As we all know, in the history of China, the foreign relatives of the Han Dynasty were very powerful, Huo Guang, Wang Mang, Dou Xian, Liang Ji, Yan Xian... They are all domineering Lords.
However, during the period of Emperor Huan of Han and Emperor Ling of Han, there was such a foreign relative who was not domineering at all--Dou Wu.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > good man Dou Wu</h1>
Speaking of Dou Wu, he was really a good man: although his daughter Dou Miao was crowned empress, he, a powerful old ruler, had almost never played a privilege, but as always, "low-key and low-key, learning and learning again".
His only hobby in life seems to be to engage in learning, as early as when he was young, he was a famous "doctoral supervisor" in the Kansai area, after becoming the head of the country, he still did not change his true color as a scholar, and when there was nothing wrong, he gathered a group of celebrities to talk about the scriptures, and as for the politics of the dynasty, he could not ask without asking.
Dou Wu's style of behavior is really surprising, to know that in the history of the Han Dynasty, which foreign relative was not powerful and domineering? His non-mainstream foreign relative is really rare.
Because of this, in the world at that time, the label on Dou Wu's body was -- a celebrity, not a foreign relative!
However, the so-called "people do not stain red dust, red dust stains themselves", in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the government was in turmoil, it was impossible for him to be alone.
In 167 AD, during the first disaster of the party, the famous scholars Li Bing, Du Mi and others were arrested and interrogated for party affairs. What to do when you see a large number of celebrities being tortured in prison?
There have been many petitions and petitions, but to no avail. Even Tai Wei Chen Fan couldn't speak. At this juncture, a man named Jia Biao jumped out and said, "I don't go west, and I don't understand the catastrophe." ”
And this Jia Biao, that is, a county magistrate with a big sesame green bean, what can he do? Find Dou Wu! He decided that only Dou Wu could solve the problem.
He's got it right! Hearing Jia Biao's statement, Dou Wu could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, and he personally wrote to him for advice: The famous scholars Li Bing and Du Mi are all loyal subjects, and they cannot be wronged by good people! In order to strengthen his determination, Dou Wu even gambled on the future--he handed over the great seal of his city gate lieutenant. The meaning is obvious: Son-in-law, if you don't agree, I won't do it!
As soon as Dou Wu's letter was handed over, it had an immediate effect, and soon all the imprisoned celebrities were released, and the first "disaster of the party" came to an end!
Because of this incident, Dou Wu was also revered as one of the "Three Lords" by the people of the world, and was on a par with Liu Shu and Chen Fan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="97" > Dou Wu's plot</h1>
In 168, with the sudden collapse of Emperor Huan of Han and the succession of Emperor Ling of Han, the Dou family rose to the next level because of his meritorious service: Dou Wu was made a great general, the Marquis of Wenxi, and the Marquis of LuShang; Dou Wu's son Dou Ji , the Marquis of Weiyang , ShiZhong ; his nephew Dou Shao was the Marquis of Yan , a lieutenant of the Qian Infantry School , in charge of one of the five armies of the Northern Camp; Dou Shao 's brother Dou Jing was made marquis of Xixiang , Shi Zhong , and jian Yulin left riding. The Dou family can be described as a collective promotion and full of glory.
At the same time, however, the situation between the scholar group and the eunuchs became more and more intense, especially the elderly Taifu Chen Fan, who especially wanted to personally remove these incomplete parts of the demon in his lifetime. Seeing that his old friend Dou Wu was an extremely popular subject, he felt that the opportunity had come.
After a court meeting, Chen Fan said to Dou Wu: You said that these eunuchs, when Emperor Xiandi was alive, they used their favor and power to make our Han Central Committee a miasma. Now that Emperor Xian is gone, we should take the opportunity to kill the eunuchs such as Cao Jie and Wang Fu.
When the good old man Dou Wu heard this, it seemed that this was the case, and he agreed to kill the eunuch.
It is reasonable to say that Dou Wu was a great general and himself a leader of the national military, and his daughter Dou Miao was the empress dowager, and if the father and daughter worked together, they wanted to kill a few eunuchs, which was not too easy: directly lead a few samurai, just do it.
However, Dou Wu was an old and good man, and he felt that this was not in accordance with the rules, and he had to come according to the rules and regulations. At best, this is called doing things according to the law, and to put it bluntly, this is called dead brains!
How did Dou Wu do it? He began to "play the next big game": first he recruited his close associate Yin Xun as Shang Shu Ling, Liu Yu as a servant, and Feng Shu as a lieutenant of the Tun Cavalry; he also recruited the deposed celebrities Li Yi, Liu Meng, Tai Shu Dumi, Zhu Yu, and so on, and gathered the imperial court, invited Yue Wei Taishou Xun Yi to engage in Zhonglang, and recruited Chen Yu as a subordinate.
Dou Wu's operation, the world's corporal people saw it, it was all excited! But at the same time, the eunuchs hiding in the harem could also see clearly: Dou Wu, your actions are frequent, do you want to play dead to us? We can say that this was the first mistake Dou Wu made.
It has been laid out on this one, should Dou Wu do it? No, he's still waiting for a suitable opportunity.
In May of that year, the opportunity came: a natural vision , a solar eclipse. In ancient times, when natural science was extremely underdeveloped, as long as there was a vision born, it was a demon, and as for who this demon was, it depended on who had the right to speak!
Dou Wu used the eclipse vision as an excuse to ask Empress Dou to remove the eunuchs. However, Empress Dowager Dou hesitated instead.
Why? Because Dou Wu made another mistake: his request was too big to strike, and almost all eunuchs were killed, including not only guan ba, Su Kang, Cao Jie, Wang Fu and other great eunuchs, but also Wei Biao and other small eunuchs. This Dou Wu didn't want to think: Daughter Dou Miaopingsu was in contact with these big and small eunuchs, and after getting along for a long time, even a dog would have feelings, let alone these people who bowed down and got along day and night?
Therefore, to his father's request, Dou Miao hesitated. And this hesitation is fatal!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="98" > the eunuch's counterattack</h1>
Dou Miao's hesitation was three months, and when he saw that in August, the scholar Liu Yu could no longer hold back, and he wrote a letter to persuade Dou Wu and Chen Fan to act immediately in case of an unexpected change.
Seeing Liu Yu's letter, the good old man Dou Wu could not afford to spend it, he finally had to do it, but before he started, he still had to talk about the rules: he wrote a sincere letter to his daughter Dou Miao, as long as Empress Dou signed the word of consent in this chapter, he could sweep all the eunuchs away.
After Dou Wu handed in the recital, he felt that he had won the victory. But unbeknownst to him, he made a third mistake at this moment, a fatal mistake: it was late that day, and he did not deliver the song directly to his daughter Dou Miao, but handed it over to Dou Miao's internal attendant, the eunuch. This Dou Wu was also really big-hearted: How could you trust the eunuch with such a deadly song to the eunuch with such a big action?
Dou Wu felt a little tired, so he turned around and went back to rest. But the eunuch who received the letter felt that there was a problem: What is the big deal, the great general wants to write a book overnight? This deadly eunuch was called Zhu Yu, he was just a small eunuch, with doubts, he peeked at this recital, and after reading it, he was shocked: Cao Jie, Wang Fu, these great eunuchs are wrongdoing, you kill them, how can you even kill us little eunuchs?
At the moment of life and death, this Zhu Yu was also a fierce character, and he quickly summoned Cao Jie, Wang Fu, Shi Gongpu, Zhang Liang and others to plan together. Upon hearing this, the Grand Eunuch Cao Jie quickly closed the palace, took Empress Dou and Emperor Hanling hostage, and took the jade seal.
With the Emperor, the Empress, and Yuxi, these eunuchs issued one fatal order after another: Dou Wu rebelled and killed Dou Wu!
At this time, Dou Wu also heard the wind in the palace, and at this moment, he could no longer care about any rules and systems, as the leader of the imperial military, he quickly rushed to the military camp, tried to gather the army, and the Jedi counterattacked.
Hearing Dou Wu's reaction, the fierce eunuch Wang Fu also used a killer skill: Jiao Zhao ordered the Xiongnu general Zhang Yi to mobilize a large army to attack Dou Wu.
Although this Dou Wu was a military leader, he had only been in charge of the army for less than a year, and what was even more fatal was that at this time, he did not have a soldier in his hand, and he could not move the garrison army at all, and only a thousand or so people finally responded to his call. Faced with the siege of Zhang Wan's army, Dou Wu's subordinates were unable to resist at all, and soon, Dou Wu was defeated.
Dou Wu, who was defeated, sighed and drew his sword to kill himself. And his head was also cut off, hanging in the wind, which seemed to indicate the decline of the late Eastern Han Dynasty scholars, and also declared the powerful power of the eunuchs to fight back!
The good man Dou Wu was in a different place, and the dawn of the last revival of the Eastern Han Dynasty was extinguished.
Here it is necessary to say that Zhang Zhang, he is one of the famous Liangzhou Sanming, and the later chaotic demon king Dong Zhuo is only one of his younger brothers. He originally belonged to the faction of scholars, but on that panicked night, Zhang Yi had just returned to Beijing, he was not familiar with the situation of the Beijing Division, and when he saw the emperor's edict, he hurried out to exercise the duties of a soldier, but he did not know that he was aiding and abetting abuse. Later, when he learned the truth, he was ashamed and refused to accept the eunuchs' rewards, and even went to The Eunuchs to seek justice for Dou Wu and others. Later, Zhang Yi simply resigned from the government and went home to teach and educate people.
After Dou Wu's death, the eunuchs began a frenzied revenge, and the men, women, and children of the Dou family were almost killed, and only one grandson, Dou Fu, with the help of Hu Teng and Zhang Chang, was able to escape and become one of the few survivors of the Dou family.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="99" > postscript</h1>
Looking at the process of Dou Wu's failure to cut off the eunuchs, friends who are familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms must look very familiar: this is exactly the same as the scene of He Jin's later killing of the Ten Constant Attendants! The two were equally indecisive, the same plotting was too much, and the same was killed by the eunuchs.
Screenshot of He Jin in the film and television drama
Yes, history is so strikingly similar! Originally, it was not difficult to cut off the eunuchs who had no military power, but the difficulty was that Dou Wu and He Jin were not fierce people who killed decisively, they paid too much attention to procedures and order, and the result was that they were constantly subject to chaos.
Dou Wu is a good man who has taken the wrong script, and perhaps he should not have appeared in the treacherous political arena of the late Han Dynasty.
Finally, for Dou Wu, we still have to look at him with respect: although he failed, he had worked hard for the light after all.
Author: Our special guest author Qian Qiuyuan
References: Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Zizhi Tongjian