In 960, Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny and established the Song Dynasty, which is historically referred to as the Northern Song Dynasty before the Southern Song Dynasty compared to the Southern Song Dynasty in Hangzhou. It should be noted that the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty are the names of later generations, in fact, they are all "Song Dynasty", and later scholars will call them Northern Song and Southern Song in order to distinguish this history.
Zhao Kuangyin was the first emperor of the Song Dynasty, and he was also known as Song Taizu, who passed the throne to his younger brother after the death of Song Taizu, who was also known as Zhao Guangyi (also known as Zhao Guangyi). After the death of Emperor Taizong of Song, the throne was passed to the third son, that is, Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong, today we will talk about the story of Zhao Heng, as the third emperor of the Song Dynasty, what did Zhao Heng do?
Zhao Heng was crowned King of Xiang before he succeeded to the throne, he was the third son of Emperor Taizong of Song Zhao Jiong, and the throne that Zhao Jiong inherited was passed to him by his brother Zhao Kuangyin, but when he sat on the throne, Zhao Jiong was reluctant to come down. According to the rules set by Empress Dowager Du, after Zhao Jiong's death, the throne should be passed back to Zhao Kuangyin's son, but Zhao Jiong was really reluctant and consulted with Zhao Pu. Zhao Pu saw Zhao Jiong's meaning, pushed the boat along the water, and asked Zhao Jiong: "Does Your Majesty still want to be wrong again and again?" In this way, Zhao Jiong made up his mind to pass the throne to his son, so Zhao Heng inherited the throne and became the third emperor of the Song Dynasty.
After Zhao Heng succeeded to the throne, the Liao Dynasty in the north of the Song Dynasty has always been eyeing the Song Dynasty, and in the first year of Jingde, in 1004 AD, the Liao Dynasty, under the leadership of Empress Xiao and Liao Shengzong Yelü Longxu, led an army of 200,000 to attack the Song Dynasty, and the urgent documents of the border pass flew to the Beijing Division like snowflakes. Zhao Heng hurriedly consulted with the ministers, some advocating peace, and some advocating moving the capital to Nanjing. However, Kou Zhun advocated a counterattack and let Zhao Heng personally march to improve morale and defeat the Liao Dynasty to avoid future troubles.
Zhao Heng did not want to march on the royal drive, but Kou Zhun kept writing to the book, and the border pass was also constantly in a hurry, so in desperation, Zhao Heng could only follow Kou Zhun's royal driving pro-march. Sure enough, the soldiers at the border pass cheered and boosted their morale when they saw the emperor coming, and they also took the opportunity to shoot xiao Taorin, the commander of the Liao Dynasty's Nanjing army, and thwarted the prestige of the Liao Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty also did not expect that Emperor Zhenzong of Song would personally march on the throne, and in order to preserve her strength, Empress Xiao took the initiative to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty, so Zhao Heng sent an emissary Cao Yong to negotiate with the Liao Dynasty.
Before the negotiations, Kou Zhun, who was the main warrior, learned of the news that peace talks were to be held, and he was originally reluctant to negotiate peace, so he threatened Cao to use it, and if the annual coin of the negotiation (equivalent to a tribute to the Liao Dynasty) was greater than 300,000 taels, you would bring it up to see him. It may be that Cao used caution and caution, or it may be that Kou Zhun's words played a role, and in the end, the result of Cao's negotiations with the Liao Dynasty was that the two sides opened border cities to each other, and the Song Dynasty gave the Liao Dynasty 300,000 coins every year, which is the famous "Alliance of The Yuan" in history.
After the signing of the "Alliance of Yuanyuan", Zhao Heng was anxious to know the result, and he asked Cao how much money he used to negotiate? Cao Yu did not dare to answer, and only held out three fingers. Zhao Heng thought it was three million taels, and was shocked, and then comforted himself: "Although it is a little much, it is okay to solve this matter once and for all." When he learned that the result of Cao's negotiations was 300,000 taels, Zhao Heng immediately turned from worry to joy and rewarded Cao with his use.
It may also be the reason for this gap that Zhao Heng has been complacent after the signing of the "Alliance of Liaoyuan", when the Song Dynasty's use of troops against the Liao Dynasty cost 30 million taels per year, while the annual coin of the "Alliance of Liaoyuan" was only 300,000 taels, only one percent of the military expenditure. Compared with before, Zhao Heng only needed to spend 300,000 taels a year to make the border pass too peaceful, he felt that he had done something that neither his uncle nor his father could do, and the Song Dynasty made a lot of money in the border market trade, more than three times the age of the coin, and even more through trade, the Liao Dynasty was dragged down, making the Song Dynasty usher in a rare peace, and Zhao Heng's complacentity was also understandable.