At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, officialdom was corrupt, and selling officials and lords had become a trend. In order to enter the list of the three princes, the famous calligrapher Cui Lie did not hesitate to spend 5 million yuan to buy the position of Situ. However, what was unexpected was that when Cui Liechun took office proudly, Emperor Han Ling shouted "lost", thinking that the price at which he sold his official position was too low. In the face of the emperor's accusation, Cui Lie was heartbroken and retorted, "I will pay more." Is it the emperor who loses, or Cui Lie who loses? What kind of twists and turns and bizarre story is hidden behind this?
1. Cui Lie's family is a scholarly family, and he is talented
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a famous family was born a talented man - Cui Lie. He was born in the Cui family, a famous family in Jizhou, which has been cultivating for generations, and many ancestors have important positions in the cultural world.
Cui Lie's grandfather, Cui Chu, was a famous literati of the dynasty. He has an insight into the principles of scripture and history, and has written many monographs, especially in poetry. At that time, the ruler of the Suzong Dynasty, the powerful minister Dou Xian doubled the weight of Cui Chu, and repeatedly recruited him into the court as a teacher. However, Cui Chuan is a liberal arts and did not become a master after all.
Cui Kuo is Cui Lie's uncle, and he is a unique writer and master of agriculture. His prose is free and easy, and his poetry is fresh and timeless, and he is known as "the emperor of the world". At the same time, he also knows the knowledge of agriculture well, and his agricultural book "Four People's Moon Order" is extensive and profound, and later generations have read it with admiration.
Cui Lie's father, Cui Ai, although not a literati, but calligraphy attainments, especially good at cursive, was rated as the first of the "four great calligraphers of the Eastern Han Dynasty" by later generations. His penmanship is strong and powerful, and his handwriting is elegant and chic, and the famous calligrapher Zhang Zhi personally asked him for advice, which is quite beneficial.
Cui Lie has been bathed in this cultural environment since he was a child, and from his parents, he not only inherited the family history of Xuefu Wuche, but also absorbed profound knowledge and noble moral ethics. He has been a fond of reading since he was a child, and he is especially obsessed with studying the "Zuo Chuan", and he knows the way of governing the country through the world contained in it. As an adult, Cui Lie not only read a wide range of books, but also wrote brilliant articles, coupled with his respectful and courteous nature, he was quite prestigious in the local area, and once served as a county guard and Jiuqing and other important positions. During the early peace period, he also served the country and fought against the traitorous Dong Zhuo with Yuan Shao. It can be said that Cui Lieshi is a rare all-rounder in civil and military affairs.
2. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was extravagant, poor and extravagant
When Emperor Ling of Han first ascended the throne, although he was born in a clan, his family was poor, so he was very greedy for power and wealth. Once he ascended the throne, he showed an extremely lascivious side.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was very good at architecture, and built Wanjin Hall in the West Garden, taking all the wealth in the treasury as his own. This is a blatant privatization of state property, unprecedented in history. He also built garden palaces everywhere, extravagant, wasteful, and extravagant.
At the same time, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was keen on exotic customs, and introduced a large number of Hu people's songs, dances and musical instruments, such as Hu Konghou and Hu flute, and immersed himself in the sound of dogs and horses all day long. There are thousands of beauties in the harem, and the daily expenses are huge.
The most absurd thing is that in order to make up for the income of his personal treasury, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty actually openly sold his official position to the outside world, opening the door to the imperial court to trade power and money. In the first year of Guanghe, he set up a special "West Residence" institution in the West Garden, and all kinds of official positions were treated equally, and the price was clearly marked. The high-ranking prices of the three princes and nine kings are millions, and even minor officials such as the county guard and county order can only be bought at a price of millions.
In the face of Emperor Ling of Han's extravagant style, it can be said that the imperial power has been lost, and there is no way to talk about the peace of the country and the people. This was not only a personal tragedy for an emperor, but also a precursor and fuse for the fall of the entire dynasty. Since then, the decay of the Eastern Han Dynasty has been unconcealed, and it is destined to accelerate towards the abyss of destruction.
Three. Kong Wu's career, Cui Lie has been repeatedly blocked
Although Cui Lie's family background is illustrious and his own talent is outstanding, his career in life has been bumpy and has been repeatedly hindered.
Initially, when Dong Zhuo coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, Cui Lie was implicated in the battle with Yuan Shao and was placed under house arrest by Dong Zhuo. Although eventually released, this humiliating experience cast a shadow over his ambitions.
Subsequently, Cui Lie personally led the army to resist when Li Dao and Guo Yan attacked Chang'an City, and was brave and fearless, but unfortunately he was martyred in the end, and his once-self-made efforts were in vain.
Just when Cui Lie was over half a hundred years old, it seemed that fate had finally favored him. After Emperor Ling of Han ascended the throne, he was planning to recruit talents to support his cronies, so Cui Lie was recruited into the imperial court and held important positions at the state and county level. However, due to his advanced age and repeated setbacks in his early years, he was a little tired of his career, so he soon left the officialdom and returned to his hometown to do business for several years.
The years flew by, and in a blink of an eye, Cui Lie was over fifty years old. Although he still had the ambition to revive his majesty, he was inevitably suspicious and confused in the face of the decaying situation of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the end, by chance, he met a celebrity in the DPRK and China, gave himself a shortcut, and climbed to the highest peak of his life.
It can be said that Cui Lie has experienced several hardships and setbacks in his life, but in the end, he still won an unexpected high-ranking official in his twilight years, which can be called a dramatic scene. And what he did later caused an uproar and shocked the entire Han Dynasty.
Fourth, Mrs. Cheng matched and helped Cui Lie buy an official at a discount
Just when Cui Lienian was passing the year of knowing the destiny of heaven and had given up a little on his career, an unexpected opportunity appeared.
All thanks to a woman named Mrs. Cheng. Mrs. Cheng is the nurse of Emperor Han Ling, and because she has served in the palace since she was a child, Emperor Han Ling trusts her very much. Not only that, Mrs. Cheng is also quite clever and good at flattery, so she has unconsciously attached herself to the powerful family and made friends with many dignitaries.
It is this relationship that made Mrs. Cheng and Cui Lie, who had been in seclusion for many years, form a fate. It is said that at a banquet of encounter, Mrs. Cheng was overwhelmed by Cui Lie's elegant and elegant demeanor, so she tirelessly matched him and urged Emperor Ling of Han to hire this talent.
Emperor Han Ling of course had no doubt about Mrs. Cheng's words. So, after some manipulation, Cui Lie finally got his wish and got the opportunity to enter the imperial court. It's just that at that time, the Han Dynasty had already sold official titles, and if you wanted to hold a prominent official position, you had to use money as a pass.
Seeing that power and glory were within reach, Cui Lie was naturally very moved. However, where does he have so much wealth to squander after half his life of exile? Just when he was hesitating, Mrs. Cheng stood up again, and actually used the stolen money she had embezzled for many years to buy the position of Situ, one of the important three princes, for Cui Lie, at a price of only 5 million yuan, which was a considerable discount.
In this way, relying on the operation of a female red face, Cui Lie finally reached his highest peak. However, just when he was proud, the government and the opposition were already secretly laughing at this matter. After all, seizing power by such dirty means is really contrary to Cui Lie's consistent reputation for nobility.
5. Cui Lie's reputation is discredited and full of guilt
Despite such a dirty means to obtain the position of Situ Ming, Cui Lie is still complacent, believing that this is the greatest fulfillment of life. However, what he didn't expect was that this move caused an uproar in the government and the opposition, and his original noble reputation was also swept away.
First of all, people of insight pointed at him one after another, thinking that his purchase of an official was insulting to Sven, which was simply a shame for his ancestors. Some even spoke out, calling Cui Lie "a copper-smelling person". In the face of such fierce public criticism, Cui Lie was undoubtedly extremely ashamed in his heart.
What made Cui Lie even more heartbroken was that even his own son Cui Jun, a scholar, could not understand what he had done. Cui Jun bluntly reprimanded his father for "committing himself to the door of the powerful and defiling the door style". As a knowledgeable scholar, he really couldn't get used to seeing his father turn his back on his ethics.
In the face of his son's accusation, Cui Lie was ashamed and annoyed, and actually punched his son on the spot to vent his anger. However, after hiding in the inner room, he cried heartbreakingly and spit on himself. As a man who aspires to a career but repeatedly hits a wall, how could he have imagined that he would finally be glorified in such a dirty way?
Even so, Cui Lie reluctantly accepted this official position and served until the end of his life. However, the guilt and regret in his heart are difficult to let go of for the rest of his life. Sometimes he would even laugh at himself to his relatives and friends: "I spent 5 million yuan to buy an official, and this money is too big a loss for me." ＂
Since then, Cui Lie's reputation has been ruined, and he himself has fallen into endless self-condemnation. Power and fame, originally everything he pursued, ended up being the beginning of a nightmare. This is undoubtedly a poignant portrayal of life.