Introduction to Qin Hui (hui)
Born in the fifth year of Yuanyou (1090), Emperor Zhezong, and died in Shaoxing, the twenty-fifth year of Emperor Gaozong (1155), his courtesy name was Huizhi, Jiangning (now Nanjing) people.
In the fifth year of Zhenghe's reign (1115), Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty ascended the throne and became a professor in Mizhou (now Zhucheng, Shandong). He once served as Xuezheng of Taixue. In the late Northern Song Dynasty, he served as Yushi Zhongcheng and was captured by the Jin people together with Song Huizong and Qinzong. After returning to the south, he served as Minister of Rites and twice as prime minister, ruling for nineteen years. The creator of Song Ti. Note: Song Ti was originally Qin Ti. Due to the political persecution of the patriotic hero Yue Fei, Qin Ti was changed to Song Ti. Life Qin Hui was born in a family of small and medium-sized landowners. His father served as the magistrate of Gu County, Jingjiang Prefecture (now Yongfu County, Guangxi), which was only a minor official among the ruling class of the Song Dynasty. Living in such an environment, Qin Hui could not rise quickly, so he worked as a rural teacher. He was not satisfied with this career and even complained, saying, "If I get 300 acres of paddy fields, I won't be the Hozen King this time." His requirements were not high, as long as he had a few hundred acres of good land, no longer being a "children's teacher" or "children's king", and no longer relying on cultivators to support himself, that would be enough. But since becoming a Jinshi, he has skyrocketed.
In the first year of Jingkang (1126), the Jin soldiers attacked Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) and asked Song Huizong to cede three towns: Taiyuan, Zhongshan (now Dingxian, Hebei), and Hejian. At this time, Qin Hui, who was a member of the staff side, put forward four more important opinions. The first is that the Jin people are greedy, and they can only give the land to Yanshan all the way; the second is that the Jin people are cunning, and they must strengthen their defense and not relax; the third is to convene hundreds of officials to discuss in detail, and choose the correct opinions to write in the alliance letter; the fourth is to put the representatives of the Jin Dynasty Place them outside and prevent them from entering the palace gate. At that time, if we wanted to eliminate the troops, we had to cede territory. The Southern Song Dynasty sent Qin Hui and Cheng Li as representatives to negotiate with the Jin people. Qin Hui was still able to adhere to the above opinions during the negotiations, so he was promoted to the imperial censor and Zuo Sijian. Later, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty "resolutely wanted to gain the land, otherwise they would march to Bianjing". During the discussion among the officials in the court, 70 people including Fan Zongyin agreed to cede the land, but 36 people including Qin Hui thought it was not allowed.
After Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty were captured, the Jurchen nobles wanted to make Zhang Bangchang their puppet, but Qin Hui, then the censor Zhongcheng, said nothing. Censor Ma Shen and others wrote a letter against the establishment of Zhang Bangchang and asked Qin Hui to also sign. Qin Hui disagreed at first, but dozens of officials signed one after another. Ma Shen "firmly requested", but Qin Hui had no choice but to sign. Because Qin Hui had a higher official position among the petitioners (the first among the officials), in the second year of Jingkang (1127), the Jin people used Qin Hui to rebel against Zhang Bangchang and captured him, along with his wife Wang and his wife. Attendants etc. At this time, Song Huizong learned that Kang Wang Zhao Gou had ascended the throne, so he wrote to Jin Shuai Nianhan to negotiate a peace treaty, and asked Qin Hui to revise and polish the peace treaty. Qin Hui also bribed Nianhan with generous gifts, and Jin Taizong gave Qin Hui to his younger brother Talan for appointment. From then on, Qin Hui followed Talan step by step, gradually becoming his confidant, and carried out a series of traitor actions such as persuading the Song army in Chuzhou to surrender.
In the fourth year of Jianyan (1130), Jin general Ta Lan led troops to attack Shanyang, an important town in Huaibei (i.e. Chuzhou, today's Huai'an, Jiangsu), and ordered Qin Hui to accompany him. Why should Qin Hui accompany us? Judging from the strategy of laziness, luring peace talks and colluding with internal and external parties can lead to the subjugation of the Southern Song Dynasty. Only Qin Hui can use this "inside". However, Qin Hui's face of selling himself to join the Jurchen nobles had not yet been completely exposed to the Southern Song Dynasty, so the Jin rulers regarded Qin Hui as a suitable candidate. Therefore, Qin Huinan secretly discussed plans with his wife Wang before leaving, and put on a dramatic performance. Wang deliberately yelled and said: "My father married me to you. He had a fortune of 200,000 yuan at that time, and he wanted you and me to share the joys and sorrows. Now that the Dajin Kingdom trusts you, you just leave me on the road." The quarrel continued. When the lazy wife heard about it, she invited Mrs. Wang to her home to find out what happened. Wang told everything. The driver said that he was too lazy, so he asked Wang and his attendants to go south with Qin Hui. After Shanyang City was captured, Jin soldiers entered the city one after another. Qin Hui and others boarded the boat and traveled to nearby Lianshui (today's Lianshui, Jiangsu Province). They were caught by the patrol soldiers of Ding Si, the leader of the water village in the Southern Song Dynasty, and wanted to kill him. Qin Hui said: "I am Qin Hui, the censor Zhongcheng. Is there any scholar here who should know my name."
Qin Hui's proposition aroused strong dissatisfaction from both the government and the public. Just because at that time Zhao Gou was still worried about the discussions and momentum of the anti-Japanese scholar-bureaucrats and the soldiers and civilians across the country, and had not yet made up his mind to risk the disapproval of the world, so Qin Hui's surrender route was not adopted, and Qin Hui himself actually used it to He was expelled from the Southern Song Dynasty. It was later confirmed that envoys from the Jin Dynasty went to the Southern Song Dynasty and demanded that all northerners be returned, which was consistent with Qin Hui's idea of ??"returning northerners to the north". People of insight further realized that this was the result of Qin Hui's conspiracy with the Jin people, and Qin Hui's face became clearer.
Qin Hui's policy of surrender and treason was difficult to implement for a while, so he had to endure the temporary setbacks, wait for the opportunity to make a comeback, and wait for the changes in the political situation of the Song and Jin Dynasties. Nianhan died in the fifth year of Shaoxing (1135), and Talan gained power. In the eighth year of Shaoxing (1138), Zhao Gou appointed Qin Hui as prime minister. Yan Dunfu, the official minister, said worriedly that Qin Hui was a "treacherous prime minister". But because Ta Laan was Qin Hui's old master, this old master advocated using the strategy of inducing surrender and negotiating peace to induce Zhao Gou to take the bait. Qin Hui, Zhao Gou and Ta Lan colluded internally and externally, so they had no worries about the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Qin Hui saw that the situation in the Song and Jin Dynasties was constantly developing in a direction conducive to his policy of begging for peace and surrender, and considered this an opportunity. So on the eve of the negotiations between the Song and Jin Dynasties, with the power of the Jurchen noble agents, Zhao Gou was repeatedly tested and inspected again and again to enhance his confidence in suing for peace and strengthen his surrender stance. After the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty met with Zhao Gou, only Qin Hui stayed to present the memorial. Please look at the wonderful dialogue between a foolish emperor and a treacherous prime minister. Qin Hui said: "The ministers are timid in negotiating peace and have two sides, which is why they cannot decide major issues. If your Majesty is determined to make peace, please discuss it exclusively with me and do not allow the group to make peace." Please intervene." Zhao Gou said, "I will only appoint you to take charge." Qin Hui said, "I'm afraid it will be inconvenient. I hope your majesty will consider it seriously for three days and allow me to make another report to you." Three days later, Qin Hui said. He stayed at Zhao Gou's side again to carry out the work. Zhao Gaohua's idea of ????making peace was already very firm, but Qin Hui thought that it was not enough. He said: "I'm afraid there are still inconveniences in other aspects. I would like to ask your majesty to seriously consider it for three days." , let me make another report to you." Zhao Gou said, "Okay!" Three days later, Qin Hui stayed alone with Zhao Gou just like before. He clearly understood that Zhao Gou was indeed unswervingly determined to make peace, so he took out the letter of peace request to Jin that he had already drafted, and still claimed that the ministers would not be allowed to interfere.
In the ninth year of Shaoxing (1139), Qin Hui signed the first Song-Jin peace treaty despite the objections of Zhao Ding, Hu Quan, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Wang Shu, Yue Fei, Li Gang and others to the peace treaty. Zhao Gou was afraid of trouble, so he pretended to be ill and hid in the palace. Qin Hui acted as emperor, knelt down in front of the gold envoy, and signed and signed. From then on, Qin Hui's status in the court increased, and the war between Song and Jin Dynasties began to be controlled by him.
The "History of the Song Dynasty·Qin Hui Biography" says: "In the beginning, although the imperial court sent several envoys, they kept and made peace, and focused on resolving their feuds with the Jin people and negotiating peace, which actually started from Hui." This is basically the beginning. In line with the actual situation. From the accession of Emperor Gaozong to the return of Qin Hui in the eighth year of Shaoxing, which lasted eleven years, the Southern Song Dynasty court generally did four things: (1) Raise and train soldiers to form a military force that could compete with the Jin people; (2) Security Gather the refugees, restore production, and conserve the financial resources to support the regime; (3) unify the interior, quell the chaotic situation after Jingkang's separatism (including suppressing peasant uprisings), and form a relatively stable rear; (4) establish various regulations and systems to make The social order damaged by the war has been restored to a certain extent. This is all based on defense and fighting. Because of this, the territory equivalent to two-thirds of the Northern Song Dynasty was preserved.
As far as Gaozong's ideological status at that time was concerned, he was often wavering between peace and war. After Jingkang, the heroes broke up and rebels sprang up. If Emperor Gaozong was dedicated to suing for peace and surrender, who would be willing to serve him as a companion? In fact, the fragmented situation at that time was quickly unified, and various political forces were quickly able to gather together, which shows that Emperor Gaozong has not yet thrown away the banner of "anti-gold restoration" and still has a certain degree of appeal and cohesion. During the Jianyan period, the Southern Song Dynasty's political power was not yet stable, and the Jin people were determined to eliminate it. Gaozong wanted to beg for peace but could not get it. In the third year of Jianyan's reign, Emperor Gaozong was chased by the Jin people from Yangzhou to Mingzhou and to the sea.
In the fourth year of Jianyan, the Jin army withdrew from Jiangnan. Gaozong returned from Wenzhou to Yuezhou and then to Hangzhou. The Southern Song Dynasty regime gradually gained a foothold. Lu Yihao, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun and others who served as prime ministers successively all gained a foothold. To defend and fight. Although many envoys were sent to make peace, they were generally based on strategic considerations (except for Qin Hui). According to Lu Yihao, they were "to make others proud", "to show weakness to others", and "to take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's surprise". In the second year of Shaoxing, Lu Yihao asked for the Northern Expedition. In the fourth year of Shaoxing, Zhao Ding asked the emperor to personally conduct the expedition. In the seventh year of Shaoxing, Zhang Jun asked Gaozong to station in Jiankang. Although Gaozong was not very firm, he agreed after all.
Gaozong devoted himself to begging for peace only after Qin Hui returned to the prime minister in the eighth year of Shaoxing. As Zhu Xi once pointed out:
"The reason why Qin Hui's crime reaches heaven, and tens of thousands of deaths are not enough to redeem him. At the beginning, he was planning evil to harm the country, and in the middle, he was hijacking the power of the captives." To want to be the king,... but the disadvantages of leaving the king behind are as extreme as this." ("Preface to Wu Wu Chan's Meeting")
Qin Hui "started to sing evil plans", he should be the one to follow. On behalf of Huizong, he wrote a letter to Wanyan Zonghan. In that letter, he clearly stated that "subjects from generation to generation will pay tribute every year", which won Zonghan's appreciation. Zonghan recommended him to Jin Taizong, and Jin Taizong gave him to Wanyan. Yan Chang. After returning to the south, he met Emperor Gaozong for the first time, who was the first to establish the "South from South, North from North" proposal, and submitted a draft "Certificate of Credence" to beg for peace. This "Certificate of Credence" was later issued in the name of Liu Guangshi. Because of this, Gaozong promised to be "simple and loyal". However, at this time, the military power of the Southern Song Dynasty was gradually strengthening, and the main war faction still occupied a very important position in the court. Zong Han, who was in power in the Jin Dynasty, was still unwilling to give up his idea of ????annihilating the Southern Song Dynasty. Gaozong was still wavering in the war. time, so this stage lasts longer. It was not until the death of Wanyan Zonghan that Wanyan Zongpan and Wanyanchang took over the power of the Jin Kingdom and adopted a policy of inducing surrender towards the Southern Song Dynasty. Qin Hui made a comeback and the main war faction suffered internal and external setbacks in the conflict with each other. Only then did Gaozong gradually turn to begging for peace.
It was only after Zhao Gou entrusted him to act as the plenipotentiary representative of the surrender to the Jin Dynasty that Qin Hui entered the stage of what Zhu Xi said was "the middle uses the power of the captives to seize the king". After entering this stage, all major moves of the court depended on Qin Hui, and it was almost impossible for Gaozong to make any decisions independently. Qin Hui's position in the Southern Song Dynasty was no longer that of the emperor Zhao Gou, but that he could play with Zhao Gou in his hands. He was a figure who Zhao Gou must look up to.
At that time, an official named Hu Quan opposed "peace" and wrote a memorial begging to behead Qin Hui. It was at the stage when Qin Hui was taking advantage of the power of the Jin people to seize the throne. He was immediately attacked by Qin Hui, who personally made a plan to demote him to "Zhaozhou (now Pingle County, Guangxi) for management". Because he was "pregnant," he wanted to delay his departure for a few days, but Lin'an Prefecture "sent people to demote him." A few days later, Qin Hui still felt that the punishment given to Hu Quan was too light and might not silence those who opposed "peace", so he coerced Zhao Gou to issue an edict saying that Hu Quan's superiority was " "Being aggressive and disobedient" and "promoting the trend of bullying" are warnings at home and abroad and are not allowed to follow suit. (See Volume 124 of "Annals of the Years Since Jianyan".)
This shows that after entering the stage of "taking advantage of the captives to seize the king", Qin Hui was already untouchable by a tiger. Now, his power can be said to be all-encompassing. If you still call such a person a "mere Hui" and think that he "can't do anything", then if you are not really ignorant of the historical situation at that time, you will just be considered to be intentionally guilty of Qin Hui's various evil acts. Exonerated.
Less than a year after the signing of the first peace treaty between the Song and Jin Dynasties, a coup occurred within the Jin ruling group. Talan, who advocated the strategy of using inducement to surrender to the Southern Song Dynasty, was killed, and Zong Bi (Wushu) came to power. Starting from the 10th year of Shaoxing (1140), the Jin Dynasty tore up the peace treaty, appointed Zong Bi as the commander-in-chief, and sent his army directly to take Henan and Shaanxi. The Southern Song Dynasty's anti-Jin generals Yue Fei and Liu Qi, with the support of the people, severely defeated the Jin soldiers and created a good situation.
After Yue Fei was murdered, his family members were exiled to Lingnan. Those implicated were either imprisoned, exiled, or died in prison. On the contrary, those who followed Qin Hui to frame Yue Fei were promoted. In addition to trapping and killing Yue Fei and others, Qin Hui also did not let go of other loyal ministers and generals of the Southern Song Dynasty. The methods of persecution have been innovated.
At that time, Qin Hui had already "taken advantage of the power of the captives to seize the throne" and was able to manipulate Zhao Gou into his hands, so his power extended and penetrated into all aspects of politics, military, finance, and criminal law. It is also true that "everything must come to pass, and things must come to pass." As far as criminal law is concerned, it is as summarized in Volume 16 of Xu Ziming's Chronicles of Song Zaifu after Qin Hui's death:
Fa Temple prohibits official business and does not abide by the law. Only looking at Qin Hui's private intentions at the moment, he will die if he dies, and live if he lives. Whip, stick, disciple, flow, all hope (Qin Hui) wind decree. Therefore, juniper has great power and power, and people in the world are increasingly afraid of it and avoid it.
The crime of Luo Zhi falsely framed Yue Fei and his son and Zhang Xian and put them to death. This is a typical example of Qin Hui letting his "momentary selfish desires" and "die to death".
Not long after Qin Hui's death, in an edict issued by Zhao Gou, Qin Hui's right to live and kill without authorization was also exposed. According to Volume 170 of "Records of the Years Since Jianyan", Jiashen in December the 25th year of Shaoxing (January 5, 1156) contains:
Edict: The official has committed a crime, and the survey has been carried out When it is completed, a case report will be made. In recent years, many ministers have said that they have "received a special decree" and implemented it at the same time. From now on, the three provinces will take orders.
The so-called "minister" here refers specifically to Qin Hui; the so-called "just make a special edict" is actually synonymous with "fake imperial edict" or "false edict" language. Although the Yue Fei prison case was not explicitly pointed out in this edict, it was definitely included in this edict. In "History of the Song Dynasty·Criminal Law Chronicles" (II), it is more clearly pointed out that the unjust imprisonment of Yue Fei, his son and Zhang Xian was entirely caused by Qin Hui's correction of the imperial edict. The article says:
Prison edicts were originally intended to correct traitors, so it was not common. ...
In the eleventh year of (Shaoxing), Zhang Jun, the privy envoy, sent people to falsely accuse Zhang Xian, saying that he had collected Yue Fei's writings and planned to change it. Qin Hui wanted to take advantage of this to kill Fei, so he ordered Wanqi to train him. Fei gave him death, and his son Yun Ji Xian was put to death in the city. ...
There was a rift between Hu Shunzhi, the commander-in-chief of Guangxi, and Lu Yuan, the transshipment envoy. Yuan reported to Shunzhi that Shunzhi had made dirty plans and made arrogance. Hui Su hated Shun Zhi and sent Dali officials to rule it. In June of the thirteenth year, Shun Zhi refused to obey and died in prison.
After Fei and Shun Zhi died, Hui's power became more and more powerful, and he repeatedly set up prisons to punish those who dissidents. It's called imperial prison, but it's actually not an imperial edict. Later, so-called imperial edicts and prisons were all similar to this, so they are not recorded.
It is linked to many historical facts at that time. For example, after Yue Fei was imprisoned, most of those who wanted to rescue him went to negotiate and argue with Qin Hui, while those who tried to dissuade Zhao Gou from Shangshu were extremely From this, we can know that every sentence in this narrative in "Song History·Criminal Law Chronicles" (2) is realistic. The conclusions contained therein are all very fair. "It is called a prison, but it is not an imperial edict", which best reflects the true situation of Qin Hui's creation of the unjust case of Yue Fei, his son and Zhang Xian. Therefore, as long as we can study this historical event calmly and realistically, we cannot deny that Qin Hui was the culprit who killed Yue Fei, his father and his son, and Zhang Xian.