"Father, what are you calling your child for?" In the study of Situ Mansion, Qiao Xuan's sons Qiao Xin and Qiao Yi pushed the door and walked in.

Qiao Xuan looked at his two sons, and he was also a little helpless. His character is upright and upright, and he has offended many powerful people, although he is also humble and frugal, and is a corporal of courtesy and virtuous, but his children and clansmen are not big officials.

He had four sons in his lifetime. The eldest son, Qiao Yu, is now the minister of Ren Chengguo. The second son Qiao Xin and the third son Qiao Yi have been by Qiao Xuan's side for many years, and they have only mixed up with the official position of a councilor.

When Qiao Xuan's youngest son was ten years old, he was playing by the door alone, and suddenly three people hijacked him with wooden sticks, ran into Qiao Xuan's house, climbed the stairs, and asked Qiao Xuan for property, but Qiao Xuan, who was Situ Changshi, just refused to give it.

After a while, Sili Captain Yangqiu led Henan Yin and Luoyang Ling to come and besiege Qiao Xuan's house. Yang Qiu and the others were worried that the robbers would kill Qiao Xuan's son, and they didn't want to persecute the robbers too much, so they persuaded Qiao Xuan to give money first and let the bandits release him.

Qiao Xuan glared and shouted: "The person who commits the crime has no humanity to speak of, how can I, Qiao Xuan, condone the criminals of the country because of the life of a son!" So he urged the soldiers to attack, but the soldiers did not dare to disobey the order and killed the three robbers, and Qiao Xuan's youngest son died as a result.

Afterwards, Qiao Xuan met with the emperor to apologize and asked the Son of Heaven to issue an edict: "Anyone who takes hostages shall be killed, and no treasure shall be used to redeem the hostages, so that the criminals can be profitable."

Since Emperor An, the legal ban has gradually relaxed, and the capital has taken hostages, not avoiding the homes of the powerful, and since then there has been none.

Thinking of his youngest son, Qiao Xuan felt guilty for no reason. When Qiao Xuan was twenty years old, he entered the officialdom with filial piety, experienced four emperors, Emperor Shun, Emperor Chong, Emperor Qian, and Emperor Huan, and now he is serving Liu Hong, the son of heaven, who can be described as a veteran of the Five Dynasties.

But as Situ, he clearly knows everything that Dahan has experienced over the years. During the reigns of Emperor Shun, especially during the reigns of Emperor Ming and Emperor Zhang, the Eastern Han Dynasty entered its heyday.

During the reign of the second emperor of Ming Zhang, adhering to Liu Xiu's legacy, he took strict precautions against foreign relatives and ministers, repeatedly issued edicts to appease the homeless, and helped the widows, widows, lonely and poor nine times before and after, completed the repair of the Bianqu, eliminated the Western Han Dynasty since Emperor Ping, and managed the Western Regions, and then cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu, and restored the Western Regions Protectorate and Wuji Captain.

History contains "the world is peaceful, the people are rich", known as "the rule of the Ming Chapter". During the period of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, he was the first to appoint foreign relatives.

After his death, Emperor Liu Zhao of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne at the age of ten, and the Empress Dowager Dou came to the dynasty to take charge. Empress Dowager Dou relied on her relatives, and the relatives of the Dou clan began to dictate power.

In the fourth year of Yongyuan, the Han and the emperor united the eunuchs to sweep away the Dou clan, and never slackened political affairs after the pro-government, so there was a \"Lao Qian has the end\" said, had repeatedly issued an edict to help the victims, reduce taxes, resettle the displaced people, do not violate the agricultural time, recruit wise men, in the legal system also advocated leniency, military diplomacy to surrender the Xiongnu, and appointed Ban Chao to pacify the countries of the Western Regions, resulting in the Eastern Han Dynasty national strength reached the extreme, the people of the time called \"Yongyuan Zhilong\".

After the death of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Yan of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, and the power was controlled by the relatives of the Deng clan represented by Deng Qiu, the brother of the Empress Dowager Deng, and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty died in August of the first year of Yanping.

After the death of the Empress Dowager Deng, Emperor An of Han took charge and swept away the Deng family, but failed to prevent other relatives from exercising power.

After the death of Emperor An of the Han Dynasty, Liu Yi supported the Yan family, and died of illness more than 200 days after ascending the throne. Soon after, the Yan clan was wiped out by the eunuchs.

The eunuchs supported Emperor Shun of Han, and Emperor Shun of Han continued to let his relatives go freely, resulting in the dictatorship of the Liang clan for more than 20 years.

Liang Ji even reached the peak of his relatives' power, and Emperor Han Chong and Emperor Han Zhen were firmly controlled by him. Emperor Han was poisoned because of his unscrupulous words, after which Emperor Huan of Han ascended the throne.

In the second year of Yanxi, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty and the eunuchs destroyed the Liang family. Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty made the thirteen eunuchs who conspired with him marquis, and he was a eunuch party interfering in politics.

The corruption of the eunuchs was worse than that of their relatives, which led to the dissatisfaction of the scholars, who united with their relatives against the eunuchs.

The fierce struggle between the two sides eventually led to two party disasters, and all the upright scholars were expelled from the court.

Since then, the dynasty has been in decline, especially when Liu Hong, the son of today, trusted the eunuchs more than Emperor Huan of Han after succeeding to the throne, which made the political situation worse.

Now the court is basically controlled by the ten permanent attendants, and the upright people will basically be excluded, so that as one of the three princes, he is a little powerless.

Since the beginning of this spring, he has been hampered by the implementation of the border immigration policy, and the progress has been very slow. It is obviously a policy that benefits the country and the people, but there are always people who want to benefit from it.

He fed back to the Son of Heaven several times that he wanted to severely punish these people, but they were all hindered by the Ten Standing Attendants, which made people very disturbed.

"It's time to go home and retire." Hashigen sighed and retracted his thoughts.

"Tomorrow morning, I am going to ask the Son of Heaven to return to my hometown for retirement, and you will have to be more careful and cautious in doing things in the court in the future." After being silent for a while, Qiao Xuan took out the resignation he had written and said to his son.

When Qiao Yi heard this, he hurriedly asked, "Father, has it really come to this point?" "Although I have long known that my father has the intention of retiring, after all, it has not reached the point where I have to retreat, so I can continue to do it.

And with the big tree of Qiaoxuan, their brothers can be more smooth when they become officials in the court.

Now Qiao Xuan wants to return to his hometown and return to seclusion, which is equivalent to suddenly missing Qiao Xuan to shelter them from the wind and rain, and it will not be so easy to be promoted in the future.

Although there are still many old friends of Qiao Xuan, all over the government and the opposition, who would not know the truth of people taking tea and cooling?

"Yes, father, please think twice, you are only in your early sixties now, your body is very healthy, you are already ranked as the third duke, you can continue to do it, and the court also needs your father now, no one dares to find fault with you." Qiao Xin also said anxiously.

"I have written several times to admonish, but the Son of Heaven has not adopted it, which means that I have lost the trust of the Son of Heaven, and there is no need for me, Situ, to continue to do it." Qiao Xuan sighed and said, "I have made up my mind, and I will persuade him again." The next morning, after the hundred officials finished the invitation, Qiao Xuan stood up and handed over his resignation.

"Your Majesty, during this period of time, natural disasters have continued, the old minister is very frightened, derelict in his duties, and recently he has felt deeply unwell, coupled with his old age, homesickness, and please ask Your Majesty to return to his hometown to retire!"

"Lord Situ, don't do it~"

"Yes, Lord Situ, you are in good health, only sixty, how can you go back to your hometown to retire now."

"Lord Situ, you are the mainstay of the imperial court, Your Majesty's minister of the humerus." Hearing that Qiao Xuan was going back to his hometown to retire, all the officials immediately spoke out to save him, especially those officials of the scholar clan, who stood up one after another to speak.

Qiao Xuan can be regarded as the representative of these officials in the court, and he can also be regarded as the last big backer and pillar of the scholar officials.

If this Qiao Xuan returns to his hometown to retire, then they will have no right to speak, and then the court will be full of officials represented by the interests of eunuchs, and God knows what the world of this big man will let them play at that time.

Liu Hong, the son of heaven, took Qiao Xuan's resignation and glanced at it quickly. Song Shu said that he was in poor health, and he was homesick, and he could no longer serve the Son of Heaven, and hoped to be able to go home to recuperate, and finally thanked the Son of Heaven for his trust and reuse over the years, and thanked the Son of Heaven for his kindness to himself and so on.

This is all the old routine of resignation. Some of them are really in poor health and have to resign, but most of them are already old and in poor health as an excuse to resign.

"Aiqing, if you feel unwell, I will ask the imperial doctor of the Tai Hospital to come to show you, and recently there has been a vision from the sky, I have dismissed the former Sikong Laiyan, which can be regarded as an explanation to the people of the world. If I remove you, Situ, again, how will the people of the world view me? Liu Hong, the Son of Heaven, glanced at Qiao Xuan, frowned and said, "This resignation will be exempted." Liu Hong still recognizes Qiao Xuan's ability, since he ascended the throne, Qiao Xuan was recruited as Henan Yin, and then transferred to Shaofuqing, Ren Dahong Luqing, no fault during his tenure, and then moved to Sikong and Situ.

The speed of promotion is unparalleled, but the ministers and ministers also unanimously praised Qiao Xuan's perseverance, decisiveness and courageous spirit.

And Liu Hong, the son of heaven, is also a person who misses the old love very much, and he is also a generous and benevolent person. Although he expressed his dissatisfaction with Qiao Xuan's frequent letters to severely punish eunuchs, when the other party really wanted to resign, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, was still a little reluctant.

Therefore, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, is also retained, and he actually doesn't want to see the dominance of the court family.

As an emperor, he certainly knows the art of balance. Only by balancing the three forces of relatives, scholars, and eunuchs can the stability of the court be maintained.

Of course, the Son of Heaven retains the person who resigns, which is also a routine operation. Just like when the founding emperor ascended the throne in ancient times, he had to ask the courtiers below to invite him again and again, although the emperor wished to ascend the throne as soon as possible, but he also refused to say that his ability was limited, and second, he refused to say that he was afraid that it would be difficult to be a big responsibility, and third, he was reluctant to be the emperor on the spot.

This ancient courtier had to resign and return to his hometown to retire, and unless the emperor was extremely dissatisfied and disgusted with this courtier, a similar procedure would have to be repeated.

The first resignation will definitely not agree, the other party said that he is not in good health, and he will send the imperial doctor to see it, and by the way, he will reward some nourishing medicinal materials to the courtiers.

The second resignation will definitely not be agreed, and some gold, silver, brocade and other things will be rewarded to show that the Son of Heaven treats the minister lightly, hoping that the other party can continue to stay and serve him.

If you resign for the third time, it depends on the specific situation, if the body is really not good, or the emperor really doesn't want to keep the other party anymore, or the other party really wants to return to his hometown for the elderly.

Then the Son of Heaven will give each other a lot of rewards, and then add some titles, and if there is a son who is an official in the court, he will also give your son a little promotion, so that you can go home to retire in style.

Therefore, Qiao Xuan's first application for resignation, the Son of Heaven Liu Hong naturally wanted to keep it. No matter what, the other party's face must be sufficient, even if they want to go home to retire, it is also to let the other party go home to retire in style.

"Your Majesty, the minister's decision to go has been decided, but he is really old and his body is overwhelmed, and I ask Your Majesty for permission." Seeing that Liu Hong, the son of heaven, kept himself, Qiao Xuan was also moved to tears.

To tell the truth, in addition to being extremely fond of eunuchs, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, also has an excellent side in other aspects.

He was able to think of the people, and issued several edicts to amnesty the world, rewarding the lonely, widows, children, and the homeless caused by natural disasters.

At the same time, he also respects the opinions of hundreds of officials, although most of the time, because he listens to slander, he does not accept them, but he will not deal with the people who write and say things.

Now the Son of Heaven cares about himself and rewards him, which makes Qiao Xuan also very moved. But the Son of Heaven retains one or two, that is also a routine operation, Qiao Xuan has already made up his mind, and naturally he will continue to resign.

"Not allowed~" Liu Hong, the son of heaven, dropped a sentence and retired directly. In the next few days, Qiao Xuan continued to write to resign, and Liu Hong, the son of heaven, also retained him again and again, and after three times in a row, he saw that Qiao Xuan had made up his mind, and finally had to agree to Qiao Xuan's return to his hometown for retirement.

"Okay, Aiqing will go back to recuperate for a while. When you are better, I will summon you to the court. Liu Hong didn't say anything to death, he still hoped that Qiao Xuan could continue to serve the imperial court.

Of course, he is also extremely preferential to Qiao Xuan. First of all, he gave Qiao Xuan a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, pearls, jade, brocade cloth and other things, which was to ensure that he could have enough money and materials to take care of.

He knew that during Qiao Xuan's tenure, he did not use his power for personal gain, and none of his children held very high positions in the imperial court.

At the same time, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, also heard that Qiao Xuan was an honest official and never preyed on the people, so there was not much money left in the family.

After that, Liu Hong also promoted Qiao Xuan's two sons, Qiao Xin and Qiao Yi, to Shangshu Pavilion to be on duty to show his longen.