Chapter 572: The End of the Party Imprisonment Disaster
In the pre-Han era, the nobles and scholars were very powerful, but in the late Han Dynasty, only relatives by marriage could fight the eunuchs, and all resistance by the scholars would end in failure.
After the emperor issued an edict accusing him and showed his unrepentant attitude, Luochuan knew that the Han Dynasty was doomed.
In the mansion of Marquis Ying, a group of scholars were kneeling. They were of different ages and looked gloomy.
The emperor pardoned the death penalty and only restricted the political future of these scholars. Those scholars who had escaped were allowed to return home.
These scholars bowed their hands and heads to the ground, and actually performed the most solemn bowing ceremony of three kowtows and nine bows to Luochuan. This was a courtesy only performed during grand ceremonies when ministers paid homage to the king.
Luochuan naturally tried to stop him, but even the most conservative Confucian scholar insisted on completing the ceremony.
"Lord Zichuan, without your protection, I am afraid that I, my sons, and other scholars would have died at the hands of the eunuchs.
This grace of rebirth is nothing more than a simple gesture of respect, it really is not excessive. "
Luo Chuan shook his head and said, "This is nothing. I can only do my best. The decree of confinement has not been lifted yet. Is there anything you want to do after you return home?"
When they heard the word "confinement", everyone fell silent. The grief and anger in their eyes were almost uncontrollable, and there was an unknowing depth of despair.
Cultivate yourself, manage your family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world!
Which scholar does not have the great wish to govern the country and bring peace to the world?
Which scholar has not made the bold statement of making his king as good as Yao and Shun?
Serve the king, build great achievements, protect the country, and preserve the world.
All ruined.
The king they wanted to be loyal to abandoned them and accused them of being traitors. Some scholars could not accept this and committed suicide directly. Some scholars did not like to look for problems in themselves, so they thought that there must be something wrong with the emperor.
There was silence in the room for a long time before someone spoke up, "I am old, and I am afraid I will not live to see the ban lifted.
The decree of confinement affected the three clans and five generations of mourning, as well as friends and disciples. Even if the disciples wanted to recruit disciples and teach, they had no chance to become officials.
He returned to his hometown to print scriptures so that poor students could read. Perhaps among them there would be talents who could revitalize the Han country.
When we meet a wise ruler, the decree of confinement will surely be lifted, and by then I will have contributed to the revival of the Han Dynasty."
This is a typical Confucian scholar-official. Even when he was forced to this point, he still wanted to revitalize the dynasty and the country.
He is still good because at least he said that the current emperor is not a wise ruler.
There are even some Confucians who, until this moment, attributed the cause to the eunuchs abusing their power and were unwilling to blame the emperor, believing that the monarch and father were simply deceived.
Some young scholars are confused and don’t know where their future lies. Are they really going to spend their whole lives in the countryside?
Some of them had a hint of hostility in their eyes, especially some of the Confucian scholars from the Meng family, who even had the idea of fleeing to the Yan State in Liaodong and leading the army south to destroy the Han Dynasty.
The king treats his subjects like grass, and the subjects treat the king like an enemy!
Fate turns.
The thousand-year-old sacred state of Zhou has finally come to an end.
Can the Han court always obey orders?
Countless complicated thoughts filled everyone's mind, and then left.
…
Luo Qian knelt beside the table, warming up the wine, and said calmly: "My dear, you are famous throughout the world, and there are so many people coming to visit you.
The last time the eunuchs’ children were killed, the emperor didn’t think much of it after he calmed down.
Now you are walking with the scholars, which is a big taboo for the emperor.
The next time there is a disaster, if you can't find a suitable reason, unless you run away, the family will not be able to protect your life."
Luochuan stood in front of the window, stroking the wine jug in his hand.
He recalled that a few days ago, even the families belonging to the same five surnames began to persuade him to let it go, and the most prestigious Confucian scholar families in the world wrote to him saying that submitting another letter would only anger the emperor further. So let it be and wait for the next opportunity.
He said with a hint of sorrow: "This is a sign that the Han Dynasty is about to fall.
The emperor and his ministers were racking their brains to keep their power.
Their horizons will be narrowed to the imperial court, and the problems of the world will be ignored.
These people are so eager to win the power struggle that they don’t realize that the world is already riddled with holes.”
Both husband and wife were silent for a moment. It was impossible to stop fighting, it was human nature, but fighting without breaking was the normal way. Now the emperor had directly torn his face off.
Luo Chuan took a sip of wine and said worriedly, “These scholars each have their own talents.
They are not comparable to the eunuchs and relatives who can only depend on the emperor.
A group of ambitious and heroic people who are both civil and military and capable of governing the country and bringing peace to the world are imprisoned among the people. This will greatly shake the rule of the empire.
In addition, he sold official positions and titles, built palaces on a large scale, and frequently launched wars in all directions.
According to the current trend, I estimate that the Han Dynasty is only a few decades away from an outbreak of chaos, and it is very likely that it will be like the end of the Qin Dynasty and the early Han Dynasty, with a direct chaos that will plunge the Han court into the abyss.
Can there still be Emperor Guangwu who can pacify the world this time?"
Probably.
Luo Chuan was a little uncertain. Although he was not the legitimate son of the Luo family, he was the only son of the previous Ying Hou. It was decided that he would marry a girl from the Luo family since he was young. He had been living in Zhaocheng and receiving orthodox education for children of the Luo family.
He knew that the illusory theory of destiny objectively existed.
Destiny is not a coercive mechanism, but a biased mechanism.
If the Han Dynasty's mandate had fallen, then naturally everyone would compete on their own merits.
But the Han Dynasty lasted only three hundred years, which is too short compared to previous dynasties.
Luochuan speculated that the life given by God might not have ended yet.
Under such circumstances, it is very likely that another leader will emerge to revive the Han Dynasty.
But judging from the current situation, the current emperor has no intention of repenting and is determined to go down this path to the end.
Luo Qian stood up and also walked to the window, side by side with Luo Chuan, and said calmly: “My dear, these scholars may not necessarily be imprisoned among the people.
The Yan State in Liaodong flourished, and many poor people went to that country.
If there are young men from wealthy families in the Central Plains who are willing to go there, they will become rich and powerful overnight.
In the early Han Dynasty, faced with the decline of the Han court, the family members actively tried to save the country, and even sacrificed Duke Zhaozhongyi's life.
But the last time you returned to the family, you knew that the family had already been indifferent to Han Ting.
Unlike the current gentry who tried to drag the Han Dynasty into the abyss, they were already very restrained.
After all, there is a close relationship between the two parties.
If you want to help the Han court, your family will hardly provide you with any help."
Luo Qian's words were somewhat cold. Hearing this, Luo Chuan's lips moved slightly, and after a long time he whispered, "Madam, I understand.
But Yinghou has been passed down for three hundred years. Unlike other families in the world, they are sincere and loyal. I cannot let it end with me.
The family will be passed down for thousands or tens of thousands of years, until the end of time.
The Marquis of Ying would live and die with the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty.
We don’t know if our child can bear this kind of pressure.”
The couple both knew that when they were alive, the Han Dynasty had not yet become corrupt to the point of destruction, but when their children grew up, the situation they would encounter would be far worse than it is now.
…
It is impossible to count how many people are imprisoned. After all, this time the imprisonment is directly within the five generations, plus there are disciples and followers, the number is simply terrifying.
However, the occurrence of the Party and Factions Persecution did not seem to have any impact on the court, and everything remained the same.
The emperor was very satisfied with this. This was his idea. In such a huge court, anyone would be replaced if they left. No one was indispensable.
A large number of scholars left the court, leaving many official positions vacant. The emperor excitedly sold three of the Nine Ministers for a good price, a full 100 million coins.
The eunuchs, who had once again won a great victory over the scholar-officials, became more and more rampant. Except for a few people, the rest of the eunuchs and the eunuchs' children, faced with the silence of the court and the world, began to plunder more and more severely.
Not only the children of eunuchs, but also the powerful people in the local counties and prefectures followed these people, either annexing land or gathering the people who had been plundered by the children of eunuchs and could not survive into their families, making them their tenants and the "disappeared people" in the court's household register.
With great fanfare, everyone is digging at the foundation of this huge dynasty, just waiting for it to collapse!
————
The "Party Prison Disaster" was an unavoidable political event in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the consequences were extremely serious. The "Party Prison Biographies" in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty recorded that "During the Party Prison Disaster, hundreds of scholars were imprisoned and died, upright scholars were cut off from the court, and those who followed the Party were imprisoned with three clans and five mournings."
Fundamentally speaking, this was a struggle for power within the ruling group, a confrontation between the scholar group representing ministerial power and the eunuch group representing imperial power.
The author usually only records this kind of political struggle without bias, but the Party and Faction Persecution is different.
Whether from an objective or subjective perspective, the eunuchs are not just. The literati who stand up not only represent the voice of their own class. Compared with the eunuchs, these literati are also speaking for the people, promoting integrity, denouncing lawlessness, and are just.
The "Party and Prison Disaster" was extremely harmful. It caused a group of more advanced scholars in the scholar class to become alienated from the Han Dynasty. It can be said that the foundation of the Eastern Han Dynasty's rule was completely shaken, and it caused a series of subsequent bad consequences. - "History of the Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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