On a certain day in July of the fourth year of the Northern Song Dynasty's Zhenzong Tianxi, Kou Zhun, the prime minister who had reached the age of sixty, came to the palace as usual.
However, on this day, his pace was much faster than in the past, and his hands could not suppress the trembling.
He, having something important to say, should be spoken to the True Sect alone.
Looking at Emperor Zhenzong on the throne, Kou Zhun's face inadvertently revealed a hint of pity, and at this time, Zhenzong had already suffered a stroke and could not speak. On weekdays, "political affairs are decided by the middle palace", and the so-called middle palace is Empress Liu E.
What Kou Zhun was going to say was related to this matter.
He expressed two meanings to Emperor Zhenzong: First, crown prince Xiande and Sufu Renwang, in view of Zhenzong's physical reasons, should be awarded the crown prince with an artifact, and Zhenzong should be the emperor of Taishang;
Second, the prime minister Ding said that the people of Yu also could not assist the Lord.
Song Zhenzong stills
These two points that Kou Zhun said made Zhenzong's chest stir.
He was very sober at the moment, and he understood the weight of Kou Zhun's two sentences: when the crown prince ascended the throne, Empress Liu E lost the legitimacy of participating in political affairs; and once Ding Zhi was removed, Kou Zhun could grasp all the power. This is tantamount to a redistribution of power.
The weak Zhenzong only hesitated for a moment before choosing to believe Kou Zhun. At the last moments of his life, people often habitually trust the person who had the greatest influence on him, and yes, he would not forget that it was Kou Zhun who recommended him to Emperor Taizong as the crown prince.
Zhenzong, who was also quite dissatisfied with Liu E, chose to trust Kou Zhun unconditionally- "Shangranzhi! ”
With the approval of the emperor, Kou Zhun began to prepare intensively. He knew that no one would be willing to voluntarily give up the power in his hands, especially the ambitious empress Liu E. Therefore, Kou Zhun made a precise plan, and he contacted his own people in the zaixiang group to "attract the cooperation of Li Di, Yang Yi, Cao Wei, Sheng Du, Li Zunxun and so on."
He announced his plan to them: "Abolish the chapter, establish Renzong, honor the Temple of Zhen as the Emperor Taishang, and Shu Ding, Cao Yu, etc."
There are abolitions and stands, there are curses and killings, this is a coup d'état.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, political disputes</h1>
The time also wants to be set back to the third year of the Tianxi, this year, Kou Zhun entered the DPRK for the fourth time.
After three ups and three downs, and still able to make a comeback, Kou Zhun was very proud: You see, the emperor is still inseparable from me, an old minister.
The fly in the ointment is that before going to Kaifeng, a protégé advised him not to go to the capital to wade through this muddy water, because at this time, the imperial court, the post-party and the prime minister group were full of contradictions, and at this time, when entering the court, I was afraid that the late festival would not be guaranteed...
Kou Zhun did not wait for the protégé to finish speaking, so he whisked his sleeve away: When the country is at this time, someone needs to clear the fog, and I Kou Zhun, how can I not move forward for my own selfishness?
Ding Zhi
Soon, Kou Zhun learned another piece of news, it turned out that on the same day that Kou Zhun worshiped Xiang, Ding Zhi, who was known as one of the "Five Ghosts", also became a suffragan.
Speaking of Ding Shu, he really should thank Kou Zhun, thinking that back then, Kou Zhun attached great importance to Ding Shu's talents, and repeatedly recommended Ding Shu to the prime minister Li Zhun, and when he saw that Li Zhun did not use it, he also went to the door and asked the other party why he did not use it.
Therefore, after Ding Zhi became a member of the government this time, Kou Zhun was very respectful. If at this time, Kou Zhun can take the opportunity to reconcile relations with him, then perhaps he can avoid many contradictions and incidents in the future. However, the person who has been in the big position for a long time has an inevitable personality and does not know how to restrain, and in the end, Kou Zhun still missed this opportunity.
Once, when the prime ministers were eating together and drinking soup, Kou Zhun's beard was stained with soup, and Ding Zhi saw the situation and hurried forward to wipe Kou Zhun's beard with his sleeve.
On the contrary, he was very dismissive of this kind of sneaking and patting, and he smiled and said to Ding Zhi: "Yo, participate in the affairs of the governor, the important minister of the country, is it to brush the beard of the chief?" ”
Ding Zhi's face immediately turned red. He saw the incident as his own shame.
In this way, there was a division in the group of prime ministers, some people embraced Kou and some people supported Ding, and the two camps were not divided into each other and restrained each other.
But at this moment, an accident upset this balance.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, unexpected</h1>
In the third year of Tianxi, Zhenzong suffered a stroke, and he not only spoke unfavorably, but also had a more trance-like mind at times, so Empress Liu E began to exercise imperial power and participate in decision-making.
Sitting in the harem, if Liu E wants to really exercise power, she must have the cooperation of the prime minister, who does she choose?
Certainly not Kou Zhun.
Because Liu E and Kou Zhun had formed a beam long ago.
At the beginning, Emperor Zhenzong wanted to make Liu E empress, but Kou Zhun took the lead in opposing it, and he did not shy away from saying that Liu E was from a humble origin and was not worthy of being a queen.
After Liu E gained power, Kou Zhun offended her again. The Liu family, evil in sichuan townships, occupied other people's salt wells, caused public anger, and the emperor hoped to make a big deal small because of the empress. However, Kou Zhun lost his temper and insisted that the wrongdoers be brought to justice. As a result, the history books say that Kou Zhun "lost the queen's will again".
Liu E naturally fell to Ding Zhi's side, and some courtiers saw the situation and saw the wind making the rudder, and turned to Ding Zhi one after another.
Kou Zhun, who did not want to concede defeat, found Emperor Zhenzong and made up his mind to "abolish the chapter and dedicate it to Emperor Renzong".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > iii</h1>
However, a hundred dense and one sparse, or out of the box.
After a drink, Kou Zhun was a little overwhelmed, feeling that he had the support of the emperor, but in one fell swoop, the world was peaceful, so he lost his words after drinking and leaked secrets.
"And the matter will be raised, and the huigong (Kou Zhun) will be drunk and leaked, and someone will report it."
Kou Zhun leaked secrets
Subsequently, they reported the matter to Zhenzong, and in desperation, Zhenzong had to depose Kou Zhun, but he still did his best to defend him, added the title of prince to Kou Zhun, stayed in the capital, and "treated Kou Zhun as he was".
Fearing Kou Zhun's comeback, the Ding clique intensified its attack on him, saying that he had made friends with the party and sought to be a re-enemy, rather than let him go.
Naturally, Kou Zhun would not sit still, he began to move around, and found Emperor Zhenzong to complain, saying that Ding said that these people were looking for his problems everywhere, and it was not me who was guilty, so why should he me.
The purpose is obvious, that is, to burn a jade stone, to go, everyone to go together, no one can think well.
A few days later, Ding Shu's party suffered a dead hand, and a minister named Yang Chongxun reported that the deputy capital of the interior knew Zhou Huaizheng and wanted to murder Ding Shu and others to help Kou Zhun restore his position.
The message behind this message is that if Kou Zhun stays in the capital, he will give the pro-Kou faction a lot of luck, and in order to help Kou Zhun restore his phase, they will do whatever it takes.
At this point, Zhenzong had no choice but to suppress the pro-Kou faction, and he had to demote Kou Zhun out of the capital. After the death of Emperor Zhenzong, Kou Zhun was degraded again and again, and eventually died in the land of smoke.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, personality</h1>
Kou Zhun's personal tragedy stems from his character.
In the folk, Kou Zhun is known as "Kou Laoxi", in addition to being just and not angry, there is also a hint of cunning in his personality, so he can laugh and scold in the struggle with bad people.
However, in order to facilitate the dissemination of folk images, there are too many beautiful imaginations of everyone, and the real Kou Zhun has just passed it, but the cunning has not.
He, who goes his own way, is self-conscious, and does what he sees for himself, and no one who opposes it is useless, even if it is the emperor. When emperor Taizong was still in power, once Kou Zhun's opinion was at odds with Emperor Taizong's, and Emperor Taizong planned to put the issue aside first, but who knew that Kou Zhun actually dragged Emperor Taizong and said that no one could leave without making things clear.
He, his heart and eyes are still small, and his eyes will be rewarded. Still in the Taizong Dynasty, in order to get revenge on a certain minister, he deliberately put the other party on the other side's ascension to the court, and ranked particularly low. The other party found Taizong and sued Kou Zhunyi, and Emperor Taizong and a thin mud, wanted to make a big deal out of it. As a result, Kou Zhun did not understand his intentions, or did not forgive, he had to confront the other party in court, and he was angry and scolded: "Birds, finches and livestock can still understand people's feelings, but what about people?" ”
He will not hesitate to do anything when things go wrong. Kou Zhun's most well-known political achievement was the "Alliance of the Yuanyuan", but few people know that in order to make Zhenzong personally recruit, he also used "military advice" to a certain extent. He had deliberately found Gao Qiong, the commander of the palace, and under the influence of Kou Zhun, Gao Qiong entered the temple to see Zhenzong and said something like this: "Your Majesty should listen to Kou Zhun." The families of the soldiers accompanying the driver are all in the Beijing Division, and they will not go to the south with you!" Gao Qiong's meaning could not be clearer, that is, if the emperor wants to run, the soldiers will not protect you.
This was tantamount to practicing "military advice", after all, more than two hundred years had passed since Tang Xuanzong was forced to kill Yang Guifei on the way to Shu.
Objectively speaking, any personality is a double-edged sword, and Kou Zhun's personality has prompted him to make meritorious achievements and help the country survive the crisis; but from another point of view, it has deeply hurt Kou Zhun himself, and Kou Zhun has repeatedly resigned before, which is directly related to this personality.
Therefore, some people refer to Kou Zhun as "making qi prime minister", and sincerely say so. It is not surprising that Kou Zhun, who is willful and willful, has obtained such an ending in the final political struggle.