Dong Zhao's fierce statement immediately made Cao Rui alert. "Mr. Dong," Cao Rui looked into Dong Zhao's eyes, "If this group of people is implicated, it will undoubtedly be another round of Party Imprisonment!" Dong Zhao was not afraid at all. With his last experience in the armory, Dong Zhao understood that the more the emperor hesitated, the more he should use a firm tone and clear words to confirm his attitude. "No." Dong Zhao bowed and said, "The so-called Party Imprisonment Disaster, Your Majesty, do you know why the Party Imprisonment is a disaster?" "Tell me!" Cao Rui didn't say anything more. Dong Zhao said: "During the first Party Imprisonment during the reign of Emperor Huan, scholars and eunuchs were in conflict. The eunuchs advised Emperor Huan and imprisoned Li Ying, Chen Shi, Fan Pang and others." "In my opinion, it's just a struggle for power between the nobles and the eunuchs. Although there are some casualties in the fight, compared to the overall situation in the court, there is not much to worry about." "During the second Party Imprisonment during the reign of Emperor Ling, many people were killed and many people were implicated. Under the pretext of the Party Imprisonment, scholars encouraged each other to join forces with local nobles, and even established their own regimes after the Yellow Turban Rebellion. However, this was not directly due to the Party Imprisonment, but rather to the fact that the eunuchs were unscrupulous, the situation in the prefectures and counties was in a state of disarray, and the central government was unable to control them." "There is nothing wrong with the Party Imprisonment itself!" Cao Rui stared at Dong Zhao's eyes for a long time and asked, "Mr. Dong, what do you want to tell me? When the world is in turmoil and eunuchs are rampant, if you start a party ban without restraint and wantonly implicate others, it will cause disaster."
"The political situation in Wei is stable now. Even if there is another round of party imprisonment, it is understandable." "That's right!" Dong Zhao said earnestly, "Now the emperor of Wei is wise, the central government is in power, and the prefectures and counties are stable. How can there be the doomsday scenes during the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling?" "During the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, eunuchs suppressed scholars, and scholars who formed cliques to seek fame were always bringing disaster upon themselves. Now, these extravagant and sociable people have appeared in Luozhong again. If we do not put them under house arrest, how can we thank the world?" "Besides, how could there be so many people implicated in the Party Imprisonment? At most, there are only a few hundred scholars in Luozhong!" Cao Zhen stood aside and asked, "I just heard so much from Mr. Dong, but there is one thing I don't understand. I hope Mr. Dong can help me solve this puzzle." Dong Zhao said: "General, please speak!" Cao Zhen said, "Isn't it just a group of scholars forming a clique? Just kill some and demote others, and that's it. How come I didn't realize it was so serious?" "It's not to the point of killing people. Let me give you an example." Dong Zhao glanced at Cao Zhen and said, "May I ask you, General, who is responsible for selecting the officers with 1,000 and 600 dan salaries in the central army?" Cao Zhen said, "Huan Fan, the Central Guard General, is in charge. Officials below 1,000 stone do not need to report to me." Dong Zhao asked, "If Huan Fan, based on his personal preferences, arbitrarily places people who have never fought in a war and are not loyal to Your Majesty in the Central Army, and secretly forms cliques within the Central Army all day long, will the Central Army's fighting power still be the same as before? Can the general still be assured? Since the crime is not punishable by death, can we still kill all these low-ranking generals?" Cao Zhen stood there thinking and kept silent. "Your Majesty," Dong Zhao turned and looked at the emperor again, "Your Majesty has only been on the throne for a year, and there are already such frivolous cliques in Luozhong who are openly using the court's public tools to seek fame and integrity. If more time passes, I'm afraid the official election system will be completely messed up!" Cao Rui sneered, took a few steps forward, picked up the halberd on the weapon rack with both hands, waved it a few times and said, "How can their parents feel at ease serving me if so many officials' children are imprisoned?" "Why not? It's better to use your skills than to use them!" Dong Zhao paused, then said: "Besides these frivolous people, there are many more loyal and honest people in the court!" Cao Rui looked at Dong Zhao and asked: "Among the young officials, who is loyal and honest?" "This..." Dong Zhao hesitated. "Why, Lord Dong, can't you tell me?" Cao Rui placed the tip of the halberd on the ground, gently hooked his right foot upwards, and the halberd was immediately lifted up. Dong Zhao bowed and said, "If we talk about young scholars, there are Wang Su and Du Shu in the palace, Liu Shao, Lu Yu, Hua Biao, Zheng Mao, Wang Ji, Wang Guan and others in the court... There are too many to list!" Cao Rui nodded calmly: "If Lord Dong says so, will senior officials like Grand Tutor Zhong, Grand Commandant Hua, and Minister Wang agree with you?"
"Why not?" Dong Zhao replied, "As early as the tenth year of Jian'an, Emperor Wu issued an edict saying 'A Dang is as good as Zhou, which is what the ancient sages could do'. This was also the original intention of Emperor Wu to use upright people like Cui Yan and Mao Jie to preside over the election!" Cao Rui turned and looked at Cao Zhen: "General, do you understand? The affairs of the court are somewhat different from those of the central army." Cao Zhen smiled awkwardly: "What Lord Dong said just now sounded a little hazy to me, as if I understood it but not quite." "Then I will give you some pointers." Cao Rui said with a smile: "During the time of Huan and Ling's party imprisonment, the scholars of the world have long disliked the eunuchs!" "It is now the first year of Taihe, and the old ministers of the Jian'an period have long been gone from the important ministers of the Huangchu period!" "So that's it!" Cao Zhen laughed, "Mr. Dong should just say it directly, why are you beating around the bush?" Dong Zhao showed some embarrassment on his face. He was about to explain when Cao Rui raised his hand to stop him. "Mr. Dong, there is no need to say more. I am not afraid of the ministers' thoughts. Just assume that Mr. Dong has convinced me." Cao Rui said slowly, "I only want to ask Mr. Dong one thing." "Your Majesty, please speak." Cao Rui looked at Dong Zhao and said with a smile: "How can we handle this matter safely and without leaving any hidden dangers?" Dong Zhao replied: "Your Majesty, I am willing to write a letter tomorrow to express my sincere opinion on this matter!" "As for imprisoning those who are extravagant as officials, I only mention imprisonment and sending them back to their hometowns without setting a time limit. Whether they are pardoned or not, and how long they are pardoned, is up to the Lord!" "Mr. Dong, what you said is good!" Cao Rui smiled and clapped his hands. "Earlier, Huang Quan submitted a memorial to me, mentioning that there were many illegal activities in the Yingchuan military farm, and impeached the new Yingchuan governor Dong Zhou and the military farm commander Linghu Yu." "I only investigated Linghu Yu's crime. Dong Zhou was new in office, so I suppressed the matter. Does Lord Dong know about this?" Dong Zhou was the son of Dong Zhao. After Dong Zhao entered the Western Pavilion, he was assigned a high position in a large county. Dong Zhao bowed and replied, "I didn't know that before." Cao Rui nodded and said, "Let's go. I've been out for two days and I'm a little tired. It's time to go back to the palace. I'll discuss this matter with you in the study tomorrow." vanity…… Most of these flashy scholars came from aristocratic families and officials, and were able to live in Luoyang because of their fathers and grandfathers' official status. When they socialized with scholars of the same age, they gradually gathered around people like He Yan and Zhuge Dan. If these scholars' extravagant factions, social connections, criticisms, and collusion were not suppressed, Dong Zhao would only see the impact on elections and the corruption of morals, but Cao Rui saw something further. Cao Rui didn't even need to use his imagination, as the examples of the two Party and Faction Persecutions were clearly shown before him. During the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, the party members were powerful. Although they were imprisoned, they still came up with a political program of "destroying the eunuchs" with the intention of completely monopolizing the politics of the Han Dynasty. The former foreign relatives and generals such as He Jin were no match for the party members in terms of wisdom and tactics. During the Taihe period, and now there are no eunuchs to serve as targets, what can this group of young and flashy scholars come up with by gathering together all day long? Metaphysics and Wushisan have already emerged. If they are not suppressed, I am afraid that the weird people of the Wei and Jin Dynasties will emerge in advance, with their vanity, cliques, idle talk, taking pills, drinking, and indulgence... If you don't want to go on duty, just stay at home and rest. This is called not being burdened by worldly things. When I want to go out, I just take Wu Shi San and run around the street with my upper body naked. This is what I call excitement. If you don't want to do something, you will act like a spoiled brat without caring about what others think. This is called being willful and unrestrained. When you are high, you can shout and scream at any time. This is called chanting and screaming with ease. When you are drunk, you don't like anything and do whatever you want. This is called etiquette is not for us... Dong Zhao is right, to correct a wrong one must go to extremes!
What surprised Cao Rui even more was that the differences between the old ministers of Jian'an and Huangchu were actually pointed out directly. The old ministers of Jian'an can understand it easily. The ministers in power during the Huangchu period also came from the Jian'an period, but they became more powerful under Cao Pi's rule. When Cao Pi became emperor, the three ministers did not hold real power, old ministers like Dong Zhao were marginalized, and power was concentrated in the Secretariat. Huan Jie, Chen Qun, Sima Yi and others successively held power, giving a feeling that the new generation was superior to the old. One rises while the other falls. Ups and downs, waves surging. Let’s see what Dong Zhao does tomorrow. …… The next morning, when Cao Rui just arrived at the study, he unexpectedly found Sima Yi standing outside the study waiting for him. "What's the matter, Sikong, do you have something to talk to me about?" Cao Rui asked with a smile. "I do have something to report to Your Majesty." Sima Yi responded, and then without asking the eunuch to help, he opened the door of the study for Cao Rui. Cao Rui walked in and asked as he walked, "The day before yesterday afternoon, Sikong came to look for me, right?" "Have you finished your housework?" After the emperor sat upright on the chair, Sima Yi did not sit down. He stood in front of the emperor and bowed, saying: "I have gone home to find out about this matter." "My eldest son Sima Shi was deceived by He Yan and took the Five Stones Powder by mistake. It was indeed an unintentional act. He never had the intention of colluding with He Yan." Sima Yi paused, then said: "I am willing to give up my position as Sikong to ask for mercy for my eldest son. Please don't punish me with the Five Stone Powder." Cao Rui raised his eyes calmly and looked at Sima Yi: "As one of the Three Dukes, how can I just resign? The Wei Dynasty is not the Han Dynasty, and I am not one of those mediocre people in the Luoyang North Palace at the end of the Han Dynasty!" "This was said by Sikong himself in public at Chongwen Temple, and I also approved it in public. How can I take it back so easily?" Sima Yi's heart trembled. If the three highest officials are not dismissed, does that mean the recorder of the Secretariat will be dismissed? As early as when Zhuge Dan and Yuan Kan were involved in the incident and when he discussed the matter with Wei Zhen, Sima Yi had actually prepared to lose his position. But as the truth was revealed, he could not help but feel a little uncomfortable. (End of this chapter)