Chapter 105 Eunuch
Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng raised an eyebrow and asked, "Did they take him out and bury him?"

Fusu beside him hesitated and said, "It shouldn't be this serious."

...

[As a result, Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, replied: "Empress Zhang is my father, and Chamberlain Zhao is my mother."

Oh no, you, the emperor, have admitted that the eunuchs are your parents. What else can those ministers say? They dare not say anything even if they have more to say. They can only bite their gums and swallow it.

The eunuchs became more fearless after this.

Moreover, the eunuchs had always created an image of peace and prosperity for Emperor Ling of Han. Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, thought that since the world was so peaceful, there was nothing for him to do, so he just continued to have fun.

So he entrusted all the government affairs to the eunuchs, and stayed in the palace, trying to have fun every day.

Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, almost vomited blood halfway through his scolding.

Whose descendant is this? He actually recognized eunuchs as his parents! He brought shame to the Liu family!

If he knew who the ancestor of Emperor Ling of Han was, he would definitely pick up a knife and kill that guy, so as to avoid giving birth to such a weak and incompetent thing who would recognize a thief as his father!

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng's eyes were full of disgust. Before, it could be said that this emperor ascended the throne at a young age, alone without any support from any forces, and could only rely on the eunuchs.

But now it seems that this guy brought this upon himself. An emperor of such a noble status actually took the initiative to acknowledge slaves as his father and mother. He is not worthy of being an emperor at all!
He created the title of emperor not to give it to such a weak and incompetent person who regards the enemy as his father!

The emperor, who was at the mercy of others and had no backbone, was completely controlled by the eunuchs.

Everyone has had a period when he was at the mercy of others. He endured it under the control of the old man Lu Buwei and watched him defile the harem. He also watched Lao Ai, who was sent by the old man, try to replace his throne, but he could only keep it in his heart.

Later, when his power grew, wasn't that old guy Lu Buwei dismissed from his position as prime minister?

Did Emperor Ling of Han really not know the situation outside at all? Even if he knew, he probably wouldn't dare to take that step.

To put it bluntly, he is just a coward.

Our Emperor Qin Shi Huang particularly looked down upon this guy.

[In fact, not all the eunuchs around Emperor Ling of Han were greedy and corrupt. There were also some capable and even honest eunuchs.

For example, Lu Qiang, the Zhongchang, was a clean eunuch among the eunuchs. He was law-abiding and unwilling to associate with people like Cao Jie. This is recorded in the "Book of the Later Han".

During the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, according to custom, eunuchs should be conferred the title of marquis. The emperor wanted to confer him the title of Marquis of Duxiang. Lu Qiang thought it was against the rules and refused to accept it. He even cursed Cao Jie and others for being morally corrupt and having bad conduct and said they should be torn into pieces.

He also often gave advice to Emperor Ling of Han, requesting the execution of corrupt eunuchs, and accused Emperor Ling of being unrepentant and favoring villains.

This stirred up a hornet's nest. How could the eunuchs headed by Zhang Rang tolerate him? So this eunuch with good character was eventually framed and killed.

In fact, it was not just Lu Qiang. At that time in the palace, Li Xun, Ding Su of Jiyin, Xu Yan of Xia Pi, Guo Dan of Nanyang, and Zhao You of Beihai were all praised by scholars for their integrity and loyalty.

Among them, Li Xun was not greedy for fame and wealth, but was honest and upright. He also carved the Five Classics with other great Confucian scholars. This spirit was rare among the eunuchs during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, in the corrupt and dark environment of eunuchs' disorderly politics. 】

Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han snorted, still showing disdain. So what if those eunuchs had good ones?
If most of the eunuchs had not caused chaos in the court, how could the Eastern Han Dynasty be led to its demise?

That emperor was not a good guy either. He even had the custom of conferring titles of nobility on eunuchs!

Now, his most valued General Wei, who had made such a great contribution in the Henan Campaign to recover the Hetao area in one fell swoop, was only given the title of Marquis of Changping.

What are those eunuchs? Just because they are ugly and old, can they flatter and whisper in the ears of others?

Especially that Wang Fu, don't let me see him! Otherwise I will scold him every time I see him!
[Apart from those eunuchs who disrupted the government, there are many famous eunuchs with outstanding achievements in Chinese history.

For example, Cai Lun. I believe everyone should be very familiar with Cai Lun, after all, we have memorized this person in history class.

Cai Lun was a eunuch during the reign of Emperor He of Han Dynasty. He summed up the experience of his predecessors, carried out reforms and innovations, and finally created "Cai Hou Paper". After reporting it to the emperor, he ordered it to be promoted.

Cai Lun's papermaking technique, one of the four great inventions of ancient China, has promoted the progress of human civilization and world culture. He is also known as the "Paper Saint" and "Paper God".

The influence of papermaking is so far-reaching that Cai Lun even ranked seventh in Michael Hart's "Top 100 People Who Influenced the Course of Human History".

In the United States' "Time" magazine, Cai Lun was also listed as one of the "best inventors of all time."

It's like I accidentally said too much. Let me stop here. Let me stop here.

As for the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, I believe everyone is more familiar with them. If I have time, I can publish a special issue. Forget it, the Four Great Inventions are too familiar, and I believe you are all tired of seeing them. 】

One after another, sheets of "Cai Hou Paper" with recorded text passed through the screen. Although these Cai Hou papers were not as white as modern papers, they were relatively thin, and the text on them was even more elegant and free-flowing.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng was listening attentively, waiting for Tianmu to tell him how the paper was made, but who knew he suddenly stopped talking?

No, you don’t have to talk about Emperor Ling of Han, just leave the papermaking technology to me!
Chunyu Yue, who was standing next to him, became excited when he heard the word papermaking.

If they knew how to make this Caihou paper, why would they need to carry heavy bamboo slips every day? How many bamboo slips could be replaced by such a thin piece of paper, and how many words could be recorded!

Their Confucian doctrines will also be spread more widely and recited by people around the world!

But why didn't Tianmu say anything? Say a few more words!
He couldn't help but fell to his knees with a thud.

Qin Mo.

Ever since they heard about papermaking, this group of people couldn't help rubbing their hands.

How can such a thin piece of paper be written with densely packed words?

What mixture is used to achieve this?
It's a pity that Tianmu only mentioned papermaking but didn't explain how to make it.

Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han also realized the importance of this papermaking technique, but he couldn't bring himself to praise the eunuch, so he just nodded reluctantly. But his eyes were fixed on the screen in the sky, waiting to talk about the "Cai Hou Paper", but it was gone? No more?

How could they know what the four great inventions of ancient China were?
It's really frustrating, please keep talking!

...

[In fact, when talking about famous eunuchs, Zheng He must be included. There is no need to mention this name, as it has been mentioned before when talking about Zhu Di.

He was from the Ming Dynasty and was a navigator and diplomat during the reign of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di. He was known as the "Sanbao Eunuch". Zheng He made seven voyages to the West, promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, opened up the Maritime Silk Road, and pushed China's ancient maritime industry to a peak of development.

Therefore, using eunuchs is not necessarily a bad thing. The key lies in whether the emperor can control it and whether he is incompetent.

A virtuous and independent-minded emperor, even if surrounded by sycophants, would not listen to their slander and allow them to control the country. 】

Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han looked at the achievements described on the sky curtain and decided to reluctantly acknowledge those eunuchs.

It would be great if we could tell them how to make the four great inventions.

If papermaking alone has such a great influence, wouldn’t the other inventions be even more powerful?
Perhaps there are weapons among them that can be used to deal with the Huns. If he could know about them in advance and equip his champion with them, wouldn't he be able to beat the Huns into a pulp?
[Okay, next, let's go back to Emperor Ling of Han. We mentioned before that Liu Hong handed all the power to the eunuchs and only cared about having fun. When it comes to enjoying himself, he can be said to be a professional.

Our Emperor Ling of Han was good at eating, drinking and having fun, but he knew nothing about governing a country.

However, Liu Hong had been staying in the palace and not paying attention to state affairs, so of course he had nothing to do. So what did he do with this "good time"?

The emperor above was obsessed with having fun, so the officials below naturally catered to his preferences.

What could be something new? An official thought hard and finally thought of donkeys! So he carefully selected four donkeys to bring into the palace.

We should all be very familiar with donkeys. It is a species of the genus Equus and originated in Africa.

However, during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, donkeys were still relatively precious. It was not until around 200 BC, after the Han Dynasty, that large numbers of donkeys and mules entered the Central Plains.

Emperor Ling of Han had lived in the palace for a long time, so how could he have seen such an animal? He was very curious about it and felt like he had found a treasure!
So he personally rode his donkey around the palace every day, which attracted high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital to imitate him. As a result, the price of donkeys among the people rose sharply and could not be stopped.

Let’s just say, probably the ones who laughed the hardest in this wave are the donkey merchants, right? 】

Qin Dynasty.

The corners of Ying Zheng's mouth twitched. Aren't the merchants the ones who laughed the hardest? Merchants pursue profits. Once there is a product that can bring them huge profits, they will definitely rush to buy it.

And this donkey, he seemed to have heard of and seen it.

It comes from the northwest, and its number is extremely rare. However, no matter how rare it is, it is really ugly, with short and thick limbs and very thin. How can it be as fast as a tall horse?
As an emperor, he had to ride on four ugly things to have fun in the palace every day. Just thinking about it made him feel itchy.

If this naughty kid was his family, he would definitely slap him. It's nothing, he just thinks he deserves a beating.

Tang Dynasty.

Wei Zheng could not help but raise his hand and yell, "Nonsense! How can a dignified emperor ride on a donkey like a country bumpkin?"

This time, the officials rarely stopped Wei Zheng, because they also felt that the scolding was good and brilliant!
...

[Although this little donkey was novel, after a while, Emperor Ling of Han naturally lost interest in it. At this time, another eunuch came up with a different idea. If a donkey wasn't enough, there were also cats and dogs. Anyway, there must be one that the emperor would like, right?

So the eunuch led the dog into the palace, and even dressed it in court robes and a ribbon. When Emperor Ling of Han saw it, he thought it was more interesting than a donkey, so he shouted in the court, "What a good dog official!"

Despite this great humiliation, all the civil and military officials in the court dared to be angry but not to speak out.

Later, Emperor Ling of Han had a new way of entertaining himself. According to the "Book of the Later Han", he once simulated a street market in the harem, and then some of the palace maids and concubines pretended to be people buying things, and some pretended to be merchants. The whole harem was like a vegetable market outside, with people quarreling and fighting, it was very lively.

However, unlike the vegetable market, the goods here are all kinds of rare treasures collected from the people. 】

Qin Dynasty.

A group of Confucian scholars gathered together. They were getting angrier and angrier. Some even jumped up and cursed, "How can a king indulge in pleasure like this? The whole palace is like a vegetable market. It's ridiculous!"

"A child cannot be taught!"

...

[Of course, the most licentious one is the following Nudist Hall. Although this is an anecdote recorded in the Eastern Jin Dynasty's strange story novel "Shi Yi Ji", it is also recorded in other historical materials, so it should be almost correct.

What is the Nuyou Pavilion? This is an inn built by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty at great expense in the West Garden. There are thousands of rooms in total, surrounded by canals and water. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty selected some beautiful palace maids to row boats naked in the inn to have fun together.

It was not enough to have only canals, how could it show the nobility of Emperor Ling of Han? So many rare plants were planted here, one of which was Yeshuhe, which was presented from the south. Because this lotus often blooms when the moon comes out, it was later called Wangshuhe.

If Goddess Wangshu knew about this, she would probably fly down and throw the emperor out, right? 】

Qin Dynasty.

Prince Fusu's face turned red with shame and he didn't know where to put his hands. How could an emperor of later generations be so licentious!

As the king of a country, how could you do such a thing?
Simply, simply...

As for the Confucian scholars outside the Xianyang Palace, they were already gasping for breath and their voices were hoarse from cursing, but when they heard about Emperor Ling of Han's ridiculous behavior, they couldn't help but jump up and curse.

Tang Dynasty.

After hearing this, Li Shimin kept shaking his head and frowning.

Wei Zheng, who was about to curse, blushed when he heard this and couldn't utter a word for a long time.

How luxurious was this "Nude Swimming Hall"? In addition to those precious plants, Liu Hong also spent a lot of "Yinchixiang" tributed from the Western Regions for the palace ladies to use for bathing.

What is Yinchixiang? It is said that this spice can be boiled in water to avoid epidemics, and its fragrance lasts for a long time.

Legend has it that even after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the river flowing out of the Han Palace still exuded a rich fragrance, which amazed the people at that time.

He built such a ridiculous post house, constructed a large canal, placed all kinds of rare treasures in it, and indulged in sensual pleasures every day.

The key is that Emperor Ling of Han was proud of what he had done! Guess what he said?
"If I could live here for ten thousand years, I would be like a god in heaven!"】

(End of this chapter)