When Zhang Rang slowly stepped out of the carriage, there was immediately a young man next to him who gave him a bamboo hat.
The cold wind blew in his face, making him shiver.
This Luoyang palace is extremely huge, but once winter comes, it becomes very cold.
Especially when it's raining continuously like this, the whooshing cold wind combined with the humid air seems to freeze people's bones.
Entering along the compound road outside Xuanwu Gate in the north, you are faced with a huge white marble staircase. As you climb up the stairs, Zhang Rang is thinking quickly in his mind.
As an eunuch, reputation and wealth are often trivial matters, because these things cannot give him power.
How to please the emperor and gain his favor is the top priority.
Don't you see how powerful Wang Fu was back then? Once he was disliked by the emperor, he was quickly killed by Yang Qiu. Even his body was abandoned on both sides of the road for wild dogs to eat. How miserable his later life was.
Even if it was not for himself but for the sake of his clan and family, Zhang Rang had to continue on the path of pleasing the emperor. He could no longer look back.
Therefore, Zhang Rang knew very well that the emperor's troubles were his troubles, and his purpose was to help the emperor solve his troubles.
If Huangfu Song has really become a serious problem for the emperor, then...
Zhang Rang's eyes flickered as he walked through the hall and arrived at Chongde Hall.
The guards who were patrolling along the way saw him and gave way to him. When the palace maids and eunuchs saw him, they all bent down and bowed. In this palace, Zhang Rang was the fourth person after the emperor, the empress dowager and the empress!
"The emperor is furious."
When Zhang Rang arrived outside Chongde Hall, the guards at the door immediately told him in a low voice.
Zhang Rang nodded. His spies were everywhere in the palace, including wherever the emperor was on weekdays, and whenever he was needed, he could appear at any time.
Eunuchs did not follow the emperor every day, they also had their own responsibilities and tasks to do.
For example, the Changshang Shi was responsible for handling the documents at the Chancellor's Desk, selecting these documents and handing them over to the Emperor for review, which was a bit like the Supervisor of Ceremonies in the Ming Dynasty.
I quickly entered the Chongde Hall, and I heard the emperor's roar outside the hall: "This requires money, and that also requires money. Where can I, the emperor, get so much money, and where can those refugees go? You wait.
Are you planning to cause another Yellow Turban disaster?"
Zhang Rang saw several ministers in the court standing on one side, headed by Situ Zhang Wen, Guang Luxun, Liu Kuan, and Shaofu Huang Wan. If there were anyone in the court who cared about the victims of the disaster in Luoyang, it was probably just these few people.
Others like Situ Yuan Wei, Da Honglu, Cao Song and others would not care about the life and death of the untouchables outside the city. In fact, the emperor did not care either, but who made him the emperor?
No matter how much he cared about money, he still had to make money to support the refugees outside the city. Otherwise, once the millions of victims were taken advantage of by people with malicious intentions, a second Yellow Turban Rebellion would soon start.
At that time, it will not be Jizhou or Yuzhou that will be affected by the disaster, but the emperor's feet in Luoyang. Liu Hong does not want anything to happen to Luoyang.
Seeing Zhang Rang come in, Liu Hong reluctantly restrained his anger and shouted: "You go out first, and I will think of a solution."
Zhang Wen, Liu Kuan, Huang Wan and others had no choice but to retreat.
They were among the few honest people in the court. For example, Zhang Wen had to pay Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty every year to buy his official position, and he had to raise money to pay it in order to keep his official position. You can know that they are not rich.
Winter is coming soon, and there are nearly a million victims outside Luoyang City, waiting for food. Even if they are sold, they will not be able to help many victims. They can only come to Han Ling Emperor for money.
But the problem now is that the emperor's family has no surplus money. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty just fought the war. The money from Xiyuan is flowing out every day to buy food to relieve the victims, but it is a drop in the bucket. Seeing that there is another war to fight in the northwest, now I
They all looked sad. What could Liu Hong do? The emperor was also in despair.
"His Majesty."
Zhang Rang waited for the ministers to leave before coming in and bowing to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.
"sit down."
Liu Hong nodded, breathed a long sigh of relief, and sat down on the wooden collapse. His whole body suddenly relaxed a lot. Only in front of a trusted eunuch like Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong could he show a relaxed look.
Zhang Rang knelt down and sat aside. Zhao Zhong, who was serving on the other side, winked at him and glanced at the pile of bamboo slips on the table. Zhang Rang understood and nodded slightly.
"Oh, money is being used everywhere. The Yellow Turbans have just been pacified, but things are not peaceful over there in the west."
Liu Hong took out a bamboo slip from the desk and waved it to Zhang Rang: "Those who are fighting outside have nothing to worry about. Not long after Dong Zhuo's defeat, someone in the Yushitai impeached Huangfu Song for his ineffective battle and wasting money and food.
.As the emperor, I am not as comfortable as an ordinary person."
It's a bit ridiculous to say that Huangfu Song's continuous battles were ineffective. He just put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Now he is working as a herdsman in Jizhou to protect the people. His momentum is booming. How could he have failed in his continuous battles?
However, it is true that money is wasted. Now Jizhou is also in a mess. People's livelihood is in decline and everything is in need of improvement. Not only can it no longer provide tax revenue to the central government, but it also has to be subsidized by the central government with food and grass money. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty has recently become worried.
.
The money he earned in the early years allowed him to build palaces and gardens everywhere, and have fun eating, drinking, and having fun. But now when he suddenly needed such a large sum of money, he couldn't afford it.
Seeing the emperor's attitude towards this memorial, Zhang Rang already had an idea in his mind. He put his hands in his sleeves and bowed his waist and said: "Your Majesty, Jizhou is now pacified. All that's left is to appease the people. Why not
Recall Huangfu Song, leave half of his troops in Luoyang, and let him take the other half to Chang'an to defend against the Qiang people?"
Summon Huangfu Song to Chang'an?
Liu Hong narrowed his eyes. The Northern Army that Lu Zhi had brought to Jizhou was now in the hands of Huangfu Song. On the contrary, Zhu Jun only had a small group of soldiers and horses, with a total of only ten or twenty thousand soldiers.
After getting rid of the border garrison troops in Youliang and Sanzhou, Huangfu Song held more than half of the elite forces in the Han Dynasty's interior. If he rebelled, Luoyang wouldn't even have many troops to defend it.
Now that there is a sudden big chaos in the northwest, He can just go in and out of Luoyang. He can justifiably take over the Northern Army first, and then send Huangfu Song to Chang'an. This can not only divide the power in Huangfu Song's hands, but also take this person away.
The hot potato is thrown away in Guanzhong first, and then the issue of his military power will be slowly dealt with.
This is a clever trick. When did Zhang Rang become so smart?
"good idea."
Liu Hong's frown suddenly relaxed, he slapped the table and said, "That's it."
Zhang Rang stood aside and said with a smile: "I heard that Zhang Jiao had cholera in Jizhou, destroyed his family, and collected countless gold, silver and jewels. Huangfu Song defeated Zhang Jiao in a battle and must have captured countless coins. It is better to order him to hand over the money to the national treasury.
, to make up for the empty treasury.”
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records that the reason why Huangfu Song was demoted was because Zhang Rang asked him for a bribe of 50 million yuan, but Huangfu Song refused to give it, so Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong joined forces to slander Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and demoted him.
In fact, what did Zhang Rang want an eunuch to do with so much money? When Queen He poisoned Wang Meiren, Zhang asked Zhao Zhong and other ten ministers to pool money together, and they managed to collect 10 million to appease Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. You can know that Zhang Rang
These people themselves don't have much money.
If others use bribes to buy officials, shouldn't they all be given to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty?
For example, Cao Song spent 100 million yuan to buy a Taiwei, in name only to bribe the eunuchs, but it would be a ghost if the 100 million yuan fell into the hands of Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others.
Therefore, the only one who was truly greedy was Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. These regular attendants were just tools to help him make money.
As Chen Mu analyzed Xun He before, there is no use in overthrowing Zhang Rang. As long as Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty is still thinking about making money and enjoying himself, the political clarity imagined by the party members will never be realized.
.
After listening to Zhang Rang's suggestion, Liu Hong nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, if Huangfu Song attacks and kills Zhang Jiao, he will definitely capture countless things. Go and ask him to get the money."
Zhang Rang's face was neither sad nor happy, he lowered his head and said, "Wei!"
It was definitely not morally right for the emperor to let Huangfu Song take the money. There is no reason in this world for the emperor to order his ministers to hand over money.
So at this time, the role of Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others as a scapegoat was reflected.
It is much more convenient to ask for money in Zhang Rang's name.
This is also the reason why Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong have been reviled by countless people, but they always remain standing.
Because they are taking the blame for the emperor.
Is there anything better in this world than taking the blame for the emperor?
After He Shen saw it, he would probably call him an expert.