In the long history of China, many feudal dynasties have emerged, and although these feudal dynasties have ceased to exist with the passage of time, they have left a distinctive label that belongs to the unique personality of the dynasty. For example, the label of the Han Dynasty is "strong Han", because other dynasties are "the state is destroyed by weakness", while the Han Dynasty is "and the Han Dynasty is destroyed by force". There is also the label of the Ming Dynasty is "Gangming", after all, the Son of Heaven guards the gate of the country and the king dies in the society, so many people call the Ming Dynasty an indomitable Gangming.
And the Song Dynasty that Song Anzhi wants to talk about today, its label is also very obvious, that is, it is called "Wen Song". After all, its cultural development can be described as the pinnacle of perfection, such as the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Eight Great Song Dynasties accounted for six seats, and the prosperity of its culture is also recognized.
However, when it comes to the Song Dynasty, it can be said that there are some polarized situations, and in terms of culture, the Song Dynasty is a well-deserved "Wen Song". However, in terms of military situation, the Song Dynasty's foreign wars can be described as a mess, and it is even called "weak Song" by many people.
Although many people justify the Song Dynasty by saying that the Song Dynasty has a high winning rate in foreign wars, seriously speaking, the literal victory rate is really nothing. Because the Song Dynasty mostly fought defensive battles, and basically lost a mess in key battles, this statement of high winning rates could not change the military dwarf side of the Song Dynasty.
Looking at history again, the Southern Song Dynasty in a quiet corner of the two Song Dynasties is not to mention, in the case of the Northern Song Dynasty, which roughly unified China, it was successively suppressed and beaten by the Liaojin, and even the Western Xia in the northwest posed a huge threat to it, and the Annam Li Dynasty in the south was even more "repeatedly deep into the Song Realm, burning its warehouses and returning", it can be said that the Northern Song Dynasty was completely suppressed militarily by the surrounding countries, and it is no wonder that many people in later generations called it "weak Song".
But carefully speaking, the "weak Song" also has its domineering side, after all, it is a dynasty that ended the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. So today, Song Anzhi will specifically talk about the surrender ceremony specially formulated by the Song Dynasty after recovering a number of divided regimes in the early days of the founding of the country, and talk about the other side of the Song Dynasty's domineering.
As we all know, China has been a state of etiquette since ancient times, and this state of etiquette is not just talk, but specifically goes deep into all aspects, such as the ancient ceremony of surrender, which is a kind of etiquette for accepting the surrender of a defeated regime.
Generally speaking, the ceremony of surrender belongs to the military ceremony of the traditional five ceremonies of auspicious, fierce, military, guest, and jia. However, this kind of thing is generally only once in tens or hundreds of years, so the ceremony of surrender has developed and evolved until the Song Dynasty, and a complete system of ceremonial surrender has been formed.
Why was the ceremony of surrender only complete in the Song Dynasty?
This is actually related to the great martial arts in the early days of the founding of the Song Dynasty, although the Northern Expedition was repeatedly frustrated by the Liao State after the founding of the Song Dynasty, but after all, it ended the great chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and recovered several large and small regimes, so it is natural to make the surrender ceremony develop perfectly.
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty in 960, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, began a series of unification wars, first taking the Gao Jichong regime in the Jiangling area of Hubei and the Zhou Baoquan regime in the Hunan area. Then he took the Later Shu Mengchang regime, which occupied all of Sichuan, followed by the Southern Han and Southern Tang regimes. By the time of Emperor Taizong of Song, the Northern Han and Wuyue Qian regimes in the north were left, as well as the Zhangquan Chen Hongjin regime.
In the process of recovering these divided regimes, Hou Shu can be said to be the first heavyweight regime, and Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, attached great importance to this, so the History of Song records: "Taizu Pingshu, Meng Chang surrendered, and the edict had a pre-ceremonial system for receiving a surrender ceremony."
After deliberation, the ceremonial officials finally came up with a specific plan: first of all, Meng Chang, the descended king, as well as the harem and the main ministers of the Later Shu, were to be escorted to Kaifeng to receive the surrender.
On the day before the descending king Meng Chang arrived in Kaifeng, the Chongyuan Hall, where banquets and celebrations were held in Ouchi, were set up in advance with the throne and honor guard, and the rules were like the New Year. The next day, when Meng Chang arrived in Beijing, he displayed the army of the brigade in advance on the Tianjie Street between Mingdemen and the Imperial City, which was somewhat similar to the meaning of the military parade to show the prestige of the country. Outside the Mingde Gate, it is necessary to lay a plain case for Meng Chang and his entourage. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and other civil and military officials were above the Mingde Gate Tower, looking down below.
And Meng Chang was wearing white clothes and a white gauze hat, in short, a white dress, led by a special person to meng Chang and his entourage, facing the Mingde Gate, lined up, and then Meng Chang knelt down towards the Mingde Gate, handed in the descending table, and prostrated himself on the ground to listen to the fall.
After the table was lowered to the hands of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, it was read aloud by the prime minister. After reading it, he sent someone downstairs according to the holy will, and helped Meng Chang up, and the other entourage followed suit.
After that, it was the canonization ceremony, and the Song Dynasty ministers first read out the holy decree of pardoning sins, and then announced that Meng Chang was named "Duke of Qin", as well as the appointment of other personnel. At this time, Meng Chang and others needed to kneel again, after all, they had to thank the emperor for his grace.
After the end of the complicated etiquette outside Matilda Gate, after entering the city, it was another set of complicated etiquette.
After Meng Chang and his entourage were enthroned, they naturally changed into new clothes, and then went outside the Shenglong Gate to wait for Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin to sit down in the Chongyuan Hall, Meng Chang and the others wanted to "dance and thank you" before coming to the main hall (the specific dance method is not clear), and then Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin loudly announced "summoning Meng Chang to ascend to the hall", and then Meng Chang and the others entered the hall from the east steps, and after the order was arranged, Meng Chang had to thank the emperor again, and then returned to his seat, and then danced with his entourage after a while.
After the dance is over, the Song Dynasty Prime Minister will lead hundreds of officials to congratulate him, and then the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin will begin to give a feast to Meng Chang, which is equivalent to the completion of the work and the meal can be opened.
It can be said that this surrender ceremony is quite complicated, although it does not insult Meng Chang, but it is also a thank you to the emperor, and it is also a dance, which is also a big blow for Meng Chang, the focus is to give him a down horse, let him honestly be a descendant king.
Relatively speaking, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, was already very polite to Meng Chang, the king of the subjugated country. Why is it so polite, that is, I want to use Meng Chang as an example to make other separatist regimes surrender as soon as possible, or to say that the resistance psychology is weaker, reducing the difficulty of unifying the country.
Like Liu Xun of the Southern Han Dynasty who did not cooperate with Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, not only resisted, but also burned the treasury of Guangzhou, and enjoyed the treatment not as a surrender ceremony, but as a "prisoner sacrifice ceremony".
The surrender ceremony is to politely accept your surrender, while the sacrifice ceremony is to treat you as a prisoner. The difference between them is big, if Meng Chang is generally accepted as a courtier, then Liu Xun is treated as a prisoner, the most obvious change is that Liu Xun and others are tied with white silk around their necks, and they are led around like a lead dog, which can be described as quite humiliating.
The later Southern Tang Dynasty Empress Dowager Li Yu also made the same mistake, facing the Song Dynasty's persuasion and disagreeing, continuing to stubbornly resist, and finally being destroyed.
Although at the behest of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty did not give Li Yu the same humiliating treatment as Liu Xun, it was also quite humiliating.
By the time of Emperor Taizong of Song, Wu Yue's Qian Li and Zhangquan Chen Hongjin belonged to the Song Dynasty, because these two regimes had always been honest, so Song Taizong did not give them the gift of surrender, but gave them good political treatment and rewards.
Through the above history of surrender, it can be seen that the early days of the Northern Song Dynasty were also quite domineering, ending the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and it was also very good for all parties to grasp the regime. Obedient people such as Wu Yue's Qian Li and Zhangquan Chen Hongjin did not have to undergo the surrender. Those who cooperated, such as the Later Shu Mengchang, took the initiative to surrender, and the ceremony of surrender they received was not so humiliating. Those who did not cooperate with the disobedient such as Liu Xun of the Southern Han Dynasty were given humiliating "captivity" treatment, which can be said to vary from person to person, and the art of taming people was brought into full play.
It is ironic that the history of the surrender ceremony formulated in the early days of the Song Dynasty originally belonged to its domineering side. But the subsequent development was unexpected, during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Bureau of Ceremonies at that time compiled a fairly detailed "Ceremony of Surrender", which further improved the ceremony of surrender of the Song Dynasty, originally there was nothing, but the Song Huizong did not use it once, and the shame of Jingkang occurred, the Northern Song Dynasty was not only the subjugation of the country, the treatment enjoyed by the Second Emperor Huiqin was far inferior to that of Liu Xun of the Southern Han Dynasty, who had originally accepted the "sacrifice ceremony", and finally the Second Emperor huiqin was tortured to death, which made people sigh.
Thank you for watching Song Anzhi's exclusive original article, focusing on the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties and its great history of China, like to talk about those immutable histories from a different perspective, I think friends can remember to like and pay attention to Ha.