Among the historical figures of ancient China, the Northern Song Dynasty prime minister Kou Zhun can be called a well-known celebrity, women and children.
Due to the media propaganda role of novels and operas after the Song and Yuan dynasties, Kou Zhun has always been loved and respected by the broad masses of the people with the image of an upright and witty loyal subject.
In fact, the historical Kou Zhun is quite different from the image of Kou Zhun in the folk tradition, he is a flesh-and-blood feudal minister who has both advantages and disadvantages.
He was an official for more than forty years, twice entered the prime minister, twice resigned, ups and downs, and in his later years he was actually demoted to the barbaric land of the south, Leizhou, Guangdong, as a petty official in charge of household registration, and finally died in southern Xinjiang.
As a political figure who has had a great influence on the Great Song Dynasty and on Chinese history, this tragic ending undoubtedly hints at Kou Zhun's true and extraordinary life course, and is more worthy of recognition and evaluation by future generations.
Kou Zhun (961–1023 CE), courtesy name Pingzhong, was a native of Xia prefecture (present-day northeastern Weinan County, Shaanxi).
His father, Kou Xiang, was well educated and well-written, and was a jinshi during the Jin Dynasty five generations later, and was called to serve as a secretary of the Wei dynasty to join the army, but he died of illness soon after.
At this time, Kou Zhun was only a few months old, and the burden of raising the child fell on his mother's shoulders.
When Kou Zhun was a child, his family was very poor, and although his father had been a petty official for several years, he did not leave any valuable family property at all.
It is said that once, her mother wanted to make a set of clothes for Xiao Kou zhun, but she couldn't even get the money to buy a silk horse.
Kou Zhun's mother was a remarkable woman, she was originally a big girl who could write poetry and paint, and the early death of her husband made her suffer the hardships of life, but she never relaxed her education of Xiao Kou Zhun.
Under the teachings of his mother, Kou Zhun showed a high level of understanding and extraordinary talent as a teenager.
When he was a teenager, he was able to memorize the three esoteric and incomprehensible history books of "Zuo Zhuan", "Ram Biography", and "Gu Liang Biography", and he could analyze the similarities and differences of each book meticulously and thoroughly, which amazed some well-educated Confucians.
The mother was very happy to see her son sensitive and studious.
In order to inspire her son to have more lofty ambitions, she carefully drew a "Cold Window Lesson Map" and gave it to Kou Zhun.
When Brigadier Kou was about to enter Beijing to take the exam, she wrote a poem to send, in which she wrote:
Lonely Lamp studying hard and hard, I hope you will cultivate yourself as a people.
Diligent and frugal, the family style is kind to the mother," and he is rich and noble.
For his mother's hard work and teachings over the past ten years, Kou Zhun always remembered it in his heart and used it as a driving force for his efforts to forge ahead.
In 989, Kou Zhun went to Beijing to take the exam and won the Jinshi in one fell swoop, and he was only 19 years old this year. Kou Zhun's youthful achievements were rare not only at that time, but also in the entire feudal society of our country.
Therefore, the young Kou Zhun has a somewhat youthful and vigorous personality, he has high ambitions, and in many ways has shown some distinctive personalities.
It is said that before Kou Zhun took the palace examination, because the emperor did not like to appoint young people as officials, some people advised him to say how old he was, so that the chances of hiring were greater.
But Kou Zhun did not think so, and he replied, "I am just starting to make progress now, how can I deceive the emperor?"
Kou Zhun was very talented, and during his time as an official, his political achievements were very good and he was appreciated by many people.
He was very extravagant and played everywhere. The reason for his personality is that he simply likes to talk about pomp and circumstance, which is true of most ancient officials.
The Song Dynasty experienced a great crisis in the early days, when the Liao State invaded southward and captured a lot of the Song Dynasty's land, and many people in the imperial court were in disarray at that time.
The emperor consulted for a long time, and many people advised the emperor to abandon the current capital and change it again.
However, Kou Zhun objected with his life, saying that if the capital was moved, he would commit suicide in the imperial court, and the emperor had no choice but to listen to his opinions and personally go to the front line of the war to motivate his soldiers.
In order to boost morale, Kou Zhun arranged the formation and sang and danced on the castle tower, as if to tell others that we would definitely win.
Seeing this, the emperor also relaxed his heart. Sure enough, this method has achieved strange results. The Song Dynasty defeated the Liao state.
Kou Zhun is a very extravagant person, he likes to eat and drink, and he is very alcoholic. When he was the prefect of the locality, he took his men down to drink every day, and his men could not drink, and before long, his men were drunk and sick, but Kou Zhun had no intention of stopping, and wanted to pull his men to drink together.
Fortunately, thanks to his wife's report to the official, Kou Zhun stopped drinking with him, otherwise it was possible to drink dead people.
Although Kou Zhun liked to drink, he was indeed a good official, he did practical things for the people and did a lot of things for the people.
Many people know that he is extravagant, and not many people really hate him. Not only because he protected his country from suffering, but also because he had in mind the broad masses of the people.
He did not have a house of his own until his death. The final evaluation is that Kou Zhun is a good official with shortcomings.