There is such a story in "Water Margin": that day, the sky was clear, the wind was harmonious and smooth. Under this rare good weather, Lin Chong was wandering around the street market, he saw a good knife with an incomparably sharp blade, Lin Chong was ecstatic and loved it, so he bought this knife. Not long after, someone said they wanted to see Lin Chong's sword. Lin Chong was very happy, and under the leadership of one person, he came to a house. Seeing that there was no one in the room, Lin Chong was suspicious of Dou Dou, and when he looked at it suddenly, he realized that he had been calculated, and it turned out that he had been taken into the military forbidden place - the White Tiger Hall.
After a while, an official came out, and he began to question Lin Chong. Lin Chong was hard to argue. After some maneuvering, Lin Chong temporarily saved his life, but the price he paid was to be stabbed to Cangzhou, which was poor and bad.
We are all familiar with this story. The official in the story is one of the most hated "four thieves" in "Water Margin": Gao Li.
The various acts of Gao Li in "Water Margin" are heinous, and perhaps people will think: Will there really be such a task in history? Looking through the data, we found that Gao Li did exist in history, but the real Gao Li was diametrically opposed to the image in "Water Margin".
"Water Margin" says that Gao Li was born low. Because of this humble origin, Gao Li became a wanderer who did not learn any techniques and was idle all day. He wandered around all day without doing anything, and he had only one skill that was beyond ordinary people, that is, Keju was very powerful. But who could have imagined that it was this side door that changed Gao Li's fate.
Emperor Huizong of Song, who was still the Duan King at the time, was very fond of Keju, but he could only be regarded as an amateur. Once, Wang Yi asked Gao Qi to send objects to Duan Wang, just at this time, Duan Wang was playing a ball, the ball quickly flew to Gao Li's side, Gao Li was lightning fast and thunderous posture, kicked a ball, it was this kick that attracted the attention of Duan Wang, so soon after, Duan Wang took Gao Li under his command.
After the death of Emperor Zhezong of Song, King Duan succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Huizong of Song. As a person close to the emperor, Gao Li also quickly soared to the top, and his career was smooth and green, and he sat on the position of a lieutenant.
After Gao Li became a lieutenant, the imperial court at this time had a rebel army led by Song Jiang everywhere against the imperial court, and as a representative of the imperial court, Gao Li began to prepare to suppress the Liangshan army. After Accepting the imperial court's offer, Song Jiang and others participated in the war to quell the Fangla Rebellion. When he returned triumphantly, Gao Li believed that Song Jiang was always a rogue and a threat to the imperial court, so he gave Song Jiang a pot of poisonous wine, and Song Jiang's subordinates were also persecuted, and since then, the Song Jiang uprising has come to a tragic end.
This is the description in "Water Margin". The historical Gao Li is the same as the description in the novel, he came from a humble origin, the difference is that the real Gao Li is not a small who has nothing to do, on the contrary, although Gao Li is from a humble background, he has not given up reading, he has a certain foundation in poetry and song, writes a good hand, in addition, he will also dance the knife and get the gun. Not only that, but he is also good at keju. Because he wrote well, he was appreciated by Su Shi and became Su Shi's little secretary.
Later, Su Shi was demoted from Beijing because of official problems, and he thought that his secretary would not have a stable job, so he recommended him to Zeng Bu, but because Zeng Bu was his political enemy, Zeng Bu did not accept it, so Su Shi recommended Gao Qi to Wang Yi and began the career of Soaring Huang Tengda.
Because Wang Yi had sent Gao Li to send a comb to Duan Wang, during this period, Gao Li showed off his skills, which attracted the full attention of Duan Wang, and took Gao Li for his own use. When King Duan succeeded to the throne, Gao Li's status was also rising.
However, Gao Li was not from the Imperial Examination, and Emperor Huizong of Song, who intended to raise Gao Qi, let Gao Li go to the army, because the Song army fought many victorious battles, and Gao Li was also promoted and became the commander of the palace.
However, Gao Li was not a military expert and did not play much role in the military of the Great Song Dynasty. The reason why he has been able to be in the official arena for decades mainly depends on some means.
He understood the psychology of the emperor and greeted the emperor everywhere. Gao Li has a valuable quality is that he knows how to be grateful, the general Liu Zhongwu once promoted Gao Li, Liu Zhongwu once lost the battle, but was not seriously punished, that is because Gao Li helped to say good things behind his back. He also recommended Liu Zhongwu's son Liu Li as a general. Cai Jing and others wanted to persecute Su Shi, but Gao Li did not join them, but instead extended his own help to help Su Shi through the difficulties.
In 1126, Tong Guan had a dispute with Gao Li, who did not go south with Emperor Huizong and stayed in Sizhou, escaping the disaster of being in a different place, and died that year.
In "Water Margin", Song Jiang and others end up being given poisoned wine and die. In fact, Gao Li did not participate in the war to quell the SongJiang uprising, and the person who really quelled the Songjiang uprising was Zhang Shuye.
Gao Li is not a loyal subject, but he is not the most heinous person described in the novel. The reason why Gao Li became the image in the novel may be that he won the high official Lilu because he could bow, and his too simple behavior made posterity disdainful, and the second reason was that he was too greedy during his official period, and he was reported and exposed.
When we read literature, we can just treat it as a story, after all, it is not a small difference from real history.