In the long history of five thousand years, there have been changes in rise and fall, ups and downs, vicissitudes of life, the passage of time, the passage of time, and new explanations of world affairs.
Flowers bloom and fall year after year, pages of history are turned over, drops of water penetrate rocks, and songs are made after long and mighty songs.
In the vast history, we have seen that the decline of each dynasty, even though it is different, has the same reason, which is the tyranny, corruption and treacherous officials of the dynasty itself. Every time the country is in crisis, it is inseparable from the treacherous officials who wield power and bring disaster to the country and the people.
The way of heaven is always there, watching quietly. If God does evil, it can still be forgiven; if you do evil on your own, you will not live. Today, we take a look at the fate of several famous traitors in Chinese history.
1. Zhao Gao of Qin State
The idiom "referring to a deer as a horse" refers to this person.
Zhao Gao, one of the famous eunuchs in history, was proficient in prison law. He was reused by Qin Shihuang and became the teacher of Hu Hai, the second son of Qin Shihuang.
Zhao Gao was good at observing words and emotions. When Qin Shihuang died on the way out in 210 BC, Zhao Gao launched the Sand Dune Coup, conspired with Prime Minister Li Si to forge edicts, forced Qin Shihuang's eldest son Fusu to commit suicide, and established Hu Haiwei as emperor, the Qin Dynasty. In the second generation, Zhao Gao was appointed as Lang Zhongling.
Relying on the favor of Qin II, Zhao Gao monopolized power and formed cliques for personal gain, pushing the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty to its peak. In 208 AD, he designed to kill Prime Minister Li Si, and he succeeded him as Prime Minister.
Conquered Qin II, and later forced Qin II to commit suicide. He even wanted to be the emperor himself and established Ziying as Qin. Ziying didn't want to make the same mistake as Qin II, so he planned to kill Zhao Gao. On the day of conferring the royal seal, Zhao Gao had no choice but to go and invite him in person. As soon as Zhao Gao arrived, he was hacked to death. Ziying immediately summoned the ministers to list Zhao Gao's sins and punish his three clans.
2. Lai Junchen of the Tang Dynasty
The famous cruel official during Wu Zetian's reign once harmed Di Renjie. The idiom "Please enter the urn" came from him.
Lai Junchen started his career as a whistleblower, organized hundreds of rogues to specialize in whistleblowers, and gained the trust of Empress Wu Zetian. He successively served as Shi Yushi, Zuotai Yushi Zhongcheng, and Si Pu Shaoqing. He established a large-scale prison and was famous for being good at making various cruel instruments of torture. He used various means such as forced confessions, fabricated charges at will, and killed many ministers, clan members and their families.
Lai Junchen was corrupt and perverted the law, was arrogant, formed many cliques, and was so complacent that he even tried to frame Wu Zetian’s closest confidants, including the kings of the Wu family, Princess Taiping, Zhang Yizhi, etc. Prime Minister Di Renjie was also imprisoned. Fortunately, Di Renjie was clever and clever. He confessed to everything Junchen said and avoided being tortured. He was able to save his life. When he saw Wu Zetian, he retracted all his confessions. Wu Zetian asked him why he was like this, and Di Renjie said that if he didn't admit it, he would die under torture. He might as well save his life first and then worry about it.
Later, Princess Taiping and others exposed Lai Junchen’s crimes. Wu Zetian finally trusted her daughter and ordered Lai Junchen to be executed.
3. Li Linfu of the Tang Dynasty
The idiom "a man with honey in his mouth and a sword in his belly" refers to this person.
Li Linfu, whose ancestral home is in Longxi, was the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and the cousin of Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Proficient in music. Born in the Tang Dynasty clan, he succeeded Zhang Jiuling in 736 and was promoted to Zhongshu Ling. Later, he was granted the title of Duke of Jin, and also served as Minister Zuopushe. He served as prime minister for nineteen years.
Li Linfu was treacherous and evil, and rejected talented people. He was considered one of the key figures in the decline of the Tang Dynasty. Keep close ties with eunuchs and concubines, and exclude dissidents. He always looks amiable on the outside, always says nice things, and shows friendship to others on the surface, but secretly frames and harms others. He is known as "honey in the mouth and sword in the belly." He practiced corruption for personal gain, collected bribes, lived a luxurious life, held great power, and kept his own opinions. He also suggested re-employing Hu generals, which made Anlushan bigger and finally evolved into the famous "Anshi Rebellion" in history.
Evil people will be punished by evil people.
Yang Guozhong conspired with An Lushan to falsely accuse Li Linfu of colluding with the generals to rebel. An Lushan sent a surrendered general to the court to testify. Li Linfu's son-in-law Yang Qixuan was worried that he would be implicated, so he agreed with Yang Guozhong and confirmed Li Linfu's rebellion.
Li Linfu was stripped of his official title and confiscated his family property. His disciples were exiled to Lingnan, where they died and their family was destroyed.
4. Cai Jing of the Northern Song Dynasty
Cai Jing, the powerful prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, was a Jinshi at the age of 24 and his calligraphy was very good.
Cai Jing is cunning, treacherous, and flattering.
He is a veteran in officialdom and is very greedy, speculating between the reformists and the conservatives. During the Zhezong period of Song Dynasty, Cai Jing was impeached and excluded from the central government. There were also ups and downs several times.
After Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty succeeded to the throne, Cai Jing was worshiped as the right prime minister. The next year, he was worshiped as the left prime minister.
After taking power, Cai Jing immediately set out to retaliate. They took bribes and perverted the law, framed loyalists, attacked dissidents, and brutally persecuted the reformists. Under his autocratic power, evil and evil prevailed in the court, and the government became increasingly corrupt.
Those who do too much injustice will surely die.
In the first year of Jingkang, the Jin army went south and approached Kaifeng. Song Huizong ascended the throne and the border was in a hurry. Cai Jing and his family went south to escape the war. Along the way, people refused to sell him food, and officials along the way expelled him and prevented him from walking on the main road. When he arrived in Tanzhou, he had nowhere to rest and had to live in a temple in the south of the city. He died of depression and his descendants were exiled.
5. Qin Hui in the Southern Song Dynasty
A famous traitor in the Southern Song Dynasty, he advocated peace negotiations between the Song and Jin Dynasties. Because he killed Yue Fei on an unfounded charge, he will remain infamy throughout the ages. It was turned into a kneeling statue made of white iron and cast aside by future generations. His descendants said, "I feel ashamed to be named Qin when I go to the grave."
Qin Hui was favored by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty. Greedy for life and afraid of death, he secretly took refuge in the Kingdom of Jin. After returning to the Song Dynasty, he stole the high position of Prime Minister Right. Qin Huili had connections with foreign countries, formed cliques for personal gain, and used all means to harm the soldiers who resisted the Jin Dynasty. Creating party troubles and suppressing political opponents made the Southern Song Dynasty very dark and corrupt.
Qin Hui used treacherous tactics to falsely accuse Yue Fei's generals, and killed Yue Fei's father and son and other loyal ministers, setting up a literary prison. The soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty hated him with hatred, and everyone wanted to kill him. Qin Hui was in panic all day long, and finally fell ill. His hands could not write, his mouth could not speak, and he died of a huge sore on his back.
6. Yan Song of the Ming Dynasty
Yan Song was a famous powerful official in the Ming Dynasty. He has good calligraphy and is good at writing Qing Ci.
Yan Song had been in power for 20 years and controlled the government. "Government is achieved with bribes, and officials are awarded with bribes." He made countless money, was ungrateful, repaid kindness with hatred, and persecuted loyal ministers. His son Yan Shifan was extremely arrogant, sold his official position openly, and committed all kinds of evil.
In the 41st year of Jiajing's reign, there was a Shandong Taoist named Lan Daoxing who was famous in Yanjing for being good at supporting jis. Prime Minister Xu Jie introduced Lan Daoxing to Shizong. One day, when Lan Daoxing was supporting the temple, he said, "Today there is a treacherous minister who is making trouble." Yan Song happened to be passing by, and Shizong grew tired of Yan Song and his son.
In the end, the power of Yan's father and son was overthrown, and Yan Shifan was sentenced to be beheaded. Yan Song was stripped of his official position, confiscated his family property, became homeless, suffered from poverty and illness, and died amidst the condemnation of the whole country. When he died of illness, there was no coffin to bury him in, and no one came to express his condolences.