Thanks to the popularity of the novel "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", many generals in the early Tang Dynasty have always had a high popularity among the people.
The main characters of Qin Qiong, Cheng Biting Jin, Li Jing and Xu Shiyun all have a large number of fans, and related film and television dramas have been emerging in endlessly.
In "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", the character of Cheng Biting Jin was portrayed very well, and the author sketched a brave and domineering and indomitable likable image with a few tables.
So much so that when it comes to traits such as big grinning, thick and fine, many people will think of Cheng Biting Gold for the first time.
In fact, Cheng Biting Jin in real history is also very powerful, he has been in the officialdom for 45 years, and he has also won the weight of Li Shimin and Li Zhi, which shows that he is extraordinary.
Accurate vision, advance and retreat
It is not easy for the founding generals with outstanding achievements to get a good death, and Cheng Yanjin can stand tall while being in a high position, which must have its own uniqueness.
Like many generals in the early Tang Dynasty, Cheng Yanjin was also a member of the peasant rebel army earlier, and he developed martial arts at a young age.
In the smoke of the late Sui Dynasty, he organized and established a brave and warlike team in the countryside to protect the local people from bandits.
A few years later, he decided to go outside, and soon chose an excellent leader of the rebel army-Li Mi.
Li Mi was once the protagonist of the late Sui Dynasty, and almost became a figure in the world. After Cheng Yanjin joined, he quickly gained respect, and even took charge of Li Mi's pro-army for a time.
There is a record in the "Old Tang Book": "There are 8,000 warriors in the army, who are subordinate to four hussars, divided into left and right for self-defense, and are called the internal army." Zhijie received one of them, and was very favored. ”
It's a pity that the Wagang Army led by Li Mi happened to be in the land of the four battles, surrounded by strong enemies. After successively fighting with Wang Shichong and Yu Wenhua, the vitality of the Wagang army was greatly damaged, and finally Wang Shichong found an opportunity to completely break it.
Wang Shichong was deeply impressed by Cheng Yanjin, a fierce general, so he was very polite to this general.
He didn't choose to be loyal because of this, and he also has a smart heart that knows people under his brave appearance.
After only a few months of getting along, Cheng Yanjin realized that Wang Shichong was strong and capable, and he was unwilling to follow him.
Soon, Cheng Yanjin left with Qin Qiong and switched to Li Shimin.
In the subsequent battles, Cheng Yanjin charged bravely many times and made great contributions to the unification of the Tang Dynasty.
With his excellent combat ability, he soon became Li Shimin's favorite general.
In addition to being brave and invincible on the battlefield, Cheng Yanjin also saw through Li Jianchen's jealousy of Li Shimin one step ahead, and immediately advised King Qin that he should make plans as soon as possible.
"The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Cheng Zhijie" mentions: "Zhijie Bai Taizong said: 'The king's arm is removed now, and his body will not be long.'" Knowing the festival is not going to die, and I am willing to be complete quickly. ’”
After this incident, Cheng Yanjin became more and more valued by Li Shimin and became his absolute confidant.
Cheng Bites Jin in film and television dramas
In addition to having accurate vision, there is another important reason why Cheng Yanjin can gain a firm foothold in the court, that is, he advances and retreats in a certain amount and never greeds for power.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he gave heavy responsibilities to all the generals who had followed him, allowing them to occupy high positions and enjoy glory and wealth.
Cheng Yanjin is one of the best, he was promoted all the way during the Zhenguan period, and soon became the general of Zuotunwei.
After ordinary people have such a high status, they will inevitably become fluttering and want to grab more power in the court.
But Cheng Yanjin is not like this, he knows that he is completely blind to the governance of the people, so he has never been involved in the affairs of the court.
Even if a colleague asks to come to the door and tries to invite him to participate in court affairs, Cheng Yanjin will only depreciate himself and make a haha to fool people.
In the middle and late stages of Zhenguan, Cheng Yanjin worked hard to reduce his sense of existence, and rarely participated in the war with his troops, focusing his work on staying behind.
This approach minimizes the attention of others, so that Cheng Yanjin can enjoy a peaceful and joyful semi-retirement life without being jealous while being in a high position.
This is easy to say, but hard to do.
Many high-ranking officials and famous generals are very good at forging ahead, but they don't know how to restrain in time, and finally suffer a catastrophe in the continuous attacks and calculations.
Even met the Ming Lord, and was able to die a good death
Of course, Cheng Biting Jin is not blindly retreating, and he has never flinched when it is time to fight, which is the key to his standing for three dynasties without falling.
For example, after the death of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Cheng Biting Jin led the flying cavalry army to escort the crown prince Li Zhi to return to the throne. After that, he also guarded outside the palace gate for three months to help Li Zhi stabilize the situation.
Cheng Biting Jin's loyal and brave performance was seen and remembered by Li Zhi. Therefore, after he completely controlled the government affairs of the court, he quickly promoted Cheng Yanjin to an official position and entrusted him with important tasks.
"Old Tang Book, Volume 18" records: "In the sixth year of Yonghui, (Cheng Zhijie) moved to the general of Zuowei. In the second year of Xianqing, he was awarded the general manager of the march of the Green Mountain Road to please Helu. ”
Relying on active struggle and courage to do things, Cheng Yanjin avoided the fate of "a son of heaven and a courtier", and became the confidant of his successor after the death of Tang Taizong.
Tang Gaozong Li Zhi
However, Cheng Yanjin was very old at this time, and his energy was lacking, and he knew that he should retire as soon as possible, otherwise he would inevitably "overturn" in the court battle.
However, Cheng Yanjin, who is quite politically wise, also knows very well that he has made a lot of contributions to the new emperor, and directly asking for a retreat will inevitably embarrass Li Zhi.
Therefore, Cheng Yanjin found an opportunity to make a big mistake when attacking Ashina Helu, and took advantage of this to retire.
"Old Tang Book, Volume 18" wrote: "In the city of the division, thousands of Hu people opened the door and surrendered, and Zhijie slaughtered the city, and He Lu fled away. The army is returned, and the official is dismissed. Not a few, awarded the history of Qizhou Thorn. Please beg for bones, allowed. ”
In the end, in addition to his own factors, Cheng Biting Jin was able to dominate the officialdom and was able to die a good death, also because he met two extremely capable emperors in a row.
This is very important, and the reason why many founding heroes have not died well is not necessarily because they are not careful enough, but more because of "high merit covers the master" and "the lord is suspicious".
If the courtiers and generals have far more abilities than the others, it is inevitable that the ruler will be frightened, and finally choose to strike first.
But this problem did not exist at all in the early Tang Dynasty, because Li Shimin was too strong, and he was the first hero of the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
There were several key nodes in the founding of the Tang Dynasty, namely: Taiyuan raised troops, occupied Guanzhong, pacified Longxi, marched into Hedong and settled the battle of Hujiao Pass.
Battle of Tiger Pass
Almost all of these battles were led by Li Shimin, especially the performance of the Battle of Tiger Pass, which made countless descendants regard him as the "god of the army".
Li Shimin had enough self-confidence to control his generals and would not make unnecessary suspicions, so the Zhenguan period was recognized as the most popular years in the feudal dynasty.
After careful study, it can be found that not only Cheng Yanjin is standing, but most of the founding generals of the early Tang Dynasty have died well.
Heroes of the early Tang Dynasty
In addition, Cheng Yanjin's luck is that Li Zhi is also an excellent emperor with strong skills and abilities.
This is very important, and the reason why some founding emperors persecuted meritorious heroes in their later years was because their juniors were overwhelmed and feared that they would not be able to suppress the capable generals with high merit and high reputation.
Zhu Yuanzhang is a typical example, when the crown prince Zhu Biao was alive, he was very good to the heroes.
After Zhu Biao's death, because he wanted to support Zhu Yunwen, who had no influence, to take the throne, Ming Taizu had to kill the heroes.
And Li Zhi can suppress a minister, so naturally Li Shimin is not needed to be that villain.
In fact, Tang Gaozong's performance was indeed remarkable, after he had been dormant for a few years, he overthrew most of the Guanlong nobles and completely controlled the court.
The cunning and black-bellied Li Zhi
Whether Wu Zetian dares to move to bite gold
In some folk tales and romance novels, in order to highlight Cheng Yanjin's ability and status, he deliberately arranged a conflict between him and Wu Zetian.
In these episodes, Wu Zetian, who was a killer to the minister at every turn, did not dare to act rashly against Cheng Biting Jin. Is this the case in real history, is Cheng Biting Jin really so good?
To be sure, these episodes are fictional, as Wu Zetian and Cheng Yanjin have almost no intersection in history.
Although Cheng Biting Jin had a relatively active period in the early period of Tang Gaozong's reign, it was basically during the Yonghui period, and Wu Zetian was still busy fighting in the harem at this time.
By the time of the first year of Xianqing, Cheng Yanjin had already decided to write a letter to resign, and soon sent Shi home to enjoy his old age.
And by the time Wu Zetian was in power and his words and deeds could affect the affairs of the imperial court, Cheng Yanjin had been dead for many years.
Therefore, there is a high probability that these two people have never met from beginning to end, so it is naturally impossible to have a contradiction, let alone a confrontation because of this.
The reason why people misunderstand that these two people have an intersection is because they are misled by film and television works.
In order to highlight Wu Zetian's image, most film and television dramas have greatly weakened Li Zhi's ability, and even portrayed the latter as a cowardly and incompetent image that obeys Wu Meiniang's words.
So much so that many people felt that Wu Zetian would be able to participate in politics during the Yonghui period, and had a conflict with Cheng Yanjin when dealing with government affairs.
In fact, according to historical records, after Li Zhi overthrew the Guanlong aristocracy, he had always been an arbitrary emperor and had a strong control over the court.
At this time, Wu Zetian was still serving the king in the harem with peace of mind, and it was impossible to have conflicts with the former courtiers.
Li Zhi, who has been greatly weakened in film and television dramas
The reason why Li Zhi later gave Wu Zetian the opportunity to participate in politics was because he suffered from a headache after middle age, and every time he had an attack, he was in pain and could not be a director at all.
In order not to affect the governance of the imperial court and avoid the appearance of powerful ministers, he chose to let his wife Wu Zetian participate in helplessness to help deal with the twists and turns.
"Old Tang Dynasty Book: Book 6" clearly records: "The emperor has been in the Qing since the Qing Dynasty, many hardships and diseases, and hundreds of performances have been entrusted to the queen of heaven to make detailed decisions. ”
If Li Zhi can handle the government without distractions, then Wu Zetian has no possibility of usurping the throne at all, no matter how strong her ability is.
Before becoming the queen of heaven, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were a complete community of interests, how could Wu Zetian have a conflict with the old minister who supported her husband?
Therefore, there is a high probability that there has not been any conflict between Cheng Yanjin and Wu Zetian.
The "Two Holy Pilgrimage" is a helpless move
epilogue
In general, Cheng Yanjin has been able to dominate the officialdom for 45 years, on the one hand, because Li Shimin is a wise monarch and has avoided the fate of being slaughtered.
On the other hand, it is also Cheng Yanjin's own ability, he looks rough and uninhibited on the surface, but in fact he is quite wise, not only has the wisdom to recognize people, but also can achieve a degree of advance and retreat, and protect himself.
The trade-off between advance and retreat is the core of the way of being an official, and the failure of many officials lies in the fact that they can "advance and attack" but cannot "retreat and defend". Cheng Yanjin has done a great job in this regard, and he is indeed worthy of the evaluation of his "great ingenuity" by later generations.
Reference:
"Interpretation of the Life and Biography of Cheng Zhijie in the Tang Dynasty"
- Chen Tao
On the Image of Lucky Generals in Classical Chinese Novels
- Sun Changming