History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Kou Wei can also be regarded as a generation of famous people in history, and his image has appeared in many film and television works, but the end of this Northern Song Dynasty politician who had set the alliance of the Yuanyuan was very tragic. Kou's life is reused because of self-confidence, and finally because he thinks he is degraded, let's take a look at the causes and consequences of Kou's ending.
Kou Wei's self-confidence is innate, he lost his father at an early age, and through his unremitting efforts, he was admitted to the Gongshi at the age of nineteen. Before taking the temple examination, someone told Kou Wei that Song Taizong had a habit of appointing older people, and he thought that young people lacked experience and were unstable. Therefore, these people suggested that Kou Wei falsely declare his age by a few years, but after hearing this, Kou Wei not only did not accept it, but instead questioned these people who persuaded him, saying: "I have just gained progress, so do I want to start deceiving the king?" In the subsequent temple examination, Kou Wei did indeed gain the appreciation of Song Taizong for his talent.
Kou Wei, who entered his career, not only made steady progress, but also gradually improved his official position, and his living standards were much higher than before. Kou Wei was a man who loved to make friends and was also very pompous, and it is recorded that Kou Wei's home was never lit with oil lamps, and only used candles that were extremely luxurious at that time. Although Kou Xian was more extravagant in life, his self-motivation and honest and confident personality were not gradually consumed.
Kou Kai's life has experienced five ups and downs, and the author here briefly introduces this extraordinary official career of Kou Kai. At the age of thirty-two, Kou Xian became the Privy Councillor, and after only two years, he was demoted to Qingzhou because he was beaten up for a small report. Emperor Taizong of Song did not forget Kou Wei, and the following year he transferred Kou Wei back to the capital and gave him an official position to participate in the government affairs. Within two years, he was driven to Zhengzhou because of Zhang Huan's "quasi-slander". In the first year of the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (1004), due to Bi Shi'an's strong recommendation, he sat in Tongping Zhangshi again, and three years later, because of Wang Qinruo's provocation, he was once again demoted to Shaanzhou.
This time, Kou Wei was not recommended by Wang Dan as a privy envoy until the seventh year of the great Zhongxiangfu (1014), and the following year he offended the favored minister Three Divisions envoy Lint and was dismissed. After Kou Wei was dismissed, Wang Dan, who succeeded Kou Xian, continued to speak well of him in front of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, and in the third year of Tianxi (1019), Emperor Zhenzong brought back Kou Wei, who was already 58 years old at the time. From these ups and downs, it can be seen that Kou's upright personality has not only established a good image for himself in front of the emperor, but also made countless enemies outside.
After Kou Wei became the prime minister this time, there was a deputy prime minister named Ding Shu, whose reputation was very bad, but he had always been respectful to Kou Wei, in fact, he also wanted to use Kou Wei's reputation to support himself. Once, Kou Wei and Ding Zhi and others were eating together in Zhongshu Province, and Kou Wei accidentally soiled his beard with vegetable soup. Ding Wei saw that he hurriedly got up and used his sleeve to clean up the vegetable soup on Kou Wei's beard, and Kou Wei laughed at Ding Zhi on the spot, which probably meant that Ding Zhi was a dignified governor, how could he wipe the beard of his boss? Kou Wei said that Ding Shu was landless and self-contained, although he did not show it, he had already written down a stroke for Kou Wei in his heart.
In June of the fourth year of the Tianxi Dynasty (1020), Song Zhenzong unfortunately suffered a stroke, and Empress Liu took control of the government, and Kou Xian did something at this time, which led to the complete end of his career as prime minister. During a visit to Zhenzong, Kou Xian gave Zhenzong such a suggestion, Kou Wei suggested that Zhenzong pass the throne to the crown prince, and chose an upright minister to assist him, and also gave an example to Ding Zhi, saying that such a traitorous villain could not be used.
Zhenzong also accepted this suggestion at that time, but Ding Zhi and Empress Liu, who was close to Zhenzong, did not say good things to Kou, and told Zhenzong that Kou Xuan made this suggestion because he wanted to seize the credit of the new lord and control the government, and at the same time did not have His Majesty in his eyes. The contradiction between Ding Wei and Kou Wei we mentioned earlier, this Empress Liu also had a vendetta against Kou Wei, and Kou Wei had executed Empress Liu's mother's family without favoritism, which made Kou Wei very passive at this time.
Emperor Zhenzong of Song was actually nostalgic for imperial power, and after the provocation of Ding Shu and Empress Liu, he decided to depose Kou Wei as chancellor. Just think, in the era of feudal despotism, which emperor was willing to surrender his imperial power before he swallowed his last breath? Although Kou Wei's suggestion was beneficial to the Great Song Dynasty, it was a great taboo for the emperor.
And for a long time, he did not pay attention to strategy in the world, blindly acted arbitrarily, and the opponents accumulated by him also became the last straw that crushed Kou Wei at this moment. After Kou Wei was deposed, Empress Liu made a fuss with Ding Shu about Zhou Huaizheng's conspiracy and demoted Kou Wei to sima of Dao Prefecture (道州, in modern Dao County, Hunan). When Song Zhenzong was alive, he often thought about Kou Wei, so the blows dealt to Kou Wei by Ding Shu and others ended here.
In February of the first year of Qianxing (1022), Song Zhenzong died at the Yanqing Palace, and Ding Yu took advantage of the new emperor's young age and Empress Liu's curtain to listen to the government to demote the 61-year-old Kou Wei to Leizhou, and the next year Kou Wei died of illness on a bamboo bed in Leizhou, ending his life mission with several twists and turns.