Emperor Renzong of Song succeeded to the throne at the age of 13 in the first year of Qianxing (1022) to his death in the eighth year of Jiayou (1063), serving as emperor for a total of 41 years. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the Song Dynasty made great progress in all aspects, the society was relatively stable, and the people were relatively rich. Song Renzong was also praised, supported and loved by the people.
When Song Renzong died, there was a sensation inside and outside the Great Song Dynasty, people from all walks of life felt sad and cried bitterly, and even for a long time after Song Renzong's death, many people missed Song Renzong very much. Historical records of this matter, I found the following points:
1. After the death of Song Renzong, the people of the capital cried bitterly for several days, and even children and beggars burned paper money to thank Song Renzong; Song Renzong's last will and testament reached Luoyang, and the people wept bitterly, and the burned paper smoke caused the day to be dark.
2. Some officials went to Jianzhou as officials, and on the way, they saw women wearing filial piety hats with paper paste to mourn Song Renzong;
3. There was an official (the official who arranged the carriage and horse) named Bida, who cried bitterly: "I have served Your Majesty for more than 40 years, and now I am serving in heaven, and I have no remorse." "Bida died that day.
4. The Song Dynasty sent emissaries to the Liao Kingdom, and the people of yanjing who saw the news on the road were crying. The messenger spread the news of Song Renzong's death to the Liao Kingdom, and the Liao Daozong Yelü Hongji held the messenger's hand and wept bitterly, and built a crown tomb to mourn, even asking all the emperors of the Liao State to do so. During the Yuan Feng period, Yelü Hongji once again told the visiting Song envoys that since the death of Song Renzong, he had served the imperial honor of Song Renzong as an ancestor.
5. At the beginning of Xi Ning, Princess Lu guo, the young daughter of Song Renzong, married Qian Jingzhen, and the people knew that it was Song Renzong's daughter, and they cried behind the frame.
6. During the Yuanfeng period, Emperor Shenzong of Song built the Jingling Palace, which contained a portrait of Emperor Renzong of Song, and the people who saw it all shed tears.
Seeing the above, people can't help but sigh that Song Renzong's charm is so great that after death, he can still make so many people sad. However, these records are from a historical book called "Shao's Smell and Seeing", which was a book co-edited by the famous Song Dynasty scholar Shao Bowen and his son Shao Bo, whose father was an acting scholar Shao Yong. Judging from the name of the book "Shao's Smell and Seeing", this book should be mainly based on recording what Shao Bowen and Shao Bo's father and son saw and heard.
Almost all of the records of Song Renzong in the "Shao's Records of Hearing and Seeing" are praises, that is, praising Song Renzong's way of governing, Song Renzong's benevolence, etc., it can be seen that Shao Bowen and Shao Bo's father and son were very praisive of Song Renzong. Coupled with the gratitude of the people after the death of Emperor Renzong of Song and the Emperor of the Liao State, Yelü Hongji, the Shao Records of Hearing and Seeing believes that this is an unprecedented thing.
"Shao's Hearing and Seeing Record": "Woohoo, the emperor has been a guest for a long time, and the people and the lord of the captives have not forgotten, and there is no one in the previous generation." ”
It is just that this kind of over-praise makes people doubt its authenticity, and these records about the death of Song Renzong in the "Shao's Records of Hearing and Seeing" also make people feel suspicious. Among those who cried Song Renzong, some were really crying, some might be fake crying, and some of them might even not exist.
When Song Renzong died, Shao Bowen was only seven years old and lived in Luoyang, and he said that he still remembered that when he was seven years old, the people of Luoyang burned paper money to thank Song Renzong, which was something that Shao Bowen personally experienced. As for the people in the capital, even children and beggars wept bitterly, this was something that a man named Wang Yuanxiu told Shao Bowen's father Shao Yong after he arrived in Luoyang. Song Renzong ruled for 41 years, and he was a good emperor, and the capital and surrounding areas could best feel the kindness of Song Renzong. It is possible that the people of Luoyang and Kaifeng wept bitterly in memory of Emperor Renzong of Song. Therefore, I think it is credible that the people of Beijing and Luoyang are crying Song Renzong, but Shao Bowen's writing in "Shao's Smell and Seeing" is slightly exaggerated.
However, people who are far away in Sichuan may not really miss Song Renzong. For the capital, Jianzhou is definitely a place far away from the emperor, ancient traffic is not developed, information is blocked, and the local women of Jianzhou may not even know who the emperor is. The Records of Shao's Hearing and Seeing records that a man named Zhou Changru went to Renzhi County, Pu'an County, Jianzhou, and saw women wearing paper paste filial piety hats to mourn Song Renzong. This Zhou Changru was actually a student of Shao Yong, who went to Jianzhou to serve in the last year of Zhiping, where it had been more than 3 years since the death of Song Renzong. In ancient times, there was a rule of three years of filial piety, and it is difficult to imagine that three years after the death of Song Renzong, people far away in Sichuan still wore filial piety hats to mourn him. Zhou Changru died shortly after going to Jianzhou, and Shao Bowen was still a minor, which was obviously not Shao Bowen's first-hand information. Although it is possible that Shao Yong told Shao Bowen, I am more inclined to think that this matter may be fictional.
"Song Yuanxue Case": Zhou Changru, Zi Shiyan, Yuanyuan Ren also. Yu Jinshi was the Weizhou Gongcheng Order. The Master's Festival is based on the ancient disciple ceremony, and the Kang Festival is based on innate learning... At the end of the reign of Pingping, he took the official Wailang as the Pucheng Commandery and died.
The official Bida crying Song Renzong was also somewhat exaggerated. Many historical materials have recorded that Song Renzong was very kind to his subordinates, and it was inevitable that Song Renzong treated his subordinates so kindly with the respect of the emperor, so it was inevitable that the subordinates would be grateful. Strangely, this happened after the death of Song Yingzong, who was supposed to sacrifice Song Yingzong, but Bida went to Yongzhao Tomb to cry song Renzong, which was cited as a strange talk. It is stated in the "Shao's Records of Hearing and Seeing" that Han Qi told Sima Guang about this matter, but this matter is isolated evidence, and it is really difficult to distinguish between true and false.
As for the Liao Daoist Emperor Yelü Hongji crying song Renzong, it was mostly because of political reasons. From a national point of view, the Song and Liao were enemies of each other, and although the paper covenant of the Yuantan Alliance had allowed the Song and Liao to have not been at war for decades, small frictions were frequent, and the two countries also deployed heavy troops on the border to guard against each other. From the perspective of personal friendship, Yelü Hongji had a high regard for the culture of the Song Dynasty and Song Renzong, and even asked the Song Dynasty for a portrait of Song Renzong. But he and Song Renzong were both emperors, both in their respective countries, and the two had never met, so what kind of friendship would the two have? It is recorded in the Records of Shao's Hearings and Observations that when Yelü Hongji was still a prince, he disguised himself as an emissary and mixed into the mission to come to the Song Dynasty, and met Song Renzong, who said to Yelü Hongji: "I and you are a family, and we must remember the original covenant and love and care for living beings." It is just that the word "cover" is used in the "Shaw Smell and Seeing Record", which indicates that the matter is guessed. Perhaps Shao Bowen himself could not explain why Yelü Hongji was so grateful to Song Renzong, so he made up a reason to fool himself.
Therefore, after hearing the news of Song Renzong's death, Yelü Hongji at most squeezed a few tears in front of the messenger and pretended to be a sign of mourning. He couldn't really thank Song Renzong, let alone build a crown tomb for Song Renzong, and he went to sacrifice every year. During the YuanFeng period, more than 10 years after the death of Emperor Renzong, Yelü Hongji repeated the same cliché, repeatedly emphasizing how he mourned Song Renzong, the purpose of which was to win the favor of the Song Dynasty and show that he wanted to continue to maintain good relations with the Song Dynasty.
Princess Luguo, the younger daughter of Emperor Renzong of Song, was born in the fourth year of Jiayou (1059), and should have been the seventh year of Xi Ning (1074) when he reached the age of marriage, but the Records of Shao's Hearing and Seeing records that it is Xi Ningchu, which is already untrue. In the seventh year of Xi Ning (1074), 11 years after the death of Song Renzong, it is also possible that the people of the capital will weep bitterly in memory of Song Renzong.
However, during the Yuanfeng period, when Emperor Shenzong of Song built the Jingling Palace, the people exaggerated when they saw the portrait of Song Renzong and wept bitterly. The middle of the Yuanfeng period may have been after 1080, that is, 17 to 20 years after the death of Emperor Renzong of Song, and the Jingling Palace was in the present-day city of Qufu, Shandong, far from the capital. Time can dilute everything, and it is unbelievable to miss someone who has never met for such a long time.
In summary, the exaggerated elements of the various records of Song Renzong crying after the death of Song Renzong in the Shao Records of Hearing and Seeing are relatively large and not enough to believe. I think that when Song Renzong died, the people in Beijing and Luoyang who cried and remembered Song Renzong should be credible, perhaps slightly exaggerated. Other kinds of crying are either fictitious, uncertain, or exaggerated to unbelievable degrees.
The Song Dynasty ruled the country with literature and attached great importance to the literati, which was the most ideal dynasty for the literati in ancient times, and Song Renzong was also praised by the literati. Shao Yong is a famous theologian and literary scholar in China, whose ideas were carried forward in the Song Dynasty and also admired by Song Renzong. Shao Bo and Shao Bo are also full of honors, and they naturally will not skimp on pen and ink to praise the Song Dynasty and Song Renzong.