There have been two great dynasties in China's ancient history, one is the Han Dynasty and the other is the Tang Dynasty. Whether in film and television dramas or in real life, "Qin Emperor Han Wu, Tang Zong Song Zu" is often mentioned side by side. What about these four emperors who were not in the same dynasty, but who could be juxtaposed by later generations and widely legendary?
Qin Shi Huang swept through the Six Kingdoms and unified the world, known as the "Emperor of the Ages"; Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty opened up the Territory and opened the Silk Road for the first time; the merits of the first two can be seen, and under the governance of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, The Tang Dynasty became a "prosperous" Tang Dynasty.
However, why did Zhao Kuangyin, who was pushed to the forefront of the "Chen Qiao Mutiny" incident, be able to add a yellow robe to his body, end the drifting society that lasted for more than a hundred years, and become the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty and Tang Taizong Li Shimin?
First, the military generals are born brave and strategic
Zhao Kuangyin was born in a family of eunuchs, his father was a military general, and his ancestors had been an official in the Western Han Dynasty, jingzhao Yin, named Zhao Guanghan. It is reasonable to say that at least he should also be an official who does not lack food and drink, so why should he go to the army to fight?
This is because the era in which he lived was an era of frequent wars, but it was also such a terrible living environment that created his courageous and knowledgeable character. At the beginning of his twenties, Zhao Kuangyin joined the army, and with his own extraordinary courage and courage and strategy, he quickly went all the way from middle- and lower-level officers to senior generals.
The young Zhao Kuangyin is a hot-blooded boy who lives in a stormy country and arouses his desire to achieve the cause of kingship and end the long-term instability. However, without the assistance of capable people and righteous soldiers, how could he accomplish such an ambition by himself? At this time, he thought of making friends with leaders who had important positions.
For the sake of the world, Zhao Kuangyin took the initiative to befriend capable generals. The famous "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society" in history is a powerful "community organization" composed of song taizu as the initiator and several leaders "bai shogun" as brothers.
Second, rely on martial arts to end the chaotic world
The Tang Dynasty was one of the most powerful dynasties in China's ancient feudal dynasties, and it took more than two hundred years from the establishment of the dynasty by Li Yuan to the extinction of the Tang Dynasty. However, the Tang Dynasty was at its peak only during the reigns of Li Shimin and Wu Zetian, and Li Shimin's reign was known as the "Rule of Zhenguan".
After the Anshi Rebellion in the late Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty center gradually lost control of the local area, until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms once again pushed China into a situation where the people were not happy, and the land was lost. The country is in danger and there is no stable social environment, and the fate of individuals is like duckweed in a rainstorm, which is wobbly in the wind and rain, and the people living in it are even more miserable.
Zhao Kuangyin was tall and burly because he had been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and his ancestral martial arts were "Taizu Long Fist Thirty-two Styles". When he grew up, he traveled the world alone, and it is said that after the guidance of an old monk who could read palms, he went north to join the army. Twenty-one-year-old Zhao Kuangyin threw himself under Guo Wei's men, followed the army to fight many battles and made many battle achievements, and was soon promoted.
Guo Wei later proclaimed Emperor Hou Zhou, and his adopted son Chai Rong succeeded him as Later Zhou Shizong, and on the way to the Northern Expedition with the army, Zhou Shizong promoted Zhao Kuangyin to be the capital of the palace and commanded the forbidden army. At this time, Zhao Kuangyin had united with the leaders of the surrounding forbidden army, and the team gradually grew, and this promotion laid the foundation for the later "Chen Qiao Mutiny".
After The death of Zhou Shizong, his seven-year-old son Chai Zongxun succeeded to the throne, and Zhao Kuangyin was even more highly valued at this time. Soon after, the Northern Han and Liao states jointly invaded, and Zhao Kuangyin was sent to lead the army. After arranging his family and arranging all the military affairs, he led the soldiers to the front.
That night, Zhao Kuangyin and his army launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny at Chen Qiao, fifty miles away from Kaifeng, and the commanders of the forbidden army, Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Wang Xianqi, and others, made great contributions to the incident. Zhao Kuangyin returned to Kaifeng and ascended the throne, changing the name of the country to Song, and the capital was set at Kaifeng in present-day Henan, known as the founding emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, and was named Song Taizu.
3. Govern the country with civility
When Song Taizu returned to Kaifeng, he did not exterminate Empress Dowager Houzhou and the young lord, but only demoted Emperor Gong of Zhou to the position of King zheng and adopted Chai Zongxun's other brothers to the chancellor. However, the newly established Song Dynasty had not yet stabilized before the Jiedushi Rebellion occurred, which attracted zhao Kuangyin's deep attention.
He knew that the Song Dynasty he had established was because of the mutiny launched by his own Guangyi soldiers, and if such a thing happened in the future, would it be quelled? Will the Song Dynasty be stable at that time? Zhao Kuangyin fell into thinking in such a situation.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the chaotic situation caused by the division of power at that time, which lasted for more than seventy years, appeared in front of us, and how could I end such a phenomenon? With such doubts, Zhao Kuangyin went to find Zhao Pu, the prime minister at the time, to seek advice.
At Zhao Pu's suggestion, Song Taizu made many adjustments, relieving Important Generals such as Shi Shouxin from having military powers, preventing generals from dealing with the central authorities, and strengthening the centralization of power. This is the allusion to what later generations called "the right to release the military power with a glass of wine", and this move also completely suppressed the power of the clan town.
Before the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the literati were often bullied without status, and although Song Taizu was born as a military general, he did not emphasize martial arts and light literature, and attached great importance to reading. His father was also a military general, but he was tired of fighting and killing on the battlefield and hoped that Zhao Kuangyin would be able to comply with Wen. Who knows that the son inherits his father's aspirations, but Song Taizu did not give up reading, and often read books in the days when he fought in the army.
During the reign of Song Taizu, he promoted civilian officials and reused literati, and he believed that the greatest benefit of reading was to learn to sum up experience from ancient books and learn historical lessons. In this way, Taizu emphasized the importance of reading and won the hearts of the scholars, and in this case, the warriors also began to follow Taizu to read.
This initiative produced a large number of excellent politicians and consolidated the regime. The atmosphere of emphasizing literature over martial arts had a far-reaching impact, which lasted until the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the Song Dynasty achieved high achievements in culture and art, and the Song Dynasty monopolized six of them.
4. Summary
It is true that under the rule of Li Shimin, the Tang Dynasty reached its peak, but in order to compete for the throne, Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Incident, which led to the bloodshed of his brothers, and Zhao Kuangyin did not exterminate the Chai family after his death. In addition, Taizu's inscription on the oath tablet "No scholar or doctor or person who writes to him" makes him a rare and wise monarch in Chinese history.
The differences between Zhao Kuangyin and Li Shimin can be seen from the measures taken to govern the country with culture and treat the former emperors and founding heroes. However, there is no standard framework for the merits and demerits of each generation of monarchs, because in different dynasties, personal thoughts and situations are different, resulting in different choices, and the comments of later generations cannot determine which is higher or lower.