In 1125 AD, known as "a first-class artist and a third-rate emperor", he was determined to reform his ways. Once upon a time, this emperor, known as "capable of everything", became a prisoner of the Jurchens, was demoted to the "Duke of Dude", and was humiliated. He is in charge of the world, but he only knows how to indulge in art and alchemy, and when the iron horse comes to the door, he sacrifices the two great tricks of self-redemption - "The Edict of Sin Himself" and abdication to make way for Xian. But is it too late? He recited the "Spring and Autumn Period" in the Five Kingdoms City, eager to draw the road of governing the country from it, did he have the ambition to revive the majesty?
1. Song Huizong tried his courage and was determined to revive the country's prestige
The days of the Five Kingdoms City were dark and depressing. Whenever Song Huizong poked his head out of the narrow cellar and looked out at the distant north, his heart was churning with thousands of thoughts. He kept thinking back to the absurdity of his youthful life, and he was sincerely ashamed of the embarrassment he was in. Some of the captives who were taken away by the Jurchens had died on the long way to the north, and some were frozen to death in the ice and snow. Song Huizong witnessed the ashes of his younger brother Zhao Yu and heard the news of the slaughter of those innocent people, and his heart was extremely painful.
yes, if it weren't for his incompetent behavior back then, why wouldn't it be like this? The demise of the country is due to his wanton squandering of power, his obsession with extravagant life, and his connivance and favor with those slanderous villains. Those traitors who are indulgent and greedy have ever thought about the suffering of ordinary people? Have you ever thought about the hard work of the government and the opposition and the border soldiers? When they were squandering money and drunkenness, Zhao Song's national strength was almost empty.
In the loneliness of captivity, Song Huizong repeatedly recalled the past, and finally realized his mistake. He began to try his courage, determined to repent and rehabilitate himself, and restore the prestige of the country. As long as you can escape from this ice and snow alive, you must reflect well, regain power, and rebuild the country into a thriving state.
In order to achieve this goal, Song Huizong's first thing to do was to secretly send his confidant Cao Xun to Jiangnan to contact the current reigning Song Gaozong Zhao Gou. He wrote eight big characters on his clothes, "Ke Poo, that is, really come to save his parents", and attached a short note from King Kang's biological mother, Wei, as a token. This is undoubtedly a signal to Zhao Gou for help.
At the same time, he was also keen to read the Confucian classic "Spring and Autumn", hoping to find some true meaning of governing the country. After all, as the ruler of the Zhao and Song dynasties, he was deeply influenced by Confucianism since he was a child, but he did not experience it when he was young. Now that he has been hit hard, he has just woken up from a dream.
2. Huizong of the Song Dynasty was talented in art, but he was full of courtiers and servants
Song Huizong has shown extraordinary artistic talent since he was a child. His poetry, calligraphy and painting are all admirable, especially good at freehand landscape painting. Some critics praised him for his "strong pen and vast artistic conception". He was also very fond of garden architecture, and spent a lot of money to build the famous Genyue Garden during his reign, which is a model of ancient royal gardens because of its grand scale, exquisite layout and wonderful scenery.
However, Song Huizong's artistic talent also became a major bane for his inability to govern the country. He blindly indulged in the wind and the moon, but he gradually became careless about state affairs, resulting in the gradual absoluteness of government affairs. At the beginning of his reign, Zhao Gou of Song Gaozong attached great importance to him and ordered him to take charge of the government, but he turned a blind eye to this important task and only knew how to pursue his own artistic ideals.
And that's not even the worst. What's worse is that he didn't think about the hardships of Li Shu, and wantonly squandered the people's wealth to build gardens and pavilions. For example, the Genyue Garden, which he personally supervised, cost a lot of money, moved mountains and diverted water, and rare and exotic treasures from all over the world could be seen everywhere, which was full of Song Huizong's personal habit of pursuing "luxury and luxury". And all this money is not the hard-earned money of the people.
What's even more terrifying is that Song Huizong mingled with a group of slanderous villains and obeyed them. Cai Jing, Gao Yu, Yang Jian and others were all greedy and domineering, but Song Huizong was deeply bewitched by them, regarded them as cronies, and lost power. Cai Jing was even more ill-intentioned and secretly manipulated the government and government, making the entire Song court miserable and the people unhappy.
Some critics said: "Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was wise and bright, and the album of poems and texts was once the crown of ancient and modern emperors; Gou Neng deeply loves the people, and he is determined to combine great power in one body and fulfill the duties of the king. However, the battle of the garden is cool, and the party is in harmony with the bureaucrats, resulting in the country's demise. It can be seen that Song Huizong's actions are destined to make the Zhao and Song dynasties decline.
3. Song Huizong disregarded the people's grievances and insisted on "Lianjin to destroy Liao"
During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, as a generation of mediocre emperors, many of his absurd deeds were all heartbreaking. Among them, the most despicable is the "Lianjin Annihilation of Liao" war that he insisted on launching.
As early as the time of Song Zhenzong, there were people from the main battle faction who put forward the idea of "joining forces with the Western Xia regime to attack" the Liao State in order to solve the border troubles. But at that time, the Slow War had the upper hand and failed to implement it. When Song Huizong succeeded to the throne, he was originally suspicious of this matter.
However, at the instigation of a slanderous villain, Song Huizong suddenly made up his mind to embark on this adventure with no return. In order to please Song Huizong, Cai Jing and others actually carried out all kinds of demagoguery and threats against him, making him believe that "this move will definitely clear up internal and external troubles."
It is clear that there is no doubt about a lack of foresight in waging this war. Song Huizong did not think about the suffering of the people, and built garden palaces extravagantly and wastefully, which increased the tax burden of the common people. In particular, he spent a huge amount of money to build Genyue Garden, which undoubtedly made the people's resentment boil. And now he is going to start a war, which will make the common people even worse.
In 1123, the Song army followed the orders of Song Huizong and launched a surprise attack, provoking this civil war that divided the Central Plains. At first, the coalition forces made some progress, conquering Youzhou and other places in the Liao State. However, the situation gradually entered a desperate situation, the monarch of the Liao State moved to Jiwei to send reinforcements, the heroes gathered, and the Song army was defeated and retreated.
Finally, in a great battle in 1125, the Song army was completely defeated. For a time, the remnants of the battle rose in all directions, and a large number of cities in North China were captured by the Liao army one after another. As a result, a large number of people in the northwest had to abandon their homes and flee, which is known as "the westward migration of ten thousand families" in history. Many nobles in the palace were also forced to leave Bianliang, the capital division.
At the critical moment of the fall of Bianliang City, Song Huizong was still drinking and having fun in Genyue Garden, unaware of the approaching crisis. His careless behavior still angered the Jurchens after all. After the Liao army invaded Bianliang, even he was captured and escorted back to the capital of the Liao State with a large number of palace dependents and civil and military officials. As a result, the war disaster known as the "Jingkang Change" completely destroyed the national strength of the Song Dynasty and also caused the Jiangnan area to be ravaged by war.
4. Song Huizong reflected on himself in a narrow space
As a captive, Song Huizong's living environment in Liao was extremely embarrassing. He was imprisoned in a castle called the "City of the Five Kingdoms", where his daily life was strictly monitored and restricted. It used to be the place where the Liao Dynasty held foreign captives, surrounded by clouds and mist, the climate was cold and hot, and the living environment was extremely simple.
Song Huizong was indignant at this situation at first, and he could not accept that he had fallen into such a field as the Son of Heaven. But as time went on, he gradually calmed down and began to reflect on what he had done in the past.
First of all, he saw the torture and abuse of the Song people who were also captured, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Although they have different identities and statuses, they all come from the same motherland and suffer the same suffering and humiliation. On one occasion, Song Huizong was shocked to witness the execution of a captive for refusing to be humiliated. From then on, he could no longer ignore all the tragic events that happened around him.
Secondly, he lived alone in a narrow space, thinking about life, which also gave him the idea of re-examining himself. He began to look back on his past and reflect on his own mistakes. For example, his former lascivious and idle lifestyle can no longer be taken for granted. He began to realize that as the ruler of a country, he should put the well-being of his people first, not just his own pleasure.
As a result, Song Huizong began to study diligently in a limited number of books. In particular, Confucian classics, such as the Spring and Autumn Period, were repeatedly read by him, trying to draw wisdom from them. He secretly hoped that if he could escape from this ice and snow alive, he would have to reform himself, regain power, and rebuild the country into a thriving state.
In order to achieve this goal, Song Huizong also secretly sent his cronies to Jiangnan to try to contact Zhao Gou and others to plot a plan to regain the throne. Although this was undoubtedly a dangerous idea, he did not give up this ideal and ambition to revive his majesty.
5. Song Huizong aged away and died of disgrace
Although Song Huizong was once determined to regain his strength during his captivity, reality cruelly proved that this was nothing more than an illusory dream.
In 1127, after more than two years in prison, the 59-year-old Song Huizong was escorted back to his hometown of Bianliang. But this once bustling and lively Beijing division has changed beyond recognition, and there are mottled traces of war burning. Song Huizong was placed in a temple not far from the city, and was repeatedly monitored and humiliated by the Jurchens.
A year later, Song Huizong, who was 60 years old at the time, was taken by the Jurchens to the Datong area of present-day Shanxi. There, he witnessed the tragic situation of his own brother Zhao Yu being frozen to death, and he was so sad on the spot that he almost collapsed. Soon after, Song Huizong was forced to travel to Raoyang City, Hebei Province, where he continued to be detained.
During this period, Song Huizong still did not give up his attempt to regain the throne. He often secretly sent his cronies to Jiangnan in an attempt to contact the now reigning Zhao Gou and other important ministers. But every time it was sunk in the sea, there was almost no news. What made him most distressed was that once his secret envoy Cao Xun was recognized and killed by the Jiangnan generals, and he was completely cut off from him.
Gradually, Song began to feel that the future was bleak and hopeless. He is getting older and his health is deteriorating, and it seems that it is a fool's dream to regain power. As a result, he could only look back on the past repeatedly in the loneliness of captivity, and deeply regret what he had done in the past.
Finally in 1162, 85-year-old Song Huizong died with hatred and was buried in Xingtai, Hebei. This emperor, who was "capable of everything" during his lifetime, finally achieved nothing and died in a foreign land. The rule of the Zhao and Song dynasties was completely replaced by the Jurchens, and a new Liao dynasty began its era.