Yi Zhi Zhi: Chen Fan of the Eastern Han Dynasty is well-known in China. But most people probably only know that he is a teenager who does not sweep the house and wants to sweep the world, and his eyes are above the top. As for what kind of official Chen Fan has been, what he has done, and what impact he has had on history, I don't know. This time, we will see if this Chen Fan can sweep away the world.
Chen Fanzi Zhongju is a native of Runan County (陳南郡, in Sheqiao Township, northwest of Pingyu County, Henan Province). His grandfather worked as a Taishou of Hedong Commandery (河東郡, Xia County, Shanxi Province).
When Chen Fan was fifteen years old, he lived alone in a room, did not like to clean, was messy indoors and outdoors, and was quite beautiful. Once, a friend of his father's, Xue Qin, came to visit and saw that Chen Fan's residence was dirty and messy, so he said to him, Boy, why don't you clean the house to welcome the guests? Chen Fan said that when the eldest husband is in the world, when he sweeps the world, how can he only take care of his own room (when the big husband is in the world, when he sweeps the world, he is in a room of peace)!
Xue Qin found that this teenager had the ambition to clarify the world, and his heart was amazed.
【If a house is not swept, why sweep the world!】 】
Yi Zhilu said: Have you noticed that this paragraph is different from what is said in our middle school textbooks? Here, this Uncle Xue was very surprised and admired Chen Fan, and felt that this child was not an ordinary person. But in the middle school text, it is said that when Uncle Xue heard this child running a train with his mouth full of mouths, he did not understand the truth of being down-to-earth, and immediately said that if he did not sweep the house, why sweep the world!
The same thing, two versions, mean the exact opposite. This tells us that some things that seem reasonable are actually the product of false rumors.
After Chen Fan grew up, he worked as a cadre in the county, and later he was promoted to filial piety, became Langzhong, and became a cadre in the palace. Chen Fan has a relatively straight personality, often gives advice to the leader, and the official road is not smooth. It was not until Li Gudang Taiwei (144-146 CE) that he valued Chen Fan very much, made him a yilang, and then promoted him to The Taishou of Le'an Commandery (樂安郡, southeast of Gaoqing County, Shandong Province). There was a man in the county who was famous for filial piety, named Zhao Xuan. This gentleman is "filial piety" to the point of astonishment. Generally speaking, after the death of a parent, the son is mourned for three years (in fact, twenty-five months) to express mourning. But this Zhao Xuan, after burying his relatives, did not close the tomb passage, and lived inside, living for more than twenty years, and wanted to come to the tomb to have a concentration of more than 53 degrees. Old Zhao served the mourning time, breaking the record of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the townships all praised him, and the prefectures and counties invited him several times. Some cadres in the county recommended Old Zhao to Chen Fan, and after meeting, Chen Fan asked about Zhao Xuan's wife doll and found that he had indeed lived in the cemetery for more than twenty years, and that all five of his children were born during the funeral.
Chen Fan was furious and said:
Saints make rituals, and those who have moral character must abide by them, and those who are not good should also strive to do it. Sacrifices do not need to be too many times, too many times, they will be upset, upset, how can the sacrifice be sincere! Although you sleep in the tomb, you raise children in the tomb, deceive the world and steal names, confuse the public, and insult ghosts and gods.
So he punished Zhao Xuan's sins.
[The system of mourning is really @#¥%......]
Yi Zhilu said: The Confucian "three-year mourning" probably means that when the father dies, the son must mourn for three years, cry continuously, cannot eat dry food, can only eat porridge; cannot sleep in the bed, can only sleep on the grass mat on the ground; can not use pillows, can only pillow under the head can only pillow dirt; can not wear ordinary clothes, can only wear special linen filial piety clothes, of course, can not have sexual life, and so on. This Zhao Xuan, who claimed to have been guarding the funeral for more than twenty years, aimed to enter the army with filial piety. The great success was about to be completed, and he actually ran into Chen Fan, counting him as unlucky.
Chen Fan said well, sacrifice, there is no need for too many times, too many times, it will be upset, upset, then the sacrifice must be insincere. These words deserve our deep consideration.
During the Two Han Dynasties, the imperial examination system had not yet been invented, and officials mainly relied on the recommendation of others, and filial piety and honesty were the two main ways. Filial piety, when it becomes a sacred standard, will produce a lot of people who sell their reputation and reputation, and there are no other skills, but as long as filial piety, they can become officials. Then, there may be all kinds of strange things. After typical generation, it will not be easily denied. The local official and the typical are a symbiotic relationship: the existence of the typical adds points to the performance of the local official; the local official protects the typical interests. Zhao Xuan gave birth to five sons, didn't the magistrate know? Just don't poke it.
Around 150 AD, the general Liang Ji sent a letter to Chen Fan asking for a private matter. Chen Fan refused to meet with the messenger, and the messenger pretended to be someone else to ask to see Chen Fan, chen Fan was furious and whipped the messenger to death, so he was demoted to Xiuwu County (Yujia County, Henan Province). Later, he was appointed Shangshu and returned to the imperial court.
Yi Zhilu said: I saw that upright officials had directly beaten some so-called "villains" to death, and I really didn't know how the Han Law stipulated it. In fact, people like Chen Fan are relatively decent, and if they can kill people because they "pretend to be others to see", wouldn't it be easy for those so-called "bad people" to want to kill innocents indiscriminately?
Chen Fan's problem of loving to put forward opinions has not changed, and he constantly says that Emperor Huan Liu Zhi is not right and that it is not right, and Liu Zhi is annoyed, so he sends him to Yuzhang County as a taishou.
[Old Comrade Chen, a righteous spirit!] 】
Around 159 CE, after the general Liang Ji was killed, Liu Zhi recruited Chen Fan and appointed him as Shang Shu Ling (尚書令), which was later renamed Dahongxu (大洪胪). At this time, Baima County ordered Li Yunshang to speak bluntly and advise, Emperor Huan was greatly angered, Li Yun should be executed, Chen Fan wrote to save Li Yun, and was deposed and returned home. Not long after, Emperor Huan summoned him to serve as a councillor, and a few days later, he was promoted to GuangluXun (for details, see the humble text "The Decline of the Five Marquises: See How Liu Zhi, The Emperor of Han Huan, used the Shi dafu clique to kill the eunuch clique").
Yi Zhilu said: In August 159, Liu Zhi killed Liang Ji, and the Shang Shu Ling at that time was Yin Xun. Immediately after Li Yun wrote a letter, Liu Zhi wanted to kill Li Yun, but Chen Fan advised him as a great Hongxu that if there was no mistake in the Tongjian, Chen Fan would only be able to serve as Shang Shu Ling for two or three months. But I tend to think that Chen Fan Ren Shang Shu Ling should have been doing it for several years in the mid-150s AD.
So, like Chen Fan, why did Emperor Huan Liu Zhi use him? I personally believe that in addition to the sponsorship of Chen Fan by the Scholar Group itself, Liu Zhi himself may need Chen Fan, as we said earlier, Liu Zhi is also a master of power playing, and when Liang Ji was there, he used people like Chen Fan to fight against Liang Ji; after Liang Ji died, he used people like Chen Fan to balance eunuchs, and Liu Zhi grasped it very well.
In short, we must remember that Chen Fan must not be fighting alone, they are all in groups, independent existence, and cannot survive in the official arena.
At that time, the reward for knighthood exceeded the system, and the number of beautiful women in the palace reached thousands, so Chen Fan wrote to advise:
The princes of the feudal kingdom are like the twenty-eight stars in the sky, guarding the emperor. Gao Zu once agreed with his courtiers that he could not be made a marquis unless he had meritorious service. However, I heard that the emperor remembered the small merits of Deng Zun, the father of Yin Deng Wanshi in Henan, and gave Deng Wanshi the title of Marquis, and restored the title of Shang Shu ling Huang Jun's ancestors had been severed. For those close to them, they do not grant food according to the normal system, and reward them with no merit to their followers, and even within the family, there are a large number of marquises. Because of this, the heavens are abnormal, the yin and yang are confused, the crops are not ripe, and the people are poor. I also know that the title has been sealed, and there is no use in saying anything more, but I only hope that His Majesty will stop here and not seal it indiscriminately. In addition, there are too many beautiful women in the palace, thousands of people, they eat meat, wear Aya silk satin, use rouge powder, and the cost of spending on them every year cannot be calculated. There is a folk proverb that thieves do not pass through the gates of the five women. Because there are many daughters, the family must be poor, and even thieves do not want to patronize such a family. Now that there are so many beautiful women in the harem, won't the country be poor? In addition, the emperor should issue an edict to entrust such things as the election of talents to Shangshu and the Three Dukes, so that rewards and punishments will be given to each of them, and each of them will be in charge, so it is even more fortunate!
[Liu Zhi's harem, there are five or six thousand ah!] 】
Liu Zhi adopted Chen Fan's advice, released 500 palace women, and only gave Shang Shu the title of Marquis of Guannei and Deng Wanshi the Marquis of Nanxiang.
Yi Zhilu said: There are several places that need to be explained, first, Deng Zun is the grandson of Deng Yu, the founding hero and grand master. Liu Zhifeng Deng Zun's son Deng Wanshi must not be because of Deng Zun. There may be two reasons: first, Liu Zhi and Deng Wanshi are old friends, and Liu Zhi often plays with Deng Wanshi before ascending the throne; second, deng Meng was just appointed empress this year, and the brothers of the Deng family are made hou, which is an inevitable matter, which can be found in the humble text "The Mystery of the Life of Empress Deng of Liu Zhi, Emperor Huan of Han". Second, at this time, Liu Zhi took the power to appoint and dismiss cadres (elections) in his own hands, Shangshu, the Three Dukes, and the wool line power did not have, who did specific things for Liu Zhi? It can only be a eunuch. Therefore, the history books often record that the relatives and guests of eunuchs served as officials in various places. Third, in Chen Fan's era, the status of women was really not high, who has more girls, whose family will certainly not be able to achieve a well-off, huh.
Since Chen Fan became guanglu xun, he and the five officials Zhonglang huang huan jointly presided over the election of officials, adhering to the principle of equal treatment, not taking any partiality to the magnates, offending a vote of the sons of the rich, so the false accusations against Chen Fan were all over the sky, and finally he was deposed.
Yi Zhilu said: In the previous paragraph, Chen Fan suggested that Liu Zhi return the right to vote to the Three Gongs and Shangshu (尺一選, Commission shangshu 三公), and in this paragraph, suddenly Chen Fan and Huang Fan were in charge of the election (the gongdian election). Huang Wan is the grandson of the former Situ Huang Qiong, born in 140 AD, about twenty years old this year, Chen Fan is already more than sixty years old, the two turned out to be election partners, slightly strange.
Soon after, Chen Fan became a Shangshu servant and a Taizhong Doctor, and in 165 AD, succeeded Yang Bing (Yang Xiu's great-grandfather) as a lieutenant.
During this period, the struggle between the scholar group and the eunuch group became more and more acute, and a large number of eunuch group henchmen served as high-ranking local officials, many of whom committed illegal acts. The eunuch clique retaliated, complaining to Emperor Huan Liu Zhi and arresting a number of scholar officials (see the humble article "The Withering of the Five Princes: See How Liu Zhi, The Han Huan Emperor, Used the Scholar Group to Kill the Eunuch Clique").
Chen Fan kept writing to rescue him, and the effect was not ideal.
In 166 AD, the first disaster of the party was broken, and The Lieutenant Colonel Li Yi and others were imprisoned for trial (see the humble text "Lieutenant Li Bing of the Division, Igniting the Fuse of the Disaster of the Party"). Chen Fan wrote to advise:
I have heard that the wise monarch trusts the ministers, and the king of the fallen kingdom does not want to listen to the ministers' direct words (this is so annoying, huh). The rise of Shang Tang and King Wu of Zhou was due to the existence of such sages as Yi Yin and Lü Wang; the coma of Xia Jie and Shang Yi led to their demise because of the murder of Zhongliang. From this point of view, the king is the head of state, the courtier is the humerus, whether it creates a prosperous world or creates a crisis, it is the result of the joint efforts of the monarch and the subject. I saw that the former lieutenant Colonel Li Yi, the servant Du Mi, the tai wei Fan Huan, and others had just been innocent and were willing to dedicate themselves to the country. Because of their loyalty and integrity, they violated the emperor's will, were tortured and interrogated, some were imprisoned and isolated, and some even died and exiled. Blocking the mouths of the people of the world and making the people of the whole society deaf and blind, what is the difference between this and the book burning pit Confucianism of the violent Qin (this is too cruel, really worried about Lao Chen)? Once upon a time, King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty, set up a sign at the door of the loyal subjects of the Shang Dynasty, and built tombs for them as a tribute to the loyal subjects. And the emperor you are in charge of the government, come up and kill the wise and loyal ministers, treat the loyal and upright gentleman so thinly, and treat the flattering villains so favorably (if Emperor Huan does not kill Lao Chen, then Emperor Huan can be regarded as a virtuous prince, even I can't look at it)! The slanderous man, who speaks cleverly, seems to speak truthfully, confusing the listener and the seeing. Whether it is good or evil depends on how to distinguish between good and evil; the key to success or failure lies in what kind of advice is listened to. The monarch of man, the great government of the world, upholding the discipline of the four seas, every move must not violate the law of the first saints, and one advance and one retreat must not deviate from the moral rules. A single wrong word will disturb the world, not to mention throwing innocent people into prison and killing innocent people in the street market! At present, There is a drought in Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and the grain is not harvested, and the people are uprooted from their hometowns and have no food to eat. However, the palace ladies filled the harem, and the wealth of the country was consumed by them, and the foreign relatives were private, greedy for money and bribes. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Deze of the Zhou Dynasty declined, and there was no disaster for decades, because the heavens had abandoned the Zhou Dynasty. Now, the heavens still have a favor for the Han Dynasty, so they have repeatedly sent disasters, which is to enlighten the enlightened emperor! Get rid of the demons and remove the iniquity, and cultivate your virtue in the emperor. Subjects occupy the position of the three dukes, deeply worried, do not dare to eat vegetarian food, greedy for life and life, sit and watch the rise and fall. If my advice is taken, even if you kill me, emperor, I will not hate you.
Emperor Huan Liu Zhi finally couldn't stand Comrade Chen, and found an excuse to say that the talent selected by Chen Fan was inappropriate, and he spared Old Chen.
Yi Zhilu said: Tell the truth, if Chen Fan bluntly says this, it is really necessary to pinch a handful of sweat for him! But Liu Zhi only dismissed him from his post, and I personally feel that Emperor Huan Liu Zhi is really generous in heart. At this point, I really have a good feeling for this famous emperor.
In 167, on December 28, Liu Zhi died without a son, and Liu Hong, the Marquis of Xieduting, succeeded him as Emperor Ling of Han. Empress Dowager Dou was promoted to empress dowager and put in charge of imperial government.
In 168, on the third day of the first month, Empress Dowager Dou appointed her elder father Dou Wu as a general and former lieutenant Chen Fan as a taifu. Dou Wu, Chen Fan, and Situ Huguang were jointly in charge of the court secrets (cf. Shang Shushi).
[Benefactors, Lao Na has begun to sweep the world]
Yi Zhilu said: Empress Dou used Chen Fan, and Emperor Huan Liu Zhi used Chen Fan, and the starting point was completely different. In 165, Liu Zhi deposed Empress Deng and planned to appoint a woman of folk origin, Tian Sheng, as empress, but Chen Fan resolutely opposed it, and together with some other ministers, supported Dou Miao, who was from a family background, Liu Zhi was helpless, and although he did not like Dou Miao, he still made her empress. Now, Empress Dowager Dou began to repay the favor. In other words, Chen Fan's comeback has little to do with whether he can do it or not, whether he is upright or not.
After that, Chen Fan believed that his political ideas could finally be implemented, so he joined forces with Dou Wu and sharpened his sword to the eunuchs, which finally triggered the second disaster of the party and caused the Shi Dafu clique to suffer the largest massacre in the two Han and four hundred years.
We'll talk about that later.
【Picture from the network】