In Chinese history, there is a distinction between monarchs and ministers, and there is a distinction between loyalty and treachery.
What is a "traitor"? Traitorous Ministers February** Dynamic Incentive Plan refers to "disloyal ministers, mostly referring to bureaucrats who engage in personal gain, form parties and seize power", "ministers who are disloyal to the monarch and mislead the country". China has had many traitorous ministers since ancient times, and traitorous ministers were especially in the Song Dynasty. In the "History of the Song Dynasty", "The Biography of Traitorous Ministers" includes 15 "traitorous ministers". In contrast, the "Biography of the Traitorous Minister" in the "New Tang Book", "History of Liao", "History of the Yuan" and "History of the Ming Dynasty" are 9, 11, 6 and 6 respectively, and the number is far less than that of the "History of the Song Dynasty".
Looking at the characters included in "History of the Song Dynasty: The Biography of Traitorous Ministers", they have some common characteristics, that is, they charm the Lord, meet in every possible way, form a party to seize power, envy the virtuous and harm the ability, oppress the people, take advantage of the tricks, seek peace with foreign countries, surrender and mislead the country.
For example, Cai Jingtou cooperated with Huizong's art to be favored, and his favor increased day by day; Qin Hui catered to Gaozong's original intention of seeking peace, so he was deeply favored and held the position for 19 years.
For example, Huang Qianshan expelled Li Gang and Qin Hui to murder Yue Fei and Ding Daquan and Dong Huai.
For example, Cai Jing advocated the theory of "Fengheng Yuda", the battle of Xinghua Shigang, the construction of a large number of buildings, the indiscriminate reform of the currency system, the looting of people's wealth, and the exhaustion of people's strength; In order to alleviate the lack of finance, Qin Hui secretly increased the people's taxes by seven or eight, causing the people to be poor; Jia Rudao implemented the "Public Land Law".
For example, Wan Qian followed Qin Hui, negotiated peace with Jin, sought personal gain, and was despised; Jia seems to be called Anti-Mongolia, but in fact he secretly sued for peace, lied about his military exploits, and became a ** family.
The compilers of the History of the Song Dynasty attributed the fall of the Song Dynasty to the traitorous ministers who were in power and caused trouble to the country.
However, the traitors in "History of the Song Dynasty: The Biography of the Traitorous Ministers" may not all be traitors.
Cai Qu, Xing Shu, Lu Huiqing, Zeng Bu, An Dan, and Cai Bian were all included in the ranks of traitors, because they were all supporters and followers of Wang Anshi's reforms.
Delve into the background, the shame of Jingkang, the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the responsibility for the corrupt rule of Song Huizong and Cai Jing is the first to blame. As the first person of Huizong, Cai Jing pretended to change the law, wantonly dissidents, ran rampant, and brought disaster to the country and the people, so that the Northern Song Dynasty was wiped out under the iron horse of the Jin people. For this reason, later generations pointed to Wang Anshi as the source of Cai Jing's misunderstanding, believing that Wang Anshi's rebellion in the ancestral family law would eventually cause the disaster of Jingkang. Cheng Zhu's theory of science is the guiding ideology for the compilation of the "History of the Song Dynasty", so it is logical that Wang Anshi's reform was included in the "Biography of the Traitorous Minister" in the "History of the Song Dynasty".
And Zhang Dan, who was known for his integrity and outspokenness, was also included in the list of traitors. After Zhezong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Gao listened to the government, Sima Guang was reactivated and entrusted with important tasks, indiscriminately, arbitrarily abolished the new law, Zhang Dian resolutely stepped forward, argued with reason, defended the new law, and even angrily argued with Sima Guang, causing Empress Dowager Gao to be furious and depose him. After the death of Emperor Zhezong, on the issue of agreeing on the heir, Zhang Dian resolutely opposed King Liduan (Zhao Ji), believing that he "could not rule the world with ease", which not only could not show that he was a traitor, but showed his foresight.
In fact, although Song Huizong and Cai Jing advertised the new law and regarded themselves as reformers, they were nothing more than corrupt elements under the guise of changing the law. The new law he introduced was actually a law that harmed the people, and it completely deviated from the original intention of Wang Anshi's reform, thus exacerbating the corruption of the Northern Song Dynasty and eventually leading to its demise.
After the Jingkang disaster, Gaozong Zhao Gou established the Southern Song Dynasty in the stormy weather, and since the founding of the country, it has been under the threat of invasion by strong enemies, even though in the process of resisting foreign invasion, heroes such as Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang have emerged, but this is also an era of traitorous ministers. Huang Qianshan, Wang Boyan, Qin Hui, and Wan Qiaowei all had the idea of surrendering to Jin Heyi; Ding Daquan and Jia Rudao were arrogant and domineering internally, but weak and incompetent in resisting Mongolia externally, bending their knees and compromising, directly pushing the Southern Song Dynasty to its downfall. It should be taken for granted that these people were included in the "Biography of Traitorous Ministers" in the "History of the Song Dynasty".
Among this group of people, the most typical one is Qin Hui. After Qin Hui returned to the south, he catered to Gaozong in everything and won the trust of Gaozong, so he finally stole the phase, sought peace, and put forward the proposition that "if you want the world to have nothing to do, you must be from the south and the north from the north". Qin Hui always adhered to the line of seeking peace and surrender, and even kneeled to accept the Jin edict with the consent of Gaozong, completing the first peace agreement on the surrender of Jin. Even later, when the Jin people tore up the peace treaty and sent troops to invade the south, Qin Hui still adhered to the doctrine of capitulation, and colluded with Wan Qiaoyu and others to kill Yue Fei on "trumped-up" charges, and finally contributed to the humiliating "Shaoxing Peace Conference". Qin Hui's goal of seeking peace has been achieved, but he still does not give up, and continues to frame Zhongliang, create unjust prisons, purge the anti-war faction, and build up party henchmen, and even pose a great threat to the imperial power.
At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was corruption in the internal government and the invasion of Mongolia outside, and it was an inevitable trend to perish, and the power traitor Jia seemed to be reckless and perverse, which was undoubtedly a sign of the decline of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the face of the Mongolian army's greed for life and fear of death, Jia Rudao sent envoys to Yuan to ask for peace, and after the defeat, he was killed by the escort officer Zheng Huchen and was degraded on the way to escort. Jia Rudao has done a lot of evil in his life, it has long been intolerable to heaven, and the people are resentful, as the so-called injustice will kill himself.
Although it is not very reasonable to use "loyalty" and "traitor" as the criteria for evaluating historical figures, and it is also inappropriate for those who are included in the "Biography of Traitorous Ministers", the establishment of "The Biography of Traitorous Ministers" embodies the traditional view of right and wrong, good and evil, and has become the most simple method for judging right and wrong and praising and deprecating characters among the most ordinary people in China.
The rule of the state does not depend on whether there are traitors, but whether the monarch can identify traitors. Because since ancient times, gentlemen and villains have coexisted, and the question is how the monarch chooses and uses them.