Liang Ji's story: "Nepotism" exam

In 136 AD (the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Yonghe of the Eastern Han Dynasty), when the great general Liang Shang was dying, he said to his son Liang Ji: "I am immoral, enjoy many blessings, and I cannot be blessed with life to benefit the imperial court. He asked the funeral to start from Jane: after the breath was cut off, he was immediately pulled to the cemetery and buried immediately. However, after his death, the emperor personally went to the Liang Mansion to mourn and issued a decree: "Give the Eastern Garden Zhu Shou utensils, silver wisps, yellow intestines, jade boxes, twenty-eight kinds of things, two million dollars, and three thousand pieces of cloth." ”

"Yellow intestine", full name "yellow intestine inscription", is "Tianzi burial system". First seen in the "Book of Han Huo Guang Biography": "Guangxue, giving Zi Palace, Benfang, yellow intestine inscription each one, fir wood outside the collection of fifteen bodies." Yan Shigu's ancient note quoted Su Linyue: "The coffin is caused by the yellow heart of cypress wood, so it is called yellow intestine." Wood is introverted, so it is solid. From the excavation of the Western Han Tomb in Dabaotai, Beijing, it was understood that the whole cypress trees in the Zi Palace that surrounded the coffin and many neatly arranged cypress trees were what the history books called "yellow intestine inscriptions". Although this was a special burial system for the emperors of the Han Dynasty, it could also be enjoyed after death by the emperor's relatives and high-ranking officials and ministers who had been specially granted by the Son of Heaven. It can be seen from this that Liang Shang should be the same as Huo Guang of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a prominent person before his death and a great figure who mourned after his death.

Although Liang Shang had a last word, after death, do not "a hundred officials to work hard, chaotic roads, only increase dust and dirt, although the cloud system, but also the power, Fang now the border is not peaceful, thieves are not resting, it is advisable to seriously damage the country"? But the emperor did not do it, the reason why he wanted to do a special job, prepared for the great sorrow and glory, because the deceased is not only his father-in-law, but also the minister who manages the country for him. Although this person does not have any great merit, there is no big flaw. In public and private, he had to do so; Moreover, in the Han Dynasty, foreign relatives were often an important factor in influencing the government and manipulating the throne, and he could not fail to do so. Despite this high-standard treatment, his wife Empress Liang, the daughter of Liang Shang, was not very satisfied. Therefore, she gave another reward, the size of the pen was appalling, almost quadrupled than the Shun Emperor, "five million dollars, ten thousand cloth." ”

It can also be seen from this that Liang Shang was able to enjoy the burial system of "yellow intestine inscription" after his death, which seems to be because his daughter was the empress.

The nepotism of the Liang family was particularly strong, and their family had three empresses successively: one was the biological mother of Emperor He, who was posthumously honored as Empress Gonghuai; One is the empress of the present Shun Emperor; There was another, the sister of the empress, who would soon become the empress of Emperor Huan. Therefore, the fact that a great general like Liang Shang, who has a very strong background, can say this funeral at the last moment of his life is also quite a demonstration that Liang Shang, although he has been a very big official and has a lot of power, can also have a minimum of knowing that he is a foreign relative.

The "Dongguan HanJi" commented on him almost overflowing: "In the imperial court, he seems to be strict and strict, powerful but not fierce. Retire to private restaurants, receive guests, be generous and respectful. The sorrows of others, the happiness of happy people, are all in themselves. Light goods, not for accumulation, so the clothes are cut and the feet are old, and the slaves and horses are only used. If we look at him again in the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", "I think that my relatives occupy a big position, and every time I am humble", it is enough to understand his hidden intentions of checking himself. In the court struggles of feudal society, eunuchs were the most criticized group, and the reputation of foreign relatives was not much better. It is rare that this great general can have this kind of sobriety, and if he can have this kind of caution.

However, his son Liang Ji is a floating prodigal son, an outlaw, completely different from his father, and is definitely a villain who does the opposite.

Once, his father chatted with Luoyang Ling Lü Fang, the mayor of the capital. In the meantime, out of the kindness of his friends, Lü Fang signaled to Liang Shang, old man, you have to restrain your prince well. Liang Shang immediately expressed concern, and asked him what was going on, Lü Fang of course would not confide in Liang Ji's evil deeds, but only to the point. After Liang Shang returned home, he slapped the table and reprimanded Liang Ji. The history books say that Liang Ji looks like a "jackal with a furrowed eyebrow and a hole in the eyes", these eight words describe this great young master, and it is estimated that Liang Ji's face is brutal and dirty, which is enough to make people feel bad. After Liang Ji was scolded by his old dog's blood sprinkler, he thought to himself, you put eye drops on me, add to my blockage, I will give you a hand, send a killer to kill this multi-mouthed mayor on the way, and ask for his life. Liang Ji was afraid that his old son would find out, and lied that it was Lü Fang's enemies, and recommended that Lü Fang's younger brother Lü Yu succeed Him as Luoyang Ling. Then he hunted and killed without a license, and from then on no one dared to say bad things about him in front of Liang Shang.

Less than half a year after Liang Ji completed his father's funeral, he was transferred to the central government by Yin of Henan, taking over his father's position as a great general, and at the same time participating in the recording of Shang Shushi and serving as an extremely popular subject. Because his eldest sister, Empress Shun, was a woman who was skilled in power and scheming, she needed her brother to be in the imperial court and give him wings. This woman, intoxicated with politics and obsessed with authority, since the death of Emperor Shun, she has successively faced the three emperors of Chong, Qian, and Huan, all of whom are not more than a teenager, so that she can naturally come to power the dynasty. Liang Ji was from the province to the central government, holding the highest power, and was even more unscrupulous.

Liang Shang disciplined himself because his cursed father, Liang Zhen, "There were three men and three women, and Su Zongna's two daughters were all nobles." Xiao Gui was born with the emperor, empress Dou raised a son, and the family celebrated each other. After Zhu Dou heard about it, he was afraid that the Liang clan would succeed and eventually harm himself. In the first eight years of the founding, Sui Killed the Two Nobles, and trapped Him and so on to rebel. The edict made Hanyang Taishou Zheng rumored to have been convicted of the crime, and in prison, the family members were reinstated. Therefore, Liang Shang grew up in the shadow of this kind of court struggle in his childhood, and he learned the pain of charging the army and distributing distribution, and the family was broken, and he paid a heavy price. Later, the Dou family fell, swept out the door, and the Liang family was rehabilitated and re-glorified. Perhaps seeing through the rise and fall of the foreign relative's family, it was all a matter of necessity, Liang Shang suffered from the foreign relatives, had a little self-discipline, did not dare to do evil, until his death, did not dare to explode. Liang Ji was different, only knowing that the foreign relatives were cheap and had a backstage, so they acted arbitrarily, without scruples, lacked the minimum self-knowledge, and finally committed suicide. In this way, the foundation that Liang Shang had painstakingly laid, in the blink of an eye, was defeated at the hands of his second generation. The gravedigger was none other than his own son.

In China's feudal society, sons corrupted Lao Tzu's legacy, grandsons subverted the foundations of their ancestors, corpses were not cold, rivers and mountains changed color, souls were still floating, and old tones were new. The subversion of history sometimes comes too quickly, which is also a tragedy that all the first generation of entrepreneurs did not expect. A rich man who has produced a loser is at best bankrupt, and the great power is destroyed in the hands of a loser, which is a disaster of the destruction of the country and the death of the people.

The Book of the Later Han Dynasty describes Liang Ji as follows: "For a man with a jackal's eyebrows, a hole in the hole, a tongue in his mouth, and a skilled book." Less for the nobles, leisurely wandering. Sexual alcoholic, able to pull full, play chess, five, six Bo, Keju, yi money play, and good arm eagle lackeys, horse fighting cockfighting. Nowadays, I can know how to play "Ge Five, Six Bo, Keju, and Yi Qian", and I probably can't find it.

When Li Ruzhen wrote "Mirror Flower Edge", he lamented the loss of some game skills in ancient times; Once, I listened to a scholar who studied the court of the Qing Dynasty, on the costume TV dramas under the time, and shook his head and said that it was not that there was nothing like it, but that there was no difference at all. However, after a hundred years, it is strange, and the amusement of the han dynasty playboys is even more unknown. But in today's ancient times, it is estimated that it is equivalent to the popular massage, sauna, bungee jumping, bar, golf, marbles room, karaoke and the full service of the three escort ladies, right?

Judging from these details, Liang Ji can only be said to be a living eating, drinking and having fun, and if that is all, his Lao Tzu can sleep in the underground. However, from ancient times to the present, how many people are only satisfied with the four words of eating, drinking and having fun? Power is something that must be grasped first in the hand. Liang Ji relied on his sister as empress dowager, and for a long time monopolized power for more than twenty years, almost to the point of "monks playing umbrellas, lawlessness". When he is hot, "his four-way dispatch, when he contributes, he loses first to Ji, and takes advantage of public opinion second." Officials ask for officials and ask for sinners, and the roads look at each other. Ji also sent passengers out of the jam, traffic to foreign countries, and widely sought foreign objects. ”

There was a fufeng man named ShiSun Fen, who was very rich, and Liang Ji beat his idea and forcibly mortgaged his seat and carriage to this rich man, asking for a loan of fifty million. This kind of blackmail is no different from the open robbery. Shisun Fen can't do it, don't dare not borrow, but borrowing is also equivalent to beating the dog with meat buns, and there is no return. Therefore, Liang Ji was given thirty million to eliminate the disaster. Who knows that Liang Ji is furious, give you a face, you don't want a face, so a piece of official document sued Shisun Fen to Fufeng County, framing the old lady of the soldier, who was once a maid of honor in liang province who managed the money for Niangniang's private room, stole their family's white pearls and ten hus, purple gold thousands of pounds, and escaped outside. If the government dared to disobey Liang Ji, he would do whatever he wanted, "so he took in the KaoFen brothers, died in prison, and did not give more than 170 million yuan of money."

Therefore, the chancellor Huang Qiong Shangshu: "Zhu Liang Bingzheng, the eunuch Chong Dynasty, the re-sealing of the post, the tilting of the imperial court, the relocation of the Qing School And pastor, all out of its door, feather tooth leather, pearl of southern gold treasure, Yin full of his room." Rich and imitating the royal palace, the force will return to heaven and earth, those who speak will be clan, those who are attached will be glorified, the loyal subjects will be afraid of death and dugus, and all the men will be afraid of disasters and wooden tongues. In fact, Huang Qiong dared to offend Liang Ji in this way because he knew that he would soon die, and only then did he bluntly tell the truth to the emperor. However, in the supreme power of feudal society, foreign relatives can control the government and do evil for non-evil, but have no fear, usually, the man who is the emperor is either too young, naïve and ignorant, controlled and manipulated, or faint and incompetent, walking dead, and deceived, so that after Huang Qiong is neglected, he says that he is not said, and the fart is not useful. Foreign relations is an ancient topic, sima qian's "History", there is a chapter dedicated to "Foreign Relatives", which shows that since ancient times, the in-laws of the mothers and wives of Chinese rulers have been involved in power, which is a political phenomenon worthy of attention.

In today's world, in addition to the countries in Europe that retain the royal family, there will still be foreign relatives of the concubines, and the leaders of other countries have term limits, and the matriarchs and wives are also fleeting even if they can get involved in power. Even if it is a hereditary king, what about it? It is just a showmanship, and the foreign relatives have no oil and water. The princess Diana, who died in a car accident, her brother also had a beautiful scenery at his sister's funeral, and it seemed that she had not been promoted to riches. Nowadays, in the general political system, there is no such thing as foreign relations, but the absence of foreign relatives does not mean that the nepotism is gone. Some people covet shortcuts in their careers, taking the route of the ruler's wife and the wife of the powerful, and those who are reused and trusted will still exist.

In ancient times, "foreign relatives" specifically referred to people in feudal society who were related to the emperor's concubines, and later, the factor of blood became less important, and all the empresses, empresses (future empresses), princesses (future empresses), and any woman who was being favored by the emperor, the men of a certain mother's family they loved, or not the mother's family, who could enter and leave the harem, could be counted among the foreign relatives. Later, there was no such thing as a queen and a concubine, and those who relied on the power of women to gain power and wealth were generally called "nepotism" under such a more beautiful name.

Foreign relatives, the ancestors of the nepotism of the descendants; Nepotism is the extension and development of foreign relatives in modern society. Thus a special class was formed that relied on opportunity without struggle, by luck without skill, by women without effort, and by nepotism to manipulate authority. Sima Qian's "Family of Foreign Relatives", the first one is to write about Han Gaozu's wife Lü Yan, her two brothers, that is, Liu Bang's brother-in-law, almost subverted the Liu dynasty. Wang Mang was also a foreign relative, and he single-handedly ended the Western Han dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, one dial after another was even more dazzling. The Han Dynasty, in the history of China, was the most evil dynasty in which foreign relatives made trouble.

Foreign relatives can closely grasp the government, first of all, there must be a woman who is interested in power, and has the ability to play the emperor's husband or the emperor's son on the palm of her hand. Secondly, there must be one or more women and family members who are in urgent need of power, or men who are friendly and so on, who can be entrusted with heavy responsibilities and collude to do evil together. Finally, and most importantly, the fool who is the emperor must indulge in wine, must faint and incompetent. In addition, the best way to control state power is for the emperor to be at the mercy of a child. After Xianfeng's death, Cixi of the Qing Dynasty chose Three people, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Puyi, as emperors, and the younger he became, the younger he seemed to be well versed in this way. Only in this way can there be a situation in which the imperial power is sidelined and the later power is in power.

Therefore, after The death of Emperor Shun, the first to be established was Emperor Chong, who was two years old and still in his infancy, and he could not have been more idealistic. To aid the example, Empress Liang was the empress dowager to listen to the government, and Liang Ji was on the rise, which was also expected. But, less than a year later, the baby died. Therefore, the empress dowager and her brother made a decision to forbid and then established, and they had to find a child emperor to master it. The second emperor was eight years old, but in less than a year, he also died, a very tragic death, poisoned. This student, who was only in the first and second grades of primary school, probably saw Liang Ji's "Iris-eyebrow jackal eyes, hole spirits and eyes" and was a little frightened, "Mu Ji said: 'This general is also!' Smell, deep evil; So he ordered the left and right to add boiled cakes, and the emperor collapsed. ”

Now it was the turn of the third emperor, and the brothers and sisters had set their sights on a fifteen-year-old boy, that is, the Huan Emperor who later sent their Liang family to the eighteenth layer of hell, which was something they never expected. They also thought that such a choice was foolproof, because the empress promised him her sister, her own sister-in-law, could she not turn to her own family? And that general Liang Ji, who has great power in his hands, has already killed an emperor, so he is very confident, even if this young man's wings are hardened, will he care about killing another one?

"In the beginning, Liang Ji's two sisters were empresses of Shun and Huan, and Ji's father was a great general, reincarnated as an authority, Wei Zhen tianxia, Ji Zi wei Li Gu, Du Qiao, and so on, arrogant and beneficial. (Xiao Liang) The empress took advantage of the situation to be jealous, many poisons, upper and lower jaws, no one to speak, the emperor was afraid for a long time, he was always uneven, afraid of words, and did not dare to plot. In the second year of Yanxi, the empress collapsed. When the opportunity came, Emperor Huan summoned his cronies in the toilet and planned a movement to overthrow the beams. In August 159, "in the imperial front hall, Zhang Biao, a lieutenant of the Imperial Household, surrounded Jidi with his troops, collected the great general YinShou, and both Ji and his wife committed suicide, and dozens of Chinese and foreign relatives were ambushed." ”

From the death of Liang Shang to the suicide of Liang Ji, 23 years of work, this foreign relative has completed the whole process.

In the history of China, all those who are foreign relatives, the favor of the pepper room, and the luck of the inner palace are indeed very beautiful. Reading the sixteenth time in "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Jia Yuanchun only chose the Fengzao Palace", but when he became one of the many little wives of the emperor, the whole Jia Mansion, the excitement of being a foreign relative, as if he had won some jackpot. A few days after the good day, as soon as the big lady died, the family immediately collapsed, and finally, the tree fell and scattered, and the white expanse was really clean. Flipping through the "Twenty-Four Histories", there are not many foreigners who have a good ending. Because some people who could not have touched the power, climbed on the woman's nepotism, climbed up the tall branches, became rich and powerful, and mu monkeys and crowns, it was always inevitable that the soul was not possessed, the delirium was confused, and the villain got the will, and the chaos was done, of course, only the end of the egg was destroyed.

The downfall of a foreign relative usually occurred after the concubine he was attached to, or he had a problem, or he died, or he fell out of favor, or the little emperor who could have been controlled before grew up and was no longer at the mercy of the concubine. Therefore, the mountain fell, and had to follow. For the concubines, the punishment for sitting on the cold bench is still good, and if you are beaten into the cold palace, there is generally no play, and the wine is given to death, or the white silk is a piece of advice, then, the foreign relatives must accompany the bad luck. At this time, the word "Qi" of the foreign relative changed from the "qi" of the "relative" to the "qi" of the worried relative, and the trepidation was like a lost dog, and the confusion was like a chicken in the soup, and there would be no good life.

Nepotism this thing, good is good that it can be attached, but bad is also bad in the easy entanglement, do not wrap themselves well, can not get rid of, is the rat that sinks the ship, had to be destroyed with the ship. This is also all the people who do not enter from the main entrance, enter the living room, sit down in a dignified manner, but from the back door, enter and exit the bedroom and kitchen, sneaky, shrink their heads, and take the wife route, often knowing the lack of understanding. Later Han Dynasty Liang Ji, his family produced three empresses in succession, can be regarded as the most powerful foreign relative in Chinese history. The imperial court seemed to be opened by their own family, and the great general's authority was incomparable, to the point where he could change the emperor at will, and what was the result, he still lost his head and fell into a full-fledged and slashed end.

Of course, even in feudal society, foreign relations were not necessarily a political phenomenon. Anyone who obtains power from abnormal channels is always a product of an abnormal political environment, and as long as the emperor is in charge, the government is disorderly, the politics is corrupt, and the discipline program is not strong, there will be foreign relatives like Liang Ji. Emperor Huan took care of Liang's foreign relatives, but then under his egg wings, there were Tang's foreign relatives, Dou's foreign relatives rebelled, a crab is not as good as a crab, and the Eastern Han Dynasty entered the end of the period.

When Liang Ji was deprived of his citizenship, "he collected the goods and sold them by the county officials, totaling more than 300,000 yuan, to charge the royal palace and reduce half of the world's taxes and rents" (those who do not indicate the source above are quoted from the Book of later Han). More than 300,000 yuan, whether it is five baht money, or other measurements, is unknown, but it is equivalent to half of the national tax, this embezzlement can be described as shocking. From this, we can also understand that those who obtain power from irregular channels are bound to grab it like crazy, they must do what they do illegally, they must live in erosion, and they must be morally corrupt. In the end, it is inevitable to pay the price of life like Liang Ji, and the head is different, and the fa is left behind.

The story of Liang Ji is obviously very old, and the role of history lies in warning. In the current excellent social environment and healthy political atmosphere, it may not be beneficial to maintain a little sober consciousness for those who do not take the big road and take the evil road, do not take the front door and take the back door, and covet power!