"Less do not look at the Water Margin, the old do not look at the Three Kingdoms" is a widely circulated passage in the folk, the meaning is that people do not recommend to see the Water Margin when they are young, because many of the plots in the Water Margin are too bloody and "adult", at this time the worldview and values of young people are not formed, so it is not easy to see through the deeper connotations inside, it is easy to be led astray, will become a full-fledged "problem teenager", this role is the same as the "Ancient Puzzle Boy Series" that was once popular on the mainland. The reason why the old man does not read the Three Kingdoms is that most of the Three Kingdoms is a struggle between people and a game between countries, originally the old man has experienced the vicissitudes of the world, has a deep experience, a wide range of insights, and already has a high degree of wisdom, but if he goes to see the Three Kingdoms again, he will become more and more treacherous and wiser.
"Water Margin" is set in the Song Huizong period and introduces the turbulent society at that time. Because it was the end of the imperial court, in order to render a variety of social contradictions at that time, the author wrote out some social phenomena without reservation, including disputes in the imperial court, local officials' profit-grabbing, the people's lack of livelihood, and too many people were cornered and eventually forced into banditry.
The shaping of the image of Gao Li's traitorous courtiers
In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were four people in the imperial court who were called the "Four Traitors of the Northern Song Dynasty", they were Cai Jing, Gao Li, Yang Jian and Tong Guan.
As far as the specific information of Gao Li is concerned, his degree of treachery in history is far less than that in the novel "Water Margin", so the Gao Li on the Water Margin has obvious artistic processing.
Because he was originally a small citizen of the city and lied about his date of birth after his discovery, people in history do not know the time of birth of this traitor, only that he died in 1126.
Gao Li is favored not only because of his high playing skills, but also because he has a certain degree of achievement in copywriting, which we can see from his work as a book boy for Su Dongpo. Therefore, it is precisely because of his well-behaved personality and good at copying words that he has practiced a beautiful brush and writing, in addition to which he also has a high foundation in poetry and songs, and has a foundation in martial arts. It was precisely because of these advantages that he was very favored and loved by Emperor Huizong in the imperial court.
In fact, in ancient times, if you want to keep your seat climbing, you need to constantly communicate with your superiors, communicate with them, and know their preferences, so as to get new breakthroughs. In order to satisfy his own desires, in order to be able to continue to rise, he could only rack his brains and struggle in this sea of eunuchs.
Historically high-ranking
The historical Gao Li once served as a "little secretary" around Su Shi, and it was around Su Shi that he learned a series of things that the literati loved. Because Gao Li was clever and alert, he felt Su Shi's mind very thoroughly, and tried his best to cater to him in life, work and other aspects, Su Shi was happy and recommended his "little secretary" to one of his friends when Yuan You was eight years old, this friend was Xiao Wang Du Tai Wei Wang Jie, Su Shi's promotion this time, so that Gao Li's career has been later developed. Xiao Wang Du Tai Wei Wang Yi was no one else, it was emperor Shenzong of Song's brother-in-law, Song Huizong's uncle, with such a relationship, Gao Li after following Xiao Wang Du Tai Wei Wang Yi, he gave full play to all the skills he learned in Su Shi, thus gaining the attention and love of this "master of calligraphy and painting".
Xiao Wangdu's favor with Wang Yi meant that Gao Li was getting closer and closer to the central government, the emperor, and the supreme power.
Historically, Gao Li was not so bad, a downright corrupt official, and a very greedy person.
According to the research of relevant scholars, during the Jing Kang period, in order to overthrow this corrupt official, some ministers ruthlessly exposed that he was favored by the emperor and had supreme power, but behind his back, he was doing other unseemly things.
In the Jing Kang Compendium, it is recorded as follows:
"On May 20 of the first year of Jing Kang's reign, the courtiers said, "I would like to say: Gao Li ... He was in charge of the military and government, and he invaded the military camps, so as to widely and privately occupy the forbidden army, so as to fill the service. Most of the people they recruited were skilled craftsmen, who were used for private service and borrowed military companions. Soldiers can pay for the help of military craftsmen, and do not read. Whoever builds bricks, tiles, clay, and the like in private will do his best to send out the barracks and the armies. Please give neither time, but also a lot of money, unable to survive, often do not do other business. Although the forbidden army also tried to take advantage of the food and clothing, all of them abandoned the school reading, and they did not care about their shirts. Those who pay for it are not only exempt from teaching privately, but those who have no money also make a living and abolish religion, so when the day before yesterday was in a hurry, no one knew about the soldiers, and none of them were available. The imperial court could not help but be humiliated and humiliated, and it was really caused by the pampering of the private sector."
We can see from this indictment that the most famous thing about Gao Li during the Northern Song Dynasty was greed, which can even be called "crazy greed". At that time, Gao Li was in charge of the Forbidden Army because he was favored, but Gao Li regarded this power from the royal family as a tool and chip for his own personal gain. He used the land from the barracks to build mansions for private use, and regarded the state's forbidden army as his own private servants.
From this we can see why the Song Dynasty had hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops, and it would perish later. You must know that an army is a sword for a country to protect itself, a tool and weapon to ensure the status of the country, Gao Li not only did not pay attention to this, but instead made a big addition to the army to "waste", not allowing the soldiers inside to participate in military training, but letting them serve as their own private servants.
It is precisely because of such absurd behavior that the Song Dynasty's army has become a typical case of "discipline is abolished and military discipline is scattered", so that these iron-blooded people who defend the country have slowly become treacherous villains who are "mercenary", so that when the Northern Song Dynasty regime was in danger, when the Iron Horse of the Jin Army attacked the capital of the Song Dynasty, the strength of hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops of the Song Dynasty soon collapsed.
The ending of Gao Li
If you take the evil he did, Gao Li's final end was still a good ending. After the Jin army crossed the Yangtze River, Emperor Huizong of Song fled to the southeast to seek refuge, and after learning that his master had fled to Sizhou, Tong Guan and Gao Li rushed to Huizong's location with their own armies and established a small imperial court in Sizhou. Because Gao Li and Tong Guan failed to compete for favors, Emperor Huizong only took Tong Guan with him later, leaving Gao Li to stay behind, and Gao Li withdrew Kaifeng and stayed away from Emperor Huizong under the pretext of being physically ill.
It was precisely because he was far away from Emperor Huizong that he was not involved in the political struggle between Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong in the future, thus saving his life. He died of illness in 1126.