Three Kingdoms, at the beginning of the game, recognize the thief as the father, hit the spectacle,

Letters from rich and powerful families from all over the world asking him to sell their officials and nobles, letters from his former clan and village elders asking him for profit, and letters from his confidantes from outside the palace.

Now Zhao Zhong is handling the letter of selling officials and nobles for him, so no one will send it to him directly; Zhang Rang has already arranged their positions for his former clan and village elders. In a short time, these people It won't jump out to make yourself upset.

As for my confidant's letter...

He has been in the palace since he was a child, and most of his close friends and acquaintances are people working in the palace. Outside the palace, his reputation is so bad that he has no close friends at all.

No, there is still one.

Recalling that familiar figure, Zhang Rang yawned and rubbed his eyes again.

"Where is the letter?"

"You don't need to read it to our family, just submit it."

Sitting up straight, he whispered.

If it were someone else who came to him with something at this time, even if he didn't feel disgusted by it, he would probably put it on hold and deal with it when he had a rest.

But Zhang Rang is still very concerned about the letter from his adopted son.

……

"Father, please—"

After closing his eyes for a while, the little eunuch next to Zhang Rang took the letter and handed it to him.

Gently rubbing the lead seal on the bamboo tube, a trace of nostalgia appeared on Zhang Rang's face, and then he opened the bamboo tube with both hands, and took out a piece of letter paper full of small characters.

The first sentence on the letter paper is the four big characters "En Father Qi".

"Oh, it really is this kid."

"It's been such a long time, and I don't know how he is doing in Jiangdong now, and he didn't write a letter back."

Muttering nonstop, Zhang Rang unfolded the letter paper, and what caught his eyes was his very familiar handwriting.

……

"Father benevolent, if you see the believer, it's okay."

……

Zhang Rang's face softened slightly, and he began to read slowly.

Scanning the content of the letter, Zhang Rang read it carefully and slowly.

After he read the entire letter, he let out a sigh of relief, and his expression became a little relieved.

"This kid has a little conscience."

"And this handwriting... I'm afraid Ye'er was asked to write it again? I told him to practice calligraphy more, but he still didn't listen. There is really no way."

"This marriage has been married for almost a year, and there is no news at all. There is only one concubine. When will our family be able to become a leader..."

Sighing subconsciously, Zhang Rang folded the letter paper slowly, then stuffed it back into the bamboo tube before, and handed it to the little eunuch waiting by the side.

It's just that although he sighed, the corners of his mouth evoked an inexplicable smile as he spoke, and the other eunuchs in the room with a smiling old face like a chrysanthemum trembled a little.

After all, it is not easy to see this kind of joy and smile like this regular attendant who has always given people a serious and sinister look now.

After signaling the little eunuch to destroy the letter, Zhang Rang closed his eyes, not knowing whether he was asleep or resting his eyes, he just leaned on the stool and was silent for a long time.

"Crackling-"

……

"Crackling..."

The flame burned the bamboo tube, making a slight crackling sound, which also became the main tone of the sound in the whole room.

After waiting for a long time, when everyone thought that Zhang Rang had fallen asleep, they saw him slowly open his eyes.

But this time, the smile on the other party's face had completely disappeared.

"Destroy thieves and bandits, calm the hearts of the people; organize the army, align the people's will; accumulate food widely, and support the people's livelihood... I still have some brains, and I have done a good job."

"If it weren't for the special situation now, such a feat, as long as you have worked for three years, you will be transferred to the right or moved to the right, which is almost a certainty."

"It's just that in extraordinary times, you don't have to think about being promoted. After all, it's a bit of a disadvantage."

Gently clicked his mouth, Zhang Rang recalled the details on the letter just now, reached out and touched his chin, and began to think.

In the letter just now, it not only recorded Zhang Yan's greetings to him, but also implicitly showed a trace of the other party's worries about the current political situation in Luoyang.

Although Zhang Yan's background is not very good in Zhang Rang's eyes, Zhang Yan has an unspeakable sensitivity to the political situation of the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, as if everything can be predicted in advance. transparency, and can take the lead in making preparations.

Like now, the conflict between him and He Jin is well known to all civil and military courts, but most of those mediocre people think that the conflict between themselves and He Jin is just a struggle for power, but they don't understand at all that the real irreconcilable point between themselves and the other party is Where.

But Zhang Yan, obviously just a rookie who entered the officialdom of the Eastern Han Dynasty not long ago, but he can see the root of the conflict between himself and He Jin much more clearly than most people.

Who is he, he is Zhang Rang, the pinnacle of eunuch power in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty.

Eunuchs have always represented the will of the imperial power, and Zhang Rang himself is an extension of Emperor Liu Hong of the Han Dynasty.

It can be said that in many cases, Zhang Rang supported more "what the emperor wants to do" rather than "what the emperor should do".

And what about He Jin?

Chapter 2 Seizing the Inheritance

And what about He Jin?

Who is He Jin?He is a great general, the head of the military officers of the Han Dynasty, and a top official above the Sangong.

Contrary to Zhang Rang, what He Jin represents may be the interests of his own relatives, the interests of those aristocratic families with whom he has a private relationship, or even the common people and the like. Benefit.

But no matter what reason He Jin thinks about, he will not represent the will of Liu Hong, the current emperor.

In other words, because He Jin is the vested interest of the current big man, he must consider "what the emperor should do" under the existing rules, not "what the emperor wants to do".

Because only in this way can He Jin ensure that his power is guaranteed to the greatest extent and will not change due to changes in the rules.

On this point, he is consistent with the civil and military officials of the dynasty, and the contradiction, or the root of the conflict, between him and Zhang Rang lies in this.

Take the simplest and most important choice of a dynasty: establishing an heir as an example:

The emperor Liu Hong had two sons in total. Among them, the eldest son, Liu Bianhe, was born as the queen. He was older, but "frivolous in appearance and lacking dignity", so Liu Hong didn't like him, and he never made him the prince.

There is no doubt that Liu Hong "wanted" to pass the throne to his second son Liu Xie.

Although Liu Hong's second son, Liu Xie, was young and quick-witted, and liked poetry and books, he was born of Wang Meirenrong, the "beauty" of the Han Dynasty, and belonged to a concubine.

Moreover, Liu Xie was younger than Liu Bian, so letting him take the position did not conform to the etiquette of "establishing the elders and setting up the heirs" of the great man, and it was easy to be opposed by the courtiers.

From this aspect, Liu Hong "should" pass the throne to his eldest son Liu Bian.

In this matter, Zhang Rang and He Jin have an inseparable conflict.

……

As we all know, He Jin's source of power is his sister, the current queen He Shi.

If Liu Hong collapses in the future, once the throne falls into the hands of Liu Xie, he will become General Dou decades ago, and sooner or later he will face liquidation after the new emperor succeeds to the throne. Therefore, he had to support his nephew Liu Bian, and he could only support Liu Bian.

Only when Liu Bian is in power, can he change from the current emperor's wife and uncle to the emperor's uncle. With the help of his younger sister, He Shi, he will be able to integrate the entire officialdom of the Han Dynasty, and even turn himself into a "regent". .

And change the perspective to Zhang Rang's side?

Now Liu Hong regards him as his biological parents and believes everything he hears, but if Liu Bian becomes the emperor, will Liu Bian still treat him like a grandfather?

Don't even think about it, this is simply a dream.

As long as Zhang Rang, or Shi Changshi wants to preserve what they have in the process of power transfer in the Eastern Han Dynasty in the future, then their only way is to fully support Liu Honglixian, and it is best to leave a paper document now. For the prince.

At that time, this group of ten permanent servants who have served the emperor's order will be able to protect the new emperor's succession in an upright manner, help the new emperor to eliminate dissidents, and make Liu Xie the next Liu Hong of the big man.

At that time, Liu Xie, who is a concubine himself and has no basic helpers, will let them do what they want, and treat them like a father and a mother?

It can be said that Zhang Rang and He Jin's internal and external disputes have developed to the extreme and have become a drama between the two of them.

Regardless of who wins and who loses in the end, the victor can completely remove the other party from the game and at the same time receive all of the other party's inheritance.

It’s just that these officials, civil and military, are so stupid. Until now, they still think that Zhang Rang and He Jin are fighting openly and secretly because of fighting for power...

If Liu Hong was not still alive, if not for the last piece of buffer between the two of them, Zhang Rang and He Jin would have already fought and fought to the death!

Today, Liu Hong is like a fig leaf between Zhang Rang and He Jin. Once Liu Hong dies and this last fig leaf is removed, the issue of the succession to the throne will be completely put on the table, and even the two A large-scale civil war may break out between them.

And these things that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty didn't find out, or what they found but didn't care about, were clearly stated by Zhang Yan in the letter.

This made Zhang Rang more and more satisfied with the name he had accepted.

In the letter just now, Zhang Yan put forward a lot of suggestions on the relationship between the two. At the same time, he also vaguely hinted to Zhang Rang that if the matter really develops to that point, even taking the initiative to seize power by force is not unacceptable. things.

It's just that the military power of the big man is still in the hands of He Jin. If Zhang Rang takes action, he must pay attention to whether the benefactors under the opponent's hands will become angry and forcefully lead the army into the palace...

Even at the end of the letter, Zhang Yan also directly stated to the other party that he must be careful of the third party taking advantage of the fisherman's profit, and wait until the two of them have lost both sides in the fight before jumping out to receive the fruits of the coup.

Thinking of these things, Zhang Rang finally shook his head with a smile, and said nothing more.

……

"Hehe, you little guy can understand it... It's just that we, the older generation, are still there, so where is it your turn to worry about such things?"

"It actually hints in the letter that you can lead the army to Beijing at any time. Hmph, how can we ask you to use something that we have so hard to obtain for you?"

"What a joke!"

"The current situation is still unclear, and the cards of our regular attendants are far more than that. Even Queen He and Queen Mother Dong have not yet made a final statement. Now is far from the time to act."

Gently pursing his lips, Zhang Rang thought silently.

When he was in the emperor's palace just now, Zhang Rang was already negotiating with Liu Hong, Zhao Zhong and Jianshuo, and the Xiyuan Forbidden Army once again expanded its strength to deal with He Jin's move. The first means of entering Beijing.

According to their thinking, as long as the Xiyuan No. [-] School further expands its army to the point where it can compete with the foreign frontier army, the problems caused by the entry of external forces into Beijing can be easily solved.

And this is completely in line with Liu Hong's own ideas.

What has always made Liu Hong hesitate is that the Xiyuan Forbidden Army originally split up the Sanhe Five Schools and established the Xiyuan Eighth Schools after reorganization.

If it is further split, reorganized, and expanded, it is very likely that it will be expanded to the end, and too many things will be stuffed into this bloated system, making the Eighth School of Xiyuan lose its most fundamental meaning.

This is definitely not the ending Liu Hong wanted.

……