Late at night, the cold wind howled, the thick snow on the ground was swept around by the wind again, there seemed to be countless demons and monsters in the heaven and earth roaring together, outside a secret room in the harem of the West Garden, hundreds of small eunuchs each held a sword to guard and stand, everyone was facing outward, cautiously guarding everywhere, a light the size of a soybean grain in the house kept swaying, the dim light made this place infinitely terrifying, with Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong led by the 'Ten Standing Servants' eunuchs have been discussing here for a long time, and the theme of the meeting is only one --- "How to protect the rights in your hands!"

The eunuchs Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang sat on the main and secondary positions respectively, and the remaining eight people sat on both sides, and the ten permanent servants seemed to be a whole, but in fact, there was also intrigue between them, some of these people were the emperor's henchmen, some were close to the Empress Dowager Dong, and some were secretly connected with Empress He, and there were even people who colluded with forces outside the palace, although it was only ten people, but the relationship was complicated, and the entanglement of interests could not be described in words. Among these ten people, some are allies, some are hostile, some are ostensibly hostile but actually secretly collude with each other, and some are ostensibly allied, but they can stab them in the back as soon as they turn around; The phrase "there are no eternal friends, no eternal enemies, only eternal interests" is vividly expressed among them.

Although the meeting lasted for a long time, but there was no result of the discussion, everyone took turns to speak during the banquet, and they all said a lot of impassioned and co-ophering words, speaking of the depths of love, some people even cried, but if anyone really believed those words, it is estimated that it will not take a few days to be eaten by the companions sitting in the banquet There is no scum left, after secretly making countless exchange gestures, everyone's eyes finally fell on Zhang Rang, anyway, he is the leader of this group.

"Are you all done? Then listen to the miscellaneous family! After watching coldly for a long time, Zhang Rang finally began to exercise the authority of his alliance leader.

"Please teach the ancestors!" The rest of the crowd immediately bowed and said in unison; The eunuchs have no descendants, but they pay more attention to the inheritance of generations, for the elder eunuchs with the highest status, they have always been called the ancestors, of course, this is just a polite title, in the harem, the 'old ancestors' who died in the hands of the younger generations do not know how many.

"Although the emperor has become more diligent recently, his body and bones are not as good as day by day, and now the two princes are still young, if we want to keep our wealth and wealth for a long time, we need to take a long-term view", Zhang Rang's words made it very clear, at this time, the establishment of the prince is the fundamental matter to maintain their eunuch rights.

Although Emperor Han Ling read countless daughters in his life, there were only two sons, the eldest son Liu Wei, why was the queen born, the second son of the emperor Liu Xie, born to Wang Meiren, and later Wang Meiren was sent to kill by He Hou, Liu Xie was adopted by Emperor Han Ling's biological mother, Empress Dowager Dong, choose one of the two, which side should you stand on? Liu Bian? Or Liu Xie?

"I don't know if the ancestor thinks that the prince will be able to succeed to the throne?" Qian Shuo, one of the ten permanent attendants, took the lead in asking, and at the same time secretly touched the saber on his waist with his hand, because he is now concurrently serving as the captain of the Xiyuan Forbidden Army, so he is usually dressed as a warrior, and the saber never leaves his body.

"Huh!" Zhang Rang just chuckled, did not answer the question, but glanced at Qian Shuo very playfully, everyone knew in their hearts that Qian Shuo was the henchman of the emperor in the Ten Standing Servants, otherwise it would not be his turn to be in charge of the forbidden army, and Emperor Han Ling obviously favored Liu Xie, the second son of the emperor.

Under the pressure of Zhang Rang's playful gaze, Qian Shuo soon broke out in a cold sweat, he knew deeply about the horror of this 'old ancestor', but it was about the inheritance of the great throne, as the emperor's henchman, he could only ask again: "Please make it clear to the old ancestor that the prince is more suitable to inherit the unification?" ”

"Naturally, it is to support a suitable prince to take the throne!" Zhang Rang's answer was still confusing, looking at everyone's confused eyes, he smiled slightly, and added, "Have you forgotten where our rights came from?" ”

Zhang Rang's words brought everyone into thinking again, no one in this world can succeed casually, the emperor needs to go through bloody and cruel competition to take the throne, the general needs to smell the chicken and dance, and practice martial arts diligently to succeed, the champion needs to hang the head and stab the strand all night to usher in the glory of the title of the gold list, and the eunuchs can have the current power and status, in addition to the pitiful knife, they have also experienced countless hard struggles, and this struggle is a long four hundred years......

If the world is a piece of cake, then the supreme imperial power is the knife that cuts the cake.

At the beginning of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, because of the hard work of Han Xin, Yingbu and other generals, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, had to take out a large piece of land to divide it to them, which was the founding kings of the Western Han Dynasty; But soon, Liu Bang, who was born as a hooligan, was not at ease with these heroes, because these kings with different surnames not only occupied a large piece of the cake, but also had the ability to snatch the knife in their hands. This kind of ability is called meritorious service when it fights the world, and it becomes a threat when it is done in the world.

And since the knife in the emperor's hand can cut cakes, it can also kill; So the kings with different surnames began to be unlucky.

Han Xin, the king of Qi (later migrated to the king of Chu), was first demoted to the marquis of Huaiyin, and then killed by Empress Lu in the bell room of Changle Palace, razing his three clans.

Peng Yue, the king of Liang, was exterminated by the three clans on the charge of "anti-form", and the head of the owl was displayed to the public, and the corpse was chopped into meat sauce and distributed to the kings. (This one is the saddest)

Huainan Wang Yingbu was forced to rebel after seeing Peng Yue's meat sauce, and was killed in a private house after being defeated.

The king with a different surname was killed, but the emperor was worried again, because the cake in the world was too big, and the emperor couldn't eat it even if he died; So someone must help the emperor eat this cake together, since outsiders can't believe it, then there is no problem with his own family, so Liu Bang began to wantonly divide his brothers and nephews as kings, and out of psychological comfort, killed a white horse and swore to the heavens--- "If you are not surnamed Liu and the king, the world will fight together!" ”

Liu Bang, who has been calculating all his life, saw that the cake in the world was now rotten in the pot of his Liu family, and finally closed his eyes and left with peace of mind.

It's a pity that history has proved countless times that a generation can only manage one generation! No one cares about the things behind him, not to mention Liu Bang, who was born as a hooligan, is not good, even the **** Taizu who was almost deified and was almost deified.

When the external contradictions are resolved, the internal contradictions will immediately come to the fore, and for the sake of the knife that represents unlimited power, the brothers will move their hands, but they will not be soft at all.

In 154 B.C., the seven princes surnamed Liu led by Liu Bi, the king of Wu, launched an armed rebellion under the name of 'Qing Jun Side' (this name was repeatedly used in later generations, but the patent right did belong to Liu Bi, the king of Wu), with only one purpose: to demand a re-examination and division of the inheritance of the estate left by Liu Bang, the emperor of Gaozu!

Sitting on the throne at this time was Emperor Jing of Han, who had long regarded the throne as his private property, and private property was sacrosanct! Facts have proved that when people protect their private property, their fighting power is more ferocious than that of a Tibetan mastiff that protects food. Although it is seven to one in numbers; But at this time, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, who had an outbreak of combat effectiveness, decisively waved the big stick policy in his hand, directly sent troops to suppress it, and won this 'property defense war' in only three months.

The problem of the princes with the same surname has been solved, and another problem has come out again, the emperor still can't govern the country by himself, his helpers, the ministers can't be trusted, his brothers can't believe it, and after thinking about it, only the group of brothers-in-law in his wife's family can be used.

Since then, the relatives began to officially embark on the political stage of the history of the Han Dynasty, and smooth sailing and rapid growth, Wei Qing, Huo Quai, Huo Guang, these famous ministers without exception are all relatives of the origin, and the peak period is the era of the relatives Wang Mang, this is not satisfied with only the largest piece of cake, he even the knife of the cake is in mind, in 8 AD, Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, changed the Yuan "the founding of the country", and changed "Chang'an" to "Chang'an" as the capital of the new dynasty.

However, Wang Mang's luck was not good, at this time the ancestral tomb of the Liu family was smoking, and a cattle man popped out - Liu Xiu, a distant relative of the Han family who was born in farming and herding cattle, was originally poor and only had a small piece of cake residue left, but now that the Han Dynasty is gone, even the only remaining life-saving rations will be snatched away, so the cattle are angry, and they decisively ride on the back of the ox and start the rebellion (Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu's first battle was indeed a bull riding); The power that erupts when people are cornered is absolutely terrifying, and the final result is that Liu Xiuqiang snatched back all the cakes and created the Eastern Han Dynasty.

It's a pity that the Eastern Han Dynasty not only inherited the political legacy of the Western Han Dynasty, but also inherited the habit of being afraid of his wife and reusing his relatives. In addition, the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was generally short-lived, which caused the consequences of the authoritarian power of the queen mother, and the woman was naturally in power with her own family, so her relatives were once again active on the stage of history, and repeatedly shared the biggest cake.

Time is passing, the emperor is growing up, and the emperor who grows up is naturally not satisfied with his rights being taken away by others, so the first thing every little emperor does when he becomes an adult is to take back the knife that divides the cake.

The dream is beautiful, the reality is cruel, the little emperor sitting on the dragon chair looked up and was surprised to find that the court standing above is not his grandfather, or his uncle, cousins, and his side, only a group of eunuchs standing and waiting, in the case of no one available, the little emperor had to use the eunuchs around him to seize power from his relatives, it can be said that the power of the eunuchs is closely linked to the imperial power, or the eunuch is a kind of mutated imperial power. ，

The right is estimated to be the most tempting thing in the world, this point, even the apple that tempted Adam and Eve can not be compared, the original cowardly, humble only serve tea and water to serve the eunuchs immediately became brave and abnormal, countless eunuchs began to fight for the right like moths to the fire, the process of seizing the right is dark, the means are cruel, the end is bloody, and finally there is a situation of separation of power between relatives and eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Thinking of these, everyone immediately understood what Zhang Rang meant, although there are two princes, but for them it is a single choice question, the representative of the relatives is the general He Jin, that is, the uncle of the emperor's eldest son Liu Wei, once the emperor's eldest son succeeds to the throne, the power of the relatives will inevitably rise, and the only ones who will be damaged are them, so in order to resist the power of the relatives group and keep the rights in their hands, the eunuchs have only one choice--- support the Empress Dowager Dong and support the emperor's second son Liu Xie!

"The old ancestor is wise!" Everyone once again bowed down in unison, and threw themselves to the ground in admiration for Zhang Rang's political wisdom.

"Let's all go down, each of them will do their own things, especially Qian Shuo, hold on to the sword in your hand, you can use it at a critical moment!" For these flattering words, Zhang Rang just waved his hand lightly, and when it came to the ability to slap horses, he was the real ancestor.

"No! ……”

After everyone else withdrew, Zhang Rang looked at the direction they left and sneered for a while, turned to Zhao Zhong, the only old partner who remained, and said: "Queen He, you also have to be careful to serve, leave a way to live, and never put your eggs in one basket, understand......"