Kou Huai was a renowned minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, a loyal and upright person. Below, the History Encyclopedia editor will bring you a detailed article introduction.
(01) Young Qiu Ma
The Northern Song Dynasty valued literature over martial arts, and it was a time when literati had a relatively good life. However, this was only for the general context. Even if you didn’t study well, it still wouldn’t work. Just like now, the whole society knows that studying is important, but if you don’t work hard, you still can’t get into the Double First Class.
This problem does not exist with Kou Zhun because he is a young genius with excellent learning abilities. He passed numerous tests at a young age and successfully entered the palace examination.
This achievement can be referred to as Fan Jin’s successful candidate in the imperial examination. At the age of 54, even those who obtained the title went crazy with joy. On the other hand, Kou Zhun, at the age of 19, was able to break through the encirclement and come to Kaifeng City to be personally selected by the emperor.
At that time, it was still the reign of Emperor Taizong, in the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo era. Someone reminded Kou Zhun that Emperor Taizong preferred to use mature and serious people when hiring people. You are only 19 years old, which is too young. Why don’t you falsely report your age.
Kou Zhun rejected the proposal, saying that I had just been admitted to the imperial examination. How could I cheat the emperor? It was also true that he reported his age. Emperor Taizong cherishes talent and loves money. He authorized officials to judge things and directly assigned them to the local government as Supervisor of the County.
Kou Zhun, who was young and promising, had a smooth career and quickly became a direct academician of the Privy Council, serving in the central government. At this time, Kou Zhun’s strong and tough personality was also exposed.
Kou Zhun had a hot temper when dealing with matters. Once in court, Kou Zhun spoke frankly and made Emperor Taizong unable to bear it anymore. He got up and was about to leave. Kou Zhun saw that this was not acceptable and grabbed the emperor’s clothes, insisting on pressing him on the dragon throne and saying, ‘You must listen to me finish this today.’.
That is to say, Emperor Taizong likes Kou Zhun, and he often compares himself to Li Shimin, comparing Kou Zhun to Wei Zheng. Therefore, he has to endure this matter. If someone else were to replace him, without changing his calculation mind, this official position would have to be eliminated to the end.
Regarding the emperor and his ministers and colleagues, Kou Zhun refused to give in. Once, due to a ranking issue with an official, he had a dispute with the then prime minister Lv Duan.
It was Lv Duan, who was cautious throughout his life and never confused about major matters. Later, Emperor Zhenzong of Song succeeded to the throne thanks to Lv Duan’s ability to stabilize the situation at critical moments.
The two of them got into an argument in front of the emperor. Emperor Taizong said, ‘This is a small matter, forget it, don’t say it anymore. In theory, the emperor has already said that. As a minister, you should also forget it. Kou Zhun, do you insist on making a fool of yourself and explaining the matter clearly?’.
Emperor Taizong said that your ministers would argue about this kind of thing in court, which would be disrespectful to the dignity of the ministers. In the end, they made Emperor Taizong very annoyed and personally sent him to the local government to become an official.
Kou Zhun’s career was not very smooth throughout his life, and the ups and downs were all related to his personality. His unyielding toughness and hot temper were constantly affecting his career, and ultimately also the fate of the Song Dynasty.
(02) Saving the country from danger
The advantage of Kou Zhun’s fame at a young age is that he has experienced a lot of things. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, he was already a prime minister, although not an official, he was still a top official. In order to decentralize power, the Song Dynasty implemented a collective prime minister system.
As long as you become a prime minister in many official positions, you can say that you have become a prime minister. However, during the same period, there will be a most important prime minister to command the overall situation, but this is not absolute. In short, all of this is a game of balancing imperial power, and there is nothing new about it.
But the consequence of doing so is that if there is no minister in charge of civil and military officials, they may shirk responsibility when encountering things, especially in major occasions that affect the fate of the country.
The Chanyuan Crisis was such a moment when the Liao Dynasty, led by Empress Dowager Xiao, invaded the Northern Song Dynasty with a large army. The army had already reached the north bank of the Yellow River and was about to cross it.
The ministers were at a loss, and at this moment Kou Zhun’s temper had risen. He must fight for them and must not move south, and the emperor must personally lead the expedition.
Emperor Zhenzong of Song had long heard of the great name Kou Zhun. If it weren’t for Kou Zhun’s seniority and strong abilities in the court, Zhenzong wouldn’t have wanted to use him as prime minister. But now there was no other way, as the Khitan people were about to cross the Yellow River. With Kou Zhun’s strong insistence, Emperor Zhenzong of Song personally led the expedition.
On the south bank of the Yellow River, the emperor reluctantly left. This was due to Kou Zhun’s bad temper. If he didn’t leave, he had to go to Chanzhou City on the north bank of the Yellow River to cheer for the soldiers.
Emperor Zhenzong grew up in the deep palace since childhood, with the hands of women. He had never seen such a scene before and was already frightened. However, Kou Zhun repeatedly insisted that the emperor go to the north bank, which caused another prime minister at that time, Wang Dan, to obtain the emperor’s secret decree overnight, saying that if he died, he would appoint the crown prince as the new emperor and rush back to Kaifeng City. The situation at that time was so critical.
In the face of the enemy, we cannot be intimidated. As a result, the Treaty of Chanyuan was established this time. Although the Song Dynasty gave 300000 yuan per year, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and the emperor himself were already very happy. However, this forced the emperor to issue a will, which also laid the foundation for Kou Zhun’s future abdication.
After the treaty was signed, Kou Zhun made great contributions, but gradually became a bit inflated. He often brought high-ranking officials of the Manchu dynasty to his home to drink. When he talked about drinking heavily, he closed the door and no one was allowed to go home.
The Song Dynasty had an open atmosphere, which was not a big mistake. After all, the tone set by the early Song Dynasty was that ministers would eat, drink, and have fun, as long as they did not want to overthrow the emperor. Initially, it was Emperor Taizu who established the ancestral family law.
In short, Kou Zhun, after the Treaty of Chanyuan, reached the peak of his life in terms of reputation and power, but soon his overly flamboyant personality dealt him a heavy blow.
(03) Forced by Liu E, he made a foolish move
In the court, there has never been a lack of struggle. As a famous traitor later on, Wang Qinruo had a confrontation with Kou Zhun this time, and his method of persuading Emperor Zhenzong of Song was very clever.
The achievements of the Treaty of Chanyuan cannot be erased, but what Wang Qinruo told the emperor was that Kou Zhun, for the sake of personal glory and wealth, actually took the emperor to gamble. This is called a desperate gamble in the casino, and if he loses, he will lose everything completely.
After hearing this, Emperor Zhenzong of Song felt a chill in his spine, and finally realized that Kou Zhun was a big villain. He had demoted Kou Zhun to a local place. Of course, Kou Zhun was framed, and after a long time, the emperor naturally forgot about it. However, the situation was so dangerous. He only remembered how scared he was at that time. If Kou Zhun hadn’t insisted, it meant that the Khitans would have entered Kaifeng City this time.
But Kou Zhun was unwilling to accept it, so he took advantage of Emperor Zhenzong of Song’s obsession with Taoism and the widespread offering of auspicious gifts. He also offered his own auspicious gift, which was pure nonsense. However, since Kou Zhun did so, the emperor only regarded you as submissive. Therefore, Kou Zhun returned to the court and the emperor’s side again.
But this time Kou Zhun encountered a more powerful opponent, Liu E, a person who almost became Wu Zetian. Kou Zhun was a bit late and almost lost his head.
In his later years, the situation of Emperor Zhenzong of Song was very similar to that of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. He was basically unable to handle government affairs due to illness, and even a little crazy. Therefore, Liu E, the Sichuan girl, began to intervene in court affairs frequently with her superb ability to handle political affairs.
And Liu E also occupied Emperor Zhenzong of Song, making it difficult for ministers to meet the emperor in the later period. As a national minister, Kou Zhun naturally couldn’t stand it. Moreover, the example of Empress Wu Zetian was displayed there, and everyone had to be more careful.
But to be honest, the evaluation of Liu E is also quite good, much better than that of Wu Zetian. Wu Zetian’s path to power was full of conspiracies and bloodshed, and Liu E’s conspiracy to rise to power definitely existed, but bloodshed was not.
But Kou Zhun couldn’t bear it anymore. As he watched the court politics being controlled by Liu E day by day, Kou Zhun’s bold and stubborn habits were once again violated. He actually prepared to appoint a crown prince and make Emperor Zhenzong of Song the supreme emperor.
It has to be said that this is a risky move. The Tang Dynasty emperors often killed their heads and blood in order to ascend the throne, causing father son, brother, and husband and wife to fight each other. Tragedy of human relationships continued to occur, and as a result, the forced abdication of the Supreme Emperor could only end his life in despair.
The Song Dynasty, like other dynasties, also had fierce struggles for the throne, but there were really no people like Kou Zhun who directly deposed the emperor and established a crown prince. This was considered rebellion in ancient times.
Although the situation is critical due to Liu E’s control over the government, and she is becoming Empress Wu Zetian, these are not reasons for your rebellion. In ancient times, as a courtier, the first loyalty was to the emperor. As long as the old emperor is still alive, you cannot overthrow him for any reason.
Later on, when the incident occurred, Kou Zhun was directly demoted to Leizhou. If it weren’t for the tradition of not killing scholars and officials in the Song Dynasty, Kou Zhun’s behavior would definitely have been fatal. Leizhou is now Hainan Island, which is already the farthest place that Song people can think of.
Kou Zhun’s life was upright, with a fiery personality. He once saved the Great Song Dynasty, but this personality also caused him to rise and fall in the officialdom several times. Such people are not common. Born in the politically enlightened Song Dynasty, it can be considered a stroke of luck for him.
