Chapter 8 4. Little people have big dreams

In 107 AD, on September 21, Empress Dowager Deng promoted two important figures.One is Taifu Zhang Yu, and the other is Taichang Zhouzhang.Taifu Zhang Yu was appointed Taiwei, and Taichang Zhouzhang was promoted to Da Sikong. Zhang Yu, courtesy name Boda, was from Zhao Guoxiang; Zhou Zhang, courtesy name Second Shu, was from Nanyang Suiren. Anyone who carefully observes the politics of the Eastern Han Dynasty will find an obvious feature. Since Liu Xiu established the country, only the royal family and foreign relatives have been busy in Luoyang City.Before Liu Zhuang's collapse, the royal family was busy, and after his death, the relatives were busy.No matter how busy the two factions are, nothing else matters.

This other person is the foreign court civil servant group. So far, the Eastern Han civil official group has only heard that Yuan An and Ren Kai were once very good. Other than that, there is no one else. The development of the momentum is really worrying.However, where have all the backbones of such a large civil servant group gone? Let me tell you, they were all domesticated to be good kids. The person who swept the prestige of civil servants out of the circle of political influence in the Eastern Han Dynasty was none other than Liu Xiu.At the beginning of Liu Xiu's founding of the country, his political ideas were very problematic.He believes that at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the reason why the imperial power slipped into Wang Mang's hands was mainly because the civil official clique hijacked the imperial power because of its too strong power, and the foreign relatives stabbed him in the back, and all the good things were taken away by them.

So in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy, he suppressed the civil servants and relatives as soon as he came to power. The most basic way to suppress an opponent is to hold him empty.Although Liu Xiu set up the position of Sangong, he actually didn't let them take charge of the affairs, and the person in charge moved to the Palace Shangshu Office. Liu Xiu's idea seems to be good, but the reality is very cruel.He never dreamed that the seemingly beautiful political ideals, instead of restoring the political model of the early Western Han Dynasty, pushed the politics of the Han Dynasty to a point of no return.

What Liu Xiu didn't know was that to realize his great dream of imperial power, there was a major premise first: the emperor's successor must be someone who wants to do things and can do things.Once there are guys who want to do things but can't do them, or those who don't want to do things, the imperial power is in danger. The fact is also the same. After Liu Zhuang, the second generation of power, left, Liu Da, the third emperor of the Liu family, couldn't hold on anymore. The power of foreign relatives in the Eastern Han Dynasty developed rapidly during his tenure, completed the original accumulation of political assets, and once again stepped onto the stage of history.Since then, the imperial power has changed from being dominated by one family to a merger of two families.

At the beginning, Liu Xiu only saw the horror of the civil servants group, but never thought that when the imperial power was in the most danger, the civil servants were the savior of the imperial power. The entire history of the Western Han Dynasty can prove this point.The Lu family's attempt to dominate the government was settled by the civil servant Chen Pingping; when Liu Bing had become emperor, it was the civil servant Wei Que who pushed behind the scenes to kill Huo's relatives and regain the imperial power. Power is a product of social relations, not in isolation.Imperial power has a rising period and a declining period.No matter what period, two hands are not better than four hands.Liu Xiu's mistake was kicking out the power agent, and he has since lost the qualification to escort the imperial power.Just like this, they could only watch helplessly as Deng's relatives supported the baby emperor, but they were at a loss.

Civil officials were within the system but far away from political power. This was one of the sources of political tragedy in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since the founding of the country in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Grand Tutor Deng Yu took the initiative to be a good boy, and later his fellow clan Deng Biao also became a grand tutor, and he was also a good boy.The Grand Tutor Zhang Yu in front of him is also very obedient. But there is one exception, that is Da Sikong Zhouzhang. If it is said that Yuan An, Ren Wei and others were the spokespersons of civil officials in the Eastern Han Dynasty, then Zhou Zhang is a rising star.Back then, when his relative Dou Xian was very arrogant, Zhou Zhang worked with the prefect.The prefect said he was going to visit Dou Xian, but Zhou Zhang stopped him and shouted, don't go, Dou's family can't last for many years.

Under Zhou Zhang's obstruction, the eunuch did not see Dou Xian, and because of this, the eunuch's life was saved.After Liu Zhao got rid of Dou Xian, he wiped out Dou's political party. Those who didn't have a relationship with Dou Xian were all safe and well. When Dou Xian was so good, Zhou Zhang was not good.Now that he has become Da Sikong, he is even more unbecoming.In order to show his courage, Zhou Zhang secretly gathered a group of civil servants to single out Deng's relatives. He believes that if things are successful, the political structure of the Eastern Han Dynasty will undergo fundamental changes.

In the Han Dynasty when the Empress Dowager Deng covered the sky with one hand, everyone said that the Empress Dowager Deng was good, but Zhou Zhang said that she was a big traitor. Zhou Zhang found out that when Empress Dowager Deng supported Liu Long to ascend the throne, she said that Liu Zhao's eldest son, Liu Sheng, was suffering from a chronic illness and could not be emperor.In fact, when Empress Dowager Deng named Liu Sheng the King of Pingyuan, he discovered that this was not the case. Liu Sheng, the king of Pingyuan, is very well. How could it be that the Queen Mother Deng said that he had an incurable disease?But after Liu Long died, Empress Dowager Deng did not support Liu Sheng, but pushed Liu Hu to the throne of the emperor, and she came to the court to listen to the government.To be clear, this is playing tricks.

Where there is a conspiracy, there is a counter-conspiracy. However, when Zhou Zhang was about to act, he found that it was not a one-on-one fight at all.If it is done with real swords and guns, it will be a one-to-two tie. Because behind the Empress Dowager Deng, there is still an evil faction, which is the eunuch who has been lurking in the palace for a long time. There are two heads, namely Da Changqiu Zheng Zhong and Zhongchang Attendant Cai Lun. The scholar-bureaucrats have not emerged in the political arena for many years.Facing two powerful sects, will Zhou Zhang be their opponent?

To be honest, Zhou Zhang doesn't have much confidence; even so, there is no way out; only by going forward, forward, can the civil servants group fight their way out.If you are obedient to this, the civil society will always sit in the audience and watch the show, applauding for others; if you want to bid farewell to this dirty past, you have to stand up and fight, and you have no choice. Who says little people can't do big things? Thinking of this, Zhou Zhang's blood boiled all over, and he couldn't stop being excited. Zhou Zhang’s action plan is as follows: first, close the palace gates and kill the brothers Deng Zhi, Zheng Zhong and Cai Lun; Liu Sheng ascended the throne.

Puppets are also human beings. If Liu Hu's faction is included, Zhou Zhang is not a pair of two, but a pair of three. It is very difficult for Zhou Zhang to win this unprecedented coup to seize power. Perhaps Zhou Zhang would think that he was doing things from a moral standpoint, and God could not be blind and prevent him from succeeding.But it is a pity that God has long eyes, but it does not open its eyes 24 hours a day, and occasionally dozes off. Zhou Zhang actually issued a letter of war to Queen Mother Deng when God was dozing off. While we all strained our hearts, waiting to see the big drama, the plot was leaked.How the news got out, no one knows. On November 19, Zhou Zhang committed suicide. It was like a farce that ended in such an anticlimactic ending.Before the flowers bloom, they wither; as soon as the gong is struck, the theater is smashed.How did that happen? To be honest, I think it's really boring to write here.