Zhao Yun was the fifth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Emperor Lizong of Song reigned for forty-one years, second only to Emperor Renzong of Song. In the early days of his reign, due to the coercion of the powerful minister, he did little to manage the government. However, after Shi Miyuan's death, he began to pro-government, carried out a series of reforms, or did some good things, shi called "Duanping change". But in the late stage, he began to immerse himself in the absurd life of drunken dreams and death.
And when he chose a successor, he would rather choose a fool, why wouldn't he choose a successor among other close relatives?
Song Lizong reigned for a very long time, he was also very, but he had no sons, he also had a son Zhao Wei, but he died a few months after his birth, and then he never gave birth to a son, which was similar to his predecessor Song Ningzong.
In fact, originally Zhao Yun also did not have the opportunity to be emperor, he was the tenth grandson of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, and the ninth grandson of Zhao Dezhao. We all know that since Zhao Guangyi took over, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty has no connection with Zhao Kuangyin's descendants.
However, the fourth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Ningzong, was very unlucky, he had nine sons in succession, but he died when he was a minor, which forced him to choose among his close relatives. Although Emperor Gaozong of Song also chose Zhao Kuangyin because he lost his son, Zhao Yun was not the best choice at that time.
At first, Song Ningzong chose the ninth grandson of Taizu's descendant Yanyi Wang Dezhao, the sixth-year-old Zhao Youwan, but he did not have the life of emperor and died of illness at the age of 29. Later, Emperor Ningzong of Song chose Prince Hui of Yijing to make his heir Guihe the crown prince and gave him the title of Emperor, but he offended Shi Miyuan, the powerful minister of the dynasty, and as a result, after Song Ningzong's death, Shi Miyuan joined forces with Empress Yang to summon Zhao Yun into the palace and made him emperor.
Song Lizong had no sons so he chose his nephew Zhao Yu, according to the reason, there was no problem, and the uncle-nephew relationship was close enough. But the key is that there is something wrong with his nephew's brain.
Zhao Yu was not born in the main room, his mother was a little girl, the main room was naturally very jealous, so during pregnancy was fed a fetal medicine, who knew that the child was born, but perhaps poisoned, he was born weak, his hands and feet were weak, he would walk very late, he would speak at the age of seven, and his intelligence was lower than normal.
At that time, most people in the government and the public did not approve of Song Lizong's choice of such a successor, especially Wu Qian, the left minister
Firmly opposed. But Song Lizong still did this, in fact, the reason is very simple.
The ancient emperor was a family man, and if possible, he would definitely choose his own son, but in the absence of a son, he was also willing to choose someone close to him, which was the common sentiment of people.
And Song Lizong only has one brother, that is, Zhao and Rui, he is also such a stupid son, what to do? If it was a Ming Lord, he might choose from other relatives, but Song Lizong was not an emperor, and he did not want to do so. What's more, he himself was the tenth grandson of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, and there were no relatively close relatives around him, so he could only do so.
And his choice won the support of Jia Xiangdao, who took the opportunity to make Song Lizong more firm in his thoughts, and also demoted Wu Qian to other places, so that no one objected.
But it turned out that such a successor chosen by Song Lizong did not do any good for the Great Song.