Cai Jing was born in 1047 AD, a native of Chiling, Cixiaoli, Xianyou County, Xinghua Army of the Northern Song Dynasty (present-day Dongzhai Village, Fengting Town, Xianyou County, Putian City, Fujian Province). In the third year of Xi Ning (1070 AD), Cai Jing and his younger brother Cai Bian were admitted to the jinshi at the same time.
Speaking of Cai Jing, a powerful minister at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the world's first reaction to him was that he was an out-and-out traitor and a notorious adulterer. Since the late Northern Song Dynasty students listed Cai Jing as the head of the "six thieves" who endangered the country, Cai Jing's position as a traitor had taken shape and had never changed. In "Water Margin", Cai Jing's negative character image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The "History of the Song Dynasty" even directly included Cai Jing in the "Biography of a Traitorous Minister", saying that he was sinister and cunning, fierce in heart, and unscrupulous in cracking down on political enemies; saying that he confused the people and the lords, formed parties and engaged in selfishness, resulting in the corruption of the official style and the people's lack of livelihood; although the Northern Song Dynasty was not directly destroyed in his hands, he was a sinner of the Northern Song Dynasty who perished for thousands of years. All in all, he was one of the few treacherous men in history. But he was also a famous calligrapher, who was on a level with Su Dongpo, Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian at that time, but Cai Jing wore a hat of "traitor", and his calligraphy achievements were also removed from the list because of his image of a traitor.
Cai Jing is the treachery of people, the corruption of officials, and the misleading of the country. In the sixth year of Yuan Feng (1083 AD), Cai Jing sent an envoy to the Liao State as a Fengyi Lang, and was later worshipped as a Zhongshu Sheren. When he first entered the career, Cai Jing supported the change of law, and his brother Cai Bian was Wang Anshi's son-in-law, so he was appreciated by Wang Anshi and was even considered to be one of the candidates for future prime minister. However, when Sima Guang repealed the new law, Cai Jing actively followed Sima Guang. The two-sidedness of Cai Jing's personality and the two-sided style of politics can be seen.
After Emperor Huizong of Song succeeded to the throne, under the pressure of the chancellor ZengBu, Cai Jing was expelled from Beijing and was in a political trough. Because of his friendship with the favored inner attendant Tong Guan, he soon returned to the capital and began to rise and fall in the eunuch sea for four consecutive times.
Cai Jing consciously catered to The Preferences of Emperor Huizong of Song, further amplifying the debilitating mentality of his playthings. After Cai Jing came to power, he advocated "Fengheng Yuda" and vigorously encouraged Emperor Huizong of Song to splurge on it, and vigorously majored in "Da Sheng Le" and "Xuanhe Pictorial Notation". Cai Jing also fought in the Battle of Huashi gang. Emperor Huizong of Song liked stones, and Cai Jing arranged for his confidants to set up a "Ying Feng Bureau" in Suzhou to specifically search for exotic flowers and stones in the southeast area; they used large boats to form a "flower stone class" to transport them to Tokyo, and along the way to the narrow part of the canal, they did not disconnect from digging canals and demolishing houses, consuming state taxes, bringing heavy burdens to coastal residents, and causing public resentment to boil.
Cai Jing lived a life of poverty and luxury, and officials large and small had to pay him bribes. On Cai Jing's birthday, governments across the country also "contributed" large gifts, called "birthday programs". Cai Jing directly treated the national treasury as his own small treasury and took public funds at will. The local governments have increased their exploitation layer by layer, causing deep disasters to the people. This scene is vividly described in the novel "Water Margin". At that time, there was a song and ballad: "Hit the bucket (Tong Guan), splash the dish (Cai Jing), it is a good world in the world." ”
Because of Emperor Huizong of Song's favor, Cai Jing's high position of power, the improvement of political status and power, absolute power led to absolute corruption, Cai Jing's greed, he eradicated dissidents, and he was even merciful to his brother Cai Bian and son Cai You. A series of economic reforms, such as the salt law and the tea law, have caused businessmen to go bankrupt, the people are not happy, the people are miserable, and the sky is angry and resentful. Unable to survive, people rose up in various places to revolt, with the Fang La uprising in the south being the largest. The Fang La Rebellion was one of the most serious popular rebellions against the government in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, which directly shook the rule of the Northern Song Dynasty, resulting in the rapid defeat of the Northern Song Dynasty in subsequent foreign wars, and then the fall of the country.
In the first year of Jing Kang (1126 AD), because the Jin army went south, Emperor Huizong of Song gave the throne to Emperor Qinzong of Song, and the national situation became increasingly urgent and embarrassing, and Cai Jing moved his entire family to Jiangnan to escape the war in order to save himself. At the time of the national crisis, officials and people in the government and the public exposed the crimes of Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and others and demanded that they be punished. In the seventh year of Xuanhe (1125 AD), Chen Dong, a student of the Tai Dynasty, wrote to the imperial court, referring to Cai Jing, Wang Yi, Tong Guan, Liang Shicheng, Zhu Xun, Li Yan, and others as the "Six Thieves", believing that they should be killed for causing trouble to the country, and "spreading the word to the four sides to thank the world". Faced with a scene of public outrage, Song Qinzong in the first year of Jing Kang (1126 AD) sent Cai Jing "to degrade Chongxin, The deputy envoy of the Qingyuan Army, to resettle in Hengzhou, and to migrate to Shao and Dan'erzhou", Cai Jing carried a lot of money when he went to Danzhou," but he aroused the resentment of the common people, and he could not buy anything with money on the road, and finally, the 80-year-old Cai Jing died of starvation at the Chongjiao Temple in Tanzhou (present-day Changsha, Hunan).