Every time we solve a problem and think the world is at peace, a new trouble appears, and history moves toward the future on a track paved by troubles one after another.
Emperor Xuan was the leader of the ZTE since the Han Dynasty. He gathered a large number of contemporary talents around him, the most important of whom were Xiao Wangzhi, Zhang Chang, Huang Ba, and Bing Ji who had always assisted him. However, these people were also the source of trouble for Emperor Xuan.
Huang Ba (130 BC - 51 BC), courtesy name Cigong, was born in Yangxia, Huaiyang (now Taikang, Henan). Huang Ba studied law when he was young and worked very hard. In the last years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he was elected as a minister, Yezhe. Later, he served as a minister of finance and food not far from the capital. They are very different, so they are praised by others. Huang Ba rose to prominence all the way, and successively served as the commander of the transportation east of the Yellow River in Shaanxi, the prefect of Henan, Ting Weizheng (in charge of criminal law), the governor of Yangzhou, and the prefect of Yingchuan (Yuzhou area). Especially when he was the prefect of Yingchuan, Huang Ba managed Yingchuan in an orderly manner. Emperor Xuan's edict stated that "do not pick up items on the road and do not close the house at night." Emperor Xuan appointed him as the imperial censor, and after Bingji's death, Huang Ba replaced him as prime minister. At the same time, he was granted the title of Jiancheng Hou, taking charge of the Chao Gang and the State.
Gentle on the outside but cunning on the inside, this is Huang Ba. He was a qualified local official, but not the qualified prime minister in Emperor Xuan's heart. Unable to bear his leisure, he wrote to Emperor Xuan and asked Shi Gao, Marquis of Leling, to be granted the title of Taiwei. Shi Gao was a relative of a foreigner, with deep roots and nepotism. Huang Ba recommended him. If something happens in the future, someone will take care of him. This is called being an official in the same dynasty, and harmony will bring wealth. Huang Ba thought so, and the calculation was quite easy. However, what he was thinking was Liu Bingji's plan, and Liu Bingji's plan was very difficult to make.
After Emperor Xuan read the memorial, he immediately summoned Huang Ba and scolded Huang Ba until he was bloody. Emperor Xuan said that the prime minister was only one of the three princes, and his duty was to manage all officials well. The Grand Sima is juxtaposed with the Prime Minister, and they are at the same level as the Prime Minister. They are all under the management of the Emperor. The Prime Minister has no right to interfere with the Grand Sima's affairs. Huang Ba overstepped his authority and made recommendations, which offended the imperial authority. If Liu Xun wanted to punish him, Huang Ba would never be able to escape unscathed.
After Huang Ba was scolded by Liu Xun, he fell seriously ill and could not get out of bed for several months. After this incident, Huang Ba finally knew that Liu Xun was not easy to mess with.
There is also a dishonest person, Yang Yun.
At the beginning, the Huo family controlled the government and planned a rebellion. Yang Yun was alert. After learning the news, he quickly reported it to Emperor Xuan. Emperor Xuan struck preemptively and after the Huo family was destroyed, Emperor Xuan promoted Yang Yun to the rank of Zhonglang General and was awarded the title of Marquis. After being granted the title of Marquis, Yang Yun distributed all the 5 million left to him by his father Yang Chang to his clan brothers. Immediately afterwards, his stepmother had no children to inherit the property. After her death, Yang Yun distributed all her stepmother's millions of savings to others. Perhaps because he was addicted to dispersing money, Yang Yun moved more than 10 million from his home and gave it away everywhere.
Yang Yun has a wide range of friends and loves to pry into privacy, which makes people think that Yang Yun is a potential threat. Not only did he have a habit of prying into private matters, but he also publicized it everywhere, which deeply hurt the self-esteem of others and caused an uproar in Chang'an City. Yang Yun's behavior had long aroused public anger, and people did not dare to attack easily because Emperor Xuan paid special attention to him. Just because most people don't dare to attack easily doesn't mean that everyone is afraid of Yang Yun. Dai Changle is an exception.
During the period when the people were wandering and helpless, Liu Xun met Dai Changle, and the two got to know each other, and their relationship became better and better. After Liu Xun became emperor, he did not forget his poor past and recruited Dai Changle into the palace and made him a royal servant. Liu Xun trusted Dai Changle very much and always asked him to do things that were not convenient for others to handle. Dai Changle was frivolous by nature and liked to show off. When he met everyone, he would talk about what the emperor asked him to do, what the key to the matter was, etc.
Yang Yun then began to publicize Dai Changle's "contributions", working harder than Dai Changle himself. Dai Changle heard that Yang Yun was spreading nonsense about his great achievements, and he was afraid that Liu Xun would blame him, which would be detrimental to him. So in order to stop the spread of rumors, Dai Changle decided to punish Yang Yun. He sent people all over Chang'an to collect information, determined to bring down Yang Yun. After some covert and covert investigations, Dai Changle reported Yang Yun's criminal evidence to Liu Xun. Dai Changle accused Yang Yun of showing off his talents, slandering the imperial court, singing about national subjugation, and confusing the public with monstrous words. He also said that Yang Yun casually made fun of Emperor Liu Xun to make people laugh, which was disrespectful.
Regarding spreading rumors and slander, it is difficult to convict and even harder to prove. Faced with the patchwork of evidence, Yang Yun denied it. One party proves that the other party is guilty, while the other party denies it; one is an old friend, and the other is a new hero. The palm of the hand is made of flesh, and the back of the hand is also made of flesh; it cannot function without the left hand, and it is inconvenient without the right hand. Emperor Xuan was in a dilemma. When he was at a loss, he thought of a master in solving cases - Tingwei Yu Dingguo.
In the Han Dynasty, there were many powerful Tingwei, among whom several Zhang Shizhi and Yu Dingguo had good reputations. There was a popular saying at that time that when Zhang Shizhi was a court captain, no common people in the world were wronged; when Yu Dingguo was a court captain, no common people would think that they were wronged. It can be seen that Yu Dingguo settled the case clearly.
Yu Dingguo handed Liu Xun a conclusion of the case, saying that Dai Changle sued Yang Yun. After investigation by Tingwei, the evidence of Yang Yun's guilt was conclusive and even the witnesses were found; however, Yang Yun refused to accept it and threatened to kill the witnesses. If the report ends here, punishing the up-and-comer Yang Yun and retaining the old Dai Changle, who has died of Liu illness, it will be a beautifully fake verdict. However, Yu Dingguo is very clever and then adds icing on the cake. He went on to write that Yang Yun was arrogant due to his favor, deceived the public with his evil words, disturbed Chang'an, and had failed the emperor's favor. He asked Liu Xun to approve his arrest.
Yang Yun's big mouth was known to everyone in Chang'an, including Emperor Xuan. Yu Dingguo made it clear that Yang Yun said something he shouldn't have said and even dared to mock the emperor. Yang Yun had made too many enemies and would get angry sooner or later. It was better to deal with it as soon as possible to prevent the situation from expanding. Yu Dingguo's move was called guarding against subtle changes, so as to prevent Yang Yun from making an unforgivable mistake and embarrassing Emperor Xuan.
After reading Yu Dingguo's memorial, Emperor Xuan felt that both Yang Yun and Dai Changle were suspected of spreading rumors. For the sake of fairness and to prevent the slightest mistake, Liu Xun treated everyone equally and demoted both Yang Yun and Dai Changle to common people.
Yu Dingguo settled the case with admirable skill and skill, and he was worthy of the reputation of "the people believe that they have no injustice".
Yang Yun was so conceited that after being demoted, he looked down upon everyone in the world. He became rich through business and lived in luxury and enjoyment all day long, which not only relieved the anger and depression in his heart, but also showed cynicism. As an individual, cynicism doesn't matter, but it affects his friends. This friend of his is Zhang Chang.
The idiom "Zhang Chang Thrushes Eyebrows" comes from Zhang Chang, because he doted on his wife very much and often drew her eyebrows.
In Zhang Chang's eyes, women are all delicate and beautiful and need to be cared for. Zhang Chang is full of tenderness and charming. From time to time he goes to brothels to look for flowers and willows. In Chang'an, there is a very famous street called Zhangtai Street because it is full of women living in brothels. When Zhang Chang visits brothels, he always calls for his best friend, the talented Yang Yun. Zhang Chang and Yang Yun are generally lustful and like to waste their lives. Their friendship was strengthened in the brothel.
A pair of close friends, compared with Yang Yun, Zhang Chang's life is a bit bleak. Yang Yun has a rich family background and good social connections. He is a typical playboy. Zhang Chang must run for a living every day, otherwise his life will be unstable. Zhang Chang was very popular with the emperor because of his ability. He was Jing Zhaoyin. Jing Zhaoyin is responsible for Chang'an's social security, and Chang'an's social security is the burden on Zhang Chang's shoulders.
Chang'an is a prosperous and wealthy place in the world, with high officials, rich people, wealthy families, gentry, and even ruffians. In a word, Chang'an is the richest place in the world, and it is also the poorest place in the world; it is the brightest place in the world, and it is also the darkest place in the world. Zhang Chang was able to manage the public security in Chang'an all because he killed people without blinking an eye. When managing Chang'an, Zhang Chang believed in an iron-blooded rule: those who obey me will live, and those who go against me will perish.
Zhang Chang is gentle and considerate to women, but angry with criminals. He is a two-sided character. When it comes to official duties, Zhang Chang is a man of iron and steel. If the other party dares to disobey his will, no matter who the other party is, Zhang Chang will raise a knife in his hand and the other party's head will fall to the ground immediately. When facing women, Zhang Chang is tender, loving and considerate, as if he were made of water. No matter what the other party wants, even if it is the moon in the sky, he will try his best to satisfy it. Zhang Chang has two faces and two hearts. He is a two-faced person.
During his nine-year career in Jingzhaoyin, Zhang Chang offended many people, and he was also best friends with the prodigal talent Yang Yun. After Liu Xun beheaded Yang Yun, someone immediately sued Zhang Chang, hoping to take advantage of Liu Xun's fierceness and kill Zhang Chang. The memorials to impeach Zhang Chang flew to Liu Xun's desk like snowflakes, one after another. Zhang Chang's two friends, Grand Tutor Xiao Wangzhi and Ting Wei Yu Dingguo, did not dare to help and could only stare and wait. Liu Xun approved. Liu Xun was so powerful that the courtiers were frightened. Only a man as heroic as Yang Yun was not afraid.
Birds of a feather flock together, best friend Yang Yun is not afraid of Liu Xun, and neither is Zhang Chang. Although the impeachment memorial flew towards Liu Xun like snowflakes, Zhang Chang still took it indifferently, but his subordinates were very nervous and wished that Zhang Chang would be dismissed. Zhang Chang looked like a ghost and scared everyone who saw him. His subordinates had long cursed him to be dismissed.
Zhang Chang was handling official business and asked his subordinate Xu Shun to handle a certain case. Uncharacteristically, Xu Shun went home privately, as if he had eaten the courage of a bear's heart and a leopard's courage. Zhang Chang was extremely angry and immediately sent someone to call Xu Shun back. Xu Shun replied that he did not want to serve as an official under Zhang Chang anymore, because he believed that Zhang Chang could not serve as Jing Zhaoyin for five days. Without instructions from others, Xu Shun was still so rampant, which shows that there were many memorials to impeach Zhang Chang. Although there were many memorials, Liu Xun did not deal with Zhang Chang, which shows that he relied heavily on Zhang Chang.
In order to punish Xu Shun, Zhang Chang put him in prison and tortured him in every possible way to extract a confession. Xu Shun couldn't bear the pain of flesh and blood, so he was beaten into a trick. The law of the Han Dynasty stipulates that torture cannot be used in spring. Seeing that spring was coming, Zhang Chang immediately dragged Xu Shun out and beheaded him. Zhang Chang was very bold. In order to show off his power, he sent a note to Xu Shun and asked him if he knew the power of the "five-day capital omen".
Shortly after Xu Shun was executed by Zhang Chang, court officials made regular inspections to check whether there were any unjust cases. As soon as the personnel arrived, Xu Shun's family members carried Xu Shun's body and held an open note, crying and yelling about injustice. The enemy is worried that he cannot grasp the handle and deal with Zhang Chang. Zhang Chang was so arrogant that he hit a wall this time. Liu Xun handed the memorial to Tingwei Yu Dingguo and asked him to handle the impeachment of Zhang Chang. The law clearly stipulates that those who kill without reason shall die. Zhang Chang abused his power, retaliated, and killed people indiscriminately. He should have died long ago. Liu Xun only asked Tingwei to handle the impeachment case of Zhang Chang, and made it clear that Zhang Chang would be spared and asked to go home first to avoid the limelight, and then return to Chang'an after the situation calmed down. Liu Xun knew that Chang'an could not live without Zhang Chang. Once Zhang Chang, the Prince of Hell, disappears, Chang'an will be filled with demons and chaos.
No one dares to compete with Zhang Chang, who has developed his own unique martial arts. If there was a master who was better than Zhang Chang in fighting against evil forces, Liu Xun probably wouldn't defend him like this.
The family escaped safely back to their hometown. Except for Zhang Chang, everyone was frightened. They were afraid that Liu Xun would regret it and sent someone to capture them. A few months later, Liu Xun unexpectedly sent a special envoy to summon Zhang Chang. When the family heard that someone was coming from Chang'an, they were so frightened that the male servants hugged the maids, the adults hugged the children, and burst into tears. The family members burst into tears, but Zhang Chang laughed loudly and asked people to greet the special envoy, saying that he was about to be re-employed. Zhang Chang's reason was that if Liu Xun wanted to arrest him and punish him, he didn't need to send a special envoy, he could just send someone casually.
Zhang Chang is indeed smart. Liu Xun sent a special envoy to ask Zhang Chang to come out to arrest the thieves. Since Zhang Chang was dismissed from office, thieves in Chang'an have appeared everywhere, making trouble and treating the government as if it were nothing. Jizhou thieves even joined forces to attack the government. Zhang Chang was a top master, and Liu Xun sent him to deal with the Jizhou thieves. Before taking office, Zhang Chang wrote a letter to absolve himself of the crime of killing Xu Shun. Liu Xun was a shrewd man and knew what Zhang Chang meant, so he said he would not pursue the matter further.
