After observing this series of phenomena, Liu Bei realized that the situation in Luoyang might be changing.
Previously, Liu Bei carefully analyzed that the reason why the scholars lost so miserably in the second party ban was because they did not believe that the emperor would completely turn to the eunuchs, instead of using the eunuchs as a balancing tool.
They did not want to believe that the emperor seemed to really regard the eunuchs as family members, so the scholars misjudged the enemy's strength and lost miserably.
Now the scholars seemed to have come back to their senses and seemed to realize that the emperor's preference for eunuchs was beyond the scope of a normal emperor and was a bit abnormal. It might even be the main reason for their complete defeat in front of the eunuchs.
So they began to feel strong resentment.
This is the dissatisfaction and resentment directly directed at the emperor himself. This resentment is very fatal in Liu Bei's view.
This was something that shook the foundation of the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
But neither Liu Hong nor the eunuch group seemed to realize the importance of this matter.
They are still trying every means to continue to expand their power and suppress the power of the scholars.
The goal is good, but the methods and means are really inadequate.
For example, they relax or even don’t care about the control of Taipingdao communication at all.
The Yellow Turban Uprising took Taiping Dao as its program, and Taiping Dao was based on Huang Lao's theory, the official leading ideology in the early Western Han Dynasty. It mixed some remarks of Yin Yang and Five Elements to form the superstitious Taiping Dao, which set off the uprising. .
But fundamentally, this is actually a social phenomenon in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
When Liu Bei was a street fighter in his early years, he knew that because Confucianism was monopolized by noble families, it was impossible for ordinary people to learn it.
This group of people monopolizes Confucianism and is not open to the outside world, but the foundation of the empire is not only scholars but also local powerful people.
Scholars believed that powerful people were local tyrants, lowly and unworthy of learning Confucianism. However, after powerful people had money to meet their survival needs, they would naturally pursue other things, pursue cultural knowledge, and actively strive to move closer to the ruling class.
Except for a few of them who were accepted by the scholars because of their luck - such as Liu Bei himself, most of them could not inherit Confucianism and could not transform into scholars.
In this context, many people from the powerful landlord class in the late Han Dynasty turned to study Huang-Lao's learning and other schools of thought that still have traces of them.
At that time, Huang-Lao's learning was very popular in the Chu region south of the Yangtze River.
Even Liu Bei knew that Han Emperor Huan Liu Zhi had publicly stated that he was studying Huang-Lao's studies, and there were strong signs of reintroducing Huang-Lao's studies into the court and political situation.
It can be said that after Emperor Huan Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty, Huang-Lao's theory became a relatively popular theory in civil society outside the traditional circle of Confucian gentry. This must be said to be due to the increasingly closed and self-proclaimed Confucianism.
As a powerful man in Jizhou, Zhang Jiao was also a powerful landowner who could not transform into a scholar. He could not learn Confucianism, so it was natural for him to come into contact with Huang Lao's learning and the learning of Yin Yang and Five Elements. Based on this, he combined Taiping Dao as a rebel. The program is not surprising.
Although the Yellow Turban Uprising also had elements of peasants' simple resistance to land annexation, what united people from different backgrounds and classes from all over the world was not an equalization of wealth and poverty, but the Taiping Dao program.
Since the Taiping Dao decided to launch the uprising, they have never put forward slogans such as dividing land between the rich and the poor. Instead, they have used the teachings of the Taiping Dao as their action plan.
The teachings of Taiping Dao are a mixture of Huang-Lao's studies and the studies of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.
Therefore, in Liu Bei's view, the Yellow Turban Uprising can be regarded to some extent as a counterattack by the remaining forces of various schools of thought after the pre-Qin era against Confucianism, which controls social ideological hegemony.
It is conceivable that if Zhang Jiao succeeds, he will naturally govern the country based on Taiping Dao instead of Confucianism.
Therefore, the audience of Taiping Dao is not limited to poor people. The audience of Taiping Dao is filled with local powerful people, bureaucrats and even eunuchs in the palace.
In fact, Liu Bei even felt that Zhang Jiao's local development of Taiping Road did not receive the attention of the imperial court, and it may not have been without the promotion of Liu Hong and the eunuch group.
Liu Hong and the eunuchs were obviously happy to see an additional force in society that could not deal with the Confucian gentry. Liu Hong also obviously knew that his predecessor Liu Zhi had openly studied the practices of Huang Lao.
This may be a dissatisfaction of the imperial power with the Confucian gentry controlling the path to social advancement.
Liu Hong inherited this practice and went even more extreme.
However, he may not have expected that after this force became bigger, it would directly point its finger at him and the rule of the Han Dynasty, instead of pointing at the Confucian gentry in a subtle way, and not becoming a minion of the imperial power to fight against the Confucian gentry.
Presumably Liu Hong's thoughts must have been very complicated when he learned that Zhang Jiao was going to rebel and destroy the Han Dynasty.
I have raised a white-eyed wolf.
However, regarding the current matter, Liu Hong was not stupid.
Liu Bei extended an olive branch to him, and he decided to take it and see how capable Liu Bei was.
In mid-July of the fifth year of Guanghe, Liu Hong secretly summoned Liu Bei.
Through Zhang Rang’s channels.
Liu Hong asked Zhang Rang to send a car to take Liu Bei to the side gate of the palace, and he would personally lead Liu Bei through a small road to Liu Hong's study for the meeting. This would be safer.
Zhang Rang saw Liu Bei's expression at that time, which made Liu Bei feel that he had killed his son... Oh, I forgot, he could not have a son.
Hey Hey.
Liu Bei's expression at that time and the inexplicable sight of him on the third route may have given Zhang Rang some very negative associations, so on the way to the palace, Zhang Rang warned Liu Bei very angrily.
"Don't think that you can be arrogant in front of us because you are a member of the Han clan. Liu Xuande, you have to remember that our eunuchs are just servants of His Majesty the Emperor. There is someone in the world who can make us obey him.
Don't think that just because you are a big shot, you can boss me around. Even if you are a big shot, you will always be kind and gentle in front of me, and you won't dare to go overboard in the slightest. Is the Yuan family of the Fourth Generation and Three Dukes big enough? Is the Yang family of Three Generations and Three Dukes old enough? What can they do when they face us? "
Obviously, Zhang Rang was very proud of the victory of the eunuch group in the second disaster of party imprisonment, and felt that he was so awesome that he was very unhappy and disdainful when faced with Liu Bei, a young man who had hurt his face and political interests. .
He wanted to take revenge on Liu Bei, but seeing that Liu Bei seemed to be taken seriously by Liu Hong, and intimidated by his status as a member of the Han clan, he did not dare to act recklessly.
This lustful and lustful state made Liu Bei feel very funny.
"Why does Zhang Hou think that I am arrogant? Zhang Hou really misunderstood. I have no such idea. We are both working for His Majesty, so why are we so hostile?"
Liu Bei's contemptuous attitude instantly angered Zhang Rang.
Zhang Rang stepped forward and grabbed Liu Bei's collar.
"Don't think that your majesty can be arrogant in front of us just because he seems to admire you. Liu Bei, let me tell you, I want you to die today and you won't survive tomorrow!"
