As we all know, in the history of the Song Dynasty, there were many well-known prime ministers, such as Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi and others. These people are not only conscientious in their work, but also highly appreciated in their conduct. But there is a prime minister who is very special, he is upright, more selfless than Bao Zheng. However, when he played adultery, he was even more cunning than Qin Juniper. And it is such a capricious personality, but it is called a generation of sages. Who is this person? He is Wang Zeng.
Wang Zeng, also spelled Xiaoxian, was born in the third year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song. His parents died when he was eight years old and he was raised by his uncle Wang Zongyuan. Because he was diligent and studious since childhood, and his thinking was quick, he had a talent name at a young age. In the fifth year of Xianping, Wang Zeng won the first place in the temple examination, and because he was also the first in the previous examination of the liberation and the provincial examination, he became the legendary "Lianzhong Sanyuan". This kind of difficulty is even more difficult than the current Ph.D. examination. For more than 1400 years, there are only 17 people in the liberal arts and sciences. The difficulty can be imagined. At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty literary scholar Yang Yi saw the gift made by Wang Zeng and said appreciatively: "This is a talent to assist the emperor!" ”
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, he was a bureaucrat and a servant, and two times he attended the governor's affairs. He also advised Song Zhenzong to reduce the "Heavenly Book" and the repair of the palace. In the second year of tianxi, Wang Zeng was framed by the chancellor Wang Qinruo and appointed as the prefect of Yingtian. At that time, there was a folk rumor in Ying Tianfu that there were demons who arrested people at night to eat, which made people panic. The king once had the gate open at night and shouted to the neighbors, "If there is a demon, come and eat me first." As a result, wang Zeng lived well the next day, and the rumors were not self-defeating.
After the death of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Empress Dowager Liu'e bowed to the government. Wang Zeng was ordered to enter the palace to draft a will: "With Empress Mingsu as an auxiliary crown prince, Quan (the meaning of the agent) listens to the major affairs of the military state." In order to curry favor with Empress Liu, the chancellor Ding Said asked Wang Zeng to remove the word "quan". However, Wang Zeng did not agree, insisting that the empress dowager was only acting as an agent of state affairs. Later, in order to achieve the goal of power and opposition, Ding Zhi proposed that the young Emperor Renzong only receive ministers on the first and fifteenth day of the first month of each month. Major matters were decided by the empress dowager, and minor matters were forbidden by the eunuch Lei Yungong, and the decision could be ordered by Lei Yungong.
Wang Zeng did not agree to Ding's proposal. After being opposed, he coldly watched Ding Zhiyi's every move and silently collected evidence. Later, he seized the opportunity to take down Ding Zhi and Lei Yungong in one fell swoop. From then on, even Empress Liu began to listen to Wang Zeng's opinions. Wang Zeng is not a perfect character, and his biggest shortcoming is his narrow-mindedness. After Wang Zeng embarked on a career path, in order to improve his social status, he married his cousin to Confucius's descendant Kong Mian . However, Kong Mian and his wife had a bad relationship and often quarreled.
At that time, Song Zhenzong was planning to seal Mount Taishan, and if the news of the discord between the husband and wife came out on the ground in Shandong, it would definitely be Wang Zeng's cousin who suffered the loss. After all, Kong Mian inherited the title of Duke of Yansheng. In order to help his cousin cover up the truth, Wang zeng deliberately went to the Confucius Mansion as a guest. Soon after he came out, there was a rumor that Kong Mian wanted to poison him with poisonous wine. Wang Zeng also played it falsely and said, "I believe that confucius's descendants should not be such people, there must be a misunderstanding!" Song Zhenzong was busy sealing Zen and did not have time to deal with the family affairs of the Kong family, but Kong Mian's status in his mind had dropped by a large margin. Later, some officials cried out for Kong Mian and Song Zhenzong kept him in custody. Wang used means to save face for himself. For such a person, do you say he is good or bad?