Zhao Xu was the seventh emperor of the Song Dynasty, he was the son of Song Shenzong, he was only ten years old when he ascended the throne, but his health had always been bad, and he had always had the problem of coughing up blood when he was a child, and finally died young after fifteen years on the throne.
Song Zhezong did not have a son, then it can only be a brother and a brother, fortunately Song Shenzong's sons are many, originally Zhao Tuo was the oldest among the brothers, he should have inherited the throne, but because he was a blind man, it was naturally inappropriate. Therefore, Empress Xiang made Zhao Tuo, the eleventh son of Emperor Shenzong, emperor. This Zhao Tuo is probably known to many people, he is the famous artist Song Huizong.
A few years before The reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song, due to her young age, Empress Gao was revered as the empress dowager and listened to the government of the dynasty. She was a conservative, and one of the most famous things she did during this period was the abolition of Wang Anshi's transformation of the Yuan You.
It was not until after Gao's death that Song Zhezong took the government personally and began his short reign.
Song Zhezong was not conservative, and he recalled Zhang Huan, an important reformist figure who had been suppressed by the Gao clan, and restored some of the measures in Wang Anshi's transformation of the law. It also suppressed conservatives and degraded Wang Anshi and others.
At the same time, in terms of military affairs, Song Zhezong was very tough, in addition to building a defensive line, he also restarted the war against Western Xia, and the two sides broke out into a long war in a row, forcing Western Xia to seek peace.
It can be said that the position of Song Zhezong in history is not low, and even many people think that he is the last Ming Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, compared with Song Huizong, I really don't know how much stronger.
This successor, Emperor Huizong of Song, presumably everyone knows that his dedication to art and his achievements in art are probably no better than those of successive emperors, but he excessively pursues a luxurious life, superstitiously believes in Taoism, and favors traitors, resulting in the people's livelihood and peasant uprisings one after another.
The famous Song Jiang Uprising and Fang La Uprising in history both occurred during his tenure, and although they were suppressed, it shows that the rule of the Northern Song Dynasty was already very dangerous.
In the end, facing the invasion of the Jin people, Emperor Huizong of Song had no way at all, in order to prevent himself from becoming the king of the subjugated country, he hastily ceded the throne to his son Zhao Huan of Qinzong, but in the end, the father and son did not turn the tide, and the Northern Song Dynasty was also destroyed at their hands, and the shame of Jing kang broke out.