Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, was the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty. Chairman Mao once mentioned him in his poem "Spring Snow in Qinyuan", "Qin Emperor Han Wu, slightly lost literary style; Tang Zong Song Zu, slightly inferior to the wind", juxtaposing him with Tang Taizong and highly respecting him. In fact, although he was inferior to Tang Taizong Li Shimin's Wentao martial strategy, he was definitely a generation of male lords, and he could not be ignored.
There are three main things that can best reflect Zhao Kuangyin's extraordinary things: the yellow robe plus body, the cup of wine to release the military power, and the transmission of the brother Zhao Guangyi.
Zhao Kuangyin is a very good actor, and the yellow robe is actually just a wonderful drama he directed and acted. On the surface, it seems that his generals draped yellow robes on him, forcing him to become emperor. In fact, this is their long-standing collusion, a long-simmering conspiracy to seize power, and it is for others to see. He did not spend a single soldier, did not shed a drop of blood, did not go through any dry work, and sat on the imperial throne that everyone dreamed of. Unlike the previous Liang, Tang, Jin, and Han dynasties that killed people, I don't know whether Zhao Kuangyin felt guilty about seizing the throne of others or whether he himself was benevolent and magnanimous, but in any case, he basically did nothing to the clans, ministers, and ordinary people of Later Zhou, and smoothly realized the change of dynasties, which shows his superb political skills and long-term political vision. This may be the most peaceful dynasty change in Chinese history, Zhao Kuangyin just led his men and horses to the outside of the capital for a walk, and when he came back, he became the emperor, which was impressive!
It was easier to "release the military power with a glass of wine", he just invited his subordinates to drink a drink, and then took back the military power. In this regard, he was more intelligent than Tang Taizong, Han Gaozu Liu Bang, and Zhu Yuanzhang, all of whom had cursed the heroes or brothers, while Zhao Kuangyin had openly spoken out the interests of the matter and settled it peacefully. After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, he said to the generals "openly and honestly", I now have a heart matter that causes me to sleep at night, and the generals ask what kind of heart to say in order to solve the problems for the emperor, and he went on to say that it was you who draped the yellow robe on me together to make me emperor, and if one day your men put the yellow robe on you, then you would not be able to do it. The generals were all taken aback after hearing this, cold sweat came out of their bodies, some of them got goosebumps, and they all hurriedly asked what to do, Zhao Kuangyin said that there was a way to do it, I don't know if you are willing or not, take advantage of the fact that our monarchs and ministers are now in good relations, you might as well take the initiative to resign from the army, I will give you more possessions, land, and beautiful women, go back and enjoy themselves, be a "happy man", so that you can enjoy the glory and wealth, I can also sleep well, the monarch has no guess, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds? After Zhao Kuangyin said this, they all suddenly realized, they all said that it was good, you see what we old fools have done earlier, do not know how to worry about the emperor. The next day, the ministers all resigned their military powers and positions in the court and returned to their hometowns. From then on, throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, up to the Southern Song Dynasty, the imperial court military generals generally did not have much military power, and during the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei formed the Yue family army to resist the Jin soldiers, although he made great contributions, he also committed a great taboo of the imperial court and was executed for "false accusations". In fact, he had no sin, but the imperial court was afraid that his power would threaten his rule. On the contrary, the Song Dynasty treated Wen Chen with great kindness, because the imperial court knew that Wen Chen could not oppose the heavens and could not seize the Jiangshan, and with the Song Dynasty, Wen Chen was rarely executed.
On the issue of imperial succession, the Song Dynasty has a very famous story that everyone knows, called "Candle Shadow Axe Sound", saying that Song Taizu was murdered by his brother Zhao Guangyi, who seized the throne. However, this is only a story and there is no definite evidence to examine. In fact, with Song Taizu's long-term political vision, he may have considered that the five dynasties of liang, Tang, Jin, and Han in front of him were all short-lived dynasties, and the change of dynasties was due to military coups, and he was afraid that such a thing would happen to him, so he preferred to pass the throne to his elderly brother who was rich and experienced in military and political struggles, rather than to his own son, so as to save the Great Song Dynasty. In any case, the Great Song Dynasty has been passed down for three or four hundred years, which is in stark contrast to the previous five short-lived dynasties.
Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin is indeed not an idle person, he seems to have a kind of leadership ability that can make complex things simple. From an objective point of view, whether Song Taizu seized the throne or regained military power, it did not cause much bloodshed, which also showed that he was a good emperor, which was rare among the founding emperors.