chong's mansion.

"Jiao Jun, I want to resign. I need to find a way to leave the palace."

"You must be careful not to discuss this with others in front of the temple."

Jiao Bo was shocked. "What are you talking about?"

Zhao Cheng shook his head. "It's okay, don't panic. I'm just reminding you not to say anything too much to Li Zhao. He has his wife and family to protect him, but what about us? We come from humble backgrounds and are called scholars, but if Jia Chong wants to kill us, it's no easier than killing a eunuch."

"Today, I saw Li Zhao talking a lot with others. Although I didn't hear what they said, he is an official in the palace after all, so it is inappropriate to discuss it privately."

Jiao Bo said nothing and looked very unhappy.

Zhao Cheng laughed.

"Your Majesty has been very kind to me. Although I cannot face death as calmly as Zhou Sheng, I also cannot be a villain like Jia Chong. Farewell!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Zhao Cheng saluted and left in a hurry.

Jiao Bo stood here, his mind full of the bloodstains that had just occurred.

Ugh.
(End of this chapter)