Chapter 5 extravagance

It was clear that the mountains and rain were about to come and the wind filled the building, but Emperor Liu Hong didn't know it.After Wang Meiren's death, his wanton enjoyment intensified.It may be because there is nothing to do with the grief in his heart, so he put all his energy on indulging in sex and sex. He ordered the eunuchs and maids to set up a market in the imperial garden. Everything was modeled on the market next to the old house in Hejian when he was Lord Marquis, selling palace treasures.He himself pretended to be a businessman, haggling with the court ladies, and even encouraged them to steal "goods" from each other, watching them quarrel and fight.In addition, Liu Hong also set up stables, which were under the control of the eunuchs, and they specially searched for good horses from the people to flood them. Two million dollars.

There are so many good horses, but Liu Hong doesn't use them, he prefers to drive donkeys.The imperial servant and Ji Cheng were forced to do nothing, so they specially designed a royal chariot drawn by four donkeys for him.Liu Hong didn't mind the trouble, he took care of the bridle himself, and rode this strange car around the West Garden. In addition, he liked to wear Hu clothes, so he looked like a Xizhou businessman who bought goods from the market.Later, he had enough trouble in the West Garden, so he simply drove the car to Luoyang Street!In this way, the common people could see the emperor galloping like a madman in a donkey cart, and on both sides were countless Yulin soldiers and eunuchs running all the way, sweating profusely, following the escort.

What is good at the top must be followed by the bottom.The emperor played like this, and Luoyang city officials and even the children of wealthy businessmen felt that it was very fresh when they saw it.So three donkeys, two donkeys, one donkey, and various styles of donkey carts came out one after another, and driving a donkey cart out of the city became the most popular activity among Luoyang dudes.They competed for luxury in every move, and they all imitated the appearance of the emperor. The first one who couldn't stand these things was the veteran Yang Ci.The Yang family is a family of Confucian classics, and it is also known as the Yuan family in Runan. From the generation of Yang Ci's grandfather Yang Zhen, he has been a straight minister with a heart like a stone, and the official worships the Taiwei.His father, Yang Bing, also worked tirelessly to punish corrupt officials, and he was also a Taiwei.

Now Yang Ci is over 70 years old, and the official worships Situ.He went to Shu Liu Hong and asked the emperor to stop a series of appalling acts and curb the extravagance.But Liu Hong turned a deaf ear to this and instead intensified.After that, the old Taiwei Liu Kuan couldn't see it anymore, and he offered his opinions as the emperor's teacher, but he was found an excuse to quit his post as Taiwei, and the old man was so angry that he drank alcohol every day.After Liu Kuan was dismissed, Liu Hong unexpectedly promoted Wei Wei Xu Jian, who flattered the eunuch, to be the Taiwei.No one can ask and supervise all his absurd activities.

At this time, a piece of good news reached the capital.Tan Shihuai, the leader of Xianbei, was wounded by the Han army during an operation to plunder the side court, and died after returning. Tan Shihuai's son He Lian served as the leader.He Lian was greedy and cruel by nature, and his absurdity was no less than that of Liu Hong, which led to civil strife in Xianbei, causing Xiao Qiang to attack and kill endlessly, and he had no time to harass the Han territory.The original conquest failed, causing the loss of soldiers and generals, but now without any effort, the threat of Xianbei was invisible.

Liu Hong thought it was God's protection, so someone went to the palace to offer a rare Zhiyingcao, insisting that it was auspicious.As soon as the auspiciousness comes out, the whole world will celebrate together, the courtiers will dance and write, and the palace will be full of drums and music. Liu Hong really thought it was a peaceful and prosperous age!He enjoys himself every day and does not see his foreign ministers, so he credits the eunuchs with all the credit, so he breaks the rule of four regular servants, and wants to add thirteen eunuchs around him as regular servants, and everyone gets a salary of two thousand shi.Among these people, only Lu Qiang knew that shame and humiliation would not be tolerated, and there were twelve people left: Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Xia Yun, Guo Sheng, Sun Zhang, Bi Lan, Li Song, Duan Gui, Gao Wang, Zhang Gong, Han Kui, Song Dian was all appointed, and later he was promoted to Liehou.Loyal and good people are all scolded, take the big number of twelve, and call them "ten constant attendants".

Relying on the emperor's favor, the ten permanent attendants built up private residences and promoted cronies.The courtiers wrote letters of impeachment one after another, and Liu Hong actually said to the ministers: "The widow entered the palace since childhood and has nothing to rely on. Zhang Rang is like my father, and Zhao Zhong is like my mother. What is it that they are greedy?" If so, what else does the eunuch care about?The ten permanent servants became more and more rampant to amass wealth, accepting bribes and selling officials and nobles.In the first hall of the government office, the chess is listed in Dubi; the children are affiliated, and more than half are in the state.The accumulation of Nanjin, Hebao, silk, satin, and grains is full of storage; the play of Qiangyuan, servants, singers, and dancers is full of beautiful rooms.Dogs and horses are decorated with carved patterns, and civil and wood are covered with brocade.The poor people, competing for extravagance, harming the loyal and the good, establishing private parties, and almost sold all the officials below the county level.Those who spend money to be officials, in order to make money, squeeze the people and raise taxes privately.

Under the persecution of this situation, more common people joined Taiping Dao and followed the great virtuous teacher Zhang Jiao to travel around the world to preach.Yang Ci went to the Shu again, requesting a thorough investigation of Zhang Jiao, and sending the refugees back to their hometowns, but they refused to report in bed, and instead transferred Lao Yang Ci to be an admonishing doctor. At this time, Dongguan has almost become a nursing home.All the veterans who were squeezed out gathered here to discuss government affairs with Yang Ci and Ma Rixun.This also suffered Cao Cao, Chen Wen and the juniors, who used to be editors of "Han Ji", but now they have become handymen, serving these old men all day long.

On this day, everyone was discussing in the east view, and the censor Liu Tao and the minister Yang Zan came in with sad faces. When Yang Ci met, he asked, "Liu Ziqi, how are you doing? Did you say Long Live?" "You don't need to ask, you can tell by looking at it that it's playing the piano to a cow again." Situ Chen Dan knew it at a glance. Cao Cao hurriedly found a couch for Liu Tao, and he sat down and sighed: "I will meet you with Fengche Duwei Lesong and Yilang Yuan Gong, hoping to persuade the emperor to ban the way of peace. Unexpectedly..." "What's wrong?"

"The emperor was drinking in the imperial garden, and he was still teasing the dogs. He coaxed us out without saying a few words. Before leaving, he said that the matter of Taiping Dao was not urgent, and transferred me to Dongguan to revise the "Spring and Autumn" regulations." Liu Tao drooped his head and sighed endlessly, "What is the urgent matter of repairing books, is it more urgent than banning the way of peace?" Old Chen Tan patted him on the shoulder: "Don't you understand? Long live, I think you're annoying, and I'll just give you an energy-consuming errand, so that you don't have time to talk to him. Sigh... not only do you not accept good advice, but you also don't accept it. Tell us to talk."

"He doesn't like us old men anymore." Liu Kuan loves wine the most, and he came here drunk today. "As the emperor's teacher, how can I teach Wansui today to be like this? I told him to govern the country well, Why didn't he listen? I'm already old, and I'll be buried in the ground in the future, but how can I meet Master Guangwu!" As he spoke, he was about to cry. "It's not your fault." Ma Rixun also interjected, "It was all instigated by those eunuchs Xiaoxiao. I heard that Long Live will repair the old house in Hejian. How can the emperor repair the outer house? It seems that such an idea is not very good. Chang Shi wants to come out to make money?" "Don't mention ten permanent servants, it will blow your liver and lungs." Liu Tao said angrily, "Just now they are nominating bureaucrats to the emperor. Feng Shuo and Tai Chong from Hongdumen are all flatterers." "If it weren't for the ban on the party, how could it be so troublesome today. How can there be people with virtue who are willing to take the initiative to become officials? They all regard the imperial court as a filthy place. A few days ago, Long Live issued an edict to recruit Hanoi people to Xiang Xu. That Xiangxu is a charlatan, practicing Taoism like a lunatic all day long, I really don’t know where Wansui has taken a fancy to.” Ma Rixun turned his head and pointed to Cao Cao and Chen Wen, “Look at these young people, they are talented in terms of talent , In terms of virtue and virtue, they must be placed in idle positions! If they are released to serve as county guards, how much better than those who buy officials!" Cao Cao looked at these old officials who were still noisy and filled with righteous indignation, which was both ridiculous and sad.The funny thing is, I'm afraid they took off their hats, and the gang didn't have ten black hairs together.The sad thing is, are these old men the only loyal ministers of the big man left? While these people were discussing, they suddenly heard a strange sound—"Wow, woof, woof, woof!"—it was a dog barking!Dongguan is a place of royal learning, how could a dog come in?Everyone was very curious, these old officials stood up one after another with sticks, and looked out of the window.If you don't look at it, you will be trembling with anger. It turned out that a dog raised by the emperor came from the imperial garden.That dog with yellow hair and big ears is no different from a folk watch dog, but what is different is that the emperor put an official's Jinxian crown on the dog's head, and a purple and white striped ribbon around its body, which can only be worn by Sangong Clothes color! Here Yang Ci, Ma Rixun, Liu Kuan, Chen Dan, and Liu Tao, five veteran ministers, have all been in the public platform. How can we not be angry when we see such a situation?The dog was still barking at the gate, and after a while, the little Huangmen Jianshuo chased after him in a panic.He hugged the dog, and saw that the old officials were all looking through the windows, and quickly knelt down to salute: "My little one greets all Minggongs. The dog from the emperor's garden has come out. Don't be surprised, my lords. Take it back." After Jian Shuo finished speaking, he turned his head to leave, and suddenly saw Shangshu Yang Zan at the window, and said, "Yang Shangshu is also there! That slave will save trouble. The emperor just issued an order to amnesty the world. Let the mansion write a plaque, and you can handle this matter on your behalf. It is still the old rule that criminals can be released, but those who are imprisoned by the party will not be pardoned." After finishing speaking, he carried the dog and left. Yang Ci was the oldest. Seeing this scene, he was so angry that he sat on the ground clutching his chest: "In the eyes of the emperor, we are like dogs! The party members will not forgive you, what a fool!" "Woooo..." Liu Kuan couldn't help crying, "Master Guangwu! Open your eyes and see... If this continues, our country will perish..." Ma Rixun was still old and slippery, leaning on crutches, glanced at Cao Cao, and Chen Wen said: "I am too young to keep up with the perishing of the country, but you young people are miserable, and the days of suffering are still to come!" Cao Cao Smiled slightly: "As far as I'm concerned, this dog came well." "Huh?" Several veterans cast angry glances one after another. Cao Cao quickly explained: "Masters, Wansheng has no malicious intentions. I mean we can make a big fuss about this matter." Ma Rixun patted the couch beside him and said, "As long as you have a lot of ideas, sit down and talk about it." Look." "In front of everyone on the public stage, how can you be petty to me..." "I told you to sit, you just sit, why are there so many nonsense! Hurry up!" Ma Rixun said in an unquestionable tone.Cao Cao smiled and sat down, and said: "Although our emperor is... naughty..." He used such a bad word, and seeing that everyone had no opinion, he continued, "But he loves classics and articles. If not, why would he Why did he ask Cai Yong to revise the Six Classics? Why did he set up the Hongdu school?" Liu Kuan gradually stopped crying: "Yes, he only has a good attitude towards me when he is lecturing." "So, let's do what we like," Cao Cao continued, "Please think about it, are there any prophecies, scriptures, etc. about dogs, preferably bad ones." Liu Kuan is full of economics, even if he drank alcohol, he would not delay. He shook his head and said: "Jing's "Yi" has a saying that 'the king is not right, the minister wants to usurp, and the demon dog crowns'." "That's right! Let's quote this sentence and make a big fuss about him!" Chen Dan's eyes lit up: "I'll write this memorial with you, don't care about anything else, first beat that shameless old servant Xu Jian, tell him to flatter the eunuch, I'll sue him for a vegetarian corpse!" Sure enough, Cao Cao and Chen Dan made a big fuss with the topic of "a dog wears a crown", and in the end they even brought up the fact that their favorite ministers form cliques for personal gain, and Xu Jiansu eats his corpse!It's strange to say that Liu Hong didn't listen to the serious reasoning, but Liu Hong nodded repeatedly when he handed over this far-fetched thing.He actually showed this memorial to the three government offices, scolded Xu Jie, the Taiwei who flattered the eunuch, at the court meeting, and immediately dismissed him from his post. Cao Mengde entrusted Chen Dan's fame, and he became famous for a while.But this was only a flash in the pan, and it didn't take long for Liu Hong to go his own way, throwing the warning memorial aside.Cao Cao is still the unknown ordinary Yilang...how can he be promoted?He began to think about it.