Jian Shuo was one of the Ten Permanent Attendants of the Han Ling Emperor's time, and the only eunuch who held the military power of the Forbidden Army (Xiyuan Army) in the capital Luoyang, the first of the Ten Standing Attendants to die, or was killed by Guo Sheng, who was also a Zhongchang Attendant and had no military power in his hands. There are both internal and external causes for The death of Jian Shuo. The internal reason was nothing more than that Jian Shuo proposed to kill the representative figure of the foreign relatives, that is, the great general He Jin, in front of the terminally ill Han Ling Emperor, which caused the foreign relatives clique to counterattack. The external reason was that He Jin's nephew Liu Wei succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Shao of Han. In order to protect themselves, the eunuch clique killed the initiator in advance, that is, the military academy lieutenant Jian Shuo, to alleviate the hatred of the imperial court officials.
Speaking of Jian Shuo, we have to mention the Western Garden Army created by the Han Ling Emperor. In the fifth year of Zhongping (188 AD), ostensibly to fight against the Western Qiang and the Yellow Turban Thieves, but in fact for the sake of the great general He Jinjun, the Han Ling Emperor recruited Zhuang Ding in Luoyang West Garden to form a forbidden army to go out in wartime, called the "West Garden Army". Under the leadership of Zhongchang Shushuo, there were eight lieutenants, namely: Lieutenant Jian Shuo of the Upper Military Academy, Lieutenant Yuan Shao of the Middle Military Academy, Bao Hong, Lieutenant of the Lower Military Academy, Cao Cao, Lieutenant of the Auxiliary Military Academy, Zhang Rong, Lieutenant of the Auxiliary Army, Feng Fang, Lieutenant of the Right Colonel of the Auxiliary Army, Chun Yu Qiong, Lieutenant of the Left Military Academy, and Xia Mu, a lieutenant of the Right Military Academy, who is known in history as the "Eighth Lieutenant of The West Garden". Therefore, the West Garden Army is also the beginning of China's conscription system. The creation of the West Garden Army was the first time that foreign relatives and eunuchs were in charge of the Beijing division. The eunuch was in charge of the military power, in fact, the Han Ling Emperor was in charge of the military power. After all, eunuchs survived by clinging to imperial power. Jian Shuo was originally a middle-ranking attendant, whose duties were nothing more than slaves for court chores, but because of his strong and martial skills, he was trusted by the Han Ling Emperor, entrusted with the military power of the Xiyuan Army, and became a lieutenant in the military academy. For a moment, Jian Shuo's identity took a gorgeous turn in an instant, from a slave serving the imperial family to a defender who consolidated the imperial power. At the same time, Jian Shuo's duties also changed from taking care of the daily life of Emperor Hanling in the imperial palace to serving as a pioneer in the court for military power between Emperor Hanling and the general He Jin.
In order to faithfully implement Emperor Hanling's policy of establishing a reserve, and also to save his own life, Jian Shuo had to propose to Emperor Hanling to kill He Jin and help Liu Xie become the new emperor. The original work of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms records The suggestion of Jian Shuo, that is, at that time, when he was ill, Zhongchang Shu Shuo played: "If you want to establish an association, you must first condemn He Jin, so as to avoid future troubles." Di Ranqi said, Because Xuan entered the palace. The old saying goes: eat the king's lu, bear the king's worries, and be loyal to the king. In order to repay the favor of the Han Ling Emperor's reuse, Jian Shuo thought of what the Han Ling Emperor thought, and was anxious about the Han Ling Emperor's anxieties, and relieved the Han Ling Emperor of his predicament. At this time, the Han Ling Emperor on the hospital bed thought nothing more than favoring Liu Xie and wanting to make Liu Xie the crown prince, and all he was anxious about was that he was terminally ill, and the time was short, and what he was trapped was nothing more than the He family represented by the great general He Jin, there were many henchmen in the dynasty, and the power was strong, after his death, no one could suppress the He family, and Liu Xie, who relied on the Dong family, had no chance to become emperor at all.
It can be seen from this that from the standpoint of emperor Han Ling, this suggestion is not only not a sinister intention and harbors evil intentions, but a manifestation of loyalty to the king and patriotism, and solving problems for the king--Jian Shuo is taking his own life to risk fulfilling the emperor's last wish before his death. This is loyalty. Loyalty to a person is faced with a wide range of objects. As long as they are selfless to heaven and earth, truth, faith, duty, the country and even others, and are consistent and conscientious in fulfilling their duties, they can be called loyal. In the "Explanation of Words and Characters", it is said: "Loyalty, respect, dedication and loyalty." As long as a person is conscientious and conscientious, it is a sign of loyalty. Loyalty can be divided into big loyalty and small loyalty. Although Emperor Han Ling had long considered Liu Wei to be frivolous and lacked prestige, and wanted to establish Liu Xie, he hesitated and allowed his situation to develop naturally.
Now that Emperor Han Ling was seriously ill, he entrusted Liu Xie to Jian Shuo. Emperor Ling of Han was a dimwitted monarch, and during his reign, he practiced party and eunuch politics and cleverly set up a pretext to collect money and wealth, and even sold official titles for his own pleasure. Especially in the late period of his reign, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, which plunged Liangzhou and other places into continuous turmoil. Before dying, he actually wanted to abolish Chang Liyou, and Liu Wei was no longer good, but he had a broad base of scholars. Although Jian Shuo was loyal to the Han Ling Emperor, it was unfavorable to the Eastern Han Dynasty, at best foolishly loyal, but in the end he was killed by his companions. What Jian Shuo did was described as "grasshoppers shaking trees", which is not exaggerated at all.