Introduction: "Zhuge was cautious all his life, and Lü Duan was not confused about major matters. ”
In this famous saying, two well-known historical figures appear at the same time. One was Zhuge Liang, a Shu Han chancellor known to women and children, who was cautious in his life, especially in the use of soldiers, and never took risks.
Another historical figure is Lü Duan, the chancellor of the Great Song Dynasty, whose deeds are known less than Zhuge Liang. But the great man can compare it with Zhuge Liang, which shows the strength of his historical influence.
Lü Duan's life has always had a relationship with the word "confused".
He was criticized for his frequent confusion, but he was able to single-handedly make the third emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty ascend the throne at the critical moment of the transfer of imperial power, which can be called a wave of "divine operations" in Chinese history.
First, the birth is superior, twice "lying gun"
Lü Duan was born into a family of eunuchs, his father served as a military attendant of the Later Jin Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period, and his brother was later a close confidant of Song Taizu, and later became a suffragan governor (deputy prime minister).
Because of such good family conditions, Lü Duan received a good education since he was a child, and at a young age, he was able to receive the shade of the door and became the "Thousand Bulls", that is, the imperial guards.
After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Lü Duan went from grass-roots posts such as Zhixian and Zhizhou to Beijing officials such as Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and accumulated rich experience in politics.
After Emperor Taizong of Song ascended the throne, the idea of usurpation of the throne became very popular. Faced with this embarrassment, he took the position of Kaifeng Fu Yin, which symbolized the "heir to the imperial throne", and let his own brother Zhao Tingmei do it to prove that there was indeed a "brother and brother" of the "Alliance of the Golden Plateau", and at the same time appointed Lü Duan as the judge of Kaifeng Province.
In the fourth year of the Taiping Revival, that is, in 979 AD, Emperor Taizong of Song personally invaded the Northern Han Dynasty and wanted to arrange for Zhao Tingmei to stay in Kaifeng, and Zhao Tingmei also wanted to accept this "heavy burden".
As a subordinate, Lü Duan felt it was necessary to remind his boss that this "heavy burden" was a "big pit".
He said, "The Lord is in the wind and rain, and the king is a protégé, and he is an exemplary subordinate." It is not appropriate for the Lord to stay in service now. (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
This means that the emperor himself has gone to war, and you, as his brother, stay at home to guard it, which is not appropriate.
As far as Song Taizong was concerned, the most feared thing was to leave a crown prince to stay in Kaifeng, in case he had three long and two shorts on the front line, it would inevitably cause a fire in the backyard and change hands in the country. Therefore, letting Zhao Tingmei guard the family is just a temptation in itself.
Zhao Tingmei really listened to Lü Duan's words and went out with Song Taizong and escaped a disaster. However, what should come will still come. Soon after, Song Taizong still found a reason to punish Zhao Tingmei.
As his subordinate, Lü Duan actually took the initiative to take the initiative to accept the punishment of being demoted from the capital.
Emperor Taizong of Song greatly appreciated Lü Duan's actions, so he soon promoted him to the imperial court as an official and served as a right counselor.
In the second year of Yongxi (985 CE), Emperor Taizong of Song made his second son Zhao Yuanyi the governor of Kaifeng province and became the heir to the throne, and Lü Duan once again recognized the judge of Kaifeng Province.
However, Lü Duan was really ill-fated, and in the third year of Chunhua (992 AD), Zhao Yuanxian suddenly fell ill and died. Some attributed his death to the poisoning of his concubine Zhang Shi. In anger, Song Taizong held the relevant personnel accountable, and Lü Duan once again lay down his gun and was demoted.
In the face of the imperial court's accountability, Lü Duan not only did not complain, but instead took the initiative to review his mistakes in assisting the Kaifeng government twice when he met With Emperor Taizong of Song.
Kaifeng Province was a very sensitive existence in the early Song Dynasty, and neither of the two governors could end well, coupled with the rumors that Song Taizong was in an improper position, this matter was even more topical.
What Song Taizong was pleased with was that Lü Duan was able to take the initiative to take responsibility twice, to a certain extent, to break the siege for himself and share the pressure of public opinion.
Therefore, soon after, Lü Duan was promoted again and promoted to participate in the political affairs of the governor.
For this kind of character of Lü Duan, Zhao Pu, the first prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, once commented: "Watching Lü Gong play things, he was rewarded with praise and rewarded, and he did not taste fear in the face of setbacks, nor did he look at words. (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
From Zhao Pu's point of view, Lü Duan was praised, and he could not see that he was proud and hit, nor did he see that he was depressed and moody, which was the material for really being the prime minister.
Second, small things are confused, and big things are cautious
After Lü Duan became a political participant, many people were not convinced, and there was a lot of discussion about him in private.
Someone reported to the emperor that Lü Duan was confused in his usual ways and was not worthy to be a chancellor at all.
However, Song Taizong said: "(Lü) is confused about small things, and big things are not confused." (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
In order to highlight his trust, in the first year of the Dao Dynasty (995 AD), Emperor Taizong of Song simply deposed the chancellor Lü Mengzheng and appointed Lü Duan as his sole chancellor. Lü Duan, who is more than a year old, has a late success, which is the peak of life.
At that time, Kou Zhun, who was more than 20 years younger than Lü Duan, was a suffragan and his deputy.
Kou Zhun has a strong personality and is extremely difficult to get along with. In order to stabilize Kou Zhun, Lü Duan went to Song Taizong and asked the two of them to take turns on duty, share the power of the prime minister, and when they encountered major matters that were difficult to handle, they would go to the emperor to discuss politics together.
Emperor Taizong of Song knew that Lü Duan was well-intentioned, so he gave permission to play it, and at the same time issued a handwritten edict: "From now on, those who must pass through Lü Duan's details must be heard." (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
He was asking that all the major matters discussed by the Prime Minister's Office must first be deliberated by Lü Duan before they could be played.
After Lü Duan paid homage to him, his characteristics of "not being confused about major events" also quickly appeared.
One day, the Northwest Front of the Song Army captured the mother of Li Jiqian, the leader of Western Xia. After summoning Kou Zhun and others for consultation, Emperor Taizong of Song decided to put Li Jiqian's mother to death.
When Lü Duan heard about it, he immediately ordered the Privy Council to suspend the execution, and at the same time hurried to meet Song Taizong.
He told Song Taizong the story of Xiang Yu capturing Liu Bang's father and threatening to cook it in person. At that time, in the face of Xiang Yu's threat to cook his father Liu Taigong, Liu Bang's reaction was actually "Lucky to share a piece of my pie!" (Historiography of Takazu Honki).
In Lü Duan's view, a person like Li Jiqian today is not as good as Liu Bang at that time, how could he possibly be caught up in this regard? Instead of killing Li Jiqian's mother and deepening the resentment between the two sides, it is better to treat him kindly, use it as a card in his hand, and let Li Jiqian throw a rat trap.
Lü Duan's words made Song Taizong suddenly realize, and he felt even more that the comment that "small things are confused, big things are not confused" is really very right.
Third, turn the tide and support the establishment of the True Sect
The reason why Emperor Taizong of Song promoted Lü Duan to the position of chancellor, in addition to his heavy personality and down-to-earth work, also wanted to entrust the matter of assisting the crown prince to smoothly ascend the throne.
Emperor Taizong of Song originally had 9 sons, and it was not difficult to choose a prince. However, the two princes he had set up in front of him, Zhao Yuanzuo and Zhao Yuanzuo, one was crazy and the other was a violent pawn, and the matter of re-establishing a prince was still unresolved, and it was not until his later years that he established his third son Zhao Heng as the crown prince.
However, Emperor Taizong of Song was jealous, and the crown prince Zhao Hengguang was loved by his subjects, and he felt that he could not stand it. Therefore, it is conceivable that in a few years, Prince Zhao Heng did not form his own team.
However, behind Zhao Yuanzuo, there is also a strong supporter. The leaders were Empress Li and the Grand Eunuch Wang Ji'en.
Empress Li herself was childless, and Zhao Yuanzuo, who was already crazy, was most beneficial to her control of power. The grand eunuch Wang Ji'en had helped Song Taizong successfully usurp the throne, and thus gained a lot of benefits, at this time he wanted to repeat the same trick and support an emperor to ascend to the throne.
On March 29, the third year of the Dao Dynasty (997), Lü Duan entered the palace and saw that Emperor Taizong of Song was already dying, and that there were only two eunuchs, Wang Ji'en and Empress Li, and the crown prince Zhao Heng was missing.
Lü Duan saw that the situation was not good, and quickly wrote the word "Da Xiang" on his wat board, and ordered his cronies to leave the palace to bring it to Zhao Heng, with the intention of reminding him that the emperor was about to die and should immediately enter the palace to take the throne.
After the death of Emperor Taizong of Song, Empress Li immediately asked Wang Ji'en to inform Lü Duan to discuss the new monarch's ascension to the throne.
Lü Duan knew that things were not good, and he tricked Wang Ji'en into a painting cabinet on the grounds that he had Emperor Taizong's will in his hand, and then he ordered someone to lock the door and keep it under strict supervision.
Then, Lü Duan went to the Hall of Ten Thousand Years alone to see Empress Li. Poor Wang Ji'en had a lot of tricks, but he was calculated by the "confused" Lü Duan.
Empress Li said to Lü Duan, "The palace car (Emperor Taizong of Song) has been driven, and the heir is long, Shunye, what will happen now?" (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
Empress Li selectively forgot Zhao Heng's status as crown prince, and also moved out of the ancient principle of "establishing an heir and establishing a long", with the intention of making the "mad king" Zhao Yuanzuo emperor.
Lü Duan, on the other hand, changed his usual image of a "confused man" and said: "The former emperor and the crown prince are abandoning the world today, how can they disobey orders and have objections and evil intentions?" (Biography of Song Shi Lü Duan)
Empress Li listened silently. As a result, Lü Duan welcomed Zhao Heng to the throne. Seeing Zhao Heng sitting on the dragon chair, Lü Duan was still not at ease, he "His Highness Pingli does not worship, please roll the curtains, ascend the temple to examine."
It turned out that after the emperor rolled the curtains, Lü Duan did not immediately kneel down to worship, but went forward to carefully identify and confirm that it was Zhao Heng himself before leading the hundred officials to worship.
With the assistance of Lü Duan, who was the old man, Emperor Zhenzong of Song ascended to the throne. And this imperial power struggle, but also because of his proper handling, the Northern Song Dynasty did not have a "Xuanwumen change" type of tragedy.
Conclusion: There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching: "Great wisdom is like foolishness, and great cleverness is like clumsiness." This sentence is most appropriate for Lü Duan.
In the face of small things, Lü Duan can take into account the overall situation, seek perfection, and even turn a blind eye and pretend to be confused; in the face of major right and wrong, he can be unambiguous and clear-cut, worthy of being a model of ancient celebrities.
References: History of Song, History of Song