Western Xia, an ethnic minority regime established by the Dang Xiang people in the northwest of China, was originally a vassal of the Song Dynasty and was a vassal state of the Song Dynasty. After Li Jiqian became the queen of Western Xia, he began to rebel against the Song Dynasty, frequently invading the song dynasty's borders, and the war between the Song dynasty and the Western Xia continued for many years.
By chance in the Song-Xia War, the Song army captured Li Jiqian's mother, and Song Taizong was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly summoned Kou Zhun, a privy councillor deputy envoy equivalent to the current vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, to discuss the disposition of Li Jiqian's mother. Through deliberation, the two agreed that Li Jiqian had repeatedly violated the Song Dynasty and that his crimes were unforgivable, so it was decided to put Li Jiqian's mother to death to relieve Li Jiqian's hatred for rebellion and also to punish those who opposed the imperial court.
Just as Kou Zhun was withdrawing and passing through Lü Duan's place, Lü Duan, the prime minister who had always been cautious, peeked at Kou Zhun with a solemn look, and guessed in his heart that there must be something important in his heart, so he hurriedly stopped Kou Zhun and asked about the reason, and when he heard that he wanted to kill Mother Li, Lü Duan immediately stopped Kou Zhun and said that it would not be too late to make a decision after he and Song Taizong had renegotiated. The matter was urgent, and Lü Duan did not dare to be sloppy, and hurried to meet Song Taizong.
He took Xiang Yu's capture of Liu Bang's father in the Chu-Han rivalry as an example, and advised Song Taizong to think twice, and Xiang Yu also threatened Liu Bang to cook his old father, but Liu Bang brazenly said that he should not forget to share a bowl of soup, from which it can be seen that those who have achieved great things in ancient times are often rough in temperament and are not trapped in the love of their children. Therefore, a rebellious person like Li Jiqian will ignore his relatives in a critical moment.
He said: "Now that you have killed his mother, he will not obey, but will only increase the hatred in his heart and strengthen his determination to rebel." Listening to Lü Duan's remarks, Song Taizong suddenly woke up and hurried to renegotiate with Lü Duan about Li Duan's disposition, and Lü Duan suggested that it was best to properly arrange Li Duan and treat her well, so as to surrender Li Jiqian, even if Li Jiqian would not surrender soon, there would be family affection that would always be involved.
Song Taizong was very much in favor of Lü Duan's suggestion, and deeply felt that if Lü Duan had not reminded himself that he had almost made a big mistake, he ordered people to place Li Mu Haosheng in Yanzhou, and in the end, Li Duan could die well in Yanzhou. After Li Jiqian's death, his son Li Deming chose to submit to the Song Dynasty because of the Song Dynasty's kindness to Li Mother. Lü Duan, as the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, was a clean and honest official all his life, and showed an indifferent attitude toward fame and fortune, "confused", but in the face of major events, he kept his head clear and considered the problems meticulously and thoroughly, so people praised Lü Duan for "being confused about small things, and not being confused about big things."
Here, Lü Duan's handling of Li Mu reflects Lü Duan's extraordinary vision and insight.
Lü Duan's wisdom was also reflected in the important matter of emperor Zhenzong song. In successive dynasties, once the emperor died, there would often be a palace coup, and the power struggle between brothers and brothers was fratricidal, which was a "syndrome" of power replacement. Emperor Taizong of Song had made his eldest son Zhao Yuanzuo the crown prince, and after Zhao Yuanzuo went mad due to illness, he changed his second son Zhao Yuanzuo to crown prince, who knew that Zhao Yuanzuo died suddenly at a young age, so Song Taizong had to choose his third son Zhao Heng as the crown prince. It was this decision to abolish the elderly and establish the young, which laid a deep hidden danger for the subsequent court battles.
As soon as Emperor Taizong of Song died, the conspirators led by the grand eunuch Wang Ji'en (王妃恩) were eager to stir up trouble, and Wang Ji'en, jealous of Zhao Heng's wisdom, used the ancient excuse that the emperor's "standing up for the long and not the young" was a matter of course, colluded with the deputy chancellor Li Changling, Li Jixun, who was in charge of the imperial forest army, Hu Dan, who was in charge of the edict, and others to prepare to install Zhao Yuanzuo, who had been deposed as emperor. A court battle was aggressive and imminent, and at a critical juncture, Empress Li had a plan in mind and specially arranged for the eunuch Wang Ji'en to invite Lü Duan to discuss the matter.
As soon as Lü Duan heard that the empress was going to summon him to the palace, he knew that the situation had changed, and when Wang Ji'en was defenseless, Lü Duan decisively detained him and sent someone to guard him strictly. As soon as Lü Duan entered the palace, the empress quickly explained Wang Ji'en's conspiracy to support Zhao Yuanzuo, saying that she did not know how to do it? Lü Duan persuaded the empress: "When the emperor made Zhao Heng crown prince, the purpose was to prevent such a thing from happening today, and now that the emperor's bones are not cold, how can we go against his will and make our own claims?" ”
Then, Lü Duan patiently did the ideological work of the ministers, and supported Zhao Heng to successfully inherit the throne and become the later Song Zhenzong. At the enthronement ceremony of Song Zhenzong, he hung a curtain to accept the worship of the ministers of culture and military affairs, and the strange thing was that only Lü Duan stood and did not kneel, it turned out that Lü Duan was afraid of a plan to adjust the bag, and wanted to personally verify the authenticity of the emperor. He asked the emperor to roll up the curtains, and he himself went forward to carefully examine it to make sure that Zhao Heng was correct, and then he walked down and led the courtiers to prostrate themselves and bow down.
Afterwards, those ministers who conspired to support Zhao Yuanzuo were demoted and sent to other places and dealt with accordingly. Lü Duan used his composure and calmness to make the succession to the throne proceed smoothly, avoid a senseless court bloodshed, and complete the smooth transition of the supreme power of the Great Song Dynasty, and Lü Duan once again highlighted his calmness and caution in the face of major events. Lü Duan experienced three dynasties and ended well, his life was indifferent to fame and fortune, did not argue with others, had a general understanding, had a temperament, was confused in private affairs, and was wise in big things, which can be described as external foolishness and internal wisdom.
After Song Zhenzong became emperor, he greatly respected this old and important minister, gave him special preferential treatment and care, and repeatedly added officials to him, and in his later years Lü Duan was often cared for and rewarded by Song Zhenzong, after Lü Duan's death, Song Zhenzong was very sad, not only gave his wife and his son many gifts, but also posthumously awarded his official title of "Sikong" and gave him the title of "Zhenghui", and Lü Duan was able to die in a high position, which was rare in ancient times.
In 1976, when the great leader on his sickbed summoned Ye Shuai, he dictated a poem to give:
"Zhuge was cautious all his life, and Lü Duan was not confused about major matters."
First, to evaluate Ye Shuai's decisiveness in the face of major events, and second, to express his hidden worries about state affairs after a hundred years, hoping that he could stand up in times of crisis.
Located in the northwest corner of the intersection of Aimin East Road and Dong'an Road in present-day Langfang City, Hebei Province, MingxianFang is actually a street park. There are seventeen statues of famous sages who have directly influenced Langfang from ancient times to the present, including Lü Duan.
Resources:
["Song Shi Lü Duan Biography", "Song History Chronicle end"]