Is the first suspense case of the Great Song Dynasty axe candle shadow true or false? Was Emperor Taizong of Song really a usurper of the throne by his brother? In this issue, we will talk about this matter.
One snowy night, a large hall candlelight flickering, the attendants stood outside the hall, only to see the window paper of the hall, the candlelight reflected the figure of two people, was saying something, suddenly a person stood up, and then came out, with the sound of the axe hitting the ground, a person shouted loudly, good work, meaning to do a good job, and then the candlelight extinguished everything into silence, after about an hour, the hall suddenly panicked, and after a while, a person came out to announce that the emperor was dead, This is one of the most mysterious cases in the history of the legend, the axe candle shadow.
This is an unsolved case in Chinese history, and what everyone has always wanted to know is whether Zhao Guangyi's brother Zhao Kuangyin, who cut off his nephew's throne? Let's try today to solve this historical case.
The story of the candle shadow axe sound that we mentioned at the beginning is from the "Popular Interpretation of the History of the Song Dynasty" written by a novelist named Cai Dongfan during the Republic of China, and there is a novel called "The Eighteenth Dynasty Yanshi Yanshi of the Song Dynasty", which is almost the same description, alluding to Zhao Guangyi's killing of his brother Zhao Kuangyin to ascend to the throne, so where is the most original source of these novels? It is this book called "Xiangshan Yelu", which is a notebook of the Northern Song Dynasty monk Wen Ying, the main content is to record the history from the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Song Shenzong period, the content is very extensive, most of which are anecdotes written about high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the imperial court.
Let's look at the second record on the night of the crime, from the Northern Song Dynasty Sima Guang's "Records of Shuishui", which is the information he collected for the preparation of the Zizhi Tongjian.
The book records that at about two o'clock in the morning, the waiter waited outside for too long, feeling that he should go inside to check it out, and as a result, when he went in to see, Emperor Taizu had already returned to heaven, so he quickly informed Empress Song, and the empress was surprised to see the scene, and quickly sent Taizu's personal eunuch Wang Ji'en to call Zhao Defang, and as a result, this eunuch Wang Ji'en moved his heart, he did not go directly to Zhao Defang, but first turned a corner, and found Taizu's brother Zhao Guangyi, and Empress Song was in the time when the six gods were without a master. As soon as he looked up and saw Zhao Guangyi standing in front of him, he knew that the general trend had gone, so he had to fall to the ground and cry and complain, Official, the lives of our mother and son are in your hands, Zhao Guangyi also followed and cried and said, Don't worry, we share the wealth. After that, Zhao Guangyi naturally ascended the throne. Then in this record of Sima Guang, we can see some differences, that is, there is no story of candle shadow axe here, but there is indeed a suspicion of grabbing the position.
After Zhao Guangyi was in power for six years, in September of the 6th year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, there was a sudden operation of confusion, that is, Zhao Pu, the prime minister, suddenly threw out a golden will to prove the legitimacy of Zhao Guangyi's succession. The so-called golden cupboard is a golden cabinet. The Alliance of Jin Gui is said to be the agreement reached between Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and Taizong Zhao Guangyi, their mother Empress Dowager Du, in the second year of Taizu's becoming emperor, and their brothers, when Empress Du was critically ill, she said to her eldest son Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu, the prime minister, "Why can you win the world and establish the Great Song Dynasty?" That's because Zhou Shizong Chai Rong died early, set up his young son as emperor, orphans and widows, you have a chance to get the world. So in order to avoid the same situation from happening again, you have to appoint your brother as crown prince, and Zhao Kuangyin had to agree, so the order of succession to the throne became, from Zhao Kuangyin to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi, to Zhao Kuangyin's eldest son Zhao Dezhao, and finally to the second son Zhao Defang, which means to let Zhao Guangyi overdo it. However, the timing of this golden alliance is also more intriguing, Taizu's eldest son Zhao Dezhao committed suicide in the fourth year of taiping xingguo, that is, the fourth year after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, Zhao Defang died in March of the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo, and the first publicity of the so-called golden alliance, as we said earlier, happened to be in September half a year later. How this looks like cutting the grass and rooting out the roots in order to let his children inherit the throne, but ah, even if Zhao Guangyi moves on the throne later, it can't prove him, the candle shadow axe sound, the brother usurping the throne.
Next, we have to analyze it in light of the political environment at that time. First of all, the political structure before the death of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Guangyi's title at that time was the King of Jin, the position was Kaifeng Fuyin, and Zhao Kuangyin's eldest son Zhao Dezhao was not yet a prince at that time, the position was Shannan's Western Province Jiedu Envoy, was a local governor in Hanzhong, compared to Zhao Guangyi's direct jurisdiction over the capital Kaifeng, his position was really much lower, and Zhao Kuangyin's second son Zhao Defang's political seniority, it was even worse, at that time was only a defense envoy of Guizhou, even lower than the Jiedu envoy. Judging from these indications, although Zhao Kuangyin did not have an imperial crown prince when he was alive, the object of cultivation was indeed his younger brother Zhao Guangyi, which exceeded the weight of his two sons. Then, in the absence of imminent danger, Zhao Guangyi recklessly harmed S to cultivate his own brother, this is not illogical.
At this time, some people will definitely say that Zhao Kuangyin has children himself, so why should he pass the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi. Here's the point, that's exactly what was normal in that era. Why? What period was the founding of the Song Dynasty, it was another chaotic era of great division in Chinese history, located in the Yellow River Valley, there were successively Liang, Tang, Jin, and Han Dynasties, five dynasties frequently changed, including the Yangtze River Basin and the southern region, and at the same time divided nine regimes, and the other regime was isolated in today's Taiyuan, Shanxi, that is, the Northern Han Dynasty. This period is known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
In that era, the so-called emperor deserved it when the soldiers were strong and strong. The age gap between father and son was too large, and the young lord's ascension to the throne was often used by his subordinates in the chaotic world, and palace coups and dynastic changes were not uncommon at that time. In just over half a century, the Central Plains has changed 5 dynasties and 14 emperors.
Therefore, during the Five Dynasties period, many emperors preferred to pass the throne to their brothers or adult sons and nephews, at least this can ensure the prosperity of the family, after all, in the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, once there is a change of power, the former imperial family will basically be killed.
Moreover, the brother and the brother did not start from the five generations, after the Middle and Tang Dynasties, the clan town was divided, and many times the independent and semi-independent festivals made the inheritance model a brother and a brother. That is to say, Jiedu gave the position to his brother before his death, and then passed the position to his brother's son when the younger brother was about to die. If there is no particularly reliable candidate among the close relatives, it will even be passed on to their adopted sons or distant nephews.
And Zhao Kuangyin was born in the later Tang Dynasty, he is a full five generations, and the life he has lived and experienced has been spent in five generations. We look at history from a modern perspective, and we are always accustomed to setting many dividing lines for history, but people at that time also lived day by day and year by year, and habits did not change suddenly, this is a gradual process, and Zhao Kuangyin did not have the ability to cross to the future to look back at the past. Therefore, it is very reasonable that Zhao Kuangyin retained the traditions of that era at that time, that is, Zhao Guangyi was a normal successor. As for why the throne was not returned to his brother Yimu later, that was another matter.
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