In the political darkness of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, a very important factor was the eunuchs in power and the persecution of scholars. This was especially evident during the reign of the Han Ling Emperor. Eunuchs were attached to the emperor, and their loyalty to the emperor was relatively high, and they were a powerful tool for maintaining imperial power. But on the other hand, most eunuchs lacked moral measures and the ability to govern the country, and only blindly arranged party henchmen, manipulated power, seized profits, and eroded national strength. The following small editor wants to talk about the two eunuchs of the Han Ling Emperor period + Wang Fu and Cao Jie, how did they rise and how did they decline?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wang Fu and Cao Jie during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han</h1>
Wang Fu and Cao Jie were already active during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han. Cao Jie has a biography in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Biography of the Eunuchs, and the context is relatively clear. Cao Jie was a new savage man from Nanyang County, Jingzhou, who was originally very powerful in his family, "Two Thousand Stones of the World Official", and did not know why he entered the palace to become a eunuch. During the reign of Emperor Shun of Han, Cao Jie became xiaohuangmen and belonged to the eunuch system of intermediate eunuchs.
After emperor Shun of Han, there were two emperors who had no real power and reigned for a short time--Emperor Chong of Han, Emperor Huan of Han, and then emperor Huan of Han, who was more famous. Emperor Huan of Han used the power of eunuchs such as Shan Chao, Xu Huang, Gu Yan, Zuo Yi, and Tang Heng to eliminate the powerful minister Liang Ji, and the five people of Shan Chao were named county marquises for their merits, known to the world as "five marquises", and some eunuchs were named township marquises, and the arrogance of eunuch forces began to rise. Although Cao Jie did not participate in the removal of Liang Ji and the records of being a marquis in public service, he still achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander and Served che.
Wang Fu has no personal biography in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Biography of the Eunuchs, and the information is not very detailed. He also had a performance during the Han Huan Emperor's period, that is, in the first "disaster of the party". The cause of the first "disaster of the party" was because the eunuch Henchman Zhang Cheng learned of the imperial court amnesty in advance, and Lingzi killed people, and as a result, he was captured by Li Bing, a lieutenant of the Si Li Colonel. Li Bing killed Zhang Cheng's son in spite of the pardon order, so the eunuch clique asked Zhang Cheng's disciples to imprison Li Cheng and other celebrities to form a party with the tai students for personal gain, using Li Bing as an opportunity to expand the scope of the attack.
There was a famous scholar named Fan Huan, who offended many people because of his integrity and strictness, and was framed as a "Fan Dang", and Yuan Zhong of the same county was also within the scope of the crackdown, and other scholars were imprisoned in the Huangmen North Temple Prison for severe torture and interrogation. The person in charge of investigating the case, Fan Huan, and others was Wang Fu, who was a Zhongchang attendant at that time. When Wang Fu interrogated Fan Huan about forming a party for personal gain, flaunting the promotion and exclusion of dissidents, Fan Huan was not succumbed and spoke sharply, but instead won Wang Fu's sympathy. At that time, Fan Huan and others had torture devices on their necks, hands, and feet, and Wang Fu deliberately removed the torture devices on their hands and feet to alleviate their suffering.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > rises due to the elimination of Dou Wu and Chen Fan</h1>
Although during the han huan emperor period, Wang Fu and Cao Jie were more active and still became zhongchang servants, but when they really rose and occupied a unique position in politics, it was during the han ling emperor period that the elimination of dou wu, Chen Fan and other powerful ministers and celebrities began.
Emperor Huan of Han died childless, and with the support of Dou Wu and others, the Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong took the throne, and Dou Wu became an auxiliary chancellor. During the reign of Emperor Huan of Han, after the first "disaster of the party", the scholars were severely suppressed. After the death of Emperor Huan of Han, the scholars were given the opportunity to regain the throne, and one of them was more weighty, that is, Chen Fan, who was the same as Dou Wu as the "Three Princes".
Dou Wu and Chen Fan decided to eliminate the eunuch forces, and Dou Wu first killed Zhongchang Guanba and Su Kang, but this was not limited to this. Dou Wu, Chen Fan, and others hoped to overthrow the entire eunuch power in one fell swoop, so Dou Wu ordered his close eunuch Shan Bing to impeach another eunuch, Zheng Sa, and dig cao jie and Wang Fu from Zheng Sa, and then use this as evidence to capture Cao Jie and others.
Unexpectedly, the eunuchs infiltrated the political center too much, and Cao Jie and others were already familiar with Dou Wu's plans. Cao Jie and the others immediately replaced Shan Bing with Wang Fu as the Yellow Gate Order, went to the Huangmen North Temple Prison to rescue Zheng Sa and kill Shan Bing, and then captured Dou Wu. Dou Wu refused to be ordered, and used the five colonels of the Northern Army to confront the eunuchs. The eunuchs also had forbidden soldiers in their hands, and with Zhang Yi, who had just returned to the court and was dizzy, the military strength was stronger than that of Dou Wu. Five battalions of soldiers fell to the eunuchs, and Dou Wu and Chen Fan all died at the hands of the eunuchs.
After the elimination of Dou Wu and Chen Fan, the power of the eunuchs was even more inflated. From then on, Cao Jie and Wang Fu manipulated their authority and intimidated the imperial court:
In the second year of Jianning (i.e., in 169 AD), in the impeachment of Zhang Jian, the governor of eastern Shanyang, Chang Shi Hou Lan and Hou Lan formed a grudge, Hou Lan framed Zhang Jian and his compatriots as friends, and Cao Jie spread the war to Li Bing and other celebrities, beginning the second "disaster of the party".
In the first year of Xiping (i.e., 172 AD), Empress Dou died. Some people pointed to Empress Dou's death to Wang Fu and Cao Jie, and Wang Fu and Cao Jie lingsi lieutenant Liu Meng tracked down this person, and Liu Meng delayed time and was replaced by Duan Jiao, a famous general who was attached to the eunuch. Duan Hao went around arresting tai students, and thousands of people were implicated.
In the same year, Wang Fu was falsely accused of committing suicide and his wife Died in prison because of his disagreement with Liu Wu the Prince of Bohai, and the eunuchs Zheng Sa and Dong Teng, who had close relations with Liu Wu, and Liu Wu committed suicide. Cao Jie and Wang Fu were once again knighted for quelling the "rebellion", and their fathers and sons and brothers were also sheltered, "The secretaries of state are all over the world. "
Later, Wang Fu was worried about the threat of Empress Song (Princess Bohai of the Song clan was the aunt of Empress Ling of Song), and framed Empress Song to use the Technique of Zuo Dao blessing in the harem, resulting in Empress Song being deposed and dying in the tyrannical chamber.
In the first year of Guanghe (i.e., 178 AD), emperor Han Ling asked Cai Yong and Yang Ci for countermeasures due to various disasters, and the two of them wrote about the magnates, which were exposed by Cao Jie. Cai Yong was attacked and exiled to Shuofang, and Yang Ci was not persecuted because of his status as a teacher of the Han Ling Emperor.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the decline of Wang Fu and Cao Jie</h1>
Although Wang Fu and Cao Jie were hot, they still went into decline. Wang Fu died in the second year of Guanghe (179 AD).
Wang Fu ordered his protégé Wang Qiao to loot more than 70 million official relics in the local area, which was evidenced by Jing Zhaoyin Yang Biao. Yang Biao is the son of Yang Ci mentioned above. Yang Biao submitted the evidence to Yang Qiu's hand, and at this time Wang Fu was on vacation in his private residence rather than in the palace, and Wang Fu immediately asked Wang Fu, Wang Meng, Wang Ji's father and son, as well as the eunuchs such as Chun Yudeng, Yuan Yu, Liu Yi, Xiaohuangmen Pangxun, Zhu Yu, and Qi Sheng, as well as eunuchs who served as county guards and county orders in the local area. Yang Qiu personally tortured Wang Fu, in fact, he used various cruel punishments to vent his anger, killed Wang Fu's father and son in prison, and exposed Wang Fu's broken body to the world. Duan Jie, who conspired with Cao Jie and Wang Fu, was also taken into custody and committed suicide by taking poison.
Although Wang Fu was killed, under the interference of Cao Jie, Yang Qiu was moved from a lieutenant to a wei lieutenant, losing the right to inspect the Jing Division. Wang Fu's death seems to have made the scholar see the light, and Situ Zhang Gao, Yongle Shaofu Chen Qiu, and infantry lieutenant Liu Na discussed with Yang Qiu a plan to eliminate the eunuchs, planning to once again ask Yang Qiu to be a lieutenant colonel, and then target Cao Jie and others.
Chen Qiu's concubine was a daughter, Cheng Huang was originally a eunuch, and was also co-opted and coerced by Cao Jie and others, so he reported the plans of Chen Qiu and others to Cao Jie. Cao Jie took the lead and impeached Chen Qiu, Liu Na, Liu Guo, Yang Qiu, and others to Emperor Hanling, all of whom were killed by eunuchs. Two years later, Cao Jie also died, and the era of Cao Jie and Wang Fu controlling power ended, but Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, and other eunuchs took over the positions of Cao Jie, Wang Fu, and others, and continued to be a mighty blessing until the death of Emperor Hanling in the sixth year of Zhongping (that is, in 189 AD), before being completely eliminated by Yuan Shao and others.
Reference: Book of the Later Han Dynasty