After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, although it experienced peaceful years, this dynasty fought against the Liaojinxia for a long time until it was finally destroyed by the Jin Dynasty, whether from the perspective of national strength or economy, the Northern Song Dynasty was not weak, nor would it be destroyed by the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, posterity found a lot of reasons. There are many factors in the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, in fact, the key is still the human factor, and the root cause is still the emperor. Without a good ruler, the demise of a dynasty is inevitable. And when the Northern Song Dynasty fell, the emperor was Song Huizong, so the succession of Song Huizong to the throne was completely avoidable, but it was bad in the hands of an upright prime minister.
honesty
This prime minister was the famous prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Huan. The Northern Song Dynasty did not lack famous faces, and there was no shortage of personality names, such as Kou Zhun and Zhang Huan.
Zhang Huan was a very upright official, but the History of Song did not record him correctly. When Zhang Huan was prime minister, he was a reformist, and he implemented many reform measures at home, especially to rectify the scattered Song Dynasty. Moreover, the foreign conquest of Western Xia also recruited ye fan departments, opened the road to the western region for the Song Dynasty, and made many contributions to the country.
In history, any reformer will be attacked and scandalized by conservatives, and an upright person like Zhang Huan still cannot hide from being vilified by some people in the Song Dynasty. Su Dongpo, who is known as the great literary hero of the Northern Song Dynasty, has the first literary level, but to say that in governing the country, this person has done nothing. Moreover, Su Dongpo is still a conservative, he stubbornly opposes the reform of the Song Dynasty, if Wang Anshi's reform is successful, the Song Dynasty may not perish prematurely, but Su Dongpo is just a stumbling block that hinders Wang Anshi.
Su Dongpo will not approve of Zhang's reform and efforts to strengthen it, and he once commented on Zhang Wei: "If you become the prime minister, you will inevitably eliminate dissidents and will also harm Zhongliang." This sentence is a bit overstated, after Zhang Huan became the prime minister, he wanted to reform, of course, to eliminate conservatives. This is the only way for any dynastic reform.
Su Dongpo commented on Zhang Wei in this way because when Zhang Huan was young, he ran to the cliff to carve the words, and Su Dongpo thought that Zhang Huan did not even want his own life, and would care about the lives of others? This is to see people from different angles, a person is not afraid of death, does not mean that he wants to kill others.
After Zhang Huan later became prime minister, he decisively eliminated the opposition. History says he is cruel, and it is indeed misunderstood. The Song Dynasty was the best dynasty to treat civilian officials, and few civilian officials were killed, at most they were sent to other places. Zhang Huan would not kill no matter how fierce he was, and there was an emperor on it. Su Dongpo is Zhang Wei's former friend, and for this stubborn conservative, Zhang Wei showed no mercy and degraded him to return to his hometown for the elderly. This is an act of righteousness and extermination of relatives, even his own former friends have done it, and no one else dares to obstruct it.
Historical sources believe that when Zhang Huan was the prime minister, he flew high and low, and when he went to the court, he spoke very wildly, and dared to say anything. In fact, this is the outward manifestation of a minister with integrity and no heart, but it is Zhang Huan's integrity that lays the groundwork for his tragic fate.
upright
After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, later generations had such a sentence when evaluating Emperor Huizong of Song: "Everything can be done, but it cannot be a king." This sentence is to say that Song Huizong is very powerful in everything, qinqi, calligraphy and painting are omnipotent, and he is called an artist, but he is not a good emperor. Emperor Shenzong of Song had 14 sons, and he was the younger brother of Emperor Zhezong of Song, and it was entirely possible to choose one of them as the crown prince to be emperor. How did it succeed to the throne in the first place?
According to historical records, Emperor Huizong of Song should be grateful to Zhang Huan, and it was Zhang Huan's "three advances and three losses" that contributed to Zhao Yi's ascension to the throne.
1. Geng zhizhi
After the death of Emperor Zhezong of Song, since he left no heirs, the responsibility for choosing the emperor fell to Empress Dowager Xiang of Song Shenzong. Because Song Shenzong had many sons, he also had to choose a successor from among his sons. Therefore, he invited the empress dowager to discuss the matter of who to choose for the new emperor. And Zhang Wei is the prime minister, and he has the right to speak first.
He asked the empress dowager, "Emperor Daxing returned to heaven and has no heirs, you aiqing, who do you see to succeed to the throne?" ”
For such a matter of succession to the throne, it is a matter of internal affairs of the royal family, and we must be very cautious, but Zhang Dun did not hesitate and said casually: "The mother is precious to the son, and according to the succession to the throne, the first emperor and the mother and brother King Jian should be established." That is, the younger brother born to one of Song Zhezong's mothers, the 13th son of Song Shenzong, King Jian.
As soon as Empress Xiang heard Zhang Huan say this, she became angry. Zhang Huan may not know that Empress Xiang is inclined to Zhao Yao, and zhao Yao is usually the most able to please Empress Xiang.
Among The 14 sons of Song Shenzong, Song Zhezong ranked sixth, and his 5 older brothers in front of him and the next two younger brothers all died prematurely. However, Song Zhezong and King Jian were born to the corpse of Lady Zhu, not to Empress Xiang. At this time, Princess Zhao was still on the throne, and if King Jian became emperor again, The status of Empress Xiang would be embarrassing.
Zhang Huan couldn't see empress dowager Xiang behind the curtain getting angry, but he already felt that empress dowager xiang was displeased. Then he said to the empress, "What words?" Aren't the 6 princes all children of the mourning family? What is the name of the half-brother? This question stopped Zhang Wei.
Empress Xiang was the boss of the harem, Emperor Shenzong and Emperor Zhezong died, and the royal affairs had the right to make decisions about Empress Xiang. Xiang Empress's words also showed that even if she was not born, the heirs of the Divine Sect were all hers.
2. The Minister laughed
But King Lijian was obviously not a good fit. However, Empress Xiang did not have a son, and the crown prince was not born to her, and it did not matter to her who inherited, Zhang Huan saw that Empress Xiang had no intention of making a king, and then said another sentence: "According to the order of the eldest and youngest, when the ninth son shen wang." ”
Zhang Huan's words caused the minister to laugh, because King Shen had a disease in his eyes and could not see things clearly, that is, he was a blind man. Where there is a healthy prince who does not stand, set up a blind emperor. Empress Xiang was even angrier, believing that Zhang Huan, as chancellor, had inherited the throne of the Great Song Dynasty too hastily. So King Shen was excluded.
The third sentence, "Duan Wang is frivolous, and he cannot rule the world!" ”
Later, the selection came and went, leaving the Duan King Zhao Yao suitable, Zhang Huan knew Zhao Yao very well, he knew that Zhao Yao as emperor was not good for the Song Dynasty. Because Zhao She did not do the right thing, the heavens were painting, writing, and playing with art, so how could the emperor take on great responsibilities.
At this time, the empress dowager said to the ministers, "Choose the king!" In fact, this was a tone-setting sentence, and no minister dared to speak, but Zhang Huan was too straight, and directly choked the empress dowager, who said: "Duan Wang is frivolous, and he cannot rule the world!" ”
Empress Xiang was angry again, and she thought that Zhang Huan was obviously against her, and she would make an emperor, and when the empress dowager said it didn't count, she would have to listen to your prime minister. Empress Xiang was furious, and Zhang Huan's fate was also decided. She thought that the Great Song Dynasty could not interfere with outsiders, and once again set the tone for the empress, she said that she would choose the king. Therefore, Zhao Tuo succeeded to the throne, that is, the historical Song Huizong.
finale
After Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne, he had always been jealous of Zhang Huan's opposition to his becoming emperor, and later Emperor Huizong of Song found a reason to dismiss Zhang Huan from his post and degraded him many times, and finally degraded to a remote area, and poor Zhang Huan died on the way to the post of degraded official.
If Zhang's upright personality had converged and used some strategy in the succession to the throne, perhaps Zhao Yao would not have been able to become emperor. But Zhang Wei was too straight, and everyone knew that Zhao Yao could not be emperor, but he could not be tough and rebel against Empress Xiang, which clearly did not give Empress Xiang a step.
The empress dowager has more power and is also a woman, and there is no long-term strategy. If she used a plan, she might be able to change her mind about the king. It was a pity that the ministers were afraid of Zhang Huan's upright personality and did not dare to support him, and some people still hated him, let alone support him. It can be seen that although Zhang Huan is an upright prime minister, he lacks strategy in some things. It was also the choice of Zhao Yao that ruined the Great Song Dynasty.