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Kou Zhun
Northern Song chief minister who pressed Emperor Zhenzong to take the field at Chanzhou in 1004, a stand that led to the Chanyuan treaty with the Liao
Mural of the event “Treaty of Chanyuan”, which this person took part in.
Liao Empress Dowager Xiao and Emperor Shengzong led the main Liao force in deep southward invasion of the Northern Song, with war fire burning to the northern bank of the Yellow River at Chanzhou. The Song court was in panic and the peace faction strongly advocated moving the capital and fleeing to dodge the enemy.
Also known as Zi Pingzhong · Laiguo Gong · Zhong Min
Kou Zhun, courtesy name Pingzhong, came from Xiagui in Huazhou (near modern Weinan, Shaanxi) and passed the jinshi examination in 980. His blunt remonstrance led Emperor Taizong to compare having him to Tang Taizong having Wei Zheng, and in 994 he became assistant chief minister. Made chief minister in 1004, the year a large Liao army invaded, he overruled proposals to move the court to Jinling or Chengdu and persuaded Emperor Zhenzong to go in person to the front at Chanzhou, after which the Song and Liao concluded the Chanyuan treaty. Slandered by Wang Qinruo, he lost office in 1006; recalled in 1019, he was pushed out by Ding Wei the next year and demoted step by step to a minor post in Leizhou on the southern coast. He died there in 1023 and was later restored to his ranks and named Zhongmin. In 1052 Emperor Renzong wrote the heading Loyalty Honoured for his spirit-way stele.
Life and times
- 961 CEBorn
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Song - 1005Treaty of Chanyuan
Took partage 44The first treaty establishing equal status and trade boundaries with a northern power.- Kou Zhun and Treaty of Chanyuan1004age 43Chancellor Kou Zhun urged Emperor Zhenzong to the frontlines at Chanzhou, forcing the Treaty of Chanyuan that secured 120 years of peace.
- Kou Zhun and Treaty of Chanyuan
- 1023 CEDied
Works
Literature · Lyrics2- Spring in the South: The Waves Are VastSongKou Zhun's lyric in a woman's voice: Jiangnan spring ending and a traveller not yet home
- Treading the Grass · Late Spring: Orioles' Voices Growing OldSongKou Zhun's short ci of late spring, a silent painted hall and a parting that will not fade
- Literature · Poetry1
- On Mount HuaSongQuatrain on Mount Hua said to be composed by Kou Zhun at the age of seven
