A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 345 The Disaster of Party Confinement
The ninth year of Yanxi
Cheng Jin, the prefect of Nanyang, arrested Zhang Si, a local wealthy businessman who had a good relationship with the eunuchs. As a result, Liu Zhi announced an amnesty.

Cheng Jin's brother died at the hands of eunuchs, so he wanted to eat the eunuchs' flesh and sleep on their skins. So in order to attack the eunuchs, he completely ignored the laws of the court and killed not only Zhang Si himself, but also Zhang Si's clan and more than 200 guests.

After all this was concluded, Cheng Jin reported to Liu Zhishang.

At the same time, almost in the same week, a case of the same nature also occurred in Runan.

Liu Zhi, the prefect of Runan, arrested Zhao Jin of Xiaohuangmen, and then, despite the court's pardon order, tortured Zhao Jin to death before reporting to the court.

This reflects that the battle between the courtier group and the eunuch group has entered a fierce stage.

As the key to delivering the memorial, the Wuchang attendants naturally got the news quickly. They suppressed all the cases related to it and gathered them together, almost reaching seven or eight cases.

September
Then they united and complained to Liu Zhi, and at the same time encouraged Zhang Si's wife to write a letter to complain.

Liu Zhi suddenly saw so many cases that were executed first and then reported without permission, and he was furious: "What do these people want to do? Don't they value the court's laws most? Kill them first and report later. Okay, will the next step be to rebel? Isn't that right? Are you going to be independent?"

In Liu Zhi's view, these people were not purging eunuchs, but local officials openly defying the central court.

So Liu Zhi immediately issued an edict to arrest Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi together and execute them according to law.

October
Hou Lan and others united to falsely accuse Liu Zhi of Taichang Qing Li Ying and others, who cultivated students and scholars, made friends with students from various counties, flaunted each other, formed a party, slandered the court, and corrupted customs.

Liu Zhi had long been dissatisfied with the imbalance of power between the powerful courtiers and the weak eunuchs. In addition, coupled with the previous cases of Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi, he believed that this was the best opportunity to weaken the power of the courtiers.

So he ordered the whole country to arrest more than 200 "party members" such as Li Ying and Chen Shi. Some of them were caught and some escaped.

Liu Zhi ordered a reward for the escaped party members. For a time, envoys came out from all directions to look at each other, and the struggle against the eunuchs suffered a serious setback.

Taichang Qing Li Ying and others were arrested on the spot. When the court investigated and verified Li Ying's charges, they had to go through the three prefectures of Taiwei, Situ and Sikong. As a result, Taiwei Chen Fan refused to accept the case.

A letter was written to Liu Zhi: "Those who are now being examined and corrected are all ministers praised by people at home who care about state affairs and are loyal and selfless. Such people should be forgiven even if they are passed down for ten generations. Should they be arrested and tortured if the crime is unclear?"

He refused to sign the case file.

After hearing this, Liu Zhi became even more angry and ordered Li Ying and others to be imprisoned in Huangmen Beisi Prison.

On the other hand, in order to rescue Li Ying and others, Yuzhenfang continued to link their crimes to the eunuchs' children in the palace. For a time, a large number of eunuchs' children were implicated.

Seeing that the situation was getting more and more out of control, Hou Lan and others were afraid that they would be involved, so they asked Liu Zhi to grant amnesty according to the timing of the situation.

Liu Zhi saw that the power of the courtiers was almost destroyed, so he issued an edict of amnesty at the right time. Li Ying and others were also pardoned and released from prison, and were exempted from official duties and returned to their hometowns.

Ten years of Yanxi
After a year of massive raids, the court officials lost a lot of power, and many important official positions fell into the hands of people who were dependent on the eunuchs. The power of the court suddenly tended to be balanced again.

Bai Ya, who was similarly implicated and dismissed from his post and returned home, saw the turn of events, so he wrote to the minister Huo Chen: "Nearly a year has passed since we were framed by the eunuchs. I think His Majesty's anger should have subsided a lot.

If this continues, the power of the eunuchs will become overwhelming, which is probably not what His Majesty wants to see. If he writes a letter at this time to request pardon for those fleeing party members, he will definitely succeed. "

So in October, Shangshu Huo Chen and Chengmen School Lieutenant Dou Wu jointly went to the court to plead for the party members. Liu Zhicai issued an edict to release the party members to go home, but still imprisoned them for life. And the names of party members are recorded and never hired.

This incident was called "Party Imprisonment" by scholars.

In fact, since Emperor Shun, when the court became one, they gradually called themselves scholars, which means people who are both officials and scholars.

Those who serve as senior officials of the central government are respected as scholar-bureaucrats. Therefore, the courtier group can also be said to be the scholar-bureaucrat group.

Dou Wu, the captain of the city gate, was Empress Dou's father and a relative. It's just that after Liang Ji, Liu Zhi may have had a shadow in his heart, so he was very careful about his relatives.

In order to find a way out, Dou Wu decisively turned to the scholar-bureaucrats, creating a situation where the eunuchs were fighting against the scholar-bureaucrats and their relatives at the same time.

The first year of Yongkang (the eleventh year of Yanxi)
December

Liu Zhi died in the front hall of Deyang without any children and was buried in Xuanling.

In view of the fact that when Liu Zhi took office, although he resorted to militarism and allowed the eunuchs and scholar-bureaucrats to fight, he did not lose a piece of land and suppressed the barbarians from all directions.

Therefore, the posthumous title "Huan" was given to the ministers. When he conquered a distant land, he was called Huan; The temple name was not even mentioned by the ministers and kings.

Since Emperor Huan had no children, Queen Dou Miao came to the court to take charge of the affairs. Dou Miao was promoted to the Queen Mother, and her father Dou Wu, the captain of the city gate school, was appointed as the general.

Due to Dou Wu's good relationship with the scholar-bureaucrats, the ministers did not object to Dou Wu's selection.

Since the death of Liu Zhi, the eunuchs in the harem seemed to have lost their voice overnight, no longer arrogant and domineering, and immediately attached themselves to Queen Mother Dou.

Empress Dowager Dou needed help, so the two parties hit it off and began cooperation.

In order to choose the next emperor, Dou Wu summoned Liu Min, the censor who was from the Hejian clan, and asked who among the Hejian clan was wiser.

Because Liu Zhi was a member of the Hejian clan, Dou Wu wanted to support a new emperor from the Hejian clan. Liu Min recommended to Dou Wu that he should know Liu Hong, the Marquis of Duting.

Dou Wu then reported to Queen Mother Dou that Queen Mother Dou didn't care who the new emperor was. Anyway, as long as he didn't have a Yuanfu and could be controlled by him, it would be fine, because they were not his heirs.

The first year of Jianning
New Year
Shi Yushi, Liu Shu, the official of Shouguanglu, Cao Jie, the captain of Fengche, and others went to Hejian Kingdom to welcome Liu Hong, the Marquis of Jieduting, to the throne.

When Liu Hong and his welcoming team arrived at the Wanshou Pavilion in Xiamen outside Luoyang City, General Dou Wu led hundreds of civil and military officials to greet him.

The next day
Liu Hong succeeded to the throne and changed his reign to Jianning. Three people, including Grand Tutor Chen Fan, General Dou Wu and Situ Hu Guang, took part in the affairs of the Secretariat.

His biological relative Liu Chang was honored as "Emperor Xiaoren", his mausoleum was named "Shenling", and his biological mother Dong was named "Noble Person of Shenyuan".

And this Hu Guang is the Liang Ji party member who was dismissed by Liu Zhi. He is a member of General Dou Wu. He is more than eighty years old this year. He is a real veteran. His composition skills are even better than those of a big man.

At this time, the central situation of the Han Dynasty was that in the inner palace, the new emperor Liu Hongchu succeeded to the throne, and all power was in the hands of Queen Mother Dou. Empress Dowager Dou relied on the eunuch group to confront the officials of the outer dynasty. The eunuch group was headed by five regular servants including Wang Fu and Cao Jie.

Since Liu Zhi passed away and Liu Hong was picked up by Wang Fu and Cao Jie, the eunuch group at this time was headed by Wang Fu and Cao Jie, and Hou Lan's status was lowered. But Liu Hong did not personally govern, so these eunuchs seemed extremely low-key at this time.

As for the outer dynasty, the general Dou Wu was the main one, and the Taifu Chen Fan was the assistant. Dou Wu was a relative, and Chen Fan was a scholar-official. However, the relationship between the foreign relatives and the scholar-bureaucrats at this time was very good. Generally speaking, the outer dynasty Demonstrate cooperation.

Dou Wu was assisted by Situ Hu Guang in the court, and he was considered powerful. But the time to become a general was too short after all, so Dou Wu needed to rely on Taifu Chen Fan to handle government affairs.

Therefore, Chen Fan timely recruited a large number of scholars who were punished during the Party's imprisonment. Among them, Bai Ya was recruited as Taiwei, Yuan Xu was Sikong, and most of Jiuqing were Party members.

During Liu Zhi's period, the scholar-bureaucrats suffered great insults and killings from the eunuchs. Now that the eunuchs are in a weak position, why not beat them up?

So the scholar-bureaucrats headed by Chen Fan, Bai Ya, and Yuan Xu hosted a banquet for General Dou Wu at their residence. At the banquet, they reached a consensus with Dou Wu and prepared to eradicate Hou Lan and other eunuchs who were causing trouble to the world in one fell swoop. Scholars who died in the prison of the party overturned the verdict.

As for why Dou Wu agreed, in addition to wanting to maintain a good relationship with the scholar-bureaucrats, he was also dissatisfied with the eunuchs in the palace that Empress Dowager Dou relied on.

In Dou Wu's view, throughout the ages, people who were relatives and had good relationships with courtiers or scholar-bureaucrats, such as Wei Qing, Huo Guang, Deng Zhi, etc., had good endings and reputations.

People who had a bad relationship with scholar-bureaucrats often ended up either having their homes confiscated or beheaded, such as Liang Ji, Dou Xian and others.

In addition, he is clearly the father of Empress Dowager Dou and has considerable power in the court. Do he still need to rely on those eunuchs who have no queen?

The same goes for Empress Dowager Dou. These eunuchs are nothing without the emperor. After all, Liu Hong was not born by the Dou family, and he would definitely collude with the eunuchs in the end. Maybe Liang Ji's end would be his own.

Now that he has such a good relationship with the scholar-bureaucrats, and the outer court is united, if there is no obstruction from the eunuchs, he can become the second Huo Guang. Therefore, in Dou Wu's opinion, Queen Mother Dou is a benevolent woman.

August
Dou Wu instructed Shangshu Ling Yin Xun and others to impeach and arrest Huangmen Ling Wei Biao, and officially began the secret eradication of eunuchs.

Then, in order to further impeach the eunuchs and list their charges, they planned to capture Zheng Sa, the Shangshu of Changle, and wanted to use Zheng Sa as a breakthrough to reveal the guilt of Cao Jie and Wang Fu.

Since Liu Hong did not personally govern, all political affairs were handled by Empress Dowager Dou, also known as Changle Palace.

When the memorial played by Dou Wu and others reached Changle Palace, the person who was responsible for delivering the memorial discovered the document that Dou Wu and others participated in the performance of Zheng Sa, which involved many subordinate officials of Changle Palace, so he did not immediately send the memorial to the palace. It was reported to Changle Palace, but the incident was told to Zhu Yu, the Changle Five-Function History Officer who was responsible for the security of Changle Palace.

Zhu Yu was also a eunuch, so he naturally knew that Changle Shangshu Zheng Sa was one of his own and a core member. If Dou Wu and others really captured him, he and others would definitely not be able to escape.

So he informed Wang Fu, Cao Jie and others about the matter. They knew that the foreign court was going to take action against him and others. In order to save their lives, the eunuchs formed a blood alliance and launched a coup that night.

September 7
Seventeen people including Cao Jie, the official of Zhongchang, Zhu Yu, the official official of Changle, Gongpu, Zhang Liang, Wang Zun of Zhonghuangmen, Tengshi, the official of Changle, etc.
They jointly pretended to be Liu Zhi's edict and named Wang Fu, the Changle's Food Supervisor, as the Huangmen Order. He led the guards of Changle Palace and led troops to kill Chen Fan and Dou Wu, as well as Shangshu Ling Yin Xun and Shizhong Liu Yu. , Feng Shu, the captain of the Cavalry School, and exterminated them all.

Since the rest of the army was outside Luoyang City, Dou Wu did not have time to mobilize his troops, and Wang Fu and others succeeded.

When they wanted to lead troops to kill Bai Ya, they encountered fierce resistance as soon as they entered Yuzhenfang. They could not attack for a long time. They were afraid that the incident would be exposed, so they decisively withdrew their troops.

Erase Bai Ya's name from the list.

With Liu Hong's acquiescence, the eunuchs launched a bloody coup. Several major ministers of the outer dynasty were slaughtered. Only Taiwei Bai Ya, Situ Hu Guang, and Sikong Yuan Xu escaped.

After the coup was successful, the eunuchs desperately wanted to gain legitimacy, so they immediately approached Liu Hong and asked for surrender. And Liu Hong accepted them graciously. However, in order to divide their power, several more regular servants were added, and the number of regular servants exceeded five for the first time.

The next day, Liu Hong, as the emperor, issued an edict to accuse Dou Wu, Chen Fan and others of treason. Empress Dowager Dou was moved to Nangong Yuntai. Liu Hong, who was not yet in Yuanfu, got all the power at once.

Wang Fu, Cao Jie and others also received titles as a result. Cao Jie was promoted to the rank of Changle Guardsman and was granted the title of Marquis of Yuyang, adding 3,000 households to the settlement.

The second year of Jianning
New Year
Bai Ya, Yuan Xu, Li Ying and others were dismissed from their official posts by Liu Hong because they were related to the cases of Dou Wu and Chen Fan. The other scholars related to this case were either arrested and imprisoned or fled. The second party rebellion broke out.

March
Liu Hongzun, the noble Dong family of Shenyuan, became Queen Xiaoren.

July
Duan Jiong, who was quelling the Qiang rebellion in the northwest, heard about the great changes in the court and learned the lesson of being demoted. In order to completely quell the Qiang rebellion, he had to rely on the eunuchs and was promoted to the general who defeated the Qiang.

In the same month, Duan Jiong defeated the Xianling Qiang in the valley outside Shehu Fortress, and all the Eastern Qiang were pacified.

(End of this chapter)