Kou Zhun, a prime minister in the era of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a prime minister who pulled the emperor's dragon robe and wanted to argue with the emperor; a prime minister who sentenced the empress brother to death; a prime minister who persuaded the emperor to drive a personal conquest and win more than 70 years of peace for the northern frontier of the Great Song Dynasty; a prime minister who went up and down.
Compared with Lü Shang, Li Si, Xiao He, Wei Zheng and other names, Kou Zhun's name does not seem to be loud. Such social recognition is not that the Kou Zhun pattern is small, the IQ is low, and Wen Taowu is slightly inferior, but that the Great Song Dynasty is much shorter than zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang; Song Taizong and Song Zhenzong are by no means one-level emperors compared with King Wen of Zhou, Qin Shi Huang, Han Gaozu, and Tang Taizong.
Song Taizong said, "I got Kou Zhun, just as Tang Taizong got Wei Zheng." Yes, Kou Zhun can be compared with Wei Zheng, however, can Song Taizong be compared with Li Shimin?
History did not give Kou Zhun a "Han and Tang Dynasty", nor did it give him a king like "Duke of Zhou and Li Shimin". The arrangement of the heavens doomed Kou Zhun to have the great deeds of Lü Shang and Li Si, nor could there be any historical evaluation of Xiao He and Wei Zheng.
History has given Kou Zhun a faint emperor at the top, a suffering people on the bottom, a weak national strength and a treacherous way on the inside, and a continuous wolf smoke from the Liao army to the south. All of this is pressed on Kou Zhun's shoulders, not to mention creating a "Kaiyuan, Tianbao" prosperous "Wenjing Rule", so that the people can live a few days of peace and tranquility is not bad.
Seriously speaking, the Song Dynasty not only had bad luck, but also had a variety of chronic diseases in the fetus.
Throughout the dynastic succession, the founding princes of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties also received the salaries of the previous dynasties, but the people were "for the Heavenly Path" to fight on horseback, and they were recognized as the victorious princes. The victorious prince of The Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was not "for the Heavenly Path" or the Jiangshan on horseback, and the judgment of history always associated him with the "Chen Qiao Mutiny". The Song Dynasty, which carried such a "black cauldron", had the confidence of "Zhou Qin" and the prestige of "Han and Tang"?
The Zhao and Song Dynasties that have already sat in the world, these disgraceful stains are trivial matters that do not matter. The key problem is that the Song Dynasty, which sat in the Country with a "mutiny", such as an old shop that has lost money for many years has changed a signboard, in addition to the signboard and the shop owner are new, the guys, furniture, goods, debts, and even the garbage behind the door are all the same. Not to mention, the Song Dynasty with the new signboard did not really unify the world, the Liao in the north, the Xia in the northwest, the heart of the Song Dynasty did not die, the northern Frontier war for many years, "the remnants of the tears in the dust." In such a world, Song Taizu had the pride of "Wei Jia Hai Nei" and the interest of "the wind and the clouds were flying..."
In 979, the Liao army invaded the south and Yanjing fell. The Song Dynasty, which was founded less than 20 years ago, did not have the ministers Of Xiao He and Wei Zheng inside, and no marshals of Wang Zhai or Han Xin outside. When the large army suppressed the border, the helpless Song Taizong could only drive the conquest himself. In the face of the Liao army of the Tiger and Wolf Division, the vulnerable Northern Song Dynasty Wang Division was defeated, and on the way back to the south, emperor Taizong of the hall actually rode a donkey to escape.
The land was lost, the emperor's face was lost, and the Great Song regime was like a son of heaven on the back of a donkey, bumping in the storms and storms of internal and external difficulties.
At a time when the country was in trouble, history took a look at Kou Zhun and handed over to him a perverted regime, a weak country, a suffering nation, and an eventful Spring and Autumn Period.
Thousands of years have proved that whenever history is in the "present tense" state of universal celebration, great popularity, and promotion of officials and knights, the "performances" on the stage are mostly flowery and flirtatious; after the carnival performance is over, and then look back at the "past completion" years, we will find all kinds of helplessness and sadness under the cover of song and dance.
Similarly, while history has lowered the burden of Kou Zhun, it has also buried him with a lot of sorrow and misfortune.
Kou Zhun, born in Weinan County, Shaanxi Province, a scholarly Mendi, lost his father at the age of 17, and experienced human hardships with his mother since childhood. At the age of 19, Kou Zhun rushed to Kaifeng to participate in the national examination presided over by Song Taizong. Under the hall of the temple examination, the young Kou Zhun faced Taizong's questions, did not humble himself, answered like a stream, and expounded the rise and fall of the dynasties and his own governing strategy. His Royal Highness, not only did the examiners praise Kou Zhun's talent and knowledge, but the emperor also nodded his superhuman courage and upright character. After the end of the temple examination, 19-year-old Kou Zhun was admitted by Song Taizong with outstanding talent.
Speaking of which, I have to say a few words of justice to the imperial examination system in feudal society. The selection of people is customarily to maintain feudal rule and destroy individuality and humanity. However, to a certain extent, the examination system does guarantee the selection and recruitment of talents, providing outstanding young people in the lower classes with an opportunity to show themselves and a way to change their destiny. Otherwise, how could there be a number of outstanding talents, such as Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, and Fan Zhongyan, who would have ascended to the literary and political circles with their knowledge and talents?
Feudal society can run for more than two thousand years, long or short the emergence of the Taiping dynasty, creating a brilliant Chinese civilization, cultivating and creating generations of national elites... What does it depend on? It is because there is a system of examinations, and there are real talents and practical scholars, scholars, and champions. They are the inheritors and creators of national culture; they have supported the prosperity of the Great Han Dynasty, the splendor of Li Tang, and the prosperity of the Ming and Qing dynasties with their own ideological, moral, and intellectual talents. Imagine if there is no examination system to select talents, but to promote and appoint a group of mediocre talents and slaves based on power, relationship, money, and even the will of the chief. In that way, not only did there not have Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Bai Juyi, Kou Zhun and other generations, but I couldn't even think about it, what kind of Tang Tang? What kind of qing is qing? What kind of smoke miasma should the thousands of years of civilization history be? Will the Chinese nation still have today?
In the second year after Kou Zhun was hired by Emperor Taizong of Song, he took a letter of appointment to Badong, Sichuan province, as a county magistrate. 20-year-old Kou Zhun jumped from the cold house of a poor scholar into Badong County, which can be described as "Chao Wei Tian She Lang, Twilight Heavenly Son Hall", the future is bright. It is true that Kou Zhun became the zhi county of Padang with real talent and practical learning, however, the decisive factor was the meritocratic examination system, and it was Song Taizong's knowledge of people and good appointments.
Less than two months after Taking office in Zhixian County, Kou Zhun carried out a drastic rectification of all kinds of shortcomings in Badong County, such as the long-standing problems of indiscriminate dispatch of errands, arbitrary collection of fees, and prolonged delay in judging major cases; the reductions and reductions that should be reduced and the reductions that should be carried out, and the rehabilitations that should be rehabilitated, severely punished a large number of corrupt officials and corrupt officials who were extremely indignant according to law. In less than half a year, after the renovation, Badong County's political and prosperous industries flourished, and the common people affectionately called Kouzhi County "Koubadong". In The Badongzhi County of successive dynasties, only Kou Zhun could win such support and love from the common people.
Padang Kojun Cultural Park
One day, Kou Zhun visited Yixiangxian by the Yangtze River and returned to the county court, and took the Tang poetry manuscript donated by the township sage to the wangjiang pavilion next to the county court.
On the Wangjiang Pavilion, Kouzhi County held Li Bai's poetry scroll, and the back wave of the Yangtze River pushed forward the wave, and the hundreds of boats competed for the current, and the fishing songs answered each other, as if seeing Li Bai standing on the bow of the boat with a wine glass in his hand, chanting to the lofty mountains and mountains, "Between the clouds of the White Emperor, a thousand miles of Jiangling will return in a day." The apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the light boat had already passed through the ten thousand heavy mountains."
Suddenly, the wind in the canyon roared, heavy rain poured down, and the waves on the river were rough and desolate. Touching the scenery, Kou Zhun remembered that the mountains and rivers in northern Xinjiang were broken, and the wolf smoke was everywhere, and he suddenly felt that his youth was like a flying boat on the river, regretting that he had no way to serve the country and his ambition was difficult to reward, and he improvised and poured out a sense of pride:
The tall building chats and looks, and the river is flat.
Wild water is uncroached, and the lonely boat is full of days.
The deserted village is born with a broken mist, and the deep trees are flowing with warblers.
The old karma is clear, and the contemplation is suddenly self-alarming.
Tang Dynasty poet Wei Yingwu's "wild crossing without a boat crossing itself" was born in Kou Zhun's pen as "wild water is uncrossed, and the lonely boat is full of days and days." Although only three words are added, there is no situation between the lines.
The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Wang Shipeng said: "Wild water is then passed through the chanting hands, and the general scene is like two boats." Wei Yingwu's boat is leisurely and relaxed, carrying the breeze and bright moon, poetic feelings; Kou Zhun's boat is heavy and lonely, and "exhaustion" is the anxiety of worrying about the country and the people.
At the end of the sentence "contemplation and self-alarm", what is he contemplating? What's surprising? After all, Padang is a small mountainous county. The small county ya is the place where Kou Zhun is used, and the worried Kou Badong is by no means a zhixian lord who is greedy for power and money, lustful and enjoyable; what is contemplative is the windy and rainy Song Dynasty, and what is shocking is that the northern Xinjiang is in flames for many years, the mountains and rivers are broken, and it is "poor and uncertain river bones, all the people in the spring dream." "The sadness.
The great poet Su Shi passed through Badong County, and on the way heard the people praising Kou Zhun's merits in Padang, but no one knew about Kou Zhun's great deeds after he became prime minister.
Su Shi sighed: "People know that Gonghui is in Padang, but they don't know the Three Dynasties Social Jigong. Where is the usual lonely boat? Jiangting is still facing the autumn wind. ”
Mr. Dongpo, who is familiar with bogu tong, does not know where Kou Zhun's lonely boat has gone. Mr. Li's exclamation is nothing more than borrowing Kou Zhun's great deeds to express his full belly complaints.
Kou Zhun wrote a collection of poems by Kou Zhonggong
Three years later, Emperor Taizong of Song, who was troubled internally and externally, remembered the resourceful Kou Zhun and once again promoted him to Shangshu Yubu Langzhong and privy council member; he confidently handed over the power of organization and personnel of the Great Song Dynasty to the 22-year-old Kou Zhun.
In an early dynasty after taking charge of personnel power, Kou Zhun played a case of injustice to Emperor Taizong in front of the civil and military officials for many years. Emperor Taizong was displeased after hearing this, and did not want Kou Zhun to be embarrassed in public, so he stopped his Chen Song. However, the young and vigorous Kou Zhun not only did not stop, but also quarreled with the emperor in front of the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu. When the civil and military officials saw the situation, they were all terrified, and everyone's face was pale. His Solemn Highness, Kou Zhun's arguments were like a heavy hammer, hitting the Heavenly Son's Hall and the Civil and Military Officials sentence by sentence. Suddenly, Song Taizong, who usually advocated "wen death advice and martial death battle", was furious and raised his sleeves, asking to give ai Qing Kou Zhun, who was "guilty", a little color to see.
As soon as this dragon robe is thrown, it is a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the head will fall to the ground. For a courtier who has committed a crime, he can only be silent and obediently prostrate his head and confess his guilt. However, the courageous Kou Zhun was unusually calm, and slowly stepped forward to pull on the emperor's sleeve and asked the emperor to sit down and listen to his words.
At the crucial moment, Emperor Taizong, who appreciated Kou Zhun, still understood Kou Zhun's bold loyalty and tolerated Kou Zhun's youthful vigor, not only listened to Kou Zhun's statement, but also appreciated Kou Zhun's "offense", and praised it in front of the ministers who were sincerely panicked and fearful: "To get Kou Zhun is like Tang Taizong to Wei Zheng." ”
Kou Zhun, who was not afraid of imperial power, was indeed very "immature", but fortunately, Emperor Taizong accepted his "immature" loyalty. As everyone knows, it is precisely because of This tolerance and appreciation of Emperor Taizong that Kou Zhun was pushed to the range of the traitorous villain, and the cusp of "envy and jealousy" was on the cusp.
The difficulty in the personnel and organizational work that Kou Zhun was responsible for was not the assessment, reward, punishment, and dismissal of officials at all levels, but the network of relations between dignitaries and dignitaries; the most difficult thing was the nepotism of the emperor and the misdeeds of the emperor's relatives and state relatives.
Kou Zhun understood that in order to do a good job in the selection and appointment of officials at all levels, it is necessary to start with high-ranking officials and heavy subjects; to do a good job in the appointment and selection of high-ranking officials and heavy subjects, it is necessary to start from the people around the emperor. Two months later, Kou Zhun sorted out the large and small networks of relations, and made up his mind to open the knife to the emperor's important ministers and knock on the mountains and shock the tiger, so as to complete the dynasty; use the sword of justice to eliminate the poisonous carbuncles in the central nervous system of the Song Dynasty, and use the corrupt officials to defile the human head of the fa, the right wind, and the right hundred officials.
In the spring of 991 AD, the Central Plains was in a drought for 100 days, and the grains were not harvested and starvation was everywhere. One day, Emperor Taizong of Song summoned his ministers to discuss strategies to fight drought and reassure the people, and most of the ministers flattered Emperor Taizong, saying: "Floods and droughts are destiny, and they often occur during the reign of ancient saints, so Your Majesty need not worry." ”
Emperor Taizong was displeased after hearing this, and asked the silent Kou Zhun, "Kou Zhun, is this really the case?" What is Aiqing's best strategy? ”
Kou Zhun took the opportunity to link a wrong case approved by the emperor with the drought, and against a group of ministers who told lies and lies, he spoke directly to Emperor Taizong without fear: "There should be a sense between heaven and man, and the great drought lasts for more than a hundred days, indicating that the imperial court has used unjust cases of injustice." "The implication is that the imperial court has violated the heavenly rules, and it is better to correct it in time."
Kou Zhun's spearhead pointed directly at the imperial court, directly at Taizong, who reused himself.
Emperor Taizong glanced at Kou Zhun in disappointment, threw off his dragon robe in disappointment, and said angrily, "Retreat to the dynasty, go back to the palace!" ”
After retiring from the dynasty, Emperor Taizong repeatedly thought about Kou Zhun's words and felt that there was something in his words, so he summoned Kou Zhun into the palace and asked him to tell him the specific facts about the injustice of torture. Kou Zhun listened and asked the emperor to summon the ministers of the two provinces and relevant parties to the palace and give them direct advice in public.
In the face of the emperor and all the ministers, Kou Zhunyi sternly exposed the bribery case of Zu ji and Wang Huai. Zu Ji accepted less than five hundred bribes and was sentenced to death; Wang Huaiyin, the younger brother of the suffragist Wang Yuan, stole tens of millions of dollars from the state treasury, and after a few strokes of staff, he was reinstated from his post and went unpunished. Emperor Taizong listened to Kou Zhun Chen's performance and immediately questioned Wang Huan. In the face of the ironclad facts, Wang Huan admitted that there was indeed a thing, and obediently bowed down to plead guilty. Emperor Taizong immediately removed Wang Huan from his post and promoted Kou Zhun to the post of Left Counselor and Privy Councillor.
Kou Zhun and the emperor played a side ball, although the two wins were wonderful, it was also very hanging and dangerous. His opponent was none other than the supreme emperor. If a ball is lost and cannot be wiped, it is absolutely a matter of turning around, and the sins of the Nine Tribes are destroyed.
Kou Zhun knew that he was not playing with fire, but playing with his life. Between the emperor and the society, justice and evil, Kou Zhun chose the society and justice, and chose the responsibility and ethics of "going to righteousness and forgetting the white blade".
Kou Zhun had moral integrity and talent, courage and insight, and was fortunate to meet an emperor who understood himself. Kou Zhun succeeded, or rather succeeded temporarily. However, to make him lose his official position, fall down, go to jail, kill his head, and cut off the door, only one element is enough. This element is the "villain", and with the villain, especially the favored villain and the villain in power, it is too easy to bring down him!
One day, Kou Zhun, who had been a counselor and privy councillor for less than two years, hurriedly rode his horse to do an official business. Suddenly, several crazy people flashed out of the alley to stop Kou Zhun's horse and shouted in unison: "Long live, long live, long live!"
The news soon reached Emperor Taizong's ears. This time, the broad-minded Taizong really couldn't tolerate another "long live" in the world. In anger, Emperor Taizong's imperial pen waved, and Kou Zhun was demoted to the prefect of Qingchuan, far away from the capital, and fell from a heavy courtier to a small prefect of Qingchuan. This fall made it difficult for Kou Zhun to argue with a hundred mouths, and the Kou Lord, who was full of economy, was by no means the opponent of the villain.
Less than a year after Kou Zhun left Beijing, the imperial court became a pot of porridge. Emperor Taizong, together with a holy decree, summoned Kou Zhun back to the capital and worshipped him as a governor. As soon as Kou Zhun returned to the imperial court, he was confronted by the establishment of the imperial family, border wars, ethnic contradictions, appointments and dismissals of personnel in many important departments, and so on.
Behind the so-called major and difficult events, there is a struggle for the status and power of high-ranking officials and dignitaries. In order to get to the root of the problem and straighten out the chaos, it is necessary to open a knife to powerful and powerful high-ranking officials, to the relatives of the emperor who violate the law and discipline, and to the heavy and favored subjects around the emperor. History has once again pushed Kou Zhun to the center of the "minefield." Kou Zhun, who shouldered the heavy responsibility of the country, was not afraid of danger, and he made up his mind to eliminate all bright thunder and dark thunder, and to reform the employment system of the imperial court with the principle of "advancing the wise and retreating without retreating."
Under the sword and axe of Kou Zhun, he seriously injured the vested interests of a number of those in power, some people lost their hats, some people were raided, some people were imprisoned, and some people turned around. For a time, the corrupt officials and corrupt officials all endangered themselves, some people wrote to Emperor Taizong, framed Kou Zhun for borrowing public welfare for private gain, some people went to the harem to intercede, and some people scolded Kou Zhun for being suspicious and intended to be on the side of the Qing Emperor... After conspiring with his fellow party members, the old-fashioned governor Feng Zheng colluded with the conservative faction to form a cheerleading team against Kou Zhun, which made the imperial court miasma and restless all day long.
At this time, the elderly Emperor Taizong had long since lost the wisdom and decisiveness of that year, and was afraid that Kou Zhun would cause big trouble. In the face of the cheerleaders dancing wildly by the demons, the helpless old man bit his teeth and dismissed Kou Zhun's counselor and governor with a clear conscience, and demoted him to the position of Dengzhou assassin.
This year, Kou Zhun was 36 years old, and a threshold in his life tripged the threshold of his head and bleeding.
Two years after Kou Zhun was demoted to Deng Prefecture, Zhao Heng became emperor. This young and powerful Emperor Zhenzong, before coming to power, greatly appreciated the courage and talent of Kou Zhun Superman, and the only thing he did not like was Kou Zhun's upright temper. After weighing it up again, Emperor Zhenzong still appreciated Kou Zhun's official status, and a holy decree summoned Kou Zhun to enter the capital to become the prime minister. Kou Zhun, who was degraded again and again, once again returned to the power center of the Song Dynasty from the bottom and became the prime minister under one person and above ten thousand people.
In the Northern Song Dynasty of the Zhenzong Era, official corruption, intensification of ethnic contradictions, invasion of foreign enemies in the north, etc., a large number of thorny problems such as germs that have been lurking for many years, riding on the dangerous years of poverty and weakness, flooded into disasters. Kou Zhun, the prime minister who was worried about the safety of the country, knew that there was nothing more important than the war in northern Xinjiang for many years. It is related to the country's territorial sovereignty and national dignity, and to the life and death of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, such an urgent matter in the world is really not urgent, the song and dance are still watched, the beautiful women are still chosen, and the feast is still placed, and all the headaches and difficult things are pushed to the prime minister Kou Zhun.
In 1004, the Northern Liao army invaded the south on a large scale, and five times in one day the urgent documents flew to the imperial court; the wind in Kaifeng City was loud, the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu was terrified, and a group of surrendering factions persuaded the emperor to flee to Nanjing and Chengdu in order to save his life. Ministers who are loyal to the king and loyal to the country, civilian officials full of benevolence and morality, and military generals who swear to coexist and die with the Great Song Dynasty, one by one, are greedy for life and afraid of death, and lose their souls.
When "the black cloud is about to destroy the city", Kou Zhun stepped forward, like a majestic mountaintop that lived in the tilted sky, blocking the escape path of the surrender faction, and Dayi pointed at the surrender faction and rebuked: "Whoever plans the southward migration for His Majesty deserves a special crime." Now that the country is in trouble, the civilian and military generals have only one way to jointly resist the enemy. If His Majesty can put the sheji as the most important thing and personally march on the throne, the Liao army is bound to be defeated and fled. If you abandon the capital city and avoid Jinling or Chengdu, the people's hearts will be out of control. The enemy will surely take advantage of the void to drive straight in, and the world will be difficult to preserve. If His Majesty personally enlists, the hearts of the army will be greatly encouraged and the hearts of the people will be greatly enhanced, and not only will we be able to defeat the enemy and win victory, but we will also sweep away the hidden dangers on the frontier for many years and strengthen the country's prestige. ”
Kou Zhunyi's stern rebuke not only said that no one in the Manchu Dynasty dared to retreat, but also pushed Zhenzong to the forefront of the resistance against the enemy in front of the group of courtiers; with great courage, he urged the emperor to personally march and defeat the enemy. At the critical moment of life and death, the True Sect, who had no way out, may be afraid or dissatisfied, but still adopted Kou Zhun's suggestion.
In the forward position of the gun and bullet rain, the Song army commanded by Kou Zhun fought bravely and successfully, and soon recovered a large area of lost land. However, the True Sect of the Lanzhou Front did not dare to cross the Yellow River to fight. Fearing the emperor's long wei, none of the generals dared to advise the emperor to cross the river. Kou Zhun pointed to the Liao army on the other side of the Yellow River, analyzed the battle situation and the strength of the enemy and us to Zhenzong, and swore to heaven: "Justice is in Your Majesty, the heavens and places are favorable to the people and the Wang Shi, and victory will be in my Great Song Dynasty." Emperor Zhenzong listened to the order and led Wang Shi to cross the Yellow River with a bang.
In the forward position of the confrontation between the two armies, Zhenzong fell from the sky on the upper floor of the northern city of Lanzhou. The officers and men of the Song Army saw the imperial flag embroidered with the yellow dragon in the distance, and everyone cheered and applauded one by one; the Liao army, which could not form an army, was discouraged and fled into the wilderness.
In the triumphant song, Kou Zhun ordered the golden drum to be beaten and chased by victory, and in an instant, the killing sound was like thunder and flying arrows were like rain; the Song army commanded by Kou Zhun annihilated most of the enemy with the momentum of overwhelming the sea, the commander of the Liao army was killed by the arrow, and the soldiers who could not form an army raised a white flag.
After the great victory of The State of Liao, the Song and Liao armies were withdrawn, and the two sides signed the "Alliance of Liaoyuan" of good-neighborliness and friendship. Since then, the northern frontier of thousands of miles has been calm and quiet, with abundant grains, herds of cattle and sheep, and the people living and working in peace and contentment, and the Northern Song Dynasty has lived a peaceful life for more than 70 years.
The war in northern Xinjiang had just cooled down, and a group of ministers in the imperial court who had advocated escape were both jealous of Kou Zhun's exploits and worried about Kou Zhun's law enforcement. They were in cahoots and turned upside down, and they blew up a wind of slander against Kou Zhun up and down the imperial court, in a vain attempt to oust Kou Zhun from power in order to eliminate the troubles. In the fight against the enemy, they are incompetent and shameless, engaging in framing and loyal subjects, and they are skilled and sophisticated masters.
After some sneaky conspiracy, they targeted the emperor and wanted to use the hand of Zhenzong to bring down Kou Zhun. One evening, they very "religiously" made a message to Zhenzong: "Wars in the past have been like gambling, and gamblers who lose in a hurry will definitely bet all their money and goods as a bet." Kou Zhun advised His Majesty to take His Majesty as a bet. In case the battle is lost, Kou Zhun desperately pushes His Majesty in the lead. Will His Majesty still have a life at that time? Zhenzong, who was originally suspicious of Kou Zhun, listened to the rumors of the villain and couldn't help but be furious, and immediately dismissed Kou Zhun's prime minister and demoted him to Shaanxi Zhizhou.
This year, Kou Zhun was 45 years old, which was another threshold in his life, a threshold for bad luck.
Thirteen years later, the 58-year-old Kou Zhun was once again recalled by Emperor Zhenzong to serve as prime minister. Unfortunately, shortly after Kou Zhun was re-elected as chancellor, Emperor Zhenzong suffered a stroke and Empress Liu presided over the imperial government. During Empress Liu's reign, her brother ran rampant in the townships, committing crimes and oppressing the people, and the case files accusing the empress's brother were continuously presented to Kou Zhun's desk. After personally visiting and investigating several major cases of Empress Liu's brother, the 60-year-old prime minister Kou Zhun revealed that he wanted to be the master of the people and sentenced Empress Liu's brother to death according to law, causing the people a great harm.
Kou Zhun, who had already put his family's life on the line, sentenced Empress Liu's brother to death, and at the moment when he sentenced Empress Liu's brother to death, he thought of opening up an old bone to get rid of the great harm that brought calamity to the country and the people, to exchange some peace for the common people, to add some dignity to heaven and state law, and it was also worth it to be killed by Empress Liu.
Empress Liu was Empress Liu, not only powerful and powerful with a group of adulterous villains, but also a sinister and vicious bad woman. Within a few days of Kou's brother Zhengfa, Empress Liu colluded with her close minister Ding Zhi to complain to Emperor Zhenzong and make false accusations. After considering the long-term consideration on the sickbed, Zhenzong still gave his own face to the empress, and the imperial pen was dismissed by Kou Zhun's prime minister.
After the boycott, Kou Zhun was demoted to Xiangzhou Assassin History. Xiangzhou is not very far from the capital Kaifeng, and the history of thorns is also a big official. When Empress Liu always thought of Xiangzhou's thorn Shi Kou Zhun not far away, she was always a little afraid in her heart, afraid that Kou Zhun would come to Beijing to reveal her old bottom. After Emperor Zhenzong's death, Empress Liu first demoted Kou Zhun from Xiangzhou to Sima of Hunan Province, and then from Hunan Province to Leizhou, Guangdong Province, to join the army, and exiled him to a wilderness far away from the capital, so that he could never turn over.
Sculpture of Kou Zhun in the Song Garden of Leizhou
From the age of 19 when he went to Beijing to participate in the imperial court examination, to the age of 63, he died of illness in Leizhou Sihu to join the military desk, and he completed more than 40 years of eunuch career. From Padang to the court, he has been promoted several times, framed several times, worshipped several times, and gone up and down several times. However, Kou Zhun, who fell and fell again, and fell again, Kou Zhun, who still had edges and angles when he died, Kou Zhun who dared to say no to the emperor, and Kou Zhun who died for the country and the people and did not repent.
Kou Zhun's four promotions were all from small local officials to high-ranking imperial court, or powerful ministers, or hot personnel supervisors, or prime ministers under one person, all of which were promoted to the point of breaking the earth, and rose to the envy and envy of hundreds of civil and military officials. Similarly, Kou Zhun's several times of being degraded also fell very badly, from the peak of power to the bottom. The last fall of the twilight years fell into the hands of a woman with an unhealthy heart, and fell weightlessly to the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the long distance of life, who has not fallen several times? Walking in the dangerous officialdom, living in the imperial court where the companions are like the tigers, which Gengjie man does not fall a few times? However, falling in the same place one after another is too sad and unenlightened.
Kou Zhun fell four times in his life, all four times in the same place. It was the fall of this same place that destroyed Kou Zhun and also made Kou Zhun. From ancient times to the present, it was definitely not Kou Zhun who fell into the hands of the villain, Wu Zixu was killed, Shang Martin was split by the car, Wang Anshi was deposed, Fan Zhongyan was degraded, and Yue Fei was killed... How many elites who govern the country one by one, and the sages who sacrifice their lives for the country and the people, how many can escape the conspiracies and dark arrows of the villains?
Every time Kou Zhun was degraded, he was indispensable to the rumors of the villains and the fainting emperor. However, the most direct and crucial thing is that Kou Zhun himself is self-sufficient. Just imagine, if Kou Zhun did not argue with the emperor in the main hall, if he did not pull the emperor's dragon robe, but like the ministers who followed the emperor and followed the emperor, saying some empty words, lies, and nonsense that pleased the emperor, it would definitely be another ending. The emperor is happy, and the little people not only dare not enter into the rumors, but also curry favor with you, sing praises to you, and call you brothers and brothers. Moreover, Kou Zhun was also a minister that the emperor liked, a heavy minister with great power in his hands, a hero who made contributions to the world, a close minister that the emperor could not do without, and a pillar of the country that the Manchu Dynasty was unattainable. Such a Kou Zhun turned out to be the heaviest official and the saddest prime minister of the Song Dynasty.
Suppose that Kou Zhun did not carry out personnel reforms, did not harm the vested interests of dignitaries and dignitaries, did not sentence Empress Liu's brother to death, did not persuade the emperor to go on a campaign, but used the authority in his hands to weave his own network of relations, build his own way to promotion, or cleverly use the name of the state to generously send people and engage in transactions, not only will not degrade officials, but also a tumbler with great power in his hands, and the elders of the two dynasties who are proud of the spring breeze. Such a good opportunity, so reused by the emperor, Kou Zhun, who let go of the "golden light avenue" of peace of mind and effort, did not go, but chose a single wooden bridge full of dangers. This untimely choice doomed Kou Zhun's misfortune; and because of this misfortune, the Northern Song Dynasty had the privilege of peaceful for decades, and the common people had the privilege of living a good life for decades.
Kou Zhun's demotion from the imperial court to the local area is definitely a major matter of humiliating people and face loss, and it is an unjust case that cannot be accepted and tolerated. If it is someone else, or a long-term sick leave, closed doors, or find a "Xi Shi" to go to the Five Lakes to play; Or go to the famous mountain to become an abbot, or even find a few fellow party members to engage in some guns and cannons to rebel. However, the chancellor Kou Zhun's mind was big, and he drank not only the emperor's bitter wine, but also the bitter wine of Empress Liu, and the bitter wine of the villain. Think about how much bitter wine the common people would drink if Kou Zhun didn't swallow these bitter wines...
Kou Zhun, who is accustomed to ups and downs, is an upright official, falls is a people without complaints and regrets, and dies as an innocent ghost.
Kou Zhun tombstone
One day in the late autumn of 1023 AD, the gray heaven and earth were cold and windy, and the leaves were falling. On the path outside Leizhou City, a group of people dressed in white and filial piety helped the coffin to go to the northwest direction crying and crying. In the coffin lay a 63-year-old man who had been the prime minister of the Great Song Dynasty, and who had been degraded again and again, joined the army of Kou Zhun.
When the old man was critically ill, he instructed his family to bury him back in his hometown of Weinan, the place where he was born and raised, far from the official field and away from the crops of the villain.
"The essence of the essence is clean and clean, and it is better than the dirt and the ditch." Resting on the banks of the Wei River, Lord Kou, you have returned to your flesh-and-blood homeland, a quiet, clean yellow land.
Lord Kou, the Weihe River understands you, and the yellow land in Weibei understands you; you swallow too much bitterness, and the people of your hometown hurt you and miss you.
Rest in peace, Lord Kou! (Image source network)
Source: Huashan Wind Bone