With Li Qingzhao and Qin Hui
Qi Chongli, courtesy name Shuhou, was born in Gaomi in 1083, the sixth year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Qi Chongli came from a scholarly family. Although his father and ancestors had never been high officials, they were all Ming Jing and Jinshi. Qi Chongli was extremely intelligent when he was young and could write well. Legend has it that when he was 10 years old, he could write epitaphs for his neighbors that most people would not dare to write. Even his father was very surprised when he saw the article he wrote. He thought that Qi Chongli would have great achievements and achievements in the future. He sighed privately: : "Perhaps the reward for the virtues and good deeds of my ancestors should be in this child."
At the age of 16, Qi Chongli left his hometown and went to Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty - then called Bianjing, and entered the imperial court to establish The highest institution of learning - Taixue. Although he had outstanding talents, he repeatedly failed in the scientific examinations and struggled in the examination room for many years. It was not until 1118, when he was 35 years old, that he passed the Jinshi examination and became an official. After Qi Chongli passed the Jinshi examination, he was first awarded the official position of county magistrate Bo of Zi County (now Zibo City, Shandong Province) by the imperial court. Soon he was transferred back to Kyoto and was successively awarded the title of Xuezheng of Taixue, Doctor of Taixue, Xuanjiaolang, and Secretary. Official positions such as provincial Zhengzi and Yuanwailang of the Ministry of Industry. In 1126, the Jin soldiers invaded the south on a large scale and captured Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The "Jingkang Incident" occurred. Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were taken captive by the Jin soldiers to the northern part of the Jin Kingdom, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. When Kaifeng was captured, Qi Chongli fled Bianjing with the anti-gold troops.
In May 1127, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne. After learning about it, Qi Chongli defected to him. He was awarded the official position of "Lilang" and "Gongzhong" by the court, and became a close official drafting edicts for the emperor. In 1129, the Southern Song Dynasty was forced to cross the Yangtze River and move south due to the attack and plunder of the Jin soldiers. It was almost destroyed, and finally settled in the south of the Yangtze River and established its capital in Lin'an (today's Hangzhou City). At that time, the Jin army's offensive was in full swing and the war situation was tense. In order to recruit various anti-Jin troops to fight against the Jin army's southern invasion, the emperor needed to issue many imperial edicts, and most of these imperial edicts were written by Qi Chongli. Soon after, he was promoted by Song Gaozong to the minister in charge of drafting imperial edicts for the emperor - Zhongshu Sheren, and became a third-rank minister beside the emperor.
Because of Qi Chongli's outstanding talent, the imperial edict he drafted for Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty was not only in line with the emperor's wishes, but also had extraordinary words and righteous words, which greatly inspired the fighting spirit of the army and people across the country to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and was unanimously praised by both the government and the public. . In 1130, Qi Chongli became the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and concurrently served as a direct academician of the Academy. Soon, he also served as the magistrate of Zhangzhou (today's Zhangpu County, Fujian Province) as a direct academician of Huiyou Pavilion. Because according to the regulations of the Song Dynasty, local chief executives must concurrently serve as court officials. At that time, the folk customs in Zhangzhou were strong. In addition, years of wars, banditry, and unstable public sentiment spread to neighboring counties and were known to be difficult to govern. After Qi Chongli took office, he suppressed bandits and pacified the people, built troops to prepare for war, provided disaster relief and helped the weak, and developed production. He soon managed Zhangzhou in an orderly manner, with bandits disappearing, politics clear and clear, and the people living and working in peace and contentment. Soon, he was transferred to the magistrate of Mingzhou (now Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province).
In February 1132, Qi Chongli was transferred back to Kyoto by the imperial court to serve as the Minister of Rites. In July, he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Official Affairs and also directed the Academy of Academic Affairs. Since when the imperial court moved south, almost all the official documents and books were destroyed by the war, and the various rules and regulations for the imperial court's operation were urgently needed to be established and restored. Qi Chongli presided over this important task, and it took a short time to provide services to all the imperial ministries. A complete set of rules and regulations was formulated with relevant government agencies. After Qi Chongli completed the task of reconstructing various laws and regulations for the imperial court, he was transferred to the position of Minister of War. While serving as the Minister of War, he wrote to Emperor Gaozong many times, stating his analysis of the situation against the Jin Dynasty and proposing strategies to resist the Jin army's southern invasion, which was valued and recognized by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty.
In September 1134, Emperor Gaozong personally approved the appointment of Qi Chongli as a Hanlin bachelor. Since the Song Dynasty's migration to the south, Qi Chongli was the first person to appoint the emperor's personal ministers with the emperor's personal approval. This has been the practice since then. This shows how much Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty relied on Qi Chongli.
Shortly thereafter, Qi Chongli became an official and served as a scholar, and also edited the history library. During this period, he presided over the compilation of the records of the two emperors Shenzong and Zhezong. Later, he served as the prefect of Shaoxing (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province).
While concurrently serving as the prefect of Shaoxing, he foresaw that the Shaoxing area in eastern Zhejiang was located behind Kyoto, straddling the Yangtze River and the sea. Once a war broke out, it would become the imperial court's rear base. Therefore, it was necessary to strengthen war preparations. His far-sighted insights were praised by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty. Support and approval. Afterwards, he immediately began to organize manpower to repair the city, sharpen soldiers and armor, and prepare money and silk to prepare for war. At the same time, boats and ships were also arranged to guard the sea lanes to prevent Jin soldiers from sneak attacks from the sea. Sure enough, in the winter of 1134 and 1137, the Jin soldiers invaded the south twice, and Song Gaozong was forced to evacuate to the Shaoxing area. Since this area was prepared for war in advance under the supervision of Qi Chongli, the Jin soldiers were unable to invade, which not only kept the court safe and sound, but also protected the people in this area from the fire of war.
After he was appointed as a Hanlin scholar in 1134, Qi Chongli drafted hundreds of imperial edicts for the emperor in the five years. History records that the edicts he wrote on behalf of the emperor were “natural in character. , Understanding and understanding, even though the warrior is far away, he clearly understands the purpose. "When drafting the edict, it is simple and clear, not selfish, not resentful, and has a profound style."
In 1137, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty re-appointed Qin Hui, who advocated surrender and peace negotiations with the Jin Dynasty, as a court minister. The next year, he promoted him to prime minister, in charge of negotiating peace with the Jin Dynasty. The anti-Jin Dynasty generals and ministers in the imperial court were ostracized by Qin Hui. Seeing that the state affairs were out of control, Qi Chongli submitted his resignation to Song Gaozong in February 1139.
After resigning, Qi Chongli moved to Taizhou (now Linhai City, Zhejiang Province) to live. After Qi Chongli retired to Taizhou, he compiled the poems and memorials he had written throughout his life into the 60-volume "Beihai Collection". What people today regret is that the book "Beihai Collection" has long been lost and only exists in "History of the Song Dynasty". Most of Qi Chongli's poems seen by later generations were compiled into "Yongle Dadian" in the Ming Dynasty and preserved.
In 1142, Qi Chongli died of illness in Taizhou at the age of 59. After his death, the imperial court gave him the title of official Zuo Chaoyi.
Qi Chongli was a famous figure in the Song Dynasty. There is a biography in "History of the Song Dynasty". The biography commented that he was "not arrogant, able to tolerate others, honest and thrifty, upright and upright, and not afraid of force." It is said that he "in addition to concentrating on speeches, he also has a good understanding of music. He often sings generously and talks lively when he is energetic. He is worthy of being a hero of the moment."
Qi Chongli, Li Qingzhao and Qin Hui
p>Speaking of Qi Chongli, we have to mention Li Qingzhao and Qin Hui. The reason why Qi Chongli is often mentioned and attracted attention by later generations is not only the fact that he was a Hanlin scholar in the Song Dynasty, but also, in a sense, he was related to the famous female poet Li Qingzhao and the traitor Qin Hui. Some grudges and entanglements have made him famous for a while and spread to later generations.
Li Qingzhao was born in 1084 in an official family in Licheng, Jinan. Her father, Li Gefei, was one of the famous literary figures in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was known to Su Dongpo for his articles. He was one of the "Last Four Scholars" of the Su family. He was an official and was a member of the Ministry of Rites. He had a book "Luoyang Famous Gardens" handed down to the world. Her mother was the eldest daughter of the prime minister. She came from a wealthy family and was also a lady who was proficient in literature and calligraphy. Due to the influence of her family, Li Qingzhao was famous for her poems when she was young. She was extremely talented and became a talented woman famous in the literary world.
When Li Qingzhao was 18 years old, he married Zhao Mingcheng, a student of the Imperial College. Zhao Mingcheng was from Mizhou (now Zhucheng City, Shandong Province) and was related to Qi Chongli. He was Qi Chongli's cousin. In this way, although Qi Chongli was one year older than Li Qingzhao, he called Li Qingzhao his cousin-in-law according to their relative relationship. Zhao Mingcheng also came from a family of officials. His father, Zhao Tingzhi, was a Jinshi and held an important position in the court. He served as prime minister twice. Zhao Mingcheng was the third son of Zhao Tingzhi. He had a literary name when he was young. He especially liked to collect books, calligraphy and paintings, inscriptions, stone inscriptions, and bronze inscriptions from previous generations. He was a well-known epigrapher in the world. After Zhao Mingcheng completed his studies at Imperial College, he was awarded the official position of Honglu Shaoqing by the imperial court. In 1107, Zhao Mingcheng's father, Zhao Tingzhi, died of illness. Zhao Tingzhi had fought for power with the powerful traitor Cai Jing during his lifetime, and was framed by Cai Jing after his death. His relatives were also implicated, and Zhao Mingcheng's official position was taken away. After Zhao Mingcheng was deprived of his official position, he brought Li Qingzhao back to Pingju, his former residence in Qingzhou, in 1108. They began a happy life of the couple working together to study knowledge, and they lived here for 13 years.
During this period, Li Qingzhao helped Zhao Mingcheng collect epigraphy, inscriptions, calligraphy and paintings from the three dynasties and the Sui and Tang dynasties, sorted, collated and titled them, and compiled the famous epigraphy book "Epigraphy and Stone Records"; at the same time, he was obsessed with the creation of poetry and wrote A large number of popular lyrics became a vigorous and mature period of her poetry creation in her life.
In 1121, the imperial court re-appointed Zhao Mingcheng and granted him the official position of magistrate of Laizhou (now Laizhou City, Shandong Province). Soon, he was transferred to the magistrate of Zianzhou (now Zibo City, Shandong Province). In 1126, Li Qingzhao's fate reversed. In this year, the Jin soldiers captured Bianjing (now Kaifeng), the capital of the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty was in chaos. At this time of national crisis, Zhao Mingcheng's mother died of illness in Jiankang (now Nanjing City). Zhao Mingcheng had no choice but to go to Jiankang first to attend his mother's funeral, leaving Li Qingzhao to load fifteen carts of the inscriptions, calligraphy and paintings he had collected over the past ten years, and then fled south to escape the chaos. Due to the rush of time and the inconvenience of moving, the books and cultural relics left behind when he left still filled more than 10 rooms. As soon as Li Qingzhao left, a mutiny broke out in Qingzhou. The house of Li Qingzhao's former residence, together with the books and cultural relics, were burned down by the rebels. Decades of hard work were ruined, which made Li Qingzhao extremely sad. In 1127, Zhao Mingcheng was appointed the magistrate of Jiangning (now Nanjing City), and in 1129, he was appointed the magistrate of Huzhou (now Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province). Unexpectedly, he suddenly fell seriously ill and died before taking office. Li Qingzhao lost his only relative, was devastated, and became seriously ill. She never gave birth to any children in her life. From then on, she lived alone in the south of the Yangtze River, living a bleak life of being helpless and dependent on others until she died of illness in 1155.
Qin Hui, born in 1090, was from Jiangning (now Nanjing City). According to historical records, Qin Hui and Li Qingzhao are related. Qin Hui's wife Wang is the daughter of Li Qingzhao's uncle, which means that Li Qingzhao and Wang are cousins. However, Li Qingzhao despised Qin Hui and Wang's behavior. Although they were relatives, they never Coming and going.
According to "History of the Song Dynasty" and relevant historical records, Qin Hui passed the Jinshi examination in 1115. Although Qin Hui did not win the first prize, he was erudite and talented, especially in calligraphy. He summed up the strengths of his predecessors and created a new font, which is the "Song style" that we still use widely today. According to general custom, this font should be called "Qin Ti" after the founder's surname. However, because people disliked his moral character, the "Qin Ti" he created was renamed "Song Ti". After Qin Hui passed the Jinshi examination, he was first appointed as an official in Mizhou (now Zhucheng City, Shandong Province), and then transferred him back to the imperial court to serve. During the "Jingkang Incident" in 1126, he and his wife Wang were captured by the Jin soldiers, and were later taken captive to the Jin capital together with the emperors Tong Hui and Qin. While in captivity, he sought refuge with his gold masters and became a close confidant of the Jin's important ministers and military general Ta Lan.
In 1130, Talan released Qin Hui and his wife when he led his troops to invade the south. After Qin Hui returned to the court of the Southern Song Dynasty, he deceived the court by saying that he had killed the Jin soldiers who were monitoring his husband and wife and seized the ship to escape, thus deceiving Song Gaozong's trust. In February 1131, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty granted Qin Hui the important position of participating in political affairs, and he became an official in the same court as Qi Chongli. When Qin Huifu took office, he strongly advocated the surrender of Jin Yihe and boasted: "If I were made prime minister, I would be able to do great things that would shock the world in just a few days." In August of the same year, Qin Hui was awarded the title of prime minister by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty. job. After Qin Hui came to power, he put forward the idea of ????surrendering and treason, "Southerners should return to the south, and northerners should return to the north." That is to say, the land and people of the Yellow River and the Central Plains should return to the Jin Kingdom, and the land and people south of the Huaihe River should return to the Southern Song Dynasty. Qin Hui's proposal of surrender was strongly opposed by both inside and outside the court, especially by the anti-Jin generals. Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty was intimidated by the unanimous call and general trend from all over the country to resist the Jin and regain the lost territory. In addition, the emperor's throne was not stable, so he not only did not dare to adopt Qin Hui's idea rashly. He advocated surrender, and with unanimous appeals from both inside and outside the court, he instructed Qi Chongli to draft an edict announcing the removal of Qin Hui from the post of prime minister.
In 1137, with the resistance of various anti-Jin troops, the Jin soldiers' southern invasion momentum was curbed, and the anti-Jin situation began to change in favor of the Song army. At the same time, the Southern Song Dynasty court had a stable foothold in Jiangnan. Under this situation, Song Gaozong To keep his throne, he began to implement the surrender proposal of settling Jiangnan and negotiating peace with Jin. In order to implement this surrender proposal, he re-appointed Qin Hui in February and granted him the post of privy envoy in charge of military affairs. In the first month of 1138, he was promoted to the post. He served as the prime minister in charge of the government. After Qin Hui assumed an important position, he tried his best to cater to Gaozong's wishes and deliberately attacked, excluded, and framed anti-Jin generals and courtiers. Qi Chongli saw that Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty was mediocre and treacherous, and was unwilling to join in the corruption. He submitted his resignation to Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, left the court in February 1139, and retreated to Taizhou.
After Qin Hui became prime minister again, he catered to Song Gaozong's proposal for peace and surrender. He won Gaozong's favor and was promoted to several positions and titles. When Qin Hui was in power, he blindly surrendered and betrayed his country, monopolized the government, eliminated dissidents, and harmed loyal people until his death in 1155.
Enmity and grudges
Rescuing Li Qingzhao
In June 1129, after Zhao Mingcheng died of illness in Jiankang, Li Qingzhao, whose family was broken up and without any relatives, had to seek refuge with his younger brother. . At this time, the Jin soldiers invaded the south on a large scale. The newly established small court of the Southern Song Dynasty retreated south step by step under the pursuit of the Jin soldiers. Li Qingzhao followed the fleeing refugees along the court's retreat route, passing through Yuezhou, Taizhou, to Yanzhou, Wenzhou, and then Going to Quzhou, and finally arriving in Hangzhou, I wandered all the way, moving around, not only to escape for my life, but also to take care of some books and cultural relics that had been preserved after many disasters. Several years of refugee life left Li Qingzhao physically and mentally exhausted and seriously ill. Just when Li Qingzhao was helpless and overwhelmed with desire, a man broke into Li Qingzhao's life. This man's name was Zhang Ruzhou. There are not many historical records about Zhang Ruzhou, and there are no details about his place of origin and how he got to know Li Qingzhao. It is only recorded that he was working in the Audit Department of the Central Supervisory Committee of the DPRK at that time, and he was suave and eloquent. After Zhang Ruzhou got acquainted with Li Qingzhao, he often visited her, asking for her welfare and caring. This made Li Qingzhao, who was helpless and ill, feel warmer, and soon agreed to Zhang Ruzhou's proposal. In 1132, Li Qingzhao was 49 years old.
The reason why Zhang Ruzhou wanted to marry Li Qingzhao, who was over fifty years old and old, was because he was covetous about Li Qingzhao’s reputation as the most talented woman in the world at that time, and secondly, he wanted to acquire the priceless books she collected. Picture artifacts. Li Qingzhao felt deceived and decided to divorce Zhang Ruzhou. Although Li Qingzhao was sick and frail at this time, she had never been a weak woman who was submissive and swallowed her anger. Instead, she was a courageous and knowledgeable woman who dared to love and hate.
At that time, men were superior to women, and it was not easy for a woman to take the initiative to divorce her husband. She took advantage of Zhang Ruzhou's charges of deceiving the court to obtain an official position by defrauding him. She accused Zhang Ruzhou of cheating the emperor on the grounds that he had "increased his number of qualifications and entered the official position" and asked for a divorce.
According to the criminal laws of the Song Dynasty at that time, if the husband was found guilty and exiled to a remote place, the wife could legally divorce him and keep her property. Li Qingzhao was born in a family of officials with Shili Hairpin. He was familiar with the laws and regulations. He knew that the imperial court had always attached great importance to cases of fraud in the examination room. Once someone reported to the official, the emperor would personally intervene. After Zhang Ruzhou was found guilty of the crime of "increasing the number of people to become an official", the emperor ordered him to be deprived of his official position and exiled to Liuzhou, Guangxi.
There was a bad law in the Song Dynasty: if a wife filed a lawsuit against her husband, even if the facts were conclusive and the crime was found guilty, while the husband was punished, the wife must also serve two years in prison. In order to end this unbearable marriage as soon as possible and break up with this shameless villain, Li Qingzhao never looked back.
When Li Qingzhao was in jail, Qi Chongli extended a helping hand to Li Qingzhao. At that time, Qi Chongli was trusted and relied upon by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty. Qi Chongli truthfully reported to Emperor Gaozong the story of Li Qingzhao's wandering around for several years, following the emperor Luan Jia, and being deceived into marriage by Zhang Ruzhou, and asked the emperor to show mercy. Song Gaozong agreed to Qi Chongli's request, and Li Qingzhao was released home after only nine days in the cell.
After Li Qingzhao was released from prison, he wrote a letter to Qi Chongli to express his gratitude. This is the famous "Qi Chongli Qi". In this letter, Li Qingzhao not only expressed gratitude to Qi Chongli for rescuing her from prison. He expressed his sincere gratitude and elaborated on how he was deceived into marriage, expressing his sincere feelings that he would rather live in ruins than live in ruins.
Enmity with Qin Hui
In February 1131, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty first granted Qin Hui the position of participating in political affairs, and in August, he became the prime minister. After Qin Hui became prime minister, he proposed and implemented a series of treasonous proposals for surrender and peace, which were strongly opposed by both the government and the public, especially the courtiers who advocated resistance to the Jin Dynasty. Under pressure from both the government and the public at that time to resist the Jin Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty had to reluctantly remove Qin Hui from the post of prime minister and asked Qi Chongli to draft an edict to inform the world. As a close minister, Qi Chongli naturally knew the emperor's thoughts and Qin Hui's character. In order to prevent future troubles, he asked the emperor to write down the decree to remove Qin Hui first, and then he drafted an imperial edict according to the holy will. Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty took a pen and paper and wrote down several articles of removal. Qin Hui's decree was handed over to Qi Chongli. According to the emperor's decree, Qi Chongli drafted an edict to remove Qin Hui from his position and collected the emperor's "imperial pen". When Qin Hui found out about this, he hated Qi Chongli.
Qin Hui, who had lost power for a while, buried his hatred in his heart and could not bear to express it, but he was always paying attention to the changes in the situation, waiting for opportunities to make a comeback. In March 1138, Qin Hui was appointed again, with exclusive power to negotiate peace with Jin. Qi Chongli knew that the great cause of resisting the Jin Dynasty was hopeless and that the country could not do anything. In order to avoid being framed by traitors, he submitted his resignation to the emperor in February 1139 and retreated to Taizhou.
As expected by Qi Chongli, after Qin Hui returned to power, he immediately killed the ministers in the DPRK who advocated resistance to the Jin Dynasty, especially the military generals who resisted the Jin Dynasty. In April 1141, he secretly reported to Emperor Gaozong and urgently ordered a group of military generals such as Yue Fei, Zhang Jun, and Han Shizhong who were commanding the resistance against the Jin Dynasty on the front line to return to the court. He relieved their military power by ascending and descending secretly. He also organized prison speeches, fabricated charges, and executed Yue Fei and his son, Zhang Xian and other anti-golden generals on "unfounded" charges, thus clearing the way for him to implement his ideas of surrender and treason. After Qin Hui killed and purged the military generals in the court who insisted on resisting the Jin Dynasty, he immediately turned his attention to the courtiers who had opposed him or were unfavorable to him. After getting rid of a group of anti-Jin military generals such as Yue Fei, whom he wanted to kill, his first target of revenge was Qi Chongli, who had drafted the edict for the emperor to dismiss him.
In March 1142, just one month after he killed Yue Fei and his son, he sent his confidants to Taizhou to find Qi Chongli and ask for the "imperial pen" that Song Gaozong gave to Qi Chongli to depose him. Qi Chongli happened to die of illness, and his family I am in mourning and cannot ask for help. Qi Chongli's family knew that Qin Hui would not let him go, so they behaved carefully.
Qin Hui knew very well that the decree written by the emperor and handed over to Qi Chongli for him to draft and remove him from the position was ironclad evidence of his treason and surrender. This "evidence" became one of his crimes. He had a big heart, and during the more than ten years when he had monopolized the government and was extremely powerful, he tried his best to find and destroy this evidence of crime. In 1155, when he was seriously ill and dying, he finally found some clues. Someone reported that this "imperial pen" was hidden in the Xie family of Qi Chongli's son-in-law. After hearing the news, he wrote a memorial to Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, asking Song Emperor Gaozong to hand back the imperial brush collected by Qi Chongli. Before the memorial was sent, he changed his mind and simply falsely conveyed the imperial edict and sent people to search Xie's house in Taizhou. "Yu Bi"; on the one hand, he appointed his confidant as the magistrate of Taizhou, arrested the Xie family, and traced the whereabouts of "Yu Bi". However, before Qin Hui's minions who arrested and imprisoned Xie's family could escort the Xie family to the government office, news came that Qin Hui had died of illness. When the master died, his minions were panicked. Not only did they go to Xie's house to search for the "Yubi" minions, but Qin Hui's confidants who arrested the Xie family also took advantage of the situation and sent the Xie family home very respectfully. In this way, Qin Hui betrayed his country and surrendered. The evidence of the crime was preserved and passed down to future generations.