Introduction: There were more than 400 ancient emperors in total, and among the dynasties, there was no shortage of emperors such as the Qin Emperor Han Wu, who were indisputable and difficult to judge, and there was no shortage of absurd emperors such as Shang Tang Sui Jiong who were poked in the spine by later generations. Moreover, the scholars and historians of successive dynasties would establish temple names and courtesy names for all emperors according to the requirements of Confucian etiquette and the traditions of the imperial court. Of course, nature is good and bad, like "Jiao" and "僖" have the meaning of fainting and incompetent or absurd, while things like "Wen" and "Wu" are generally worthy of affirmation. However, those who can be called "benevolent kings" are rare in history. Among them, Song Renzong Zhao Zhen is the most famous one, known as the "First Renjun of The Ages"
As a turning point from the stability of the early Song Dynasty to the fierce change, the Renzong Dynasty not only emerged such as Fan Zhongyan and the Seed Family General, but also opened the revision of the "three redundancies", and finally even affected the fortunes of the Great Song Dynasty. Then again, when Zhao Zhen, who was entrusted with the secret of "Tanuki Cat for Prince", took the throne, he was only thirteen years old. At that time, his father Song Zhenzong not only rewarded him with great enthusiasm, but also rushed to Mount Taishan to seal Zen, which for a time almost collapsed the finances of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, the newly enthroned Zhao Zhen faced an extremely difficult problem.
Fortunately, with the assistance of empress dowager Liu E, the little emperor was able to neutralize the initial chaotic situation. Although Liu Shi had the ambitions and means of the former Empress Dowager Lü of Han, he never wanted to change the world and has always been dedicated to the stable development of the Great Song Dynasty. However, Liu shi was still in the harem shortly after Zhao Zhen took power. At this time, the mother and son had only governed the country for eleven years. But it is precisely this difficult experience that prompts Zhao Zhen to deeply appreciate the difficulty of governing the country, and also to appreciate the good intentions of his ancestors. Therefore, the young man boldly used talents and was eclectic, which can be described as "not avoiding relatives on the inside, and not avoiding revenge on the outside". The most prominent example is Emperor Renzong's promotion of Bao Zheng Bao Longtu, even if Bao Zheng spoke fiercely when he was visiting, and even threw the spit star on the beard of the emperor's old son, Renzong was also humble and taught.
It can be seen from the above that Emperor Renzong is indeed gentle in temperament and lenient for the king. Not only that, but even when he was resting and eating in the harem, he was always alert to himself. Due to his weakness when he was young, the small internal officials at the bottom would specially serve Sweet Porridge to Emperor Renzong. Once he was drinking porridge that was fine, but the emperor suddenly frowned and spat out a mouthful of porridge mixed with sand. Seeing that the emperor was like this, the palace eunuchs were frightened to prostrate themselves, but Zhao Zhen was so light that people did not have to worry about it, saying that if this matter was revealed today, the imperial kitchen should be punished according to the law. In the evening, zhao zhen, who suddenly wanted to eat roast lamb, ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare, but after thinking about it, he still canceled the dictation. The internal official was puzzled, and Renzong explained: If I ask for roast lamb this time, then the imperial chef will think that I like to eat it, and I will prepare it every day. At that time, the folk will also follow the trend, that is too wasteful... Such a loyal and sympathetic emperor can be described as unprecedented.
During the Reign of Emperor Renzong, when the Dangxiang in the northwest and the Khitan in the north were becoming increasingly powerful, the Northern Song Dynasty faced a great threat. On the one hand, the Northern Song Dynasty lost many wars against the Western Xia, and the Khitan also took the opportunity to demand an increase in coins and land. Emperor Renzong felt helpless, and it was precisely fan zhongyan, Han Qi, Di Qing and other ministers of culture and military appointed by him who played the role of mainstays, not only using the temptation of the old coin and the confrontation of force to force the enemy to abandon the ambition of attacking, but also opening the prelude to the New Deal of the Qing calendar, making the Great Song slowly become rich and strong again.
Although Emperor Renzong was lenient and kind to others, he showed the generosity and benevolence that traditional emperors rarely had, and even after his death, the Northern Liao Dynasty sent people to mourn. It is claimed that it was under the rule of Emperor Renzong that the people of Song and Liao had been at peace for decades, and the Liao Emperor Yelü Hongji specially built a crown tomb for him. But history could not be changed, the New Deal still failed, and the Great Song Dynasty inevitably declined after the Renzong dynasty. But this rare benevolent monarch is still worth remembering him.