I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 229 The Emperor is Sacred? No! Inviolable!

There is actually nothing to worry about the first point. The change of emperor is too intuitive. The Xiping era name is gone and it has been changed to Zhengshi. This is enough to announce the end of an era.

A new era name, a new beginning, also means a new power structure.

As for the second point... actually there is nothing to worry about. This matter is not a secret anyway, and everyone has known about it for a long time.

The military power of Luoyang is under the control of the Yuan family. What else is there to say?

During the period when Yuan Feng and Yuan Shu were carrying out a major reorganization of the court, the entire Luoyang city was shrouded in a rather tense and serious atmosphere.

And Liu Kui, the newly appointed emperor, was actually not idle either.

He was deep in the palace, always keeping an eye on the developments in the court. After seeing Yuan Feng's ambitions, Liu Kui did not give up completely after a period of frustration.

He has not lost his desire for power. He still longs for a future in which he can be independent and become a powerful emperor, so he decides to do something and actively seek a way out.

He knew that he had no initial advantages in being an emperor and did not know a lot of necessary knowledge, so he summoned the former Minister of Rites Tang Zhen and the current Minister of Rites Yang Ci several times to consult them on court rules and regulations and various personnel issues. He humbly sought advice, listened carefully, and worked very hard.

Of course, Yuan Feng knew all these things.

Under the guidance of Tang Zhen and Yang Ci, Liu Kui gradually gained a deeper understanding of the operation of power in the court. He realized that in order to gain a foothold in the court, he must have his own confidants and forces, and extend his power tentacles through them.

The emperor cannot always take action personally. If he does, it will be a life-and-death duel. In this situation, he will have to fight to the death with the Yuan family...

How depressed must Liu Qi be?

He wanted to be an emperor while alive, and didn't want to be a joke after death.

He originally thought that after acquiring this knowledge, he would be able to successfully use eunuchs to fill the shortage of personnel in the palace, control the power in the palace, and then extend the power outward bit by bit.

Even if there were only a hundred eunuchs, plus the twenty or so cronies he brought with him, he could barely form his own team, occupy some key positions first, and build a trusted power team for himself.

He believed that when facing a cunning old fox and old bureaucrat like Yuan Feng, one should not be impatient for success, but should plan slowly.

However, just when he had finally figured out how power was exercised in Luoyang, the sudden reorganization of the new Shaofu and the establishment of the Tongzhengsi shattered the framework he had previously accumulated.

The Shaofu was reorganized.

The new Tongzhengsi was established.

These two moves deprived the inner court power that originally belonged to the palace eunuchs at the institutional level. The inner court power was usurped by the outer court. The Shaofu, as an extension of the power of the outer court institution, became the real steward of the imperial palace, or even the guardian of the imperial palace. All eunuchs were subordinates of the Shaofu, who had the power to make personnel decisions over the eunuchs.

In addition, all eunuchs cannot hold positions above 600 dan. Positions above 600 dan are only held by regular officials and are part of the Shaofu system, which cannot be changed.

Moreover, eunuchs and even palace maids were required to be illiterate and not allowed to read. The reason was to eliminate the possibility of eunuchs and palace maids interfering in politics, to avoid the reappearance of products of chaotic politics such as powerful eunuchs and female ministers, and to avoid the political order being disrupted again.

This combination of punches instantly blocked Liu Kui's path to power, catching him off guard and leaving him seeing stars.

He suddenly realized that there seemed to be no chance of a comeback.

At least within his knowledge, he could not find any possibility of turning things around.

However, the Yuan family, which has the advantage, still has a lot to do.

After all, the current situation in the court has become clear, and there is no possibility for Liu Kui, the holder of the human-shaped jade seal, to turn the tables. Or the possibility of a turnaround only exists in theory, and it is extremely difficult to put it into practice.

Besides, puppet emperors who were controlled were not uncommon in everyone's eyes. "Saint monarchs" of the level of Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Ming and Emperor Zhang were already distant existences in everyone's eyes.

The emperor's sacredness had long been largely lost in the repeated tug-of-war between his foreign relatives and eunuchs, and the swift actions of Yuan Feng and his son Yuan Shu further shook the emperor's sacredness.

The Emperor is not inviolable.

The emperor could even be enthroned artificially.

As long as you have power and strength.

Therefore, many people's original concerns no longer exist. For example, Tang Zhen.

In the beginning after the coup, Tang Zhen still had some basic respect for Liu Kui and felt that the emperor was sacred and inviolable. However, after a series of actions by the Yuan family, he felt that this sentence should be interpreted in other different ways.

Just like the punctuation marks used by Yuan Shu in his academic monograph on psychology, a sentence can be interpreted in completely different ways if it is divided into sentences using different punctuation marks.

The emperor is sacred and inviolable.

This is one way of interpreting it.

The emperor is sacred? No! Inviolable!

This is another completely opposite interpretation.

So which of these two interpretations is correct?

That requires a specific analysis of the specific situation.

At least in Tang Zhen's opinion, the latter is obviously more practical than the former.

Therefore, the first thing Tang Zhen did after taking office as Shaofu was to pull out all the 300 palace maids who were originally assigned to serve in the imperial palace for a second selection.

He personally supervised the work and conducted a very detailed assessment, surveying the cultural level of the entire group of palace maids. All those who could read were expelled and given severance pay, which they received. After receiving the pay, they immediately left and returned home to get married.

Only illiterate girls who can't read can stay.

Including the matter of selecting 100 eunuchs to serve Liu Kui, he personally supervised the selection and sent people to Sanhe to select them. They would only be illiterate, preferably orphans, who could not recognize a single word and were honest and only knew how to do things as they were told. Anyone who seemed to have a bit of intelligence would not be accepted.

After finishing these things, Tang Zhen felt the pleasure of power and the weight of responsibility. After thinking for a while, he decided to go a step further.

Since you have already boarded Yuan's ship, you might as well carry out the stimulation to the end. If you don't board the ship thoroughly, it is the same as not boarding the ship at all. Look at the Duan brothers who boarded the ship without hesitation, one is the Grand Marshal and the other is the Inspector of the Imperial Guards. How glorious are they?

I, Tang, should do the same!
In order to show Yuan Feng his determination to serve and stay with the Yuan family, Tang Zhen led his men directly to the Zhangde Hall, stood in front of Liu Kui, and took out all the attendants that Liu Kui's family had brought from their hometown of Bohai.

Liu Kui set out from Bohai in a hurry. In addition to his dozen concubines and more than seventy children, he took with him only more than thirty servants and maids. These were the only group Liu Kui was familiar with in Luoyang City.

As a result, this group of people were also pulled out by Tang Zhen and all the officials of the Shaofu for a second screening.

Those who could read were driven away, and only the illiterate ones were left. All the illiterate men who stayed behind were taken to the Shaofu for castration. Only after becoming eunuchs could they stay by the emperor's side to avoid situations that could not happen.

This sudden set of actions made Liu Kui both shocked and angry.

"They are all old people in my residence. They followed me from Bohai and have served my family for at least five years. Are they going to be driven away? Just because they can read?"

Tang Zhen nodded without changing her expression.

"Your Majesty, that's right. Even if they are old men in your Majesty's residence, they are no exception. According to the court etiquette, the emperor cannot have adult men other than his sons and grandsons serving him. If there are any, they must be castrated. This is the law passed down by our ancestors. I hope your Majesty will understand!"

Liu Li suddenly felt depressed.

But he really had nothing to say about this clear "law passed down from ancestors".

"That's... good! Our ancestors established the law, and I accept it! Then why do you want to drive away all the literate people? They are the old people I brought with me!"

"According to the new court rules, the eunuchs and palace maids serving the emperor must not be literate. If there are any who can read, they must be sent home and not allowed to serve near the emperor, so as not to interfere in government affairs."

Tang Zhen said expressionlessly, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. This is to prevent the recurrence of the Party Imprisonment Disaster. Your Majesty should also know how much harm the Party Imprisonment Disaster has brought. Those eunuchs even dared to murder Your Majesty. We must not allow them to rise again! Moreover, this new rule was also approved and promulgated by Your Majesty, wasn't it?"

"This... I didn't know before that even the elderly I brought with me were counted among them!"

Liu Kui was at a loss, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Call Yuan Feng! Call Yuan Shu! Call them all! I want to ask them clearly! Ask them clearly!"

(End of this chapter)