Chapter 568 Conflict between officials and scholars!
The rise and fall of dynasties have their own reasons.
Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty defeated all the heroes in ten years and the Han Dynasty was given another mission. As Guanzhong was damaged and the immortals said that Luoyang had the aura of a king, the Han Dynasty made Luoyang the capital. It has been nearly a hundred years to this day.
The ills of the world are even worse than those of the previous dynasty.
The turmoil of the world is like a raging river, crashing against the shore, and nothing can stop it.
It was midsummer and the heat was rolling in, but the mountains were cool, with gurgling streams, lush vegetation, and towering trees.
"Sigh."
“Boom boom boom!”
The sound of horse hooves and the sound of carriages turning on the uneven ground echoed between the valleys. A group of dozens of people turned the corner of the mountain and turned into another flatter road.
"Mr. Zhongju, we have been traveling for dozens of miles. Do we need to rest?"
A knight in the lead asked loudly to the noble in the carriage, with admiration in his eyes.
"No need, leave here quickly. The eunuchs in the inner court are treacherous and vicious, and they will not let you go."
As soon as the words fell, the sound of arrows breaking through the air came to everyone's ears. Some knights were pierced through the chest by arrows before they could react, leaving holes as big as bowls. They fell off their horses with confused eyes.
"Enemy attack!"
The knights who were wearing leather armor at first were horrified when they saw this, and it was not until this time that they saw that they were some fully armed knights in armor.
Wearing armor in this season is simply torture. It can be seen that these people came here with the intention of killing.
All those who were still alive stood there in a daze.
The scholar sitting in the carriage came out. He was about forty years old and looked very upright.
Facing the fully armed knights, he said proudly: "You are definitely not sent by His Majesty.
Which eunuch is here to kill me? I have no chance of survival today. I just want to be a ghost."
There was silence in the field. After a while, a slightly shrill "jiejie" laughter was heard behind the knights, and a eunuch with a white beardless face and a face as white as tree bark with wrinkles all over it walked out.
"Mr. Zhongju is truly worthy of being the man who can stabilize Liaodong on his own. He even guessed that I was not sent by Your Majesty.
His Majesty, considering your contributions, will not kill you, but will allow you to return home.
But the eunuch was humiliated innocently and framed by a treacherous person like you. You cannot stay in this world."
Chen Fan was about to speak when he saw a soldier raise his hand, revealing the lining of his armor faintly, a bright red color. His heart suddenly turned cold, as he thought it was really the palace attendant who sent people to hunt him down.
But without the emperor's approval, how could the eunuchs send out the Royal Guards?
Either it was a secret transfer or it was authorized by the emperor. Either way, it was chilling for a loyal man like him.
"Royal Feathered Guards!"
Hearing Chen Fan's words, the eunuch's face changed drastically, and he immediately waved his hands and shouted sharply: "Shoot arrows, charge!"
whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Boom boom boom!
Dozens of arrows flew through the air, followed by dust raised by the horses' hooves, in which blood spurted out and spilled, falling to the ground and mixing with the yellow soil.
…
A scholar leader, who had served as a high-ranking official, was killed by bandits on his way home. This almost instantly ignited the anger of the entire Han scholar class.
All the criticisms were directed at the palace attendants.
The Kingdom of England.
In Marquis Ying's mansion, Marquis Ying and his wife were leaning back and forth in a rather casual manner.
Ying Hou has a handsome and majestic appearance, but there is no holy mark between his eyebrows, so he is not a direct descendant.
His wife was naturally three times better than him, with skin as white as snow, smooth and tender, and a holy mark between her eyebrows, which added a bit of holiness. Several beauties in history had blessed the Luo woman with a high enough appearance.
Ying Hou Luochuan raised the wine pot and poured it directly into his mouth, saying: "Madam, Chen Fan and Chen Zhongju died in Taishi Mountain. Now the scholars believe that it was done by the palace attendant."
Luo Qian stroked the wine glass in her hand and sighed, "Maybe it's the eunuch, maybe it's the emperor.
It's a pity that Chen Zhongju was a rare practical man with noble moral character among the scholars, and he had made great contributions to the Han Dynasty, but he died at the hands of eunuchs.
The scholar group is now obsessed with fame and fortune. They are no longer the same people they were a hundred years ago. They oppose the imperial power above and control the powerful below.
The innocent killing of an upright scholar like Chen Zhongju would further intensify the conflict between the scholar group and the emperor, leading to another turbulent period.
The Confucian scholars are truly invincible forever."
This is an eternal paradox in political struggle.
In a political group that initially has positive political tendencies, there are relatively positive characters and quite negative characters.
But the positive characters always charge into battle and then are framed and killed.
Eventually the entire political group slid into an unpredictable abyss.
Future generations will say that it was right to kill them and that they were actually like this and like that.
But how innocent are those who have suffered so much in prison and pleaded for the people?
This is like a long-standing comment, "The warriors of faith all died in that war, and the pests who were greedy for money occupied the high positions. When it collapses, don't forget that there were so many great people there."
Whether in the form of a family or in the form of master-apprentice inheritance, the most terrifying thing about the Confucian classics families is that they are the ones who grant the qualifications of scholars.
There is another extremely scary thing.
If a force completely becomes a portal for private gain and completely blocks the path to upward mobility, that is a good thing, because such a force will soon be defeated and then trampled underfoot.
The most terrifying thing is that these Confucian scholars nowadays, although they value the children of their family, they do not just look at bloodline. They have a strong sense of crisis. The competition among scholars is very fierce, and talent and morality are equally important.
If you really have special talents, marriages from high-ranking families and various sponsorships will come to you.
A child from a poor family, when he is humble and sees the wealth and prosperity of the rich and powerful, will then have all kinds of lofty ambitions and may even resolve to pave the way for the poor.
But there is really support from a big boss, a beautiful wife and concubines, gold, silver, pearls and jade, a smooth journey, and an opportunity to bid farewell to poverty completely.
How many people would refuse because of their original ambitions?
The reason why the scholar group, as a general concept, is powerful is that they absorb all geniuses.
There is a natural barrier between the emperor and his subjects.
When it comes to attracting talents and making them feel a sense of belonging, the emperor will never be able to surpass the scholars.
After listening to his wife's words, Luo Chuan pondered and said, "Some time ago, the emperor gave many rewards to the families and asked me to serve as the Prefect of the Guards.
This emperor loved money like his life and was willing to give rewards.
Moreover, the position of one of the Nine Ministers is not cheap, but the fact that he was willing to give it away shows how dissatisfied the emperor was with the court.
He wanted to use the reputation of Yinghou Luo to suppress the scholars."
Luo Qian continued, “After failing, he began to use eunuchs to suppress scholars, and regarded the entire scholar group as an imaginary enemy. This is a way to self-destruction!
But I still didn't expect that the conflict between the scholars and the emperor would be so serious that Chen Zhongju, a scholar leader of this level and a meritorious official, would die in an assassination."
Luo Chuan straightened his body and said, "Madam, Chen Zhongju's relatives and friends, as well as those scholars who have always admired Chen Zhongju, will never give up. There will definitely be a large number of officials who will write letters to demand severe punishment for the eunuchs.
Given the emperor's strong character, direct confrontation is probably inevitable.
How do we do that?
Luo Qian straightened the wine glass in front of her, raised it, and drank it down in one gulp. Her wide white sleeves covered her pretty face, and she spoke in a clear voice, "Chen Zhongju's disciples and relatives may be implicated.
Just follow the usual practice and hide those heroes with public spirit, and don’t let them become victims of power struggles.”
Because the contradiction between the court and the people was so great, and the eunuchs who were considered treacherous were in power in the court, people generally sympathized with the persecuted scholars and heroes.
After the Wang Mang Rebellion, it became a very ambiguous thing for ministers to hold power.
The emperor may have lost a lot at the local level, but his power at the central and county levels was greatly strengthened. His strength was not something that the scholars could contend with. The emperor could kill anyone he wanted.
Moreover, scholars are different from the military nobles of the past.
The nobles who have made great military achievements will really go to Luoyang with their swords drawn, because they have a stake in this empire, and if the emperor is incompetent, they can just replace him.
Among these literati, the Taoist ones were fine, but the mainstream Confucian literati were reluctant to touch the throne.
Under such circumstances, scholars were naturally oppressed, and those who were implicated were usually considered to be persecuted, and there was a conflict between the law and human hearts.
It is a common practice in this world to hide heroes who are wanted by the imperial court.
When the amnesty comes, the court will not be able to investigate all of them.
…
The death of Chen Fan ignited the anger of the scholars against the eunuchs' abuse of power, and letters with fierce words were sent to the court.
"Mr. Zhongju is a wise minister who assists the king. Can such a minister be killed at will?
The Yan State in Liaodong attacked the pass, and the other counties were unable to stop it. It was Lord Zhongju who went into You and Bing states alone and integrated the other counties, which forced the Yan State in Liaodong to retreat, thus making great contributions to the Han Dynasty.
It is really heartbreaking that such a meritorious official was dismissed from his post and even killed in the wilderness because of a memorial accusing the eunuchs.
Please, Your Majesty, issue an order to execute the instigators and exile the eunuchs, so as to calm the people's hearts."
As soon as the memorial arrived at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was taken away directly. All the memorials were kept and not sent out. The palace was so quiet that it seemed as if it was completely unaware of the matter.
He simply followed the procedure to give Chen Fan a posthumous title, and chose a relatively superior one, as if he wanted to use it to shut up the people.
This behavior made Chen Fan's relatives and friends even more angry.
————
When the Han Dynasty reached the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a notable feature, that is, the division at the county level, the goals of the two sides above and below the county were completely different, and the power struggles of the upper class hardly affected the lives of the people at the lower level.
But the gradual deterioration of the lives of the lower classes was eroding the foundations of the empire all the time. This was the most colorful era, with cries and shouts from the common people and heroes. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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