"Zhuge was only cautious all his life, and Lü Duan was not confused about major matters." This is a widely circulated idiom from the Ming Dynasty thinker Li Zhen's self-titled synonym.
"Zhuge Ge" here naturally refers to zhuge liang, the name of the Shu state during the Three Kingdoms period. Zhuge Liang was cautious and meticulous throughout his life, and eventually became a career. So who does "Lü Duan" refer to? He was lü duan, the famous minister of the early Northern Song Dynasty.
One
Lü Duan (吕端), courtesy name Yizhi, was a native of Anci County, Youzhou (present-day Anci District, Langfang, Hebei), born in 935. Lü Duan's father Lü Qi served as the Golden Purple Guanglu Doctor and the Soldier Attendant of the Later Jin Dynasty, and he relied on his father's official position to supplement the Thousand Bulls and prepare for himself, and from then on he entered the career path. After the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin founded the Northern Song Dynasty, Lü Duan served as the prefect of Chengdu; when Emperor Taizong of Song succeeded Zhao Guangyi to the throne, Lü Duan was promoted to deputy prime minister (counselor and governor) after several ups and downs, which was only one step away from the position of prime minister.
Lü Duan
Song Taizong was bent on sending Lü Duan to the throne of chancellor, which was opposed by some ministers.
The "Song Shi Lü Duan Biography" records: "Emperor Taizong wanted to end things. Or: 'The end is confused.' Emperor Taizong said: "Small things are confused, and big things are not confused." 'Determined to do so. From this point of view, Song Taizong believed that Lü Duan had the advantage of "not being confused about big things".
A few days later, when Song Taizong held a banquet at the imperial palace, he wrote a "fishing poem", saying that "if you want to bait the golden hook deep, Shifanxi must ask the angler." Prime Minister Lü Mengzheng understood Song Taizong's thoughts, took the initiative to resign, and gave up the position of prime minister. Emperor Taizong of Song then appointed Lü Duan as chancellor, and lü Mengzheng was made a suffragan. The positions of the two just came to a change.
Two
In fact, the ministers said that Lü Duan was "confused about small things" and did not make things out of nothing. In many small things, Lü Duan is indeed a bit "confused".
At that time, Lü Duan also served as an official under Zhao Tingmei, the King of Wei, and served as a judge of Kaifeng Province. Once, Zhao Tingmei's close confidant Qiao Lian approached Lü Duan and asked him to find some connections to help smuggle bamboo and make money for the palace. Lü Duan was Zhao Tingmei's subordinate, and he had a good relationship with him, and he could not get over his face, so he agreed to them and gave them the green light to sell bamboo and wood.
Zhao Tingmei
Soon, the matter of Qiao Lian and others selling bamboo and wood occurred in the east window, and all the people involved were severely punished. Lü Duan did not take a single penny, just because he greeted the relevant departments, he was implicated and demoted to Shangzhou Sihu to join the army.
However, "misfortune depends on blessings, and blessings and misfortunes depend on it." Lü Duanqiao was good because of this demotion of officials and escaped a disaster.
It turned out that in 982, Zhao Tingmei was accused of plotting against him. All official positions were stripped away, and only the empty name of the King of Wei was retained, and he lived idly at home. Affected by the Zhao Tingmei incident, all the officials of the Wei dynasty were beheaded and had no family property. The subordinate officials of Kaifeng Province were also all dismissed and exiled to remote areas. If Lü Duan was still serving in Kaifeng Province, he would certainly not be able to escape this disaster.
Three
Lü Duan was 60 years old when he was prime minister. At that time, there was a very powerful young Junjie in the imperial court, named Kou Zhun. Kou Zhun became a privy councillor at the age of 32 and a suffragan governor at the age of 33, with a bright future. In order to balance the relations between all aspects, Emperor Taizong of Song made Lü Duan and Kou Zhun sit on an equal footing and take turns to grasp the Great Seal of the Prime Minister. Emperor Taizong of Song observed their ability to govern.
Kou Zhun
After a while, Song Taizong had a bottom in his heart. Lü Duan is older, more stable in his handling of things, more comprehensive in his consideration of things, and is a reassuring prime minister who is independent and reassuring. Kou Zhun is young, has momentum, has his own unique ideas for everything, and is also a seedling of an excellent prime minister. However, he still needs a certain amount of time to hone to make himself more mature. Therefore, Emperor Taizong of Song issued an edict: "From now on, the book must be carefully considered by Lü Duan, but it must be heard." ”
This edict laid the foundation for Lü Duan's position as prime minister.
Four
"Lü Duan is not confused about major matters", the implication is that such an excellent talent as Lü Duan cannot see his ability in small things, and only in earth-shattering big things can he see his superiority.
Such a big thing, it comes down.
Song Taizong
In 997, Song Taizong's condition became more and more serious, and he was about to die. Previously, Emperor Taizong of Song had already established his third son Zhao Heng as crown prince and made him the heir to the throne. According to the normal power transfer procedure, it is only necessary to establish Zhao Heng to succeed to the throne according to the will after the death of Song Taizong. However, the eunuch Wang Ji'en colluded with Empress Li and secretly conspired with Li Changling, the governor of the imperial household, and Li Jixun and Hu Dan, the governor of the palace, to support Emperor Taizong of Song and Zhao Yuanzuo, the King of Chu, as emperor.
After Lü Duan learned of the conspiracy of Wang Ji'en and others, he took the crown prince Zhao Heng to the sickbed of Song Taizong every day to ask for peace and visit the condition. On the day that Song Taizong died of illness, Lü Duan waited at the sickbed, found that there were only Wang Ji'en and Empress Li by his side, and did not see Zhao Heng, and quickly sent someone to summon Zhao Heng into the palace.
After Emperor Taizong's death, Empress Li sent Wang Ji'en to summon Lü Duan to force him to agree to make King Chu emperor. Lü Duan, seeing that the situation was urgent, locked Wang Ji'en in the house, went alone to see Empress Li, and bitterly advised her that she should establish the heir to the throne according to the wishes of Emperor Taizong of Song, and empress Li was dumbfounded.
Song Zhenzong
Without further ado, Lü Duan immediately led his ministers to support Zhao Heng as emperor for Emperor Zhenzong of Song. When Song Zhenzong sat behind the curtain of the main hall to accept the minister's worship, Lü Duanci showed a cautious style, ordered the people to open the curtain, walked forward himself, personally confirmed that it was Zhao Heng himself, and then relaxed his heart and led the group of ministers to see Song Zhenzong.
Lü Duan, with a clean and neat but cautious style, calmed down a palace coup and ensured the smooth transfer of imperial power.