Before reading this article, I sincerely invite you to click the "Follow" button, so that you can continue to push such articles in the future, and it is also convenient for you to discuss and share, your support is the driving force for us to insist on creating~
Text: Liu Weixi
Edit|t
introduction
Zhuge Liang once used to "pro-virtuous ministers, far villains, this first Han is so prosperous; This sentence admonishes the young master Liu Chan, hoping that he will stick to the bottom line in selecting and employing people and do a good job in political balance.
(The "villain" in "The Teacher's Table" is most likely to refer specifically to eunuchs)
At first glance, it seems to be just a sentence that many ministers will say to the emperor when they write to him, after all, everyone knows the truth of using more virtuous ministers and less villains, right?
However, combined with the background of the times at that time, many experts believe that the "villain" here refers specifically to eunuchs who have no masculinity, that is, eunuchs.
Behind this is a historical event of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
(Han Dynasty)
1. Tragic life experience
Emperor Liu Zhao of the Han Dynasty, recognized as a good emperor, during his reign, he was diligent and loved the people, expanded the frontier, and attacked the Xiongnu.
If it is said that his own family members have water, then Huang Xiang, one of the 24 filial sons, also praised him as "the mandate of heaven with six dragons and roots, and the king who pacified the barbarians"; Sima Biao commented in the "Book of the Continuation of the Han Dynasty" that he "was able to sweep away his relatives and regain power at the age of 14, and he had the legacy of Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty"; Su Zhe compared him with Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
But do you know that the early experience of such an excellent emperor was very miserable.
(Han He Emperor film and television image)
Liu Zhao was originally denied the throne, he was the son of Liang Guiren, neither born to the empress, nor even the eldest son of his father, Emperor Liu Wei of the Han Dynasty, who was relatively rare (only eight sons) of other emperors.
But none of these eight sons were born to the queen, in ancient times, it was a society where mothers were precious to their sons, not that the queen could not set up a prince without a son, in ancient times, the eldest son of the concubine was the prince, and even the daughter of the palace was the prince, but in general, in this case, the queen was going to be a demon.
Because if the crown prince is not his son, how will his status and interests continue after he becomes emperor in the future? Is he willing to let his own mother be the queen mother, or is he willing to let an empress who is not related by blood be the queen mother?
(Queen Dou)
So Empress Dou naturally began to be a demon, but in order to hide people's eyes, she first found a reasonable reason - blowing the pillow wind to the emperor, saying that she had no children under her knees and wanted a child to raise for herself.
She has a crush on Liu Zhao, and she is not the eldest son, which is very reasonable, right?
But as long as she gets older than Liu Zhao down, isn't Liu Zhao the eldest son?
After Empress Dou took Liu Zhao under her own name, she framed the crown prince Liu Qing and Song Guiren's mother and son on the charge of witchcraft. The Han family doesn't have a long lesson, the ancestor Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty has been harmed once by the scourge of witchcraft, killing countless of his own children and grandchildren, Liu Wei still doesn't have a long memory, and Queen Dou believes whatever she says.
After such an operation, Liu Zhao was successfully made the crown prince, and later ascended to the throne and became the puppet of Queen Dou, who also came to power in the name of the queen mother, and the power leaned towards the government and the opposition.
(Queen Dou)
It stands to reason that Empress Dowager Dou can have today's status, and Liu Zhao's mother Liang Guiren should be her great benefactor and a solid member of her interest group.
However, the Empress Dowager Dou did not trust her, and prepared to cook rabbits and dead dogs, unload mills and kill donkeys.
In this way, Empress Dowager Dou fabricated trumped-up charges and sent Liang Guiren's relatives to prison, and Liang Guiren's father Liang Zhu was tortured to death in prison.
Liang Guiren couldn't stand the stimulation, and he was angry and bloody, and soon fell ill.
(Prison Sentence)
Liu Zhao was young, saying that he was on the throne, but he lost his father because of it, and soon lost his grandfather, and his mother also died, like an orphan, and the Empress Dowager Dou only treated him as a puppet and did not give him any love.
It is said that the emperor is good, but at this time, he can finally understand why Liu Ziluan said, "I wish to live and never give birth to the emperor's family again".
Second, the commander of the light pole
Although Empress Dowager Dou has thought of various ways to block the truth of the year, there is no impermeable wall in the world.
(Empress Dowager Dou)
Maybe the Empress Dowager Dou cares about Liu Zhao a little more, and he doesn't doubt his life experience, but the Empress Dowager Dou just treats him as a puppet and doesn't pretend to be a fool, so that even the young emperor can notice the abnormality.
At this time, Liu Zhao was only ten years old.
Ten years old is just the age of being lively and active, Liu Zhao is different from his peers, but he can calm down and disguise himself.
He was observing his opponent like a hunter watching his prey, observing the environment in the middle of the court.
But the people he can find out the details are really limited, and there are only three kinds of people closest to the emperor, one is the eunuch, the second is the guard, and the third is the harem.
(Eunuch)
The guards were known to be Empress Dowager Dou's people, and the harem was too early for his age, leaving only the eunuchs who served by his side every day.
After two years of investigation, Liu Zhao finally decided on a candidate.
3. Accumulation and development
This person is Zheng Zhong, who can be regarded as an old minister in the palace, he once served Liu Zhao's father, belonged to the support of the first emperor, and began to serve the first emperor when he was a child, until the first emperor ascended the throne, sent away the first emperor and served the first emperor's son.
In the middle of the night, when no one was around, Zheng Zhong often cried with Liu Zhao about the decline of the Han family and the interference of his relatives in politics.
(Eunuch)
However, although Zheng Zhong is loyal and executed, he has no ability to plan the overall situation, so he often cries and complains with Liu Zhao, and he never thought that he would be able to turn the tables.
Liu Zhao first gave him a few simple tasks to test his ability, one was to let him contact the ministers in the palace who were still loyal to the Han family, but to find some historical materials for himself to study and Xi.
Zheng Zhong did a very good job, he first found Situ Yuan An and Sikong Ren Kui, and played a huge role in the back, and when he was looking for a book, he contacted Liu Qing, that is, the former deposed prince, and asked for a copy of "The Biography of Foreign Relatives".
(Eunuch)
When Zheng Zhong found Liu Qing at the beginning, he scared the little emperor miserably, because after all, he was the eldest brother who failed to become the emperor because of himself, and he didn't know if he was resentful.
But after meeting, he immediately dispelled his doubts, the two hit it off at first sight, and talked happily, Liu Qing also said that there is a debtor and a debtor, and he has long recognized that Queen Dou is the culprit of all these unjust cases, and said that it doesn't matter if he is the emperor or not, as long as he can take revenge!
From then on, Liu Zhao relied on his brother Liu Qing and his confidant eunuch Zheng Zhong to have eyes and hands to peep outside the palace walls, and was able to win over his own power.
(Ancient private soldiers, dead soldiers)
Raising dead soldiers during the day, reading by candle at night, Liu Zhao unknowingly came to the age of fourteen.
His role in building his own intelligence network in the early days was reflected, and he received news that the Empress Dowager Dou was ready to kill him and set up another emperor.
Liu Zhao decided to strike first, and ordered General Dou to return to the palace, and after the Dou clan gathered in the palace, he changed all tactics, and he slipped away on the grounds of going to Baihutang to give lectures, and then ordered General Bei to close the door and beat the dogs, and cleaned all the Dou clansmen in the palace.
(Emperor Han He)
Fourth, lay the root of the bane
Since ancient times, it has been easy to fight the country and it is difficult to defend the country, and an important reason is that the heroes have to sit in a row to divide the fruits, resulting in the dispersion of imperial power and causing huge pressure on the financial support system, which cannot continue to operate after several generations.
And Zheng Zhong, as the key executor to complete the entire power seizure plan, has undoubtedly made great contributions, and the ancient emperors generally did not pay attention to ability, but also to loyalty, Zheng Zhong worked diligently to dress their father and son for two generations, and there was no rebellion when the Dou clan was the strongest, which can be said to be loyal.
(Eunuch)
So what kind of reward did Liu Zhao give him? He was named the Hook and Shield Order, which was equivalent to the royal gardener, and after the successful seizure of power, he promoted him to the Changqiu Palace.
Changqiu Palace is the residence of the ancient queen, Da Changqiu is to manage all the things in the queen's residence, an official who conveys the queen's will, the queen is equivalent to the lord of the harem, so the great Changqiu is equivalent to being in charge of all the affairs of the harem, and is the supreme leader of the harem.
Later, he even gave him an unprecedented eunuch marquis, named him a marquis of Yanxiang, managed 1,500 households, and even let him participate in the discussion of political affairs.
Fan Ye believes in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty that the eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty began with him, and then fell into a death cycle in which eunuchs used their relatives when they were strong, eunuchs used eunuchs when they were strong, and eunuchs and relatives took turns to interfere in politics.
Resources:
WANG Jian. "The Examination of the Eradication of the Dou Xian Group by Emperor Han He." Studies in Chinese History 3 (2013): 19.
Qin Feng.The politics of the two Han Dynasty[J].Leisure Reading, 2015(3):11.