What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Twenty-Four Histories of China belong to the official history, each of which has its own "Biography of traitors", which specifically records those corrupt officials and courtiers who put personal interests above national interests, corruption, and tyranny that led to the demise of the previous dynasty, so that future rulers can learn lessons and maintain the long-term peace and stability of the dynasty.
However, in the "History of Song" compiled by the Yuan Dynasty, we see some unexpected records: the officials who supported the change of law during the song shenzong and song zhezong periods, such as Lü Huiqing, Zhang Huan, Cai Qing, and others, were actually included in the "Biography of Traitors" by yuan dynasty historians. Although Wang Anshi was not included in the "Biography of the Traitorous Minister of the History of the Song Dynasty", the evaluation of Wang Anshi by successive dynasties since the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty was also comparable to that of "traitorous minister", and it was not until China entered modern society that all sectors of society re-understood the value of Wang Anshi's transformation of the law.
Logically, Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, Cai Qing, and others presided over the change of law, enriched the country and strengthened the army, and pushed the national strength of the Great Song Empire to the peak before the death of Song Zhezong, making outstanding contributions to the development of the country. However, most of these ministers who contributed to the development of the country were included in the "Biography of Traitors", and even Wang Anshi himself had many negative evaluations. Then, why did officials such as Wang Anshi and Zhang Huan, who supported the change of law, become "traitors" in the eyes of future generations? This involves a person, Cai Jing, a speculator involved in Wang Anshi's transformation.
Wang Anshi (1021–1086)
Cai Jing's "cooperation" with Wang Anshi and Zhang Wei
Cai Jing was a chancellor and calligrapher in the late Northern Song Dynasty. He was the number one traitor to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty and one of the participants in Wang Anshi's transformation. In 1069, Emperor Shenzong of Song appointed Wang Anshi as his deputy chancellor, initiating a vigorous reform movement. The following year, Cai Jing traveled from Fujian to Kaifeng to take the exam and won the Jinshi. At this time, Wang Anshi could not have imagined that Cai Jing would stand in his camp of changing the law and become the main cadre of the new party.
During the implementation of the new law, the contradictions of the Northern Song Dynasty were alleviated, and the combat effectiveness of the army was steadily improved. However, Cai Jing's own motives for participating in the change of law have gradually been exposed. Wang Anshi and Zhang Huan engaged in changing the law in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, not for selfish purposes. Cai Jing's participation in the change of law is entirely political speculation, and he used Wang Anshi's change of law to gain political capital. Because the loopholes in the new law were beneficial to Cai Jing's personal promotion and wealth, this made Cai Jing desperately support Wang Anshi's change of law.
During his participation in the change of law, Cai Jing co-opted Wang Anshi at every turn. His professional ability is strong, and the handling of the new law is a matter of course. His younger brother Cai Bian was Wang Anshi's son-in-law. After the death of Emperor Shenzong of Song, Empress Gao and Sima Guang launched a large-scale purge of the New Party, and Cai Jing was demoted by Sima Guang to become an official in other places, and there was a downturn in his life.
Gao Taotao (1032–1093), empress of Emperor Yingzong of Song and mother of Emperor Shenzong of Song (Empress Gao, Empress Gao)
In 1094, Empress Gao died, and Emperor Zhezong of Song pro-government appointed Zhang Huan, a backbone of the Reform Faction, as chancellor. After Zhang Huan came to power, he restored Wang Anshi's new law and launched a large-scale retaliation against conservatives. After Zhang Huan came to power, Cai Jing returned to Kaifeng to serve as Hubu Shangshu, and he continued to support Zhang Huan's new restoration law, appearing in front of Song Zhezong and Manchu Wenwu as the "backbone of the new party". And Song Zhezong and Manchu Wenwu naturally did not think that Cai Jing's support for Zhang Wei's restoration of the new law was not out of public conscience. Once enough political capital was gained, his true face was revealed.
In 1100, Emperor Zhezong of Song died, and Zhang Huan was deposed by Emperor Huizong of Song for preventing Emperor Huizong of Song from ascending the throne. Cai Jing saw the opportunity and gradually gained the trust of Emperor Huizong of Song and became the minister of power who single-handedly covered the sky during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. During his tenure as chancellor, Cai Jing brutalized Zhongliang, beat up officials who opposed him (including new party officials) into yuanyou party members and launched a frenzied persecution, and he also vigorously scavengeed the people's fat and people's ointment, which aroused strong resistance from the people at the bottom.
Cai Jing had supported the change of law, but he had spent the wealth left by the two generations of Ming Emperors of Song And Emperor Shenzong and Song Zhezong. In 1125, Cai Jing was deposed by Emperor Qinzong of Song, but the Northern Song Empire was already in turmoil. In 1126, the Jin army conquered Kaifeng, and the Northern Song Dynasty collapsed.
Above: Zhao Huan of The Song Dynasty (1100–1156)
Officials such as Wang Anshi and Zhang Wei carried Cai Jing's black cauldron
In fact, as early as 1125, when Song Qinzong ascended the throne, criticism of New Party officials such as Wang Anshi had already begun. After Song Qinzong ascended the throne, an official publicly stated that "the source of Cai Jing's mistake in the country is Wang Anshi." Yang Shi, an official known for Cheng Men Lixue, also pointed out that Cai Jing's disaster on the country and the people were hated, but it was Wang Anshi who was mainly responsible for Cai Jing's disaster. Who let Cai Jing work under Wang Anshi?
In 1126 AD, Emperor Gaozong of Song ascended the throne as emperor, and the Southern Song Dynasty was established. At that time, Zhao Shuo, the 9th son of Emperor Huizong of Song, wanted to do everything he could to find a man with a back to alleviate his father's guilt for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, and under the guidance of this political trend, the criticism of Wang Anshi and other new party officials became louder and louder.
Cai Jing (蔡京, 14 February 1047 – 11 August 1126), courtesy name Yuanchang, was a Northern Song Dynasty chancellor and calligrapher
In 1134, Zhao Zhuo asked Fan Chong, who compiled the Records of Emperor Shenzong of Song, to change the legal tone for Wang Anshi, and Zhao Shuo and Fan Chong and other Southern Song officials believed that the culprit of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was the traitor Cai Jing, not Emperor Huizong of Song. But Wang Anshi and other new party officials also bore a great deal of responsibility for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. This is because: Cai Jing is an active participant in Wang Anshi's change of law, without Wang Anshi's change of law, there will be no political space for Cai Jing to rise, and there will be no Cai Jing who deceived the emperor during the Song Huizong period and brought calamity to the country and the people.
With the support of Zhao Shuo, the official history books of the Southern Song Dynasty set a reverse tone for Wang Anshi, and Zhang Huan, a key official who supported Wang Anshi's change of law, was demoted by Zhao Zhuo many years after his death. The Court of the Southern Song Dynasty also decreed that "the descendants of Zhang Huan can never be officials." In 1197, after Emperor Xiaozong of Song ascended the throne, Wang Anshi's son Wang Yun was expelled from the Confucius Temple. In 1244, Emperor Lizong of Song evaluated Wang Anshi as a "sinner of all ages" and removed Wang Anshi's tablet from the Confucius Temple.
Zhao Yun (26 January 1205 – 16 November 1264), also known as Emperor Lizong of Song
From the last emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Qinzong, to the emperors after The Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, all set the opposite tone for Wang Anshi and Zhang Wei. Wang Anshi and Zhang Wei were all negative evaluations, and the Southern Song Dynasty's evaluation of Cai Qing, Lü Huiqing, and other new party officials was understandable.
Of course, from today's perspective of history, New Party officials such as Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, and Cai Qing are not traitors, but they have only carried a black cauldron for Cai Jing, who has brought calamity to the country and the people. However, at that time, people could not recognize the positive significance of Wang Anshi's change of law, let alone rehabilitate Wang Anshi, Zhang Wei and other officials involved in the change of law.
After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty was established. The Yuan Dynasty historians accepted all the evaluations of Wang Anshi and other new party officials by the southern Song Dynasty political circles according to the order, and included Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, Cai Qing, and other officials in the "Biography of The Traitors of the Song Dynasty." Although Wang Anshi was not included in the "Biography of the Traitors of the Song Dynasty," the Yuan Dynasty's evaluation of Wang Anshi was a comprehensive negative evaluation, and it was a "political error" to rehabilitate Wang Anshi for changing the law. Since then, the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties have continued to adhere to the negative evaluation of the Southern Song Dynasty officials of the New Party such as Wang Anshi and Zhang Huan, and regard Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, and others as "traitors."
It was not until China entered modern society and ushered in "a major change unprecedented in 3,000 years" that people re-evaluated the positive significance of Wang Anshi's transformation and gave a comprehensive and objective evaluation of Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lu Huiqing and other new party officials.
Above_ Wang Anshi transformation method
Look at the change method today
To this day, there is still some controversy in the historical circles' evaluation of Wang Anshi's transformation of the law, and even the evaluation of Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, Cai Qing, and other new party officials. However, most historians today have been able to stand at the height of history and see as a whole a series of social problems encountered by the Northern Song Dynasty before Wang Anshi's transformation of the law, and generally believe that Wang Anshi's transformation of the law has played a positive role in promoting the rich country and strong army of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Officials such as Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, and Cai Qing are also positive officials who want the country to be strong, and they are in stark contrast to Cai Jing's participation in the change of law for political opportunism. It is obviously unfair to list them alongside Cai Jing as so-called "traitors."
Above_ Map of the Northern Song Dynasty
To be fair, before Wang Anshi changed the law, the problem of three redundancies in the Northern Song Dynasty was very serious, and the New Deal of the Qing calendar came to an abrupt end. The Great Song Empire needed a reform movement that enriched the country and strengthened the army, and Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi, Song Zhezong, Zhang Huan and other highly responsible monarchs and ministers who were highly responsible for the country's prosperity and strength stepped onto the stage of history in this context, and they withstood huge controversy and promulgated a series of laws, including the Qingmiao Law and the Exemption Law, to increase the financial income of the Song Dynasty, so that the Song army achieved a series of military victories.
Until the late reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song, the northern Song Dynasty's national strength flourished, and repeatedly defeated the Western Xia invasion, recaptured Tiandu Mountain, and beat the Western Xia to kneel for peace, creating the most brilliant era in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty. Even if there is a problem with Wang Anshi's change of law, it is only a problem in the implementation of the law, as well as loopholes in the new law, and we cannot negate the change of law because of these problems and loopholes, negate the contributions of officials such as Wang Anshi, Zhang Huan, Lü Huiqing, and Cai Qing, and still less can we equate them with the traitor Cai Jing.