Although Qian Weiyan was born into a famous family (Wuyue royal family), after all, he was a descendant of an enemy country, and if he wanted to squeeze into the upper echelons of the Northern Song Dynasty, he could not do it without a strong backstage. So Qian Weiyan first married his sister to Song Zhenzong's brother-in-law, became a Hanlin scholar, and reluctantly squeezed into the central decision-making level. However, the Song Dynasty's control over foreign relatives was relatively strict, and Qian Weiyan wanted to go further and enter the cabinet to worship the chancellor, and he also had to have the support of the civilian official clique. Therefore, he set his sights on the prime minister Ding Zhi again.
At that time, Ding Shu was trying to squeeze out the famous minister Kou Zhun, so when Qian Weiyan proposed to marry his daughter to Ding Shu's son and ask him to help him enter the ranks of Zaifu, the two hit it off. Therefore, Qian Weiyan sent a message to Ding Zhi from time to time, and told Ding Shu some secrets of the inner court, and Ding Yu successfully drove Kou Zhun out of the court.
When issuing a disparaging edict against Kou Zhun, the two prime ministers, Ding Zhi and Li Di, had a dispute. Song Zhenzong's original words were to let Kou Zhun go to a smaller prefecture to serve as Zhizhou, but the official document sent by Ding Shu added a "far" word, to drive Kou Zhun to a remote place and never come back. Li Di was angry and said that there was no word "far" in the dictate. Ding Shu insisted that he had not heard it wrong, and that Li Di wanted to change it, that is, he was partial to Kou Zhun. The more the two talked, the angrier they became, and finally they actually fought in front of everyone.
When the news reached the imperial palace, Song Zhenzong was very angry and ordered Qian Weiyan, a scholar of Hanlin, to draft an edict immediately and depose Ding Zhi. However, when Qian Weiyan learned that Song Zhenzong was seriously ill for a long time, he was sober and confused for a while, and he often lost his memory, so he changed the imperial order to depose Li Di without authorization and left Ding Zhi behind. The hundred officials heard about Song Zhenzong's anger and thought that Ding Zhi would inevitably resign, and the next day the Holy Will was issued, which was very unexpected. However, when they went to inquire about why Song Zhenzong issued such a ridiculous order, Song Zhenzong did not know what to ask, and finally had to make a mistake and deposed Li Di.
Because of his meritorious service in helping his relatives, Qian Weiyan soon became the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, becoming a veritable central leader.
After Emperor Renzong of Song ascended the throne, Ding Yu was driven away by empress dowager Liu E because he was too arrogant and caused public indignation, and Qian Weiyan also killed his relatives in a righteous manner, taking the initiative to expose the various crimes of his relatives. Emperor Renzong of Song married Empress Guo. Qian Weiyan also let his youngest son marry Empress Guo's sister, and added a heavy insurance to the relationship network.
However, Qian Weiyan was not satisfied, and he repeatedly sighed in front of his relatives and friends: "Those who are not enough in life are not allowed to use the title of the book on yellow paper." "During the Song Dynasty, only the prime minister could sign after the yellow paper (holy will), and although the privy councillor was an envoy and recognized as the prime minister, he was not a genuine prime minister, and Qian Weiyan was unwilling. In order to realize this ideal, he sharpened his head and drilled around, but it became worse and worse.
After the death of Empress Dowager Liu E, Song Renzong learned that his birth mother was actually Li Shi, and he felt ashamed. Qian Weiyan did what he liked, and publicly declared that Liu Hou and Li Shi should be allowed to enter the Taimiao Temple together. Although Li Shi was the biological mother of Emperor Renzong of Song, only the empress was eligible to enter the Taimiao Temple, which was even more disrespectful to Empress Liu, who had just died. Most of the ministers of the DPRK and the CPC were promoted by Empress Liu, so naturally they could not sit idly by, and wrote letters one after another, saying that Qian Weiyan's move was flattering and chaotic, and attacked Qian Weiyan for deliberately marrying foreign relatives, coveting wealth and nobility, and having bad intentions.
The evidence from the ministers was conclusive, and although Song Renzong had the intention of agreeing with Li's entry into the Taimiao Temple, he was also very annoyed by Qian Weiyan's behavior. In particular, Empress Liu died, Empress Guo was deposed, qian Weiyan fell two patrons, and now he even went around to trust relations and want to be a relative of Li Hou's brother. It is too despicable to play with marriage in order to seek promotion. Therefore, at the closest moment to the prime minister, Qian Wei fell off his horse and was demoted to a local post. Qian Weiyan was shy and angry, and died soon after.
After Qian Weiyan's death, the imperial court discussed the title of the official, and the official who presided over the evaluation said that "sensitive and eager to learn The Text, greedy and defeated the official Yuemo", and wanted to give Qian Wei the title of "Wenmo". Song Renzong remembered that Qian Weiyan had been deposed in order to please himself, so he asked the officials to study it again. As a result, the officials took a compromise approach, taking the word "si" (repentance before thinking). Therefore, later generations also called Qian Wei as Qian Sigong.