On the second day of the eighth month, through Shangshutai, the emperor issued a letter of appointment to Zhou Fei, Cao Shan and Sun Cheng, and Zhang Rang immediately arranged for Xiaohuangmen Zuofeng to go to Taoyuanbao in Loufu County again to deliver the decree. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The last harvest was good, and Zuo Feng happily went.

The informants who were bribed by the various families in Luoyang in the palace quickly passed on the news.

According to the content of the holy decree, the heads of each family quickly guessed that these three people were all descendants of Gao Shun.

The most angry was Situ Yuan Kui, who was so angry that he smashed the lacquer bowl and overturned the table.

Gao Shun not only killed the three affiliated families of Ma Yi, but also took all the materials for himself, causing the Yuan family to suffer heavy losses. In the past, he didn't look down on this newly rising little person at all, but he didn't expect that now he would become a climate, and even buy the position of Taishou of 2 counties and the position of captain of Wuhuan, if this is the case, the Yuan family will not only completely lose the possibility of trading with Xianbei in Bingzhou, but more importantly, even the trade with the Wuhuan people in Youzhou has also been greatly affected, and the trade volume with the Wuhuan people can be far greater than the trade volume with Xianbei, which will be a heavy blow to the Yuan family.

The Yuan family's income is huge, and their expenses are also very huge; The income from the rental of the field property accounted for only a small part, and a large proportion was due to the donations of many protégés and former officials accumulated over the centuries, and the largest income was monopoly and foreign trade, and if these trade routes were cut off, the Yuan family would fall into a situation where they could not make ends meet.

Historically, the close relationship between the Yuan family and the Wuhuan family has affected the fate of several generations of the Yuan family.

In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan people often participated in the Central Plains conquest with strong cavalry, and became the foreign aid that all kinds of military groups in the north wanted to strive for, especially the Wuhuan of Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Youbeiping, which lived in the northeast, and had a close relationship with the Yuan Shao group in Jizhou, and became one of the military forces that the Yuan group relied on.

Later, he helped Yuan Shao fight against Gongsun Zhan, which eventually led to Gongsun Zhan's defeat and self-immolation. Yuan Shao not only made peace with the kings of the Wuhuan tribe, but also sent an edict to worship the Wuhuan kings as Shan Yu.

After the Yuan family was defeated by Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's son Yuan Shang went to Wuhuan at the end of his rope and hoped to use the power of foreign clans to kill back to Jizhou.

The close relationship between the Yuan family and Wuhuan was not established at one time, it was very close from the time of Yuan Kui, and Yuan Shao and Yuan Shang only inherited this relationship.

Cutting off people's financial means is like killing parents! How could Yuan Kui give up? Next, it must be the thunderous revenge of the Yuan family.

Yuan Kui calmed down and planned carefully.

Then he found a few loyal stewards, explained to them carefully, and then sent them to Bingzhou and Youzhou respectively, first to find the assassin history of each state, and the assassin history of Zhang Yi and Youzhou assassin Guo Xun, and asked them to comprehensively snipe Gao Shun's development in the two states; At the same time, he ordered the steward to visit the Taishou of the neighboring counties, as well as the local clans, to put an end to all cooperation with the Gaoshun forces.

The sad Gao Shun has not yet received the appointment of the emperor, and has been targeted by the behemoth.

After Wang Yun learned the news from the palace, he was first shocked, and said to the upright Wang Yun that although he was not ashamed to be with eunuchs and buy officials, as long as he could benefit one party and keep a place safe, he could still accept it.

Then he regretted it very much, it seems that he still underestimated the energy of this little fellow, and decided in his heart that his work was not done well, so that he missed the opportunity to befriend Gao Shun; No wonder his nephew would rather scatter his family wealth to support Gao Shun, but he was too cautious and too concerned about his reputation, so he only got the position of the magistrate of Mayi County, which no one cared about; Gao Shun and the others must have been angry with the Wang family because of this, so they bought 3 high positions at one time, which was simply an eye medicine for the Wang family.

But Wang Yun is not a superficial person, what is the temporary unhappiness? After all, the two sides did not directly tear their faces, and they felt that there was still a chance to ease relations with Gao Shun. He immediately wrote a letter to his nephew, explaining in detail that he must befriend this rising star of the state, inform the family, and fully cooperate with his nephew's work.

After Yang Ci, Lu Zhi and others learned the news, they secretly scolded in their hearts, the good family was really unreliable, and his mother threw himself into the arms of the eunuch. But I was secretly sighing in my heart, this Gao Shun is really powerful, he is not yet a weak crown, his literary talents are flying, his martial arts are strong, his military achievements are great, and his money is full, why don't they have such powerful sons and nephews?

Under the impetus of Zhang Rang and other eunuchs, the news that Gao Shun had purchased the position of 2 county guards and the post of captain of Wuhuan soon flew out of Luoyang and quickly spread to the whole country. Those who used to wait and see finally made up their minds to buy officials, even if they can't make money, they can glorify their ancestors, accumulate contacts, and pave the way for future generations.

Emperor Liu Hong also has his own eyes and ears in the country, and he is very satisfied with the current situation, and his career as an official has a very good future; So he praised Zhang Rang heavily.

The information from all over the country soon gathered in the hands of the patriarchs of the major families, and they were very clear-minded, and if the common people, the sons of good families, or the small landlord class all obeyed this trend and went to buy officials, the role of these scholars would be seriously reduced; This has seriously damaged their vested interests and is tantamount to snatching benefits from them, and the spread of this trend must be stopped as soon as possible.

And this has increased the hatred of the scholars for Gao Shun, since the emperor sold his official position, no one or force has dared to blatantly buy so many high positions, and once the mouth is opened, it will be difficult to recover.

Yuan Kui was very happy in the face of this reaction of the Shi clan, this was the best time to ease the tension between the Yuan family and other Shi clans, and decided to go to visit Taiwei Yang Ci in person, regardless of his previous suspicions.

Yang Ci was very surprised by Yuan Kui's arrival, and after welcoming him into the living room, he said with a smile: "Haha, Yuan Situ is here in person, my humble house is shining." ”

Yuan Kui said bluntly: "Taiwei Yang, if we don't stop the unhealthy trend of buying and selling officials as soon as possible, I'm afraid we won't even be able to live in the cold house in the future." ”

Yang Ci also received similar information, knowing that the emperor was secretly promoting, the purpose was to resist the consequences of mutual recommendation among scholars, and he knew very well that if this trend continued to blow, the most harmful would be the huge family of the Yang family and the Yuan family, the "four generations and three dukes", and they would lose the privilege of recommending talents as officials. However, he was an old fritter, and he felt that Yuan Kui came to visit, and he said it so directly, he must have thought of a way to deal with it, so Yang Ci asked rhetorically: "Yuan Situ, the matter has come to this point, what can I do?" ”

"Contact all the officials of the Jingshi clan and go to Your Majesty to reason together."

Yang Ci secretly scolded naivety in his heart, to make the emperor spit out the meat in his mouth, as difficult as making the scholars give up the power in their hands, this method will not work at all, so he retorted: "If it can work, then Your Majesty is not Your Majesty." ”

"Anyway, let's try it first."

Yang Ci knew that they were now standing in the same boat and had common interests, so he said, "Okay, although Yuan Situ is in contact, the old man will come forward at that time." ”

"Haha, Captain Yang is refreshing." After achieving his goal, Yuan Kui immediately left to contact the other personnel.

Soon, Zhang Wen, Lu Zhi and others actively responded to Yuan Situ's call for a common purpose and decided to challenge the emperor at the court meeting.

At the court meeting the next day, as the initiator, Yuan Situ first reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the minister resolutely opposes the shameful behavior of Cao Shan, Zhou Fei and others to buy officials. They only need to embezzle and loot the people's fat and ointment, and they can get enough money to buy officials and promote them, and if this continues, the whole country will be in chaos. ”

Yang Ci followed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister supports Yuan Situ's opinion, if so, which soldier is willing to fight on the battlefield, and who is willing to fight to the death for the country?" If this goes on for a long time, I am afraid that there will be no more soldiers to fight. ”

Lu Zhi said supportively: "Your Majesty, the minister supports the opinions of Yuan Situ and Yang Taiwei, if so, which student is still willing to bury his head in the scriptures?" You only need to spend money to buy officials, who still learns the righteousness of Confucius and Mencius? In the long run, it will lead to the loss of people's hearts, the decline of morality, and the loss of the country. ”

"The ministers seconded it!"

Emperor Liu Hong sat firmly on the throne, his face was blue with anger, he didn't say a word, and quietly looked at the selfish courtiers jumping up and down in front of him, eager to behead them all.

Zhang Rang saw His Majesty's expression and knew that it was inconvenient for the emperor to speak at this time, and it was time for him to show his loyalty.