"Officials should be weaker than their king, so that later ministers should serve the king and be obedient to him; sons should be weaker than their parents, so that sons should serve their parents to show filial piety." [Taiping Qing Ling Shu Volume 36]
As Ma Rixi expected, the opposition of Yuan's disciples and former officials in the court not only had no effect, but also caused the emperor's dissatisfaction.
The emperor did not target them directly. Instead, he issued a Taoist edict, denounced the chaos in the officialdom in recent decades of "promoting talented people but not knowing how to write; promoting filial piety and honesty, but the father lives away from home." For this reason, he specially ordered his servants to shoot Yang.
The crowd turned to pay homage to the Five-Fun Zhonglang General, leading the left Zhonglang General Liu Fan and the right Zhonglang General Niu Quan to conduct strict academic and moral examinations on all the three officials.
As mentioned above, the Third Department Langguan is the cadre reserve and talent echelon in the bureaucracy. According to the rules, they only need to stay for two years before they can be sent to counties and promoted to ministers internally. It does not take too long to be promoted to an official position.
Easy. When they become public ministers by virtue of their connections and the "clear names" they praise each other, they can in turn support the descendants of their "benefactors" who have already stepped aside and supported them.
Repeatedly, generation after generation, a gentry circle was gradually formed that was bound by region, bloodline, and inheritance.
In this circle, the most famous ones are the Hongnong Yang family and the Runan Yuan family, the two most powerful top wealthy families in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, followed by the Fufeng Ma family, Longkang Huan family and other wealthy families. These wealthy families have once
Under the pressure of eunuchs and relatives, they married each other, exchanged knowledge, and formed a huge group of scholars.
Within the group, they regarded themselves as party members, calling each other gentlemen, advocating virtues, and commenting on current affairs. In the dark period of eunuch dictatorship, they were a "clean stream" between the government and the public.
Without the two common enemies of eunuchs and relatives, divisions among the scholars who already had rifts inevitably occurred, such as the dispute between the Kansai scholars and the Kanto scholars represented by Ma Rixi and Wang Yun.
The struggle between the Yang family of Hongnong, headed by Yang Qi, and the Yuan family of Runan, who supported Wang Yun behind the scenes, even included disputes provoked by scholars from the border areas such as Zhao Qian who wanted to gain a position.
It was precisely because of the conflicts among the scholars that the emperor was able to use all forces with ease to achieve his own political goals.
If Wang Yun had known how to give in, give fair rewards, and be impartial to all forces. With Ma Rixi's favorable impression of Wang Yun at the beginning, he would have had a chance to unify the scholar group. By then, no matter how clever the emperor was, there would be nothing he could do.
It's a pity that character determines success or failure, and the situation at the time and the supporters behind Wang Yun did not allow him to do this.
Now the emperor has appointed Yang Zhong to investigate and eliminate the remaining influence of the Yuan family in the court. The purpose is to increase the gap between the Yang family and the Yuan family and promote the division of scholars. If anyone asks, the Yang family and the Yuan family are related by marriage.
, what should I do if I refuse to help?
If it were in the past when the foreign relatives and eunuchs were still there, and the enemy was in front of them, Yang Zhong would indeed not be willing to be the emperor's knife. But now both of them are weak, and it is time to harvest the final fruits of victory. For the sake of their own
After a century of glory, how can you care about the favors of the past?
The emperor had long expressed his dissatisfaction with the Yuan family, and acted accordingly. Whether at the court or at the local level, attacking the Yuan family had become a "voucher of honor" to move closer to the emperor.
Yang's is no exception.
After receiving the edict, Yang Zhong thought about it for a moment and chose to carry it out without hesitation, but Guang Luxun and Yang Biao stopped him in time.
"You have to think more carefully when doing things." Facing his disciple, Yang Biao said earnestly: "In this investigation, you should hold it high and do it lightly, just make a gesture. At most, exclude a few unscrupulous officials, and don't make the matter a big deal.
."
Yang Zhongqi asked: "What is this?"
After saying that, Yang Zhong realized that the other party was Guang Luxun, who was nominally the commander of Wuguan, Left and Right Zhonglang and the Third Department. If he enlarged the scope of the investigation and a large number of people were dismissed from office, Yang Biao would be
Guang Luxun will lose face.
"You can rest assured." Yang Zhong said with relief: "How long have you been serving as Guang Luxun? This matter has nothing to do with you, and no one will say that you have neglected your duty."
Yang Biao smiled bitterly and said: "I'm not worried about this. Let me ask you, what should you do if there is someone who is not worthy of the position?"
"His Majesty's decree is clear. No matter who he is, he will be dismissed from office. This has been the case in the past." Yang Zhong replied matter-of-factly.
"Then," Yang Biao then asked, "these people are not knowledgeable enough and have insufficient moral character. Who recommended them as Lang Guan? If His Majesty intends to investigate, will the recommenders also be punished?"
These words made Yang Zhong break into a cold sweat. He thought it was just a routine inspection of Lang Guan and a small matter to attack dissidents, but he did not expect that it might have such serious consequences.
If the emperor intends to get to the bottom of it, then not only these unqualified officials, but also the recommenders, and even the families behind them, and the circles formed by each other will suffer a devastating blow.
The emperor has military power and unparalleled authority. Naturally, others do not dare to blame the emperor directly. If they want to blame, they will only blame Yang Zhong, the executor of this matter. Even the Hongnong Yang family behind him will have to do this.
Lie down and shoot!
At this time, even if the Hongnong Yang family chose to be loyal to the emperor, and even if the Hongnong Yang family intended to suppress the Yuan family and other gentry forces, they would not be happy to be used as swords by the emperor, and would offend a large number of gentry members and even betray their own class.
Yang Zhong, who originally wanted to be active in this matter to gain the emperor's approval, now has negative thoughts, not seeking merit, but seeking no faults: "I understand, this investigation must be lenient. If your majesty intends to pursue it,
We will try our best to advise and dissuade those who recommend them, and we must not let the matter be too deeply implicated."
"Your Majesty's authority is growing. Before making a decision, others are still allowed to speak freely and raise objections. But as soon as the matter is decided, others will never be allowed to gossip." Yang Biao figured out the emperor's behavior during this period.
, deliberately emphasized: "That's why we must not easily remonstrate unless it is absolutely necessary."
After saying this, Yang Zhongshen agreed. After thinking for a moment, he finally came up with a safe way: "It's better to do this. This investigation will focus on knowledge. It should be noted that character cannot be judged by questions. How to check it? That's why it's all
Once a Lang Guan is selected into the Lang Office, it can be regarded as worthy of the title by virtue and does not need to be inspected."
Knowledge will advance or fall depending on the individual's diligence, which can be tested through examinations, and the investigated Lang officials can be blamed for abandoning knowledge after joining the job, rather than not being proficient in learning at the beginning of the job.
In this way, the responsibilities of the recommender can be eliminated, and the errands assigned by the emperor can be handled at the same time. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.
"Good." Yang Biao agreed: "That's right."
Therefore, with the support of Yang Biao and the endorsement of Guang Luxun, Yang Zhong, the general of the five senses, was able to do things without any hindrance. For three consecutive days, more than ten planning tests were held, each time in the Chengming Hall.
The emperor personally visited all regulations, and the results of the examinations and the list of dismissals were also determined by the emperor's inspection.
Everything was left to the emperor's decision, and Yang Zhong acted as an executor as much as possible. This not only allowed the Yang family to avoid possible disturbances this time, but also eliminated the Yuan family's reserve forces in the court.
This time he tried his best to control the scale of the investigation and the intensity of the investigation, which also greatly increased Yang's reputation in the court.
The results of the investigation were reported to the emperor's desk. Although it was not exactly what he wanted, it was still a good result. At least he understood the Yang family's position on key issues and dismissed all the men who were close to the Yuan family.
official.
In addition, through this incident, the emperor also learned that even if the gentry were at odds with each other and fought with each other, they would still choose to stick together when they encountered fundamental interests. If the emperor really wanted to completely break the gentry's monopoly on politics, public opinion, economy, etc.
In this situation, we can only rely on two kinds of people.
One was a person who was born in a gentry clan and had vested interests, but his thoughts transcended class, such as Wang Anshi, who attracted verbal and written criticism from all scholar-bureaucrats.
The other is that powerful officials who were not from noble families came to serve as thugs for the emperor. There were many such people in history, such as the notorious Wei Zhongxian.
Of these two people, one stood for the interests of the country and was willing to betray his own class; the other wanted to protect the imperial power and his own power, and did not hesitate to brutalize the nobles.
But what the emperor wants from his heart and appreciates is actually the first type of people. Unfortunately, the emperor has not yet observed a Wang Anshi who is willing to betray the nobles and serve him.
But it doesn’t matter, ‘Wang Anshi’ is hard to come by, but ‘Wei Zhongxian’ is plentiful.
At present, it is undoubtedly the best choice for the emperor to vigorously support Dong Cheng's power and make Dong Cheng become the emperor's 'Wei Zhongxian'. This will not only provide a buffer between himself and the nobles, but also prevent them from falling out, and it will also consume and constrain his efforts.
Dong Cheng's power, and at the critical moment, Dong Cheng was taken out as a scapegoat to temporarily calm the public anger.
However, the most important thing now is whether Dong Cheng is willing to be the emperor's thug, and whether he himself must have at least the most basic political qualities and abilities for an official.
The former is easier to say. The emperor has deliberately left the matter of the establishment of the Queen unresolved in the past few days, just to make scholars such as the Hongnong Yang family who support the Fu Guiren and Ma Rixi and other scholars who support the Song Guiren quarrel with each other. Wait until the emperor directly
Accepting the Dong family as his queen fulfilled Dong Cheng's wish, but at the same time it would inevitably arouse dissatisfaction from the other two parties.
At that time, even if Dong Cheng intended to establish a good relationship with the scholars, those people would not accept a relative who was not a scholar but had rebelled and surrendered. It can be said that the hostility between the two was inevitable.
But if Dong Cheng did not have that political consciousness, it would be a no-brainer. The emperor would not let a political novice ruin his important affairs. At that time, the emperor did not want Wang Bin to stand in the spotlight, so he could only
The next best thing is to support the eunuch forces that you least want to support.
Fortunately, after Dong Cheng's affair with the third minister came to an end, he submitted a memorial that fully proved that he indeed had the value of being supported by the emperor.
"Chen Yan opened the forest and cultivated the fields."