At the beginning of 184 AD, at the end of the year, Luoyang.
The days went by like this, and the New Year was about to come. After the recent contact with the prince in the palace, little Yuan Xi also learned some basic swordsmanship from the palace swordsman Wang Yue. This Wang Yue was also recommended by little Yuan Xi. .
On this day, little Yuan Xi had just finished sword practice and planned to go to Yuan Shao's study to read some books. Before he reached the study, he saw Yuan Shao, who was still wearing court clothes, angrily walking towards his study. Feeling strange, little Yuan Xi stopped and Yuan Fu, who went to court with Yuan Shao, realized why his father was so angry.
It turns out that during the Han Dynasty, relatives and eunuchs took turns controlling the government. Since Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he was first instigated by the eunuchs to destroy the Dou family, his relative who helped him rise to power. Later, the eunuchs began to take power.
Now there are twelve eunuchs in the court, named ten permanent attendants, who are causing chaos in the government. They are Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Xia Yun, Guo Sheng, Sun Zhang, Bi Lan, Duan Yao, Gao Wang, Zhang Gong, Han Kui, Song Dian and Su Song. They controlled the government and sold their positions and titles. They had cronies from the imperial court to counties all over the country, and they made the society dark.
Although the scholar-bureaucrats from top to bottom wanted to hoe the traitors, Emperor Ling favored them very much. In particular, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were the best among them, and were called "Rang's father" and "loyal mother" by Emperor Ling. They have become the emperor's parents, which shows how kind Emperor Ling is to the eunuchs.
Although this was unacceptable to the scholar-bureaucrats throughout the dynasty, no one could dissuade the Ling Emperor who was determined to have his own way. As for Shi Chang, who relied on Emperor Ling's favor, he acted unscrupulously.
They hoarded money in the court and even began to sell their official positions at the request of Emperor Ling. The price is clearly marked, and anyone from Sangong to the county magistrate can sell it. You can even not pay it now and pay it later when you take office.
Disappointed, disappointed, still disappointed. Most people cannot accept Ling Emperor's approach. But the world belongs to others, so what can others say.
Some time ago, a poor boy from a scholar background became a county magistrate, but unexpectedly, he received an imperial edict from Emperor Ling demanding payment for official fees. In desperation, I sold my house and land, but I was still short of half the money.
But he was a scholar, how could he have so much money, so he paid the remaining money and he didn't want to be the unjust person who exploited the people. He couldn't think about it for a moment, so he hanged himself on the way.
Emperor Ling was quite happy when he received the news of his suicide. He only heard him say, "This way I can sell this official again." This made the scholar-bureaucrats throughout the dynasty even more dissatisfied.
Little Yuan Xi also knew about this, but the more dissatisfied everyone was with the court, the more opportunities little Yuan Xi had, so he didn't say anything.
Haha, this Yuan family talks about benevolence, justice and morality, but what they do is men steal and women prostitute. It is really hypocritical.
And today. It was the day when Cui Lie became the Taiwei. Originally, everyone was very satisfied with Cui Lie. He was upright and dignified, and his official reputation was very good.
Originally, he should be an official if he wanted to be an official, but someone was not happy with it, and that was Emperor Ling's wet nurse.
Speaking of Cui Lie, he has not been promoted for several years. Looking at his former colleagues, they have been promoted one by one. He can't help but want to get an official.
But his current official position is not small, and there are not many suitable for him. It just so happened that Cao Cao and his father, Cao Song, had no support in the court due to the death of Cao Teng, and he no longer planned to be the purchased Taiwei.
When Cui Lie learned about this, he thought, just in time, he was thinking about which official would suit him, so he sent one to him. But the problem is that Cui Lie doesn't have that much money.
After all the calculations, the most he could collect was five million dollars, and Taiwei's bid was ten million dollars. As for buying an official position, it is all in the hands of Shi Changshi, so even if you want to beg for mercy, you can't. How to do it
After thinking hard, Cui Lie came up with a way, which was to find the emperor's wet nurse.
So Cui Lie, who thought of it and did it, went to find the wet nurse. Fortunately, the nanny was also somewhat capable, and he had an unusual relationship with Zhang Rang. Under her guidance, Cui Lie finally bought the official position of Taiwei with five million dollars.
I thought that the matter would just go away, but unexpectedly, when I happily put on my new official uniform and went to attend the imperial meeting today, someone was upset, and that person was the one who helped Cui Lie buy an official position. The emperor's wet nurse.
Cui Lie was also at fault. She helped you. No matter how much you look down on her, you should still thank her. But Cui Lie obviously looked down on her a little. He turned his back on her and stopped recognizing others. He also acted like a lieutenant in front of her. This made the nanny very angry.
So, just as the ministers were discussing matters together, it was Cui Lie's turn to speak, and Cui Lie obviously wanted to show off, and seemed to be scolding Fang Qiu. At this time, the emperor's wet nurse came.
And as soon as he came, he directly attacked what the scholar-bureaucrats valued most - face.
I just heard her say, "It's just a woman-dependent thing. Why are you pretending to be here?" (I forgot the specific green tea, so I made it up now.) Now the problem is big. What kind of face do scholar-bureaucrats value most? This is embarrassing in front of other adults.
Moreover, Cui Lie, who was disgraced, suddenly fell from the top. He submitted his resignation in court. And Emperor Ling, who originally thought that five million was sold cheaply, when he heard Cui Lie resigned, he thought that another ten million would change hands. How could it be wrong? As soon as he opened his mouth, the matter was settled.
But Yuan Shao didn't know so much. He just thought it was Shi Changshi and the others who were responsible for this, so he started to lose his temper as soon as he came back. After hearing this, little Yuan Xi had some concerns in his mind and walked towards Yuan Shao's house.
Little Yuan Xi, who had some concerns, asked Yuan Fu to guard the door of the study and not let anyone in. Because today, little Yuan Xi wants to talk to Yuan Shao about the future of the Yuan family, and there will definitely be some treacherous words that cannot be heard by others.
Because those words could kill their family right now. And Yuan Fu has been Yuan Shao's confidant for decades, that is, Uncle Fu, so he can be trusted. So Xiao Yuan Xi asked him to guard the door of the study, not afraid that he would spread what he heard.
And little Yuan Xi, who had arranged all this, walked into Yuan Shao's study. As soon as he entered the study, he saw Yuan Shao sitting angrily behind the table, his chest heaving constantly, obviously still angry. There were some letters scattered on the ground. It was obvious that they were used as a tool to vent anger by Yuan Shao.
Seeing this mess, little Yuan Xi felt confident. To put it bluntly, the reason why Yuan Shao is so angry today is not because of Cui Lie who resigned, nor because of the corrupt government, but because of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and Zhang Rang.
The history of the late Eastern Han Dynasty tells us that the imperial power at that time was not so stable. The powerful aristocratic families had been in opposition to the imperial power for a long time, and most of the government was controlled by people from aristocratic families.
Take the Yuan family as an example. The four generations and three princes are not insignificant, but they are based on the compromise of the imperial power.
When it comes to the generation of Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei, their power has reached its peak. Among the three princes, Situ and Sikong are both from the Yuan family, and the Yuan family has become the first among the scholars in the world with the prestige accumulated over the past century, which can be said to be glorious. unlimited.
Looking at what Emperor Ling has done in the past few years, although it seems ridiculous, both Yuan Xi and Yuan Shao understand that this is what Emperor Ling did in the name of absurdity.
Seeing him buying and selling officials, although it was in the name of Zhang Rong and their ten permanent servants, how could he hide it? It was a real family that had been fighting against the imperial power for a long time.
Emperor Ling sold his official position in order to weaken the family's control over court officials. Looking at the current court officials, the officials who are qualified to go to court to discuss affairs are all from aristocratic families, and even those who are very talented are Han clan children.
No matter how talented you are, you can only work as a low-level official, or you can directly fall into the arms of a noble family, otherwise you won't be able to achieve anything.
But Emperor Ling's actions broke this rule. He sold his official position, no matter how big the official was. The common people all thought that Emperor Ling did this for money. As for the merchant emperor, the common people thought so.
But that’s not the case. Money is certainly a reason, but more importantly, Emperor Ling wants to change officials and does not want one family to dominate.
Now Emperor Ling sells his official position. As long as you have money, I will give you an official position. No matter where you come from. This is a chess move that will blow people away from the bottom of the pot. It goes well, although there will be some pain in the early stage, allowing some rich and talented people to harm the people.
But as long as the operation is done well and most of the rights are taken back from the aristocratic family, then it will be easy to clean up the individual cancers. At least in Xiao Yuan Xi's opinion, this was what Emperor Ling had in mind.
But it would be hard to say if Emperor Ling could not take back his rights in the short term. Historically, there is a certain connection between the destruction of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Ling's buying and selling of officials.
Although the rights of some aristocratic families were weakened, it allowed local wealthy families to gain power.
This wealthy family is different from the aristocratic family. The aristocratic family has a foundation. Only a family that has been passed down for decades or even hundreds of years can be called a aristocratic family. They have existed as long as the imperial power, or even longer.
They fight against the imperial power for the inheritance of their family. Only when you have a family can you have a country. However, local wealthy families are different. They have no background, do not read poetry and books, and do not understand etiquette. Therefore, in the eyes of the family, those The Hao people are all despicable people and barbarians, such as Dong Zhuo of Xiliang and Han Sui of Jincheng.
Although the aristocratic families fought against the imperial power, they also relied on the imperial power, and the imperial power also relied on the rule of the aristocratic families. The two are hostile and dependent on each other, and their relationship is complicated. Therefore, people from aristocratic families will not rebel unless absolutely necessary. According to current terms, they are very abiding by the rules of the game.
But the Haohao tribe is different. Their rise only lasted for a short period of time. They can't participate in the games of those in power, so they don't understand.
Emperor Ling could not have imagined that the consequences of what he was doing now would be to break the rules of the game and destroy the balance.
In the past, these scholars still felt that Emperor Ling's actions were too childish and not threatening. If you give him an official, we would not give him rights and ignore him, so there was no reaction. But maybe the good intentions of the clansmen were not known to the Emperor Ling who was dazzled by the victory.
He thought that the noble clans had been suppressed by his plan, and he thought that as long as he used more force and beat the noble clans painfully, they would be obedient, so when his next move came, what happened to Cui Lie one thing.
Emperor Ling had a good idea. The clans represented by Yuan Shao and the others were indeed hurt by the beatings, but what he didn't expect was that the clans were not powerless to fight back, but felt no threat. But Emperor Ling's actions today really made them angry.
Because his move today was very good and pointed directly at the critical point of the family. The nanny's words today could not help but make Cui Lie lose face. At the same time, it was equivalent to a slap in the face of the family, which was very painful.
But before Yuan Shao and the others could counterattack, Cui Lie, who felt that he had lost his face, proposed to resign himself, and Emperor Ling had already decided before they could react. This was not something they had planned long ago. At this time, Yuan Shao and the others were unable to even counterattack and were completely defeated.
It was Emperor Ling's last words that made Yuan Shao furious. This official could be sold again. Do you want to do it again? This is a naked provocation.
But Yuan Shao, who was too angry to express his anger, had difficulty losing his temper outside. It wasn't until he returned home that he couldn't help but let out his anger. And what little Yuan Xi saw was exactly this scene.
Looking at the furious Yuan Shao, little Yuan Xi slowly walked over and picked up the books scattered on the ground one by one. The purpose was to let Yuan Shao, who saw him coming in, take this time to calm down.
After he almost picked up all the books, Yuan Shao almost calmed down. Putting the last book back on the table, little Yuan Xi quietly looked at Yuan Shao, who was obviously getting older.
I remember when I first arrived in this world, I saw Yuan Shao still in his twenties, with a successful career and a high official position.
After these few years, Yuan Shao, who was busy fighting with the eunuchs, was obviously much older. He was in his thirties, and he was originally at the peak of his life, but now Yuan Shao has grown white hair early, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes are... The bloodshot eyes showed the master's fatigue.
And the slightly curved back makes Yuan Shao look even older. This made little Yuan Xi look a little sad. Little Yuan Xi had not seen much Yuan Shao in recent years.
Every time I see him, I am in a hurry. I never know that my father, who is always so strong in my heart, will also grow old one day.
Was it because he didn't pay too much attention to the people around him? At this time, little Yuan Xi thought of his mother Liu, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, and secretly decided to go see her later.
