Chapter 17 3. Deng Wan's downfall
After the death of his son, before he left his post, Wang Anshi, who was full of grief and indignation, only did one thing, and that was to ask the emperor to dismiss Deng Wan and others.This was the last proposal accepted by the emperor during his reign, so it is worth noting.
Deng Wan, a native of Shuangliu, Chengdu, rose to the top because of his support for the reform.He was originally the general judge of Ningzhou (the state government is in Ning County, Gansu Province), equivalent to the deputy governor.It is generally difficult for local officials in such remote areas to be judged by the prime minister, but Deng Wan wrote to the court in October of the third year of Xining, when the ruling and opposition parties were discussing the new law, claiming: My emperor appointed wise ministers through the ages, and promulgated laws such as young crops and exemption from service. The people of the state all sing and dance to praise the Holy Land.Based on what I saw with my own eyes, it can be seen that the world is like this.
Wang Anshi was overjoyed and recommended Deng Wan to the emperor.
Shenzong asked: Do you know Wang Anshi?
Deng Wan replied: I don't know him.
Shenzong said: This is the ancients today.
Ask again: Do you know Lu Huiqing?
Deng Wan replied: I don’t know each other either.
Shenzong said: This is the sage of today.
Deng Wan stepped back to meet Wang Anshi, and the two hit it off right away.
Wang Anshi asked: Are the family members also here?
Deng Wan replied: "Going to Beijing in a hurry, I don't know what to do, so I dare not come all together."
Wang Anshi said: Why don't you come together?I won't let you go.
Prime Minister Chen Shengzhi and Deputy Prime Minister Feng Jing decided to let Deng Wan return to Ningzhou, but he was promoted from deputy to full-time post.Deng Wan was very dissatisfied, and complained openly, saying: You called me all the way, why did you let me go back?I don't do it!
The bystanders asked: Then what do you think the official should be?
Deng Wan said: You must get a library job!
The staff of the museum are the officials who served in the History Museum, Zhaowen Museum, and Jixian Academy in the Tang and Song Dynasties. They are all selected from all over the world.Seeing that he was so ignorant of the heights of the sky and the earth, everyone asked: "Could it be that he is an admonisher?"
Deng Wan said: That's a matter of course.
This is really laughable and generous, and the fellow countrymen in the capital are even more ashamed to be with each other.However, what surprised people was that this guy was indeed appointed as the school manager of Jixian, and he was in the middle of the library.So Deng Wan said: Let him laugh and scold, I will be a good official.
Hehe, the villain is successful!
Two months later, Wang Anshi also announced his majesty.
Since then, Deng Wan's official career has been prosperous.In April of the fourth year of Xining, he became the second-in-command of the highest supervisory organ to attend to the censor's miscellaneous affairs, and concurrently served as the head of Sinong Temple (National Agricultural Committee).We know that Sinong Temple was an important institution during the reform period of Xining, such as the Young Crop Law and the Farmland Water Conservancy Law were formulated and implemented by it. The former chief and deputy chiefs were Lu Huiqing and Zeng Bu respectively.Since Lu Huiqing's father died and had to be in mourning, Wang Anshi asked Deng Wan to replace Lu Huiqing.Deng Wan did not disappoint Wang Anshi either. On her first day in office, she impeached Fu Bi for refusing to implement the Young Crop Law, which dealt a heavy blow to the opposition.
Wang Anshi was very satisfied.
So on the third day of February in the fifth year of Xining, Deng Wan acted as Yushi Zhongcheng and became the actual chief of the highest supervisory agency.This is an exception, because he has never been promoted to Zhongcheng from knowing miscellaneous affairs.In fact, Deng Wan repeatedly created miracles: without passing the exam, she was appointed as a post in the library by the general judge, and after half a year, she became the secretary-general of Yushitai, and became the chief in just ten months.Such a smooth rise to the sky is like taking a helicopter.
For this, Shenzong gave the reason: Deng Wan is not jealous of the virtuous and capable.
But when this person was dismissed on the fifth day of October in the ninth year of Xining, His Majesty's imperial criticism was: Deng Wan has sinister intentions and a treacherous nature.When it comes to recommending people, they don't talk about political rules.Ha, the wording is so harsh, it can be described as a thunderbolt.
Excuse me, why is this?
The direct reason is Deng Wan's pretentious cleverness.According to the official history, this guy is a speculator, he relied on ingratiating Wang Anshi to take the position, and after Wang Anshi dismissed his prime minister, he took refuge in Lu Huiqing.It's just that he didn't expect that Wang Anshi would come back.In order to make up for the past, he became Wang Yu's thugs who attacked Lu Huiqing again.
It's a pity that Deng Wan's change of family is as unsubstantiated as Lu Huiqing once secretly framed Wang Anshi, and the official history only has the empty words of "Deng Wan also concealed Huiqing's traces to charm Anshi".However, according to the same historical data, Deng Wan set up a special case team at Yushitai to investigate Lu Huiqing's purchase of land in Huating, which was instigated by Wang Yu.
Therefore, when Wang Yu passed away and An Shi resigned, Deng Wan was like a bereaved dog.Fainted by his interests, he urged Shenzong to keep Wang Anshi, and even spoke rudely, asking the emperor to give Wang Anshi a house.As a result, not only the emperor Longyan was furious, but Wang Anshi was on pins and needles, so he had to write a letter to impeach Deng Wan and ask the emperor to punish him severely.
Of course, the emperor drove him out of Yushitai without saying a word.
Deng Wan, who took chances and made a fortune, has become a passing cloud, but the lessons left behind are very profound.We can't help asking: With Wang Anshi's integrity and self-discipline, why did he fall in love with Deng Wan?With Deng Wan's exquisite appearance, how could she bring about her own destruction?
It's well worth pondering.
The first question seems not difficult to answer, because Wang Anshi’s employment has always been criticized. Yang Zhongliang in the Southern Song Dynasty’s "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian Chronicle" has an article "Wang Anshi’s special villain", and Deng Wan is listed among them. Not to mention Lu Huiqing.
But as mentioned earlier, Lu Huiqing may have been stigmatized.His land purchase matter was also closed in the first month of the tenth year of Xining: the magistrate of Huating County was sentenced to spine tattooing and sent to Shamen Island (now Changdao County, Shandong Province), and Lu Huiqing's younger brother Lu Wenqing was only demoted as an accomplice.It is said that Wen Qing was recruited, and the task force also got some clues.But when Deng Wan fell from power, the Lu family sent Wen Qing a medicine called "Wan Chu Tang", and the case investigators stopped digging and looking for it, and settled the matter hastily.
Unfortunately, this does not explain the problem.Since the task force can no longer pursue Lu Wenqing because of personnel changes, how can they guarantee that they will not torture Deng Wan and Wang Anshi to extract a confession?He had no choice but to let the magistrate of Huating be the scapegoat to prove that the empire was always right.How the truth is, no one knows.
Obviously, this is not an unjust case, but also a suspicious case.
What's more, even if Lu Huiqing and Deng Wan are villains, so what?That's right, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang may all be gentlemen, but they all oppose the reform.So, I would like to ask, should Wang Anshi choose to abandon the reform in order to be a so-called good person, or should he choose to be eclectic and meritocracy in order to reform the law?The answer is probably self-evident, right?
The trouble is that no matter what the character of Deng Wan or Lu Huiqing is, Wang Anshi himself has ideals and morality.Therefore, he can confidently regard the reform as a moral cause, and he can also use this as a standard to redefine villains and gentlemen: anyone who supports the reform is a gentleman, and anyone who opposes the reform is a villain.
Haha, two whatever.
This is a profound mistake, but what is wrong can only be discussed in Chapter 4 after telling the story of Sima Guang.In fact, as a practitioner, Wang Anshi can't think so much, and he can't care about so much.He can only rely on those who support the reform, no matter whether their support is sincere or hypocritical; whether it is for the country and the people or selfish.Besides, he has no choice.
In fact, there are all kinds of members of the reform faction, and there are many people who support the reform from the bottom of their hearts.Lu Huiqing is.You must know that when he joined the work of the Third Division of Regulations, he had no idea and his future was very bleak, so he actually had nothing to gain.If it wasn't for his sincerity, he wouldn't be able to make so much contribution.As for breaking up with Wang Anshi later, there were actually many reasons, how could Wang Anshi have predicted it?
What's more, not everyone betrayed Wang Anshi.Deng Wan didn't, he just did something stupid.Deng Wan's stupidity is that he actually forgot that the country of Song Dynasty has always been named Zhao and not Wang, and the real power is held by the emperor.Therefore, when he competed with Shenzong in order to keep Wang Anshi, he sentenced himself to death.
Similarly, when Wang Anshi expelled his political enemies and comrades-in-arms from the court, he also cut himself off.Don't forget, Zhao Song's official family has always had an insurmountable bottom line, that is, no one can threaten the imperial power.Therefore, if only Wang Anshi is the only one among the heroes of the court, then I’m sorry, this fruit should be removed, otherwise, how can His Majesty the emperor call himself a widow and rule the world?
It seems that both Deng Wan and Wang Anshi made the same mistake.
Yes, they all misunderstood Song Shenzong.
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