More than 2,000 years ago, While chanting the slogan "The prince will have a kind of peace", Chen Sheng set off a mighty peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty and sounded the death knell of the fall of the Qin Dynasty. As he said, not all those who have been able to accomplish something since ancient times have a noble bloodline and a prominent origin. On the contrary, countless historical celebrities have come from poor backgrounds, and it is only by relying on their own efforts and the care of fate that they have become famous figures in history.
For example, Liu Bangju, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, was only a wandering pavilion chief, ming taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant, who had worked as a monk and a beggar for his livelihood. However, those who came from a poor background but later developed their origins are not all worth learning, such as the Tang Dynasty's Yuan Zai, who won the throne by relying on the eunuch Li Fuguo, and later helped the emperor get rid of Li Fuguo to gain favor. After taking power, he was arrested and killed, and when the imperial court raided his family property, he found more than sixty tons of pepper in his palace.
In the first year of the new century (713), Yuan Zai was born in Qishan County, Fengxiang Province, in the area of present-day Qishan County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. According to the Old Book of Tang, although Yuan Zai's family was poor, he was eager to learn from an early age and could be called a book lover. Such diligence and studiousness, coupled with his innate intelligence, Yuan Zai soon read a wide range of books, especially the Taoist doctrine. Because of his poverty, he could only walk to the examination hall to take the township examination, but he failed to pass the examination several times.
In the first year of Tianbao (742), Tang Xuanzong, who respected Taoism, held a curatorial examination to recruit talents from all over the world, and Yuan Zai went to take the exam and successfully passed the entrance examination. Since then, Yuan Zai has held many positions, but mainly as an official in the trial and deliberation category at Dali Temple. After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Yuan Zai went to Jiangnan to avoid trouble, and was interviewed by Jiangdong to make Li Xiyan a deputy, and later served as the Assassin of Hongzhou. In October of the first year of the Reign of Emperor De (756), Emperor Suzong of Tang returned to Chang'an, and Yuan Zai was given the title of Duzhi Langzhong (度支郎中), and soon afterwards he was promoted to the post of Envoy of Jianghuai (江淮轉使) and Yushi Zhongcheng (御史中丞) because he was good at dealing with Tang Suzong's questions.
In the first year of Baoying (762), Emperor Suzong of Tang was seriously ill, and his trusted eunuch Li Fuguo controlled the imperial government for a time, and Yuan Zai went to tie the knot by virtue of his relationship with Li Fuguo's wife, Yu Tongzong. With the support of Li Fuguo, Yuan Zai was finally worshipped as the prime minister. After Emperor Tang succeeded to the throne, Li Fuguo became more powerful because of his meritorious service, remembering the feeling of "ally", and he also praised Yuan Zai's merits many times before driving. On the other hand, Yuan Zai displayed his ability to observe words and colors, winning the favor of the Tang Dynasty Emperor.
Not long after, Emperor Tang was dissatisfied with Li Fuguo, who was making a fortune in the dynasty, so he approached Yuan Zai and plotted to eliminate him. Yuan Zai did not have the slightest friendship for Li Fuguo, a stepping stone, so he decisively helped the emperor to formulate a plan and assassinate him. The following year, in order to further consolidate his position, Yuan Zai befriended the internal attendant Dong Xiu and Zhuo Yingqian, who was in charge of the documents, and asked them to listen to the news of the inner court and report to themselves, so as to find out the emperor's intentions in advance and better deal with them.
In the fifth year of the Gregorian calendar (770), Yuan Zai also helped Emperor Tang dynasty get rid of the eunuch Yu Chao'en, who held the forbidden army, and from then on monopolized power, and was keen to support his henchmen and exclude dissidents. On the other hand, he was so corrupt that anyone who wanted to be promoted did not need to give him a generous gift first, and by amassing these ill-gotten gains, he built a large mansion in the north and south of the capital, and the history books commented: "Murong Yu hongli, crowned at that time." ”
Emperor Tang Dynasty knew exactly what Yuan Zai had done, but remembering his years of affection for the monarch and his exploits in eradicating Li Fuguo and Yu Chao'en, he only privately summoned him to the palace for bitter advice. Yuan Zai did not think anything of this, and Tang Dynasty Emperor was finally determined to get rid of it like Li and Yu.
In the twelfth year of the Gregorian calendar (777), the Tang Dynasty sect sent the general Zuo Jinwu (左金吾) general Wu Zhuo (吴凑) to arrest Yuan Zai and imprison all his cronies. On the same day, Yuan Zai was given to commit suicide, and then his wife Wang Shi, his three sons, and Dong Xiu, Zhuo Yingqian, and others who had helped him spy on the inner palace did not escape death. Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty sect sent people to confiscate Yuan Zai's family property, and found eight hundred stones in his home just for pepper, which was converted into more than sixty tons in today's units.
As an exotic plant, pepper was very precious in the Tang Dynasty, and it is even said that pepper at that time could be spread directly among the upper classes as a hard currency. It is conceivable that the yuan zai who hoarded more than sixty tons of pepper in the family really coveted how much property. After this, Emperor Tang was not satisfied, so he ordered that the graves of Yuan Zai's grandfather and father be excavated and the corpses in the tombs discarded in the wilderness. As for many of the real estate mansions purchased and built by Yuan Zai before his death, they were also demolished.
In the first year of Xingyuan (784), Tang Dezong succeeded to the throne, because Yuan Zai had helped him ascend to the throne of the crown prince, so he issued an edict to restore Yuan Zai's official position and reburied him. More than 600 years after Yuan Zai's death, Yu Qian, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "Pepper eight hundred hu, a thousand years of fishy shame." This is to criticize the yuan zai of poverty and extravagance, believing that its shameless behavior will be left behind for eternity. It is true that Yuan Zai's early learning is worth learning, but his series of behaviors after that can only make people feel disdainful, and he is destined to be nailed to the column of shame of history and forever reviled by the world.