In the first year of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1 127), there were showers on July 21st.
Tanzhou (Changsha, Hunan) Changming Temple
The scorching sun scorched the land of Jingchu, as if to expose the darkness and evil of this land. Cicada on the tree is also cooperating with the power of Wujin, one after another, endless.
Occasionally, a few faint coughs came from this dilapidated temple, which proved that the voice owner's life was not cut off.
Suddenly, he grabbed the arm of the old servant beside him and struggled to get up. There seems to be a light in his cloudy eyes.
The old man sat up, looked around blankly, as if he were unfamiliar with such an environment, and finally sighed:
"Eighty-one years ago, four thousand miles away homeless. Now wandering to the end of the world, dreaming of Yaochi Quexia.
Jade Palace came back to life five times, and Tongting declared hemp several times. It is only because of greed and love of glory that we are now. "
When the poem "Xijiang Moon" was finished, the old man seemed to have been evacuated from all his strength and fell to the ground silently.
Just then, a flash of lightning flashed across the sky, accompanied by thunder and heavy rain. Life on earth greedily sucks the rain. I wonder if they are celebrating or crying for an unknown fate.
The following year, the rulers went south to capture Tokyo, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and took Huidi and Qin Shihuang away. The demise of the Northern Song Dynasty is known as the Jingkang Revolution.
The old man's name is Cai Jing. He witnessed the gradual demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. Together with Hui Zong, he sounded the death knell of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Reading the ups and downs of Cai Jing's life will naturally help us to understand the political life in the late Northern Song Dynasty. We can borrow the book "The Rise and Fall of Cai Jing" to spy out the last afterglow of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Author Chen, once deputy director of the reporter department of the People's Liberation Army Daily, president and editor-in-chief of the Literature Daily, has published many literary works such as novels and history. In recent years, Chen Yizhi has devoted himself to the creation of historical documentary works. Before this book, he had published Xiao Yun: Biography of Gong Zizhen and How to Talk about the History of Ya.
Throughout the decline of the dynasty, there are many causes and one fruit. The "party struggle" in many dynasties is often an important reason for its prosperity and decline. "Party struggle" is not a good thing in any dynasty, which will lead to the formation of parties for self-interest, the struggle for power and interests, and the disagreement between parties, which will lead to serious internal friction, the decline of national luck and even the death of the country.
There was a dispute between the Party and the Blockage in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, a dispute between the Niu and Li parties in the late Tang Dynasty for more than forty years, and a dispute between the Party, the official party and the Zhejiang party in the late Ming Dynasty. Throughout the Song Dynasty, there was always a partisan struggle. Cai Jing's life track is an era history of the struggle between the old and new parties after the Northern Song Dynasty.
From Zongshen to Zhezong, the two sides played several rounds back and forth in just over ten years. In the end, it is not for the benefit of the country and the people, but purely for opposition! "Wutai Poetry Case", "Che Gaiting Poetry Case" and "Tongwenguan Prison Case" made many good officials become victims of the struggle.
During this period, the two sides fabricated facts and framed sentences, with no bottom line or principle. After Zongshen's death, during the period of Empress Dowager Gao, the Party compiled Zongshen Record, in which Huang Tingjian wrote "Wang Anshi wrote a letter asking' I don't know'".
"Ignorance", that is to say, not letting the emperor know, is the crime of deceiving the monarch! At that time, Lu Dian, Lu You's grandfather, offered to check all Lv Huiqing's letters, and finally confirmed that there was no word "I don't know".
You see, even a great writer like Huang Tingjian lost his discernment in the party struggle, let alone others? People in it, completely kill red eye, already can not consider what. ...
Cai Jing's coming to power has brought the party struggle to another level. In order to consolidate his power, he not only expanded the memorial tablet of "Yuan You party member" from Duanlimen and Wendemen to all the states and armies in China, but also expanded the scope of personnel. As long as they don't agree with their own political views, even the new party member may be a "traitor" and make the plaque of "Yuan You party member" a famous one.
As a historical figure with poor criticism, Cai Jing was nailed to the shame column of history. Indeed, for Xiang 17 years, he was greedy, arrogant and heartless. Although he can't be said to be the culprit of "the shame of Jingkang", he can't get away with it anyway!
You may not think that Wang Anshi, a reformer in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Cai Jing, a traitor, are actually in-laws! Indeed, Cai Jing's younger brother Cai Bian is Wang Anshi's son-in-law.
In the Song Dynasty, the evaluation of Wang Anshi's political reform was often extreme. After Song Shenzong's death, Wang Anshi was completely denied. Later, when Song Huizong came to power, he wanted to inherit Zongshen's great cause of political reform and praised Wang Anshi to the sky.
At this time, the "trader" is Cai Jing. The evaluation of the two men in the book uses the metaphor of "two ends of a rope", that is to say, if the "reform" is said to be a rope, only Wang Anshi and Cai Jing are compared, with one end holding the phoenix, the peak and the swan, and the other holding the grasshopper, the ravine and the sparrow. Their ideas are worlds apart.
The author makes a contrast between the two: Wang Anshi's carelessness in life is simply "outrageous". When he entered the palace, lice crawled around between his collar and beard; When eating, only eat a dish in front of you.
And Cai Jing? It is said that the maid in the kitchen can divide the work accurately to cut onions, and she is only responsible for cutting onions when making steamed buns.
Similarly, in the face of the royal family, after the implementation of the new law, Wang Anshi twice reduced the rewards and benefits to the royal empresses and related personnel. As for Emperor Zongshen, it goes without saying that Wang Anshi, who is also a mentor, is obedient.
And Cai Jing? His principle is "make peace for fun"! How extravagant? Song Huizong used five jade cups to entertain the minister, and he couldn't stand it any longer, thinking that "this instrument is too tacky". Cai Jing said to the players, "Your Majesty should enjoy the service of the whole world. Jade alone is not enough! " Emperor Hui Zong was pushed again on the road to the bad king.
This can be seen from the comparison of the above trivial matters. Cai Jing's talent is not high, but his personality can't compare with his relative talent.
Confucius said: a gentleman has a gift, which can be a gift or a husband!
"erudite in literature" means to learn knowledge extensively and master the truth, so that talents are talented. However, talent also needs the assistance of virtue, otherwise it will inevitably become a useful talent.
Because talented people without virtue are more destructive than those without virtue and talent.
Therefore, Confucius asked his disciples to have both ability and political integrity, but in comparison, derby is more important!
Wang Anshi and Cai Jingdu are the heads of a country. The former has both ability and political integrity, while the latter has talent and no virtue.
Cai Jing's so-called reform, the purpose is just to borrow the mouth of reform, the implementation of wealth. Finally, he took Hui Zong and the Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty to the "Jingkang Change" ...
There is a saying in the history of Song Renzong that Song Renzong Pepsi can't do it, but can only be a housekeeper. This sentence also applies to Song Huizong, but it is: I can do anything, but I can't be an official.
Objectively speaking, Song Huizong, as a slash youth, is really brilliant, and his artistic attainments are still very high. Just his own "thin gold body" and the "courtyard body" of flower-and-bird painting are enough to shine in history.
Because of this hobby, he also talked about bringing painting into the imperial examination, personally taking charge of the Hanlin Painting Academy and cultivating outstanding painting talents. The famous "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" was drawn under this background.
Cai Jing, our hero today, has made great achievements in calligraphy. He and his contemporaries Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fei were also called "Song Sijia". Cai Jing can be appreciated by Song Huizong. Besides her super financial management ability, this official has a lot of wealth to squander. Because they are like-minded, they can be called bosom friends. Besides government affairs, they also have endless topics in the art of calligraphy and painting.
Unfortunately, these hobbies are useless in national governance. No matter how extraordinary the artistic attainments are, they can't resist the iron hoof of the Jin people after all, and can't stop the decline of the Song Dynasty.
If Zhezong had a son, there was only one idle prince named Evonne in the Song Dynasty, and his calligraphy, painting and even cuju were all excellent. If Cai Jing fails to enter the political core circle, it is unknown that he will eventually become Mifei's calligraphy.
In fact, for reading history books, we don't want to care about what happened in a certain time and place in the past, but we need to know why people behave in this way at any time and in any space, especially now. More importantly, we can learn from history in the future.
Personally, the importance of virtue lies in the first place. Have both ability and political integrity, talent and moral capital; De is handsome.
As far as Yu is concerned, the gentleman is not party member, and the villain is party member, not a group member. The gentleman seeks for the avenue, and the party of the villain is the person in front of him. The beginning of the turmoil in the home country!
(Some pictures in this article are from the Internet and have been deleted. )