The "Young Emperor of Song" Zhao Fu (1272–1279) was the third son of Emperor Zhao of Song, and together with Emperor Gong of Song and Emperor Duanzong of Song, he was known as the "Three Emperors of the Late Song Dynasty". Zhao Fu only lived for 8 years, only 313 days as emperor, and was also the last emperor of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.
It should be pointed out that the Golden State at this time no longer exists. After being joined by the Mongol Yuan and the Southern Song Dynasty and implementing the strategy of attacking from north to south, the invincible Jin Dynasty was destroyed in 1234 AD. Who knew that after the Mongol army destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the iron horse did not receive anything, took advantage of the victory to go south, and began the war to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. In this war, the Zhao and Song Dynasties produced another "Song Shao Emperor". However, in the History of the Song Dynasty compiled by the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Yu only appears as a "second king" in the "Yingguo Gong Benji", and the word "Young Emperor" is not seen. It is only in the discourse of the Jin people, the Yuan people and later people that they are called "young emperors". Nowadays, when mentioning "Song ShaoDi", people immediately think of this Zhao Fu Xiao'er Emperor.
As an 8-year-old child, Zhao Fu couldn't understand what the adults were doing at that time, he was enshrined in front of the decorations, and when the end of the Zhao and Song Dynasties had come, those Zhao and Song ministers wanted to use this young emperor as a driving force to return to heaven and fight the invincible and powerful Mongolian Yuan army for the final death. In addition to Zhao Fu, his two younger brothers, the emperor, had not played such roles successively.
Faced with the momentum of the Yuan army after crossing the river, the hundred officials of the Jing Dynasty in Lin'an fled in fright. In 1274, Emperor Duzong of Song died of excessive alcoholism. At this time, Zhao Xian, who was only 4 years old, ascended the throne as emperor with the support of the traitorous minister Jia Xiangdao, and was named Emperor Gong of Song, with the era name "Deyou". It was presided over by her grandmother, Empress Dowager Xie, and her mother, Empress Quan. Empress Dowager Xie ordered the unveiling of the court and called on the soldiers and horses of the world to go to Lin'an to "qin wang". According to the History of the Song Dynasty, vol. 243, "The Biography of the Later Concubines (Part II)", its list text is:
"My country has been three hundred years old, and it is not thin to treat scholars and doctors. I and the heirs suffered many difficulties in the family, er Xiao Minister could not come up with a strategy to save the times, the internal officials left the times, and the outside was entrusted to abandon the city, taking refuge and stealing life, who is still artificial? Why did you see the emperor underground? The Mandate of Heaven has not changed, and the laws of the land still exist. Whoever is in the official guard, Shangshu Province is transferred to the same capital; those who have lost the country and have fled, Yushi is aware of it. ”
Although the empress dowager issued the "edict of mourning" in the name of the imperial court, there were few responders, and Wen Tianxiang, who was serving as the governor of Ganzhou at the time, "wept with the edict" and organized an army of about 10,000 people to enter Lin'an with Zhang Shijie, which shocked and encouraged the dynasty. However, the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great, and the Southern Song Dynasty, under the conspiracy of Jia Xiangdao, did not have any military defense preparations, and the situation was getting worse and worse. On the eighteenth day of the first month of the second year of Deyou (February 4, 1276), the Yuan army captured Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Empress Xie left the city with the 5-year-old young emperor Sun and Emperor Gong of Song and surrendered to the Yuan army. Emperor Gong of Song and his mother Empress Quan were later escorted to the Yuan capital (present-day Beijing) as spoils of war, and the Southern Song Dynasty court's crowns, Gui bi, honor guards, book books, and a large number of treasures and utensils were all taken captive by the Yuan army. Empress Dowager Xie remained in Lin'an due to old age and illness until she died.
On the eve of the surrender of Lin'an City, Zhao Fu the Prince of Yi and Zhao Fu the Prince of Guang, escorted by Yang Zhen (昺镇) and his uncle Yang Liangjie (杨亮節), the Prince of Guang, sneaked out of the city and fled to Wuzhou (present-day Jinhua, Zhejiang), where they hid in the mountains for seven days, and then fled to Wenzhou, in an effort to preserve a trace of royal blood for the Zhao and Song dynasties. After that, Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu also led the remnants to the Jiangxin Temple in Wenzhou to meet. This was once the place where Emperor Gaozong of Song had traveled south to escape the Pursuit and Killing of the Jin, and the throne of that year was still preserved, and everyone did not expect that the tragedy of history would repeat itself, and they cried under the seat.
Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xiufu decided to follow the example of the "Second Emperor" of the Song Dynasty who was captured at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and support Emperor Gaozong of Song as emperor, and supported The eldest son of Emperor Zhao of Song and the Prince of Yi as the Marshal of the Terracotta Army, and Zhao Fu the Prince of Guang as the Deputy Marshal, in an attempt to revive Zhongxing again. Zhao Fu and Zhao Fu were only 7 or 8 years old at the time. A few days later, Zhao Yu and his party traveled from Jiangxin Temple to Fuzhou. On May 1, 1276 (June 14, 1276), Zhao Yan was proclaimed emperor, known as Emperor Duanzong of Song, and changed his name to "Jingyan". She made Yang Shufei empress dowager and obeyed the government. He also made Zhao Fu the Prince of Guang the Prince of Wei, Chen Yizhong the Left Chancellor and Governor, Li Tingzhi the Right Chancellor, Chen Wenlong and Liu Di the Counselor, Zhang Shijie the Privy Councillor, and Lu Xiufu the Privy Councillor. After Wen Tianxiang later escaped from Zhenjiang, he appointed him the Right Chancellor and Privy Councillor. In the midst of the war, the Southern Song Dynasty set up a mobile imperial court to call on the people to continue to confront the Yuan army.
Due to the pursuit and killing of the Yuan army, the counties of Guangdong surrendered one after another. In December of the second year of Jing Yan (1277), Emperor Duanzong of Song fled to Xiushan, heard of the fall of Guangzhou, and retreated in a panic to the South China Sea in Jing'ao (present-day Zhongshan, Guangdong). "The hurricane bad boat drowned a few times, and then became a disease", the sea suddenly a hurricane, the Song ship was blown apart and crashed, Song Duanzong accidentally fell into the water, almost drowned, after saving the shore, because of the fright and cold and fever and illness. The Song army was also "the fourteenth five-year plan for the dead" at this time, and nearly half of the soldiers were killed in the hurricane. In April of the third year of Jing Yan (1278), Zhao Yan, who was only 9 years old, fell ill and died of an illness after fleeing to the desert island of Beizhou. His temple was named "Duanzong" and was buried in The Wing Fu Mausoleum (present-day Lantau Island, Hong Kong).
According to the "Biography of Lu Xiufu" in volume 451 of the "History of Song", although Lu Xiufu was a scholar of the Duanming Temple and a privy councillor, because he was in the army for a long time, he was familiar with military affairs, and often participated in the decisions of major affairs of the imperial court, and after Zhao Fu "died of shock", "all the courtiers wanted to disperse", at this time Lu Xiufu reminded everyone that Emperor Duzong of Song still had a son, that is, Zhao Fu, the King of Wei. He generously stated: "The ancients had a brigade and a city, and now a hundred officials have all the tools, tens of thousands of soldiers, if the heavens have not ended the Song Dynasty, can't this be a national evil?" ”
The courtiers were suddenly agitated again, and unanimously agreed to appoint Zhao Fu, who was only 7 years old, as emperor and continue to ask Princess Yang to listen to the government. In this way, the new emperor was born again on the way to escape, with Lu Xiufu as the left minister and Wen Tianxiang as the right minister, changing the yuan to "Xiangxing". Also in April of the third year of Jingyan, people found that there was a yellow dragon swimming in the sea, so in May, it was changed to "Xiangxing" and named the prefecture "Xianglong County". The Song emperors, who spread across the seashore, continued to fight against the powerful Yuan army and made a final struggle to protect the Great Song Dynasty. Also in December of the first year of Xiangxing (1278), Wen Tianxiang was captured at Wupoling in Chaoyang (in present-day Shantou, Guangdong Province).
On March 19, 1279, in the second year of Xiangxing (1279), the Song army and the Mongol Yuan army fought a final decisive battle at Mount Hui (厓山, in present-day southern Xinhui County, Guangdong). With the mountains facing the sea and the terrain dangerous, Zhang Shijie, a general of the Song army, a young fu, a deputy envoy to the Privy Council, and the Duke of Yueguo, ordered, "Burn the city of Chaocao, and build a thousand large boats as water villages, for the sake of death." Burn the palace houses on the island, all the men and horses boarded the ship, and then along the mountain and the sea, more than a thousand warships were lined up in a long snake array, connected together with ropes, and the buildings around the ships were built like castles, and the ships were coated with a thick layer of wet mud, and long logs were tied to resist the fire boats, so that the fire could not burn to the ship. The ship of the little emperor Zhao Fu was placed in the middle, and the edict was that it would coexist and die with the ship.
According to the "Biography of Zhang Shijie" in the "Biography of Zhongyi Liechuan (VI)" in volume 451 of the History of Song, Zhang Shijie did not listen to the advice of his subordinates at that time, gave up control of the sea entrance, and as a result was occupied by the Yuan army, resulting in the Song army "jittering the road, bingru dry food for more than ten days, thirsty, drinking seawater to drink, sea storks, drinking vomiting, soldiers are in great trouble." When the two sides fought again, the Yuan army, under the cover of random arrows, took seven warships of the Song army. All the Yuan armies swooped in at the same time, and when the tide rose at noon, the Yuan general Zhang Hongfan launched another north-south attack, and the Song soldiers were hungry and tired, and they all lost their combat effectiveness. From noon to late afternoon, the naval battles were fought fiercely. "Russia has a boat and a flag servant, and the flag of all boats is a servant." At this time, a Song ship lowered its flag and stopped resisting, and other warships also lowered their flags. Zhang Shijie knew that the general situation was gone, and hurriedly concentrated his elite troops on the Chinese army, and at the same time sent a small boat and more than a dozen soldiers to pick up the little emperor Zhao Fu and prepare for the breakthrough. At this time, the little emperor Zhao Fu was guarded by Lu Xiufu, the left minister, and stayed on a large ship. When Zhang Shijie sent a small boat to pick up Emperor Fu, Lu Xiufu saw some raw faces, did not know whether it was true or not, and was worried that Emperor Fu would be intercepted by the Yuan army, and resolutely refused. In this way, Zhao Hao lost a chance to survive.
Lu Xiufu saw that the hull of the little emperor's ship was larger, and "the boats were knotted, and they could not leave", and it was expected that the monarchs and courtiers would be difficult to get out, so he hurriedly stepped on his own ship first, "the staff and sword drove his wife into the sea" and committed suicide; then changed into imperial clothes, returned to the big ship to worship the emperor, and while saying to the little emperor the words of preserving the honor with death, he tied the Golden State Seal around his waist, carried the little emperor on his back, and jumped into the sea. In an instant, the two monarchs sank without a trace. The History of the Song Records that Lu Xiufu "threw himself into the sea, and the harem and his courtiers were mostly from the dead." The poor little emperor, who was only 8 years old, was first frightened by Lu Xiufu's actions to cry "mother", and in an instant, he was carried and buried in the sea, and thus inexplicably ended his life at the age of 8. When the ministers, harem dependents, and generals on other ships heard this bad news, they immediately cried out in horror, and tens of thousands of people threw themselves into the sea and martyred the country.
When Empress Yang heard that Zhao Fu was dead, she mourned and cried, "I endured the hardships of death to this point, and I am giving Zhao a piece of meat, and now there is no hope!" The only bloodline of the Zhao clan no longer existed, and Empress Yang was so desperate that she also went to the sea and died. According to the History of Song volume 234 ,"The Biography of The Empress Dowager (Part II)", Empress Yang was initially elected to the palace as a beauty, and was enfeoffed as a concubine, who was Zhao Yan's biological mother, and when Zhao Yan was promoted to empress, she ruled as empress dowager. Zhao Fu was not born to Empress Yang, and Zhao Fu's biological mother was Xiu Rong Yu. After Zhao Fu's death, Zhao Fu became emperor, and Empress Yang continued to listen to the government. After hearing that Lu Xiufu had martyred the country on the back of the little emperor, the empress dowager mourned and cried, "I have endured the dead with difficulty, and I am still promising to sacrifice for the Zhao clan." Today's fate is here, what do you say! "So he went to the sea to die." For the same thing, although the text of the different volumes of the same book is slightly different, the meaning is the same, and the blood and tears of a mother's pain and despair flow through the paper. Later, Zhang Shijie buried Empress Yang's body on the seashore.
Moreover, after Zhang Shijie led the remnants of the Song army to break through, he came to the sea under Pingzhang Mountain. When he learned that Lu Xiufu was saddled with the nightmare of emperor Fu's martyrdom in the sea, he was also saddened. Hurricanes kept coming, and his subordinates advised him to go ashore to take shelter for a while, Zhang Shijie looked at the wreckage of the Song army ship fluttering in the wind and waves, refused to take shelter, and said desperately: "I have done my best for the Zhao clan, one jun died, one jun was restored, and now it is dead again!" I did not die in the mountain, but I hoped that the Yuan army would be able to establish a new monarch after retreating, but the development of state affairs to such a point, is this providence? Another hurricane struck, overturning the ship, and Zhang Shijie drowned, realizing martyrdom. At this point, the Southern Song Dynasty can be said to have completely declared its demise. A few days later, people found that more than 100,000 corpses floated out of the sea on the surface of the Battle of Mount Huishan, and the scene was both terrifying and unbearable.
I sometimes find Lu Xiufu's act of carrying the little emperor Zhao Fu to plunge into the sea and die, which I sometimes find strange. Regardless of the relationship between the monarch and the subject, as an adult Lu Xiufu, you can end your life for your honor, your loyalty, and your patriotism, but you have no right to forcibly substitute for an 8-year-old child to choose whether to live or die, and you have no right to decide whether the emperor is alive or dead. Because of Lu Xiufu's recklessness and rudeness for a while, he sold his reputation and reputation prematurely ended the life of the little emperor Zhao Fu, making Zhao Fu a "young emperor" and even more a "martyr emperor".
From a reasonable point of view, even if Zhao Fu really fell into the hands of Yuan Jun, it is expected that Yuan Jun would not harm his life, and it is not difficult for us to understand this from how Yuan Meng treated Zhao Xian, the Song Gong Emperor who was only 5 years old at the time.
After the Song Gong Emperor Zhao Xian was taken captive to the capital of Yuan, the Yuan Dynasty was enfeoffed as the Duke of Yingguo, and in the "History of Song" compiled by The Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Xian only appeared as the Duke of Yingguo as the "Benji of the Duke of Yingguo". For Zhao Fu and Zhao Fu, they only appeared as "two kings" in the "Yingguo Gong Benji". When Zhao Xian grew up, he developed a strong interest in Tibetan Buddhism. At the age of 18, with the support of Kublai Khan, he went to the Sakya Monastery in Tibet to become a monk, learned the Tibetan language, and translated the two Chinese Buddhist works "The Theory of the Hundred Laws and Ming Gates" and "The Theory of Entering the Right Path of Enlightenment" into Tibetan. In the third year of the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Yuan (1323), Zhao Xian knew his former identity. According to Tao Zongyi's "Nancun Dropout Cultivation Record" of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Xian composed a poem at that time: "Sending a message to Lin Hejing, how many degrees did the plum blossom bloom?" The golden table should not return. "Expressed nostalgia for the Southern Song Dynasty and the homeland of Hangzhou." The poem was later discovered by the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, violated the literal prison, and was given to death at the age of 53. The final outcome of The life of Emperor Zhao Xian of Song Gong is certainly unfortunate, but compared to Zhao Hao, who was carried by others and buried in the sea for no reason, Zhao Xian chose his own life path according to his own ideals after becoming an adult, even if he was killed in prison because of words, he died clearly, died clearly, and died fearlessly. Zhao Fu's life can be said to have not yet officially begun, because he became the "Emperor of Martyrdom" from "Young Emperor" and became a drowning ghost in a confused way. In this regard, Lu Xiufu has an unshirkable historical responsibility! Lu Xiufu played the role of an executioner who directly killed the last emperor of the Song Dynasty.
Of the three "Song Shao Emperors", one was already in his 20s when he was emperor and finally lived to be more than 50 years old; one was only 17 years old when he was emperor and only lived to be 19 years old; one was only 7 years old when he was emperor, and finally only lived to be 8 years old. It can be seen from this that the term "Young Emperor" can be applied to feudal emperors of the three ages of youth, youth, and childhood; the life of "Young Emperor" is a life that cannot end well among feudal emperors, and a life full of misery and misery; "Young Emperor", as a type of family of Chinese feudal emperors, is a symbol of decline, absurdity, and hopelessness. There are poems sighing: Shao Ai young children Lang, less strong flesh and less masculine. Since the royal birth of the Young Emperor, the few words are ashamed to decorate the temple. It is difficult to become a stubborn person with a stubborn nature, let alone talk about the helm of the society. The strong captives suppress the situation day by day, and even the two emperors lead the sheep. It is absurd for an eight-year-old child to be buried in the ocean. Honor and disgrace have been successful or failed through the ages, and the family and country have suffered together. Only the rivers and rivers are surging and the green mountains are still green and long.
May 3, 2020 at Jinling Sihe Zhai
Author Shu Youchun, Master of Arts, Researcher. He has long been engaged in the research of China's cultural history and the protection of cultural heritage, and has published a variety of academic works such as "The Age of Perception of The Wind and Turmoil" and "The Strange Scheme of The Officialdom". He is currently the deputy editor-in-chief of Yanhuang Culture Magazine. (Pay attention to the WeChat public account: NJHFHHH, feel the history during the trip)