At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

It also shocked Wei Guoshilin.

As long as the central officials know about this incident, they are all shocked and worried by it.

One counts as one, and everyone feels uneasy and worried.

Cui Yan has been in the limelight for the past two years.

As Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was in charge of the re-examination of the Ministry of Rites and the government. When local officials were recommended to the central government for candidates, it was Cui Yan who made the selection and decided which official could be an official in Luoyang.

This kind of power made Cui Yan's status in everyone's hearts rise steadily.

Compared with Cheng Yu's promotion of official positions, Cui Yan's power of yes or no is more important.

With Cui Yan's "yes", Cheng Yu will be able to perform in the future. Without Cui Yan's "yes", Cheng Yu will not pretend to be a person who is not selected.

It is the officials who want to please Cheng Yu, and those who want to please Cui Yan are those who want to be officials in the central government.

Many people are trying to curry favor with Cui Yan, and have relations with Cui Yan.

Cui Yan showed an upright and selfless appearance, refusing to accept any gifts, refusing any behavior of going through the back door, and dealt with each scholar's question and answer fairly and selflessly, deciding who would go and who would die.

This made Cui Yan widely praised and admired by everyone.

At the turn of the Han and Wei dynasties, it was the time when the top gentry in traditional Yingchuan gradually weakened, while the second- and third-rate gentry in Qingyanji and other prefectures gradually rose to status. Cui Yan, as the Minister of Rites, was one of the representative figures.

Recently, many scholars have talked in private, saying that the top noble families in the old Yingchuan, represented by Xun You and Chen Qun, have declined and were suppressed by the emperor. A huge vacuum of power and voice has emerged. Who can take the lead? machine, you can become a new top gentry.

Obviously, Cui Yan is the one everyone expects, and everyone thinks that Cui Yan will take over that position and become the new top gentry.

Then there is Tian Feng, the Tian family is not only a noble family, but also a relative of the emperor, and has an in-law relationship with the Cui family. With all kinds of blessings, it is unknown that they will become a top wealthy family no less than the Cui family.

Next came Cheng Yu. Although Cheng Yu's family came from a poor family, the Cheng family is undoubtedly a noble family now.

After ascending the throne, in order to reward Cheng Yu's contribution, Guo Peng, on behalf of the Yingchuan Guo family, granted the Cheng family the inheritance of "Little Dulu", allowing the Cheng family to pass on this classic from generation to generation.

In this way, the Cheng family got rid of their humble origins and jumped up, crossing the class gap to become a legal gentry.

Although the time is short, there are still many scholars talking about Cheng Yu's humble background, but Cheng Yu's family has undoubtedly completed the transformation from a humble family to a noble family.

For the Cheng family, Cheng Yu's status is equivalent to Sima Fang of the Sima family.

Coupled with Guo Peng's trust in Cheng Yu, if Cheng Yu's lifespan is long enough, the Cheng family may not be able to fight for the position of leader of the scholars in a few years.

The old wealthy family is in decline, and the new wealthy family is making progress. At this critical moment of the alternation between the old and the new, the Cui Qu case broke out.

Cui Yan, Tian Feng, and Cheng Yu were all implicated, and the three popular candidates for the leadership of the gentry were recruited one after another. The situation in the court suddenly became confusing and gloomy.

The fact that Cui Yan personally killed Cui Qu and pleaded guilty to the emperor greatly shocked the hearts of this group of second- and third-rate gentry who had just raised their heads.

They suddenly realized that Cui Yan had fallen.

They are not as powerful as imagined.

They were far from reaching the power of the top gentry such as Yingchuan and Runan in the Central Eastern Han Dynasty.

And the power of the emperor who eradicated these top gentry giants far exceeded their imagination.

Under the thunderous wrath of the emperor, Cui Yan, the No. [-] seed player, the leader of the gentry, knelt down without any resistance.

After beating Cui Qu to death, Cui Yan knelt down and begged for mercy.

He fell.

The shock caused by this news has not subsided, or at the beginning, there was another news from the Ministry of Officials that Cheng Yu asked the emperor to severely punish the officials of the Ministry of Officials.

The officials of the seven officials were unlucky.

They either surrendered themselves, or were found to have abnormal contacts with Cui Qu. Cheng Yu personally investigated and reported them, expressing his attitude of never condoning adultery.

The three divisions conducted a joint trial quickly, adhering to the emperor's will, and severely punished the seven officials.

Because these seven people were guilty of dereliction of duty and abuse of power, they were dismissed from their posts, their homes were ransacked, and their heads were beheaded. All property and illegal gains were returned to the public.

And he was forced to move his household registration to Liangzhou, and he will never be allowed to return to his ancestral home.

Obviously, Cheng Yu didn't want to resist at all, so he also knelt down.

Guo Peng pulled him across the class gap with his own hands, so it is obvious that as long as Guo Peng is willing, he can fall back to the humble family at any time.

Cheng Yu was terrified, so he voluntarily surrendered without a doubt, surrendered unconditionally, and cleaned out the officials.

Seven of his subordinates were sacrificed by him in exchange for the safety of himself and his family.

Next is Tian Feng.

Cui Qu himself is an official of the Ministry of Industry and works in the Ministry of Industry, so Tian Feng has an unshirkable responsibility for this matter. After the incident, Tian Feng took the initiative to cooperate with Cheng Yu and the third division to investigate, and investigated and punished the Ministry of Industry and Cui Qu. He has five officials who have improper sympathy.

Hand over everything, and never condone raising rape.

Well, Tian Feng also knelt down.

The top-seeded contestants of the three gentry leaders knelt together and sang conquest in front of the emperor.

They were defeated and conquered.

In addition to the seven people from the Ministry of Officials and the five people from the Ministry of Industry, several other departments also exploded. The top leaders knelt down and sang "Conquer" one after another, and handed over ten people related to Cui Qu.

The group of people related to Cui Qu, who either helped him get along with others or gave him money for convenience, totaled 22 people.

All beheaded, family property confiscated, household registration seized, and the whole family deposed as ordinary people.

22 households.

More than 300 mouths.

Except for the beheading of 22 male masters who were officials, none of the rest of the family escaped.

Guo Peng did not implicate their whole family, but their own family cannot escape.

Among them are Jizhou people, Yanzhou people, and Qingzhou people.

Without exception, they were all deprived of their original household registration.

Then Guo Peng ordered them to be moved away from their place of origin.

Either to Jincheng County in Liangzhou, or to Yanmen County in Bingzhou, or Liaodong County in Pingzhou, and became a common family without any power and capital.

Tuntian will be their eternal career.

There is one more important one -

These 22 households will be recorded, and they will not return if they are pardoned, and the three generations of descendants will not be allowed to leave their new hometowns, return to the Central Plains, or become officials.

Such cruel punishment made officials shudder.

Guo Peng didn't kill many people. For such a big event, he only killed 22 people, but for the remaining people alive, it was more terrifying than being killed.

Born in a scholar's family, but lost his status as a scholar and became a common man, and three generations of descendants could not return to the Central Plains and be an official, which meant that the three generations had no hope. In this colorful world.

They are useless.

These 22 families are either branches of the family, or the main line of the family. If the emperor does not make a move, it will be so fierce.

Not killing them all, but it has a more terrifying effect than killing them all.

This is more terrifying than forcing Cui Yan to sacrifice the family law directly and kill Cui Qu.

Driving these 22 households directly to the bitter cold frontier to farm the fields is simply another kind of death sentence.

This is not over yet.

The facts of Cui Qu's violations of laws and regulations concluded by the joint trial of the three divisions were also sent to the emperor.

How Cui Qu used Cui Yan's prestige and power to gain connections with the Ministry of Officials, and then provide convenience for others, the channels and methods of this were all interrogated.

It is said that the emperor was very angry about this.

The emperor believed that Wei State had only been established for two years, and such problems had already appeared in terms of officials, which showed that the problem of official governance was serious, and he was determined to strictly rectify this problem.

This made many officials feel the crisis.

They went around asking whether such a situation was possible, and whether they themselves were safe.

Anxiety and panic swept the entire Shangshutai, and also spread to Yushitai and the cabinet.

One of the hidden core contradictions before and after the establishment of the Wei Empire seems to have erupted at this time.

The scope of this core contradiction is really wide.

So once exposed, it exploded immediately.

The big case that shocked the government and the public that happened at the beginning of the third year of Yande was called the Cui Qu case.

Chapter 918 They shouldn't be educated

Cui Qu's incident dealt a great blow to the bureaucratic system of the entire Guowei Empire.

The unspoken rules that the previous dynasty had always followed were suddenly struck down by the emperor after the new dynasty had been running silently for more than two years.

In fact, in the final analysis, this was a common practice in the Eastern Han Empire, and it is what everyone has been doing all the time.

But this matter is not simple.

It is not a simple struggle for power and profit, nor a simple struggle between imperial power and officials.

This is also a rehearsal for Guo to launch large-scale reforms.

Cultivating disciples and recruiting old officials is the method of top gentry building a network of relationships, and it is the normal operation of the top gentry of four generations and three lords such as the Yuan family in Runan and the Hongnong Yang family to achieve great achievements.

Disciples and old officials are the foundation of the top gentry. Without disciples and old officials, there would be no top gentry.

Not to mention disciples, these big families rely on the power of the Sangong in the central government, and use the power of the governor of the county governor in the local area to recruit old officials and build their own political power.

This itself is something that is allowed under the rule of dual monarchs, and it is the default fact after the decline of imperial power in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

But obviously, in the current Guo Wei Empire, this is not allowed.

The centralization system was re-established and greatly strengthened, and it was restored to the point where it was not even when the Eastern Han Dynasty was first established, almost approaching the late Western Han Dynasty.

Relying on strong military force, personal prestige, and powerful political tactics, the Guowei Empire established by Guo Peng suppressed the power of bureaucrats to recruit old officials.

Falsely set up three princes, remove heavy generals from the right to open the government, limit the power of governors and prefects to call up, direct the inspection system to the central government, connect it to the official department through the Ministry of Rites, and finally point to the emperor himself.

This series of operations has greatly weakened the strength of the anti-centralization forces.

It can be said that the prevailing trend of localism after the Eastern Han Dynasty was suddenly interrupted after the establishment of the Guowei Empire, and there was a tendency to flow back to the Western Han Dynasty.

At the local level, such as the military level, it even goes back to the Qin Empire.

This is the situation created by Guo Peng.

Obviously, Guo Peng had already understood the real reason for the separatism of the warlords in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

As a result, strong restrictions were imposed on various local officials' calling powers, which severely suppressed the momentum of local protectionism and separatism, and once again established the prestige of centralization.

This point was gradually realized by scholars after the establishment of the system.

Scholars themselves know the unspoken rules of politics, but they will never publicize them to the outside world, let alone record them in history books.

Even if it is recorded, it must be covered with benevolence and righteousness to cover it up.

The war did destroy the power of powerful gentry in many places, and a large number of powerful tyrants entrenched in the localities died, which brought local protectionism and separatism into a low ebb.

Guo Peng seized this low tide, changed the rules of local people being local officials, and directly brought the appointment and dismissal of important local positions in counties and counties to the central government, which strengthened centralization and suppressed local protectionism and separatism.

Whether it is the governor of the state, the prefect of the county, or the magistrate of the county, the important officials around him are all appointed by the central government together, not by the local chief officials, and it is not necessary to appoint local people.

Appointment and dismissal are mainly judged by the central government, and local officials are not allowed to decide on their own.

The rules since the Eastern Han Dynasty were strongly broken by Guo Peng.

In this regard, scholars and officials have nothing to do.

The emperor is powerful and has great prestige. They can only hold their noses to recognize it. At most, they will make small moves in private. There are policies and countermeasures. They dare not confront them blatantly.

However, Guo Peng's actions obviously go beyond this step, and he has more measures.

The two main ways to become an official in the Eastern Han Dynasty were Taixue and Xiaolian. Through Taixue, one can become an official, and promoting Xiaolian and Maocai is also a way.

However, those who become officials through Taixue are generally the children of honorable officials, and scholars consider Xiaolian to be the right way.

Guo Peng is also similar here, and he is also an official selected by Taixue and Xiaolian.