Author: Li Hongfa
(1) Birds are beaten
When Song Taizu was young, he traveled to the Central Plains, half-lived on horses, became an emperor, lived in the deep palace, and was inevitably lonely, so at the beginning of his ascension to the pole, he liked to "micro-serve private visits", visited the ministers' homes, and sometimes used slingshots in the palace to "play birds" and play birds for fun.
However, as Song Taizu once said to Shi Shouxin and others, "Being an emperor is also a very uncomfortable thing", just because of the birds, Song Taizu also had a stomach full of anger.
Once Song Taizu was taking a few guards to fight birds in the imperial garden, and an official— unfortunately his name not recorded in the author's historical records — said that there was an urgent matter that needed to be reported in person. Song Taizu was stirred up, he was already angry, he had seen the recital, but he felt that what he said was just a normal thing, and he was even more angry and asked what was going on. Unexpectedly, this official was quite tough, and replied: "The minister thinks that this is also more urgent than hitting birds." Song Taizu became more and more angry, picked up a ceremonial instrument made of crystals in his hand, "Pillar Axe", and stabbed the official's face directly, knocking out two of his front teeth at once!
But what Song Taizu did not expect was that this official was even more horizontal than him, and without saying a word, he picked up two teeth and put them in his arms. Song Taizu asked him, "What's the matter, you put those two broken teeth up and sued me?" The official replied, "Of course, the minister cannot sue His Majesty, but naturally this matter will be written down by the historian." "This is obviously a threat to Song Taizu: His Majesty is doing the work of the Emperor, and the historian will write it into the history books and pass it on to future generations."
When Song Taizu heard this, he was immediately alert and immediately said: Good! The Great Song has a courtier like you, why not be happy?! Afterwards, the official was given a heavy reward.
Reference: Song Sima Guang's Chronicle of Shuishui
(ii) "Want to be a champion? The two brothers fell."
In view of the fact that during the Five Dynasties period, Wufu was in charge and there were many disasters, and after the establishment of the Song Dynasty, he promoted Wenzhi and "first used Wende to transform the world", and held an imperial examination in the year of the founding of the People's Republic of China (Jianlong First Year, 960) to select talents and govern the country and rejuvenate the country, and after Wu Zetian, restored the "palace examination" system that the emperor personally supervised, which was followed by future generations.
However, Song Taizu was born as a military general, had a rough temperament, and did "literary affairs", sometimes because he was out of his own line, which was unbelievable.
In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination promoted the "fast gunner", with the reference candidate's answer sheet as the best, if the candidate preemptively handed in the examination in the temple examination and the answer sheet was not wrong, the emperor would point him out as a champion. In the eighth year of Kaibao (975), Song Taizu presided over the temple examination. Candidate Wang Sizong was quick in his thinking, wrote like a fly, and quickly handed in the papers. But almost at the same time as him, another candidate, Chen Zhi, also handed in his papers. The two of them handed in their papers at the same time, the articles had their own advantages, and Song Taizu was difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad, and he was worried for a while.
Just when everyone was waiting with bated breath, Song Taizu unexpectedly "made a decree" to let Wang and Chen "change their profession" and act as warriors, "wrestling" in front of the palace, wrestling and competing for the title. The two had no choice but to throw away the face of the reader and wrestle to win. As a result, Wang Sizong fell down Chen Zhi and achieved "victory". Song Taizu fulfilled his promise and appointed Wang Sizong as the crown prince, and Chen Zhi was in the position of the leader. Since then, "Hand Fighting Champion" has become a nickname that everyone in the world of Wang Sizong knows.
Although Wang Sizong was indeed talented and learned, and did a lot of good things for the people after becoming an official, because his title was obtained by "hand fighting", he has always been looked down upon by some people; and Song Taizu's practice of "using hand fighting to win the title" has always become one of the "evidences" that some people deny that he respects and respects the literati, which is detrimental to his admiration for "civil rule".
"Evil begins with a slight", Emperor, is it so easy to do?
References: Song Sima Guang's "Chronicle of Shuishui", Song Wang Mingqing's "Yuzhao Xinzhi", "Song Shi Wang Sizong Biography"
(iii) "Who has set such rules to bind me?" ”
When it was cold, Song Taizu instructed the workshops that specialized in making utensils in the palace to make "smoke cages", that is, hand cages that were slightly similar to today's "hand warmers" or cages used for incense and smoking clothes, but they had not been delivered a few days later.
Song Taizu scolded the clerks, and the clerks returned: the palace made a smoke cage, you need to make a report to Shangshu Province, Shangshu Province will send the report to the Ministry of Works, the headquarters will be issued to the Cao (Division), the Bureau, after review, and then reply to Shangshu Province, Shangshu Province signed and agreed, and finally approved by the Emperor's will, before it can be produced and submitted to the Emperor for use. After all kinds of procedures, it will take several days at the earliest. This is the routine "article of consistency" - the "article of unity" in the Song population, which is slightly similar to today's regulations and regulations.
Song Taizu was furious when he heard this: "Who made such a rule to restrain me?" The clerk replied, "You have to ask the prime minister about this." Song Taizu commanded, "Call Zhao Xuejue!" ”
Zhao Pu rushed in, and Song Taizu asked, "When I was in the folk, I could buy a smoking cage for dozens of copper coins, but now you are a heavenly son, but you can't get it for several days, why?" ”
Zhao Pu replied: "This is a regulation that has always existed, and this regulation is not specially set for His Majesty, but is for His Majesty's descendants, so that His Majesty's descendants will know that if they do not abide by the rules and regulations to manufacture and use luxury things and waste money, they will certainly be investigated by the supervision departments in the process of examination and approval at all levels." Formulating 'coherence' and implementing 'coherence' has profound meanings! ”
Song Taizu listened to Zhao Pu's explanation and was very happy: "This article is excellent! Compared with the 'stripe', there is no smoke cage for a while, which is too small and too small! ”
Song Taizu was an impatient temper, "big mistakes are not committed, small mistakes are constantly made", but "if you know it, you will change it", and you are a good emperor.
Reference: Song Ma Yongqing's Quotations from Yuancheng
(4) "I'm accurate, wash my face."
Song Taizu and Zhao Pu were friends when they were young, and in the third year of Zhou Xiande (956), Zhou Shizong conquered the Southern Tang, Song Taizu and his father both led troops to participate in the war, during which Song Taizu's father fell ill and recuperated in Chuzhou, Zhao Pu, who was then a military judge in Chuzhou, "served medicine bait day and night" and served carefully, Song Taizu's father was very moved, because he was also surnamed Zhao, and recognized Zhao Pu as a nephew. Song Taizu appointed zhao pu as an envoy to the German army in Songzhou, recruited Zhao Pu to his command, and served as the "palm secretary" in charge of confidential writing, and when the Song Dynasty was established, Song Taizu's mother also affectionately called Zhao Pu "palm secretary", and once said: "My son does not understand things, secretary Zhao must do his best to assist ah!" It is precisely for this reason that Song Taizu is very close to Zhao Pu, and sometimes he can't help but do things casually.
When Song Taizu first became emperor, he often traveled in plain clothes and visited the homes of meritorious heroes, and every time Zhao Pu retired home, he did not dare to wear them casually, but wore court clothes, afraid that Song Taizu would suddenly come to meet the disrespect. One evening it snowed heavily, and Zhao Pu thought that Song Taizu would not leave the palace. Who knew that after a while, he still heard a knock at the door, Zhao Pu hurriedly opened the door, and sure enough, he saw Song Taizu standing in the snow and wind. Zhao Pu was afraid to greet him, and Song Taizu said, "I have already made an appointment with the King of Jin (Zhao Guangyi), and he will arrive in a moment." Soon Zhao Guangyi arrived, and Zhao Pu laid a thick cushion on the ground and invited them to sit in the hall and light a fire to roast lamb to eat. Zhao Pu's wife waited for the three people to drink on the side, and Song Taizu called "sister-in-law" to thank him.
Once Song Taizu and Zhao Pu went to the Suzaku Gate of the South Gate of Bieliang to inspect, song Taizu pointed to the plaque on the door and asked Zhao Pu: "Why don't you just write 'Suzaku Gate', but what do you have to add a 'Zhi' character to do?" Zhao Pu replied, "This is a verbal auxiliary." Song Taizu laughed, "Whoever cares, helps a lot!" ”
Zhao Pu did not study much and lacked knowledge, and although he was known as "half of the Analects governing the world", he could only rule the world with "half of the Analects". After three years of use, the era name "Jianlong" set by Song Taizu during the founding of the country was changed to "Qiande" in 963. One day, Zhao Pu, who was then a privy councillor, and Lu Duoxun, a scholar of Hanlin, reported the matter to Song Taizu, and Song Taizu said to them quite smugly that the era name "Qiande" had never been used before, and "it has never existed since ancient times." Zhao Pu was greatly praised at the side. But Lu Doxun said, "This is the era name of the pseudo-Shu (Former Shu)!" Song Taizu was horrified, and quickly ordered someone to check the history books to see if it was true, and after some searching, he found that Former Shu had used this era name. Annoyed and ashamed, Song Taizu picked up the brush and smeared it on Zhao Pu's face, angrily saying, "How can you compare with him!" ”
Zhao Pu went home, never dared to wash the ink off his face, and the next day he saw that Song Taizu was still carrying it, and Song Taizu took a look at it and said, "Go wash your face!" Zhao Pucai avoided the embarrassment of seeing people with a "second flower face".
References: Song Sima Guang's "Notes on Shuishui", Song Ye Mengde's "Stone Forest Yan Language"
(v) "Send an illiterate man!" ”
The two brothers Xu Kai and Xu Xuan of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Xu Xi of Jiangning, known as the "Three Xus", were all known for their erudition and learning, especially Xu Xuan, who served as a "scattered riding regular attendant" in the Southern Tang Dynasty and was known as "Xu Riding Province". Once, the Southern Tang sent Xu Xuan to the Song Dynasty to pay tribute, according to the custom, the Song Dynasty needed to send officials to receive and accompany, but the ministers of the DPRK and China were afraid that their knowledge and eloquence were not as good as Xu Xuan, and they did not dare to accept the task, and the prime ministers could not find a suitable candidate, so they asked Song Taizu for instructions.
After hearing this, Song Taizu thought about it for a moment and said, "You should step back for the time being and choose for yourself." After a while, the eunuch issued an order for the leader of the forbidden army to listen to the orders of the "Temple Front Division" and asked him to report the list of ten illiterate guards. After Song Taizu examined it, he pointed out one of them and said, "This person can do it." ”
Looking at the person selected by Song Taizu, the whole court was astonished: This person can't read any characters, he doesn't understand anything, how can this work? But the prime minister did not dare to refute it, so he had to urge the person who was ordered to leave immediately. The guards in the imperial pen were also "confused", and they did not know why they sent him, and they could not get any explanation, so they had to go. When the two sides met, Xu Xuan spat out lotus flowers, the words were sharp, the onlookers were frightened, and the guards were even more unable to respond, so they had to nod their heads. Seo Hyun saw this situation, did not know the depth, had to brace and talk to him, but the two sides lived together for a few days, the guard just did not pay and answer with Seo Hyun, Seo Hyun was exhausted, no longer able to show off the words, and returned home.
Song Taizu did not play cards according to common sense, his mind was deep enough, and his reaction was agile enough.
Reference: Song Yueke's History of The Chronicles
【About the author】Li Hongfa, a native of Luannan County, Hebei Province, is now working in the Luannan County Federation of Literature and Art Circles. Graduated from Hebei University, majoring in journalism in the Department of Chinese. He has long been engaged in the study of Song history and regional culture, published a monograph "Research on the Migration Problem of Ancient Yongping Province" (Hebei University Press, 2014), published more than a dozen papers such as "On the Zhang Jue Incident and Its Impact on the Demise of the Northern Song Dynasty" and "The Sadness of Approaching Loyalty- Analysis of the Relationship between Yue Fei's Tragedy and His Personality".
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