In the Water Margin, there are many traitors and corrupt officials, from the imperial court to the county court, from the small Kongmu and the abbot to the county order, the prefect, and even the Lieutenant and the Taishi. To say the most famous, or to say Cai Jing, Gao Li, Tong Guan and Yang Jian these four. In fact, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were famous six thieves, but in the Water Margin, only Cai Jing, Gao Li, Tong Guan, and Yang Jian were highlighted.
So, what is the end of these four people? Did he escape punishment and die well, or did he get the punishment he deserved?
The first thing to explain is that Water Margin did not mention the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, not even Song Qinzong, so the ending of these four people was not mentioned. To know, you have to know from history.
The first is Cai Jing
Cai Jing this person, good calligraphy, the four major fonts of that year, Su, Huang, Rice, Cai has a seat of Cai Jing. However, some people say that because Cai Jing's character is not good, he was later replaced by Cai Xiang. In any case, Cai Jing's calligraphy is good, which is an indisputable fact.
As early as the Zhezong Dynasty, Cai Jing had already been reused by the emperor, and he was an official in the same dynasty as Zhang Huan and Zeng Bu, and he was once promoted to the Longtuge Zhi Bachelor, and then knew Chengdu. At the beginning of Emperor Huizong's succession to the throne, Cai Jing was demoted, and Cai Jing was very angry and refused to take up his post after delaying, and as a result, even the official post was dismissed.
However, later Cai Jing was again used by the emperor. In the first year of Daguan (1107), he finally jumped from Taiwei to Taishi, and was really under one person, above ten thousand people. In fact, before that, he promoted Tong Guan, Yang Jian and others.
But Cai Jing did not take long, because he was too aggressive and bullying, and even his own maid made the emperor a lady. Although Emperor Huizong was faint and not stupid, he gradually stopped favoring Cai Jing in the future, and even forced him to resign. In 1127, Huizong Zen was located in Qinzong, and Cai Jing, who had been shouted at by everyone, was relegated by Qinzong to Shao and Dan Erzhou, and starved to death before he arrived, because everyone hated him, and Cai Jing could not even buy food.
The second is Tong Guan
Tong Guan was hand-picked by Cai Jing, although he was a eunuch, he had some skills, not only grew a few beards, but also led soldiers to fight. He once crusaded against Xi Ge Zang Zheng, recovered the Jishi Army, Taozhou and other places, and made many military achievements, and the historical Fang La was led by Tong Guan to recruit and suppress.
Interestingly, Tong Guan is also called "Concubine" because he is neither male nor female.
However, in the later period of Tong Guan's campaign against the Liao, the attack on Yanjing was unsuccessful, and he actually prayed to the Jin people to lay down Yanjing, and spent a million dollars to buy the empty city that had been plundered by the Jin people. Looking back, Tong Guan told the emperor that he was his own credit, which was really shameless!
Tong Guan's ending was not as good as Cai Jing's, and when Emperor Huizong could not escape, Tong Guan refused to stay behind to guard Tokyo and ran with him. In order to avoid being blocked in the way, he also shot many of his men. In the end, Tong Guan was killed and the head of the owl was displayed in public.
Then there's Gao Li
Historically, Gao Li did not have as many bad deeds as in the Water Margin, on the contrary, after he got su Shi's help and ascended to the rank of lieutenant, he instead helped the Su family when Su Shi was degraded.
However, when he was in charge of the forbidden army, he did not improve the army's combat capability, but only blindly collected money to play with the flower rack, and later hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops in Tokyo were quickly broken by the Jin people, which had a lot to do with Gao Li. Fortunately, Gao Li was later dumped by tong guan and others who could not escape, and stayed in Sizhou, so he was not demoted, let alone killed.
Compared with Cai Jing and Tong Guan, Gao Li's ending is very good.
Finally, there is Yang Jian
Compared with Cai Jing and Tong Guan, Yang Jian is less famous, and he is not even as influential as Gao Qi. Of course, this may be because of the mythological character Jiro God.
Because he was favored by Emperor Huizong, Yang Jian did a lot of bad things, but because he died early, Emperor Huizong made him Taishi and Duke of Wu. However, Yang Jian also received the punishment he deserved in the end, and the History of Song records that Yang Jian was finally retaken as an official and given his home after his death.
Overall, Gao Li is the best ending.