The so-called ministers who took care of the emperor's life refer to the ministers who entrusted them with the heavy responsibility of governing the country because the crown prince who succeeded to the throne was young before his death. There is a poem that says, "Zhou Gong spits and feeds, and the world returns to the heart." Zhou Gong was the first minister in Chinese history to take care of his orders. But the prince will always grow up, so he will always return the government to the son of heaven when he grows up and carry out the transfer of power on behalf of the regent's minister. If the transfer of power is not smooth, or if the monarch is suspicious and the contradiction intensifies, there will be a struggle around power. Or the Son of Heaven was deposed, or the Minister of Life was demoted and killed, playing a magnificent story.
Bowing down to the fullest was in line with the expectations of the former emperor for the ministers of gu orders
Zhou Gongdan, also known as Ji Dan, was the first minister in history to take care of his orders. King Wu of Zhou had a short life and died a few years after laying down Yin Shangjiangshan. Originally, he wanted to pass jiangshan to his younger brother Zhou Gongdan, because Zhou Gongdan was too virtuous and more suitable for the younger son Ji Shu than his younger son Ji Shu. But Zhou Gongdan refused to accept it, so King Wu of Zhou entrusted Zhou Gongdan with a trust, "My son is your son, and I hope you will assist him in governing the world."
Zhou Gongdan assisted the young King Cheng of Zhou, shi zai "one year to save the chaos, two years to ke Yin, three years to jian hou wei, five years to camp into Zhou, six years to make ceremonies and music, seven years to become a king", Zhou Gongdan for the stability of the Zhou Dynasty, it can be said that it played a vital role, King Wu of Zhou can be said to have not misread the wrong person.
But even so, King Cheng of Zhou still had doubts about Zhou Gongdan and listened to the rumors that Zhou Gongdan had caused rebellion, and Zhou Gongdan fled to Chu in order to avoid disaster. Later, King Chengwang of Zhou realized his mistake and invited zhou Gongdan back to eliminate the misunderstanding. Zhou Gongdan was finally able to die well, and the first minister in history to take care of his life got a good ending.
The second chancellor in history was Zhao Gongyi and Bi Gonggao left by King Ji of Zhou to his son Ji Zhao, and these two sages, like Zhou Gongdan, assisted King Ji Zhao of Zhou Kang to achieve the "rule of Cheng Kang" and also died well. It can be seen that Ji Shu also gave birth to a pair of wise eyes, and the two ministers who took care of their lives did not fail in their mission.
The most famous minister of gu orders that we are familiar with is Zhuge Liang, a sage minister who was entrusted to the city of Liu Beibai during the Three Kingdoms period. When Liu Bei died, Liu Chan was young, so he entrusted Jiangshan and his son to Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang could be said to have bowed down in order to complete the great cause of the revival of the Han Dynasty by the ancestors, and died later. Unfortunately, Liu Chan, who he protected, was a Dou who could not be helped. Zhuge Liang died of exhaustion on the battlefield, but he finally died a good death. Liu Bei can also be regarded as a lonely person.
Whether to degrade or kill, the Minister of Life is a very risky role
Compared with Zhou Gongdan, Zhao Gongyi, Bi Gonggao, and Zhuge Liang, most of the ministers who took care of their lives were not so lucky. Because of the temptation of power, the new emperor generally grew up and often could not forget the regency of the previous minister. If the new emperor is narrow-minded, he will take extreme measures against the ministers of the gu order, killing their former prestige, so that the bad luck of the ministers will come.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, before the death of Emperor Liu Yu of the Song Dynasty, fu Liang, the leading general Xie Han, the zhenbei general Tan Daoji, and The Sikong Xu Xianzhi were appointed as assistant ministers. These auxiliary ministers were bent on serving the country, and deposed and killed Liu Yifu, the young emperor of Song, and Liu Yilong, who was created emperor, for Emperor Wen of Song.
However, they looked away, Emperor Wen of Song was more virtuous than Emperor Shao of Song, but his heart was not big at all. When several auxiliary ministers returned to power to Emperor Wen of Song, Emperor Wen of Song immediately poisoned several auxiliary ministers, because he did not allow the ministers to depose the emperor and dare to kill him. As a result, Xu Xianzhi fled unsuccessfully and died, Fu Liang was killed without success in fleeing, Xie Han raised an army to resist and was killed, Tan Daoji was even more miserable, and his eight sons were beheaded.
Like the four ministers of Emperor Wu of Song, there are many in history: Li Renhan was the minister of gu order left by the Later Shu emperor Meng Zhixiang to his son, and was killed for his meritorious service; Shi Hongzhao was the chancellor left by Liu Zhiyuan, the emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, to his son, and was killed by emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty; Suksaha was the Shunzhi Emperor's minister of honor left to the Kangxi Emperor, who was executed and sentenced to death in a political struggle with Aobai, while Aobai, who was also a minister of the Kangxi Emperor, was captured by the Kangxi Emperor and died alive in prison; The fate of the eight ministers left by the Xianfeng Emperor to his son was even more miserable, and they fought with the empress dowager of the two palaces for power and profit, and before they could "take care of their lives", they were all killed by a nest, "Zaiyuan and Duanhua both committed suicide with the gift of Jia'en" and "Su followed Jia'en to make a decision", Mu Yin was exiled, and Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying were dismissed.
Compared with the slain Minister of Life, the degraded Minister of Life is much better. Emperor Taizong of Tang left his son Li Zhi two chancellors Chu Suiliang and changsun Wuji, and as a result, these two men met their political rival Wu Zetian, and they did not get a good end by assisting Li Zhi, and were relegated by Wu Zetian to a remote area to suffer. The two heroes of the Three Dynasties finally died in exile, and the eldest grandson Wuji's family was also affected by Zhu Lian, and some were killed. And Ming Muzong left to his son Emperor Wanli to order the ministers Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Gao Yi, the situation did not get much better, Zhang Juzheng was able to die well, but his children and grandchildren were subjected to strains, family members starved to death, exiled; Both Gao Gong and Gao Yi were relegated to their homes to "idle", depressed and sick.
That's a good result.
For the sake of the son, the most sinister and successful minister of life
The most successful ministers in history, except for Zhou Gongdan, Zhao Gongyi, Bi Gonggao, and Zhuge Liang, had to be counted as Sima Yi. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu, and Wu all had ministers of gu orders, Zhuge Liang of the Shu kingdom, Zhuge Ke of the Wu state, and Cao Shuang and Sima Yi of the Wei state.
Zhuge Ke's fate was very bad, and he was wiped out of the three tribes; Cao Shuang's fate was even worse, and he was crowned by Sima Yi's rebellion against gaopingling to raz the three tribes. Zhuge Liang died of exhaustion in Wuzhangyuan, and both his son and grandson were killed in battle. Only Sima Yi, Tao Guang, was obscure and ambitious, and finally his grandson took Wei and replaced him as the founding emperor of the Jin dynasty.
Sima Yi can be said to be the most intelligent careerist in history, the most sinister and successful minister of life. As early as the time of Cao Cao, Cao Cao saw Sima Yi's talent, but also saw the terrible points of Sima Yi, predicting that Sima Yi would be unfavorable to the Cao family. But because Sima Yi was talented, he couldn't bear to kill him.
- The cleverness of Sima Yi lies in the fact that in the face of such male lords as Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui, he pretended to be very similar and showed great loyalty, so although Sancao had doubts about Sima Yi, he had to use his talents. Especially in the era of Cao Rui, Sima Yi was the only one who could resist Zhuge Liang of the Shu state, and Cao Rui could only use and defend against him.
- Sima Yi's insidiousness was that he was not loyal to the State of Wei in his heart, but was always looking for opportunities. Launching the Gao Pingling Revolution was the best time he was looking for. The three thousand jiashi he had cultivated came in handy, and finally truly established his absolute position in the State of Wei.
Sima Yi not only held the power himself, but also cultivated his son to succeed him while he was alive, and finally formed the trend of "Sima Zhao's heart, known to everyone". Later, several Cao emperors became puppets of the Sima family. In the end, Sima Yan retook the road of Cao Pi and took away the Cao family' jiangshan...
Excerpt from | "Leadership Digest" July 2022
Source of the manuscript | "A Short History of Ancient Life by Lu Ren"
This article is written by | Land abandonment
Responsible Editor | Dawn
WeChat Editor | And also