After Emperor Huizong came to the throne, the most popular person in the court hall was Cai Jing; outside the court hall, the most popular person was Gao Qiu, the commander-in-chief of the palace.
It was the first month of Cai Jing's third year as the prime minister of the imperial court. A strange phenomenon occurred: a comet appeared in the west and light stretched across the sky. The ministers were shocked, and the Heavenly Supervisor hurriedly reported the weather abnormality to Emperor Huizong. When Emperor Huizong heard the news, he avoided the palace and lost food because of the astrological warning. He was panicked and restless.
Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui, the ministers of the DPRK, had always been at odds with Cai Jing. The two of them thought that since it was a natural phenomenon, there must be a monster causing trouble. Looking around the court, Cai Jing is the most evil one. The two men thought about it for a long time, discussed secretly, and then pointed the finger at Cai Jing. They felt that taking advantage of the innate vision and the superstitious opportunity of the Holy Spirit to move Cai Jing was the best way.
After the two men discussed it, they took the opportunity to speak in front of Emperor Huizong, asking Emperor Huizong to open up his voice, relax the environment, be eclectic, discover talents, use talents, and create a good administrative environment.
The reason why Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui made such a suggestion was that Cai Jing erected "Yuanyou Party Member Monuments" outside the gate of the imperial palace and at the yamen of various states and counties, which blocked the way of speech, hindered the view, restricted the use of talents, and hindered the imperial court. Their administrative abilities damaged the image of the imperial court; therefore, the two made targeted remarks to Emperor Huizong.
After listening to the suggestions of Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui, Emperor Huizong felt that they were very reasonable. The "Monument of Yuanyou Party Members" erected outside the entrance of the imperial palace was indeed an eyesore, blocked the way of speech, and affected the emergence of talents. and use. Emperor Huizong was so pleased that he promoted Zhao Tingzhi to the position of Right Chancellor and Liu Kui to the position of Vice Minister of Zhongshu. Cai Jing was the left prime minister at that time. Emperor Huizong promoted Zhao Tingzhi to the right prime minister, but he used ministers who were at odds with Cai Jing to contain him.
As for the Yuanyou party monument, Emperor Huizong planned to destroy it at the appropriate time.
Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui achieved their first step goal.
Because they were plotting to overthrow Cai Jing, Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui kept an eye on the Party monument.
A few days later, Liu Kui, who was appointed by Emperor Huizong as the minister of Zhongshu, pulled up his clothes and knelt on the ground, pleading again: "Long live my emperor. I thought that in front of the court hall and the various county offices, there were stone tablets of Yuanyou Party members. , it hinders loose speech and is not conducive to the view of the court. Your Majesty, nowadays, the government is harmonious, the people are happy, the country is peaceful and the people are peaceful, and everything is prosperous and beautiful. However, the monument of Yuanyou Party members stands out in front of the court hall and the prefectural and county government offices, which is very inelegant and obstructive. Looking at it, I beg you to destroy it."
When Huizong heard this, he felt the same and intended to destroy it, but he hesitated, thinking that the time was not yet ripe and fearing that Grand Master Cai would be displeased.
Zhao Tingzhi also knelt down and begged: "Your Majesty, what Liu Shilang said is true, and the situation is indeed the case. If the monument to the Yuanyou Party members is not destroyed, the channels of speech cannot be opened, the private information cannot be uploaded, and the voice of the Holy Lord Yu will not be known to the soldiers and the people." , only by destroying the Yuanyou party monument can we create a relaxed environment and restore a harmonious atmosphere."
When Huizong heard the report, he nodded and said: "What you said is very true, and I also have the same intention. However, the Yuanyou Party Monument was erected under the direct supervision of Taishi Cai. Moreover, it was written by Taishi Cai and signed by me. Now it has been destroyed." , for fear of causing discussion,”
Zhao Tingzhi repeated: "Long live my emperor! Everything in the world was determined by the environment at that time, how can it remain unchanged? Now, times have passed and the environment has changed. We need to take additional measures to deal with the current situation. Destroying the monument is a top priority. If it is destroyed, Going to the Yuanyou party monument will further show that our emperor is wise and wise."
Huizong pondered for a moment and finally made up his mind and said: "Since we want to destroy the monument, we should do it secretly and not let Master Cai know about it."
Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui shouted loudly: "My emperor is wise! Long live, long live, long live my emperor!"
That night, when everything was quiet, Huizong sent people to sneak into the court hall and secretly smashed the stone tablet of Yuanyou's party. Emperor Huizong sent a separate edict overnight, and all states and counties complied with it. All the Yuanyou party monuments erected in front of the Yamen were quickly destroyed without any mistakes.
Emperor Huizong's imperial edict was issued to the prefectures and counties near the capital overnight.
The next morning, Cai Jing entered the court in a swaggering manner. When he came to the entrance of the main hall, he suddenly felt that something was missing. When he thought about it carefully, he realized that the monument to the Yuanyou Party members that he had ordered to erect in front of the main hall was missing. It had obviously been taken by someone. Destroyed.
When Cai Jing saw this, he became furious.
However, Cai Jing did not know that the Yuanyou party monument erected in front of the imperial palace was destroyed by Emperor Huizong. Therefore, he had no scruples and angrily rushed into the palace without looking at the ministers standing on both sides. , without saluting Emperor Huizong, he suddenly asked Emperor Huizong in a loud voice, who was sitting on the dragon throne: "Long live my emperor, I wonder who is so bold as to destroy the traitor party monument in front of the imperial palace?" ! Where are the laws of the imperial court for such behavior?! It should be severely punished."
When Huizong saw this, he felt a little embarrassed, but he thought that he had sent people to quietly demolish the stele behind Cai Jing's back. Therefore, he did not blame Cai Jing for being rude. Instead, he comforted Cai Jing and said, "Grand Master, calm down. Yesterday, you did not come to court early, and there were ministers My advice is to demolish the Party Monument and let people speak loosely. I also want to be lenient, so I ordered the monument to be destroyed."
When Cai Jing heard this, he realized that Emperor Huizong ordered the destruction of the monument to Yuanyou Party members. Although he didn't want to argue anymore, in front of all the ministers, he had already said such big words, how could it end so easily? He opened his eyes angrily and shouted sternly. : "Who has this advice?!"
All the ministers were overwhelmed by Cai Jing's momentum and did not dare to speak out.
Cai Jing was still angry and shouted: "The monument can be destroyed, but the name cannot be destroyed!"
Cai Jing's voice was so loud that it resounded throughout the court, and all the ministers in the court were surprised.
Emperor Huizong was also startled by Cai Jing's move. He suddenly felt that he had lost face, so he looked at Cai Jing dissatisfied, showed an angry look, stood up, left his seat, and walked away.
The court meeting ended immediately and all the ministers exited the hall.
Cai Jing also went home. Back at the mansion, Cai Jingyou was filled with resentment. For Cai Jing, the demolition of the party monument meant that he himself was negated.
Emperor Huizong, who returned to the inner palace, was also very unhappy because Cai Jing was in the palace.
Within half a day, ministers came in one after another to participate in the memorial and petitioned to remove Cai Jing from his position as prime minister. Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui also jointly participated in the play, rebuking Cai Jing and requesting his dismissal. The memorial said: "Cai Jing is a treacherous and sycophantic man who is tyrannical and has no father-in-law. He is a party member who opposes dissidents. He framed the loyal and good, organized military campaigns to disturb the people, wasted national funds. He was good at recruiting enemy border people and started provocations lightly. He should be dismissed urgently to stabilize the country and the people."
Huizong was very happy after reading the memorial, so he intended to remove Cai Jing from the post of left prime minister. However, Emperor Huizong studied in Cai Jing because of his outstanding calligraphy and painting skills. Although he resented Cai Jing's recklessness and contradicted him in the palace, he liked Cai Jing's talent and dismissed him. Cai Jing became hesitant.
Towards evening, Cai Jing's anger gradually subsided, thinking that if he contradicted Emperor Huizong in the palace, Emperor Huizong would definitely be very angry and would definitely remove him from the position of prime minister. Thinking of this, Cai Jing regretted it again and thought about how to reverse the impact of this incident. After much deliberation, Cai Jing felt that he had to go to see Emperor Huizong overnight and explain clearly in person, otherwise the consequences would be very serious, and his phase might be lost and become someone else's.
So, Cai Jing went to the palace that night, met with Huizong, knelt on the ground, burst into tears, and cried out that he should not contradict the emperor. He was really afraid that the old party would gain power and hinder the smooth implementation of various laws. In a moment of urgency, there was a court meeting. The disrespectful act may be forgiven by the Holy Spirit.
When Huizong saw Cai Jing crying sadly and speaking sincerely, he gave up the idea of deposing Cai Jing and said to Cai Jing: "Grand Master Cai, please rise. What you did today is really too much for Meng Lang. You will never do it again in the future!"
When Cai Jingwen heard that Emperor Huizong did not pursue the crime of disrespect at the court meeting, he was moved to tears. He knelt on the ground, nodded his head, and shouted loudly: "I thank the Lord for your kindness. I wish my emperor long live, long live, long live." 1"
Seeing this, Huizong left the dragon chair, went down to the palace, came to Cai Jing's side, helped Cai Jing up with his own hands, and comforted him again.
Cai Jing saw that Emperor Huizong no longer had any resentment, so he left with peace of mind and returned home.
For several days, Huizong still made no comment on the petition to remove Cai Jing. The ministers were dissatisfied, so another memorial was delivered to the palace, asking Emperor Huizong to remove Cai Jing.
Emperor Huizong took over, hesitant.
A few days later, a Heavenly Supervisor entered the palace and reported that seeing him in the daytime was probably not a good sign and that he should be repaired. Upon learning of this situation, Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui also hurriedly entered the palace and met with Huizong, requesting that Cai Jing be dismissed to ease the environment.
After Huizong heard the report, he pardoned all party members and returned all their disciples. He temporarily dismissed the Chongning Fa and dismissed Cai Jing from his position as left minister, demoted him to Taiyi Palace Envoy, and stayed in the capital.
Even so, Huizong still felt ashamed of Cai Jing, so he promoted Cai Jing's favored private person to be a bachelor of Longtuge and a concurrent official to win Cai Jing's heart.
Who is Cai Jing who was promoted to bachelor of Longtuge? It’s Cai Youye, Cai Jing’s eldest son!
When Huizong was still King Duan, whenever he met Cai You when he retreated from the court, Cai You would quickly dismount his horse and stand by the roadside, bending his waist and clasping his fists with his hands, showing great respect to King Duan.
King Duan liked his courtesy and asked him, "Who are you?" Cai You then replied, "King Duan is on top, and the lower official is Cai You, the eldest son of Cai Xueshi."
Zhao Ji commended Cai You for his courtesy and remembered Cai You in his heart. Now, Emperor Huizong thought of Cai You because he dismissed Cai Jing from his post as left prime minister, so he promoted Cai You to the rank of bachelor of Longtuge and concurrently as an official attendant, as compensation for Cai Jing's dismissal as prime minister.
This is the first time Cai Jing has been dismissed from office.
In fact, Cai Jing was dismissed as prime minister for the first time, not because he made a major mistake. It was because Emperor Huizong was superstitious and valued celestial phenomena. In addition, due to the impeachment of other ministers, Emperor Huizong had no choice but to dismiss Cai Jing from his position as prime minister. Cai Jing It's just an excuse to shame Emperor Huizong.
After Cai Jing was dismissed as prime minister, he did not lose Emperor Huizong's trust in him. The two parties often had discussions in calligraphy and painting. Moreover, after Cai Jing was dismissed as prime minister, a large number of remnants of Cai Jing's party were left in the court. As long as there was an opportunity, Cai Jing's remaining parties would They all said good things about Cai Jing in front of Emperor Huizong, remonstrated with Huizong, and asked for Cai Jing's use.
