In ancient China, in order to compete for the right to speak in government affairs, the means adopted by the officialdom were often to "make small reports", that is, to seize one or two sentences of the other party's discourse, and then use their imagination to report to the emperor for their disloyal intentions to rebel.
And most emperors usually "prefer to believe what they have, not to trust what they have", to ensure that their authoritative rule will not be shaken by any threat, and to adopt the practice of "preferring to kill a thousand wrong, rather than let go of one", so China's officialdom has had a persecutory atmosphere since ancient times.
In ancient times, the relationship between ministers was mostly mutually harmful
The reason why Su Dongpo, the great writer we know, had such a bad life in the second half of his life was because he was maliciously slandered by others. The "Wutai Poetry Case", which was specifically aimed at Su Dongpo's literary prison, also implicated Su Dongpo's younger brother "Su Rui" and his friend "Wang Jie", and the three of them were not only demoted to official posts, but also demoted to other places and lived a life of upheaval and displacement.
When several years had passed since the Wutai poetry case, after the death of Emperor Renzong of Song, he was succeeded by his ten-year-old son Zhao Xu, with the imperial name "Song Zhezong".
However, due to the emperor's young age, the affairs of the imperial government were managed by the empress dowager in the form of a curtain-down, and the empress dowager was a staunch conservative who opposed Wang Anshi's new law, so during the Song Zhezong period, she who supported Sima Guang and Su Dongpo abolished Wang Anshi's new law, while the reform faction that supported the new law was suppressed as never before.
After Sima Guang's death, the leaderless conservative faction soon disintegrated, from two factions to a political struggle between three parties, namely the Luo Party, the Shu Party, and the Shuo Party, which constituted the famous "Yuanyou Party Struggle" in the history of the Song Dynasty.
Su Dongpo was relegated to other places after experiencing the Wutai poetry case, which was the most difficult moment in his life, and he almost wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the lake. After this incident, the Luo Party, which supported the new law, continued to target him, wanting to create another Wutai poetry case and kill Su Dongpo.
Wutai poetry case
Jia Yi, a member of the Luo Party, was not happy to see Su Dongpo, but at that time, Su Dongpo was relegated to a place far away from the capital, but Jia Yi still refused to let Go of Su Dongpo, because Su Dongpo was once the leader of the Shu Party who supported the conservatives, so Jia Yi often played a twist and said bad things about Su Dongpo. At that time, the empress dowager, who was in charge of the affairs of the imperial government, liked Su Dongpo's poetry very much, so she did not let Jia Yi's treacherous plan succeed.
Jia Yi repeatedly made small reports, which were disgusted by the empress dowager, so the empress dowager issued a decree to transfer Jia Yi to other places.
I thought that Jia Yi would stop when he went to other places, but he did not know that after Jia Yi was transferred to other places, he actually continued to make a small report, saying that when Song Shenzong died, the whole country was mourning, but Su Dongpo wrote a poem when he was in Yangzhou, and one of the poems, "The mountain temple returns to smell good words, and the wild flowers cry and are happy", which was misinterpreted by Jia Yi as "ridiculing the emperor", so he took this opportunity to make a small report to the empress dowager, saying that Su Dongpo had allied with Lü Tao of the Shu party and reported that they had the intention of rebellion. As a result, he was transferred by the empress dowager to a place farther away from the capital. Since then, Jia Yi, who knows that Su Dongpo's status is difficult to shake, no longer toss himself to find trouble with Su Dongpo.
In his later years, Su Dongpo, who was degraded to Qiongzhou, was very comfortable
Just when the two parties of Luoshu were fighting each other to the death and their heads were bleeding, the Shuo Party, which represented the northern forces, stayed aside and raised obscurity, and finally reaped the benefits and seized the power of the government. It can be seen from this that the Luo Party's practice of making small reports and maliciously reporting them will not work, and it will hurt others and harm itself, which can be said to be more than worth the loss.
In ancient Chinese history, there were many people who loved to make small reports, such as Gongsun Hong, who was proficient in Confucianism but did despicable things.
Gongsun Hong reached a consensus after talking to other ministers in private, but did not propose it in front of Emperor Wu of Han, which seemed untrustworthy, contrary to the consensus reached with the ministers before, and also trampled on other ministers.
Gongsun Hong's behavior of "one set on the surface and one set behind the scenes" has aroused the dissatisfaction of his peers. It's like a migrant worker getting together to discuss how to get the boss to give us a raise, and another worker reports the incident to the boss.
Therefore, when Ji Dian, who could not bear it, openly accused Gongsun Hong in front of the emperor: "The Qi people are deceitful and ruthless, and they have originally made this proposal with their ministers and others, but now they are doubly loyal." ”
Emperor Wu of Han listened to Ji Di's words and then asked Gongsun Hong what was going on, and Gongsun Hong played a tai chi and prevaricated: "Those who know their subjects are loyal to their subjects, and those who do not know their subjects regard their subjects as disloyal." ”
Gongsun Hong's words mean: Those who know me think I am loyal, and those who do not know me think I am disloyal.
Gongsun Hong and Ji Dian argue in the court
After this incident, Emperor Wudi of Han treated Gongsun Hong more kindly than ever, and Ji Dian had also been angry with Emperor Wu of Han, and this kind of outspoken person naturally did not attract the emperor's favor, so Gongsun Hong repeatedly instigated Emperor Wu of Han to attack the Nine Tribes of Emperor Wu, but he never succeeded as he wished, only because Emperor Wu of Han always remembered the truth that "it is better to be loyal to the ear than to act".
This judgment of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made Huaiyang County the most incorruptible and administratively efficient place in the Han Dynasty at that time under the administration of Ji Dian. When Emperor Wu of Han saw the situation, he treated Ji Dian kindly, and ordered Ji Dian to enjoy the treatment of the princes and ministers.
Compared with Ji Dian, Dong Zhongshu was more unlucky.
Dong Zhongshu and Gongsun Hong both belong to Confucianism, but the difference is that Dong Zhongshu is a clean and honest person, and he does not engage in the practice of forming gangs and rejecting dissidents, and his academic achievements in Confucianism are much more powerful than those of Gongsun Hong. But Dong Zhongshu had a shortcoming, that is, he violated Confucius's teaching of "not speaking strangely and chaotically".
Dong Zhongshu looked down on Gongsun Hong, who flattered the monarch, and felt that he had betrayed the Confucian spirit of "the king makes the emperor courteous, and the subject is loyal".
Dong Zhongshu had invited Emperor Wu of Han
At the same time, Gongsun Hong was also very jealous of Dong Zhongshu, because many people in the court agreed that Dong Zhongshu was more talented than him, so Dong Zhongshu was regarded as a thorn in Gongsun Hong's eyes.
Liu Duan, the king of Jiaoxi, was the elder brother of Emperor Wu of Han, who was violent and murderous at every turn, ran amok in the fiefdom, committed misdeeds, and killed ministers sent by the imperial court many times, which made Emperor Wu of Han feel very headache, and this gave Gongsun Hong the opportunity to persecute Dong Zhongshu, and he proposed that Dong Zhongshu go to negotiate with the King of Jiaoxi, saying that "Dong Zhongshu alone can make the King of Jiaoxi", and later Emperor Wu of Han adopted Gongsun Hong's proposal.
Dong Zhongshu, who learned of this news, felt that a catastrophe was imminent, but what gongsun Hong and Dong Zhongshu himself did not expect was that the king of Jiaoxi had long admired Dong Zhongshu's reputation and treated him uncharacteristically, and things once again did not go as Gongsun Hong wished.
Despite this, Dong Zhongshu stayed on the territory of the King of Jiaoxi and was still afraid, so he resigned his official duties and went home on the grounds of old age and infirmity.
End
In ancient Chinese history, people who designed to murder others abounded, although there was no shortage of upright gentlemen, but in terms of trickery, they were not as vicious as these sinister villains, such as the most famous traitor in history, Qin Juniper, in contrast, Jia Yi, Gongsun Hong, and others were obviously decent figures.
Finally, I would like to quote a passage that Lao Tzu once said, and as the end of this article, I hope to encourage the readers. The original text is as follows:
"Neither his god does harm anyone, nor does a saint hurt anyone, nor does his husband and wife hurt each other, so virtue is returned."