Eunuchs, foreign relatives, and scholars' doctors held each other back
Eunuchs, foreign relatives, and scholars, the three largest forces influencing the feudal dynasty, fought openly and secretly, fought each other, and kept involving, resulting in serious internal friction in the country. Even if "infighting means the death of the country", it is also necessary to "destroy the country and also fight among itself."
The "calamity of the party" in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the most typical. In order to consolidate and strengthen the imperial autocracy, Emperor Guangwu made changes in the central political system: first, there was no prime minister, weakening the power of the "three dukes" (taiwei, situ, and sikong), "the posts of the three dukes are only reserved", and "although the three dukes are placed, the affairs return to the Taiwan cabinet" ("Later Hanshu Zhongchang Tongbian "). The power of the imperial lieutenant, Situ, and Sikong was transferred to Shang Shutai; Secondly, the functions and powers of "Shangshu" were raised, and the former Shangshufu was elevated to "Shangshutai", and Shangshutai officials directly obeyed the emperor and had great power; Third, Shangshutai officials were held by officials of low rank, which was convenient for the emperor to control and would not pose a threat to the emperor because of the high rank. Under the management mechanism of Shang Shutai with "small officials and great power", there were no "three dukes", no prime ministers, only low-ranking officials who directly obeyed the emperor's orders to assist the emperor in handling political affairs, which further strengthened the imperial autocracy.
There were advantages and disadvantages to everything, and by the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the internal officials of Shangshutai were entirely served by eunuchs, and because eunuchs had the advantage of being close to the emperor and the convenience of reporting directly to the emperor, they took the opportunity to seize power and arbitrarily make arbitrary decisions. At first, the eunuchs only relied on the emperor, the fox fake tiger power, the emperor's power, and oppressed the courtiers; Later, the eunuchs who served in Shangshutai added titles such as "Pingshang Shushi" and "Record Shangshushi", completely controlled Shangshutai, and controlled the power of the quasi-"Prime Minister's House"; In the end, the eunuchs were able to hold military power and confer fiefs, and even the emperor was erected, and the eunuchs became the largest force in the dynasty.
Most of the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne at a young age, the emperor was young, and the young empress dowager came to the dynasty, but most of them lacked political experience, so they had to rely on the power of foreign qi to assist the imperial government, which created a situation of foreign qi dictatorship, and foreign qi became another important force in the dynasty during the Eastern Han Dynasty. This has formed a situation in which foreign relatives and eunuchs compete for power and interests, and most foreign relatives are arrogant and arbitrary, ignoring the young master; The young lord was a little longer, and he made eunuchs and regained power, which became the practice of foreign eunuchs and eunuchs to lose each other.
When the Eastern Han Dynasty was founded, the Tai Xue was established, and apprentices were widely recruited to read scriptures, and a large number of literate aristocrats and landlord class Confucians were cultivated, who entered the bureaucratic system with the ideal of "self-cultivation, unity of family, governance of the country, and peace in the world", forming a class of scholars. The Shi clan group is very large and has amazing energy, the local bureaucracy is basically monopolized by them, and the central government also has their people everywhere, the key is that they still have mainstream consciousness and public opinion guidance. However, after the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign relatives and eunuchs took turns to dictate power, especially eunuchs controlled the imperial government, appointed officials as nepotism, bought and sold officials, and eunuchs "children and relatives, and honored appointments", basically blocking the road of Confucianism to seek officials, and people with moral conduct and talent could not squeeze into the officialdom. The contradictions between the middle and lower-class bureaucratic families, especially the Confucian families, and the eunuch clique were greatly intensified, and the scholars and doctors used their reputation and influence to criticize the imperial government and attack the eunuchs, forming a strong "Qingyi" force. Many readers are quite utilitarian, they read to enter the office, to take power, to make profits, they just regard reading as a tool and way to maximize their own interests, when they can't ask for it, they will mess up, the more capable people go astray, the destructive power is also very terrifying.
When Emperor Huan of Han was emperor, the imperial lieutenant Chen Fan scolded the eunuchs for the rebellion on the ground: "Now the thief is outside, and the disease of the four branches; Internal affairs are ignored, and henchmen are in trouble. Ministers cannot sleep, they cannot eat enough, they are worried about their relatives, their loyalty is increasingly weak, internal troubles are accumulating, and external difficulties are deep. His Majesty is superordinate to the princes, inherits the throne, the small livestock produces millions of assets, and the descendants are ashamed to lose their ancestral inheritance, but they are both the property and the world, and they are the first emperors, and they want to slack off to neglect themselves! Sincerely do not love yourself, do not think of the hard work and evil obtained by the emperor first! The five marquis of the former Liang clan, poisoned all over the sea, the divine will of the heavenly revelation, collected and killed. The discussion of the world, hoping to be Xiaoping; Mingjian is not far away, the car is overturned like yesterday, and the right of near Xi is a compound fan. Xiaohuangmen Zhao Jin, Da Cunning Zhang Pan, etc., wantonly engaged in corruption and treachery. The former Taiyuan Taishou Liu and Nanyang Taishou Cheng were entangled and killed, although they said that they should not be killed after pardoning, they were sincere, and they cared about going to evil, as for Your Majesty, what is the shame! And the little man chief, who bewitched the holy spirit, made Tianwei angry about it, and he would punish him, which was too much, and the punishment was heavy, and the punishment was heavy! In addition, Former Shanyang Taishou Zhai Chao and Donghai Xiang Huangfu, who served the public without being a man, was as evil as a hatred, Chao did not look at his belongings, and punished Xu Xuan's crime, and was punished without pardon. Seeing the horizon, no wealth has been lucky; The offender has been provoked, and there is a remnant of death. The former prime minister Shentu Jia summoned Deng Tong, and Luoyang ordered Dong Xuan to humiliate the princess, and Emperor Wen asked him, and Guangwu rewarded him, but did not hear that the second minister had a dictatorial order. And now the left and right groups are erected, viciously hurting the party class, and vainly intersecting with each other, so that this punishment, hearing the words of the ministers, should be repeated. His Majesty should cut off the source of recent practice and politics, introduce the people of the Shangshu Dynasty, be concise and clean, and repel the evil spirits. If the heavens are in harmony with the above, and the earth is in harmony with the bottom, how far away is it (now, the thieves outside are nothing more than the problems of the limbs of the human body; And the failure to govern internal affairs is the scourge of henchmen. I couldn't sleep peacefully, I couldn't eat enough, and what I was really worried about was that His Majesty was getting closer to the left and right, becoming more and more favored, but his advice became rarer, and his internal troubles became more and more serious day by day, and his external worries deepened day by day. His Majesty ascended from the Liehou Chao and succeeded to the throne. Even if it is a small people's house, it is easy to accumulate a family property of millions of dollars, and those who are descendants are deeply ashamed of the wealth and bad ancestors' inheritance, not to mention the inheritance of His Majesty's ancestors, and the whole world. Bear the heavy trust of the emperor, but plan to slack off and lazy, and look down on and ignore it yourself? Even if His Majesty really doesn't cherish himself, shouldn't he care about the hard work of the emperor Xiandi? Once upon a time, the five marquis of the Liang family poisoned all over the country, and the heavens inspired His Majesty to make a decision and hunt them down and kill them. The will of the people of the world hopes to live a peaceful life. The past is not far away, and the car is overturned as yesterday, but His Majesty's left and right cronies collude with each other again. Xiaohuangmen Zhao Jin, big profiteer Zhang Pan and others were wantonly corrupt and tyrannical, flattering His Majesty, and were respectively reported and killed by former Taiyuan County Taishou Liu and Nanyang County Taishoucheng. Although it is said that they should not be killed after the pardon is issued, they should be forgiven for their intentions, only to remove the evil spirit; For His Majesty, how could there be anger over this? However, there are many methods of evil villains, and if they confuse His Majesty's eyes, they will make Tianwei angry and must be punished. This is already excessive, not to mention that it is necessary to deal with them severely and kill them. In addition, Zhai Chao, the former Taishou of Shanyang County, and Huang Fu, the prime minister of the East China Sea, enforce the law impartially, do not submit to the powerful, hate evil, and are like enemies. Zhai Chao confiscated Hou Yan's property, and Huang Fu killed Xu Xuan according to law, both of which were punished for crimes and could not be pardoned or pardoned. Hou Yan was rampant, and it was fortunate that his property was confiscated. The sins committed by Xu Xuan are more than dead. In the past, Prime Minister Shen Tu Jia summoned Deng Tong to rebuke him in person, and Luoyang County ordered Dong Xuan to humiliate the princess. However, Emperor Wen came forward to request lenient treatment, and Emperor Guangwu rewarded him heavily, and did not hear that the two were accused of arbitrariness and put them to death. Now, His Majesty left and right a group of eunuchs and courtiers, because they resented that their henchmen had been harmed, tried in many ways to falsely accuse them, so that they were subjected to such punishments. When they hear these words of mine, they will cry and plead to His Majesty again. I hope that His Majesty will cut off and block the origin of eunuchs' participation in imperial politics, appoint Shang Shutai and imperial ministers, carefully select clean and honest people, and repel and depose traitors. If so, then the weather is peaceful, the underground harmony, the signs of auspiciousness and auspiciousness, will it take a long time to appear)! (Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 55, Han Dynasty 47) However, because the scholar class neglected the control of power in the dynasty, ignored the alliance with foreign qi who had deep contradictions with the eunuchs, and even more neglected the control of military power, during the period of Emperor Huan of Han and Emperor Ling of Han, the scholar class was completely defeated in the struggle against the eunuch clique, and had no choice but to experience two disasters of the party.
The fundamental reason is that the vested interests and core interests of one party have been violated by the other party, and the original relationship between well water and river water has immediately become a relationship between you and me. The calamity of the party seriously damaged the foundation of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the honest officials in the imperial court were basically killed, and the eunuchs did whatever they wanted, preying on the people, and finally angered the people and caused the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Sima Guang, as a politician of the rank of scholars, could not help but sigh: "There is a way under the world, and a gentleman is promoted to the royal court, and he dares not disobey the crime of a villain; There is no way under the world, and the gentleman does not say anything, in order to avoid the scourge of villains, and it is inevitable. The party lives in a world of stupor, not in its position, and the four seas are rampant, but want to save it with words, Zang denies the characters, stirs up the turbidity and Yangqing, provokes the head of the snake, tramples the genus of the tiger and the wolf, and even suffers from adultery, harms friends, annihilates the soldiers, and the country dies with it, and it is not also sad! (Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 56, Han Dynasty 48) Sadness is sadness, but it does not see through the essence of the calamity of the party.
Is the Shi clan group necessarily more loyal and patriotic than the eunuch group? Must it be noble and pure than the eunuch group? Not necessarily! Throughout the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the people who loyally guarded the imperial power were precisely eunuchs. And the Shi clan group is more self-interested in the wall, how can you be loyal and patriotic, why don't you oppose foreign relatives? You hate eunuchs, why do you have to cooperate with eunuchs a lot of the time, isn't that complicity? You are noble and pure, how can you form a party for personal gain and do whatever it takes to defend your own interests? Behind it is actually profit.