When we think of the Southern Song Dynasty, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely Yue Fei, Qin Ju and Zhao Shuo. Under various historical materials and historical interpretations, the Southern Song Dynasty became a dynasty that did not think of making progress and was poor and weak in the eyes of many people. However, what many people do not know is that in the early years of the real Southern Song Dynasty, the people's livelihood was harmonious, the economy was strong, the military strength was gradually weakened, the national treasury was enriched, and the culture also showed the trend of Cheng Zhu Lixue, Xinxue, Huxiang Zhixue and other schools of flowers blooming, which had the intention of prosperity. However, under the influence of the two "nerve emperors" after that, the Southern Song Dynasty only took more than 30 years to completely decline, and there was no longer the power to turn over. These two emperors were Song Guangzong and Song Ningzong.
Song Guangzong was the successor of Song Xiaozong, the second emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty and the most accomplished of all the emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty. Although he was powerless to restore the Central Plains, he was quite successful in his internal affairs. In agriculture, he paid attention to water conservancy construction and promoted agricultural development; economically, he formulated policies to encourage commerce and foreign trade, which promoted the economic development of the city; in terms of employing people, he opened up the way of speech, frequently changed faces, and avoided the chaotic administration of power and ministers; culturally, although he did not have a good feeling for Taoism, he did not "ban", but let all the schools of thought express their own opinions, so Song Xue entered the peak period again, and many people such as Xin Zhiyi, Fan Chengda, Lu You, Lu Jiuyuan, Zhu Xi, etc. emerged, and this period was called "the rule of Qianchun". It was also the heyday of the history of the Southern Song Dynasty.
On the issue of heirs, Song Xiaozong was also very careful.
Due to the lack of happiness, Song Xiaozong had only three successors to choose from, and the eldest son died after only two years of becoming crown prince. Therefore, Song Xiaozong could only choose one of the two, because Song Xiaozong felt that compared with the second prince, the third prince Zhao Huan was more wise and divine, so he established Zhao Huan, and after discovering that Zhao Xiaozong's only son was not smart enough, he also designated the children of the second prince as zhao Huan's successors in the next generation, which can be described as well-intentioned. Moreover, Song Xiaozong was also very attentive to Zhao Wei's education, and he asked the Great Confucian King Shipeng, Chen Lianghan, and the famous teacher Yang Wanli to teach him; and let Zhao Wei handle government affairs in an appropriate amount and gradually adapt to state affairs. In 1189, after 18 years as crown prince, the 42-year-old Zhao Huan finally became emperor, that is, Song Guangzong. Song Xiaozong once commented that Song Guangzong was "minimalist in every hundred, without his hobbies" and "virtue has been self-warming", but is this really the case? The answer is no.
Song Xiaozong, who had been filial to him all his life, did not expect to meet an unfilial son.
Mr. Yu Yunguo, a well-known historian, said, "Relying only on the personal examination and ultimate arbitrariness of the previous generation of monarchs, it is inevitable that mistakes will be made in the selection of successors, and once they are wrong, they often affect the fate of the dynasty and change the direction of history." Indeed, when Song Guangzong changed from crown prince to emperor, those efforts and diligence seemed to disappear overnight, and the essence of fainting was gradually revealed. So, in what ways is Song Guangzong's fainting reflected?
The first aspect is not to ask for words, not to advise. According to the records in the book, when Song Guangzong ascended the throne, he issued three edicts, hoping that the people of the world would know everything and say everything, and Song Guangzong would also be able to listen to suggestions and reuse some people who were advised. For example, Liu Guangzu, who analyzes the world's major events one by one, discusses the Yellow Clothes of the Southern Song Dynasty. In addition, Song Guangzong also asked the ministers to explain the lack of current politics in order to seek great rule in the world, it seems that Song Guangzong seems to be a good emperor who constantly solicits opinions and listens patiently, but in fact, Song Guangzong is just "listening", most of them will not implement, and sometimes even vent their dissatisfaction to the people around them, or even depose. For example, Liu Guangzu, who was just mentioned, often consulted like a cannon, and finally even Song Guangzong criticized, so less than three months after joining the post, Liu Guangzu's official position was removed. The posts of filling the gap and picking up the will, which were specially used for advice, were also abolished by Song Guangzong under the opposition of the ministers. It can be seen that Song Guangzong did not take the request for advice to heart at all.
The second aspect of Song Guangzong's fainting was to splurge and use military supplies. As mentioned above, Song Xiaozong commented that Song Guangzong "had no hobbies", but in fact, when Song Guangzong had not yet ascended the throne, he feasted and squandered, and when Song Xiaozong called him, he was a look of fine psychology and politics; when Song Xiaozong did not call him, he put the affairs of the imperial court aside and feasted and drank heavily. After ascending the throne, Song Guangzong was even more extravagant and wasteful, so that the expenses of the imperial palace increased sharply and were simply not enough. In order to meet his own profligate needs, Song Guangzong started the idea of sealing the pile warehouse in Zuozang. The Zuozang Seal Pile Vault was created by Emperor Xiaozong of Song in order to serve emperor Taishang and prepare for war with the Jin Dynasty. However, Song Guangzong transferred the money and wealth in the Zuozang seal pile store into his own small treasury, so that his own squandering could be satisfied, but the meaning of the left Tibetan seal pile vault no longer existed. The use of military supplies to satisfy one's own selfish desires and the fainting to this point can be seen.
The third aspect of Song Guangzong's fainting was to allow foreign relatives to rule. In the feudal society where the husband is his wife, Song Guangzong was very afraid of his wife, Empress Li, and any request made by Empress Li was satisfied, such as Empress Li wanted to overhaul the family temple, Song Guangzong completely ignored his own proposal to reduce expenses, and built a lot of civil engineering for her; Empress Li wanted to push her mother's family, according to the ancestral training, Empress Li could recommend 10 people to enter the dynasty as officials, but Empress Li was not happy, she let her family ask for an increase in the number of people on the grounds of many descendants, Song Guangzong actually agreed, from then on, The situation of foreign relations' chaotic politics has been opened.
Li Fengniang is a well-known "Humble Woman" empress in Chinese history
On November 27, 1191, Song Guangzong presided over the ceremony of the heavens. According to the custom, the day before the sacrifice, Song Guangzong could not live in the harem, and Empress Li took this opportunity to torture and kill Song Guangzong's favorite Concubine Huang. Song Guangzong cried because of sadness, but had to continue to preside over the ceremony, but at this moment, the wind was fierce, the altar lights and candles were almost all blown out, one or two unquenched sparks ignited the curtain, a big fire was born, and then the rain hit the face with hail splitting heads, Song Guangzong thought that the heavens were angry, sent down punishment, and was frightened. Under the double blow, Song Guangzong suffered from schizophrenia. After that, the foreign clique represented by Empress Li completely controlled the government, but helplessly, Empress Li had little ability, but continued to make benefits for her mother's family, Empress Li sealed her family for three generations as kings, two nephews as emissaries, 172 people from the Li family and Li family were named officials, and there were more protective soldiers in the Li family temple than the emperor's family temple. At this time, the whole country became the "cash machine" of the Li family, and the court was in chaos.
At the same time, Song Guangzong's condition also caused another big problem, that is, filial piety to Song Xiaozong. Song Guangzong had been the crown prince for more than 10 years, and under the perennial shock of his father, his mentality was already somewhat depressed and distorted, and Song Xiaozong's interference in his succession made Song Guangzong feel that Song Xiaozong would deprive him of the throne at any time. Under the influence of the disease, this subconscious becomes a sick delusion. Except for the first two years, Song Guangzong almost never visited Song Xiaozong again. In the end, on the day of Song Xiaozong's return to heaven, Song Guangzong did not go to mourning. Song Guangzong's blatant filial piety made the ministers dissatisfied and the people dissatisfied, and the world was full of discussions, and Song Guangzong, who had done nothing in internal and external affairs, finally made the ministers intolerable, and under the leadership of the minister Zhao Ruyu and the internal minister Han Nongxu, without Song Guangzong's knowledge, the empress dowager Wu Established Song Guangzong's only son Zhao As emperor, and we call him Song Ningzong. Since then, Song Guangzong has not been able to live in the palace, his illness has become more and more serious, often suffering from gains and losses, sometimes angrily cursing himself, sometimes crying bitterly, no one understands what he is expressing, but in the end his era has ended, and the new era belongs to Song Ningzong.
There are historical records that Song Ningzong had intellectual problems.
Some historical records record that Song Ningzong was an intellectually disabled person, but we do not know to what extent he has reached. However, from the right direction, Song Ningzong was a simple and self-disciplined person, he almost never did extravagant and wasteful things in his life, never overhauled the palace courtyard; he was also a person who thought about the people, and after he traveled and caused a stampede accident, in order to avoid similar things happening again, he did not even go to the spring festival. However, simple self-discipline does not mean that he is a good emperor, and throughout the entire era of Song Ningzong, he has never had a general program and major measures. Correspondingly, Song Ningzong's control of the imperial court was completely out of control, and the dictatorship of the powerful ministers, partisanship, and hastily started a war with the Jin Dynasty, causing the ruined house of the Southern Song Dynasty to collapse. During the reign of Emperor Ningzong of Song, three major events occurred, causing the Southern Song Dynasty to completely collapse.
As we have just said, Song Ningzong's ascension to the throne was dominated by Zhao Ruyu and his internal minister Han Nongxu, and after Song Ningzong ascended the throne, Zhao Ruyu wanted to assist the emperor to reproduce the era of Song Xiaozong, and also helped the emperor make some decisions that benefited the country and the people, but he forgot the existence of Han Nongxu, so Han Nongxu held a grudge and began his own revenge. His first stop was Zhu Xi.
Zhao Ruyu admired science very much, and let the master of science Zhu Xi become the emperor. At this time, Han Nongxu took advantage of the favorable conditions of his internal ministers to seduce Song Ningzong and depose Zhu Xi; at the same time, because Han Nongxu's partisan Hu Hong also framed Zhao Ruyu and wanted to restore Song Guangzong, Zhao Ruyu's chancellor was deposed after only half a year. After that, the science of science lost its power, was defined as pseudo-learning, and even the students who quoted the Analects and Mencius in the imperial examination could not be hired, and in the end, almost all schools were implicated, and all the officials who were found to have studied pseudo-science became pseudo-party, and then all were promoted to rebel party, and were arrested and dismissed, and the academic hundred flowers and flowers were never returned. However, in fact, the so-called anti-party is all people who have contradictions with the Han Nongxin party. This huge factional purge lasted for 8 years, sweeping away the ministers who opposed Han Nongxin.
From then on, Han Nongxu's dictatorship was no longer hindered, and he took advantage of the advantages of internal approval to not present the chapter to Song Ningzong, but to ghostwrite it himself, and all major state affairs were in his hands. But the incompetent Han Nongxu has made a mess of the country, with a large-scale over-issuance of paper money, an economic collapse, and a withering livelihood... Various problems ensued, and the entire Southern Song Dynasty was in crisis.
Although Han Nongxu and his party controlled the government of the DPRK, because they had no ability to do the people's livelihood plan to benefit the whole world, they did not win the hearts and minds of the people at all. During the Southern Song Dynasty, how could it win the hearts and minds of the people? Nature is the reconquest of the Central Plains. After much deliberation, Han Nongxin chose this path. He first posthumously named Yue Fei the King of E, and then appointed a number of main war factions such as Lu You and Xin Shuyi, and in the case of the Southern Song Dynasty's national expectation of the Northern Expedition, the anti-Jin enthusiasm of the subjects was also quickly mobilized, and Song Ningzong even took the Kaibao year number of the unified territory of the Northern Song Dynasty Taizu and the Tianxi year number of Zhenzong Shengshi, and changed the Yuan to Kaixi in order to be able to recover the Central Plains.
However, at this time, the weapons of the Song Dynasty were not as good as those of the Jin Dynasty, the number of horses and the ability to supply grain were not as good as those of the Jin Dynasty, and the ability of soldiers and generals was even worse, and the Kaixi Northern Expedition was simply a rash military operation. Xin Zhiyi once said that "it takes more than twenty years to use soldiers", and Yuwen Shaojie also bluntly said that "it is not necessary to measure the national strength, and the waves are to forge ahead", but not many people care.
In 1206, the Kaixi Northern Expedition officially began. The Song Dynasty soldiers divided the eastern, central, and western fronts, and successively recovered some lost land. The Western Front also achieved a great victory in Sizhou. However, the next thing that greeted the Song army was a complete rout, and the commander of the western front, Wu Xi, was actually bribed by the Jin Dynasty to defect and accept the canonization of the Jin Dynasty. Later, the Jin army organized a counter-offensive, not only driving the Song army back to Jiangnan, but also capturing a large area of territory in the Southern Song Dynasty. At this time, Song Ningzong did nothing except cut back expenses and worship the Heaven and Earth Sect Temple. In the end, the Southern Song Dynasty, which was completely defeated, could only be helpless to issue an edict and negotiate peace. In this peace talk, the Song Dynasty paid a huge price. Since the era name was already Jiading at this time, the history of this discussion was called Jiading Peace Agreement, and the specific content was:
First, Song Jin is the country of uncles and nephews, Song is a nephew, and Jin is an uncle; second, the Song Dynasty needs to increase the number of silver to the Jin kingdom every year from 200,000 taels to 300,000 taels, silk from 200,000 to 300,000 horses, in addition, it is necessary to give 3 million yuan to the Jin army; third, the border between the two sides is restored to the pre-war; fourth, the head of Han Nongxin is given to the Jin state.
Han Nong's measures to win the hearts and minds of the people failed, sent his own life, and also gave the Southern Song Dynasty a proposition without choice, after that, the People's livelihood of the Southern Song Dynasty was ruined and full of holes, at this time, the third major historical event of the Song Ningzong period made the Southern Song Dynasty truly become a "dying person".
After Han was killed, his cronies were all purged. However, due to the cowardice of Emperor Ningzong of Song, the situation of the dictatorship of the powerful ministers did not change, but this person changed from Han Nongxu to Shi Miyuan. Shi Miyuan, who succeeded Han Nongxin to power, did not restore the ambitions of the Song Dynasty in the slightest, but only pursued power. However, Shi Mi was far more intelligent than Han Nongxu, and he witnessed the huge price paid by Han Nongxuan's chaotic dictatorship and the Qingyuan Party ban, so he took neo-Confucian theory as the official ideology, and the leaders of neo-Confucianism also held important positions in the imperial court, and the status of theory was restored, and Shi Miyuan, who controlled the government in another way, made Song Ningzong powerless, and the affairs of the imperial court at this time were not approved by the emperor at all, but were handled by the relevant institutions set up by Shi Miyuan. In addition, he also bought and sold the fat in the imperial court and rewarded his cronies, and the official system of the Southern Song Dynasty court completely collapsed. However, Song Ningzong still seemed to be completely unaware of it, and relied heavily on Shi Miyuan, often sealing Shi Miyuan, and even comparing Shi Miyuan to Yi Yin and Mencius in a single seal. At this time, the Southern Song Dynasty had reached the point where it was only a matter of words and no words. In the end, Shi Miyuan openly staged a coup d'état, abolished the imperial succession that he was bent on eradicating his own crown prince Zhao Hu, and established the obedient Song Lizong Zhao Yun on his own, continuing to dictate for 9 years.
Mr. Yu Yunguo said that "once the trend of history has slipped astray, it will often slide all the way down", and it is true that in the era of Emperor Lizong of Song, Shi Miyuan not only continued to harm dissidents and make a mess of the government, but also took the country's currency issuance power into his own hands. The various apocalyptic declines that began with Emperor Ningzong of Song also spread sharply like cancer, until the Southern Song Dynasty came to the final collapse.
The Twilight of the Southern Song Dynasty: The Era of Song Guangzong and Song Ningzong, by Yu Yunguo, published by Shanghai People's Publishing House.