The army conquered Runan, and people everywhere gradually regained their vitality and began to live and work in peace and contentment.
The street pavilion ten miles outside Ruyang City is surrounded by green mountains on both sides, and the water flows slowly. In the distance, the summer wind is ten miles away, caressing the mountains. There are dense trees on both sides of the official road, and the sun shines on the ground through the branches and leaves, covering the ground with mottled.
At the corner of the road, the convoy came slowly. The first thing that caught the eye was a neatly arranged Han army, with a steady pace and a strong military appearance.
Wang Jun was an envoy on behalf of the emperor, so he was an angel, and the soldiers guarding him were naturally elites from the central government.
Huangfu Song came with officials from all over Yuzhou to greet him.
The motorcade drove to the entrance of the street pavilion and stopped in front of the pavilion. Wang Jun, who had a white face and no beard, got off the carriage, and Huangfu Song and everyone went up to salute him.
Wang Jun was promoted.
He was originally a six-hundred-stone Huang Meng, but now he is a Thousand-Shizhong Palace Attendant.
There are generally three levels of eunuchs. The six-hundred-stone eunuchs are generally the Xiaohuangmen, Huangmenling, Shougongling, Shanglinyuanling, etc. They belong to the lowest eunuchs in the palace, followed by those in the imperial palace.
Servants who carry out daily necessities and low-level officials on duty.
The middle eunuch has the official rank of Qianshi. Generally, those who reach this position are collectively called middle palace officials, such as middle palace attendant, middle palace servant, middle palace prime minister, middle palace minister, etc. They belong to the role of steward in the palace.
As for the imperial eunuchs, they were eunuchs who could be compared with high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Their power was not limited to the palace, but also extended to imperial decrees.
Because their duty was to assist the emperor in conveying edicts and handling documents, and they had the ability to provide advice to the emperor at any time, they had great power. Great eunuchs like Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong lived outside the palace and had already communicated with the courtiers.
There is no difference. It is not like living in the palace and following the emperor around every day as everyone imagines.
After Wang Jun got off the carriage, he read out the emperor's imperial edict and encouraged Huangfu Song. The officers and soldiers were rewarded according to their merits. Huangfu Song was granted the title of Duxiang Marquis, Chen Mu was promoted to be the Sima of another department, Zhang Fei was promoted to be the Sima of another department, and the other minors were promoted.
High officials also have their own rewards.
After reading the imperial edict, Huangfu Song invited Wang Jun to Ruyang City to have a banquet together, and the guests of both parties had a great time.
Because eunuchs should nominally be under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu, so this time the deputy envoy was an official of the Shaofu.
After the banquet, Huangfu Song summoned the Shaofu Prime Minister Li Du.
The two of them gathered together in the corridor pavilion in the backyard of the government office.
"Degao."
When Huangfu Song saw Li Du coming, he laughed and said, "I miss him so much after not seeing him for so many years."
Li Du sighed: "Yizhen, we haven't seen each other for ten years."
"yes."
Huangfusong's eyes were full of memories: "Since the incident of Yuan Ligong, we had a hasty farewell in Jingzhou ten years ago. In ten years, we have grown old."
Talking about his uncle, Li Du smiled bitterly and said: "Thanks to Yizhen, otherwise, I would still be imprisoned."
"It's a pity Qinghuang, please sit down first."
Huangfusong shook his head.
Li Du knelt down and sat opposite Huangfu Song, and sneered: "Qinghuang must have had someone to add fuel to the flames that time."
Huangfu Song also sneered: "These new wealthy families have long lost the integrity of Yuan Li Gong Zhongju Gong Zhou Fugong and others. They are all fawning over eunuchs and working like dogs, which is disgusting."
"In today's court, except for Bo Xiangong, there is no one who has paid countless money to build the palace and bought an official position. Yuan Puppet, Deng Sheng and his like are people who have a simple meal in the corpse position. He Jin Cao Song, a relative of the eunuch party. It is even more ridiculous that Cui Lie claims to be You.
He is a famous scholar in the state, but he pays money faster than anyone else."
Li Du sighed.
Huangfu Song sighed and said: "The integrity of the Tianhan scholars has been completely destroyed by them. Fortunately, the party ban has been lifted, and the future will be an opportunity for us to show our talents."
The current court is no longer the court of more than ten or twenty years ago. At that time, although Hou Lan, Cao Jie, Wang Fu and others covered the sky with their hands, there were still a large number of upright officials who were not afraid of eunuchs. Even if they died calmly,
Willing to fight to the death.
In today's imperial court, apart from Yang Ci, who dared to fight with eunuchs and argue with Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, none of the other three ministers remained silent. Which one of them did not sit on the imperial court and act as a clay statue of a Bodhisattva? Even secretly.
Make friends with eunuchs and spend money to buy officials?
The world only knows that Huangfu Song was the last three famous generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but they don't know that he was also one of the former party members. His father, Huangfu Gui, and Chen Fan and Li Ying, who were imprisoned by the party at that time, were the best friends.
Once the party came to power, all the gentlemen and patriots in the world were killed to pieces.
A few years ago, Cao Luan, the prefect of Yongchang who was nicknamed Qinghuang, wanted to pray to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty to rehabilitate the party members, but in the end he could only end up being imprisoned and tortured to death. As a result, the descendants of the party members who were already in an extremely miserable situation were implicated again.
, all the five tribes were imprisoned and not allowed to be officials, making life even more difficult.
If it weren't for Huangfu Song this time, Li Du, as Li Ying's nephew, might still be imprisoned and never see the light of day.
Li Du shook his head and said, "It's not that easy."
A murderous look flashed between Huangfu Song's brows: "You are worried about those aristocratic families, right?"
"I can sort of see what happened back then. Those aristocratic families did not dare to confront the eunuchs head-on, and they beguiled upright gentlemen such as my uncle and Zhong Jugong and encouraged them. As a result, we were the ones who suffered, but they still controlled the government.
We are still working with the eunuchs, and we call them vain and arrogant. In the final analysis, we are just taking advantage of us."
Li Du clenched his fists, feeling extremely angry.
Huangfu Song sneered: "Hou Lan, Cao Jie, Wang Fu and others placed people from the clan as officials in various places, occupying the official positions that the aristocratic families should have wanted. The struggle for interests between them was like water and fire. However, they promoted three monarchs and eight heroes.
Gu Chong went forward and implicated Duke Yuan Li and others, and now he still has the nerve to seize the court, which is really abominable."
Li Du said thoughtfully: "Now only the Yang family and the Xun family have some foundation left."
"Are you blaming them?"
Huangfusong heard something in his words and chuckled: "De Gao, don't be resentful. Back then, Yang Binggong had done his best, and the Xun family also died. There were hundreds or even thousands of descendants of the aristocratic families who were implicated, some of them
It’s worse than your family, with many families broken up and people killed.”
"I can only hate that old thief Zhang Huan!" Li Du punched the table, extremely angry.
"Hey, Ming Gong has also been deceived. Don't get angry if you are a noble man. Seeing old friends again, you should be calm and reminiscing about the past, so why are you angry?"
Seeing that Li Du was furious, Huangfu Song spoke to comfort him.
"Yizhen, I hate you so much."
Li Du sighed: "I wish I could kill all the eunuchs in the world."
Huangfu Song said calmly: "De Gao, don't be impatient. Now that the party ban has just been lifted, they slander us as cronies, so let's be such cronies. There are still many old friends from back then, including Yuan Jiegong.
To get a pardon, take it step by step slowly, and then try to figure it out, sooner or later you will get ahead."
"oh?"
Li Du's eyes lit up: "Does Yizhen have a countermeasure?"
Huangfu Song sneered: "You can tell by your high virtue, why did the conflict between scholars and eunuchs become increasingly acute in those days?"
Li Du thought for a while and said: "The five princes and other eunuchs are doing the opposite, but Duke Zhongju and Duke Youping are upholding justice?"
Huangfusong shook his head and said: "That's just the surface. Didn't you say you had figured it out before? Can't you see that the key point lies in Taixue?"
"Tai Xue?"
"good."
Huangfu Song nodded: "Tai Xue was originally the foundation of our Han Dynasty officials. The children of officials from all over the country enrolled in school. After completing their studies, they could quickly become officials. This went on and on, forming countless aristocratic families. And if you look at what happened later,
When the Five Marquises were in chaos, how many members of their families were serving as officials in various places?"
Li Du suddenly realized: "So that's it. I know why those aristocratic families encouraged my uncle to kill Zhang Cheng and Zhang Shuo. It turned out that their descendants' ascending path was occupied by eunuchs, so they instigated the upright people in the court to do it for them."
Get ahead."
Huangfu Song sneered and said: "That's right. We and our fathers are party members for justice, while those noble families are for profit. The eunuchs caused trouble, but they didn't dare to fight, but our fathers did. It's a pity that we fought until the end.
Party members shed blood and died, but when those aristocratic families saw our failure, they began to collude with the eunuchs, spend money to buy officials, and collude with others. It is true that snakes follow their own path and rats follow their own path."
"In that case, why does Yizhen say that we still have a future?"
Li Du was puzzled.
Huangfu Song said: "Although those rats are afraid of the power of eunuchs, the appetite of eunuchs is getting bigger and bigger. After paying the money to buy an official position, they still get a large amount of money to build the palace every year. It is like a bottomless hole. No matter how big the family is,
Even if they are wealthy, it is difficult to maintain. Do you think they will continue to endure it?"
Li Du suddenly woke up and said: "I understand, just like the conflicts we had with the Five Marquises and others back then, the officials in the imperial court now have irreconcilable conflicts with Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others. One day they will meet
Another outbreak?"
"good."
Huangfusong chuckled and said: "Today's aristocratic families are all attached to General He Jin, and the old things of the past may happen again. If nothing unexpected happens, just as we were used by them back then, He Jin will also be seduced by the aristocratic family.
If we fight against the eunuchs, it won't be long before our party members rise again."
"But the emperor trusts Zhang Rang and others so much, I'm afraid it will be difficult for He Jin to take any action."
Li Du hesitated. Although he had only been released not long ago, many disciples and former officials who respected Li Ying were still there. They helped him pass on a lot of information and let him know that the emperor now had tight control over the court. Zhang asked Zhao Zhong and others
People also have a chance to win, and even He Jin will have difficulty dealing with them.
"So just like when Duke Yuan Li killed Zhang Cheng and Zhang Shuo, and was hated by the eunuchs, who tricked Emperor Huan into killing party members, now they also need an excuse."
Huangfusong's eyes flashed with a strange light: "There is no such excuse, I will give them an excuse."
"Oh? What's the excuse?" Li Du asked curiously.
"A few letters."
"letter?"
"good."
Huangfu Song said: "I found several letters on the battlefield yesterday. They are evidence of Zhang Rang's guests colluding with the Yellow Turbans. I asked someone to find a way to pass them on to Wang Yun's subordinates."
"Wang Yun?"
Li Du thought deeply: "Will he play?"
Huangfusong shook his head: "I don't know either, so I arranged something else."
"What method?"
"Do you know about Chen Mu?"
"After the recently famous Qu Nihou?"
"good."
Huangfu Song said coldly: "I originally thought he was a talented person, but I didn't expect that he would collude with the eunuchs."
"I've heard about this too."
Li Du frowned and said, "Originally, he was recommended by Lu Zhi and should enter the Imperial Academy. But Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong slandered him and actually let him go to the Hongdu School. And I heard that he and the middle palace attendant Wang Jun called him brothers?"
If Chen Mu were here, he would definitely be shocked by the intelligence capabilities of these people.
He and Wang Jun met in Lu Zhi's military camp. This was already known to them, so how could they not be surprised?
Huangfu Song sneered: "Do you know where Wang Jun is now?"
Li Du thought: "Chen Mu is in the army?"
"Um."
Huangfu Song nodded: "So I beat it up deliberately yesterday and showed the letters in front of him. Do you think if Chen Mu was the eunuch, would he report the letter to Zhang Rang?"
Li Du understood, opened his eyes wide, and said, "In this case, Wang Yun will have to go to court even if he doesn't have to go to court, and the family will have to fight to the death with the eunuchs?"
"Exactly."
Huangfusong laughed heartily.
Li Du also laughed.
The two looked at each other and smiled, saying nothing.