Cai Jing was a famous calligrapher and a famous courtier during the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, where good looks appeared in an endless stream, Cai Jing could actually be a face of the four degrees, which shows that this person did have a hand in being an official.
However, unlike the famous prime ministers such as Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, cai jing's prime minister can really be described as a notorious dynasty. When people in later generations talk about the calligraphy masters of the Northern Song Dynasty, they often deliberately ignore Cai Jing, precisely because his character is too inferior and is really despised by the world. So, after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, what was his end?
Cai Jingquan fell to the opposition, and with the trust of Emperor Huizong, he coveted countless possessions. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Luo Dajing wrote "Helin Wang Lu", which recorded such an event.
A person in Kaifeng City had just taken in a concubine, and he had heard that the concubine had made buns for Cai Jing in Cai Jing's house before, so he excitedly asked her to do it to see, in order to experience the feeling of Cai Taishi's bun. Unexpectedly, when the concubine saw her husband asking so much, she said bluntly, "I can't do it." ”
When the man saw that the concubine refused to do it, he immediately got angry and said, "Since you made buns in Master Cai's house, why can't you do it in my house?" The concubine saw that her husband Jun was angry and quickly explained, "I did make buns for Master Cai." However, there are too many people in Master Cai's family who make buns, and the division of labor is also very meticulous, I am only responsible for cutting green onions, as for other steps, I really have not done it. ”
Even the handling of bun fillings has to be hired, which shows the luxury of Cai Jing's life.
In fact, this is just the tip of the iceberg in Cai Jing's dietary life. As a Taishi, he had to make more than a thousand crab yellow steamed buns at every family banquet. In the Northern Song Dynasty, a single tael was a thousand pieces of money. More than a thousand taels, converted into the current renminbi, is about half a million. A family banquet, the money spent on steamed buns is more than half a million, which is really breathtaking.
In addition to paying attention to diet, Cai Jing also particularly likes to collect jade. In order to establish a good relationship with him, the ministers all tried to send jade to Cai Jing. For this kind of thing, Cai Jing has always been a visitor who does not refuse. Soon, his house was full of jade, and there was not even a place to sleep. In desperation, Cai Jing had to temporarily live in the servant's bedroom.
Cai Jing's helplessness really makes people not know what to say. The reason why Cai Jing was able to corrupt unscrupulously was because of the secret support of Emperor Huizong of Song. Every time the courtiers impeached Cai Jing together, Emperor Huizong always demoted himself to a show. When this period passed, Emperor Huizong immediately reinstated him as an official.
In the more than twenty years from the first year of Chongning (1102) to the first year of Jing Kang (1126), Cai Jing was deposed four times and revived four times, which can be described as a great favor. Even when Cai Jing was seventy or eighty years old, Emperor Huizong still relied heavily on him. The two monarchs and courtiers colluded together, making the sale of officials and knights an unspoken rule in the official arena at that time.
At that time, if the people in the DPRK wanted to be promoted quickly, they had to follow the path of Master Cai. Under cai jing's constant praise, Huizong thought that guotai and the people were safe, and the world was peaceful. It wasn't until the Jin soldiers came in a mighty attack that Emperor Huizong woke up from a big dream and quickly passed the throne to his son Zhao Huan. Although Zhao Huan resolutely refused to accept the throne, he was still forced by Emperor Huizong to become emperor for Emperor Qinzong.
After Emperor Huizong stepped down, the ministers united to impeach Cai Jing, determined to liquidate his crimes. Cai Jing saw that the backstage had fallen, and hurriedly asked the imperial court for guilt, saying that he knew that he was wrong. In the end, Emperor Qinzong remembered his old age and did not give him death, but sent him to Lingnan as a punishment. Cai Jing saw that the death penalty could be avoided, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Accustomed to a life of luxury, he decided to bring the money he had looted to Lingnan to raise his family.
It is said that Cai Jing loaded his own gold and silver treasures for several days, and finally a large ship was installed. Cai Jing, who holds a lot of money, thinks he can do whatever he wants in Lingnan. Unexpectedly, the people of the Northern Song Dynasty saw Cai Jing step down and clapped their hands and applauded. The song proves it: "Hitting the bucket (Tong Guan) and spilling the dish (Cai Jing) is a good world on earth." ”
Even, in order to show their dislike for Cai Jing, the people united and resolutely refused to sell anything to Cai Jing, even if Cai Jing paid more money. As a result, Cai Jing was surprised to find that the merchants on the street saw that they were all disgusted. I want to stay in the hotel, and the treasurer who opens the inn resolutely does not open the room. He wanted to eat, but the owner of the restaurant didn't even give a steamed bun and kept driving himself away.
After Cai Jing was exiled by a degraded official, he also wrote a poem during this period:
Eighty-one years of past, homeless for three thousand miles;
Alone in the ends of the world, looking at Shenzhou in tears.
The Golden Hall five once worshiped the face, the Jade Hall Ten Degree Xuanma;
Remembering the prosperity of the past, it has been translated into a dream here.
Memories of a lifetime of glory and wealth are full of sentimentality. During the long journey from Kaifeng to Changsha, Cai Jing could only survive on the grain he carried. It was hard to get to Changsha, and I could only shelter from the wind and rain in a broken temple in the suburbs. Soon, the grain on his body was finished, and Cai Jing fell into an unbearable hunger.
In addition, he was old, had limited mobility, and did not even have the strength to go out and beg for food. That night, Master Cai, who had pursued luxury to the extreme, was actually starved to death in the broken temple and buried in the leaky garden dedicated to the burial of those who died of poverty and illness. When he was dying, he couldn't help but sigh: "I have lost the hearts of the people in the world, otherwise, how could I have fallen to such a point!" ”
Unfortunately, he understood this truth too late.
Cai Jing had eight sons, Cai Yi died early, Cai You and Cai Yu were cursed, Cai Yu was exiled to Baizhou to die, Cai Jing was not punished for marrying a princess, and Cai Jing's other sons and grandsons were exiled to remote prefectures. In the fourth year of Qiandao, Cai Jing's descendants moved the skeleton back to xianyou Fengting's hometown, which is now Xi'nan Village, Fengting Town, Xianyou County, Putian County, for burial. Due to the fall of disrepair, the cemetery is now dilapidated.
Resources:
【History of Song", "Tomb of Cai Jing"】