Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 135 Dong Xian
Seeing that everyone was unanimously opposed, Liu Xin, who was sitting in the main seat, frowned. He thought that there would be opposition, and it would be difficult to convince the public that someone who had never done anything to be promoted to such a high position would be a difficult task.

But he didn't expect so many people to oppose him! He couldn't even find a single person who supported him. Among the important officials, only Xu Hua remained silent.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, it is impossible for anyone to not have an opinion about a male favorite who relies on his looks to climb above so many ministers in the court. What's more, it is unethical for the emperor to favor a man!

Someone had already submitted a petition to expel Dong Xian, but after Liu Xin's strong opposition, no one dared to say anything.

"You always say that the Holy Lord has no virtue and no talent, but in my opinion, he is much better than you bunch of corpses!"

Shengqing is Dong Xian's courtesy name.

"At least the Holy Lord has not amassed excessive wealth or formed a clique for personal gain. Moreover, he has no family background and is not from a wealthy family. I trust him. It is most appropriate for me to supervise you."

"Either let Dong Xian supervise it, or we can discuss it another day. Please consider it carefully."

Liu Xin’s attitude is very firm. He must let his people become the Grand Marshal, otherwise neither side will have any chance.

Now he sees very clearly that although the Xu family is a senior member of the imperial party, they cannot be absolutely selfless. They have their own cronies and their own interests in the court, and often they have to share power with the emperor.

Although Ding Ming is also a relative by marriage and the person in charge of Queen Ding's family, objectively speaking, he is a family member of the emperor.

But Liu Xin no longer believed in foreign relatives. Wasn't the example of Empress Lü and Wang Feng profound enough? These people said they were the emperor's family, but in fact their interests were contradictory. Rather than using foreign relatives, it would be better to use eunuchs.

At least Shi Xian had not achieved anything significant before, and with just one sentence he could be demoted from a powerful minister to a prisoner.

It is absolutely useful, and the power comes from the emperor.

If there was no time and conditions at the moment, Liu Xin would not have used his male favorite. His support for Dong Xian was not an emotional act, but also a political necessity.

We must push forward a person from our own! First of all, Dong Xian is well-known. Besides, his identity is not to be seen by the public and is not tolerated by the world. Therefore, there is no need to worry about losing control. We can give him power and make him the Grand Marshal of the dynasty, or we can instantly dethrone him.

It was perfect for balancing the Xu and Wang families. After Wang Gen's death, the Wang family would inevitably fall into decline, and it would be difficult for Wang Mang to defeat Xu Hua.

In order to prevent the balance in the court from being broken, he must make plans!
"Your Majesty, you can't do that..."

Xu Zhen still wanted to insist, but he caught a glimpse of Xu Hua's hint beside him and fortunately didn't say anything more.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, Dong Xian has not done anything, so it is not appropriate to promote him directly to Grand Marshal. But as Your Majesty said, sometimes it is difficult to fully see a person's ability."

"So we can let him be the general of the guard for a trial first. If he really has sufficient ability and character, it won't be too late to appoint him."

Xu Hua chose to support Liu Xin's decision, and now he is in a difficult situation. If he does not step forward to act as a peacemaker, the situation will probably end in a bad way.

However, it was certain that Wang Mang would become the Grand Marshal; it was not a matter of time.

Seeing this, Liu Xin immediately responded, "Prime Minister Xu's suggestion is very good. Let's do this. Let Shengqing be the general of the guards first and observe. If it is really as you said, and it is a mess, it will not be too late to make amends."

“There won’t be any major losses.”

"The ministers obey the order."

Wang Li and several important officials of the Wang family looked at each other and finally chose to compromise. This was already the best solution. Any further stalemate would not bring any benefits.

Today, Emperor Liu Xin's power and influence are no longer what they used to be. He is no longer as controlled by his ministers as he was when he first ascended the throne, and now has considerable say.

Especially now the political situation is more favorable to him, and Prince Xu is fighting, so Liu Xin as the referee is particularly crucial.

Xu Hua also discovered that this Majesty was not as easy to handle as he had imagined, and was not an easy person to deal with.

Liu Xin did not always stand on the side of the Xu family, but was swaying according to the current situation. Since the Xu family had the power to compete with the Wang family, his position was no longer firm.

He would stand on the opposite side of whoever had greater power to maintain balance in the court and thus confirm his own imperial power.

Now Liu Xin has begun to support an important official of his own, that is Dong Xian! This person cannot defect, because he has no foundation and can only stand behind the emperor, otherwise none of the Xu family or Wang family will tolerate it.

Eventually, he became the emperor's white knife, providing him with a reason to purge the disobedient ministers.

However, one thing was unexpected, that is, Dong Xian was not alone, his rise was fueled by the Xu family.

Therefore, becoming the Grand Marshal would be beneficial to Xu Hua, which is why he did not object too much and even had a hint of tacit approval.

Who would be so selfless? The cake is so small, if you come in, I will get less. The more people there are, the less valuable the Da Sima is. Scarcity makes things more valuable.

Ever since Wang Feng overthrew various foreign relatives' forces one by one, the Wang family was the only Grand Marshal in the court, and the power of prime minister held by the Xu family was competing against them.

However, it was extremely difficult. The prime minister was no longer the prime minister during the time of Xu Gong. His power had been weakened and divided during the reigns of Emperor Wu and Emperor Li. The reform during the reign of Emperor Li was the most thorough, and it was advocated by Wang Feng.

All the powers that originally belonged to the prime minister were distributed to the other three officials.

Previously, the prime minister was the head of the government, handling all government affairs and even involving the military field. However, since Emperor Li’s reform, there has been a clear distinction between the three officials.

If it weren't for the support of the Xu family, the position of prime minister would have been abolished long ago, and the official position that plays the role of prime minister now is actually the Grand Marshal and General.

It’s just that the influence of Prime Minister Xu Gong was too great, and he remained in office for decades, which was quite impressive.

But as we all know, there is a gap between the prime minister and the chancellor. Rather than the prime minister, it is better to say that he is Xu Zhen's grand tutor! This is because of etiquette and law that he cannot be appointed openly.

In fact, he was no different from the Grand Tutor.

.........

At this court meeting, the Xu and Wang families compromised with the emperor. In the end, Wang Mang was promoted to the Grand Marshal and temporarily took charge of the rank of General, but in fact he was not yet a General.

Ding Ming, the General of the Cavalry, was given the title of Sima, and Dong Xian, the Palace Attendant, was made the General of the Guards. He was temporarily in charge of the defense of the palace and could attend court and make suggestions, but he did not have the power to govern. In fact, the biggest beneficiary was Ding Ming, whose title of General of the Cavalry was recommended by Xu Bo and Xu Zhong, who represented the local government and the central government respectively. Originally, his official title was just a general of the rear.

But in order to show the sincerity of his alliance, Xu Bo resisted the pressure and promoted him to the position of General of Cavalry, but the title was no longer prefixed with Grand Marshal, so he could not interfere in the government affairs.

Coupled with the leverage in his hand, he tied the entire Ding family firmly to his chariot, making it even more difficult for them to get off after taking the benefits.

The position of General of Cavalry had been vacant before, with Wang Gen having held the position for only a month or two. However, he soon inherited his brother's position and was promoted to the rank of General.

"Master, I don't understand why you want to let Dong Xian be the general of the guards? It's neither regular nor reasonable!"

As soon as he returned to Jinghou Mansion, Xu Zhen, who was stopped, came to the study room in great confusion, and really didn't understand why.

Letting a man who has done nothing but rely on the emperor's favor to be a general will surely be ridiculed by the world! What's more, it is even more inappropriate for him to be a male favorite who cannot be seen in public.

But why would Xu Hua, a descendant of the Xu family, still support such a bad trend? How could he face his ancestors in the afterlife?

Xu Hua first asked the servant to pour two cups of tea, then he picked up a cup and drank it while saying, "Sit down first. The interests involved are a bit complicated and it's hard to explain them clearly at once."

This Xu Zhen used to be Taichang, and was only one step away from becoming one of the Three Dukes. However, because he was too upright and did not consider the consequences of his words and deeds, he offended too many people and was not tolerated by the court. He was subsequently demoted repeatedly and eventually became Taizhong Daifu.

Taizhong Daifu was in charge of discussions and had little power previously, but after Xu Ning's reforms, his power increased sharply. He supervised all officials under the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers and had direct contact with the emperor.

Originally, he was directly under the Imperial Censor, but after the changes, he became independent from the imperial court.

He is a typical person with a low position but great power. The power he holds is definitely not much less than that of the ordinary Nine Ministers. After all, he controls most of the officials in the court and directly connects with the emperor. So who knows whether he exaggerates in the process?
Therefore, even after being demoted, he was still an important figure in the Xu family and enjoyed a high voice, especially in the Imperial College Law School, where he was highly respected and was a doctor of the Imperial College.

Xu Zhen was a little excited, but seeing Xu Hua so calm, he suppressed his emotion, sat down on the ground, picked up the teacup and took a symbolic sip.

Seeing that the other party's emotions had stabilized, Xu Hua said leisurely: "The family has spent a hundred years to establish an intelligence organization throughout the Han Dynasty, and used the restaurant as a base. It is quite influential. You should be aware of this."

Xu Zhen nodded. As a core member of the family, he certainly knew about it. He was also familiar with the operation mode of this intelligence organization and had a number of spies under his control.

They are extremely useful and provide convenience to the entire family. Many dirty things that need to be kept secret can be entrusted to them.

According to what he knew, this organization had nearly 10,000 official members, of which 5,000 were family-trained assassins who were used to carry out special operations and were stationed among the people or at the grassroots level to act as spies.

Among them, about 3,000 people were recruited from the public, covering all walks of life, forming an extremely complex intelligence network.

But I heard that there are some with higher confidentiality levels that only the head of the family knows.

Could it be...

Xu Zhen immediately had some guesses in his mind.

"You know, my moral standards are far inferior to my father's. I am very selfish and only care about the interests of the Han Dynasty and my family. I never do business at a loss. This time, supporting Dong Xian is not completely unprofitable."

Xu Hua took a sip of tea with a playful expression. Perhaps His Majesty would never have thought in his lifetime that his favorite male favorite and the most trusted personal eunuch were both on his side.

After all, it is still incredible that it can penetrate so deeply.

It's not that he was disloyal to the emperor, it's mainly because the previous Emperor Li Liu Ao was too much of a drag and ruined the good situation. Emperor Yuan had a good plan and left Shi Xian to his son to deal with so that he could accumulate reputation. Xu Bo, Xu Ming and others were also ministers who could be appointed to take care of the emperor.

Unexpectedly, he went too far in the end by trusting his in-laws too much and failing to cultivate another force to check and balance them. At that time, neither the meritorious officials nor the eunuchs had much power in the court.

The Xu family did not infiltrate all the local areas. It can be said that the whole situation is rotten. If it were not for its bad reputation, the Wang family could even plan a rebellion and usurp the throne.

After Xu Ming was defeated, Xu Bo realized the seriousness of the situation, so he began to plan the local layout. He first let Xu Min gradually infiltrate Jizhou through Qinghe, and then take control of the entire Hebei Province.

The real time when Hebei was under control was when Xu Min became the governor of Youzhou, and it was only with the help of Dong Chong of Bingzhou that he was able to control this area.

Although the position of provincial governor has been abolished on the surface.

Xu Zhong's move was actually more important, and could even be said to be an unexpected surprise, because Xu Bo's goal at the time was only to stabilize Nanyang, and by the way, he also had a certain amount of power in Runan.

But after Wang Tong's rebellion, Xu Zhong rose rapidly and became a general with a high title, which was completely beyond Xu Bo's expectations, and then he quickly took control of the entire Jingzhou.

The Xu family's power in the local area has expanded, mainly concentrated in Jingxiang, Hebei. After all, the area around Yanzhou and Xuzhou in the Central Plains is weak.

But it was enough. Relying on the powerful local army to intimidate the entire Chang'an, the successor Wang Gen did not dare to act rashly.

His father had finally managed to turn the situation around, so Xu Hua certainly would not allow anything to go wrong halfway, so he could only infiltrate the palace with his own people, and Dong Xian was a crucial step!
With the secret support of this traitor, Xu Hua could secretly grasp Liu Xin's every move and make appropriate responses.

"So the head of the family means that Dong Xian is also a spy?" Xu Zhen also reacted. Isn't this statement implying that Dong Xian is one of their own?

However, it is still somewhat inappropriate to let a male favorite become a general of the guard. It doesn’t matter whether he is one of ours or not.

"Yes, that's why I'm helping him. I know you still feel uncomfortable because it's against the rules, but we should always put the overall situation first!"

"Don't think that our emperor supports Dong Xian simply out of personal preference. His intention is to place a real imperial party in the fold. It doesn't matter who it is."

"Your Majesty can find someone else if Dong Xian is not around. It's just a matter of time. Rather than letting someone who has nothing to do with the matter take over, it's better to keep the money within the family."

Xu Hua noticed Xu Zhen's unhappy expression and patiently explained to him that there was no other way.

In this situation, morality is completely meaningless. We must focus on the Han people! We must defeat the Wang family first and then talk about other things. We must put everything back on track.

Later on, both Liu Xin and the new emperor would certainly clean up the remaining forces of the Xu family on a large scale, but by that time the meat would be rotten in the pot and they would not be able to give up any forces.

(End of this chapter)