Zhao Kuangyin had four sons in his lifetime, of which the eldest and third died prematurely, leaving only the second eldest Zhao Dezhao and the fourth Zhao Defang. At the time of Zhao Kuangyin's yellow robe, Zhao Dezhao had just turned 11 years old, and Zhao Defang was less than 2 years old.
At that time, Zhao Dezhao was not only the eldest son of Zhao Kuangyin (
Alive
His mother was still Empress Xiaohui of the He clan, so he could be called the eldest son of Zhao Kuangyin. In this sense, Zhao Dezhao should be Zhao Kuangyin's well-deserved heir.
The problem is that until Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly in 976 AD, during these 16 years, Zhao Kuangyin did not make Zhao Dezhao the crown prince, and even did not have a king, so that his brother Zhao Guangyi was finally cheap.
So, why did Zhao Kuangyin do this?
According to the History of the Song Dynasty, this was mainly because of the Alliance of the Golden Plateau. This was in 961 AD, when Empress Du, Zhao Kuangyin's mother, knowing that her life was short, summoned Zhao Pu, the chancellor, to the palace, and then Empress Du asked Zhao Kuangyin in front of Zhao Pu:
"Do you know how to win the world?"
Zhao Kuangyin replied:
"The reason why I have won the world is because of the blessings of your ancestors and empresses!"
Empress Dowager Du said:
"No, the reason why you got the world is because Zhou Shizong made a small child emperor." If the emperor at that time was an adult, would you still be able to get the world? Therefore, you should learn the lesson and pass the throne to your brother when you die, which is the blessing of the country. ”
Zhao Kuangyin agreed to Empress Du's request, and then asked Zhao Pu to record this passage, and Zhao Pu wrote an oath in front of the bed and hid it in Jinkui (
Same cabinet
and ordered the cautious and careful palace people to take charge. Wait until zhao Kuangyin dies in the future, so that his younger brother can succeed to the throne in name only, which is also the origin of the alliance of the Golden Plateau.
Although this passage is recorded in the canonical history, his authenticity is obviously questionable. In simplest terms, when Empress Du died, Zhao Kuangyin had just been emperor for one year, and at that time Zhao Kuangyin's son Zhao Dezhao was only 12 years old, and he was indeed a child. But the question is, can Empress Du be sure that Zhao Kuangyin will not live to grow up to be Zhao Dezhao?
More importantly, this so-called Alliance of The Golden Kuai first appeared in the sixth year of Zhao Guangyi's reign. If it really existed early on, why didn't Zhao Guangyi take it out when he first ascended the throne, so as to prove that he was legally enthroned? Why wait until six years later? In this year, Zhao Kuangyin's only surviving son, Zhao Defang, happened to die (
Zhao Dezhao died two years ago
Is there such a coincidence?
In this sense, this so-called Alliance of The Golden Daggers is most likely compiled by Zhao Guangyi's imperial literati. Because Zhao Kuangyin's sons were all dead at that time, many people suspected that Zhao Guangyi had done it, so that all kinds of speculations ran out, and in this context, they engaged in a so-called Golden Alliance.
Then, since it was not because of the Alliance of the Golden Kuai, what caused Zhao Kuangyin not to become a prince?
In fact, the main reason was that the world was in a state of division at that time, and Zhao Kuangyin's Song Dynasty happened to be in the process of rapid expansion. In other words, according to the expansion momentum of the Song Dynasty at that time, it was very likely to unify the world. In this context, Zhao Kuangyin naturally would not immediately consider becoming a prince.
Because, once Zhao Kuangyin established the crown prince, he must be trained as the successor of the state, so that the prince can also control the imperial army, otherwise the position of the prince is unstable, and even bring the disaster of killing. In the context of that time, if a minor wanted to be able to control the imperial army well, it was necessary to reform the army, such as setting up various restraints in the army, suppressing military generals with civilian officials, checking and balancing between military generals, and not knowing generals.
If Zhao Kuangyin can achieve this step, he can naturally be very relieved to make the crown prince, and he does not have to worry about the prince not being able to successfully inherit the throne in the future. The problem is that if Zhao Kuangyin did this, it would inevitably lead to a significant decline in the combat effectiveness of the army, which would be very unfavorable to the empire's external expansion. And at that time, the general public also wanted a young and powerful heir. Because only in this way is it easier to push this thriving situation forward.
Therefore, the reason why Zhao Kuangyin did not want to make a prince at the beginning was mainly the main task of the empire at that time, that is, to find a way to unify the world, rather than to build a balance of power for the prince, or even to build a military force that the young emperor could control.
What's more, Zhao Kuangyin was only in his forties at the time, and he was still in his prime, so he didn't want to bother thinking about this kind of problem. Because from the normal situation, how can he live for another twenty or thirty years, he should still have the opportunity to do this in the future. Unfortunately, he did not wait for this opportunity.
It was not until later, when Zhao Guangyi failed to conquer the Liao twice, that the pace of the Song Dynasty's external expansion finally ended, after which Zhao Guangyi began to strengthen the centralization of power internally and reform the army, and then by the end of Zhao Guangyi's life, these things had been almost completed, and he officially established his third son Zhao Heng as crown prince. This year, it has also been 20 years since Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne.