Chapter 2 2. The death of He Jin

The history of the late Eastern Han Dynasty is a history of struggles between eunuchs and relatives.Starting from Emperor Hanhe, most of the emperors who came to the throne were young emperors, and the youngest of them was a baby more than a hundred days old.The emperor was young, and as usual, the queen mother was in power, and the queen mother relied on her natal family, so a situation of foreign relatives was formed.Some emperors have no sons after death, and the queen mother and relatives find a child from the royal family to be the emperor in order to control the political power. Liu Hong belongs to this kind of emperor who got lucky.

As the emperor grew up, he was naturally unwilling to be a puppet for a long time.But there are all relatives' cronies inside and outside the palace, so where can he find someone to help him?Only the eunuchs who serve him every day.The emperor often relied on the power of the eunuchs to extinguish the power of his relatives. In this way, the power was transferred from the relatives to the eunuchs. Whether it is the rise of foreign relatives or the monopoly of eunuchs, they all undoubtedly represent the decadent power of powerful landlords.They took turns to control the government, and it was difficult for the politics of the Eastern Han Dynasty not to be corrupt.

In the reign of Emperor Ling, the two forces of foreign relatives and eunuchs confronted each other again when it came to the selection of the crown prince. Emperor Ling had two sons, Liu Bian and Liu Xie.Liu Bian was born to Empress He, and Liu Xie was born to Wang Mei.Although Wang Meiren's status is not high, but she is versatile, beautiful, good at rhetoric and painting, and is quite favored by Emperor Ling. The arrogant and domineering Empress He is full of jealousy towards her.When Wang Meiren was pregnant with Liu Xie, she was worried about being persecuted by Empress He, and tried to abort the fetus in her womb, but failed.

In March of the fourth year of Guanghe (181), Wang Mei gave birth to her son Liu Xie. Empress He became more panicked when she saw that the child was a prince.Emperor Ling quickly found out the murderer and was furious. He decided to abolish Empress He. It was the eunuchs who knelt down and begged for mercy that Emperor Ling took back his order. Emperor Ling is also a sentimental seed. He can't forget the kind and considerate Wang Meiren. He also wrote "Fu of Chasing Virtue" and "Ode to Lingyi" to remember her.In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Emperor Ling died. Before his death, he entrusted his wish to make Liu Xie the crown prince to the eunuch Jian Shuo, which was an explanation to his beloved Wang Meiren.

As a result, the forces in the palace were divided into two factions, one was the Baobian faction headed by Empress He and her younger brother General He Jin, and the other was the Baoxie faction headed by Jian Shuo. He Jin, a native of Nanyang Wan, was originally a butcher. His younger sister was selected into the palace and was favored by the emperor.At that time, the "three princes" all became honorary positions. The generals commanded millions of soldiers and horses, and held real power. He Jin's grandson, He Yan, was the famous handsome guy in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. From this, it can be deduced that He Jin must not be like an ordinary butcher with a swollen face, but a middle-aged man with good looks.

However, He Jin's performance in politics is not as good as his appearance.During the Yellow Turban Uprising, he also made some military achievements, such as preparing the defense of the capital, detecting Ma Yuanyi's rebellion, and quelling a riot near the capital.However, as the top leader of the imperial court, He Jin's actions can only be regarded as small troubles and minor repairs. The key measure of lifting the party's imprisonment was proposed by Huang Fusong. Even so, Jian Shuo did not dare to underestimate him.Jian Shuo has eight teams under his command, and each team has a school lieutenant as the captain.These eight teams can be said to be full of talents, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are the captains among them, but how can Jian Shuo make these eight teams move?Yuan Shao has always been on good terms with He Jin, and Cao Cao grew up with Yuan Shao, not to mention the others.The only ones Jian Shuo could move were his own team and some eunuchs in the palace.

The disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, coupled with the fact that it is counterintuitive to abolish a prostitute and establish a young one, Jian Shuo decided to play a trick, to act first to be strong, to catch him by surprise, and to catch him unprepared. Jian Shuo set up an ambush in the palace, and then sent someone to pick up He Jin, lying to him that he wanted to discuss matters with him, and planned to kill him in one fell swoop when He entered the palace.However, He Jin is not a vegetarian, he has an eyeliner around Jian Shuo.When he went to pick up He Jin, the eyeliner frequently winked at He Jin.How alert He Jin was, he quickly drove his carriage and took a shortcut to escape home, and escaped the catastrophe.

After encountering this danger, He Jin realized that the establishment of the emperor was imminent, so he joined forces with Empress He to enter the palace, ascended to the court to discuss government affairs, and declared Liu Bian to be the emperor, known as the Shaodi of Han in history; Empress He was also promoted to the empress dowager. Presided over the government; He Jin and the later general Yuan Kai presided over the affairs of Shangshu. Jian Shuo did not give up, and conspired with the eunuch to kill He Jin.But Jian Shuo was really unlucky, and the secret was leaked again.He Jin ordered Huang Menling to arrest Jian Shuo, executed him, and incorporated Jian Shuo's imperial guards by the way.

In the struggle between the two groups of eunuchs and relatives, He Jin, the relative, won the first battle and won the victory.He wanted to stop at this point, but Yuan Shao persuaded him, why not take this opportunity to get rid of all the eunuchs, and make the world peaceful, so as to avoid fighting with them in the future. These words fell into the ears of the former butcher He Jin, and they were still very provocative.However, He Jin's younger sister did not stand on the same side as her brother this time.Empress Dowager He retorted: "There are no more eunuchs, who do you ask to serve me?" Empress Dowager He did not forget the kindness of the eunuchs who pleaded with Emperor Ling for herself, so naturally she refused to do anything to them.

He Jin couldn't go against the queen mother's wishes, so the matter was deadlocked.Yuan Shao came up with another idea, asking He Jin to summon Dong Zhuo to the capital to frighten Empress Dowager He.Yuan Shao's idea can be described as an out-and-out bad idea. Everyone knows that it is easy to invite a god but it is difficult to give it away, let alone Dong Zhuo who is invited is a notorious evil god. Cao Cao, who was the captain of the Dian Army at that time, couldn't help laughing when he heard the news, and said: "There are eunuchs serving in the palace from ancient to modern times, but the king should not give them great power and favor, so that they have developed to the present state." If you want to punish them, you only need to send a jailer to get rid of the chief culprit. Why do you go to great lengths to recruit foreign generals? If you want to catch them all, things will definitely leak, and I think it will definitely fail."

Cao Cao deserves to be a superstar figure in the later Three Kingdoms.The brilliance of a superstar cannot be concealed at any time. Even if he played tricks on the stage at the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao could perform extraordinary. It is worthwhile for Qiao Xuan to look at him differently. Cao Cao's family background was not very good. His father Cao Song was the adopted son of the eunuch Cao Teng, which was looked down upon in the society at that time.Cao Cao didn't receive a good education when he was a child. He later recalled his childhood in his poem "Shanzai Xing". Like the mother who moved three times to choose a neighbor for the child's education, it is not like Confucius who taught his son Kong Li to retreat to study poetry and etiquette when he passed the courtyard. His family background was not noble, his family education was not strict, Cao Cao still had a lot of "bad habits" when he was a child, flying eagles and lackeys, wandering around, not doing a proper job, doing nothing, and messing around with a group of dudes. Cao Cao had an uncle who couldn't get used to it. He often complained to Cao Cao's father and asked him to discipline his naughty son more.Cao Cao suffered a lot because of this, so he came up with a crooked idea to punish his uncle. Once when he met his uncle on the road, Cao Cao immediately turned his mouth to one side. The uncle thought he had a stroke, so he hurried to report to his father, "Your son has had a stroke, please go and see."Cao Cao's father came to see that Cao Cao was very normal and had no stroke, so he asked him what his uncle said. Cao Cao took the opportunity to say that my uncle didn't like me and deliberately slandered me.From then on, his father didn't believe what Cao Cao's uncle said any more. Cao Cao had a lot of tricks and mischievous tricks. People at that time didn't value him, only Taiwei Qiaoxuan looked at him differently.The highest military officer in the dynasty said to Cao Cao, who was only 20 years old, that the world is about to fall into chaos, and only those who can help the world can calm down the troubled times. I think this person is you. Why does Qiao Xuan value Cao Cao so much?Because Cao Cao is not only a troublemaker, he also has extraordinary talents.Cao Cao is good at writing articles, and many of his poems and songs have been handed down to this day; Cao Cao's martial arts are superb, and once he was discovered assassinating Zhang Rang, he was able to retreat unscathed. More importantly, Cao Cao was a tireless reader all his life.According to historical records, Cao Cao loved reading, especially military books, and he couldn't put them down even when he was marching and fighting.This can be compared with Alexander the Great in the West. When Alexander the Great moved to Eurasia, he always contained "Homer's Epic" in the gold box beside him. Not only Qiao Xuan admired Cao Cao, but Xu Shao, who was famous at the time, also had unique views on Cao Cao.Xu Shao was a connoisseur of characters at that time, just like current affairs commentators now, he would comment on the characters at that time at the beginning of each month, which is called Yue Dan Ping.Anyone who gets Xu Shao's praise is like getting a letter of recommendation leading to the upper class. Xu Shao's evaluation of Cao Cao is "a capable minister in governing the world, and a traitor in troubled times".It is said that Cao Cao's first reaction when he heard this comment was to laugh.Cao Cao loved to laugh all his life. When he commented on Yuan Shao calling Dong Zhuo, he also said it with a smile. It said that when Cao Cao was young, he was mischievous with a group of dudes, and Yuan Shao was among this group. Yuan Shao is different from Cao Cao in that he comes from a very prominent family background.Yuan Shao's great-grandfather, Yuan An, held the important position of Situ.Since Yuan An, the Yuan family has held the high positions of Situ, Sikong, and Taiwei in the imperial court for four successive generations. When I was young, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and a group of friends often thought about what fun to do together.At that time, unlike today's children, children could play games and watch movies. There were very few fun things to do.One day someone got married, Cao Cao suggested that we go steal the bride today, and Yuan Shao agreed. In the evening, the wedding guests were drinking, and Cao Cao yelled: "There is a thief!"Yuan Shao was clumsy, and when he ran, his clothes were caught in the bushes, and he couldn't move, so he let Cao Cao run first.Cao Cao had an idea, pointed at Yuan Shao with his hand, and said, "Look, everyone, the thief is there!" Yuan Shao got anxious when he heard this, and escaped from the bushes with all his strength. From this small scene, it can be seen that Cao Cao was far more stubborn and smart than Yuan Shao when he was young.Until he grew up, Cao Cao became a lieutenant of Dianjun, and Yuan Shao became a lieutenant of Sili, Yuan Shao still didn't learn the wisdom of Cao Cao. Not studying is indeed killing people. Dong Zhuo invited by Yuan Shao was still on the way, and Uncle He Guo died first.Yuan Shao and He Jin made a plan early on, but they didn't act for a long time, so the whole world knew that He Jin was going to attack the eunuchs, and the eunuchs naturally refused to stretch their necks and wait for He Jin to strike.The Zhongchang servant Zhang Rang inquired about the time when He entered the palace, and led dozens of followers to ambush outside the palace. As soon as he came out of the palace, he jumped out immediately, raised the knife in his hand, and He Jin died on the spot. Yuan Shao was furious, so he acted vigorously and immediately led his troops to arrest Zhang Rang, and also issued an order that in Luoyang City, all men without long beards should be shot to death.This time not only the eunuchs were unlucky, but also the young men in Luoyang City who had not yet grown beards. When they saw Yuan Shao's soldiers, they had to take off their clothes to verify their integrity.In this slaughter, more than 2,000 eunuchs died in Huangquan, and many of them died unjustly. However, the tragedy is far from over, and the culprit who really ruined the fate of the Eastern Han Dynasty is rushing to Luoyang day and night. The stage of the Three Kingdoms has not yet officially opened. In the warm-up arena at the end of the Han Dynasty, the two childhood partners Cao Cao and Yuan Shao made their debut, and they immediately competed.A soldier is a double-edged sword in the hands of a person. Cao Cao has fought countless battles and killed countless people in his life. He is good at using swords.But he knows that once the sword is unsheathed, it must drink blood and return. If it is not done well, it will not kill others and will hurt itself. Therefore, this sword is definitely not shot when you want to. The premise of using a sword is to use it well .Yuan Shao is impetuous and aggressive, of course he can't be called good at using knives, let alone good at using knives. In complex political struggles, it is very important to correctly grasp the strike surface.If you want to contain hostile forces, it is enough to subdue the most stubborn and brutal enemies.Insisting on expanding the strike area and making enemies everywhere will not only increase the difficulty of strikes, but may also backfire and make oneself passive.