On November 16, 1264, the 60-year-old Emperor Lizong of Song died of illness, and the 25-year-old crown prince took over the edict and became the sixth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, Song Duzong. At this time, the Southern Song Dynasty was in a state of flux, with the threat of Mongolian Yuan and the accumulation of domestic shortcomings, and an urgent need for a heroic emperor to revive the dynasty. However, Song Duzong was a faint and stupid emperor, so that the Southern Song Dynasty lost his last chance! Song Duzong was not a prince and had bad character, so how did he inherit the throne?
1. Birth
Song Duzong's biological father was named Zhao yourui, who was the younger brother of Song Lizong and was given the title of King Rong. As the princes of the Southern Song Dynasty and the younger brothers of the emperor, Zhao and Rui naturally had many wives and concubines, but his lady was very domineering and did not allow those side chambers to become pregnant, and immediately beat them with drugs after discovery. Song Duzong's birth mother, named Huang Dingxi, came from a humble origin and was only a dowry maid, but she was favored by King Zhao and Rui of Rong, and as a result, she became pregnant.
This matter was learned by Mrs. Zhengfang, who immediately sent someone to force Huang Dingxi to take abortion drugs. However, this fetus was not killed, and was born on May 2, 1240, which is Song Duzong. However, the fetal drug has damaged the normal development of the fetus, and as a result, Song Duzong was born with problems, congenital deficiencies, physical weakness, "weak hands and feet, until the age of seven can speak", the development is very slow, there are also problems in intelligence, it can be said that it is stupid.
2. Prince
Although Song Duzong was a child with "problems", he became the "hope" of the entire Southern Song Dynasty! It turned out that although Song Lizong, the great uncle of Emperor Duzong of Song, reigned for a long time and there were many concubines in the harem, he never had a son! The prince was called the "national capital" and was very important to a feudal dynasty, so the entire Southern Song Dynasty was worried about this matter. For Song Lizong, his nephew Song Duzong was one of the people closest to him and was naturally the best candidate for the throne.
Emperor Lizong of Song cultivated Emperor Duzong of Song according to the standards of the crown prince, but Emperor Duzong of Song was stupid by nature and could not learn well. Later, Song Lizong personally came forward to counsel, but Song Duzong still did not know what to do, which made Song Lizong often angry. In 1253, Emperor Lizong of Song decided to change this only nephew to a crown prince and made him the Prince of Zhong. In 1260, Emperor Lizong of Song ignored the opposition of the chancellor and made his nephew Emperor Duzong of Song crown prince. From this point of view, Song Lizong's consciousness was completely inferior to that of Song Gaozong.
3. Reign
Emperor Duzong of Song reigned in 1264 and reigned for ten years, dying of illness in 1274 at the age of 35. Song Duzong likes fine wine and beautiful people, don't look at his intelligence is not high, but when he was a prince, he was very interested in wine color, "with a good smell, both stand, delay in wine color." According to the rules of the Song Dynasty, the concubines favored by the emperor would go to the emperor's palace gate the next morning to thank him, "and at the beginning of the emperor, there were more than thirty people who thanked the emperor in one day." In addition, Emperor Duzong of Song appointed Jia Xiangdao and others, causing chaos in the government.
Although Emperor Gaozong of Song killed Yue Fei, he was still very cautious about the issue of heirs, and finally after some observation, he chose Song Xiaozong (a descendant of Song Taizu), who was very distant from him, and Song Xiaozong could be said to be the most virtuous emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. Song Lizong chose the heir according to the blood relationship, and did not consider the ability of the heir at all. It is reasonable to say that Song Duzong should be the king of the subjugated country, and his indulgence led to his early death, which can be regarded as escaping the difficulty of subjugating the country.
References: 1. "History of Song"; 2. "Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian"