In the Eastern Han Dynasty, if you want to become an official, you generally do it mainly through two ways: inspection and requisition. The so-called "probation" refers to the local governor who inspects and selects talents at any time in his jurisdiction, recommends them to his superiors or the central government, and appoints officials after a probationary examination. It is characterized by the recommendation of the main body, supplemented by examinations, and the emphasis on the reputation of the person being promoted. The conquest included the recruitment of the emperor and the elimination of the government, prefecture and county, and recruited people of great fame to become officials.

However, both the investigation and the expropriation have great drawbacks. Probation and expropriation are highly subjective and objective, and scholars can sell their fame and reputation, engage in fraud, or cling to the powerful and bribing and asking for help. Moreover, those who were lifted and expelled became the protégés and officials of the lord and the lord of the house. The big bureaucrats can form groups with their protégés and former officials to increase their political power, and in this way some powerful clans have gradually formed, and the later they go, the more they elect officials, the more they look at the family surname, and the influence of their personal background on their official career is far greater than their own talents, and the important official positions of the state are often monopolized by a small number of surname families.

During the Hengling period, the family of the successive princes had been formed, these people were the largest landlords, and they were in high positions, and their protégés and former officials were all over the world, so they were the leaders of the scholars, among which the Hongnong Yang family and the Runan Yuan family were the most famous. Their power cannot be underestimated even by those powerful relatives and eunuchs who have troubled the world, and they need to be connected and maneuvered with, and locally, the power of these clan lords is even more terrifying, and they even actually rule these states and counties.

In the era of Hengling, eunuchs were immoral and relatives were incompetent. Those scholars and doctors who are upright for the country and the people have also struggled, but it is a pity that the faint king sits high and the evil is in charge. Li Gu of Liang Ji, "Five Marquis", Cao Jie, Chen Fan, Dou Wu, Li Ying of Wang Fu, and Zhang Jun of "Ten Standing Servants" all finally dedicated themselves to morality.

Li Gu is a typical family of gate valves, and his father was an apprentice of the Third Company in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When he was young, Li Gu was repeatedly dismissed for his studies, and later the general Liang Ji appointed him as a Zhonglang, and then he also served as the Assassin of Jingzhou and the Taishan Taishou, and successfully suppressed the rebellion in these two places. Li Gu was single-handedly picked up by his relatives Liang Jia, and was deeply trusted by Liang Shang, the father of Liang Ji, and Liang Yan, the empress dowager.

In the first year of Jiankang (144), Emperor Shun died, and the crown prince Liu Bing ascended the throne (that is, Emperor Chong of Han) Empress Dowager Liang Yan came to the court to listen to the government, appointed Li Gu as the captain, and the Taifu Zhao Jun and the general Liang Ji participated in the Shangshu affair and jointly took charge of the government. Because Li Gu wanted to clear politics, his political views were completely at odds with Liang Ji, and the contradictions between Li and Liang deepened day by day.

After Liang Ji poisoned Emperor Qian, Emperor Zheng was poisoned, and immediately sent someone to summon Li Gu, and told Li Gu the reason for his illness, Liang Ji was worried that the truth about the poisoning would be leaked, and he hated Li Gu very much. On the issue of Liu Garlic, the king of Liqing River, or Liu Zhi, the Marquis of Liwu, as the emperor, the contradiction between Liang Ji and Liu Garlic and Li Gu further intensified, Li Gu and Situ Huguang, Sikong Zhao Jie and others wanted to establish the elderly, gentlemanly Liu Garlic as the emperor, while Liang Ji wanted to set up control and prepare to take his sister Liu Zhi as the emperor, and finally Liang Ji and the Zhongchang servant Cao Teng (Cao Cao's grandfather) communicated with each other and forcibly supported Liu Zhi, the Marquis of Liwu, that is, Emperor Heng of Han, and then Liang Ji made up his mind to get rid of Li Gu.

In the end, Liang Ji took advantage of Emperor Heng's resentment towards Li Gu (Emperor Heng hated Li Gu very much because of the throne issue) to slander Li Gu, Liu Wen, Liu Kun, etc., spread fallacies, and put them in prison, resulting in Li Gu's tragic death in prison, after Li Gu's death, only his youngest son Li Xie escaped Liang Ji's poisonous hands, and the eldest son Li Ji and the second son Li Zi both died in prison.

Chen Fan, Dou Wu, and Li Ying have been mentioned a lot in the previous article. When confronting the eunuch group headed by the "Five Marquis", the "Party members" led by Li Ying charged ahead, and Chen Fan and Dou Wu escorted them behind, successfully suppressing the "Five Marquis" and dealing a serious blow to the eunuch forces.

But in the subsequent counterattack of the eunuchs, the "party people" lost, and Li Ying was also arrested and imprisoned, but fortunately, Chen Fan and Dou Wu rescued in time, and only the party was defeated, and the lives of Li Ying and other "party members" were not threatened. After the death of Emperor Heng, Chen Fan and Dou Wu were defeated and died in the struggle against the eunuchs led by Cao Jie and Wang Fu, and the whole clan was slaughtered, and the people who did not die were also exiled. Before the death of the two, Li Ying was appointed as the Yongle Shaofu, and after the two were killed, Li Ying was removed from his post again.

After the eunuchs expanded the crackdown and launched the second party rebellion, Li Ying voluntarily surrendered and was tortured to death at the age of 60.

After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, Zhang Jun of Zhongshan in Langzhong wrote a letter to impeach the Ten Standing Servants, believing that Zhang Jiao's ability to raise troops and get the support of the people was due to the lack of morality and disorder of the Ten Standing Servants, so he should kill the Ten Standing Servants in order to plead guilty to the common people. Then proclaim to the world, so that there is no need to use troops, and the great Kou will dissipate. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty showed Zhang Jun's recital to Zhang Rang and others, and the eunuchs were so frightened that they quickly took off their hats and boots and kowtowed, begging to let them go to Luoyang Prison and take out their family wealth to help with military expenses.

Emperor Ling couldn't bear to see it, so he forgave the eunuchs, but instead said to Zhang Jun angrily: "You are really a madman! Isn't there a good one among the ten permanent servants? ”

Zhang Jun later continued to write again, but he was detained and did not report. Zhang Rang and other eunuchs hated Zhang Jun to death, and sent people to falsely accuse Zhang Jun of learning the Yellow Turban Dao, arrest him, and torture him to death in prison. Ironically, the collusion between Zhongchangzhi and the Yellow Turban was soon discovered, and Zhongchangshou Fengzhen and Xu Feng were also exposed and killed.

In the entire era of Hengling, good people do not live long, and disasters live for thousands of years. Those ministers and scholars who were upright for the country and the people were almost wiped out by their authoritarian relatives and eunuchs who were in turmoil. None of the surviving high-ranking officials and local officials did not put their own interests first, mainly to protect themselves, and were attached to their relatives and eunuchs who were in charge of the government. The scholars' loyalty to the Han Dynasty also fell to a low point, and they used the inspection and conquest to give priority to the children of the gate lord clan to gradually expand their own power, neither to protect the interests of the country, nor to protect the underground common people, to submit to the power of relatives and eunuchs, and even as their lackeys to cause trouble.

During the period of Emperor Ling, there were eunuchs who were ingenious, dressed up dogs, wore virtuous crowns, wore court clothes, and wore ribbons, and swayed to the court. When Emperor Ling recognized that it was a dog, he couldn't help clapping his hands and laughing, and praised: "What a dog official." Although the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty suffered such a great humiliation, no one dared to speak. But did the Spirit Emperor really insult them? Snobbish, cowardly, servile, inflammatory, and clinging to power, being an official does not make decisions for the people, and does not put the interests of the country first, isn't it just a group of dog officials?

But then again, in that era, how could you stand above the court if you didn't be a dog official!

In the process of suppressing the Yellow Turban Uprising, the clan lords organized local armed forces, and their strength was greatly enhanced. At the end of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the family of gate lords already had the capital to confront the eunuchs, and at this time they were fed up with the lawlessness and wanton behavior of the eunuchs. After the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the contradictions between the gate lords, relatives, and eunuchs broke out in an all-round way, and the entire Han Dynasty was torn apart.