It is said that Cai Jing was dismissed as prime minister. When he returned home, he was naturally depressed and in a very low mood. He regretted being disrespectful to Emperor Huizong, so much so that Emperor Huizong dismissed himself as prime minister.
Cai Jing, who was living at home and without the power of the prime minister, felt extremely uncomfortable. Looking back on the past, in the court hall, besides the Holy One, I, Grand Master Cai, and Prime Minister Cai were the leaders. All the ministers, in front of me, are talking about being a master, and talking about being a favored minister. What a happy life it is! Now, the past is like clouds and smoke, floating by. Where is the Grand Master? Where is the prime minister? Cai Jing learned from the painful experience and shed tears.
When Cai Jing was Prime Minister, the rest of the party clung to Cai Jing's influence and were able to enjoy the success of the party, playing both sides and reaping the benefits. Now, once their backer Cai Jing falls, their future is over and there is no hope. Cai Jing's party knows that if they want to continue their own bright future, they must first continue Cai Jing's bright future. Only by continuing Cai Jing's bright future can they have their own bright future. Therefore, Cai Jing's remaining members came to Cai Jing's house from time to time, plotting strategies for Cai Jing's comeback.
One day, Cai Jing and his party censors Yu Shen and Shi Gongbi came to Cai Jing's house to visit Cai Jing.
After the two met with Cai Jing, they took their seats separately.
After the three people chatted for a while, Yu Shen stood up, looked at Cai Jing and bowed down to salute, and said: "My grace, you are living at home and don't know much about the situation in the court. At present, Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui are in important positions. , Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui have the final say in all matters. Although we are not used to him, we may not be able to dislodge him for a while. In addition, Tong Guan has gained power recently, and the Holy Father has great favor and trust in him. Tong Guan also has a contempt for his favor. I mean. Your Majesty, I am grateful, but given the current situation, we don’t know what to do? I respectfully ask you to give me some advice."
When Cai Jing heard this, he smiled lightly and said, "Sit down, I have something to say."
Hearing this, Yu Shen sat down again.
Cai Jing sat on the Grand Master's chair, leaning his upper body slightly, and said to Yu Shen and Shi Gongbi: "What Tong Guan is using is just a trivial trick, just to make the Holy Emperor happy, so we won't care about him. The most urgent task now is It is necessary to put more effort into the affairs of the state. Zhao Tingzhi and Liu Kui are not good people, so they can only be chosen in a roundabout way. Now, if you want me to make a comeback, in addition to your many good words in front of the Holy Master, you also need to get help from Zheng Zheng. Start with it and finish it with others."
When Yu and Shi heard the words, they understood in their hearts, nodded frequently, and praised the good deeds.
The "Zheng" in Cai Jing's "start with Zheng" refers to Emperor Huizong's beloved concubine Zheng Guifei.
Concubine Zheng was originally the maid next to Queen Mother Xiang, who specialized in serving Queen Mother Xiang in her daily life. This daughter Zheng is graceful, with delicate eyebrows and a face like a peach blossom. She is beautiful but smart, and she is also a chaste, quiet and virtuous woman.
At that time, Emperor Huizong was still King Duan, and he often visited the Empress Dowager to greet her, and thus got to know Nv Zheng.
Then Zhao Ji saw Zheng Nu at the Empress Dowager's place, and saw that she was slender, graceful, fair-skinned, with delicate eyebrows, a fat melon-shaped face, willow-leaf-like eyebrows, heavy double eyelids, and two clear and straight eyes. Her beautiful nose, small mouth, and delicate face are really charming. Zhao Ji liked Zheng Nu very much in his heart. Every time he went to the Queen Mother, when he saw Zheng Nu, he could not help but raise his eyebrows and secretly express his love for her.
Zheng Nu also knew Zhao Ji's identity. She saw that he was handsome, talented, elegant in conversation, and talented. She also liked him for being suave, charming, considerate, and affectionate towards himself. Therefore, she also liked Zhao Ji in her heart and treated Zhao Ji with great respect. .
After meeting Nv Zheng, Zhao Ji went to the palace to greet Empress Dowager Xiang more frequently. In addition to receiving the happiness of Empress Dowager Xiang, he also had substantial contact with Nv Zheng.
Later, Zhao Ji succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Huizong. He also discovered the traces of his past to the Queen Mother, and gave Zheng Nu to Huizong as his concubine.
Emperor Huizong was overjoyed to have his first wish fulfilled, and immediately named Zheng Nu as his imperial concubine.
Concubine Zheng was born into a wealthy family. Her father, Zheng Shen, was a foreign official and her family was well off. Concubine Zheng knew some writing since she was a child. She liked to read literature and history, and she could also make her own compositions. Compared with the other talented concubines in the harem who only have beauty but not much culture, they are naturally much more elegant and belong to the talented family type.
Therefore, Emperor Huizong loved her talent and favored her. He often discussed everything with Concubine Zheng. Emperor Huizong agreed to everything Concubine Zheng said.
It is for this reason that Cai Jing set his sights on Concubine Zheng and planned to follow Concubine Zheng's path and let Concubine Zheng speak for him, so that Emperor Huizong could re-enable him.
Sure enough, under the influence of Concubine Zheng, Huizong dismissed Zhao Ting from the post of prime minister and demoted him to a bachelor of Guanwen Palace; expelled Liu Kui from Beijing and appointed him as the prefect of Bozhou; and appointed Cai Jing as prime minister again.
At this time, it was only more than two years since Cai Jing last resigned as prime minister.
After Cai Jing became prime minister for the second time, he learned the lesson from the last time and no longer dared to be loud and arrogant in front of Huizong. Whenever he saw Huizong, he was respectful and devoted himself to pleasing Emperor Huizong.
In order to please Emperor Huizong, Cai Jing put in a lot of effort to create a peaceful atmosphere where political affairs were upright, people followed the path of heaven, and auspiciousness descended from heaven. Local officials and border ministers were also secretly instructed by Cai Jing to either falsely report that a certain barbarian was attached, or to report that a certain barbarian was begging to surrender.
The ministers in the court all favored Cai Jing, whether it was the clear water of the Yellow River, the nectar from the sky, the appearance of auspicious clouds, the auspicious valley of Ganoderma lucidum, the double-headed lotus, the lianli tree, the unicorn from the cow, the phoenix from the bird, etc., one after another. Continuously, played into the court.
The news was naturally sent to Cai Jing's house first.
Whenever Cai Jing got such news, he would straighten his clothes, rush into the palace, and express his congratulations one after another.
Emperor Huizong was in a prestigious position, so he didn't know what was going on outside. His straight path was to improve political affairs and follow the path of heaven. Therefore, the auspiciousness from heaven was revealed to the world, so he was naturally overjoyed and regarded Cai Jing as a blessing.
Once, Zhao Ting, an envoy from the capital city, captured a strange turtle with two heads from the Yellow River. He felt it was strange and presented it to the court.
When Cai Jing heard the news, he immediately straightened his clothes and hurried into the palace to see Huizong. He loudly congratulated him and said, "Long live my emperor! This is what Qi Xiaobai calls Xiang Wang. Seeing the overlord, I dare to congratulate the emperor."
Qi Xiaobai is Duke Huan of Qi, the leader of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Duke of a vassal state under the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. If we look at the facts, what Qi Xiaobai saw was that he was conceding authority, not Xiang Wangwang. Moreover, Emperor Huizong had already taken control of China and surrendered to become the hegemon. What was there to congratulate? ! Cai Jing's congratulations were obviously at a loss.
However, Emperor Huizong was only happy and did not wake up for a moment. Hearing Cai Jing's words, he smiled even more and praised Cai Jing: "This is a blessing from heaven, and it is thanks to the guidance of Qing and others."
After congratulations, Cai Jing thanked him and left.
It just so happened that Zheng Juzhong came to the court for business. Hearing someone talk about this matter, he hurriedly entered the palace and met with Emperor Huizong. He said: "Your Majesty, everything in the world has one song. Now there is a strange turtle. Two songs suddenly appear. It is obviously an abnormality. It's shocking to see him as a monster. Cai Jing is very good at observing people's words and expressions, and he tries to flatter you, but he actually talks about auspicious things, but he is actually deceiving the emperor. He has bad intentions and his heart can be punished."
Zheng Juzhong is a relative of Concubine Zheng, and he played a big role in Cai Jing's restoration as prime minister. However, after Cai Jing returned to prime minister, he did not help Zheng Juzhong much. Therefore, Zheng Juzhong was dissatisfied with Cai Jing. He took this opportunity to slander Cai Jing.
After hearing what Zheng Juzhong said, Huizong was greatly shocked and panicked. He hurriedly said to Zheng Juzhong: "According to your words, this is an ominous thing."
Zheng Juzhong replied: "That's natural. When something goes wrong, there must be a monster!"
Emperor Huizong was panicked when he heard this, and ordered his servants to quickly throw the two turtles into the Jinming Pond instead of leaving them in the palace.
The servant received the order, took the turtle away, and threw it into the Jinming Pond.
On the second day, Emperor Huizong issued an edict, ordering Zheng Juzhong to assist Cai Bian in handling Privy Council matters. This was intended to praise Zheng Juzhong for his loyalty and to weaken the power of Cai Jing's younger brother Cai Bian.
When Cai Jing heard about this situation, he was very unhappy and depressed.
Later, another evil deed happened by Zhang Huaisu, a demon from Henan.
Zhang Huaisu was a native of Shuzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he called himself a down-and-out savage. This guy knows something about astronomy and geography, knows some magic, can command birds and beasts, and is especially good at talking. Whenever he talked with dignitaries, this guy would pretend to be in a state of ecstasy, and say things like "Confucius wanted to kill Shaozhengmao, but I often remonstrated with him, thinking it was too early, but the sage didn't listen", and "Chu and Han became successful" Gao and Gao were in a stalemate, and I climbed up to watch the battle, etc. It was so miraculous. The dignitaries believed in gods, so they were often deceived by this guy.
At that time, Zhang Huaisu traveled among high-ranking officials and was familiar with brothers Cai Jing and Cai Bian, especially with Wu Chu, the garrison of Hezhou, and Wu Chu's younger brother, Wu Tong, the court's councilor. Zhang Huaisu went to Jinling to visit and was inspired by it. After returning, he told brothers Wu Chu and Wu Dong that Jinling had a kingly spirit, but he didn't know who it was that fulfilled it.
In fact, Zhang Huaisu knew in his heart that the aura of the King of Jinling was fulfilled in him. However, Zhang Huaisu was a demon and had no soldiers except for the gods and gods, so he set his sights on Wu Chu and Wu Dong.
Under Zhang Huaisu's bullying, brothers Wu Chu and Wu Dong became hot-headed and even conspired with Zhang Huaisu to raise troops to occupy Jinling and fight against the imperial court. When the incident was revealed, the imperial court killed those involved in the arrest and executed dozens of people including Zhang Huaisu, Wu Chu, and Wu Dong.
This matter involves Cai Bian.
At that time, Zhang Huaisu's conspiracy to revolt had not yet been exposed, and Cai Bian was slandered by his brother Cai Jing. He came to Henan as a bachelor of Tianzhang Pavilion. He happened to meet Zhang Huaisu and visited Chongshan Shaolin Temple and other places with him.
When Zhang Huaisu's incident happened, Cai Bian was implicated, but his head was not lost and his official position was demoted.
Cai Bian was Cai Jing's younger brother. He was promoted by Cai Jing in order to overthrow Zeng Bu. He served in the imperial court as a bachelor of Guanwen Palace, a school inspector, and a member of the Privy Council. However, because Cai Jing was acquainted with the eunuch Tong Guan and was mostly helped by Tong Guan, Cai Bian and Cai Jing were at odds with each other and had different opinions on many political matters. Therefore, although Cai Jing and Cai Bian were brothers, their relationship was not very good.
Even so, if something happens to Cai Bian, it will naturally involve Cai Jing. Emperor Huizong originally wanted to ask Cai Jing's relatives to take responsibility for their involvement in the government, and took advantage of the situation to remove Cai Jing from the post of prime minister. Thanks to Cai Jing's colleagues who tried their best to cover it up for Jing, Cai Jing was not implicated; however, this incident happened already in There was a gap in Huizong's heart and he no longer trusted Cai Jing.
