Wang Zeng, born in 978, was from Yidu, Qingzhou (now Qingzhou, Shandong). In fact, Wang Zeng's birth was very impressive. His ancestor was from the Wang family in Taiyuan. His father was also a famous official of the generation and held real power. He was a second-level official responsible for supervising hundreds of officials. His mother was the daughter of a famous general. In addition, Wang Zeng had He is extremely smart and has a bright future.
But unfortunately, when Wang Zeng was 8 years old, both his parents died, and he was raised by his uncle Wang Zongyuan. Fortunately, Wang Zeng turned his grief and anger into motivation, devoted himself to studying hard, and won first place in the subsequent interpretation examinations, provincial examinations, and palace examinations, which shocked the government and the public. Prime Minister Kou Zhun favored him even more, and supported him in every way. .
In the next 10 years, Wang Zeng rose through the ranks, from the Prime Minister to the General Magistrate, and then became the Secretary, Provincial Writer, and Supervisory Censor. Finally, he was highly recommended by the ministers and became the Deputy Prime Minister. Ding Wei, who was the prime minister at the time, naturally felt that Wang Zeng was his number one rival, so he excluded him everywhere.
Ding Wei was a very important character. He was very ambitious and even wanted to control the entire court. Especially after the young Song Renzong came to power, it was naturally easier for Ding Wei to seize power. However, due to the fact that the Queen Mother listened behind the curtain, Liu E and Ding Wei decided to take a long-term view, so they bribed Lei Yungong, the eunuch beside Liu E.
After successfully bribing Lei Yungong, Prime Minister Ding Wei formulated such a "rule": the emperor would only meet with ministers to discuss matters on the first and fifteenth day of each month, unless he encountered a major issue that was difficult to solve. If the Queen Mother needs to be invited out to discuss things together, the eunuch Lei Yungong will report to the Queen Mother on daily matters, and the Queen Mother will make the final decision.
In this way, it is equivalent to the emperor, the queen mother and the ministers being basically separated. All national affairs are relayed and relayed by Lei Yungong, and the opinions of the queen mother are also relayed to everyone by Lei Yungong. , that is to say, the actual decisions are all decided by Ding Wei and Lei Yungong. As smart as Wang Zeng, he could naturally see through their plans at a glance, but Wang Zeng was single and weak, and it was impossible to defeat Ding Wei in one fell swoop, so he started his own plan.
Using treacherous ministers to punish treacherous ministers
Before officially starting the plan, Wang Zeng took the initiative to show weakness and often came into contact with Ding Wei, so Ding Wei relaxed his vigilance. Seeing that the time was ripe, Wang Zeng said to Ding Wei: "Hey, I'm so sorry that I, Wang Zeng, am so young and don't have a son yet. I want to adopt my brother's son. I hope to get the Queen Mother's permission. I wonder if you can go with me?" Meet the Queen Mother? ?
Ding Wei looked at Wang Zeng's sad expression, and without thinking much, said directly: "You should talk to the Queen Mother yourself about such a trivial matter!" ?That’s what I’m waiting for! Wang Zeng was extremely happy in his heart, but his face was calm. Then he went to meet the Queen Mother. By the time Ding Wei realized that he had fallen into the trap, it was already too late.
After successfully meeting the Queen Mother, Wang Zeng immediately told the various evidences collected during this period, and emphasized that some time ago, Lei Yungong made an unauthorized decision to move the tomb of Emperor Zhenzong to a higher place. 100 meters, because it was a "dragon cave". As a result, a spring was dug out and flooded the tomb. But Lei Yungong quickly suppressed the matter. Fortunately, Wang Zeng discovered it and sued Lei Yungong severely. Then let's talk about the relationship between Lei Yungong and Ding Wei. There is probably no need to say much about what happens next.
The next day, the Queen Mother directly summoned all cabinet ministers for a meeting, but did not notify Ding Wei. Later, Ding Wei was sent to Hainan and his house was ransacked; the eunuch Lei Yungong was beaten randomly. After being beaten to death, the smoky court finally became quiet.
Using villain methods to punish villains
Let’s talk about how Wang Zeng dealt with villains. This villain was none other than Wang Zeng’s brother-in-law. In fact, this brother-in-law had no background. Xiao was a descendant of Confucius, but he treated his wife very badly and the relationship between husband and wife was bad, so Wang Zeng decided to treat his brother-in-law well. He spread rumors that his brother-in-law wanted to poison him, and his reputation was ruined.
The emperor who appreciated Wang Zeng naturally wanted to investigate the matter strictly, but Wang Zeng was afraid that the truth would be found out, so he said: "Now that Feng Chan is about to be granted, and his brother-in-law is a descendant of the Kong family, further investigation may affect the Feng Chan event." , it’s best to leave it at that. ? Later, the matter was settled, and the brother-in-law, whose reputation had been disgraced, no longer dared to do whatever he wanted at home, and his attitude towards his wife became better and better.
With his extraordinary courage and strategy, Wang Zeng had a smooth career in the officialdom. Unfortunately, he contracted scabies at the age of 61. He received multiple treatments to no avail, and finally died of the disease. At that time, Emperor Renzong personally provided medical services to Wang Zeng. His seal tablet shows his high status.