Why did the hero of childhood become an evil dragon?
Open the textbook, it records one after another heroic and inspirational historical figures, their great achievements continue to inspire us to work hard and become the embodiment of justice in our hearts.
But as we grow older, our horizons gradually broaden, and when we look back at those well-known historical figures, we are surprised to find that those who were once regarded as exemplars have gradually deviated from the right track, and finally become sinners of history.
Li Shen
"Who knows that Chinese food is hard work", everyone in the world knows that people take food as the sky, but many people do not know that food is not easy to come by, and they will not understand the hardships of a farmer.
But the young Li Shen can empathize, at that time he was in high spirits, with a passion to go to Beijing to catch the examination, on the way to meet the peasants on the farmland suddenly had a feeling, wrote "Compassion for Peasants" to show that farmers are not easy to grow grain, warning the world to cherish food.
Even when he saw that the peasants had not solved the problem of food and clothing under such hard work, he even wrote poems to warn the government to do practical things for the people, and even now, his poems can still resonate with countless peasants and benefit many people.
But who would have thought that it was such a person who put the people first, but after entering the official career, he seemed to have changed as a person and became a corrupt and corrupt official.
Originally, he wanted to be a good official, he also had this talent, he was admitted to the Jinshi at the age of 27, and Liu Yuxi was a close friend, and even Bai Juyi also advocated the new Yuefu movement together.
But with the turmoil in the imperial court, officials began to form gangs, and Li Shen chose to side with Li Deyu, in order to consolidate his position, he was gradually assimilated, not only began to slap horses to the powerful, but also indulged in comfort and pleasure.
Later, with Li Deyu as the prime minister, Li Shen was reused, and in four years, his power covered the entire Luoyang, which began to float with power, he took bribes privately, spent all day drinking, and then became a big corrupt official.
His friend Liu Yuxi once visited his home and saw Li Shen singing in his arms and living a luxurious life, so he wrote "Gift to Li Sikong Prostitute" to satirize Li Shen's actions.
After that, he intensified his efforts, stabbing citizens to death, beating friends with a cane, and even forcing his uncle to call himself grandson.
However, Li Shen did not usher in a good end in the end, and died of a stroke in Yangzhou, and after his death, his children and grandchildren were also affected, and he was not allowed to enter the office.
Kuang Heng
Speaking of Kuang Heng, many people may not be familiar with him, but when it comes to the story of "chiseling the wall and stealing the light", everyone must know it, and this protagonist is Kuang Heng, who was once so poor that he didn't have an oil lamp, but he still has a thirst for knowledge.
In order to achieve fame and show his ambition, he thought of "stealing light" to study, using holes to make the neighbors' lights map to his home, so that he could study without lighting an oil lamp.
In order to make ends meet, he worked for wealthy businessmen during the day, saved money to buy books on weekdays, and even worked as a coolie for the money to prepare for the entrance examination in Beijing.
His inspirational spirit has also brought hope to many students from poor families, and to this day, there are still teachers who use the allusion of "cutting the wall to steal the light" to criticize those who are not good at studying if they have the conditions.
But reading is a good thing, isn't it a bit immoral to dig other people's walls, maybe his neighbor doesn't care, but this kind of behavior is really not suitable for people to emulate.
What's even more regrettable is that Kuang Heng went through nine imperial examinations to pass the C subject, but he didn't think about it, but in the end he became a corrupt official with a heinous crime, which made people hate.
At first, Kuang Heng may really like to read, but as his life was unsatisfactory, being powerful became his wish, and he was eager to embark on a career in office, although he only got an assistant to a county official, but he still did not give up.
At that time, when the crown prince Liu Zheng succeeded to the throne, Kuang Heng was quite popular with him with his unique views on the "Book of Songs", and was named Langzhong, and then he was promoted many times through his own efforts and sat in the position of prime minister.
But since he became the prime minister, he experienced the pleasure of power, and began to become insatiable, disgusted that the 3,100 acres of fief given by the emperor was not enough, turned around and used his power to illegally circle another 400 hectares.
During this period, if anyone dares to say that he is not, he will face punishment, so even if many people know that he has misbehaved, they dare not speak out, but what he never expected is that his career in his life will be bad in the hands of his son.
Kuang Heng's son became reckless because of his indulgence, and took advantage of the strength of alcohol to openly kill people, and after being arrested, the younger son was even more bold and tried to rob the prison to save the eldest brother, which made the emperor angry and condemned Kuang Heng to a commoner.
蔡伦
Similarly, Cai Lun developed the "papermaking technique" that made great contributions to the technology and culture of the Eastern Han Dynasty and even the whole of China, and this technology is also known as one of the four great inventions of ancient China.
Based on this alone, his great achievements are enough to be passed down by the world, but as everyone knows, there will be a black history behind the hero, he is already a traitor before he invented papermaking, and he can't help but sigh.
Cai Lun was not born in a powerful family, but an ordinary family with a poor family, in order to survive, all he could think of was to enter the palace as a eunuch, only to win the love of the masters, the gold and silver treasures, wealth and glory can be easily obtained.
At that time, the harem was divided into two groups, namely Song Guiren and Empress Dou, there is no doubt that Cai Lun chose the most powerful latter, and then he made the emperor remove the crown prince by framing him, and forced Song Guiren to commit suicide by poisoning.
In order to continue to win the favor of Queen Dou, he also designed to pass Liang Guiren's children to the queen's name, you must know that at that time, the most important thing was "mother and son are expensive", which is undoubtedly a relief for Queen Dou who has no heirs.
won the favor of the Empress Dowager Dou, and his life became prosperous, but what he did had already been seen through by the Zhonglang General with facial features, and he wore small shoes everywhere, but in the end he still did not escape Cai Lun's false accusation and was deposed.
After that, Cai Lun began to concentrate on the study of sword-casting technology, I have to say that although he is a traitor, he is very talented, not only made a lot of cup weapons, but also invented papermaking, so that future generations can benefit.
But after doing so many bad things, how can there be a good end, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the evil things he did before happened, and finally committed suicide by taking poison at home.
The author thinks
In fact, there is no distinction between good and bad historical figures, and they can only be divided by what position they stand on, perhaps they were forced to do it in that era, or they were assimilated by the environment at that time, but what is indelible is the great achievements they left behind.
Resources:
Yangtze Evening News2023-02-24Fang Zhi Jiangsu|How can a poet who sympathizes with farmers be smeared for thousands of years?
Beijing Daily2023-05-30Why did Li Shen, who wrote "Compassion for Nong", become an extravagant person and was satirized by Liu Yuxi with "commonplace"?
Qilu One Point2023-11-30Kuang Heng, who "chiseled the wall and borrowed light", is a native of Shandong
Hunan Daily2021-03-26Huxiang celebrity Cai Lunshi - commemorating the death of the paper saint Cai Lun in 1900
Shangguan News2020-08-10The new emperor ascended the throne, causing him to be killed? How Cai Lun spent the last three months of his life