Chapter 9 Chapter 2 Target, High Society

When Cao Cao was thirteen years old, the thirty-six-year-old Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, Liu Zhi, died. It has been eight years since he personally commanded and killed the Liang Ji clan and regained power. As an aspiring young man who has endured more than ten years of oppression and tempering, a young emperor who has just experienced a life-and-death contest and won the final victory with his courage, wisdom and leadership, at the beginning, Liu Zhi also wanted to do something. , Become a generation of Mingjun like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Guangwu. Liu Zhi often immerses himself in the National Archives in the palace - Lantai, digging out the archives left by the previous kings to govern the country and studying carefully.

In the fall of the year when Liang Ji was killed, Liu Zhi hastily handled the investigation of the Liang party. Although the weather was already very cold, he still insisted on starting a national tour plan within the year, and the first stop was Chang'an, Xijing. It was too late to prepare a huge ceremonial guard, and the emperor's convoy was escorted by Huben and Habayashi guards, and slowly left Luoyang.Emperor Huan issued an edict to give millet and three dendrobium to each of the counties he passed along the road.In the Han Dynasty, one Dou was ten Dou, one Dou of millet was equivalent to about 13.5 catties today, one Dendrobium was 135 Jin, and three Dendrobium was more than 400 Jin, which was basically a year’s ration for one person.

When the car arrived in Guanzhong, Emperor Huan was even more generous. To the counties and towns with the mausoleums of the previous generations, each person was given two more hu.At that time, Jing Zhaoyin had a population of more than 280,000. If only one-fifth of them lived in Chang'an County, the gift of corn alone could reach an astronomical figure. Emperor Huan's generosity came from his confidence.Before the tour, Tingwei Temple, Shaofu Temple, and Luoyang County jointly reported that the properties of the Liang family were confiscated and sold for billions of dollars. With this money, Liu Zhi felt that he was a rich emperor.

However, bad news came later. Qiang uprisings broke out in Longxi and Jincheng (now Lanzhou, Gansu), which belonged to the Liangzhou Governor's Department, which was close to Chang'an.Although in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Qiang people never stopped, but this time the situation is a little different. Eight tribes revolted at the same time, and Jincheng fell into crisis.Liu Zhi ordered the famous general Duan to go to suppress. Liu Zhi didn't dare to stay longer in Chang'an, so he drove back to Luoyang in a hurry.Liu Zhi was very displeased when the national tour plan returned without any results after only one stop.

Even greater troubles ensued. Duan was planning a genocidal plan over there. Although the military was victorious, the military expenditure also overwhelmed the court. Emperor Huan may soon understand a truth like many of his predecessors, the war against Qiang is a big pit, a trap that leads the empire to collapse.In a memorial to the imperial court in Duan Later, the financial expenditures of the previous generation against the Qiang were recorded. In the 21 years from Yongchu to Yonghe, a total of 32 billion yuan was spent, an average of more than 15 yuan per year. million dollars.It should be noted that the annual tax revenue of the empire at that time was only about 6 billion yuan, which meant that in the past two decades, the imperial court had to spend a quarter of the tax revenue every year and throw it into the bottomless pit of Xiqiang.

Commander Duan is good at fighting, but he is not ambiguous when it comes to spending money. The more than three billion yuan Liu Zhi copied from the Liang family is not enough to spend.In addition, when Liang Ji fell from power, Emperor Huan was so happy that he issued an edict to exempt the world from taxes for half a year, and when he visited Chang'an in the west, he gave a big reward of corn, and the empire's finances suddenly fell into a serious crisis. In the fourth year of Yanxi (161), the financial crisis broke out. Liu Zhi issued an edict to all public officials below the ministerial level to reduce their salaries, and borrowed half of the tax from princes.Even so, it was still unable to support the huge war expenses. In the second year, even the emperor's Huben and Habayashi guards received an order to halve their salary.

When winter is approaching, the guards of Huben and Habayashi are waiting to change into their winter military uniforms, but they receive an order that those who are on duty in the camp and have no mission to go out will not change their uniforms (those who live in temples and do not work should not wear winter clothes) ).The official uniforms of public officials at all levels below the ministers in the imperial court were originally supplied by the imperial court. Due to the financial difficulties of the empire, the supply of winter clothes was halved that year. Liu Zhi didn't expect that the world that was finally taken back from Liang's family would be like this. As the director of the finance department, Da Si Nongqing had a sad face every day, complaining every time he saw the emperor, and Liu Zhi was so annoyed that he didn't even see him.Although the Shaofu Temple, which manages the royal finances, is in a better situation, it is still tight. Liu Zhi, the emperor, is a bit aggrieved.

The eunuchs and court officials continued to fight, and Liu Zhi was caught in the middle.Luckily, Liu Zhi is a master of balancing techniques, and also a master at wiping mud. At the same time, he can pretend to be a pig and a tiger. He coaxes this one today and scares another one tomorrow. In short, no one can get too powerful, and they feel that the emperor always stands On my side. When the "five princes" were too proud, they would clean them up, and when the scholars became popular, they would train new eunuchs to suppress courtiers.After implementing a series of balancing measures, he suddenly had a new view on the "Liang party". Why not use them to stir up the situation even more?As a result, members of the "Liang Party" were activated one after another. Hu Guang, Han Yan and others who were dismissed after Liang Jifu's execution returned to the court. Hu Guang served as the doctor of Taizhong, and Han Yan served as the captain of Sili.

Not only is the country in decline, but the personnel are in decline, even God is against Liu Zhi.In the fifth year of Yanxi (162), starting from the first month, mysterious fires broke out in the palace and many cemeteries. First, in the first month of this year, a place called C Department in Nangong caught fire.Then one day in April, the east gate of Gongbei Mausoleum, where Emperor An was buried, caught fire. The fire was not extinguished, and the Yemen of Huben Temple located in the palace also caught fire.In May, a fire broke out in Emperor Kang's mausoleum.In July, a fire broke out inside the Chengshan Gate of Nangong.

From the first month to July, there were six fires. Is there any ulterior conspiracy behind these fires?We don't know about this, but most people are used to associating these emergencies with the five elements, the way of heaven, and mysterious prophecies, and think that these events are not man-made but God's will. That's not to mention the fact that there was an earthquake in Luoyang in April. Although the magnitude was not large and did not cause serious damage, it was even more disturbing when it was connected with those mysterious fires. Still in April, a frightened horse and an elephant running out of the royal garden actually broke into the palace. The two guys rampaged in the palace, causing even greater anxiety.According to five-elementists, an out-of-control horse heralds a "horse disaster" and is a sign of political decline.In fact, this is a kind of attachment, at least this time it is not a prophecy from heaven, but a normal natural phenomenon.In connection with the earthquake that occurred in Luoyang, this startled horse and startled phenomenon are likely to be the precursors of the earthquake.

Later, something even more frightening happened. One day in the seventh year of Yanxi (164), a big snake was found on the throne of Deyang Hall.Snakes are animals with scales, and pentadologists believe that snakes herald the disaster of armored soldiers. Liu Zhi was one of the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty who believed in the Five Elements Theory and mysterious prophecy the most. These things happened one after another, which made him feel heavy.What made him even more disgusted was that a dead dragon was found on Yewang Mountain. Eight years after Yanxi, all kinds of supernatural phenomena occurred more frequently, and mysterious fires appeared constantly. For a while, there was an earthquake here, and for a while, the river that was originally clear suddenly became muddy, and the muddy water suddenly became clear. Another time, in March of the ninth year of Yanxi, the residents of Luoyang, the capital, suddenly found a ball of fire floating in the night sky, and everyone who saw it was terrified. If it were now, this phenomenon would be the object of inquiry by UFO enthusiasts, but at that time almost everyone believed that there was only one explanation for this incident, and that was the expression of some kind of feeling in the sky. Emperor Huan was exhausted by these things, and the matter of Zhongxing had long been put on the back of his mind. Now Emperor Huan thought, as long as he can live every day in peace, he will be thankful. These are the last days of Liu Zhi. He is only in his thirties, enjoys the best life and medical conditions in the world, and enjoys the highest power, but his vitality is not as good as that of a farmer and mountaineer. He is surrounded by everything around him. Tortured extremely weak. He finally died, and when he died, he left no political last words, no love or hate.What's more terrible: there is no little prince left for the empire. Emperor Huan Liu Zhi died on December 28, the first year of Yongkang (167).The next day, the officials of the internal and external courts, headed by Taiwei Chen Fan, unanimously respected Empress Dou Miao as the Empress Dowager "Landing" and presided over the work of the empire. History seems to be repeating itself: the previous emperor passed away, the empress was promoted to the empress dowager, she was in court, and a new emperor was being considered, and the empress dowager and her relatives took charge of the government. The procedure is indeed like this, but the difference is that this time the protagonist has changed, and the surnames of the queen mother and relatives are not Liang but Dou. Under the plan of Taiwei Chen Fan and the queen's father Dou Wu, Liu Hong, the great-grandson of King Liu Kai of Hejian and Marquis of Jieduting, ascended to the throne. This is Emperor Ling.Liu Hong is a Marquis of Ting, one level shorter than Liu Zhi's Marquis of County; Liu Hong is twelve years old this year, three years younger than Liu Zhi.After Chen Fan and Dou Wu joined forces, they became very powerful, and everyone in the government and the opposition placed high hopes on them, hoping that they could work together to eradicate the increasingly unpopular eunuch group.However, in this round of desperate contests, the eunuchs once again gained the upper hand. Chen Fan and Dou Wu were killed, and a new generation of eunuchs represented by Cao Jie, Wang Fu, Hou Lan, and Zhang Rang regained control of the government. Around Liu Hong's ascension to the throne, Cao Song returned to Luoyang, and then witnessed Chen Fan and Dou Wu being killed by eunuchs.At this time, it has been about ten years since he returned to Qiao County to observe his filial piety. At this time, a large number of officials in the imperial court were dismissed because they were punished by Chen Fan and Dou Wu.The eunuchs continued to issue new appointment edicts in the name of Emperor Ling, of course, most of them were their confidants and relatives, and at the same time, there were relatively moderate political scholars like Hu Guang and Qiao Xuan.It was at this time that Cao Song was appointed Minister of Agriculture, and this appointment far exceeded Cao Song's expectations. Cao Song was reused by the eunuch camp for three main reasons: first, he was an outsider during the many bloody incidents in recent years and had nothing to do with various factions; Many cronies supplemented it, but maintaining the normal operation of the empire requires some professional officials; third, Cao Song is Cao Teng's adopted son. Although Da Changqiu has passed away for many years, most of the current eunuchs have little personal contact with Da Changqiu , but as a senior, Cao Teng's reputation is still there. Dasinongqing is one of the nine ministers, a minister-level official, responsible for the economic work of the empire, including agriculture, water conservancy, warehousing, handicrafts, and commercial circulation. All expenditures are allocated by the Minister of Agriculture.Starting from the second year of Emperor Ling Yongkang (168), Cao Song served in this position for many years.