Liu Bei pointed out this key point.

The eunuch didn't want to directly intervene in this matter, and obviously didn't want to overstimulate the scholar group, so he used Xu Yu and Zhang Ji as pawns to charge into battle, trying to provoke the scholars to fight.

In this case, everyone saw the tricks and made Xu Yu and Zhang Ji, what can the eunuchs do?

After figuring out this joint, a group of people were overjoyed and immediately began to discuss the relevant content enthusiastically.

How to collect black materials about Xu Yu and Zhang Ji, how to attack Xu Yu and Zhang Ji, how to use public opinion to force the two to death, etc.

In this regard, they are very mature in their operation, and it can be said that the danger of doing so is very low, compared to directly attacking the eunuchs, the danger of doing so is really very low.

The political rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty was that the authority of the Three Dukes was lost, and without the support of the emperor and the appointment of the Monk of Lu, the Three Dukes were pure political vases, without much actual power, and their positions were high.

Therefore, the removal of the Three Princes is not a big deal at all in the eyes of the Eastern Han Dynasty government and the opposition, as long as there are any visions of heaven and earth or natural disasters, the removal of the Three Princes is a matter of course.

Taiwei, Sikong, and Situ randomly chose one to be dismissed as the Son of Heaven's response to heaven.

Pray that Heaven will spare them for their sake of being so "sincere" and that they will not continue to rain calamity.

In addition, when someone impeaches Sangong and exposes Sangong's black material, Sangong is also very likely to face the situation of being deposed.

What's more important is that the position of the three princes can be bought with money.

This is what Liu Bei and Cao Cao talked about while drinking after they got acquainted.

In the first year of Guanghe, Emperor Liu Hong openly opened a museum outside the Hongdu Gate.

As long as you can afford it, you can buy a title, an official position of 2,000 stones, an official position of 400 stones and 600 stones, and even the position of the third duke.

Of course, buying an official is not without unspoken rules, it costs a lot of money, a position of 2,000 stone requires 20 million yuan, a position of 400 stone requires 4 million money, and so on.

The prices of the three gongs are different, mainly depending on the buyer's interpersonal relationship and the size of the family property, as little as 5 million can be bought, and more will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Therefore, from this point of view, those who buy official positions are actually either rich or expensive, and not everyone can do it.

The actual situation is also the same, and the phenomenon of selling officials and lords in the late Eastern Han Dynasty is not without practical reasons.

This first article is naturally that the Han Empire had a financial crisis at that time.

This is something that happens in the late years of any imperial dynasty, and it is understandable that the collapse of an empire stems from the collapse of finances.

And this second article is that the Han Empire has long been a practice of buying and selling officials, not the first to be created by Emperor Ling, there was such a thing a long time ago, but the relevant behavior has always been secretly operated in the form of unspoken rules, and has never been made public.

When high-ranking officials and dignitaries seek promotion, they will certainly spend a lot of money on public relations to ask for help from personnel officials, and then spend some money to create public opinion.

This third point is what Liu Hong sees more clearly.

Don't look at the sons of those high-ranking scholars, one by one, pretending to be taller than the other, but in their homes, there must be a lot of illegal income.

One or two are not only high-ranking officials, but also super large landowners, who control a large amount of land, have a large number of tenants, and control a huge amount of wealth.

Therefore, Liu Hong's move is actually to put the unspoken political rules of the Eastern Han Empire on the table, and control the public relations expenses that were originally given to some officials by public relations into his own hands.

Anyway, it costs money for you to seek an official position, rather than giving it to others, it is better to give it directly to His Majesty the Emperor, I will clearly mark the price, pay the money with one hand and deliver the goods with the other, and there is no middleman to make the difference.

Perfect!

This is equivalent to directly grabbing money from some powerful people, and transferring the money originally earned by them to Emperor Ling himself, which is equivalent to [competing with the people for profit].

Of course, the magnates hated this very much, and felt that the emperor and the eunuchs were really not sons of men, they were simply messing around, disturbing them to make money, and it was impossible to say good things about him in various public and private occasions.

Of course, this is not all good, the disadvantage is that it affects the sacredness and mystery of the Eastern Han Empire.

Let the people who originally did not know about this part of insider trading, the local powerful groups, also know about this part of insider trading, and know that the power that they originally considered sacrosanct can be obtained in this way.

Objectively, this contributed to the process of disintegration of the Eastern Han Empire.

At least for now, people's respect for the high-ranking officials of the Three Princes no longer exists, and even civilians without official positions and petty officials can plot to oust the high-ranking officials of the Three Princes.

"If I want to impeach these two people, I can ask a lot of friends to help me write the book."

Yuan Shao first said: "But this may not be enough, they are the three high-ranking officials, and they are backed by eunuchs, and we also need more direct evidence to prove that they are perverting the law." ”

"Not only that, but there must be high-enough officials who are willing to cooperate with us, otherwise we alone will be very isolated without foreign aid."

Zhang Miao opened his mouth and said: "In my opinion, Situ Chen Tan is a good candidate. ”

"Indeed."

He Hao said in a low voice: "Among the three dukes, two dukes have been used by the eunuchs, and only Situ Chen Tan is left, even if he doesn't want to make trouble, the eunuchs probably don't want to let him go, we can ask for his help." ”

Yuan Shao nodded.

"Well, what you said makes sense, Chen Tan can try to win it over."

"One more point, everyone, you must know that even if we win over Chen Tan and participate in Xu Yu and Zhang Ji on the table, it is also a question whether this performance can be known to His Majesty, behind them are eunuchs, and eunuchs are not once or twice pressed down on the official table to prevent His Majesty from knowing."

Xu You suddenly mentioned this.

When he said this, he did silence everyone present.

Indeed, there is a very important advantage in the struggle between eunuchs and people, that is, they are closer to the emperor and live in the vicinity of the emperor, while scholars and officials are foreign ministers and do not have direct contact with the emperor.

Recitals need to be sent to the emperor, and not every recital needs to be seen by the emperor himself, among which eunuchs are an important medium.

In the same thing, someone took advantage of the good relationship with the eunuch to get his recital delivered in time, while the enemy's recital was withheld, so he brought the emperor's rhythm and thus won the victory.

Now this power is completely in the hands of the eunuchs, as long as they guard it strictly, it is enough for Liu Hong not to see their recital.

So, how to break through the eunuchs' information blockade of the emperor?

A group of people finally set their sights on Cao Cao.

Cao Cao involuntarily straightened up.

Fang Cai was very frustrated because his plan was rejected, and he felt that life was boring, but suddenly, his identity was inexplicably useful.

"My father does know a lot of eunuchs, and he has a good relationship with them, but this matter is related to the eunuchs, and I'm afraid it's not so easy to operate, but I'll find a way."