Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and Gao Li were all important ministers during the Song Huizong period, and famous traitors in the Northern Song Dynasty, who formed parties for personal gain, embezzled money and perverted the law, and were reviled by the people. After Song Qinzong ascended the throne, Cai Jing was demoted to Lingnan and died on the way, and Tong Guan was executed to show the public. Gao Li was an exception among these traitors, and in the end he escaped the disaster and got a good death.
Cai Jing
Cai Jing was the head of the Six Thieves of the Northern Song Dynasty (Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Wang Yi, Liang Shicheng, Zhu Xun, and Li Yan), the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, and a famous calligrapher. Cai Jing's life has gone through ups and downs, ups and downs, and has served as prime minister four times, which is also a very legendary life. Cai Jing's prose and calligraphy achievements are also very high, and his calligraphy is even better, and the arrogant Mi Fu said that his calligraphy is inferior to Cai Jing. Unfortunately, Cai Jing was a traitor who was scolded by everyone, so much so that there was a song at that time: "Hit the bucket (Tong Guan), splash the dish (Cai Jing), it is a good world on earth." ”
Cai Jing experienced several ups and downs in the official field, and after Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne, he tried his best to seduce Tong Guan, which led to his gradual promotion from exiled minister to prime minister. Cai Jing, who held great power, began to form parties for personal gain, and those who disagreed with him were deposed or exiled, and he was extremely greedy. In this way, Cai Jing continued to be promoted, all the way to the rank of Tai Wei and worship as a Tai Shi.
When he was a very popular minister, Cai Jing once again began the road of ups and downs, and the counselors impeached him one after another, and he had to resign and retire. Emperor Huizong of Song did not let him officially retire and was renamed duke of Chu, and then the ministers continued to impeach him, but the emperor was not allowed to play. Until the fourteenth major crime of The Elder Cai Jing of the Tai student Chen Chao, the world was shocked, and Emperor Huizong of Song had to demote him to Hangzhou, but he was still the prince Shaobao. Not long after, Emperor Huizong of Song summoned Cai Jing back and served as prime minister. In the final analysis, it was song huizong who fainted, and there were a large number of traitors. Cai Jing, who once again held great power, began to build a large number of flowers and stones, and Emperor Huizong of Song was also very kind to him, visiting his home seven times and rewarding him countless times. This time, Cai Jing's power was even greater, not only his sons and grandsons were all ruling officials, but there were also many senior officials in the family servants, and the maids who accompanied the marriage were also named wives. It was precisely because of this that Emperor Huizong of Song began to hate him and let him resign and go home. However, the old and dazed Cai Jing returned to Beijing again after a few years, or served as the prime minister, letting his youngest son Cai Xiao handle political affairs, Cai Xiao was also a traitorous minister, and after being impeached and exposed, Cai Jing had to resign.
When the Jin army moved south, Emperor Huizong of Song gave the throne to Emperor Qinzong of Song. In the face of war, Cai Jing fled to the south to escape the war, but the people of the world did not forget this traitorous minister, and the ministers impeached him one after another. Cai Jing was degraded several times in a row, "Hengzhou resettled, and then moved to Shao and Danzhou." Died in Tanzhou, at the age of eighty". On the way to Danzhou's exile, people deeply disliked him, and on the way he could not buy anything with money, and eventually starved to death on the streets.
Cai Jing was already eighty years old when he died, and his life was also a beautiful scenery, and his descendants were all implicated. Cai Jing has eight sons, because of his relationship, six sons and five grandchildren are all bachelors. His eldest son, Cai You, was the prime minister and a well-known traitor. After the fall of Cai Jing, his descendants were punished, except for the early death of the second eldest Cai Qi, and the old fifth Cai Huan who married the daughter of Emperor Huizong of Song was not punished. The remaining eldest sons, Cai You, and the third son, Cai Yi, were given death, while the other sons and grandsons were all exiled to remote areas. This can also be regarded as the retribution of Cai Jing's family.
Tong Guan
Tong Guan was a eunuch of the Northern Song Dynasty, a very powerful eunuch, but also a traitor, one of the six thieves. Tong Guan held the military power of the Great Song Dynasty for nearly twenty years, led the army to attack the Western Xia conquest of Fang La, and finally ranked third duke and was worshiped as a Taishi, and was named the king of Guangyang County, which can be said to be the most cattle eunuch in the Song Dynasty.
After Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne, Tong Guan was an envoy to help the emperor collect antique calligraphy and paintings, so he became acquainted with Cai Jing, and Cai Jing's later achievements can be said to rely on Tong Guan's help. After Cai Jing became the prime minister, he strongly recommended Tong Guan as the superintendent of the Taoxi Army, Tong Guan was still very capable, and in the face of the fire in the palace, the emperor asked him to return to the army, and he hid the truth from the commander Wang Hou, saying that the emperor hoped that they would win a great victory, and the result was Lianke Four Prefectures. This was the beginning of Tong Guan's glory, after which he successively built up the Stone Army, Taozhou, sent envoys to the Khitans, was deeply appreciated by Emperor Huizong of Song, was named Taifu and Duke of Jing, and was in charge of the Affairs of the Privy Council, holding the highest level of military power, and the power was tilted to the opposition. At that time, people called Cai Jing "Gong Xiang" and called him "Mi Xiang".
After Tong Guan took power, he began to attack Western Xia. Tong Guan forced the famous general Liu Fa of Xizhou to attack Shuofang, but was ambushed and killed, and the whole army was shaken. Tong Guan concealed it and reported to the imperial court that although the hundred officials knew it, no one dared to say anything. During the Fang La rebellion, Tong Guan once again led an army to fight and successfully destroyed Fang La, and he was also worshipped as a Taishi for his merits.
After the alliance between Song and Jin, Tong Guan led an army of 200,000 people to the north of Yanjing, but the result was a major defeat. The defeated Tong Guan begged the Jin army to capture Yanjing, and he used millions of guan to redeem the empty city that the Jin army had plundered, and he was soon honored as the king of Guangyang County for his merits. The corruption of the Song army laid the foundation for the later Jing Kang shame, and when Emperor Yanzong invaded the south, he sent Jin to let Tong Guan cede the land of the two rivers, frightening Tong Guan to flee back to the capital.
In the face of the Southern Invasion of the Jin Army, Emperor Huizong of Song had already given the throne to Emperor Qinzong of Song. When Tong Guan fled back to the capital, Song Qinzong had already taken the throne, and Song Qinzong asked him to stay in Tokyo, but he did not agree, but followed Song Huizong all the way south to escape. On the way to escape, Tong Guan was afraid of running slowly, ordered his pro-army to kill innocents indiscriminately, and ministers who had long been resentful of him wrote to impeach him. Tong Guan was demoted continuously, assigned to Yingzhou and Jiyang Army, and before he reached the local area, Emperor Qinzong of Song issued an edict to count his ten major crimes, and let the inspector Yushi Zhang Cheng follow him and kill him and bring him back to the first rank. After Zhang Cheng caught up with him, he beheaded him and brought him back to his head, hanging in the capital to show the public, and this traitor also got the retribution he deserved.
Gao Li
When the Jin army invaded in a big way, Emperor Huizong of Song fled south, and Emperor Qinzong of Song took the throne, and the government and the opposition demanded that the six thieves be killed. Among the six thieves of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cai Jing died in exile, Tong Guan was shown to the public by the head of the ointment, Wang Yi was hunted down and killed by Yin Nieshan of Kaifeng, Liang Shicheng was hanged by the Kaifeng government officials on the way to be degraded, Zhu Xun was beheaded and executed, and Li Yan was given death, all of which received their due retribution. In addition to the six thieves of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was also a famous traitor Gao Li, but he escaped a disaster.
In "Water Margin", Gao Li is the first traitor, and Cai Jing and Tong Guan also have to stand aside. In the "History of Song", Gao Li has only a few strokes, far inferior to the Six Thieves.
Gao Li was originally a personal servant of Su Shi, and was later recommended to Emperor Shenzong of Song's brother-in-law Du Taiwei Wang Yi (王诜) and began his life. During a court visit, King Duan of Zhao borrowed a grate knife from Wang Yi to repair his hair, and Wang Yi sent someone to send a grate knife to Zhao Yi, and this person was Gao Li. Gao Li kicked a good ball, and when he went, Zhao Li was playing, Gao Li showed his superb skills, and Zhao Li left him behind. Zhao Tuo was Emperor Huizong of Song, and after he ascended the throne, Gao Li was also a qingyun in the official arena.
Gao Li not only played a good kick, but also very good at pandering to please Emperor Huizong of Song, and has been promoted to the rank of palace marshal for decades. After Gao Li held a high position, he was very greedy, spoiled the private camp, built the military camp into a private residence, and treated the forbidden army as a servant, resulting in the corruption of military discipline and lack of any combat effectiveness.
When the Jin army invaded the south, Emperor Huizong of Song fled south with Tong Guan, Gao Qi, and other traitors. On the way to the south, these favored courtiers also conspired to fight, and Gao Li was left in Sizhou by Tong Guan because of the conflict with Tong Guan, and let him guard it. Gao Li was also unwilling to guard the town, so he ran back to Kaifeng on the grounds of illness, but unexpectedly escaped the disaster. After Emperor Qinzong of Song ascended the throne, these traitors who ran to Jiangnan were ambushed, but Gao Li escaped a disaster because he left early, and eventually died of illness and did not get the bad retribution he deserved.
The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the most traitors, the Northern Song Dynasty five ghosts and six thieves, Gao Li, the Southern Song Dynasty Qin Juniper, Jia Xiangdao and so on a large number of traitors, all of which were left behind for thousands of years. Adulterous courtiers ran rampant, and they were also inseparable from the emperor's fainting, and Emperor Huizong of Song reused a large number of traitors, and he himself experienced humiliation and died in a foreign land.