In the history of the Northern Song Dynasty, the longest-reigning emperor is undoubtedly none other than Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, who reigned for 42 years, and ruled the Northern Song Dynasty to a level of singing and dancing, and there was no major war between the Liao and Song Dynasties, so the reign of Song Renzong was also known as "Renzong Shengzhi". However, Song Renzong had the only regret, that is, all three of his sons died prematurely, so in desperation, he had to establish Zhao Zongshi (later renamed Zhao Shu) as the crown prince.
In 1063, Emperor Renzong of Song died and Emperor Yingzong of Song ascended the throne, but as soon as he ascended the throne, relations within the palace became extremely tense. It turned out that after Song Yingzong became emperor, he was filial to his biological father and mother, but he snubbed Empress Cao, who raised him to adulthood. Empress Cao was very sad about this, so she called Fu Bi, the chancellor of the dynasty, to cry about it. Fu Bi was very angry when he heard this, so he immediately went to meet Song Yingzong.
After meeting Song Yingzong, Fu Bi persuaded Song Yingzong with a heavy heart: "Since ancient times, the wise monarchs of the world have always regarded filial piety as the first, even if the parents are not good to their children, the children are still filial piety, which is a praiseworthy filial piety." And in the past, what kind of person the empress dowager was, Her Majesty is not unclear, as long as you do what you should do, then the empress dowager will also be kind to Her Majesty. ”
Seeing that Song Yingzong did not heed his persuasion, Fu Bi changed his face and actually reprimanded Song Yingzong in public, saying: "When the former emperor (Song Renzong) chose His Majesty as the heir, it was because you could be very filial, and now that Your Majesty has become emperor, he is so rude to the empress dowager, if such a thing were to be passed out, wouldn't he be laughed at by the people of the world?" Furious, Fu Bi even picked up the bamboo board used by the Shang Dynasty, knocked on Song Yingzong's bed, and said, "If it were not for Emperor Rende, how could Your Majesty live here?" This sentence is obviously already the tone of Lao Tzu's teaching of his son.
However, in the face of Fu Bi's move of "committing the following crimes", Song Yingzong not only did not get angry, but instead lowered his body and apologized to Fu Bi continuously: "I am wrong, and I will never dare again." Such a reaction was strange that the supreme king actually apologized to the prime minister, but it was indeed Song Yingzong's fault in the first place. In addition, this incident shows from the other hand that the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty has great real power, and can even influence the deployment and decision of the emperor.