For the assassination, everyone is most familiar with jing ke stabbing the king of Qin, but this operation ultimately failed, and Jing Ke failed to assassinate the tyrant at the cost of his life. It can be seen that it is not easy to assassinate the emperor, and Jing Ke only frightens the King of Qin.
There is another case of assassination of the emperor in history, but it is rarely mentioned by later generations. It is a major mystery case in the Northern Song Dynasty, assassinating Song Renzong. The reason why it can fade out of people's sight is not difficult to find the reason. First, the assassination is unpopular, and the second is the tolerance of the parties concerned.
In contrast, Song Renzong was a generation of Ming Emperors, loved by the people, not as arbitrary as Qin Shi Huang. If it is said that the Thorn Qin is the people's desire, then the Thorn Song has no mass base and is naturally not spread by later generations. In addition, the final punishment of this assassination is not serious, which is also one of the doubts.
1. Song Renzong
If you want to understand the real culprit behind the assassination of Song Renzong, it is essential to understand Song Renzong. He was the fourth emperor of the Song Dynasty, only thirteen years old when he ascended the throne, and at the beginning of his reign, he was put under the supervision of Liu Shi and began to govern eleven years later. During his reign, it was known as "Injong Shengzhi".
Song Renzong had a generous temperament, was strict with himself, and knew others and used them well. During his reign, many officials who dared to give advice emerged, the most famous of which were Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing, Wang Su, and Cai Xiang, all because he gave his courtiers the right to give advice, which further confirmed his benevolence.
Song Renzong treated his subordinates with tolerance. Once, when I ate a grain of sand at a meal, my teeth were in a sharp pain and I hurriedly threw up. But he did not blame the palace maid, but did not let her speak up, so as not to be sentenced to death. As emperors, there are very few emperors who can treat their subordinates in this way.
Song Renzong advocated a suspended sentence, and the case was lightly dropped. For example, inciting rebellion, some emperors would rather kill by mistake than let go, for fear of threatening their own throne; on the other hand, Song Renzong, he would confirm whether it was a real rebellion or a whining riot, and minimize the punishment.
Song Renzong was tolerant of readers. For candidates who have participated in many years of examination but have not yet entered the examination, the admission conditions will be relaxed. The poet Liu Yong enjoyed this wave of dividends and finally entered the army. For Su Shi's complaints in the examination paper, he chose to be tolerant and encouraged to advise.
Even such a Ming Emperor who ruled the world with benevolence and virtue was sad about the beauty of Guan, and Song Renzong was very fond of the Zhang clan. In just a few years, she was promoted from a concubine of the last rank to a noble concubine of the highest rank, second only to the empress. This Zhang Guifei was pampered and proud, and did not even take Empress Cao in her eyes.
Second, directly hit the scene
The incident occurred on the night of the eighteenth day of the first month of the eighth year of the celebratory calendar, and the palace was heavily guarded around the palace, and there was silence in the middle of the night. Several men dressed in black were quietly sneaking in, killing the guards on duty three or two times and heading straight for Empress Cao's bedchamber, where Song Renzong was resting in the empress's palace.
A palace maid was unfortunately held hostage by the Assassins to ask the emperor where he was, but he did not get a satisfactory answer, and his hand fell with a knife, and in the blink of an eye, the palace maid lost an arm. A scream alarmed the entire palace, and the emperor and empress realized that the visitors were not good, and they were afraid that something would change.
A eunuch was blamed for disturbing the emperor, falsely claiming that it was not unusual to just beat the palace maid. The empress exposed her lies on the spot and began to think about countermeasures, first stopping the emperor who wanted to go out of the palace to check out, and then hurriedly sending the internal servants out of the palace for support.
The fire was shaking outside, and Empress Cao, fearing a rebellion, hid Song Renzong in the inner chamber. It was ordered that the palace maids and eunuchs should block the gates and prepare water to prevent the Assassins from setting fires. If the Assassins break in, those who can subdue them can be knighted and enjoy the glory and wealth.
Finally, the chief of the guards arrived with his troops, shot and killed three rebellious guards, and one escaped. Such an assassination is expected to cause a huge storm, but it is announced that only four drunken guards have mistakenly entered the palace, and it can be seen here that the case is very strange.
First, only four people could do whatever they wanted in the heavily guarded palace, and even the palace where the emperor slept could enter at will. If the guards of the palace were really so lax, then many emperors in the past dynasties should have died of assassination, but the truth is contrary to it.
Second, after the palace maid screamed, the empress's bodyguards did not appear in time to stop it, but the first to arrive were Zhang Meiren and her attendants. If you think about it, even if there is no empress and Zhang Meiren's bodyguard, as the emperor, there must be someone to protect the safety, but it did not appear.
Third, it was unreasonable for the head of the guard to be present after Zhang Meiren. It was his duty to keep the emperor safe as the head of the guard, and he should be rescued quickly, but not as fast as a concubine. As a concubine, she has gone to bed late at night and can quickly arrive at the scene.
Fourth, the personnel involved in the case should be given a lenient disposition. Although it is in line with his magnanimous image, the assassination of such a big thing has not been thoroughly investigated, and it has been hastily done, and it is true that it cannot be said. Even the man who escaped was not able to leave a living mouth, was hacked to death with a knife, and only degraded the officials involved.
Third, the mystery of the mystery case
Afterwards, the court was divided into two positions, one with Ding Du as the leader suggesting strict investigation, and the other with Xia Chun as the leader suggesting that it was not appropriate to make a big publicity. Song Renzong chose the latter, and proposed that Zhang Meiren had meritorious escort and was promoted to a noble concubine, which could not help but cause discussion among officials. Some officials even said that Empress Cao was too calm and feared to be the mastermind behind the scenes. After this assassination was unconsciously turned into a writ in the fierce quarrel between the officials, Empress Cao's tact in the face of emergencies became a mistake.
The assassination was not resolved in the end, because it was not recorded in detail in the history books, and it was not even handed over to the relevant agencies to hear the case, so the analysis of the real murderer behind the scenes was only speculation, not confirmation. This is also the direct reason why it has become a mystery case, and there are two speculations about the real murderer behind the scenes.
The first possibility was a palace fight, the emperor was very fond of Zhang Meiren, but he never had the opportunity to make her a queen. The abolition of Empress Guo because she had no heirs, and because she established the Cao clan as empress, these hindered Zhang's dream of becoming empress, so she began to plan all this.
The officials who rebelled against Empress Cao in the court took advantage of the emperor's favor for the Zhang clan, and promised to support the future empress and make her crown prince the crown prince, and the career would be smooth, so they helped the Zhang clan. The emperor may have been aware of all this at first, but out of his protection of the Zhang clan, he no longer investigated deeply.
The second possibility is a fake assassination planned by Song Renzong, whose purpose is also to establish Zhang Shi as the queen. This speculation is more convincing, it can command the guards, officials, and concubines, and can make the emperor not strictly investigate after the fact, only one person can do so.
The court did not end up in the end, and the historian did not record it in detail. Perhaps everyone knows that in order to preserve the royal face and the name of Zong Renzong, they all shut up and let the truth disappear into the long river of history.
I believe that everyone wants to know the truth, but this is an eternal mystery. It is precisely because it is not conclusive that the world prefers to study. Just like among the four masterpieces, only the Dream of the Red Chamber has been repeatedly studied, precisely because the last forty episodes of its original manuscript were accidentally lost.
summary
Perhaps it is the absence of truth that attracts people to study, and it is imperfection that makes another kind of beauty. For Song Renzong, he is worthy of a generation of Ming jun, benevolent and tolerant, able to accept advice, it is really rare, the fly in the ointment is the only favor of the noble concubine.
Song Renzong's achievements in history are indelible, and after understanding the mystery, it is better to taste the emperor. He is an emperor without a shelf, it can be said that he is the emperor who knows how to respect his people the most, and the emperor is more attractive than the conquest of the four sides, the emperor is more attractive than the conquest of the four sides, the emperor is diligent and loves the people and sympathizes with the people.