There is an idiom called the metaphor of sneaking pat horses to deliberately please and flatter others, so who is it? This bearded man was ding zhi, the deputy minister of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Ding Zhi
We usually talk about the nail in the eye is also about him, and the one who was whisked away was the famous northern Song Dynasty prime minister Kou Wei, and many of his deeds were circulated in the folk. A loyal courtier, a traitor, forming a sharp contrast. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Ding Held an important position in the supervision and finance department of the imperial court, and he collaborated with Wang Qinruo to camp the Taoist Temple, repeatedly went to Xiangxiang to meet the emperor's wishes, and soon after he was promoted to deputy prime minister, also known as the Governor of the Government. At that time, the prime minister was Kou Wei, and Ding Zhi was respectful to him, and he was also obedient to Kou Wei's words.
Kou
On this day, a large number of officials, such as the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, gathered to eat, and Kou Wei was ready to leave after eating. Ding Wei saw that Kou Wei's beard was stained with a grain of rice, so he suddenly rushed forward and brushed his beard for Kou Wei. This move of his startled Kou Wei, and Ding Yu continued to work hard, praising how beautiful Kou Wei's beard was. Kou Xian smiled and said to Ding Yu, "Participate in politics, minister of the country, but for the sake of the chief minister?" Saying that Kou Wei was both ashamed and brainy, he held a grudge against Kou Kai from then on, which is the origin of the whiskers.
Kou Wei was a great hero of the Northern Song Dynasty, and his greatest credit was to establish an alliance with the Khitans. In 1004, Emperor Shengzong, empress dowager Xiao of the Liao Dynasty, led an army south to attack the Song Dynasty, and the ministers Wang Qinruo and Chen Yaosu advocated moving the capital to avoid war. Kou Xian vigorously defied the public opinion and suggested that Emperor Zhenzong of Song personally march to boost morale and defeat the Liao army. The emperor followed Kou Xian's advice and went to Liaozhou to supervise the battle, and indeed won the battle, killing the Liao general Xiao Dajie and agreeing to a treaty, known in history as the alliance of Liaoyuan. Since then, Song and Liao have coexisted peacefully for more than 120 years. Kou Wei is a straight man, and he is not accustomed to ding's so-called power tricks, and he is flattering, so he has the above irony.
In the later years of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Ding Yu seized on Kou's mistakes in his work and conspired with Empress Liu to degrade Kou Xiansan until he was exiled to Leizhou, Guangdong Province, to join the army. Ding Wei replaced Kou Wei's position, promoted to prime minister, monopolized the government, embezzled and accepted bribes, and did whatever he wanted, becoming a thorn in the eyes of the common people at that time. Later, Ding Yu clashed with Empress Liu and was exiled to Yazhou. That is, when Sanya City, Hainan Province, passed through Leizhou today, Ding Asked to see Kou Wei, but Kou Wei refused to see him. Therefore, people say that Kou Kai is a loyal subject and Ding is a villain.