1. Cai Jing: Counting ups and downs, he died during his demotion
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were four masters of calligraphy, known as "Su Huang Mi Cai", and this last "Cai" originally referred to Cai Jing. It's just that Cai Jing's reputation is really too bad, and later generations replaced Cai Jing with Cai Xiang. The reason why Cai Jing's reputation is not good is not only his identity as a traitor in the novel "Water Margin", but also because of his "treacherous" image in history.
But all the traitorous ministers are always inseparable from the word "greed". When Cai Jing was the chancellor of the Northern Song Dynasty, he managed to set up a clever name and let himself receive several "salaries" at the same time, and his "has been enshrined by servants, and he has recreated the money sent by Sikong, such as millet, beans, firewood, and puppets from grain, and when they are folded, they are also given from the truth", which is really breathtaking.
Not only that, Cai Jing often persuaded the emperor to "treat the property of officials and lords as dung." The economic situation in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty seemed to have improved, but in fact it was "fiery cooking oil". After Cai Jing and others took control of the government, they disregarded the state's credit and indiscriminately issued friends, resulting in a improvement in the financial revenue of the imperial court, but in fact, the people bore a heavier economic burden.
In terms of salt and iron management, Cai Jing's means are even more fierce. The salt banknote law that had been implemented for many years was directly abolished by Cai Jing, so that countless people who had the savings of merchants and people for many years turned into flowing water, and a large number of them "once they became beggars, even went to the water and hanged themselves". Under such circumstances, how can the middle and lower classes not rise up?
Unfortunately, the scourge has been left behind for thousands of years. Although Cai Jing was treacherous, his personal talent was very prominent, and when he was young, he also received praise from Wang Anshi. Therefore, although Cai Jing was deposed several times, he was still activated by Emperor Huizong of Song, and in the second half of his life, he was mostly "tossed" with the dying Northern Song Dynasty as before.
It was not until the first year of Jing Kang (1126) that the Jin army moved south, and Emperor Huizong of Song feared that he would become the king of the subjugated country, so he passed the throne to his son Song Qinzong. Cai Jing, who had lost his "great patron", was denounced as the "head of the six thieves", and was immediately demoted from the center and released as the deputy envoy of Chongxin and Qingyuan Army.
Before he arrived, Cai Jing was demoted to Shaozhou and Danzhou. Therefore, Cai Jing, who was over eighty years old, had to set off again and go all the way to the south, and when passing through Tanzhou, Cai Jing's body and bones finally could not be eaten and died in the local area.
2. Tong Guan: Fleeing south in violation of the order, he was killed by Emperor Qinzong on the way
The Song Song of the Northern Song Dynasty said: "If you hit the bucket and spill the vegetables, it is a good world on earth." As one of the "Six Thieves" second only to Cai Jing, Tong Guan, a eunuch, had a lot of scenery before he died, and how miserable he was after his death. Tong Guan's scenery lies in the fact that he is a eunuch who can hold military power, not to mention, and can also be knighted; and his highlight is to lead the army to suppress the Fang La uprising in the south.
It is true that Fang La, one of the "Four Kou" in "Water Margin", second only to Liangshan, is indirectly planted in the hands of Tong Guan in history. Of course, it was Tong Guan's generals who did it. With this merit, Tong Guan was awarded the title of Taishi and moved to the Duke of Chu. The good times did not last long, but Tong Guan suffered setbacks one after another in the subsequent Battle of Liao, "the imminent incident was to shrink and fear, and the head of the rat was scurrying", and finally fled back to the capital.
At this time, the imperial court also changed the world, and Emperor Qinzong of Song had already taken the throne. Cai Jing, who hooked up with Tong Guan and became an adulterer, was also relegated to other places. At this time, Tong Guan, who had lost a large ally, had to try to climb the "thigh" of Emperor Huizong of Song, so after Emperor Qinzong of Song ordered him to defend Tokyo, Tong Guan actually fled south with Emperor Huizong of Song.
The rat behavior of "Master Tong" immediately attracted a wave of infamy. Emperor Qinzong of Song took advantage of the situation and stripped Tong Guan of many official positions and sent inspector Yushi Zhang Cheng to pursue him. In the first year of Jianyan (1127), Zhang Cheng caught up with Tong Guan at the Nanxiong Embassy and brought him to justice on the spot.
Later, the head of Tong Guan was also sent back to Kyoto, and the head of the whip was displayed to the public. When the traitor was removed, the people clapped their hands and applauded incomparably, but they did not expect that the day when the Jin army would go south was coming. At this time, it is too late to curse the traitor again.
Third, Gao Li: There is no loss in the history of the big festival, and I have luckily escaped a disaster
Compared with the "realistic" description of Cai Jing and Tong Guan, the two traitors in "Water Margin", Gao Li is somewhat "wronged". Of course, it is not right to say that he is a good person, because Gao Li does have a lot of stains on him.
For example, Gao Li's fortune is indeed greatly related to his personal Keju technique; moreover, after Gao Li held a high position, he did use his power to embezzle a lot of money, and the once-powerful forbidden army was also used by him as an "engineering team" to build various buildings for him.
Flies do not sting seamless eggs. It is precisely because Gao Li's position as a lieutenant came too lightly, and he also did a lot of "moral unworthy" things after his discovery, so he was interpreted as a traitor.
Only objectively speaking, compared with the novel "Water Margin", the historical Gao Li has been rated as "no loss in the big festival", which means that he has nothing to criticize on the issues of right and wrong. Or because of this, Gao Li's ending is much better than the other two.
According to the History of Song, Gao Li had offended Tong Guan, who had ordered that Gao Li should not be allowed to cross the river while following Emperor Huizong of Song to cross the river. In desperation, Gao Li had no choice but to withdraw from the court and then leave Jiangnan. Soon after, Gao Li died in the first year of Jiankang (1126), which can be regarded as a good death.
The historical Gao Li, who has been nurturing for a long time, has a good ending, which may make many "Water Margin fans" feel regret; fortunately, Gao Li in the novel has received his due retribution. See the 133rd time in the sequel to the Water Margin, "Dang Kou Zhi", the story goes something like this:
It is said that one day, Zhu Tong and Lei Heng rushed back from Yanshan and held out a large round bag in the middle of the banquet, and everyone opened it to see that it was the number one sworn enemy of the good man of Liangshan, the head of Gao Qi.
It turned out that Gao Li in the novel did not end well, he was blamed by the officials and sent to Cangzhou (Lin Chong was also "stabbed with Cangzhou Dao", which was regarded as a bad retribution), Zhu Tong and Lei saw the situation, so they secretly killed the killer and took the first rank of Gao Qi. After they rushed back, they learned that Lin Chong had an old grudge, fell on the bed with depression, and was about to die.
Therefore, the two of them hurriedly gave Gao Li's first rank to Lin Chong, who, upon seeing it, immediately stood up from the bed and threw Gao Li's first rank into powder. The great revenge was repaid, Lin Chong shouted, and immediately died of exhaustion.
Although "Lang Kou Zhi" describes the good man of Liangshan as a "great villain", the author Yu Wanchun has always been well aware of the treachery and evil of "Gao Li", and in order to promote the "righteousness of loyalty and treachery", he did not hesitate to let Gao Li die at the hands of the good man of Liangshan, and while letting Lin Chong get revenge, he also let the reader have a bad breath.
References: History of the Song Dynasty, Water Margin, Dang Kou Zhi