"Why doesn't Mr. Cao speak?" Yu Guiren, who has all white hair, asked seriously. "Is there something difficult?"
After a long time, Cao Jie nodded and said: "I don't want to hide it from you, your nobles. Wang Fu, Yuan She, Feng Yu, Zhang Feng, these people are now dead and gone. I am the only one in the North Palace, and I can't even sing."
Got it!"
Mr. Yu said disapprovingly: "If you really can't stand alone, then make peace with these newcomers. What they want is nothing more than the position of a regular servant and a position in the Yellow Gate. As you said, Wang Fu and the others will either leave or die."
, what else can we do if we have so many empty seats?”
"Now that things have happened, how can I not know that I should reconcile?" Cao Jie said sternly. "It's just that the nobles don't know. All the new standing servants already regard me as fish on the chopping board and don't even bother to reconcile with me.
Besides, there are more than ten of them scattered throughout the palace. Even if I want to express my feelings, I have to find a way to get them all together before I can be honest... communicate privately one by one, just for their previous offense and defense.
Alliance, I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to trust me, even if they trust me for a moment, they will change in the blink of an eye."
"In this case, I don't know what to say." Mr. Yu couldn't help but replied. "I am old, and these regular servants in the palace don't take me seriously. They just want to summon all the people for you."
People, I’m afraid, are also powerless.”
Cao Jie also continued to nod and said: "This is why I must meet you, old slave. It's not that I don't have some ideas, but the situation in front of me is really too dangerous. I have to fight with you no matter what before I fight to the death.
Your Majesty, I would like to say goodbye... After all, your Majesty and I are already so old."
With that said, Cao Jie took off the two thousand stone permanent attendant's crown on his head, exposed his gray hair, and bowed to the ground in the palace of the noble Yu, paying homage.
Seeing this, Mr. Yu suddenly hesitated to speak, but finally he smiled slightly, sat still, and accepted such a courtesy from the other party calmly.
It was getting very late. After Cao Jie finished his salute, he stepped back respectfully, then left Guiren Yu's palace directly and went to rest in his own room.
"So, Duke Cao has entered the palace?"
In front of the gate of Cao's Mansion, Gongsun Xun, who was returning home, held his knife and looked directly at the bearded scribe standing in front of him. As for Mr. Cao, who was supposed to be in charge here, he didn't know where he was at this time.
"Report to Dr. Gongsun!" Luo Mu saluted respectfully. "That's right. My lord is a regular servant of the Beigong. How can he stay in the inner house all the time?"
Gongsun Xun couldn't help but sneer: "You are also a scholar, but your voice is really sincere..."
Luo Mu lowered his head and said nothing.
"Well, my poker skills are inferior to others and I have nothing to say, but where is the general trend of the people in the world, I hope you, Luo Zixian, can take care of it!" After saying this, Gongsun Xun let go of his hand and was about to turn around and leave.
"Won't the doctor go in and conduct a search?" Luo Mu suddenly raised his head and asked. "You are an official in the capital, and you also have the power and responsibility to enforce the law."
"It came in a hurry." Gongsun Xun responded solemnly. "There was no time to forge counter-proposals, seals, tiger talismans and other items. And if the entire Cao family cannot be wiped out, what is the use of inspecting some property at this time?"
Luo Mu stood alone in front of the Cao Mansion, but he didn't know how to respond.
After a night of depression, Cao Jie's counterattack suddenly appeared on the afternoon of the second day.
"Please stay with me, Mr. Yuan." In a hall in the Weiguan Temple of the Sili School, Gongsun Xun, who was handling Yuan She's duties on behalf of Yang Qiu, suddenly stopped talking in front of Yuan Wei. "I'll go out and receive an official document."
Yuan She, Yuan Wei, and Yuan Shu, who didn't know why they appeared here, all raised their eyes to look at Shi Wanglang and Wang Jingxing, the director of the Secretariat, who appeared outside the lobby, and then they didn't say much.
"What's the matter?" Gongsun Xun came outside the hall and almost immediately felt a bad feeling in his heart.
Wang Lang looked serious. He paused for a moment and then said seriously: "Brother Wenqi, there is something that Mr. Qiao specially asked me to tell you. I don't know whether it is good or bad..."
"Tell me more." After hearing this, Gongsun Xun became more and more alert.
"Today, an official wrote to the court, bluntly saying that the eunuchs harmed the country and impeached Cao Jie, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong..."
After only listening to half a sentence, Gongsun Xun felt his scalp numb. Impeaching Cao Jie was nothing more than impeaching Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong. Is this crazy? Don’t you know how to break down and distinguish the main contradictions?! But with the
Now, to put it bluntly, the chief villains of the eunuch camp are Cao Jie and Wang Fu, right?
To be honest, Gongsun Xun would have thought that this kind of person who carries a big banner and destroys the overall situation is just some people who are stupid. After all, there are just as many idiots among scholars as they just think that the "Book of Filial Piety" is all-powerful.
A thousand stones would cost you a dozen...
However, as soon as Cao Jie entered the palace, someone was so impatient to stir up trouble. That must not be stupid, but bad! There must be collusion and premeditation, which is to separate Cao Jie, who was originally alone, and the other newly promoted palaces.
The middle and noble people are united as one.
It is even conceivable that as soon as this bad guy takes the lead, a large group of fools will immediately follow him with enthusiasm... And what is even more tragic is that Gongsun Xun, Qiao Xuan, and Yang Ci, who are well aware of this, have
There is absolutely no way to stop it, and you might even be hijacked!
Otherwise? Do you want to stand up and say that Cao Jie is a bad guy, but Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong are good guys?!
"That's it. Brother Wenqi can take care of himself." Wang Lang couldn't help but sigh.
In other words, if you stay in a place like Shangshutai for a year and a half, even a white lotus will turn into a black lotus, let alone such a smart young man?
"I understand." Gongsun Xun sighed and could only say this. "Go back and tell Mr. Qiao that I will be careful."
In this way, Wang Lang said goodbye and went back, and Gongsun Xun re-entered the hall to face Yuan She, the regular attendant.
"Yuan Changshi." As soon as he came back, Gongsun Xun was too lazy to talk nonsense with him. He just sat down in the upper seat with his hands behind his back, and his expression changed. "In this situation, I only have one thing to say to you, don't go back home.
, now go out of the city and return to your hometown to retire!"
Yuan She was stunned immediately, but after just one glance at Yuan Wei, he immediately summoned up the courage to ask, "I dare to ask Dr. Gongsun, but what happened?"
"Of course!" Gongsun Xun said calmly. "Cao Jie escaped into the Beigong alone yesterday. We actually have no way to deal with him. And then today someone impeached Cao Jie again. Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and many other ministers are colluding together. It seems that
It is to muddy the water and put us in a position of inability to advance or retreat..."
"In that case." Yuan She's eyes couldn't help but shine slightly. "I am old..."
"In this case." Gongsun Xun suddenly turned down his face. "It becomes even more difficult for me to show leniency to you, a fish that slipped through the net! I only gave you a second look for the sake of your fellow sect, Mr. Yuan. I promise you
You are returning home. But if you still don’t know what you want, I will have to beat you to death in this hall today, and then hang you in front of the city gate to be with Wang Fu! Do you know that Wang Fu was so arrogant in the past?
Are there maggots already?"
Yuan She was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say; Yuan Wei was also dumbfounded, stunned and speechless; even Yuan Shu couldn't help but carefully look at Gongsun Xun who was talking arrogantly at this time, and then secretly sighed that what his father said was not true.
Xu...Of course, back to the present, if others were talking such nonsense, the three people named Yuan in this class would probably just take it as a joke. But the person in front of me is probably really able to do what he says, because Wang Fu and Duan Xi
, Chen Jiu is indeed a lesson to others!
In other words, Gongsun Xun said so. If you don’t believe it, you may really get maggots!
After waiting for a long time, seeing that the hall was speechless for a while, Gongsun Xun became even more impatient and became more and more angry: "Yuan Changshi, the current situation is only about permission or disapproval. Don't think you can really delay it here.
You must know that the more difficult the situation becomes, the more I will do something thunderous to rectify the situation and calm people's hearts! Zhu Huan, Zhu Huan, do you think that because your surname is Yuan, you are not a eunuch?! Can I keep you?
A life, what else do you want?!"
Yuan She turned to look at Yuan Wei, who was silent next to him, and then raised his hands to beg for mercy: "Old slave, I don't have any luck, I just hope that Gongsun Zhonglang will grant me permission because I am a member of the Runan Yuan clan.
Bring some belongings back to your hometown, so that you can buy some land and live in your old age..."
Gongsun Xun couldn't help but look at Yuan Shu with a sneer: "Brother Jiujiu, don't you Yuan family have money to support the orphans and widows in the clan?"
When Yuan Shu heard this, he just lowered his head and smiled: "Look at what Wen Qi said, it's okay if you don't admit it. Now that you have been carried into the door, there will be no shortage of food and clothing for this elder, don't you think?"
Yuan She couldn't help being shocked when he heard this, and then he felt like the world was spinning and he fell to the ground!
By the way, Yuan Changshi is also a big eunuch who has been hanging out with each other since the Liang Ji era. How can he not hear the meaning of Yuan Shu's words? Not to mention how different his attitude is from Yuan Feng in the past. Just listening to this meaning, it seems that he feels that he
He has lost power, so he is considered a redundant waste!
And if this is the case, if he really returns to his hometown in Runan but has no wealth in his hands, wouldn’t he really be lonely and helpless? But then I thought about it, in front of this White Horse Zhonglang who really dared to kill people right away, if Yuan
If you don't support yourself, how can you leave any wealth behind?
So, after thinking about it, the situation in front of me is actually half a dead end!
Damn that Cao Jie, couldn't he escape into Beigong one day later? Maybe he could escape unscathed in this way!
In short, as Yuan She sat on the ground, he became more and more sad and sad the more he thought about it. In addition, thinking about the wealth he had accumulated for most of his life, in the end, he actually sat in the hall and cried loudly... which also made him sad.
The officials and soldiers in the hall watched the excitement.
"Uncle." When Yuan Shu saw this, he couldn't help but grabbed his uncle's sleeve, pulled the latter outside the hall and whispered. "Such a person deserves the surname Yuan?!"
"After all, it is all thanks to the Yuan family." Yuan Wei had no choice but to bite the bullet and replied. "When your father was still in good health, you had told him before that you must protect him!"
"Didn't he already save his life?" Yuan Shu became even more impatient after hearing this. "What else do you want? Uncle, under the current situation, it is difficult to continue the execution of eunuchs, which is also because the power of eunuchs has declined.
situation. But what happened to my father before was that he could not intervene, but he actually sat back and watched the Yang family win a lot of popularity by overthrowing Wang Fu... Under such circumstances, if we forcefully protect a eunuch, how will the world look at us?
Yuanshi? Besides, didn’t my father ask us to pick up the Gongsunshi and Gongsun Xun before?”
Yuan Wei was a man without any ideas. Hearing his nephew's words, he immediately hesitated. On the other hand, Gongsun Xun in the hall also completely lost his patience. He had already called the officials to take down Yuan She.
Torture... As a result, both Yuan Wei and Yuan She were immediately panicked and did not dare to delay any further.
Finally, the two parties agreed that Yuan She's family property would be confiscated and he would leave Luo for nothing, while Yuan promised to escort the other party all the way to Runan and never come back.
And now that Yuan She has been assigned, so far, the eunuch group that relied on the September coup and the second party ban to establish its dominant position in the government has almost only a lonely leader, Cao Jie, still lingering in the palace.
Of course, the situation became more and more delicate as Cao Jie continued to hide in Beigong.
You know, compared with Yang Qiu, Gongsun Xun and others who were helpless, the mood in Shilin was getting more and more exciting. Then more and more people began to write letters requesting execution, and the targets were extended from Cao Jie to
Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong. Later, as the trend formed, some people even publicly raised the slogan of redressing the rebellion of General Dou Wu and Taiwei Chen Fan... Later, as expected, demands for the lifting of party imprisonment also appeared as a matter of course.
Already.
In fact, Gongsun Xun, Yang Qiu, Yang Ci, and Qiao Xuan all knew about this. Doing so would only anger the emperor and make him wary of this matter. He might even turn around directly, but they were unable to stop it at all.
and rebuttal. In fact, even Gongsun Xun had to bite the bullet and jointly signed this memorial with his colleagues at the Shangshutai. It probably meant asking for the death of Zhao Zhong or something... It was also a pain in the ass!
Of course, privately Gongsun Xun and Yang Qiu had some opinions. They had agreed long ago that as long as Cao Jie dared to leave the forbidden palace and the imperial guards, they would ignore everything and directly point to the loopholes in Cao Paishi's body.
A 'accidental injury'... In short, we must not let Cao Jie, the leader of the eunuch party, go. Otherwise, not to mention the matter being abandoned halfway, even a violent counterattack may not come as soon as it is announced.
But having said that, the time has come to April, and it is getting hotter and hotter in Luozhong, but Cao Jie is still motionless, like a tortoise, even more tolerant than a tortoise.
You must know that the body of his former partner Wang Fu now not only stinks and is infested with maggots, but also sometimes drips some unknown light yellow liquid... For this reason, Gongsun Xun had to order it to be moved to the city gate.
to prevent it from splashing on passers-by! However, Cao Jie just didn’t move and seemed really prepared to linger in the palace until he died of old age!
However, as the turmoil in the outer court became more and more serious, the critical point that Cao Hanfeng had been waiting for finally came.
The person who caused the trouble was an old man, a native of the Liang Kingdom, called Shen Zhong. It is said that this man publicly petitioned to rehabilitate Chen Fan. Dou Wu did not tell the emperor, but actually asked the emperor to completely abolish the Huangmen system.
Moreover, his words were extreme, and he was somewhat selfish in seeking fame, just like Cai Yong before... At this time, the emperor finally became impatient and directly dismissed this man who claimed to be a man for fifteen years and drove him back to his hometown.
There is no doubt that this is a signal, a signal that the emperor's attitude has changed.
After hearing this, Cao Jie knew that the time had come and finally acted quickly.
"Mr. Cao." That night, a middle-aged palace maid suddenly appeared in Cao Jie's room with a frightened expression. In order not to arouse the hostility and vigilance of other regular attendants these days, the latter has been staying in the North Palace almost all day.
Just sitting in the dormitory.
"Is the matter done?" Cao Jie, who was sitting in front of the bronze mirror, asked calmly without looking back while arranging his increasingly gray hair.
"It was done, but it was not done well!" The palace maid immediately kowtowed and apologized. "I also ask for your forgiveness, Mr. Cao."
"That's interesting." Cao Jie, who had already begun to put on his crown of two thousand stone regular servants, inevitably turned around curiously. "What does it mean to 'do it even if it's done'?"
"Reply to Mr. Cao." The middle-aged palace maid nervously looked back at the tightly closed door behind her, and then replied in a low voice. "The old nobleman drank the bottle of wine, but he also noticed something..."
Even though Cao Jie was very scheming, he couldn't help but panic at this moment: "Did Mr. Yu find out?"
"Yes!" the middle-aged palace maid kowtowed again and replied. "But the noble lady was not angry or angry. Instead, she sent the others away and continued to drink all the wine in front of me. She also asked me to give it to Mr. Cao.
Bring some words."
Cao Jieqian sat for a long time before he trembled and said, "What message does the noble man want you to bring?"
"The old nobleman said... She has always been unlucky. Although she had a son who was established as emperor, he died at the age of two and was not blessed. On the contrary, she incurred the jealousy of the Liang family. She could hardly think about it every day in those days.
She barely survived because of the care of Mr. Cao and the previous deceased servants; and a few years ago, it was Mr. Cao who asked Xiaohuangmen to perform the memorial to seal her and other unnamed ones.
Several of her concubines were nobles and ladies, and she was allowed to be buried with Emperor Xianshun after her death; even in her family, it was only with the help of Duke Cao that several of her children could become officials... Such kindness was repaid with life.
As it should be, let alone at her age, there is nothing to hide between life and death!"
Hearing these words, Cao Jie felt his mouth was dry and his mind was numb. He paused for a long time before he recovered: "You can go down now. Don't tell anyone else about this. I will give him a gift after Mr. Yu is buried."
Your daughter, I will send you out of the palace and return home... I will never break my promise."
The palace maid thanked her profusely, but was also very nervous, so she hurriedly said goodbye and left.
As soon as Cao Jie and others left, he couldn't help but stand up and wander around in the room... He wanted to go to Yu Guiren's palace several times to take advantage of the last chance to apologize, but he still didn't have the courage to go out several times.
In desperation, with his mind agitated, filled with various emotions such as gratitude, shame, fear, etc., this powerful eunuch who had been in charge of the Han Dynasty for more than ten years had no choice but to remove himself from the crown of two thousand stone permanent attendants again and show his gray hair.
He tied his hair into a bun, then stood up in his residence, kowtowed in the direction of the palace, and then burst into tears.
The next day, Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, the biological mother of Emperor Chong of the Han Dynasty, and the most senior concubine in the palace, passed away in the palace... Because of her old age, no one cared about him, and because she was Shun.
The Emperor's nobles were buried in the Emperor's Zhang Ling, so the Emperor decreed that all officials should be dismissed for three days, and all the imperial court should wear plain clothes for two days. Following the previous practice, all officials and those with high rank in the internal affairs would be mourned in Zhang.
Mausoleum.
————My legs are still a little painful at the dividing line——————
"Yuan She was a native of Runan. He was considered poor and humble as a Huangmen when he was young. During the reign of Emperor Huan of the later Han Dynasty, he gradually gained power. During the reign of Emperor Ling, Chen Fan and Dou Wu were defeated, the party was revived, Wanluo was in chaos, and the imperial servant Yuan Feng was the one who led it.
As they were from the same clan, they called each other brothers, and the Yuan family was in peace. At the beginning of the Guanghe period, Wang Fu was defeated, and She also lost power and returned to his hometown. He was old and had no children, so he asked his descendants from the same clan to succeed him. By that time, Yuan Feng was already ill.
Zhong couldn't see the matter, so he told his son Yuan Shu. When Shu heard about it, he was furious and slapped him with his hands. He said: "The eunuch has to live under the protection of the Yuan family. How can he ask for inheritance again? You are using your own name to consolidate your name."
Yuan Hu?' Pardon and Great Sorrow: 'I have been born into the Yuan family for decades, and now I know how noble the Yuan family is!'" - "Shishuo Xinyu". Jian Ao Chapter
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