Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Gang of Eight

Cao Cao became Prime Minister of Jinan. According to the post-Han system, counties and countries were at the same level.The county is the territory directly under the central government, and the country is the place where the royal family is entrusted as the king.However, the king has no right to directly rule his own country, and must use the "xiang" as the chief to make him responsible for ruling.Therefore, the country is equal to the chief of the county and the prefect. Cao Cao, who became the prime minister of Jinan, the first thing he set out to do was to "strictly prohibit prostitution and cults."This is the performance of Cao Cao's enlightened style.It was the 2nd century AD when people's superstition was deeply rooted.In those days such a thing was unlikely to be done unless one was particularly clear-headed.

Another hero who has not yet formed-Liu Bei, what is the situation at this time? Liu Bei's status during the crusade against the Yellow Turban Army was at best a small captain, and he didn't get any good positions when he was rewarded for his meritorious deeds after the war.It is rumored that he was appointed as "County Captain of Anxi County".The county is the smallest administrative unit, and there are also differences in size. Those with more than 10,000 households are large counties, and those with less than 10,000 households are small counties; Under the order is the county magistrate, and under the county magistrate is the county lieutenant.Therefore, Liu Bei is only the deputy official of a small county, and his salary is at most three hundred shi.

Cao Cao, who became the prime minister of Jinan, had a salary of two thousand stones. Compared with that, Liu Bei's status was negligible. Later, Liu Bei gradually acquired the demeanor of a gentleman, but at this time he was simply a hooligan.He often loses his temper, because he is very unhappy when he is appointed as a small official like a county lieutenant. ——With my merits, I should at least be appointed as the county magistrate.Asking me to be a county lieutenant is simply deceiving me too much! As a result, he drank heavily every day. --right!This is kidding us!Who cares about such a position!

His foster brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also drank with him all day long. Once, Duyou came to Anxi County.Duyou is an official who patrols and inspects local administration, and reports the inspection results to the imperial court. Therefore, every time Duyou comes, the local officials will receive them with the most ardent attitude and try their best to flatter them.Therefore, Duyou's attitude towards magistrates was usually extremely arrogant. Due to the arrival of the postal supervisor, Liu Bei asked for a meeting as a courtesy as usual. "A small official of the county lieutenant's generation also wants to meet me! What does this person think he is! Tell him to go back and look in the mirror!"

Duyou told the emissary to refuse to meet. "Fucking farts!" Liu Bei rushed to the governor's residence full of anger.He broke into the house without even taking off his boots, and shouted, "Where's the bastard postmaster?" "What are you doing? I'm the postmaster, so don't be rude!" the postmaster said with airs. "Oh, you are the postmaster..." Before Liu Bei finished speaking, he rushed forward and knocked him down with a punch, and then punched the opponent fiercely. "You... what are you doing?" As soon as Duyou stood up, Liu Bei tightened his arms by cutting his arms upside down, and at the same time shouted: "Zhang Fei, quickly get the rope!"

"Know it!" The bearded Zhang Fei immediately came over with the rope.Liu Bei took the rope and immediately tied up Duyou. "You can't mess around, I'm Duyou!" Duyou shouted angrily with his face flushed. "Shut up! It's because you are the postmaster that I want to tie you up! Of course I know you are the postmaster, don't move around there!" Then, Liu Bei took a whip and slapped Duyou's body cracklingly. "Ouch... my mother..." Duyou cried out in pain. "Hahaha!" Liu Bei laughed out loud.He had already risked everything, but he hadn't felt such a happy mood for a long time.

"Do you still dare to be so humble in the future? You are too humble, that's why you suffer from this flesh and blood, you know!" Liu Bei whipped the bound postmaster as many as two hundred times.Of course, the person who was beaten was half dead, and the person who did it was also exhausted. "Damn it! I'm so tired, my arm hurts like hell!" As a result of going all out like this, of course he can no longer hold an official position.Liu Bei has no love for the position of Zhan County Captain.If he didn't have this determination beforehand, he wouldn't be so reckless.

"Oh... oh..." Duyou, who was beaten so hard, was already on the verge of death. "This thing is for you!" Liu Bei removed the seal and ribbon he had received when he took office.In ancient China, printed ribbons were used to prove one's status. The printed ribbons were made of gold, silver, and copper, and the ribbons (tied ribbons) were in different colors such as vermilion, green, purple, blue, black, and yellow.The county lieutenant wears a bronze seal, and the color of the ribbon is yellow, which is the lowest rank. Liu Bei hung his own bronze seal and yellow ribbon around the dying Duyou's neck, said "goodbye" and slapped his face before leaving.

When the heroes who jumped onto the stage later were doing such things, political struggles were also unfolding in the imperial capital Luoyang. It was a struggle between the emperor's close relatives - relatives and eunuchs. Luoyang's political situation is increasingly exuding a strong rancid smell. Huang Fusong, who contributed a lot to the crusade against Zhang Jiao, not only did not get paid, but his salary was cut by thousands of households.That's because the eunuch Zhao Zhong reported him on the grounds that "the scale of the mansion exceeded the regulations and he lived in luxury".Another eunuch, Zhang Rang, was rejected because he asked Huangfusong for a bribe of 50 million yuan.The two eunuchs then reported to the imperial court: "Huangfusong has failed in the battle and wasted public funds in vain." Huangfusong was severely punished for this, and even the seal and ribbon of the general of chariots and riders were taken back.

The defeat of the three Zhang Jiao brothers does not mean that the Yellow Turban Rebellion has been put down.This type of popular rebellion will never end with the death of a leader.It is common for the government army to suppress the rebellion to report the results of the battle to the emperor, because the greater the reported results, the greater the rewards for those involved, so they "why not do it". ——The Yellow Turban Army has been completely suppressed. After the imperial court got this report, rebellions continued to occur in various places. Rebel groups led by Zhang Niujiao, Zhang Yan, Zuo Xiao, Liu Shi, Lei Gong, Fuyun, Baique, Yang Feng, Yu Du, Wulu, Li Damu and others rose up in various places, with as many as 20,000 to 30,000 people and as few as few There are also six or seven thousand.

The Yellow Turban Army was only dispersed, but the rebellion was not put down.This fact was known to all the generals who went to suppress the rebellion, but only the imperial court was still ignorant. Of course Emperor Ling would not know the truth.All he heard was the good news of the great victory of the Han army. ——In that case, I want to enjoy it! So he built the magnificent Wanjin Hall in the West Garden, and also built a huge bronze statue in the Nangong Yutang.The official store opened by the emperor also sold the "Marquis of Guannei" at a special price of five million yuan.Marquis of Guannei is just a false name without any substance. The remnants of the Yellow Turban Party used Baibo Valley as their base and continued to send troops to the vicinity of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.From the point of view of the government army, this is banditry. The place name "Baibo Valley" later became synonymous with bandits. The foundation of the later Han Dynasty was thus gradually eroded. In February of the fourth year of Zhongping (AD 187) after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, people gathered in Xingyang.In March, a man named Kingdom in the northwest raised a rebel flag under the support of Han Sui, Ma Teng and other generals.In May, Zhang Ju, the prefect of Mount Tai, made a public declaration—— Yu Nai, the Son of Heaven, will replace Han from now on. He recruited more than 100,000 soldiers. In October, a man named Ou Xing in Changsha rebelled.By December, there was even a rebellion by the Huns. This can be described as a difficult time for the country. What are the heroes of the Three Kingdoms—the masters of Wei, Shu, and Wu—doing this year? Cao Cao was appointed as the prefect of Dongjun, but he did not take up his post.Unintentionally taking up a new job, he returned to his hometown Qiao County to set up a study and began to live a life of studying.He devoted himself to studying books such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War". Sun Ce, who later became the Lord of Wu, and Sun Jian, the father of the Sun Quan brothers, were the prefect of Changsha at this time.Of course, he sent troops to suppress the rebellion in Changsha, and succeeded, he was named a Marquis, and established the foundation of the later Sun's warlords. Liu Bei, who became the lord of Shu, escaped after being tied up and beaten by the governor, and no one knew his whereabouts.He probably took Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, two righteous brothers, and was busy selling himself in the surrounding area.When Zhang Ju, who claimed to be the Son of Heaven, raised the rebellious flag, the court ordered Gongsun Zan to go and crusade.Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were employed under Lu Zhi's family. Maybe he would join Gongsun Zan's army because of his friendship? When Qin Shihuang established the system of prefectures and counties, he divided the world into thirty-six prefectures and placed counties under the prefectures.This number became more and more, and by the end of the Later Han Dynasty, the number of counties and states at the same level had increased to a huge one hundred and five. These counties belong to thirteen states respectively. In addition to Silizhou, which is directly under the central government, there are Yuzhou, Jizhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Jiaozhou. The chief of the county is the prefect, the chief of the country is the prime minister, and the chief of the state is the governor. The state is above the county, but the status of the state governor is not higher than that of the county prefect.Their salaries are also two thousand stones. The prefect of the county has the land under his rule, has administrative power and some degree of military power, in contrast, the prefect of the state has no such power at all. The task of the governor of the state is only to inspect whether the politics of the counties in the state are good or not, and report to the court accordingly. Real power is only given to the smaller "county" chiefs, not to the large "state" chiefs.The reason for this is to guard against the emergence of thirteen superpowers in the country to separate the various places. It is a good thing that the big warlords are not separated from the local area in normal times.However, when the world was in turmoil like the end of the late Han Dynasty, when the people rose up in chaos everywhere, it was rather a natural trend for the imperial court to expect the existence of a large warlord with suppressive power. The matter of granting administrative power and military power to governors who have always had no real power was put into practice in the fifth year of Zhongping (AD 188) after review. The governor with real power is no longer "inspector", but renamed "shepherd". The heroic separatism in the Three Kingdoms story can be said to have started from this point.The weak legion in the past has now grown into a powerful warlord. In the same year, in order to strengthen the central military force, the government set up the official position of "Xiyuan Eighth Colonel".That is to say, the Central Army established eight additional divisions, namely, the upper army, the middle army, the lower army, the Dian army, the auxiliary army left, the auxiliary army right, the left, and the right eight school lieutenants. Emperor Ling appointed Jian Shuo, his most trusted eunuch, as "Shangjun Xiaowei", and assigned the other seven school lieutenants under him.In addition, the head of the first division of the eight divisions was added to serve as the commander of the entire army of the eight divisions. The supreme commander should be the general.Now even the great generals are placed under Jian Shuo. As mentioned earlier, the general is He Jin, the elder brother of Empress He, who is the closest relative of the emperor.The trust of the emperor obtained by such a relationship is not as good as that of eunuchs. This shows how much Lingdi trusted the eunuchs. In fact, the main reason is that the relatives themselves are not very trustworthy.Before his sister entered the harem, He Jin was just a butcher.Of course, Emperor Ling didn't trust such a character. He Jin was extremely dissatisfied with this. "What are you eunuchs who are eunuchs!" He Jin expressed his hatred for eunuchs in a blatant manner.A man like him has no discipline to suppress his emotions. The eunuchs who lost the important function of sexual energy seemed to be particularly sensitive in other aspects.In other words, their sensibility is very sensitive.They sensed He Jin's hatred for them from He Jin's expression. "You are the butcher-born bastard!" The eunuchs looked down on General He Jin at all. In such a fierce state of confrontation, the general is now subservient to the eunuch who is a lieutenant in the military!He Jin's anger spread like a raging fire. It was Cao Cao who was appointed as the captain of the Dianjun among the eight captains.He gladly accepted this appointment. "The most important thing is to master the army!" After studying military books in his hometown for a long time, he finally realized this. Yuan Shao, who later became Cao Cao's old enemy, was also appointed as the lieutenant of the Chinese Army at this time.He is also one of the new Gang of Eight. In the sixth year of Zhongping, the news of Emperor Ling's death spread quietly among the people. ——I heard that there is no hope of recovery... ——Now the world is going to be in chaos again! People whispered the news.