Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Xi's "Commentary on the Zhongyong Collection": "Therefore, the ruler of a gentleman also governs people, that is, he also governs his body in the way of a man. ”
It is often said that the way to deal with a rogue is to play a rogue, because it is useless for you to reason with him, and if the rogue says that this is not the work of a gentleman, you can also reply: "Do you still need to be reasonable in dealing with the rogue?" "In history, there has been a famous person who used villainous means to complete the villain, using a treacherous scheme than a traitor, but the method is still used.
Wang Zeng, whose ancestors were from the Taiyuan Wang clan, but when Wang Zeng was born, the past glory of the Taiyuan Wang clan had become a cloud, and before Wang Zeng was 8 years old, his parents died one after another, so he became an orphan and was raised by his uncle Wang Zongyuan.
However, Wang Zeng was intelligent from childhood, and later won the first place in the interpretation test, the provincial test, and the temple test, and the talent was great, and he was famous far and wide, and when the famous literary scholar Yang Yi saw the gift made by Wang Zeng, he was very impressed: "This is the talent who assists the emperor."
Wang zeng used villainous means to deal with his brother-in-law, who was a descendant of Confucius, and his identity was extraordinary, but his character was not good, and his feelings after marrying Wang Zeng's sister were not harmonious, and he was very disrespectful to his wife, which made Wang Zeng very dissatisfied.
But how to punish Confucius's descendants? Wang Zeng said to the outside world that his brother-in-law intended to poison himself, and as soon as this word came out, Wang Zeng's brother-in-law was discredited, and when the emperor wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly, Wang Zeng reminded him that Feng Zen was imminent, and his brother-in-law was a descendant of Confucius, and the influence was not good.
The brother-in-law is also unable to argue, even if he is cunning, it will only lead to greater right and wrong, so he has to give up, the matter will not be resolved, and then the brother-in-law will only have to be respectful and respectful to his wife, otherwise he will tarnish the reputation of the saint Confucius, and the guilt cannot be afforded.
This is the case with villains, but Wang Zeng was still very clean and honest as an official, his talent was very high, and he was also quite appreciated by Song Zhenzong, and his career path was relatively smooth, and he entered the court during the Song Zhenzong period. In the first year of Qianxing (1022), Emperor Renzong of Song ascended the throne, and Wang Zeng assisted Emperor Renzong of Song, who was then the prime minister.
Ding Zhi, together with Wang Qinruo, Lin Te, Chen Pengnian, and Liu Chengjue, was known as the Five Ghosts of the Northern Song Dynasty, and although he was erudite and talented, he did a lot of bad things for the sake of power. When Emperor Renzong of Song ascended the throne at the age of 13, Empress Liu bowed to the government, and the chancellor Ding Zhi's power was very great, and he formulated a "rule": Song Renzong only received the ministers on the first and fifteenth day of the first month, and the major matters were decided by the empress dowager' summons, and if it was not a major matter, it was allowed to enter the internal detention ban Lei Yungong to play the forbidden, and the decision could be issued by Lei Yungong.
In this way, Ding Shu and Lei Yungong were in the imperial court with their hands and eyes covering the sky, how could Wang Zeng not see Ding Shu's ambitions, but Wang Zeng did not act hastily, but first approached Ding Shu, and after Ding Shu relaxed his vigilance, Wang Zeng said to Ding Shu that he did not have a son at all ages, and wanted to pass on his brother's son, but to get the empress dowager's consent, he hoped that Ding Shu could go with him.
Ding Zhi did not take precautions, so he asked Wang Zeng to meet Empress Liu alone, usually Wang Zeng did not have the opportunity to see the empress, and now that he had the opportunity, he said all the evidence collected in his hand, emphasizing that Lei Yungong did not get the permission of the empress dowager and the emperor, so he moved the tomb of Emperor Zhenzong to a height of 100 meters without authorization, because as a result, he dug out a spring and flooded the mausoleum, but the matter was suppressed.
Lei Yungong's example is a big taboo, and Lei Yungong and Ding Zhi are closely related, Neither Empress Liu nor the emperor can know about this matter, everything is self-evident, Lei Yungong was killed, Ding Yu was also deposed, demoted to Yazhou, and the family property was confiscated.