[Conspiracy]

In the eighth year of Yanxi, Liu Kui, the king of Bohai, deliberately rebelled and was impeached, and Liu Zhi, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, couldn't bear to kill this younger brother, and only demoted him to the king of Liaotao, and there was only one fiefdom of Xiatao County. Liu Kui, who had lost his fiefdom, regretted it and hoped to restore his Bohai Kingdom again, so he contacted Wang Fu, a regular servant of the Central People's Republic of China, and promised to give Wang Fu 50 million yuan if Wang Fu helped him restore the country. Later, Emperor Liu Zhi of the Han Dynasty died, and the edict ordered Liu Kui to be restored to the king of Bohai. At this time, Liu Kui thought that this was his brother's last wish, not the result of Wang Fu's efforts, and refused to pay Wang Fu 50 million yuan, so Wang Fu held a grudge.

After the death of Emperor Huan, there were no heirs, so the empress dowager Dou Miao and the general Dou Wu planned to set up the Hejian Kingdom of Jizhou to solve the desecration of the Pavilion Marquis Liu Hong to inherit the unification and sent people to the Hejian Kingdom to meet him. At that time, there were rumors among the people that Liu Kui was resentful that his brother Liu Zhi did not pass on the throne to him, and wanted to lead troops to snatch the edict. But this is just a rumor, and no one knows if there is one.

At this time, Zheng Sa, Dong Teng and Liu Kui, who were in the middle of the Standing Chamber, had a good relationship, Wang Fu secretly investigated, thinking that there must be a hidden secret, so he reported the matter to Duan Cheng, who was then the captain of the school, and this Cheng was a ruthless character, he arrested Zheng Sa and sent him to Beisi Prison for interrogation, tortured him, and also instructed Shangshu to order Lian Zhong to falsely accuse Zheng Sa and others of conspiring to usurp the throne, and wanted to establish Liu Kui as the emperor. Liu Hong knew that Liu Kui deliberately rebelled, so he ordered Liu Kui to be imprisoned, Liu Kui was tortured in prison and was forced to commit suicide, and more than 100 of his wife and sons died in prison.

Originally, this matter was over, but the problem was that one of Liu Kui's concubines was the aunt of Queen Song, Wang Fu was afraid that Queen Song would retaliate against him in the future, so he always wanted to find an opportunity to get rid of Queen Song in order to prevent future troubles, that is, when you do a criminal thing, you need to do a more evil thing to cover up the previous crime, which is a person like Wang Fu. Originally, Queen Song was very favored, Wang Fu had no way to start, and then the emperor had another new love, like He, Wang Fu knew that the opportunity was coming, Guanghe first year Wang Fu instructed Duan Xi to falsely accuse Queen Song of using 'witchcraft' to confuse the harem, and cursed the emperor, the emperor was very angry, and thought that Liu Kui had a relationship with Queen Song, so he abolished Queen Song, killed Queen Song's father and brother, and other relatives were also exiled, just like that, Queen Song also died of depression.

"The abolition of the Empress Song may be a breakthrough for us to bring down Wang Fu!" Lu Zhi sat down and said.

"In order to save his life, Wang Fu actually interfered in the matter of abolishing the queen, at this time he was already struggling to breathe, the emperor deliberately alienated Wang Fu, this is our opportunity, as long as Wang Fu is brought down, it is a pot end, and even the little flies behind him can be cleaned up together!" Ma Riyan said with a smile: "However, someone still needs to go to the emperor to impeach Wang Fu and them, I personally think that the few people we are present are not suitable, as the so-called seeking government in their positions, the emperor asked us to write a book here, then we will write a book well, don't let Your Majesty feel that a few of us are not doing business, and it is not good to just think about the party and fighting each other all day long." ”

"Yes, Uncle Weng is right, and another point is that the emperor is very annoyed when he sees a few of us, in short, he will definitely have a preconceived idea, so it is not easy for a few of us to speak, and he will not listen, maybe he will quarrel again, don't be good when a bowl of vegetables is fried by a few of us!" Liu Kuan said with a smile.

"Haha...... That's right, the current Sili school captain Yang Qiu is a good candidate, he is my family's protégé and former official, who made meritorious contributions to the governance of Jiujiang County back then, and was appointed by His Majesty as a councilor. Zhongchang Wang Fu, Cao Jie and others are treacherous and rampant, playing with power tricks, inciting inside and outside the court, all this, Yang Qiu is not used to it, he once patted his legs and said angrily: 'If Yang Qiu is the captain of the school, how can these people let it go?'" Yang Ci took a sip of tea and continued: "This person is strict by nature, and he likes the academics of Shen Bu and Han Fei. An official in the county insulted his mother, and Yang Qiu gathered dozens of teenagers to kill the official and his family, and Yang Qiu became famous ever since. ”

"Yes, it's a ruthless character, what we need is such a person, and he is still a lieutenant of the Sili School, holding the power to supervise the Beijing officials and magistrates, as long as His Majesty agrees, he can arrest Wang Fu, Duan Xi and others, as for how to interrogate, that's Yangqiu's business!" Lu Zhi agreed with Yang Ci's idea.

"I think it's okay, now the emperor wants to get rid of the shadow of Wang Fu and others, and attacking at this time is just taking advantage of the trend, and it will definitely have the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort." Liu Kuan said excitedly.

"Okay, I'll go to Yang Qiu's house now, discuss specific matters with him and ask for his advice." Yang Ci stood up and said stiffly: "Let's fight him again!" ”

"It's hard work!" Everyone present said to Yang Ci.

"Everyone, there's nothing to do here, then I'll go back first, there are still some documents at home that haven't been proofread, let's go first!" Lu Zhi said goodbye to them.

I believe that things will definitely take a turn for the better, as long as this impeachment is successful, Cher's predicament will be naturally lifted, not only that, but if these culprits are overthrown, the political environment will also be greatly improved, and as long as you are diligent and diligent in the future, the country will definitely become better.

Lu Zhi unconsciously quickened his pace, all he had to do now was wait.

【Hope】

"Oops, I've been waiting for this for a long time, why haven't you come back yet?" Zhang Shiping: At this time, the living room of Lu Zhi's house was walking back and forth.

"Wait, wait!" Liu Bei was so nervous that he didn't even want to stand at this time, so he was sitting there at this time, covering his mouth with his hands, waiting for the teacher's news minute by minute.

On that day, Yang Ci found Yang Qiu, analyzed the current situation to him and explained the plan discussed by the Dongguan Lords, Yang Qiu, who had always hated eunuchs, hit it off with Yang Ci, and then he found Situ Liu He, Shaofu Chen Qiu, two colleagues, Chen Qiu was a former Tai Lieutenant, who was deposed because of the solar eclipse, and was later appointed as Guanglu Doctor, and then appointed as Shaofu; Liu He, his elder brother is Liu Qi of the Hejian royal family, after the death of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, because there was no son, so there was an embarrassing situation of no successor, Liu Qi as a minister of the clan, he proposed to establish Liu Hong, the son of Liu Chang, the Marquis of Zhu Ting, as the successor, that is, the current emperor. However, Liu Qian did not get rewarded after establishing such a great credit. Because Wang Fu and other eunuchs were deeply afraid that such a clan minister would be relied on by the little emperor, which would be unfavorable to the eunuch group. So Wang Fu and others designed to transfer Liu Qi to the Taishan County Taishou, and instigated the subordinates of the division to force him to death on his way to office. In this way, the hatred between Liu He and Wang Fu can be described as incompatible.

The three of them united, and Yang Qiu entered the palace to meet the saint as the captain of the school, while Wang Fu was on vacation at home at this time.

"Captain Si Li, Yang Qiu, knock to see Your Majesty!" The yang ball bows to the ground.

"Let's die, Aiqing has something to report, play it quickly, I still have some urgent matters!" Liu Hong sat on the dragon chair and kept lifting his buttocks, as if there were nails on his buttocks.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Yang Qiu stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has something important to do, and the minister obtained Wang Fu today to collect a large number of corruption charges from Wang Fu, the middle servant, among the people, as well as the power and money transactions between him and Liu Kui, the king of Bohai more than ten years ago, please take a look!" "These evidences have actually been there for a long time, but it was not the right time to take them out, but this time Yang Qiu is estimated to be taken out.

"What, the power-for-money transaction between Liu Kui, the king of the Bohai Sea? Take it! "The matter of Liu Kui, the king of the Bohai Sea, involves a wide range of interests and a large scope, especially after the abolition, so the issue of Liu Kui is also a very sensitive political matter.

Xiao Huangmen hurriedly presented the evidence in Yang Qiu's hand to the emperor, Liu Hong grabbed the evidence in Huangmen's hand, and browsed it from beginning to end, he read page by page, and his hands trembled more and more with each page, and saw that in the end he actually crumpled these evidences into a ball, and threw them directly on the ground: "Presumptuous, presumptuous, dare to do these things under my nose, deceive the king, how can this be reasonable, Wang Fu He secretly colluded with the princes and kings, does he want to rebel, ah!" ”

A series of questions frightened Yang Qiu not daring to make a sound.

"You're the captain of Si Li, you say, what should I do?!" Liu Hong pointed to the yang ball and said.

"Wang Fu and the Zhongchang servants Chun Yudeng, Yuan Yu, Feng Yi and others, they are evil and cunning, and they act arbitrarily, and their crimes are enough to destroy the entire family, and the ministers suggest that Wang Fu and others be arrested, as well as the sons and brothers of these people who serve as the county commanders; The above evidence also involves Taiwei Duan Xi, who has been flattering Wang Fu for a long time, and the officials protect each other, and the power is corresponding, and should be executed together. Yang Qiu arched his hand and said.

"Just know what to do, go ahead!"

"Obey the order!"

Looking at the back of Yang Qiu's departure, Liu Hong took a deep breath.

As soon as Yang Qiu returned to the official office, he made arrangements for the arrest of Wang Fu and Duan Xi, and then sent someone to inform Yang Ci and others of this victory, and Lu Zhi, who learned the news, immediately rushed home, he knew that the mood of these people in the family at this time could be described as fearful, and it was time to reassure them.

"The teacher is back!" Liu Deran saw the figure of the teacher outside the door and immediately rushed out, Liu Bei and Zhang Shiping were no exception, and ran directly out of the door.

"How's it going, teacher?" Liu Bei's eyes widened at this time, waiting for the news brought by the teacher.

"It worked!" Lu Zhi grabbed everyone's shoulders tightly with both hands and said: "We succeeded, Yang Qiu got His Majesty's permission to arrest Wang Fu, Duan Xi and others, and interrogate them severely, and now they are estimated to be in prison." ”

"Ah~" As soon as Liu Bei heard the news, he immediately breathed a long sigh of relief, and the whole person sat on the ground weakly, perhaps too excited, and unconsciously shed tears, and said in his mouth: "Xue'er is saved, Xue'er is saved!" ”

"Thank you, Lord Lu, I thank Lord Lu on behalf of my lord and my Xue'er!" Zhang Shiping knelt down in front of Lu Zhi at this time and said, "You are really the great benefactor of Su Mansion, Lord Lu!" ”

"Don't be like this, get up, Xue'er is born with good luck, how can human intervention be possible, go back quickly, tell your master and Xue'er the news, lest they be scared all day long, go quickly!" Lu Zhi picked up Zhang Shiping and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's right~ I'll go now, I'll go now, Master Lu, then I'll go back first, Liu Bei, Liu Deran, I'll go first, if you have the opportunity to come to Zhongshan, come to Su Mansion as a guest, the Su family welcomes you at any time!" Zhang Shiping said with a smile.

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Say hello to Xue'er on my behalf, and just say that Liu Bei is all right, and now that he is here with the teacher, everything is going well, please!" ”

"Don't worry, I will, you take care of yourself, there will be a period later!" After Su Shuang finished speaking, he took a light step and went back to Zhongshan.

Afterwards, Yang Qiu arrested Wang Fu, Duan Cheng and others and sent them to Luoyang Prison, where Wang Fu's sons Yongle Shaofu Wang Meng and Peiguo Minister Wang Ji were arrested. Yang Qiu personally went to the prison to torture Wang Fu and others, and all five kinds of torture were used. Yangqiu asked someone to block Wang Meng's mouth with soil, and the sticks were down, and Wang Fu's father and son died under the stick. Duan Cheng was afraid of the crime and then committed suicide in prison. Yang Qiu then placed Wang Fu's body horizontally at the Xia City Gate to show the public, and wrote a big notice "Thief Wang Fu". The property of Wang Fu and Duan Xi's family was confiscated, and all his wife and children were exiled to Bijing.

【Selling Officials】

Just when everyone was happy about the overthrow of Wang Fu, there was a news in the palace that the emperor actually set up a stall in the West Garden, and publicly announced to the whole world that the Han Dynasty was going to sell official beards.

Although it was not the first initiative of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, as early as the reign of Qin Shi Huang, there was a historical record of selling official beards, according to the record of "Qin Shi Huang Benji", "In the fourth year of Qin Shi Huang, locusts came from the east, covering the sky, and the world was plagued; The people are a thousand stones, and they are at the first level." This means that for every thousand stone of grain paid by the people, they can be awarded a first-class title, and the court will sell the lord for disaster relief. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the emptiness of the treasury due to years of foreign conquests, the imperial court decided that those who paid money and grain could obtain official titles or atonement.

Although Emperor Qin and Han Wu also carried out the activities of selling official positions, Liu Hong's official positions sold were high in rank and involved a wide range, which can be said to be unprecedented and unprecedented. Liu Hong not only sold ordinary official positions, but also sold such weighty official positions as the Three Princes and Nine Secretaries, and also clearly marked the price, "2,000 stones" (county-level official positions) sold for 20 million yuan, "400 stones" (county-level official positions) sold for 4 million yuan, and so on, the price of the "three princes" was at least 100 million.

However, since Liu Hong's accession to the throne, the economy has declined, wealth has shrunk, and even the rich have limited purchasing power. If the official is sold strictly according to the marked price, there will inevitably be a situation of "price but no market". Fortunately, Liu Hong is quite clever, he formulates his own policies flexibly, and explains to the people around him in private, as long as someone pays 5 million or 10 million, he can get the position of minister.

Early in the morning, Liu Bei saw that these officials began to sit with their heads drooped again, and the innate joy of the previous year was also swept away, and last time Yang Ci quarreled with Emperor Liu Hong because of the things that Hongmen had learned, but the quarrel was noisy, and the emperor still didn't listen, this time Yang Ci didn't seem to be too lazy to quarrel, and he put his hot face on his cold ass again and again, which had made him lose his expectations for this emperor. At this time, the gentle Liu Kuan was still complaining with a depressed face, saying something that let Guangwu Ye come to see some ridiculous things that his children and grandchildren had done.

Seeing this scene, Ma Riyan said at this time: "One dares to sell, and the other dares to buy, I recently heard that Cao Song spent a lot of money to buy the position of captain." ”

When Yang Ci heard this, he spat the tea leaves in his mouth on the ground, and sneered: "Cao Jugao, the eunuch's son naturally can't do anything, he knows how to slap the horse all day long, before Wang Fu gained power, he went to take refuge in Wang Fu, and now that Wang Fu has lost power, he went to Zhao Zhong Zhang Rang, he really adheres to the fine tradition of his family, and has always pursued the same pants as the eunuch, I think the Han has come to this point today, that is, there are too many people like Cao Song." ”

Liu Kuan listened, nodded, and said, "But having said that, Cao Jugao's son is not like his old son, who studies the way of slapping horses all day long. ”

Lu Zhi put down the teacup: "Yes, that young man seems to be called Cao Cao, he was appointed as the lieutenant of northern Luoyang at the age of twenty, as soon as he arrived, he affirmed the ban, strictly enforced the law and discipline, and made more than ten five-colored sticks, hanging around the yamen, 'those who violate the ban, all will be killed'." At that time, the emperor's favored eunuch Jian Shuo, he had an uncle named Jian Tu, who was forbidden to walk at night, Cao Cao showed no mercy and executed Jian Tu with a five-color stick. As a result, 'the Jingshi has collected traces, and no one dares to offend'. ”

When Yang Ci heard this, he smiled and said: "It's ridiculous for you to say it's ridiculous, this is really a big flood that washed the Dragon King Temple." ”

Liu Bei, who was standing on the side, listened to Cao Cao's matter at this time, and secretly praised himself: What a stick to beat Jian Tu, this person is brave and strategic, law enforcement is vigorous and resolute, he is really a good man, and he really wants to meet this person, and asked at this time: "Cao Cao killed Jian Tu, didn't the eunuch retaliate?" ”

Liu Kuan said: "Where is there such a good thing, as soon as Jian Tu was killed, Cao Cao was severely criticized by his father, and later if his father hadn't thrown money around, Cao Cao might have been killed." Due to the relationship between Cao Song, the emperor took the way of rising and descending to transfer Cao Cao out of Luoyang, and went to Dunqiu County as a county commander, it is said that he also did a good job in Dunqiu, and the people also loved him very much, but unfortunately Queen Song was deposed later, and this Cao Cao's cousin, that is, the daughter of his uncle Cao Chi, had been married to Song Qi, the elder brother of Queen Song, so Cao Cao's family was also implicated and was removed from his official position because of his joint sitting. ”

At this time, Yang Ci sneered: "But fortunately, his family has money, no, not long after he was deposed, Cao Song spent 100 million yuan to buy a captain, which is really amazing." Yang Ci's cynicism about Cao Song can be seen to his disdain for what Cao Song has done in the court over the years.

To tell the truth, Liu Bei is not interested in Cao Song, he is interested in the person named Cao Cao, as the heir of the eunuch, but he is dedicated to doing things for the people, not afraid of the powerful, and does not avoid eunuchs, it is really admirable. Of course, Liu Bei also felt sorry that he couldn't meet Cao Cao.

Although he is a prince of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the early death of his father, his life as a child was relatively poor, and his young heart may have planted a "disgusting poverty" or "good goods" complex. Especially after becoming the emperor, he found that the previous emperor did not have private money to satisfy his hobbies, and he couldn't help but have the desire to accumulate private money. After thinking about it, he felt that selling official positions was a shortcut to get rid of poverty and become rich, so he opened the door to selling official positions with great fanfare. Seeing that everyone had deviated from the topic, Ma Riyan analyzed to himself that he actually wanted to pull everyone back.

"Having said that, but the emperor is the king of a country, and competing with the people for profit is undoubtedly self-defeating, I can't sit idly by, I want to show the emperor, whether it is useful or not, I have to give it a try." Lu Zhi said firmly.

Liu Bei was surprised when he heard that the teacher wanted to be on the table, Yang Cigui was the emperor's teacher, and there was such a noble family as Hongnong Yang's family, and several times and three times to admonish was also useless, although the spirit of knowing that he could not do it was commendable, but in the face of such an emperor, it was useless to just step forward and dissuade or quarrel with his mouth, if he did not let him experience a huge turmoil, he would not look back.

After Lu Zhi finished speaking, he walked to the desk, picked up the pen, and put forward eight strategies: "One is to use good: let the state and county approve the virtuous and good, and appoint them according to the talents." Second, it is said that the original ban: more amnesty will be given to those who are in charge of the party. Three said Yu Xuan: bury the relatives of the innocent and murdered Empress Song. Fourth, it is said that Beikou: Preferential treatment of the Hou Wang's house to prevent chaos. Five: Cultivating the body: recruiting talented and virtuous people such as Zheng Xuan. Sixth, Zunyao: Evaluate the performance of the county guard assassin history on time. Seventh, His Majesty: Put an end to bad habits such as setting up banquets and asking for trusts, and instruct relevant departments to do a good job of recommending talents. Eight said scattered profits: It is recommended that Liu Hong no longer accumulate private wealth. After writing it, I went to find Liu Hong.