Many readers left messages asking, Why do the relatives and eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty always fight to the death? Here I will focus on answering this question.
First, it is caused by objective reasons
If you have time, count them on your fingers. The emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty were either short-lived or had no descendants, which resulted in many abnormal handovers. Most emperors became puppet emperors because they were too young. Let me do the math for you. There were a total of 13 emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Ten of them died under the age of forty. Four had no sons. Those who had sons were only nineteen years old when they came to the throne, and the youngest was only a hundred days old. For example, Emperor Chong of the Han Dynasty was only two years old when he came to the throne, and Emperor Zhi of the Han Dynasty was only eight years old when he came to the throne.
You said, after they take office, if they don't rely on the Queen Mother, who will they rely on when they come to court? And not all of the Queen Mothers can be as capable as their grandma Lu Pheasant , so what should we do? The Queen Mother could only rely on her brothers, brothers or nephews from her mother's family. Once these relatives came into power, how could they give up so easily. When the little emperors grow up, they all want to get rid of the exclusive power of their relatives. They can only seek help from the eunuchs around them. If the help is successful, it means that the governing power of his next generation will fall into the hands of the eunuchs. Then his subordinates will If a generation wants to get rid of the eunuch's dictatorship, they can only seek help from relatives who are related to them. It goes on like this over and over again. The relatives and eunuchs are like turning over sesame cakes. You go up and I go down, and I go up and you go down.
Second, it is formed by historical practice.
Let me sort out the past precedents with you: during the Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Dou came to the court, Dou Xian was in power; during the Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Deng came to the court, Deng Stall was in power; when Beixiang Hou, the Queen Mother Yan came to the court, and Yan Xian was in power; When Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty , the Queen Mother of Liang came to the court, Liang Ji was in power; When Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty , the Queen Mother Dou came to the court, Dou Wu was in power; Han Shao Emperor Liu Bian, Queen Mother He came to power, He Jin was in power. It wasn't until Yuan Shao killed all the eunuchs, Dong Zhuo established Liu Xie , and killed Queen Mother He that the previously formed ancestral game rules were broken.
So Yuan Shao was not a relative, so why did he instigate He Jin so hard to kill all the eunuchs again and again? Could it be that he was really dedicated to protecting the forces of his relatives? No, how could Yuan Shao, as the son of the fourth generation and the third prince, fall in love with an upstart who kills pigs? He wanted the gentry class to participate in political management instead of the eunuch group. In fact, before him, his gentry predecessors Chen Fan had fought for it. At that time, when Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, Empress Dowager Dou came to the court, and his relative Dou Wu served as the general. However, all power was in the hands of the eunuch group. Chen Fan's advice to Dou Wu was exactly the same as that of Yuan Shao. He also wanted to kill all the eunuchs, but Dou Wubing After being defeated and committing suicide, Chen Fan was imprisoned and tortured to death. Now compared with Chen Fan, Yuan Shao is not bad. At least he has realized his plan to kill all the eunuchs, but his relative He Jin has died. The bigger trouble is that Dong Zhuo, who has a large number of troops, has come. He seems to be more successful than Chen Fan, but In fact, it's terrible. If the gentry wanted to step onto the political stage and co-govern with the imperial power, they had to go through a bloody storm.
History has proven that as long as you struggle, you will gain something. When Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, Shangshu ordered Chen Qun to win the "nine-grade Zhongzheng system" employment system for the gentry, which paved the way for the Jin Dynasty to implement co-governance between the gentry and the imperial power. The transition of China's employment system from the "shiqingshilu system" and "recommendation and examination system" to the "imperial examination system" has served as a bridge and link.
2022.8.14, Ruiqing first drafted in Zhengzhou
About the author: Li Ruiqing, pen name Ruiqing, courtesy name Zifang, nickname Ziyi Hall Master. Laozi Hometown Luyi is now settled in Zhengzhou. Young writer, literary and historical scholar, calligraphy enthusiast. He is the author of "Living Historical Figures·Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Series", "Living Historical Figures·Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty Series", "Living Historical Figures·The Three Kingdoms Series of the Late Han Dynasty", "Notes on Historical Research·Five Scholars Series" and "Notes on Historical Research •Research Series on Political Systems of Past Dynasties", "Notes on Historical Research • Comparative Research Series on Chinese and Foreign History" and other literary and historical monographs.He has also written novels such as "The Foggy Sun", "Hunting City", "Don't Move My Heart", "Ten Years in the Jianghu" and "Nan Er Hutong".
