Chapter 22 2. Liang Ji and Li Gu

Needless to say, everyone knows that the beast of power that Liu Bao introduced to Luoyang is Liang Ji, the son of Liang Shang. The ancients said that like father, like son.Putting these words on Liang Shang is not reliable at all.Liang Shang can't do things well, but he still has a reputation as a man.Liang Ji is different, whether it is doing things or being a person, he is the best among people. Liang Shang had a confidant, who was an official under Liang Ji's subordinates. He was still the magistrate of Luoyang County, and his name was Lu Fang.He told Liang Shang, your son is too arrogant, he is a high-ranking cadre of the country, but he did something like a local hooligan, his reputation is stinking outside, it is best to discipline him.

So Liang Shang called Liang Ji to give him a lecture.After the training, Liang Ji gritted his teeth angrily. When he inquired, it turned out that it was Lu Fang, the magistrate of Luoyang County, who had sued him, so he was going to arrange a funeral for him. The matter was very simple, and he even omitted the power struggle of open and secret fights. He directly sent an assassin to kill Lu Fang on a dark and stormy night. After killing Lu Fang, Liang Ji was the first to jump out, saying that he wanted to avenge Lu Fang.He really didn't know it, and without anyone knowing it, in order to deceive the world, he immediately promoted Lu Fang's younger brother to fill Lu Fang's vacancy, and became the county magistrate of Luoyang County.Then he encouraged Lu Fang's younger brother to arrest people everywhere, arresting more than a hundred people in one arrest, beheading and closing the case without asking them clearly.

In order to unplug an enemy that I don't like, I lost the lives of more than a hundred innocent people. Are you cruel?Of course it's cruel, otherwise, how can I dispel my father's suspicion of him?In the end, Liang Shang was really fooled by his son. One day, Liang Shang recruited Liang Ji and his youngest son Liang Buyi, and told them to keep playing and make friends, but they still had to make friends.What kind of friends do you make?Of course it is the Zhongchang servants.In the political arena of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as long as there is a Zhongchang servant, no matter how capable he is, he dare not say that he is the best in the world.

Liang Ji is very violent, but he still knows the rules of the world.He and his younger brother Liang Buyi were very obedient and went to make friends with someone, but they didn't expect that good things would turn bad, and they almost lost their lives. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were four people serving as Zhongchang servants at the beginning, but by the end of the year, the number had risen to twelve.Speaking of these eunuchs, some people say that they are not good things.In fact, eunuchs are not necessarily jerks.Sun Cheng before is a good example.If it hadn't been for him to fight hard, the Liu family would have been crushed to death by Yan's relatives.

Speaking of it, Liang Shang didn't think carefully.Zhongchangshi is a close minister of the emperor, and they are all gods in a temple.But Liang Shang told Liang Ji to worship God Jia, ignored the other gods, endured the anger of the god who could not eat incense, and wanted to clean up the Liang clan. The god Liang Shang asked Liang Ji to worship was Xiaohuangmen Cao Jie, because he was highly regarded by Liu Bao.But the other three Zhongchang attendants Zhang Kui and others were upset. Liang Shang even went to pay homage to a small yellow door, but he didn't pay attention to the regular servants among them. What do you mean?Feeling upset, she wanted to vent her anger, so a conspiracy caused by jealousy was finalized like this.

Zhongchang attendant Zhang Kui united a group of people to form a team to file a complaint against Liu Bao.Of course, the complaints are all made out of nothing. It is said that Cao Teng, the constant servant of the Liangshang Alliance, and others are discussing to recruit the sons of princes from all over the country to Luoyang, planning to get rid of Liu Bao and establish another emperor.Therefore, I respectfully ask the emperor to quickly issue an edict to arrest Liang Shang and others. Liu Bao is neither old nor young, but he still has enough brains.After hearing this report, he was very puzzled.The current empress belongs to the Liang family, the general belongs to the Liang family, and the mayor of Luoyang City also belongs to the Liang family. Liu Bao almost gave the Liang family all the fat in the world, and Liang Shang is still the kind of very contented person. It doesn't make sense to make any more conspiracy to get rid of yourself?

Liu Bao didn't even think about it, and said on the spot: "Don't be ridiculous, Liang Shang and his son are the people I trust the most; the Zhongchang servant Cao Teng and others are my favorites, how could they do such a dirty trick?" What about the three abuses?" When Zhang Kui and others heard this, they suddenly felt that something was wrong, so they went all the way to the dark, and falsely preached an imperial decree to arrest Cao Teng and others, who were also Zhongchang servants. The news immediately spread to the palace, and Liu Bao jumped up angrily.He immediately ordered other eunuchs to pass on his order to rescue Cao Teng and others, and immediately arrested Zhang Kui and others who had taken the wrong medicine.

Fortunately, the firefighting captain Liu Bao responded in a timely manner, otherwise Liang Shang would not know why he was finished when he died. After this incident, Liang Shang seemed to think about everything.In August 141, Liang Shang fell ill. Before he died, he called Liang Ji to his bedside, and confessed: I didn't make much contribution to the country when I was alive, so you don't need to have a grand funeral after I die. Keep it simple, so that the scholar-bureaucrats of the Manchu Dynasty won't gossip. What Liang Shang said was honest, and what he said was for the good of Liang Ji and his sons.On August 4th, Liang Shang left, and Liang Ji and Liang Buyi planned to follow their father's will and follow the simple rules.

But at this time, someone refused to agree, and this person was Liu Bao. Liang Shang has a son-in-law like Liu Bao, so he is right to marry his daughter.Liu Bao told Liang Ji that the general is gone, not only do you want to hold his funeral grandly, but I also want to attend the mourning in person.Liu Bao was a good man, and a week later, he re-appointed the general. This glorious title, which symbolized unlimited power, fell on Liang Ji.The post of mayor of Luoyang City that Liang Ji originally held was left to Liang Buyi. Liu Bao had two eyes, one was right about Liang Shang, but the other was wrong about Liang Ji.Disasters are like fire in the sky, about to fall to the ground and burn the world.

AD 144, August.Liu Bao died in the front hall of Yutang at the age of thirty.Immediately afterwards, Prince Liu Bing came to the throne, only two years old. This is the fate of the Eastern Han Dynasty, baby emperors, one after another, it can be said that the wild fire is endless, and the spring breeze blows again.Is this a good thing?For the relatives of the Liang family, it is of course a good thing. Because the new emperor was too young, Empress Liang was promoted to Empress Dowager Liang, and she was in charge of all affairs of the Han Dynasty.But for the scholar-bureaucrats of the Manchu Dynasty, this was a bad thing, a huge bad thing.The degree of bad things is definitely no less than the danger of a carriage derailing and being buried under a cliff.

The misfortune of the country is that a relative is in power, let alone a beast-shaped relative.Thinking of this, some people feel pain in their hearts.There are many people who are heartbroken for the country, but there are not many who really defend the dignity of the country with actions. Among them, Li Gu and Duccio may be the only ones who have paid a huge price. Li Gu, courtesy name Zijian, was born in Nanzheng (now part of Shaanxi Province) in Hanzhong, a typical second-generation official.The old man was a Situ and was among the top three. He is neither proud nor ashamed of it, but treats it indifferently.When Dad was a Situ, he often went to and from Luoyang, but he never said anything. At that time, what he wanted to do most with all his heart was to study and be a man.In order to study, he traveled all over the world, worshiping the world's masters as teachers, and befriending the world's heroes.Some people thought that he was very suitable to be an official, so they recommended him to the central government, but in the end, he excused his illness and refused to leave the rivers and lakes after death. He disappeared into the Jianghu, not because he didn't miss the Jianghu, but because the time has not come.This is not without precedent. Yang Zhen, who was hailed as a Confucius in Kansai, was Li Gu's example. Like Plato, Li Gu also had the idea of ​​a Utopia.In order to express his ideas, he once wrote a statement, which can be summed up in two points: one is to remove power from relatives and return power to the state;If this is done, the country will be at peace. Li Gu's memorial was for Liu Bao.Liu Bao also saw it at the time, and thought what he said was very reasonable. The two major problems in the Eastern Han Dynasty were, in the final analysis, the problems of foreign relatives and eunuchs.If these two major issues are handled well, the country will be peaceful, and that is just around the corner. Yet assent is one thing, and practice is another.Liu Bao still loves his Queen Liang, and still wants to appoint Liang Shang as the general. Seeing this, Li Gu had no choice but to write a letter to Liang Shang, who became a general, saying that the ancient Bo Cheng Zigao is your role model, as long as you are willing to learn from him, I will guarantee you immortality. Liang Shang looked at it and smiled wryly. According to records, Bo Cheng Zigao was the monarch of the Yellow Emperor. When Xia Yu was in power, he gave up his high position as a monarch, went to the country and left his hometown, and chose a rural life.Although Liang Shang is low-key, it doesn't mean he doesn't want to be an official.He wanted to be an official so much that he couldn't sleep. It was only for the sake of safety that he chose the philosophy of protecting his life without showing off.Li Gu actually asked him to bid farewell to power and become a farmer for the sake of the false name of a flower in the mirror, do you think I really became two hundred and five? By the way, when Liang Shang became an official, Li Gu was promoted by him. Li Gu did not think of Liang Shang, but instead made such a bad move that hurts others and does not benefit himself. It is really incomprehensible.Liang Shang, who couldn't figure it out, still figured out one thing, Li Gu can't be used by his side anymore, this is a ticking time bomb, it's best to send him away. So with a wave of his hand, he transferred Li Gu out of Luoyang City and went to Jingzhou to be the governor.Many years later, Liang Shang left, Liu Bao also left, and Li Gu came out on top. He kept his feet on the ground and walked all the way to where he is today - Taiwei. No matter where Li Gu goes, he still remembers his responsibility to live: power goes to relatives, politics returns to the state.What a heavy and tempting ideal this is.For the temptation in this dream, he would rather turn himself into a moth and rush forward to the fire, and he would not hesitate to do so. Li Gu told the world that he did not live to be an official, but to be an official to better realize his dream.But the gods who longed to save the world met the devils in troubled times.At this time, Liang Ji was like a huge wall in front of him, and inevitably, the two of them fought. AD 145, the sixth day of the first lunar month.Emperor Liu Bing, who had just taken office, died young. When the news came, Empress Dowager Liang believed that there were frequent civil upheavals all over the world. Now that the announcement of the emperor's death might add fuel to the fire of the already panicked society, it would be better to recruit princes from all over the country to enter the palace first, confirm the emperor's candidate, and then announce it. . However, Taiwei Li Gu jumped out and wrote a letter: "The emperor is gone, why should the news be blocked."The reason why the Qin Dynasty was in chaos back then was because the news of Qin Shihuang's death was blocked, and Zhao Gaoheng stepped in, making the world restless.If the Han Dynasty wanted to live a peaceful life, it had to announce the death of the emperor immediately. Li Gu's words, using the past to satirize the present, are really hurtful.He wanted Empress Dowager Liang to announce the news of Liu Bingyao's death, but he was actually worried that the Liang family would play tricks like Zhao Gao, bypassing San Gong and others of the Han Dynasty and supporting people who were useful to him. The Empress Dowager Liang heard Li Gu's implication, so she had to respect Li Gu's formulation and announce it first, then act.So the news of Liu Bingyao's death was announced that night, and at the same time, King Qinghe and King Bohai were recruited to discuss matters in Luoyang.What are you talking about?Of course it is the succession of the emperor. The Empress Dowager Liang asked the two of them to enter Beijing at the same time, which meant that the new emperor of the Han Dynasty would be born between the two of them. Let me first introduce the situation of these two candidates for emperor: Liu Lian, King of Qinghe, has a serious personality and behaves according to the rules, and is very popular among literati and bureaucrats; Liu Yan, King of Bohai, is only seven years old and has not yet formed an independent personality. At this time, Li Gu wrote again.This time, he sent the memorial to General Liang Ji, and said: "Now when looking for candidates for the emperor, we must choose those who are of high moral character, who are old, and who can handle state affairs." At the end, he added: "General, please remember: Zhou Bo and Huo Guang in the Western Han Dynasty are examples you can learn from; the Deng family and the Yan family in the Eastern Han Dynasty are absolutely not to learn from." After Liang Ji read the memorial, he seemed to see that another poor Yang Zhen-style character was about to fly away.