Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 19 Dealing with the "Ten Attendants"

Appointing Lu Zhi as the Prince's Tutor was just an episode in this grand court meeting.

Although the crown prince is only the regent and it is not a new dynasty, it still gives people a sense of new atmosphere.

"Some time ago, I closed the palace gates. I think the officials were confused as to my intention. Today, I will explain my doubts to you all."

"Bring it up!"

Liu Bian shouted, and the burly Dian Wei led the East Palace guards to escort a group of prisoners with disheveled hair and thin bodies to the palace.

Although these prisoners were covered with scars and had disheveled hair, the officials recognized their identities the moment they saw them.

They were Xia Yun, Sun Zhang, Li Song, Duan Gui, Zhang Gong, Han Kui, Song Dian and Bi Lan, eight eunuchs.

"Eunuch, do you remember the blood feud between Yuan Ligong and me?"

"And Du Lingjun!"

The shouts and curses of the officials were endless, all of which were to speak up for the scholars such as Li Ying and Du Mi who were killed in the second Party Persecution. Liu Bian shook his head secretly at several ceremonial officials, signaling them to wait a moment.

The scholar still had to vent his anger. If he kept it in his heart, he wouldn't know when he would vent it on the prince.

But no one noticed that the smile on Liu Bian's face was a little cold. If Jia Xu and Cheng Yu, who were good at observing people's words and expressions, were there, they might have noticed it, but unfortunately, they were "small officials" who had not even reached the level of two thousand stones, and were not qualified to participate in the grand court meeting.

The reason why Liu Bian looked gloomy was that someone was taking the opportunity to speak up for Chen Fan.

Liu Bian was extremely disgusted with Chen Fan, the top celebrity of the Later Han Dynasty.

The saying "If you can't even sweep your own room, how can you sweep the world?" comes from him, but he was the negative example. Chen Fan's original words were "A real man should sweep the world, why bother with a single room?"

During his time as an official in exile, Chen Fan could not wait to visit the local scholars before meeting his subordinates who were waiting to greet him. When it came to governing, he only talked big about implementing benevolent policies, but could not come up with any specific measures to quell the rebellion and maintain peace in the country.

What disgusted Liu Bian the most was that this old thief actually openly led his subordinates and students, totaling more than 70 people, to attack the Chengming Gate of the imperial palace.

Since when did the villains who stormed the palace gate become worthy of being called celebrities?

He is nothing but a wicked traitor!

But Liu Bian also understood that he could not openly break off relations with the scholars at the moment.

This is also one of the reasons why Liu Bian wanted to support the ancient literature school. To describe the ancient literature school's proposition in one sentence, they are very similar to the great Confucian scholar Shusun Tong during the time of Emperor Gaozu.

Emperor Gaozu felt that the founding ministers were too unruly. They yelled and shouted during court sessions, drew their swords and chopped pillars, and started fighting or even group fights over a disagreement.

Sometimes Liu Bian even wondered for what purpose Emperor Gaozu gave Xiao He the privilege of bringing a sword and shoes into the palace. Could it be that he wanted Xiao He to provide his old friends in Pei County with a sword, a scabbard and two smelly shoes as weapons in group fights?

At this time, Shusun Tong wrote a letter suggesting the implementation of Confucian rituals to restrain the ministers at the grand court meeting.

To put it simply, Shusun Tong would formulate rituals and laws according to what Emperor Gaozu thought was appropriate, which was completely in line with Emperor Gaozu's wishes. He could also always find reasonable explanations from ancient books to silence the Confucian scholars in the world.

Therefore, the ancient literature school learned the method of Shusun Tong, moved closer to the emperor, and launched the so-called "Zhouguan Li" formulated by Zhou Gong to counter the "Yili" of the modern literature school.

The emperors were also very happy. After all, the "Yili" of the Modern Literature School almost brought them down to earth.

By "extending the rites of scholars to the emperor", modern scholars turned the emperor's exclusive rituals that had lost their records into the rituals of a "great scholar", only adding some embellishments to the rites of scholars and abolishing the emperor's sacred status.

Compared with the various restrictions imposed on the emperor in "Yili", "Zhouguanli" is more like a thick blank check issued by the ancient literature school to the emperor. Only the column for numbers is blank. The emperor can fill in any number he wants. It all depends on the emperor's self-control.

The scholars of the ancient literature school were almost telling the emperor, "Your Majesty, we can do whatever posture you want."

This is also an important reason why the ancient literature school rose rapidly during the Xinmang and Eastern Han dynasties.

When everyone was tired of cursing, several imperial censors and ceremonial officials stepped out of their seats to maintain order at Liu Bian's signal. The officials also hypocritically admitted their mistakes to Liu Bian, saying that they should not have been so rude regardless of the occasion.

As the virtuous prince in the eyes of all officials, Liu Bian naturally had to be magnanimous and forgive all the officials. He then announced that more than ten eunuchs would be beheaded at Caishikou the day after tomorrow, and the rest of his adopted sons and confidants would also be beheaded at Caishikou as a public display!
The scholars of the Later Han Dynasty reviled the "Ten Eunuchs," but there were more than ten eunuchs. The so-called "Ten Eunuchs" alone numbered twelve, and the emperors of the Later Han Dynasty, in order to prevent the eunuchs from gaining too much power, increased the number of eunuchs to far more than twelve. At one point during the reign of Emperor Xiaohuan, the number of eunuchs exceeded twenty.

As for the fact that Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Guo Sheng among the "Ten Attendants" and Gao Wang, Liu Bian's close confidant, were not included in the beheading list, Liu Bian had informed the scholars through Cui Jun in advance, and no one was so blind as to advise the prince to eradicate all evil.

Liu Bian's reasons were also incomprehensible. Liu Hong defended him, saying, "Empress Zhang is my father, and Empress Zhao is my mother." Unless Liu Bian and Liu Hong openly broke up, he would not be able to deal with Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong.

Scholars cannot bear the crime of alienating the love between fathers and sons in the world.

Guo Sheng is the queen's confidant and cannot be dealt with easily.

As for Gao Wang, he was just in his thirties, had not participated in the Party and Faction Persecution, and was also the prince's confidant, so he was naturally selectively ignored by the scholars.

This seemed to be a grand court meeting that made everyone happy. Liu Bian completely established the legitimacy and legality of his position as crown prince, and got what he wanted. The scholars also received the comfort they deserved. Most of the evil eunuchs who harmed the scholars during the Party and Faction Persecution were dealt with, and they also got what they wanted.

However, Grand Minister of Agriculture Cao Song raised his head slightly and looked at Liu Bian, with a barely perceptible gleam in his eyes. He thought to himself that the prince did not seem to mention the property of these eunuchs.

All the officials were immersed in the joy of victory and seemed to have forgotten about this huge sum of money.

Of course, he would not remind the officials.

It is obvious that the prince has no intention of depositing such a huge income into the national treasury, and his son is determined to follow the prince. Wouldn't he help that group of scholars instead of the prince?

"Your Highness, we respectfully send you off!"

Cao Song lowered his head, and at Gao Wang's command of "dismissal of court", he and all the officials saluted the prince, as if he had completely forgotten about the matter.

After the court was dismissed, Liu Bian returned to Yong'an Palace and lay down on the couch exhausted.

He had to admit that holding court meetings was a really tiring task.

He had been acting for two hours and his face was stiff. It was really disgusting to see these scholars acting so calmly.

Fortunately, he would not have to feel nauseous again in the next month, but before he could rest for a moment, Jian Yong, who had been appointed as the Prince's Doctor by Liu Bian a few days ago, entered the side hall after reporting to the eunuch.

"Your Highness, the Grand Marshal, Minister Yang Ci, Minister-General Liu Tao, Imperial Censor Liu Tao, and Imperial Household Officer Liu Kuan have arrived."

The Prince's Gate Doctor was not in charge of the guards at the East Palace like the Prince's Guard Commander, but was responsible for receiving visiting guests and reporting to them.

However, Jian Yong's report was a bit too formal, and no one would convey messages in this way in normal life.

The statement in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that "Liu Bei, the Left General of the Han Dynasty, Marquis of Yicheng, and Governor of Yuzhou, whose courtesy name was Xuande" is actually unreasonable. Only a completely unfamiliar and uninvited guest would let the doorman inform him in this way.

Usually, for non-official private visits, whether to acquaintances or strangers, the host will first send a servant with a business card to the door to arrange a meeting date with the host before allowing the guest to visit.

If someone comes without notifying Liu Bei of the date for the meeting, he would be a bad guest, and Liu Bei would not be courteous to others but an arrogant and rebellious person.

The most reasonable explanation should be that Zhuge Liang declined Liu Bei's invitation twice and accepted it the third time.

When Jian Yong reported to Liu Bian, he only needed to use the most prominent official position or the official position that was most important and familiar to Liu Bian at the moment.

For example, if Liu Bian was the Shangshu Ling and the Shiyushi Liu Tao, if he was handling government affairs in the Shangshu Tai, Jian Yong would call Liu Tao "Liu Lingjun", but if he was in the Lan Tai (Yushi Tai), he would call him "Shiyushi Liu Tao".

But what to address and when, and which official positions have less actual power but are more prominent, these are things that cannot be fully learned from books.

"Xianhe, you can ask Awang for advice on the matter of reporting."

When Jian Yong took office for the first time, he had only learned the relevant knowledge from books, and there were not many princes who had their own offices in the Later Han Dynasty, but these things had to be learned.

"only!"

Jian Yong was also a little embarrassed, and quickly stepped back to lead Yang Ci, Liu Tao and Liu Kuan into the main hall.

(End of this chapter)