In fact, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty had always been very good at balancing power, including deposing the queen, establishing Hongdu sect, suppressing aristocratic families, promoting poor families, dividing power, etc.
During his more than 20 years in office, except for the early days when Wang Fuhou Lan took power when he was still young and had fierce conflicts with party members, when he grew up, power was basically firmly in his hands.
Although he did not have the talent to govern and secure the country, the emperor had a set of mental plans.
Chen Mu's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain could be said to have hit He Jin within seven inches, which made Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty very satisfied.
He said cheerfully: "This is a clever plan. You have also done great service for me, but I don't know how to reward you."
Chen Mu cupped his hands and said with a smile: "It is your duty as a minister to do your best for Your Majesty. How can you expect a reward?"
"If you don't reward your merits, wouldn't it make the meritorious officials feel cold?"
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty pondered and said: "Last time I wanted to make your father a marquis, but you tried your best not to refuse. This time you are not allowed to refuse. I will make your father the official of Zhongsan and the Marquis of Duting. You can come to Luoyang to take up the post on a certain day.
"
Chen Mu's heart sank, but his face said calmly: "Your Majesty's kindness is unforgettable. It's just that my father is old and has lost a leg and a hand, so it may be difficult for him to travel."
Refused?
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty thought about it and found that it was indeed inappropriate to travel thousands of miles to Luoyang after losing an arm and a leg. What's more, as a well-known filial son in the country, Chen Mu also had enough reasons to refute.
Thinking of this, he praised and said: "Zi Gui is indeed filial. If that's the case, let's do this for now. Zi Gui's sworn brother Liu Xuande has made many military exploits and has been the prime minister of Jinan for three years. He has made outstanding achievements and should be transferred to Luoyang this year.
, serve as a court official."
"Brother, thank you, Your Majesty."
Chen Mu smiled and said: "My brother Liu Xuande is also a brother of His Majesty's family and is loyal to the Han Dynasty. He must be very happy when he hears your Majesty's call. I'm afraid he has been looking forward to it for a long time, waiting to come to Beijing to serve Your Majesty."
"My brother, Ping Huang Jin, fought against Zhang Ju, eliminated the rebellion, and made great achievements in battle. In the past, he was just famous and had never met him. It's time to meet him now."
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty lay back on the wooden platform and waved his hands lazily: "Zi Gui, things are busy at the Chancellery, so you can go."
"I excuse myself."
Chen Mu lowered his head, stood up, bowed his hands, and walked out backwards.
Turning around, his original smile instantly turned cold, and there was a hint of chill in his eyes.
The art of the emperor's mind, the way of balance.
I haven't become a force in the family yet. I'm just a few sworn brothers. Do you feel threatened?
However, Chen Mu also knew that Han Ling Emperor was not targeting him, but because of his power.
When the party members were growing in power, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty joined the eunuchs in suppressing the party members, thus starting the disaster of party imprisonment.
Later, the eunuchs became more powerful, and because of Empress Song's incident, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty began to alienate Wang Fu, Hou Lan and others, so he promoted Yang Qiu, killed Wang Fu, and finally disposed of Yang Qiu.
Achieve balance.
In addition, many measures were taken to suppress the Imperial Academy, sell officials in the West Garden, remove the Yuan family, eliminate the influence of the family after Yang Ci's death, smash the bureaucracy to pieces, etc.
In this way, whether it was eunuchs, party members or aristocratic families, the power in their hands was greatly weakened. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty benefited from this and became the biggest winner.
From this point of view, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty almost grew up from a power struggle. It is not surprising that he has such means and abilities.
Now the Qingzhou Group consisting of Liu, Guan, Zhang and Chen can be regarded as a newly reborn small political team in the imperial court.
Chen Mu was in charge of Shangshutai and managed the world's government affairs.
Liu Guan and Zhang were in charge of the place where the princes were located.
Not to mention that all the officials in Qingzhou who came from Taishan Academy looked up to Zheng Xuan, and Zheng Xuan admired Liu Bei and Chen Mu very much.
The main reason is that Chen Mu's governance in Qingzhou is very consistent with Zheng Xuan's thoughts.
Zheng Xuan was very satisfied with measures such as suppressing the powerful, helping poor families to go to school, strictly prohibiting land annexation, and taking care of the small peasant economy, and he greatly appreciated the policies they implemented.
As a result, Qingzhou is almost monolithic, and Liu, Guan, Zhang, and Chen will soon become the local emperors of Qingzhou.
As the emperor, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty naturally did not allow this kind of thing to happen.
Therefore, transferring Chen Mu back to the central government is only the first step.
The second step is to bring in Liu Bei, break up the group of four, and remove the backbone.
In an understatement, the Qingzhou Group, which the imperial court cannot get involved in now, was broken up.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty used this trick to capture the thief and capture the king. He was very cunning and skillful in balancing.
No wonder he said that he would transfer Chen Mu to Yangzhou in the future, and even generously asked him to be Yangzhou's shepherd. It turned out that he had already thought of the hostage candidate.
However, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty certainly didn't know that these methods were actually harmless things.
Because no matter how shrewd he is, he cannot predict the date of his death.
After all, a person who cannot control his own desires will eventually fall under his own desires, no matter how smart he is.
Returning to the Chancellor's Desk, Chen Mu began to deal with today's government affairs.
Unexpectedly, Tingwei Wu Gong was waiting for him.
When he saw Wu Gong in the side hall of Mingguang Hall, that is, in his office, Chen Mu laughed and said, "Dali, is it about the theft case in Hongnong County?"
He had already guessed Wu Gong's intention.
Wu Gong said with some embarrassment: "It turns out that Shangshu Ling already knew about it. Yes, it is indeed this case."
"Well, I've read the official documents before, but I didn't expect the case to be quite tortuous."
Chen Mu sat in his seat and asked Wu Gong to sit down.
There were many doubts about the theft case in Hongnong last time, so Chen Mu called back and asked the local government to continue investigating.
After checking it out, it turned out to be quite interesting.
It turned out that one time Wang Yi went to the city to visit Wang Yi, and she was attracted by the wealthy businessman Zhang Dou. She was shocked. However, the couple was very loving, and there was no place for him to interfere.
Later, he thought of bribing Lu Hun and ordering Guo Yong to imprison Wang Yi on a charge. However, before the matter was revealed, Guo Yong and his men took the bribe money and kicked him out of the county government office, and he was even beaten up by Guo Yong.
Zhang Dou didn't ask any questions before going to see Guo Yong. Guo Yong turned out to be a party member. Before he became an official, he regretted that he did not die with Dou Wu, Chen Fan and Li Ying.
During the Yellow Turban Rebellion a few years ago, after the party pardoned him, he was invited to serve as an official by his friends. He belonged to a very stubborn faction, and it would be fine if he bribed him and Guo Yong didn't kill him.
When the first plan failed, Zhang Dou came up with another one. He sent people to follow Wang Yi every day, and finally waited until one day when Wang Yi got drunk, he used a vicious plan to frame him.
The reason why he was not so mad as to kill someone was because Zhang Dou was not sure whether Wang Yi's wife would remarry.
The customs and habits of the Han Dynasty were somewhat similar to those of today. It was normal for couples to divorce before. It was also common for a wife to remarry after her death and for her husband to remarry after his death.
For example, the parents of He Jin and Queen He both had ex-wives and ex-husbands, and they were reorganized families.
There was no such thing as the Three Obediences and Four Virtues after the Song Dynasty, nor was there the chastity memorial arch established by Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism. At that time, the relationship between men and women all depended on the individual.
But there are also many people who are unwilling to remarry, like Liu Bei's mother.
The main reason is that I heard that Wang Yi and his wife were very loving. If he was killed, Wang Yi's wife might not remarry because she had to raise children.
If he was convicted of stealing, it means that Wang Yi has bad moral character and may remarry.
Therefore, Zhang Dou decided to frame him.
Unfortunately, Chen Mu discovered a trace of doubt in the seemingly well-thought-out plan, and under the investigation of Lu Hun and Guo Yong, the truth finally came to light.
Now the case was once again reported to Shangshutai and Tingwei. Originally, the exchange of documents between the two parties only required a visit from Tingwei's Lingshi, but Wu Gong was so convinced that he came over to sign the documents in person.
After getting the documents, Wu Gong asked before leaving: "By the way, Minister, I have one more thing to ask."
"Dali, please speak."
Chen Mu smiled slightly. Tingwei was in charge of the imperial prison and was one of the few officials with military power in Luoyang. Although he did not have much military power, he was just the hundreds of jailers in the imperial prison. But who could say for sure what would happen in the future?
Sometimes, just a few hundred people may have a miraculous effect, so making friends with Wu Gong is not a bad thing.
"Zhang Dou made a false accusation. How should we be sentenced?"
Wu Gong asked.
“What should the law be like?”
"According to law, if the false accusation is successful and causes consequences, the market should be abandoned. But his false accusation failed and did not cause much consequences."
"That's it."
Chen Mu thought for a while, and found that the laws of the Han Dynasty were still very humane. The crime of frame-up was called the crime of false accusation at that time. If it resulted in serious consequences, it would not only be the same crime as murder, but would even be punished, causing harm to the family.
However, if there are no serious consequences, the penalty must be carefully considered, and the penalty must not be too light. At worst, it must be a heavy fine, and the minimum sentence is ten years in prison.
The main reason is that false accusations became common during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which made people panic and shaken the interests of the rulers. Later generations learned their lesson and punished false accusations heavily.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Mu had an idea flash in his mind and said with a smile: "Dali, why would this person falsely accuse others?"
you still need to ask?
Wu Gong replied without hesitation: "Because he fell in love with other people's wives and wanted to frame others and seize other people's wives."
Well, how is this person different from Cao Cao?
Chen Mu then said: "This is the cause of the matter, and this can be used to determine the punishment."
"How to impose a sentence?"
Wu Gong was puzzled.
Chen Mu chuckled lightly and slowly said a few words: "It's nature is very good at controlling disasters, and cutting it off can cure it forever."
"This...I don't quite understand."
Wu Gong was confused. He didn't know which words Chen Mu was talking about and what they meant when combined.
"Corruption."
Chen Mu said two words expressionlessly.
hiss.
Wu Gong took a breath of air and subconsciously pinched his legs.
Good guy, this is such a cutting-and-permanent treatment.
However, although I feel that this punishment is a little harsh, it is not unreasonable.
Wu Gong nodded: "Okay, then let's torture him to see if he still covets other people's wives."
Watching Wu Gong leave, Chen Mu smiled and continued to handle government affairs.
Corruption, also known as palace punishment, was officially abolished by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, during the founding years of the Sui Dynasty.
Later, it was no longer called a punishment, but a legitimate surgery, mainly used on eunuchs.
But in the Han Dynasty, castration was a common punishment. The most famous one was of course Sima Qian. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, this punishment was used less, but it was not absent.
Like Zhong Yao and Chen Qun, they were staunch supporters of castration, advocating that all prisoners captured during battles with enemy forces should be castrated.
Therefore, when Chen Mu proposed palace punishment, it was really not a big deal, it was just a normal sentencing.