China has always been known as a country of etiquette, and quality education is a high-quality education model advocated by the current state.
When it comes to the virtue of humility, most people will inevitably think of the allusion to "Kong Rong Rong let the pear".
After thousands of years of endless inheritance, Kong Rong's name seems to have become synonymous with "comity".
But strangely, we are immersed in such a beautiful story, but never pay attention to the teenager's path to adulthood.
Kong Rong was a great talent and was listed as one of the seven sons of Jian'an, but he was born in a chaotic world.
His life has had ups and downs, with glory and troughs.
In 208 AD, the fifty-six-year-old Kong Rong was painted with a life termination charm.
However, his thoughts and spirit were passed down to future generations and lived up to his youthful reputation.
The amazing talent of young Kong Rong
Kong Rong was killed by Cao Cao.
From a historical point of view, his death is a tragedy, a loss in the process of Chinese culture.
Standing in the present and looking at this massacre from God's perspective, we will find that Kong Rong's death was an inevitable political sacrifice.
Kong Rong was gifted and intelligent, and when he was a teenager, he followed his father to Luoyang.
At that time, Li Yuanli, a heavy minister of the Han Dynasty, was holding a banquet.
Kong Rong also wanted to participate.
Without a name in his hand, he went directly to visit him, claiming to be Li Yuanli's former friend.
After the next person passed on, Li Yuanli thought that it was really a visit from the old friend, so he quickly invited Kong Rong into the house.
He was a little surprised when he saw that the so-called former friend was a ten-year-old child.
But instead of scolding Kong Rong for driving him out of the mansion, he laughed and asked him why he claimed to be his old friend.
Kong Rong faced many guests in the hall and replied calmly and calmly: "My ancestor Confucius once studied under your ancestor Laozi, so that we are not only old friends, but also family friends!" ”
When Li Yuanli and all the guests heard Kong Rong's words, they all smiled.
At the same time, people secretly admired his intelligence.
As an adult, Kong Rong traveled through various forces.
He has worked for Yang Ci, He Jin, Dong Zhuo and others.
It's just that Kong Rong is honest and kind, and he abides by the courtesy of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, he has always scoffed at the ambition of the rebel thief Dong Zhuo, and has been at odds with it at every turn.
However, Dong Zhuo controlled the imperial government and had great power in his hands.
Faced with Kong Rong's hostility, he immediately ordered him to be sent to Beihai, hoping that he would die at the hands of the Yellow Turban Army, which was rampant and abnormal.
Fortunately, General Tai Shici, who was guarding Beihai at that time, had been helping Kong Rong, so that he did not lose his opponent.
But Kong Rong is a literati after all, and he is not good at martial affairs.
In the end, the group was defeated by Yuan Tan and retreated to the Central Plains.
At that time, Emperor Xian of Han had become the titular ruler of the Han Dynasty.
Knowing Kong Rong's name of Zhongxiao, he ordered him to become an official in the dynasty.
It was at this time that Kong Rong met his lifelong nemesis, Cao Cao.
The foreshadowing of Kong Rong's death
As mentioned earlier, Kong Rong was a loyal minister who strictly abided by the etiquette of the Han Dynasty.
Cao Cao, on the other hand, was an ambitious courtier.
The meeting of the two is like fire and water, incompatible with each other.
However, it is undeniable that Kong Rong is a mature politician.
The Book of Later Han records: "In the early days, Cao Cao attacked Tu Yecheng, and the father and son of the Yuan family often saw invasion, and the son Pi privately accepted Yuan Xi's wife Zhen. Rong Nai Cao Shu, called 'King Wu fell, to give Daji to the Duke of Zhou'. ”
This remark seems to be making fun of Cao Piqiang and accepting his concubine, but in fact it has another deep meaning.
From the description of the Book of Later Han, it is known that Cao Cao's father and son wantonly slaughtered civilians when they attacked Yecheng.
The whole city was filled with the smell of death.
Kong Rong's letter to Cao Cao was mainly to use Cao Pi's affairs as a metaphor for the brutality of the slaughter.
What's more, Cao Pi robbed Yuan Xi's wife, which was not allowed by the ritual culture at that time.
Kong Rong's special emphasis transformed Cao Cao's attack on Yecheng from the righteous act of the imperial court to unify the world, into a war between Cao father and son for women.
Zhen Mi in film and television dramas
Kong Rong's move made the Cao family laughed at by the world.
But it also reflects on the side that he is an upright gentleman who is loyal to the right path and loyal to the Han Court.
In addition, Kong Rong's political maturity has many other manifestations.
For example, when Liu Biao had the behavior of "suburban sacrifice to heaven and earth, imitating the ritual society", Kong Rong proposed the countermeasure of "it is advisable to hide the things of suburban worship and honor national defense".
He preserved the dignity of the Han Dynasty and the stability of the country in the overall situation.
According to all this, Kong Rong can be said to have extraordinary political talent and can be called a powerful minister in the world.
From this point of view, how could such a person be brutally killed by Cao Cao and then wiped out the Nine Races?
When it comes to the cause of Kong Rong's death, the key factor is the problem of taking sides.
After Cao Cao "took the Son of Heaven to order the princes", he issued the "Order of Seeking Talents" to the world.
He was eager to gather talent to help him achieve his ambitions.
At that time, Cao Cao recruited talents under the banner of Emperor Xian of Han, and those who came to Xuchang were divided into two types.
One is to remain loyal to the Han Dynasty and want to support the Han family again.
Represented by Yang Biao, Kong Rong and Xun Yu.
Film and television drama image Cao Cao
The second is to defect to Cao Cao with the intention of realizing his ambitions.
Represented by the generals of the Xiahou family and Guo Jia, Xu Chu and others.
Because Cao Cao had the orthodox bargaining chip of Emperor Xian of Han in his hands, his appeal was far better than that of Shu and Wu.
That's why there is the saying "talents of the three countries, only Wei is the most prosperous".
However, because of their different ideas and beliefs, the talents under Cao Cao were divided into two factions: Emperor Bao and Emperor Baocao.
They are safe on the surface, but secretly they are-for-tat.
Kong Rong was one of the core figures of the royalist faction.
He was a banner for the Eastern Han dynasty and a defender of the legitimacy of the Han court.
It is mainly manifested in the following two aspects:
First, safeguard the dignity of imperial power.
"Sovereign and subject" is the core of Confucian loyalty.
As the twentieth grandson of Kong Sage, Kong Rong naturally took safeguarding Confucianism as his responsibility.
Therefore, the main reason why Kong Rong accepted Cao Cao's "Order to Seek Talents" was because he took a fancy to his "Fengtian Son" move.
He thought that this move was really a recruitment strategy of the Han Dynasty, so he came to Cao Cao's side.
Kong Rong's idea of "respecting the Han" is reflected in the above-mentioned incident of Liu Biao's trespassing.
It is also evident in the handling of Ma Riyan.
Ma was serving as the imperial prince of the Han Dynasty at the time.
He was ordered to send an envoy to Yuan Shao, but to no avail.
In this regard, Hanting wants to increase etiquette and revisit.
Kong Rong, on the other hand, wrote to object: "Royal ministers, how can you see the threat!" and Yuan Shu was rebellious, not overnight, followed by the day, and went around the years. ”
This statement was intended to safeguard the remaining dignity and image of the Eastern Han Dynasty and to raise the banner of the inviolability of imperial power.
Second, he protected those close to the Han Dynasty and imperial power.
When Kong Rong was 16 years old, Zhang Jian, a famous scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, fled to his home to avoid pursuit.
The young Kong Rong admired Zhang Jian, a person with lofty aspirations who was jealous and upheld justice, so he saved him.
Later, when the East Window incident occurred, Kong Rong did not shirk his responsibility and had the courage to bear it.
Although he was eventually convicted, it is enough to show his courage and integrity in defiance of power.
In the face of Cao Cao, Kong Rong still maintained the spirit of resistance.
In the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao intended to execute Yang Biao, a famous minister loyal to the Han Dynasty, on trumped-up charges.
When Kong Rong learned of this, he did not even change his imperial uniform, came to Cao Cao, and harshly accused him of "killing innocents".
and said that if he killed Yang Biao, he himself would not continue to stay.
Cao Cao had no choice but to pardon Yang Biao.
To sum up, Kong Rong always does his best to protect the pro-Han people.
It was precisely this that offended Cao Cao's anti-scale and became one of the triggers for his death.
Under the nest, there are finished eggs
Kong Rong's various pro-Han behaviors and targeting the Cao family had long made Cao Cao murderous.
However, because Kong Rong was a celebrity at the time and a descendant of Kong Sheng, Cao Cao knew that he needed to find a suitable time and excuse to kill him.
Soon, the time that Cao Cao had been waiting for came when the time came.
In the twelfth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao led a large army to attack Wuhuan and won a great victory.
At this point, all the separatist forces in the north have been wiped out by it.
Military success brought Cao Cao political confidence and capital.
The following year, he first removed Sima Wen, the representative of the royalist faction, from his post.
This is equivalent to Cao Cao's intention to cut off the signal of the pro-Han minister.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Cao Cao abolished the Third Duke, Prime Minister Cheng, and Yushi Dafu.
Then, he himself became prime minister, and his power reached its peak.
In addition, he also appointed Xi Xi as the imperial doctor.
Xi Xi was Cao Cao's most loyal assistant.
Appointing him as the imperial master was also Cao Cao's efforts to strengthen his own political power.
The three major things Xi Xi did in his life were to kill Kong Rong, kill Empress, and make Cao Cao the Duke of Wei.
The timing of Cao Cao's killing of Kong Rong was clever.
At this time, he was on his way to attack Liu Biao.
In this way, the crime of killing celebrities has nothing to do with him, so as to protect his reputation.
The fundamental reason for the killing of Kong Rong was that Cao Cao had become the ruler of many important towns in the north.
At the same time, the sheer size of his military power also inflated his self-confidence.
Cao Cao believed that the royalist ministers were no longer needed and could not stand their fingers.
In 208, Xi Xi beheaded Kong Rong on charges of "conspiracy" and "slandering the imperial court" and linked his family.
Kong Rong's family was taken to the execution site to be beheaded, leaving only his two young sons.
But when the soldiers found them, they found that the two were laughing and playing in the courtyard, without the slightest sense of imminent death.
They asked why they didn't run.
"The World Speaks New Languages and Words" writes: "Er Xu Jinyu: 'How can adults see that under the nest, there will be no eggs?'" ”
This wise saying has been passed down in modern times and has become a proper noun for the lips and teeth, and it is also the embodiment of Kong Rong's thought passed down to this day.
epilogue
Kong Rong was a great talent, but he died at the hands of Cao Cao in vain, which is sad and lamentable.
But such an outcome is also a historical inevitability.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the so-called Han court had long existed in name only.
Kong Rong's foolish loyalty put him in a passive position in this chaotic tide.
The confrontation with Cao Cao sowed the seeds of hatred and played a prelude to his own death.
According to history, the modern country is peaceful, and the Haiyan River is clear, but there is always hidden evil in those dark corners.
In the face of the rapidly changing international situation, all we can do is to hug together, unite closely, and always remember the cautionary saying "under the nest, there are tired eggs".
bibliography
Book of the Later Han
"General Guide to Governance"
"Han Law"