"Don't agree with Tao hub"
Zhao Kuangyin not only wanted to weaken the power of the warlords in the feudal town, but also weakened the power of the prime minister. Zhao Kuangyin also did a lot of homework on how to dismantle the power of the prime minister. As mentioned earlier, Zhao Kuangyin used the weakness of the "three prime ministers" to attack cattle across the mountains. Prime Minister power. In this process, Zhao Kuangyin also has an alternative plan, which is to promote one or several new people with seniority, high reputation, but shallow foundation, and use them to gradually replace the "three prime ministers" in order to weaken the power of the prime minister more easily and unhindered . The reason is that Zhao Kuangyin needs a puppet prime minister just like a powerful minister or powerful eunuch can abolish and establish a puppet emperor who is weak and easy to control.
Coincidentally, there was a person who once came into Zhao Kuangyin's eyes. This person really wanted to be the prime minister and would do anything to become the prime minister, but he relied on his strength to make Zhao Kuangyin determined not to worship him as the prime minister.
This person is Tao Hub, who has appeared many times in the previous articles, such as being tricked by Han Xizai's beauty trap in the Southern Tang Dynasty feature.
Reaching the throne is Mr. Tao Hub's lifelong pursuit. However, along the way, he has left a series of despicable black materials to history:
Tao Hub's background was relatively tragic. He was originally a second-generation official, and his father was a governor. Unfortunately, he lost his father when he was young. Tao Hub had no choice but to remarry with his mother, and began a childhood life of being dependent on others. The life of relying on others has honed his ability to observe people's emotions, and he has an almost crazy pursuit of promotion, wealth, and getting ahead.
In the later Jin Dynasty, he finally successfully landed and entered the system. In order to climb up the ranks, he submitted articles to Li Song, who was then prime minister, and recommended himself. Li Song and another prime minister He Ning both admired his writing style, so they jointly recommended it to the court. Tao Hub eventually entered the most coveted palace of intellectuals - the Hanlin Academy. He soon added the title of "Zhi Zhi Gao" and became a close minister of the emperor.
However, he soon had a conflict with his colleague, Yanzhou Jiedushi An Shenxin, and was demoted to Taichang Shaoqing. Tao Hub did not give up. He became more courageous and never bowed down. He finally won the trust of the court with his solid talents and knowledge, became a member of Zhongshushe again, and returned to the core of power.
So far, his story is quite an inspirational and positive example. But soon, the style of painting began to change.
After the Liao Dynasty was destroyed and the Jin Dynasty was overthrown, Tao Hub failed to escape in disguise and was captured by the Liao army, who took him northward. Tao Hub was unwilling to work for the "Taijun", and he was even more unwilling to immigrate to the desert grassland to die in a foreign land. Just when Tao Hub was disheartened, Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty Yelu Deguang died of illness while killing Hu Lin. The Liao army fell into chaos. Tao Hub decisively escaped from prison and wisely joined Liu Zhiyuan, who had just proclaimed himself emperor in Hedong. He was appointed as the commander of the army. .
The Later Han Dynasty only lasted for three years, and the real power was controlled by the "military faction" such as Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, Wang Zhang, Guo Wei, etc. The civil servant group was basically Liu Zhiyuan's direct descendants from Hedong, such as Su Fengji, Su Yugui, Dou Zhengu, etc., while in the "I In the political reshuffle of "Emperor and Courtier", Liu Chengyou also relied on the power of "a small ethnic group", as detailed in the previous article.
In short, it is difficult for a topic writer from a small town in the former dynasty like Tao Hub, who is neither Liu Zhiyuan's direct lineage from Hedong nor Liu Chengyou's confidant in the East Palace, to get a promotion path.
In the political struggles of the Later Han Dynasty, Li Song, an old minister of the Later Jin Dynasty, was squeezed out by Su Fengji and other new aristocratic forces of the Later Han Dynasty. Li Song was forced to step aside and claim to be ill at home. During this period, Li Song received a piece of news that made him extremely sad. The person who took the lead in slandering him turned out to be Tao Hub, whom he had promoted. Li Song sighed: "Tao Hub was just a judge in Shanzhou at first. I recommended him to the central government. I didn't expect that he would repay kindness with evil. I don't understand how I offended him. Alas!"
Of course, Li Song did not offend him, but Tao Hub wanted to kneel down and lick the person in power, Su Fengji, so Li Song became Tao Hub's letter of submission to Su Fengji.
Soon, with the help of Tao Hub and other pioneers, Su Fengji successfully overthrew Li Song and beheaded his entire family.
One day, Li Fang visited Tao Hub on official business, and Tao Hub suddenly asked, "Do you know Li Song?"
Li Fang replied that of course I knew him, he was a distant uncle of mine.
Tao Hub then said with great pride: "Well... I played a big role in his death!"
Li Fang couldn't help but broke into a cold sweat, and the sweat penetrated his clothes.
Not just Li Fang, everyone would probably be sweating. He framed his benefactor to the point of having his whole family executed, and he was not ashamed but proud of it. Not only did he not cover it up, deny it, or make excuses, but it actually became a great achievement that he showed off and praised! What does it mean to lose one's conscience and what does it mean to lose one's humanity? Is it the loss of morality or the distortion of human nature?
During the Chai Rong period, Tao Hub participated in the "Battle of Gaoping". During this period, Tao Hub keenly grasped an opportunity for promotion. At that time, Yu Chongliang, a Hanlin scholar, was taking care of his sick mother in his hometown and did not rush to report for duty immediately. So Tao Boss slandered Chai Rongjin, saying that Yu Chongliang was just waiting and watching.
I have talked about the "Battle of Gaoping" in detail before. On the surface, it was a head-on military contest between the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Han Dynasty. In fact, it was Chai Rong's internal political investigation and the rapid establishment of a new power system with Chai Rong as the core. To put it simply , is a short test of the emperor and his courtiers. At this juncture, "having caring intentions" is a very dangerous accusation, and the starting price is the Yi San clan.
Chai Rong was indeed "quite suspicious". Yu Chongliang wrote a petition explaining his situation, hoping that the emperor would understand. Chai Rong was quite kind and allowed Yu Chongliang to continue to serve his mother at home. However, Yu Chongliang's official career came to an end, and he was never called up by the court again. He waited until Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, came to the throne decades later before he could be reactivated. However, Yu Chongliang died of illness only a year later.
Tao Hub's slander ruined Yu Chongliang's political career. After kicking Yu Chongliang away, Tao Hub naturally took his place as a Hanlin bachelor.
Later, Chai Rong assigned two compositions to the ministers, ,. In this composition examination, only four people, Wang Pu, Dou Yi, Yang Zhaojian, and Tao Hub, advocated going south to conquer the Huaihe River. Among them, Wang Pu was the first to propose the national strategy of "first south, then north, first easy, then difficult", which won Chai Rong's favor. special praise. These four people also entered Chai Rong's list of key training personnel and became the candidate pool for prime minister.
Choose three from four. The probability of becoming a minister is 75%.
So the question becomes, how can we increase the probability of becoming prime minister from 75% to 100%?
Answer: Kill a competitor.
The history books clearly record Tao Hub's attack on Dou Yi, "he tried his best to exclude Dou Yi, but Yi was not in phase with him." Obviously, after Yu Chongliang, Tao Hub successfully blocked Dou Yi.
Why Dou Yi? Where are Wang Pu and Yang Zhaojian?
Wang Pu, an old minister of Chai Rong's vassal residence and direct descendant of Conglong, was Chai Rong's chief think tank during the Guo Wei period;
Yang Zhaojian came from a family of officials. He was the great-grandson of Yang Sifu, prime minister of the Wuzong Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty. His grandfather Yang Shuo was the Minister of Punishment of the Tang Dynasty, and his father Yang Jing was a senior official in the Later Liang Dynasty. High praise from Shi Chonggui and Chai Rong;
Dou Yi was Jing Yanguang's staff at first, and Jing Yanguang was the war criminal who provoked the "Sin-Liao War". He was recognized as a model of harming the country and was mainly responsible for the demise of the later Jin Dynasty.
Obviously, Dou Yi is the soft persimmon among the three, which may be the reason why Tao Hub only targets Dou Yi for output. Of course, perhaps while "expelling" Dou Yi, he was also interested in Wang Pu and Yang Zhaojian.
While making false accusations and squeezing out potential competitors, Tao Hub also kneeled down and licked those in power without any limit, such as Wei Renpu. Wei Renpu was a hero of the Zhou Dynasty after the establishment of Guo Wei. He was highly regarded by Guo Wei and Chai Rong and served successively as privy envoy and prime minister.
Tao Hub told Wei Renpu that he also had a grandfather named Wei. You are my biological uncle. Whenever and wherever he sees Wei Renpu, Tao Hub will kneel down respectfully and kowtow to say hello to his uncle. Even senior Lu Bu would lament that the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, and each generation becomes more and more turbulent.
During the Chenqiao mutiny, Tao Hub's shameless face was even more exposed. Yes, he was the one who wrote the abdication edict in advance, dedicated it to Zhao Kuangyin at the critical moment, and wagged his tail to claim credit. After that, he believed that he had made contributions to Zhao Kuangyin and regarded himself as the founder of the Song Dynasty. He was complacent and believed that becoming the prime minister was a sure thing.
What he didn't know was that flattery fell on the horse's hooves, and Zhao Kuangyin was very disgusted with his seller's despicable behavior of seeking glory.
In the Song Dynasty, Tao Hub still went his own way and falsely accused Li Fang. He also roped in his good friend Zhang Zhaoyuan and asked Zhang Zhaoyuan to help him give perjury to frame Li Fang. As mentioned above, Zhang Zhaoyuan was so angry that he lost his composure in front of Zhao Kuangyin and loudly reprimanded Tao. The boss deceived the emperor, but Zhao Kuangyin was angry that Zhang Zhaoyuan was rude before the emperor. Zhang Zhaoyuan submitted his resignation letter in grief and anger, and then retired to serve. He was not able to be restarted until his death.
Tao Hub ruined Zhang Zhaoyuan's career again.
In the early Song Dynasty, the first civil servant brother was changed from "three prime ministers" to Zhao Pu. His uncle Wei Renpu lost power, so Tao Hub turned to kneel and lick Zhao Pu. Coincidentally, Zhao Pu also hated Dou Yi, which gave Tao Hub an opportunity, and Tao Hub suppressed Dou Yi even more unscrupulously. In fact, Zhao Kuangyin always wanted to appoint Dou Yi as prime minister. Due to Tao Hub's unremitting slander and other reasons, Dou Yi could not become prime minister until his death.
Dou Yi died of illness in the fourth year of Qiande. Zhao Kuangyin was so sad that he looked up to the sky and sighed: "How could God deprive me of Dou Yi's speed?"
The more Zhao Kuangyin felt sorry for Dou Yi, the more disgusted he became with Tao Hub. In March 968, the results of the imperial examination were released. Wang You, the official of Zhigongju, released a total of ten people who passed the imperial examination. Among them, Tao Bing, the son of Tao Hub, ranked sixth. The next day, the clever and well-behaved Tao Hub came to express his gratitude to Zhao Kuangyin.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Kuangyin frowned and said to the people around him: "I heard that Tao Hub has no way to teach his children. How can his ignorant dog pass the imperial examination? What's going on?" He immediately assigned a temporary task to Zhongshu Province. , let them arrange a re-examination to check whether there are any bad phenomena such as backdoors, trusting relationships, and greetings.
The results of the re-examination came out and it was revealed that Tao Bing was truly talented and learned, and once again met the passing standard.
This should be a happy result, but Zhao Kuangyin seemed a little unwilling, frustrated, and even angry. He issued an edict stating that the selection of scholars in the imperial examination must be fair, open and just, and no malpractice for personal gain; officials at all levels should urge their children to study hard; If there is any fraud, it must be investigated to the end; from now on, any official’s children who take part in the imperial examination will be re-examined by the Ministry of Education of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and will focus on supervision!
In fact, Zhao Kuangyin's discrimination cannot be completely blamed. Tao Hub has a history of bribing examiners and going through the back door. Tao Hub once helped his son Tao Yan to "say hello". Tao Yan's articles were illogical and did not meet the standards at all. However, he successfully passed the ability test because he was a good father. He was soon reported and the two main leaders were demoted and sent away. Tao Hub was also fined two months' salary. That time was an internal proficiency test for civil servants, not an imperial examination, so the punishment was lighter.
So when he saw Tao Hub's other son named on the gold medal list, Zhao Kuangyin preconceived the idea that Tao Hub must have made the same old habit again.
Historical records explain Zhao Kuangyin's attitude towards Tao Hub in three words: "Simple and humble", and he disliked him for more than a day or two. Of course Zhao Kuangyin knew Tao Hub's infinite desire for prime ministership, but how could such a shameless, despicable and dirty villain be worthy of being prime minister? Whenever it comes to choosing the prime minister, Zhao Kuangyin will always pass Tao Hub as the first one.
After a long time, Tao Hub couldn't keep his temper, so he ordered his followers to slap and beat Zhao Kuangyin in front of him. One day, Tao Hub's party members took the opportunity to praise Tao Hub to Zhao Kuangyin, saying that Comrade Tao Hub had lived in the Imperial Academy for a long time. From the late Zhou Dynasty to this dynasty, he drafted many edicts. He was brilliant in writing and had great achievements in hard work!
Zhao Kuangyin smiled coldly and said: "Official documents all have templates. The so-called drafting of imperial edicts by Hanlin scholars is just taking the previous template and slightly changing a few names. It is also what the people call copying the gourd. What kind of credit is it?"
After Tao Hub heard about it, he was driven by anger and did something reckless. He actually wrote a poem on the wall of the Hanlin Academy:
“Official positions must be created by birth, and will disappear when articles are no longer useful.
It is laughable that the Taoist scholar in the Hanlin Academy painted the gourd in the same way every year. "
Some information roughly states that this is a self-deprecating poem by Tao Hub, which is superficial. If it is to be taken seriously, he is criticizing Chengyu, that is, satirizing the court and insulting the emperor. The meaning of the poem is very simple. The general idea is that you don’t have to be talented and knowledgeable to be an official, as long as you can copy the gourd and draw the scoop. If translated into the Deyun version, it means that even a dog can do it if given a piece of cake. Therefore, history books say that this poem of his "speaks of resentment and hope".
Zhao Kuangyin was very angry and "decided not to use it." Tao Hub finally ruined his career.
Of course, when he visited the Southern Tang Dynasty, he was tricked by Han Xizai using a beauty trap, which is also considered to be one of the reasons why Tao Hub cannot be reused.
Self-righteous, morally corrupt, snobbish, and pretentious... In short, Tao Hub is a typical person who is talented but not virtuous. This kind of person is approachable but not amiable; he can be pampered but not trustworthy.
