This article is written with reference to historical sources and personal opinions, and relevant literature sources have been marked at the end of the article.
(Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty Liu Hong image)
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was an emperor named Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.
Under Emperor Ling is the Young Emperor, and under the Young Emperor is the Emperor Xian, after the Emperor is dedicated, there is no more, and the Eastern Han Dynasty perished.
The emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, except for the founding emperor Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, seems to have no sense of existence, although Emperor Ling is already the last emperor, but in terms of popularity, there is still there, he frequently appears in Comrade Zhuge Liang's "Teacher Table", that is, the famous "pro-virtuous ministers, far villains, this Han Dynasty is so prosperous; Pro-villain, Yuanxian Chen, after that, the Han Dynasty fell into decline. When the first emperor was there, whenever he discussed this matter with his ministers, he did not sigh and hate Yu Huan and Lingye. ”
The context of this passage is that Zhuge Liang is going to lead the Northern Expedition and is about to leave Shu, Liu Chan is too young, inexperienced, reckless, Zhuge Liang is not at ease, so he said to Liu Chan, Liu, I am usually not at home, you have to be close to the virtuous ministers, stay away from the villain, this is the reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty first flourished, and you can't get close to the villain, stay away from the virtuous ministers, which is also the reason for the later decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Back then, your father often talked to me about this matter, and we both hated Emperor Han Huan and Emperor Han Ling's behavior of being close to each other and avoiding the virtuous.
It can be seen that the evaluation of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty by the people of the Three Kingdoms can be said to be very bad, and the biggest criticism of him is mainly focused on this emperor, reusing the ministers and the chaotic ministers, and alienating the virtuous and good ministers.
So who did Emperor Han Ling mainly reuse at this time? He mainly reused the eunuch group.
At that time, the eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty could be said to be windy and rainy, and they were quite powerful.
As soon as the eunuchs took power, there were two groups that were most injured, one was the group of civil officials and doctors, and the other was the group of military generals.
What about this group of military generals, after all, most of them are still stationed in the local area, or they are guarding the border, they are far away from the court, and the influence of the eunuchs on them is slightly smaller, but the civil officials are different, they all work in an office, after the eunuchs are in power, they are all kinds of arrogant and arbitrary orders, and they don't put the civil officials in their eyes at all, this is not counted, after the eunuchs are arrogant, they also interfere in politics, become the emperor's home, be the master of the court, who can stand it like you? Anyway, the scholars and doctors must not be able to stand it, because of the eunuchs in power, many scholars and doctors have openly argued with the eunuchs, not once, but twice, but because the power of these eunuchs is really capped, too big, so the two rebellions ended in failure.
(Eunuch)
Eunuchs, this is a special product born in the era of feudal monarchy, a special group, and eunuchs who are in power are even more special.
In an ancient dynasty, any character in this dynasty would be afraid that the dynasty would face destruction, and the people would suffer, and the people would suffer, and the dynasty would perish, and the social order would be chaotic, and the sea would be in chaos, and the common people would definitely suffer from it.
As for the military generals, they will face war, the civil officials will be laid off and unemployed, the royal family and nobles will have no privileges, and the emperor himself will inevitably die and the country will be destroyed.
Anyway, all in all, if the Eastern Han Dynasty perished, it would have a great impact on everyone, but it had little impact on the eunuchs.
Because, they can adapt to the rise and fall of the dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty perished, and Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han, and the change of dynasty is like a change of job for them.
During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a famous man named Jia Yi, who was a disadvantage of the times, discussed the world politically, and also put forward the famous "Theory of the Qin", which had high achievements in literature and politics, Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty had a son named Liu Yi, who was named King of Liang, Jia Yi later gave this King of Liang as a teacher, but King Liang later went out to ride a horse, fell off the horse, and died like this.
After King Liang died, Jia Yi was very sad and sad, he thought that he didn't take good care of Liu Yi, he became depressed and worried, and died soon after.
There is also a famous man in the Western Han Dynasty called Chao Cuo, he is the emperor after Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the minister of the era of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Chao Cuo, very far-sighted, early foresaw that these princes of the Western Han Dynasty will be in turmoil sooner or later, which is an unstable factor, so under his suggestion, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty began to gradually reduce the feudal domain.
As soon as Emperor Jing cut the feudal domain, of course, these feudal countries were very unhappy, so he rebelled, Emperor Jing saw that the big thing was not good, and there were traitors who misled, the emperor actually thought that the reason for the rebellion of the feudal country was that the plan to cut the feudal domain was put forward by Chao Cuo, so as long as Chao Cuo was eliminated, the chaos could be quelled, so Chao Cuo was executed by the emperor.
From the story of Jia Yi and Chao Cuo, we can draw a superficial conclusion, that is, scholars, civil officials, their personal honor and disgrace, life and death, are tightly tied to the fate of the dynasty, such as the Northern Song Dynasty Wang Anshi, and the Ming Dynasty Zhang Juzheng.
After many civilian officials came to power, they not only wanted to achieve their own career promotion, but also used the power they held to give back to their country, for which they were willing to pay, and even bear a price unimaginable to us.
Don't say anything else, let's just say that since the Warring States period, the Legalists and celebrities, Wu Qi, Shang Ying, Han Fei, Li Si, Chao Cuo... They rarely die well.
Because this is the fate of a certain type of minister, they are excavated by the king, appreciated by the king, and reused by the king, then they are destined to serve the king all their lives, even if they die and the clan is destroyed, and they will not hesitate to break their heads and bodies.
(Civil Servant)
But eunuchs are different, although there is also an official behind this eunuch, but the court has a polite system, there is a system, speaking of which they are Xiaohuangmen, they are internal officials, they can be marquis, but they can not worship the prime minister, and the eunuch's education level is generally low, many eunuchs can't even write their own names, they have only one motivation to climb up, that is, the construction of personal material life, to put it bluntly, is to let themselves live a satisfactory life.
Think about it, the second emperor of Huan Ling appointed eunuchs, so can it still be good?
Then, since the eunuchs of the late Eastern Han Dynasty are mentioned, we have to mention the representative figures in the eunuch group.
This person's surname is Zhang, the year of birth is unknown, the word is unknown, and the single name is a word.
Zhang Rang, when he was young, he was a eunuch in the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Emperor Huan was in power, he was Xiaohuangmen, and when Emperor Ling was in power, he advanced by leaps and bounds, and became a close minister of the emperor.
How powerful is Zhang Rang? When it came to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, he often sighed, "Zhang Changshi is my father."
Father, not necessarily the meaning of the father, not necessarily the emperor said that the eunuch Zhang Rang is my father, that is too unusual, the father here is probably a trustworthy and respectable expression.
But even so, you can see the emperor's favor for this Zhang Rang, which is on his lips at any time.
Zhang Rang has a subordinate, his name is not clear, he only knows that his position is a prison slave, and he is specifically responsible for accepting bribes for Zhang Rang.
This Zhang let the power, get the emperor's favor, you want to be promoted and make a fortune, you want to seek fame, there was no imperial examination at that time, you have to point to Zhang Rang to promote you.
At that time, in Pingling County, Fufeng, Eastern Han Dynasty, which is today's Xianyang, Shaanxi, there was a person named Meng Tuo.
Brother Meng Tuo, Zhu Lunhua, Tao Yizhifu, that is a rich family, the only fly in the ointment is that Meng Tuo has always wanted to become an official, but unfortunately his career is not smooth, no one recommends him, and he has no way.
But he was rich after all, so he also tried to go to Zhang Rang's house to meet Zhang Rang, but the problem was that Zhang Rang's doorstep was really shoulder to shoulder, and the household limit was to wear, and the sea of people went, and there were many people who wanted to be officials at that time, and everyone rushed to visit Zhang Rang, Meng Tuo couldn't get in line at all, and he couldn't squeeze in.
(Meng Tuo image)
Can't get in touch with Zhang Rang, Meng Tuo was very anxious, so he retreated to the second, and Zhang Rang's next prison slave climbed into a relationship, Meng Tuo made friends with more than one prison slave, anyway, it was the big eunuch Zhang Rang's group of small eunuchs, Meng Tuo all contacted, one by one, one by one, three days, a small meal, five days a big restaurant, that is simply spending money like running water, the little eunuchs are comfortable to serve.
To what extent have these little eunuchs benefited from Meng Tuo for a long time? When they arrived, they were a little reluctant to go, and said that this Meng Tuo was too good to us, and he must have asked for something, so the little eunuchs asked Meng Tuo, saying Old Meng, you are too good for us, too interesting, we can't take you for nothing, you say, what do you want us to do for you, we will assign it to you.
Meng Tuo said that since you are willing to help, then I will not hide it, I will visit Zhang Rang in two days, don't you usually work in Zhang Rang's mansion, I only ask you for one thing, that is, when I go to Zhang Rang's mansion, you can give me a hand and make a very respectful appearance, if you don't mind, you can kneel on the ground and kowtow to me twice, it will be better.
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty ·Volume 78": I hope that Ru Cao will worship me for me.
These little eunuchs are also very particular, and they all agreed, anyway, they usually kneel in the palace all day long to worship this and that, and now Meng Tuo gives you money to kneel, you still don't kneel?
So, a few days later, Meng Tuo went to Zhang Rang's mansion to meet Zhang Rang, the situation was still the same, the traffic was busy, and Meng Tuo was almost squeezed to death, so he really couldn't get in.
At this time, Zhang let the little eunuchs in the mansion see Meng Tuo coming, and a group of little eunuchs came out of the mansion together, and saluted Meng Tuo again.
At that time, the people who came to visit Zhang Rang, they were not young and old, this scene was all seen by them, they looked at it, this is amazing, this Zhang Rang's mansion is old and difficult to enter, everyone is scrambling to rush to see Zhang Rang's side, this Meng Tuo can make these little eunuchs in Zhang Rang's mansion so deferential, this is too powerful, this is simply too amazing!
(Zhang Rang image)
In fact, these little eunuchs were completely acting on the spot, and they did it in advance under Meng Tuo's instructions, but at a specific time and on a specific occasion, after these eunuchs did this, they would give these unknown onlookers an illusion, making them think that this Meng Tuo must be friends with Zhang Rang, and they are good friends, and the relationship is very good, otherwise the little eunuchs in Zhang Rang's mansion would not be so good to Meng Tuo.
Once they identify this speculation, they will go crazy, and they will feel that since Meng Tuo and Zhang Rang are good, it means that Meng Tuo is also a powerful figure, and they should also bribe, because bribing Meng Tuo is equivalent to bribing Zhang Rang, and if they don't do it, they can get in touch with Zhang Rang by bribing Meng Tuo.
So, everyone began to have this thought, and instead flocked to Meng Tuo's house, and began to give Meng Tuo all kinds of gifts and money, and Meng Tuo made a lot of money.
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty ·Volume 78": The guests were surprised, and they were all good at letting them, and they all competed to bribe them with treasures.
These people who came to give gifts and money, of course, are also rich people, they compete to bribe Meng Tuo, so that Meng Tuo has completed a new round of accumulation, because although Meng Tuo is rich, but no matter how rich he is, there will be a day when he will spend it, and he himself understands that the money in his hand is generous in the eyes of ordinary people, but it is not enough to tie Zhang Rang, he must use more money as a stepping stone to contact Zhang Rang, not to mention that he almost scattered his family wealth in order to buy off these little eunuchs, so his capital chain was broken, He had to re-accumulate the original funds, and the wealth that these rich people bribed him with was a huge amount of money, more than the money he had saved in the previous half of his life, and after he got it, he did not keep it, did not keep it for himself, but through the connections of these little eunuchs, it was all transferred to Zhang Rang.
What is it called? It's called spending other people's money and doing your own thing.
Zhang Rang here, when he saw that this person named Meng Tuo had spent so much money on himself, and gave gifts, antiques, clothes, wine, and food, Zhang Rang was very happy, so he promoted Meng Tuo to make the history of Liangzhou Thorn.
Meng Tuo had a son, named Meng Da, who was attached to Liu Zhang in his early years, and later returned to Liu Bei, and rebelled against Wei in Shu Han for several years, and then was lured by Zhuge Liang to rebel against Wei and return to Shu, but he was defeated and killed by Sima Yi.
It can be said that Meng Da was a key figure in Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition.
Zhang Rang died when the young emperor Liu Bian, that is, in the sixth year of Zhongping, so he would not know that his random promotion had such a far-reaching impact.
He would also not know that the aftermath of the eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not die out because of his suicide by throwing himself into the water, and the Eastern Wu had the right to eunuch Cen Duan, and the Shu Han had the right to eunuch Huang Hao, and they all became an indispensable link in the process of the demise of the Eastern Wu and Shu Han.
This group of small yellow gates, which have been easy to be ignored since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, have never died out, but in another form, connecting the dark lines of the Three Kingdoms.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the history of the Three Kingdoms.
If you want to know more about the history of the Three Kingdoms, whether you want to understand the Big Three Kingdoms from a macro level, or if you want to understand the Small Three Kingdoms in detail, I recommend you to read Mr. Lu Hang's "Green Plum Boiled Wine: When the Stars of the Three Kingdoms Shine".
The writing of this book is quite smooth and natural, humorous, and easy to read.
In terms of content, it is simple to understand, interspersed with narrative, both popular science and depth, and the story and ideology are two-pronged.
Good book, no need to introduce too much, if you want to read the road of perseverance, the pursuit of dreams, want to read grand historical stories, if you want to read the ups and downs of troubled times, if you want to experience the singing and crying life, if you want to explore the magnificent epic, if you want to see the shining stars of the Three Kingdoms with your own eyes, read this book, you are right!
Resources:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms ·Volume 3
"Later Han Shu · Chen Wang Liebiography"
Art and Literature Gathering ·Vol. 35"
Taiping Imperial · Volume 500