In the TV series "Know It or Not", there are two people who are good friends with our second uncle Gu, one is Minglan's second brother Sheng Changbai, and the other is Song Yingzong's son Huan Wang. Judging from the play, Huan Wang and Gu Tingye are the emperor's right and left arms. Judging from the play, Song Yingzong is still a little jealous of his son, and seeing his son is a bit skilled. In real history, his son can be called the most backbone emperor besides Gaozu Gaozong, who insisted on changing the law and dared to fight against the Western Xia, and can be said to be a very capable emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. Speaking of this, everyone may guess the identity of Huan Wang, he is Song Shenzong Zhao Yan.
People familiar with the Song Dynasty know that most of the emperors of the Song Dynasty were the kings of benevolence and softness, and to put it bluntly, they were the kings of Shoucheng. Most of them followed the ancestral system to rule the entire country, only Song Shenzong was determined to reform, wanted to change the situation of poverty and weakness in the Song Dynasty, resisted the pressure of the old ministers, and boldly used Wang Anshi to start Wang Anshi's transformation of the law. Wang Anshi's transformation method can be said to be a more famous change in Chinese history, although Wang Anshi's transformation method ultimately failed, but he still changed the situation of poverty and weakness in the Song Dynasty to a certain extent. Not only that, because he had set an ambition to recover the lost Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures since he was a child, he dared to fight with the Western Xia and lead the army to fight against the Western Xia, and many emperors of the Song Dynasty did not have this courage.
Some people will give all the credit for the change of law to Wang Anshi, but if it were not for Song Shenzong, how could Wang Anshi reform with great fanfare? This is like The Wei Martingale, only with the support of the monarch can the reformers carry out reforms without scruples. Song Shenzong knew about the song dynasty's three redundancies from an early age, and doubted Taizu Taizong's "ancestral law", and Song Shenzong felt that changing the law was the only way to alleviate the crisis of the Song Dynasty. After Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi met, two young people with common aspirations finally came together, and Wang Anshi began a drastic reform with the support of Song Shenzong, and it is undeniable that the reform was bound to be hindered by diehards, and these old ministers impeached Wang Anshi, and these were blocked by Song Shenzong. Some people say that Wang Anshi does not respect the ancestral system, and some people say that Wang Anshi formed a party for personal gain, Song Shenzong still believed in Wang Anshi as always, and with the deepening of the change of law and the problem of Wang Anshi himself, Song Shenzong had to depose Wang Anshi, and the change of law completely failed, but the situation of the Song Dynasty's poverty and weakness was still improved.
Unlike most Of the Song Emperors, Emperor Shenzong of Song was reluctant to seek peace and conquered foreign tribes. During his reign, Vietnam often invaded our territory, and it was the Song Shen Sect that led the army to recover the land occupied by Vietnam. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, it has been repeatedly invaded by the Western Xia and Liao states. The ancestors were timid and afraid of things, so they had to seek peace and pay a large amount of old coins. The young and vigorous Shenzong could not swallow this breath, and brazenly went to war with the Western Xia, because the Song army had not fought for many years, so the Song army was defeated. But no matter what, Shenzong also let the Western Xia people see the indomitability of the Song Army.
Due to the defeat, Song Shenzong became depressed and died shortly after the age of 38. Looking back at The Divine Sect's life, the change of law was unsuccessful and unsuccessful, but it was still respected by future generations. In the final Song Dynasty, Shenzong was one of the few skeletal emperors. For this courage, Shenzong was also called one of the emperors of the Great Song Dynasty.