At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 2 What is Qing Zhi?
In the courtyard, the two people drinking opposite each other seemed a bit silent, just burying their heads in drinking.

Not long after, the wine in the jar had bottomed out. Zhou Qi, who was not good at drinking, felt a little drunk at this time, but he relaxed a lot.

Holding the wine bowl, he shook his head and asked, "Brother Bird, what do you think of Emperor Huan?"

Xiang Hong drank a lot and was still relatively clear-headed, but when he heard this, he frowned and said, "Are you talking about the late emperor?"

Zhou Qi didn't speak, just nodded with a smile.

Xiang Hong pondered for a while, and said: "There are many rumors among the people that the late emperor reigned for 20 years. On the contrary, the tyrannical government and vicious virtues it has practiced can hardly be contained even in a letter."

When Zhou Qi heard this, he burst out laughing and said, "What my brother said is the scholar's evaluation of the late emperor!"

In this era, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, including the current emperor, was cast aside by scholars all over the world, and some people even compared them with Jie and Zhou, which shows how bad the reputation of these two emperors was among the people.

But everything has two sides. When Zhou Qi was sitting on the bench in his previous life, he liked to read history books.He stood in the long river of history and watched the deeds of the two, but he would have many different views from ordinary people.

Xiang Hong frowned slightly, Weng said: "Isn't it right?"

Zhou Qi ate a piece of dog meat and said: "As far as I know, the late emperor was only fifteen years old when he succeeded to the throne. At that time, his relative, General Liang Ji, took control of the government. He first poisoned Emperor Zhi, and then in order to control the emperor, he The late emperor ascended the throne at a young age. After the late emperor succeeded to the throne, there were relatives inside who interfered with the government affairs, there were nobles outside who controlled the place, and there were only a few eunuchs around him who could serve as confidants."

"Under internal and external troubles, the first emperor endured for thirteen years, and finally used eunuchs to kill Liang Ji and wiped out his relatives in one fell swoop. Because the relatives were too powerful, they even led to the dismissal of all officials in the court."

"Once the eunuchs gained power, the first five of them were granted the title of marquis on the same day. As a result, the eunuch's power was transferred to both the government and the public. Eventually, the late emperor became jealous and demoted the five marquises."

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi sneered again and again and said: "The late emperor demoted the five princes, and the scholars thought they could be unscrupulous. They ignored the court's pardon order and arbitrarily hunted and killed eunuchs and those who were friendly to the eunuchs. There were also Li Ying and others who raised imperial students and tourists. , make friends with students from various counties, praise each other, and accumulate reputation. They form a group and gain reputation by slandering the imperial court, hoping to be filial or to be recruited by the imperial court. "

"Emperor Huan killed his relatives and eunuchs one after another. He was already very dissatisfied with the nobles who controlled the place and did not obey the emperor's orders. After these things, he became even more furious and ordered the arrest of more than [-] people including Li Ying and Chen Shi throughout the country, and They were not allowed to enter the court as officials again. These scholars formed cliques, colluded with each other, and praised each other. The people said that they were of high moral character and that they were gentlemen of the world. They were even rated as one of the "three monarchs", "eight heroes", and "eight heroes". "Gu", "Baji", "Bachu" and other names. The late emperor arrested and demoted these party members. Naturally, public opinion was fierce and they were criticized by people all over the world. "

"As a result, the former emperor's meritorious deeds of punishing his relatives, demoting eunuchs, controlling scholars, and consolidating imperial power were not praised by people, but instead were called a senseless and stupid king!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi laughed several times and said: "Brother, you know that in addition to his achievements in the court, the late emperor also used Duan Jue, Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui and other famous generals to pacify the Western Qiang, Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Dong The Qiang, Shen Di, Xian Ling, Nanman, and Southwestern Yi rebelled, and also defeated the Xianbei, Fuyu, and other invading enemies. During this period, countless people were captured and captured. Their outstanding achievements are rarely seen in the world!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi couldn't help but secretly lamented that if Emperor Huan had not continued to suppress the foreign races during his reign, which greatly weakened the strength of these foreign races, I am afraid that when the world was in chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, the borders of the Han Dynasty would have been devastated.You must know that during the second year of Jianhe alone, the governor of Yizhou led the Banzhen barbarians to attack the rebellious Baima Qiang and foreign tribes, beheading 20 people and surrendered; in the ninth year of Yanxi, Zhang Huan also suppressed the rebellion of the Southern Xiongnu and Wuhuan. At that time, the chief culprit was killed and 20 people surrendered.As for how many alien races Ren Tu Duan Jiong killed, it is even more difficult to count.

At this time, Xiang Hong was shocked and opened his mouth. He had never thought that Emperor Huan of Han, who was scolded by scholars as Jie and Zhou, could actually have such great achievements.

Zhou Qi, however, laughed at himself and said: "The wealthy family hides its land and controls the local area, and the government's finances are already in trouble. Years of wars and continuous disasters have made the government difficult to survive, and even reduced officials' salaries. In order to relieve famines, the late emperor also borrowed grain from princes, officials and relatively wealthy people. The officials' grain was bought with money, and the prince's grain was offset by rent and taxes. Later, the Luo River flooded and spread widely, and many people drowned. The late emperor exempted Taishan, Langya and other places from taxes for three years; he also ordered county officials to search for and collect the corpses, and allocated two thousand yuan to the families of each drowned person over seven years old. Each person whose house was destroyed and whose grain was missing was particularly poor. Two dendrobium grains.”

Zhou Qi raised his head and stared at Xiang Hong, and asked: "Brother, do you still think that the late emperor was a fatuous emperor comparable to Jie and Zhou, with countless evil deeds and no good governance in the twenty years since he took the throne?"

Xiang Hong clenched his fists, but was speechless.He had never heard of what Zhou Qi said today, and all he heard were bad comments about Emperor Huan.

In this era, public opinion is in the hands of scholars. In order to strengthen the imperial power and implement the scourge of the party, Emperor Huan naturally became a heinous and faint emperor in the eyes of scholars.

In order to curb the gentry, Emperor Huan not only launched the disaster of party ban, but also implemented the three mutual laws.

At the very beginning, the court discussed the parties of the states and counties, and the relationship between them was more than one week, and it was stipulated that the married family and people from the two states should not meet each other.This is actually very easy to understand. The imperial court enacted this policy because it was worried that local officials would favor and recommend their own clansmen and in-laws, or that officials from two states would recommend each other’s clansmen.

However, there are policies above and countermeasures below.

Officials of the two states cannot mess with each other, so what about the three states?Just like A is an official in the location of B, B is an official in the location of C, and C is an official in the location of A, then the officials of the three places can connect with each other and become friends with each other. A's clansman, C also recommends and protects A's clansman.In this way, the imperial court still lost its restraint on the gentry.

It was precisely after Emperor Huan had a clear understanding of this that he strengthened and implemented the Three Mutual Law, so that people from State A could be officials in State B, and people from State B could be officials in State C. .

Looking at Zhou Qi with a sneer on his face and talking eloquently, Xiang Hong's eyes became brighter and brighter, and he suddenly asked: "What is Qing Zhi?"

Hearing Xiang Hong's thoughtless inquiry, Zhou Qi did not answer immediately, but staggered to the side of the small pond in the courtyard, leaning on the budding poplar, closed his eyes and said slowly:

"Sitting alone in a pond is like a tiger squatting, under a green poplar tree raising the spirit.

When spring comes, if I don't speak first, which insect dares to make a sound? "

When Zhou Qi said the last sentence, he suddenly opened his eyes, and those eyes were no longer bewildered and staring, instead they were as bright as stars.

At this time, there happened to be a few crisp frog calls coming from the pond.

(End of this chapter)