It is said that Cai Jing actively supported Wang Anshi's reform, not because he was morally noble and could distinguish right from wrong, but because he wanted to speculate and specialize, to curry favor with Wang Anshi and Emperor Shenzong in order to obtain promotion in his official career. Now, what Cai Jing didn't expect was that something went wrong during the implementation of the new law. Wang Anshi, who was so popular in front of Emperor Shenzong, was dismissed from his position as prime minister and demoted to a local post.
Because Cai Jing actively supported Wang Anshi's reform in the early stage, he became a thorn in the flesh of the conservative ministers, and he was determined to remove him quickly.
Wang Anshi was devalued, and Cai Jing's backer collapsed. Cai Jing originally thought that Emperor Shenzong was here. Emperor Shenzong knew that I, Cai Jing, was loyal and supported the reform. Unexpectedly, not long after, Emperor Shenzong felt unwell and fell ill, and soon died.
This is really relying on the mountains to fall, and the water to flow.
After the death of Emperor Shenzong, Empress Dowager Xuanren was in charge of the affairs behind the curtain. The person who succeeded Shenzong to the throne was Zhao Xu, the sixth son of Emperor Shenzong, who was Song Zhezong.
After Emperor Zhezong came to power, he honored Empress Dowager Xuanren as Empress Dowager Xuanren.
The Empress Dowager Xuanren, surnamed Gao and named Taotao, was the empress of Emperor Yingzong and the biological mother of Emperor Shenzong. When Emperor Shenzong died, Emperor Zhezong who succeeded him was only 10 years old, so Empress Dowager Xuanren actually took charge of the government.
The Empress Dowager Xuanren originally opposed Wang Anshi's reform and once cried to Emperor Shenzong, demanding that Wang Anshi's reform be abolished. During the reign of Emperor Xuanren, the Empress Dowager Xuanren re-appointed conservative ministers Sima Guang, Lu Gongzhu, Wen Yanbo, Fan Chunren, Su Shi and other ministers on the grounds of "taking restoration of the ancestral laws as the first priority and carrying out Renzong's administration". , abolished the new law implemented by Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi, known as "Yuanlong Genghua" in history.
In order to enrich the people and consolidate the border and make good ties with all sides, Empress Dowager Xuanren responded to Xixia's request and returned all the Anjiang, Jialu, Futu, and Mizhi villages of Xixia that had been captured by the Northern Song Dynasty during Wang Anshi's reform to Xixia.
The Empress Dowager Xuanren was famous for advocating frugality and justice, especially paying attention to restraining relatives and strictly observing feudal women's ethics. She drew lessons from the decline of feudal ethics and morals during the Five Dynasties, when powerful ministers and military generals were arrogant and even killed and usurped the throne. While strengthening the centralization of power, she paid special attention to promoting Confucian feudal ethical concepts.
At that time, Sima Guang was demoted from the court for fifteen years because of his opposition to Shenzong and Wang Anshi's reforms. He was able to free up his energy and presided over the compilation of the first chronological general history in Chinese history, "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", which made him famous and highly respected. , famous at home and abroad. In addition, Sima Guang was gentle, courteous, upright, hard-working, and diligent. He was a model taught by Confucianism. Therefore, he was in line with the wishes of the Empress Dowager Xuanren, so he was re-activated by the Empress Dowager Xuanren and became the leader of the court. Prime Minister.
After Sima Guang became prime minister, with the support of the Empress Dowager Xuanren, he ordered various regions to gradually abolish the implemented Wang Anshi New Law and still use the old system. Therefore, those who had previously attached themselves to Wang Anshi and tried their best to implement Wang Anshi's new law were in a dilemma, ashamed and uneasy, procrastinating, and inevitably refused to cooperate.
A few years later, Sima Guang became ill, but he was unwilling to do so because the Young Crops Law and the Exemption from Service Law had not yet been abolished.
One day, Sima Guang was supported by his son to go to court. When talking about the new law that had not yet been abolished, he couldn't help but sigh: "The young crops and the exemption law cannot be eliminated. I will die with my eyes in peace." After speaking, Sima Guang went to the palace to express his gratitude to the Empress Dowager Xuanren and the Empress Dowager Xuanren. Emperor Zhezong requested that the two laws of young crops and exemption from military service be abolished.
In this regard, all the ministers in the court had no objections, but Zhang Dun was the only one who could not say anything. When the palace debated with Sima Guang, he said that the military service law was the reason for the weak military preparedness of the imperial court. Only the exemption law could boost the military preparedness. If the exemption law was abolished, Undoubtedly, he is weakening himself and destroying the Great Wall.
That Zhang Dun was tall and thick, and spoke in a gruff voice. He did not take Sima Guang, who was a tall, virtuous and Confucian master, in his eyes at all. He had the tendency to despise authority. He bluntly said that the exemption law was the foundation of the country and was absolutely Unable to move.
Sima Guang was seriously ill, and he was a Confucian master. He was gentle and courteous. Faced with Zhang Dun's aggressive attitude, he could not open his mouth for a long time.
Seeing this, the Empress Dowager Xuanren was so angry that she immediately ordered the palace officials to drive Zhang Dun out of the palace and demoted him to Ruzhou as the magistrate.
Because of Zhang Dun, Empress Dowager Xuanren and Sima Guang were very unhappy.
As a Hongru master, Sima Guang had a stubborn temper that refused to admit defeat. When he was angered by Zhang Dun, his stubborn temper that refused to admit defeat came up. He announced in the palace: "In all places, within five days, all exemption laws will be abolished. There must be no mistakes!”
When the ministers present heard this, they all said no, saying that time was tight and the situation was complicated, so it was not feasible to abolish the immunization law within five days.
When Sima Guang saw this, he was extremely helpless.
When Sima Guang was in a desperate situation, and amid the opposition of the ministers, someone suddenly shouted: "I think it will work!"
Following the roar, a man stood up from the class and said loudly: "Whether things work or not, it all depends on whether they do it or not. If you do things, they will work; if you don't do things, they will not work!"
When all the ministers heard this, they were all shocked. They looked closely and saw that it was Cai Jing who knew Kaifeng Mansion.
This guy was originally a staunch supporter of Wang Anshi's new law. The old conservative minister was about to demote him and then hurry up, but before he could do it, he suddenly started to support the repeal of the new law.
In fact, Cai Jing has seen the current situation clearly. Wang Anshi was dismissed as prime minister, and Emperor Shenzong also died. Now in power are Empress Dowager Xuanren and Prime Minister Sima Guang. Emperor Zhezong is young and is nothing more than a decoration. It's impossible not to rely on Sima Guang's power! That's why Cai Jing made such a change.
In the hall, Cai Jing continued to speak uprightly: "State affairs are the top priority, and the public spirit is the most important thing. Ministers should be loyal to the country as long as they are well paid. In my opinion, as long as the laws are detrimental to the country and the people, they should be abolished! There should be no ambiguity at all. , if other people or other places do not abolish it, I will abolish it starting from the places under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture!"
Cai Jing's righteousness surprised the ministers present.
Sima Guang was overjoyed when he saw this. All his previous dissatisfaction with Cai Jing suddenly disappeared. In the palace, he stood up tremblingly with his sick body shaking, and said to Cai Jing repeatedly: "If everyone follows the law like a king, why not? ! If you think it’s okay, I think it’s okay too.”
Sima Guang was deeply grateful to Cai Jing for his support.
Sure enough, Cai Jing acted vigorously and resolutely after this palace meeting, and within five days he abolished Wang Anshi's exemption law in Kaifeng Prefecture.
At that time, Wang Anshi, who was demoted to Jiangning Prefecture, heard that the new laws were being repealed one after another, but he didn't pay much attention to it. When he heard that the exemption law was repealed, he was heartbroken and said in shock: "Has it changed so much?"
When he heard that it was Cai Jing who took the lead in implementing the abolition of the exemption law, Wang Anshi was even more heartbroken. He thought to himself: At the beginning, Cai Jing was so knowledgeable and sensible. When everyone was opposed to the new law, he patted his chest and said: "All reforms that cannot be implemented started from my Kaifeng Mansion. I don't believe that such a good law can still be implemented?!" Wang Anshi couldn't understand. It was Cai Jing who took the lead in implementing the new law at that time. Why is he taking the lead in repealing the new law now? Is this Cai Jing again? ! Isn’t this a good method? !
Wang Anshi was deeply hit mentally and fell into a trance, muttering endlessly: "This method cannot be abolished! This method cannot be abolished!"
The exemption law was the foundation of the new law and was related to the strengthening of the imperial court's border defenses. The repeal of the exemption law marked the complete failure of the reform of the new law. Therefore, Wang Anshi was not very heartbroken when other new laws were repealed. After all, it only affected the economy; and the repeal of the exemption law was related to the safety of the imperial court.
Suffering from this blow, Wang Anshi's condition became more serious and he died soon after.
In fact, Cai Jing's move was actually a speculative move after assessing the situation.
That Sima Guang was loyal and kind to others, how could he know that Cai Jing was full of twists and turns? ! How can we recognize Cai Jing's superb ability to adapt to the wind? Therefore, Cai Jing was also vigorously used and deliberately cultivated.
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang are both gentlemen, but a gentleman can never defeat a villain, because a gentleman has reverence, but a villain has no bottom line.
When Sima Guang heard that Wang Anshi had died of illness, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He sighed and suggested that "the court should use more generous gifts."
The Empress Dowager Xuanren thought that Wang Anshi was a minister of the previous dynasty and gave it to the Taifu posthumously. Later generations called Wang Anshi Wang Jinggong.
Things took a turn, and just when Cai Jing was prospering under Sima Guang because he opposed Wang Anshi's reform, Empress Dowager Xuanren passed away and Emperor Zhezong took over the throne.
Emperor Zhezong was a diligent and progressive man who was eager to improve himself, so he introduced Wang Anshi's new laws, dismissed Sima Guang and other conservative ministers, and re-transferred Zhang Dun, who had been demoted to Ruzhou as the prefect, to the capital and enabled him to As prime minister, he vigorously promoted Wang Anshi's new law that had been abolished.
That Zhang Dun was also a man who was bold and ambitious in his career. He was very energetic and was especially trusted by Emperor Zhezong. He had the pride of being a scholar and dying for his confidants, so he risked his life to do things and exercised his duties as prime minister responsibly.
As soon as Zhang Dun took office, he demoted all conservatives such as Sima Guang.
Because Cai Jing relied on Sima Guang and acted as a vanguard for the abolition of the exemption law, Zhang Dun was very worried about this and was about to demote Cai Jing's servant. Who knows that Cai Jing's servant took advantage of the situation and made another gorgeous turn and attached himself to After Zhang Dun came, he began to vigorously restore the new laws of Wang Anshi's era in Kaifeng Mansion, and he did so with great vigor and effectiveness.
Zhang Dun was naturally happy to have such a person who strongly supported the new law and practiced it personally. Therefore, in a blink of an eye, Cai Jing became Zhang Dun's faction again, and was once again favored by Emperor Zhezong and Prime Minister Zhang Dun.
What a shrewd person Cai Jing is! He saw that Emperor Zhezong was personally in charge of the government and vigorously promoted new laws. His style of work was vigorous and resolute, and he would never withdraw his troops until he won a complete victory. How could he not rely on him? !
In addition, Emperor Zhezong is only eighteen years old, and he still has decades to become emperor. If he does not obey Zhezong's will and does not fall into Emperor Zhezong's eyes, when will he be able to survive?
Therefore, Cai Jing made a magnificent turn and became the reformist of the Zhe Zong Dynasty.
