Wedge: The Tang and Song dynasties on a par with each other
Tang, Song, Tang and Song, in Chinese history books and celebrity works, the two eras of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty will always be mentioned at the same time, which many people do not understand.
The Tang Dynasty, as one of the few powerful countries in world history, once had the reputation of all countries coming to the dynasty, serving the barbarian people, collecting foreign lands, and at its peak, it stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east, to Annam in the south, to the Aral Sea in the west, and to Lake Baikal in the north, and it was the first unified dynasty in China since the Qin Dynasty that did not rely on the construction of the Great Wall and based on Hu.
What about the Song Dynasty? Although there were two Song Dynasties in the north and south, it lasted for 319 years, which was better than the Tang Dynasty. However, during the Northern Song Dynasty, it was successively caught in the conquest between Xia, Liao, and Jin, and never realized the great unification of the nation and land. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was beaten by the Jin people and could only escape the corner of Jiangnan, and finally it was destroyed by the Mongolian state that came up later.
When the Song Dynasty originated in the fifth dynasty, most people in the world believed that the reason why the Song Dynasty was so incompetent was because the ancestors usurped the throne with force, and the descendants were afraid of it, so they emphasized literature and light weapons, resulting in backward military strength, and only then did they have such an ending. And the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was a "soft egg" incompetent, living up to the great rivers and mountains left by his ancestors.
But is this really the case? Historians are certainly no dumber than us, and how can they not know the problems that even ordinary people can see? Wouldn't the Song Dynasty be compared to the Mighty Tang Dynasty just because it was a "unified" dynasty after the Tang Dynasty?
In fact, the Song Dynasty also had its heyday, and there were also famous kings throughout the ages, and his achievements may not be weaker than any emperor in the Tang Dynasty. And the emperor we are talking about today is not the founding Taizu, nor is he Shouye Gaozong, but the fourth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong.
First, Zhao Zhen on the screen and Renzong in history
In the TV series "Qingping Le", Renzong Zhao Zhen appeared as the protagonist. In the TV series, Zhao Zhen is a very gentle person, handsome, self-denying, frugal in life, widely accepting advice, and often smiling on his face, making people feel like a spring breeze. In fact, the same is true of Zhao Zhen in history.
Zhao Zhen ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, pro-government for twenty-four years, reigned for forty-two years, and left behind the reputation of "Renjun of the Ages"--the "History of Song" praised: "The "Biography" said: 'For people to be a king, stop at benevolence. 'Emperor Cheng is not ashamed. "After his death, he was buried in the Yongzhao Mausoleum, and was buried in the Yongzhao Mausoleum.
The benevolence of Emperor Renzong is rare throughout the ages. After Emperor Renzong's death, not only the harem, but also the entire Northern Song Dynasty, without the request of the imperial court, the people all consciously mourned for him: "The Jingshi (Bieliang) strike market lane wept for several days, although the beggars and children burned paper money before the Ouchi." It can be seen how popular and loved this emperor is.
Even people from other countries were distraught when they heard the news of Emperor Renzong's death: "The people of Yanjing wept near and far" The Daoist Emperor of liao, Yelü Hongji, even grabbed the hand of the song dynasty emissary and wept bitterly, and also built a crown tomb for Song Renzong.
Such treatment is unique throughout the ages, which shows that The benevolence of Renzong is really in the bones, otherwise why is it so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Second, the Northern Song Dynasty under Emperor Renzongsheng's prosperity could shock people's jaws
During Emperor Renzong's reign, he exerted great efforts to govern the crisis and support the crisis, so that the political situation, economy, society, and culture were revived. He was pro-government for more than thirty years, and it was under his command that the Song Dynasty reached the peak of the socio-economic culture of the Northern Song Dynasty and even the Chinese feudal dynasty, and realized the true "Great Song" that was different from the strong Han and Tang Dynasties and was incomparable.
He brought a period of real stability and strength to the frost-stricken dynasty of the Northern Song Dynasty, leaving his own unique mark. Therefore, later generations called the period of Renzong's reign "Renzong Shengzhi" or "Renzong Era". "Renzong Shengzhi" even has more than the famous "Kaiyuan Shengshi", because the commercial tax monetary income of "Renzong Shengzhi" is more than 10 times the total monetary income of "Kaiyuan Shengshi".
According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", the monetary income of the Northern Song Dynasty reached 44 million taels at the peak of the Qing Dynasty, and the highest monetary revenue was only 2 million taels during the Tang Dynasty's heyday of kaiyuan. In terms of population, the population during the reign of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty was only more than three million households, and the highest household in the Kaiyuan dynasty was only 7.8 million households, while at the time of Emperor Renzong's prosperity, there were more than 10 million households. Two of the four great inventions, movable type printing and the compass, also appeared during the reign of Emperor Injong.
In fact, from the Chinese painting "Qingming On the River" that we all know, the understanding of The Prosperity of Renzong can be seen: the bustling City of Fenjing, day and night, this is a grand phenomenon that has never appeared in any other era, so from all indications, Renzong's prosperity is the most prosperous and prosperous period in Chinese history.
1, Renzong is the government, mourning the hardships of the people's livelihood, and practicing with his own body
When Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, the Northern Song Dynasty was at a time of turmoil, and not only did the "three redundant problems" such as the "three redundant problems" in the throat, but the problem of land annexation became more and more serious, and finally formed a situation in which "the rich have a field of hope, and the poor have no place to excel". Seeing that the people were in such a situation, Zhao Zhen also strictly ordered the harem not to be extravagant and wasteful. Even because of his excessive frugality, the concubines in the harem all had a strong dissatisfaction with him, because all the concubines in the harem had not been promoted for a long time because of this, and they were insufficient.
And Emperor Renzong's ascension to the throne at this time doomed him to be impossible to be a stable emperor of pleasure, and he must turn the tide of the tide against the general who has fallen to the throne. And Emperor Renzong did not disappoint the world, and successfully revived the economy and culture of the Northern Song Dynasty, and no one in the entire history of China could stand out.
In order to deal with the serious land annexation and the phenomenon of redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses, Emperor Renzong launched the "New Deal for celebrating the calendar" that was extremely controversial in later generations. The appointment of Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi as the leaders, with the core purpose of ten reform proposals, such as "Ming Dethronement, Suppression of Luck, Fine Tribute, Selection of Officials, Jungongtian, Hounongsang, Repair of Military Equipment, Reduction of Servitude, Qin Enxin, and Heavy Orders", hoped to fundamentally disintegrate the problem of corroding the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty.
Although in the end due to the great obstruction of the old aristocratic bureaucratic forces and the final failure, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu and others were successively excluded from the imperial court, and various reforms were abolished, but they played a leading role in the later Wang Anshi transformation.
2, Emperor Renzong for the war, ding the western Xia army, pingling lingnan rebellion
During Zhao Zhen's reign, it was the time when Li Yuanhao of Western Xia ascended the throne. After Li Yuanhao ascended the throne, he immediately changed his father's national policy of making Li Deming (Xia Taizong) "yiliao and Song", not only in the first year of Baoyuan (1038), but also repeatedly violated the Northern Song Dynasty.
At this time, the Northern Song Dynasty was greatly reduced in strength due to its long-term emphasis on literature and light force, and it lost one after another in the face of western Xia's invasions. At this time, Song Renzong changed the thinking of the Northern Song Dynasty for a long time looking down on the warriors, but instead vigorously began to compile and revise military books and train troops to prepare for war. He ordered Ding Du and Zeng Gongliang to compile the 40 volumes of the General Outline of the Martial Classics, the first large-scale comprehensive military work on official cultivation in Chinese history.
After that, he took Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi as his generals, and finally succeeded in quelling the Western Xia Rebellion, making great contributions to the stability of the northwestern border of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Yu (1052), in Lingnan (present-day Guangxi), the leader of the Jurchen clan, Nong Zhi, raised an army against the Song Dynasty, and the army swept through Guangxi and Guangdong. Zhao Zhen appointed Di Qing and Yu Jing as generals to lead the army to the south. In 1053, Di Qing attacked Kunlun Pass at night and defeated Nong Zhigao at the Battle of Quy Nhing Pu. Nong Zhigao fled, and then did not know where to go.
It was also after Emperor Renzong that the status of military generals of the Song Dynasty was promoted to a certain extent.
Third, there were many virtuous subjects at the time of Emperor Renzong, and many traitors after Emperor Renzong
The time of Emperor Renzong was a very significant point of polarization in the Northern Song Dynasty. At the time of Emperor Renzong, the Northern Song Dynasty was still extremely strong, Pingxi Xia, DinglingNan, and Daliao, and forty-two years the people did not see the beacon. But the Northern Song Dynasty after Emperor Renzong was really worse than a day, and it was getting more and more on the downhill road.
In fact, it is not difficult to find that most of the famous ministers in the Northern Song Dynasty were in the era of Emperor Renzong, including Yan Shu, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Fu Bi, Bao Zheng, and so on, and even the later Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, Su Shi and others were also officials who entered the dynasty in the era of Emperor Renzong. However, after this group of people who appeared during the Renzong period, the Northern Song Dynasty did not have many talents who could be of great use. When the Divine Sect changed the Fa, it was Also Wang Anshi who was used as the phase, and there were no capable newcomers.
After Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, there were eight thieves led by Cai Jing, which directly led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. It can be seen that during the Renzong period, it was far superior to other eras in the Northern Song Dynasty in the selection and appointment of talents. This is inseparable from Song Renzong's courtesy corporal and generous treatment.
Otherwise, how could an emperor who could not listen to the advice of his ear be able to find a truly capable courtier and use it? Only those who are clever and flattering will be appointed. In this way, does the Great Song have the reason for immortality?
Finally, we need to know more: feudal society, highly centralized power, if you encounter a wise monarch such as Song Renzong, because of their own example, as well as a wide range of advice, for decades as a day, there is a high probability that the society at that time can achieve greater development.
For example, Chai Rong, the first Ming Emperor of the five generations before the two Song Dynasties, also had the lofty ambition of "expanding the world in ten years, raising the people in ten years, and bringing peace in ten years". The same is true of Renzong and his people, who have worked hard for more than forty years to push the economy of the two Song Dynasties to a rare peak in Chinese history.