Introduction: The most perfect emperor in the Five Dynasties period, can be called one of the most perfect emperors in history, obsessed with his wife, sympathetic to the people, courtesy corporal, opened up the territory to the outside world, conquered the Southern Tang to fight the Khitans, but let Zhao Kuangyin pick the fruit and make a wedding dress for the Song Dynasty.
"The Bad Man Who Painted the Rivers and Lakes" directed the audience's attention to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which not only had a generation of fierce generals such as Li Cunxun and Li Siyuan, but also perfect emperors such as Guo Wei and Chai Rong. Let's first understand a chaotic period of five generations and ten kingdoms in the history of our country.
Although the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were only fifty-three years old, in these fifty-three years they experienced fifteen emperors, including Zhu Wen, a tyrant who was always criticized by later generations, and Li Cunxun, the Emperor zhuang of Later Tang, who was in a different place because he was too fond of the officials. And the emperor we want to talk about today, although his popularity in Chinese history is not very high, but his talent is far beyond other emperors in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, even if he is placed among all the emperors in Chinese history, he can also be ranked, he is Zhou Shizong Chai Rong.
Although he was not well-known, his military ability was comparable to that of Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxun, and his ability to govern the country could rival that of Emperor Mingzong of Tang, Li Siyuan, and as the founding emperor of later Zhou, he not only established the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty, but also laid a very good foundation for the unification of the Song Dynasty for future generations. History is always such a coincidence, the Qin Dynasty laid the foundation for the great cause of the Great Han, but the Sui Dynasty founded by Emperor Wen of Sui opened the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and the richest Song Dynasty in China's history was a wedding dress made by Chai Rong.
In addition, the Later Zhou Emperor Chai Rong was respectfully praised by later generations of historians as the most far-sighted emperor of the time, and he set three small goals, recuperation, rich country and strong army, and unify the world. Chai Rong was born as a tea merchant, joined the army before he was weak, became a great general before he was established, and even established himself as emperor just a few years later. During his reign, his decision-making was wise and his emphasis on people's livelihood was deeply supported by the people. However, all the efforts made by Chai Rong allowed Song Taizong Zhao Kuangyin to pick the fruit.
During Chai Rong's reign, he always adhered to the policy of taking the south as a breakthrough point and then gradually moving north from easy to difficult. Step by step to eliminate the weak and small forces, so as to unify the central plains, and then further expand the territory after the unification of the Central Plains, such a policy can be said to have brought great benefits to the Later Zhou, and Zhao Kuangyin continued to implement his political ideas after the establishment of the Song Dynasty, and finally realized the unification of the whole country on the basis of the rich materials of the south, ending the chaos of the Tang Dynasty for hundreds of years and becoming a great unified dynasty.
Chai Rong has a keen economic vision, since the Sui Dynasty, hundreds of years, the economic and social growth of the south has grown rapidly and gradually caught up with the north, when the war in the north is not only economic and social turmoil, coupled with the interference of the northern nomads on the civilization of the Central Plains, so that the agricultural economy on which the Central Plains civilization depends for survival and development has been greatly impacted, the financial revenue brought by the agricultural civilization has been greatly reduced, the economic development of the north has once reached a stalemate, while the south, which is far away from the war, is developing steadily.
Zhou Shizong Chai Rong saw this even more, he first calmed down the south so that it could carry out stable economic development, thus providing economic support for the army's expansion of territory, and the Central Plains region also accelerated the southward shift of the economic center under chai Rong's guidance, making the entire southern region a powerful rear, and the later Great Song Dynasty provided sufficient support for its Northern Expedition with the help of this favorable foundation.
It can be seen from this that Chai Rong's strategy of locking in the development of the Central Plains civilization has given great influence to future generations. Without Chai Rong's support for the development of the south, without his pacification of the south, without his broadening of the forms of commodity exchange, Zhao Kuangyin would not have been able to establish the Great Song Dynasty in such a short period of time after taking over the Later Zhou regime.
Although Chai Rong's reputation is not very loud, he is one of the most perfect emperors in history, he is both literate and martial, military strategy is superb, Wu can be called the god of war of five generations, Wen can govern the country, implement benevolent rule for the people, he is also diligent and thrifty, a corporal of etiquette, he has a deep affection for his wife after the big and small symbols, he can open up territory and expand the territory, three conquests of the Southern Tang, the north rejects the Khitans, recovers the lost land, and has a great determination to dominate the world. Therefore, whether from the point of view of morality, ability, or historical merit, Chai Rong is not inferior to any emperor in history, throughout history, Chai Rong is the most perfect emperor of the five generations, there is no one, and it is also one of the most perfect emperors in the history of our country.