Friends who are interested in the Song Dynasty should all know that the Song Dynasty has always been "heavy on literature and light on martial arts". Like the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties" as we know them, a large part of them are from the Song Dynasty.
In the Song Dynasty under the policy of "emphasizing literature over force", the strength of the literati group was indeed quite strong, but in terms of military strength, compared with other countries in the same period, it was relatively weak. In addition, the ethnic minorities around them developed rapidly at that time, and in the late Song Dynasty, they developed rapidly. The situation faced by the entire Song Dynasty was still relatively dangerous.
The Song Jiang Uprising in "Water Margin" as we know it is a real portrayal of the folk situation at that time. Although the internal governance of the Song Dynasty was still relatively stable, the increasingly frequent violations by external ethnic minorities eventually led to the collapse of the Song Dynasty. The rulers at the end of the Song Dynasty had a tragic experience.
The fifth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Yun of the Song Dynasty, was the most typical of that tragic encounter. After his death, his head was also made into a wine cup, which was played with by the magnates of the Yuan Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, until Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as emperor, and then regained the head and buried it.
Why the head of Zhao Yun of Song Lizong ended up falling into the hands of the Yuan people was actually related to a monk.
This monk's name was Yang Zhenjia, and shortly after the southern Song Dynasty was conquered, in 127 AD, everything was in his hands. In fact, this Yang Lian Zhenjia was still a tomb robber, so he took advantage of his position to lead someone to open the tomb of Zhao Yun of Song Lizong.
The reason why Yang Zhenjia took Zhao Yun's skull down was actually related to the Tibetan Buddhism he believed in. In their Kind of Buddhism, there is a saying that the skull of a person is made into a Dharma instrument, which can be mentioned. High your own cultivation. Yang Lian Zhenjia believed in this statement very much. In addition, he felt that using the emperor's head would increase his mana. So, zhao Yun's skull was made into a wine glass. Later, this wine glass made of skulls has also been in the hands of Yang Zhenjia, cherished by him, and played with every day.
How much does Yang Lian Zhenjia like this "wine glass"? He even invited skilled craftsmen to polish the head very finely and inlaid it with gold and silver jewelry. It was not until six years later, in 1291, that Yang Zhenjia was executed for his involvement in the case, so that after his mansion was raided, the wine cup fell into the hands of the emperor.
In 1367, Zhu Yuanzhang led his army in the Northern Expedition, clearing the remaining Yuan army troops. In this process, Zhu Yuanzhang met Wei Su, so in the process of finally talking, Zhu Yuanzhang learned that at the banquet of the Yuan Dynasty, Wei Su had personally seen Song Lizong's skull wine vessel appear at the banquet. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this news, he was very shocked, so he ordered his subordinate Xu Da to start looking for the traces of this wine glass.
Although the whole process was particularly difficult, Xu Da finally did not live up to Zhu Yuanzhang's heavy trust, and in the imperial palace of the Yuan Dynasty, he said that this wine cup was found.
At the end of the matter, Zhu Yuanzhang brought this wine cup to Nanjing, and repaired many of the mausoleums left behind during the Southern Song Dynasty, and finally buried the head of Zhao Yun of the Song Dynasty to the Yong Tomb. This move can also be seen in Zhu Yuanzhang's feelings for the country, although he is also a generation of founding emperors, but his respect for the Han people, from this can be seen, it is admirable.