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One day in October of the second year of Jianning (169), a very unusual letter from Zhu He, a native of Gaoping, Shanyang, was delivered to Emperor Ling at the fastest speed. As a result, a more fierce prelude to the "party disaster" was played.
1, director Hou Lan's "Friends Incident"
Unveiled the chapter, what jumped into the eyes of the Spirit Emperor was actually like this:
(Zhang) Jian and 24 fellow villagers signed each other's numbers, and they were all part of the ministry, trying to endanger the society. With Jian and Tan Bin, Chu Feng, Zhang Su, Xue Yan, Feng Xi, Wei Xuan, and Xu Qian as the "Eight Jun", Tian Lin, Zhang Yin, Liu Biao, Xue Yu, Wang Wan, Liu Yi, Xuanjing, and Gongxu Gong as the "Eight Gu", Zhu Kai, Tian Pan, Xuan Tan, Xue Dun, Song Bu, Tang Long, Ying Zhi, and Xuan Bao as the "Eight And".
Reading the chapter, the 13-year-old Emperor Ling shuddered. Immediately afterwards, he was deeply furious by the incident of this well-known and "conclusive" friend plotting against Sheji, and immediately ordered the arrest of Zhang Jian and others.
What is the so-called "partisan incident" all about? To understand the ins and outs of this matter, we have to go back to some things in the period of Emperor Huan.
It was the ninth year of Yanxi (166), and in Fangdong County, Shanyang County, there was an incident in which the home of Hou Lan, a servant of Zhongchang, was raided and his property was confiscated.
In the eighth year of Yanxi (165), the Qing school bureaucrat Shanyang Taishou Zhai Chao appointed Shanyang Gaoping Zhang Jian as the post supervisor in the eastern part of the county, and the home of Hou Lan, the middle attendant, happened to be within his jurisdiction. Hou Lan's family relied on Hou Lan's power to dominate the party, brutalized the people, and violated the law.
Hou Lanjia built 16 residences under the auspices of the family, all of which were carved beams and painted buildings, high-rise ponds, and pavilions were connected, and they were as magnificent as the imperial palace. Hou Lan also prebuilt a large-scale longevity mound for himself, and thus destroyed people's houses, dug people's graves, and plundered 381 people's houses and 180 hectares of land.
Hou Lan's mother also transported guests and disturbed the county. Zhang Jian reported the crimes of Hou Lan and his family to Emperor Huan, and asked for severe punishment of Hou Lan and his mother, but they played several times in a row, but they all sank into the sea like mud cows, and there was no news. It turned out that this seal was intercepted by Hou Lan.
A few months passed, and the vicious Zhang Jian had lost the patience to continue waiting, and in a fit of rage, he sent someone to destroy the Hou family's tomb and confiscate his family's property. Because of the joint counterattack of the eunuchs, Shanyang Taishou Zhai Chao was sentenced for this.
However, this kind of treatment is far from relieving the hatred in Hou Lan's heart. Hou Lan was eager to break the corpses of Zhai Chao and Zhang Jian, who broke their homes and graves, but because in the first year, the case of "corruption and perversion of the law" of Hou Shen, the younger brother of Yizhou Assassin Shi, caused an uproar in the government and the opposition, and he was also implicated and dismissed, so he could not vent his anger and revenge on Zhai Chao, Zhang Jian and others as they wanted.
Hou Lan had no choice but to hold a grudge for the time being, seeking an opportunity to take revenge.
Finally, in the second year of Jianning (169), the time finally came. With a hatred of wanting to put Zhang Jian and others to death, he found Zhu He. Zhu He is a fellow villager of Zhang Jian, this person is plain and flamboyant, and likes to engage in crooked ways. Zhang Jian hated Zhu He in his heart, and never ignored him. Zhu He was very resentful of Zhang Jian because of this.
So, Zhu He happily adhered to Hou Lan's will and made the above letter.
However, Hou Lan's choice to take revenge on Zhang Jian and others in the second year of Jianning (169) was no longer to avenge him personally, but to take the first step in the bloody suppression of the "party members" by the entire eunuch group.
2. The "party people" responded en masse
After the killing of Chen Fan and Dou Wu, the government and the opposition did not have the situation that the eunuchs hoped for. Although the eunuchs had won a resounding victory in the palace coup, the joy of their retribution seemed to have not yet fully passed, and new uneasiness and anxiety haunted them.
After the "party disaster" in the last years of Emperor Huan, the prestige of the Qing school in the sea rose instead, and the suppression of the "party people" by the imperial court did not have the desired deterrent effect. The arrest and amnesty of several hundred Qingliu people by the imperial court has to a certain extent boosted the fighting spirit of the "party members" and made them feel that justice has finally triumphed over evil.
On his way back to the south after being released by the imperial court, thousands of scholars and doctors gathered in the vicinity of Runan and Nanyang to welcome him like a triumphant hero. This is undoubtedly a clear expression of the "sense of victory" of the Qingliu people.
Although the imperial court imprisoned the pardoned "party members" and banned them from serving as officials for life, many of the Qing celebrities who were released had not yet arrived at home, and some public governments, prefectures, and counties were rushing to make friends with them and appoint them as officials.
This difference between the political stance and the value system of moral judgment between the local states and counties and the central dynasty undoubtedly more directly aroused the enthusiasm of the Qing school people.
After the "party disaster", the world's corporal doctors admired the demeanor of Li Ying and other "party people" even more, and even followed and flaunted them, and various names of "party people" appeared:
Dou Wu, Chen Fan, and Liu Shu are known as the "Three Gentlemen", and Jun is the common worship of the contemporaries; Li Ying, Wang Chang and others are "eight jun", and "jun" is the hero among the people; Yin Xun, Fan Fan, etc. are "eight gu", Gu refers to being able to guide people with virtue; Zhang Jian, Liu Biao, etc. are "eight and", and it means that people can be admired; Du Shang, Zhang Miao and others are the "eight kitchens", and "kitchen" refers to being able to save people with property. The emergence of this series of names shows that the activities of the Qing school are further rising.
By the time Emperor Ling ascended the throne and Chen Fan and Dou Wu assisted the government, they used a large number of people from the Qing School, which not only greatly enhanced the power of the Qing School, but also brought unprecedented hope to the Haineshi people.
The sudden change in the situation in the court in the first year of Jianning (168) undoubtedly dealt a blow to the hopeful people at home, and the anger caused by disappointment suddenly erupted from their chests like a volcano. Many people at home and abroad loudly complained about Chen Fan and Dou Wuming, and many people were silent and secretly resentful.
All this made the eunuchs feel deeply angry! They had to find a way to calm the anger. As a result, one after another edicts requisitioning celebrities were passed to Jiang Qiu, Wei Zhu and others. They thought that as long as they made a gesture of "courtesy", they could slightly dilute the resentment of the scholars.
There is no peace outside the court, and there is no peace within the court. Due to the murder of Chen Fan and Dou Wu, the upright bureaucrats in the court were depressed and dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. However, in the midst of the frustration, there were finally bursts of protest cries.
The first is Zhang Huan, who wrote against the eunuchs with the anger of being fooled and deceived.
Zhang Huan, whose name is Ranming, is a native of Yuanquan, Dunhuang, and is a famous general who galloped across the field in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In the more than ten years from the first year of Emperor Huan's Yongshou (155) to the first year of Yongkang (167), he successively defeated the Southern Xiongnu, Xianbei, Wuhuan and other invasions, and pacified the Qiang people's many rebellions.
Originally, he could be promoted and rewarded for his merits, but just because he did not stammer and flatter the eunuchs, he was often ostracized by the eunuch group.
In September of the first year of Jianning (168), Cao Jie, Wang Fu and others launched a palace coup, when Zhang Huan Zhen's brigade returned to the court, he arrived in Beijing for the first time, and did not understand the truth of the coup d'état.
Because Zhang Huan played a role in aiding and abusive in the coup, he was promoted to Shaofu, and soon worshiped Dasi Nong, and was crowned a marquis with merit. When Zhang Huan understood the truth of the matter, his heart was swallowed up by extreme guilt and hatred. Trying to make up for his mistakes, he decisively refused the knighthood offered by the imperial court, and tried to find an opportunity to make amends.
In April of the second year of Jianning (169 years), there were all kinds of catastrophes, and Emperor Ling ordered hundreds of officials to write a letter to state the gains and losses of the government, and Zhang Huan took the opportunity to write a book, openly complaining about Chen Fan, Dou Wu and others, which made the eunuchs hate and fear, but what was more terrifying was the attitude of Emperor Ling.
I don't know if it's the passage of time, or the Spirit Emperor taking into account the Dou family's kindness, the 14-year-old little emperor gradually felt something, and Zhang Huan's letter moved him deeply. Therefore, Emperor Ling wanted to accept Zhang Huan's suggestion and tell the Zhuhuangmen attendants about this intention. Because the attendants unanimously slandered Zhang Huan and his suggestions, the little emperor did not have any indication of adopting the suggestions.
A Zhang Huan has made the eunuchs very terrible, and then, Langzhong Xie Bi also took the opportunity of the previous book to state the gains and losses of the government, and more fiercely shouted for Chen Fan and others, strongly demanding the immediate removal of the close ministers who plotted rebellion, criticized the improper selection of the three dukes, and suggested that Li Ying and Wang Chang should be used to preside over the government.
A month later, Zhang Huan and Shangshu Liu Meng, Diao Wei, and Wei Liang jointly wrote to Emperor Ling, asking for advice to Ren Xian, rectification of the rule of officials, and recommended Wang Chang and Li Ying as candidates for the three dukes.
Seeing that the upright and honest bureaucrats in the DPRK and the central government were in full swing again, the eunuchs were like pins and needles one by one, and they were very panicked. In order to protect their own vested interests, the eunuchs, full of hatred and uneasiness, hoisted bloody butcher's knives against the upright bureaucrats and Qing faction people.
3. The "routine" of hunting and killing "party people"
In the eyes of the eunuchs, a large reason why the last "party disaster" did not deal such a thorough and heavy blow to political opponents was that there was a group of people in the DPRK who were obstructing. So they learned their lesson and thought that the top priority was to pull out the thorn in the side of the court.
They first managed to transfer Langzhong Xie Bi out of the imperial court and let him serve in Guangling. Xie Bi deeply felt the darkness of the powerful ministers, and knew that he had offended the powerful eunuchs who could not afford to offend Chen Fan, Dou Wu and others, so he simply abandoned the official and went home.
But the eunuchs are not willing to give up!
Xie Bi was a native of Wuyang, Dongjun, and Cao Shao, the nephew of Cao Jie, the Zhongchang servant, was the Taishou of Dongjun, so Cao Shao adhered to the will of the eunuch group, and after Xie Bi returned home, he fabricated charges to arrest him, and finally killed him in prison.
For Zhang Huan, a famous general with outstanding achievements, although the eunuchs did not dare to put him to death easily, they also tried their best to try to kill him. Soon after Zhang Huan wrote the book, the eunuchs instigated Emperor Ling to issue an edict to reprimand him, "Huan and others are all imprisoned by the court captain, and they will be taken for a few days, and they will atone for their sins with three months." A few months later, Zhang Huan was "framed for party crimes" by the eunuchs and was exempted from official imprisonment.
After clearing the obstacles in the imperial court, the eunuchs began to slaughter the Qing school and the famous people in the sea with impunity.
In order to achieve the intended purpose of the massacre, the eunuchs carefully planned the steps of mass murder of "party members".
If we compare the first "party disaster" prison with Zhu's accusation against "party members" this time, we can find two important changes.
First, Zhu He's accusation adds conclusive evidence that "party members" have formed a party, that is, the so-called "24 people have signed each other"; Second, the so-called "slander of the imperial court" in Zhu He has been upgraded to "trying to endanger the society".
Both of these changes are highly targeted. In the first "party disaster", Shangshu Huo Zhen and others used the lack of any evidence for the "tree friends forming a party" as the main reason, which facilitated Emperor Huan to pardon the party members; And this time, the eunuchs threw out the "name" phenomenon in the upsurge of Qing Deliberation activities as a killer feature.
The second change is particularly important, that is, the eunuchs have speculated that Emperor Ling has an extremely weak psychology about the throne and imperial power, so they instructed Zhu He to throw out the alarmist "Tuwei Sheji".
Emperor Ling's horror in front of Zhu He's recital confirmed that the eunuchs' speculation about Emperor Ling's psychology was correct.
Therefore, Cao Jie and others lost no time in facing Emperor Ling, who was already very frightened and angry, and accused a large number of Qing bureaucrats such as Li Ying, Du Mi, and Zhai Chao, who were not involved in Zhu He's recital, thus creating an even more terrible atmosphere of "party people" and "trying to endanger the society" in the world, in a vain attempt to overthrow the emperor, prompting the 14-year-old Emperor Ling to urgently order the arrest and killing of "party people" again.
As soon as the edict for the arrest of the "party members" was issued, the eunuchs, party members, and other local officials in various localities took action one after another, and the prisons were soon filled with so-called "party members."
4. The massacre of the "party members".
Seeing that the bloody wind of the massacre had blown again for no reason, Li Ying, with extreme disappointment in the rule of the imperial court and grief and indignation at the unpaid ambition, walked into the prison with his head held high, and was tortured to death, his wife and children were exiled to the borderlands, and his protégés and former officials and his father and brother were all dismissed from official positions and imprisoned.
More than 100 people, including Fan Pang, Du Mi, and Zhai Chao, were also slaughtered in prison. All the famous bureaucrats and Confucian scholars in the world, the eunuchs slandered them all as "party members"; Some people take the opportunity to frame their enemies for personal gain; In order to welcome the eunuchs, some local officials took the opportunity to falsely accuse many people who had nothing to do with them. In this way, six or seven hundred people were put to death, exiled, or dismissed from official positions and imprisoned.
As the upright and outspoken bureaucracy was purged, the power to restrain the eunuchs disappeared, and the eunuchs were able to vent all the hatred that had been dormant for many years.
As a result, the bloody massacre of the "party members" was unprecedentedly cruel. This time, Zhang Jian, the "chief culprit" that the eunuchs wanted to hunt and kill, fled when he heard the news and hid in the homes of relatives and friends. Many people rushed to his fame and risked the catastrophe to cover him. Although Zhang Jian finally escaped the clutches of the devil, the eunuchs severely tracked down everyone who had covered him, and more than a dozen families were beheaded all over the house, and some even "counties and counties were broken".
Because the eunuchs were freed from the constraints, for a while, Emperor Ling of Han was almost completely manipulated by them. In the first month of the spring of the fourth year of Jianning (171 years), Emperor Ling held a coronation ceremony, and on this happy day of national celebration, Emperor Ling issued an edict to amnesty the world, but at the same time announced that "only the party will not be pardoned".
It can be seen from this that the influence of the eunuchs on Emperor Ling is huge, and how deep-rooted Emperor Lingdi's hatred and fear of the "party people" is.
Through the bloody massacre and purge of the "party members" in the early years of Jianning (168-171), the power of the eunuch group reached its peak. As a result, they tried to completely control Emperor Ling and fully manipulate the government, but the situation did not develop exactly as they wanted, and the forces of the government and the opposition to the eunuchs still did not disappear.
5. Burn the fire to the "Empress Dowager Dou"
A child from the Tinghou family, whose situation deteriorated to the point of becoming poor, suddenly his fate changed drastically and he suddenly became an emperor.
The person or thing that directly caused this change could not but leave an indelible mark on the soul of this unusual emperor. Emperor Ling always had a complicated emotion for the Dou family, who had made meritorious contributions.
On the one hand, Emperor Ling has always been suspicious of the Dou family's "long-term dictatorship". At the beginning, a team of white-covered carts took away themselves who still needed their mother's love, but cruelly left their mother in the river.
Soon after entering the palace, Emperor Ling noticed all kinds of signs of the Dou family's good governance, so he gradually discovered that the reason why he was able to unexpectedly reach the honor of ten thousand times was completely due to the need of the Dou family's "long-term dictatorship".
However, on the other hand, Emperor Ling has always been grateful for the Dou family's assistance. After all, Dou's good government was only a sign at that time, and after the "palace coup" in September, even this sign disappeared with the death of Dou Wu and others, not to mention that the "Ten Thousand Vehicles Honor" that came from Dou's aid was the real "benefit" that Emperor Ling received.
Therefore, as time passed, the gratitude that Emperor Ling had for the Dou family gradually became stronger. After Dou Wu and Chen Fan were killed, Emperor Ling always wanted to do a little filial piety to the Empress Dowager Dou, who was under house arrest in Nangong, but the eunuchs around him set up obstacles for various reasons, so that his wish could not be realized after all.
Ever since the coronation ceremony, Emperor Ling wanted to change the status quo of being controlled by people everywhere, and was determined to act as much as he could.
One day in October of the fourth year of Jianning (171), Emperor Ling led his ministers to Nangong to meet the Empress Dowager Dou. Emperor Ling set up a banquet to dine with the Empress Dowager Dou, and sincerely toasted the Empress Dowager for a long life, and the banquet was filled with a happy mother-son love.
In the imperial court, since the death of Chen Fan and Dou Wu, the attitude towards the Empress Dowager Dou has become an extremely sensitive issue. Those courtiers who were dissatisfied with the eunuchs, such as Zhang Huan and Xie Bi, often took advantage of the Empress Dowager's assistance to complain about the Empress Dowager's situation, and took the opportunity to cry out for Chen and Dou in an attempt to overturn the case; The eunuchs needed to belittle the Empress Dowager Dou to affirm that their extermination of Chen and Dou and the killing of the "party members" were all to defend the imperial power.
The contradictory struggle between the bureaucracy and the eunuchs revolved around imperial power in the final analysis, so the attitude of Emperor Ling played a decisive role in this sensitive issue.
For the Empress Dowager Dou, if Emperor Ling had always maintained the same attitude as the eunuchs, then the opponents of the eunuchs would not have used the issue of the Empress Dowager to make articles against the eunuchs; On the contrary, if Emperor Ling always made it clear that the grace of "aid" would never be erased, then the eunuchs would give up degrading the empress dowager and find other ways to show their loyalty.
The problem is that Emperor Ling's attitude towards Empress Dowager Dou often reveals contradictions between consciously and unconsciously. In this way, the bureaucrats and eunuchs both felt hope from the issue of Empress Dowager Dou, and they would spare no effort to seize this hope to make their own articles. Therefore, Emperor Ling's seemingly ordinary meeting with Empress Dowager Dou made the court lose a short period of peace.
A power drama around the "Empress Dowager Dou" was staged between Qingliu and the eunuchs......
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