In 1126 AD, Emperor Huizong of Song sat on the piano, his flexible fingers plucked from the strings like butterflies, his expression was focused and his posture was serious, so that he acted more like a violinist than an emperor. At this time, he did not know that in the north of JuyongGuan, the Jin soldiers had already rubbed their fists and were ready to march south again and attack the Great Song. And this time, their appetite was already large enough to swallow the entire Northern Song Dynasty.
In April of the second year of Jing Kang, the Jin army attacked Kaifeng, and in disregard of the peace conditions offered by Emperor Huizong of Song, escorted the entire Zhao royal family with more than 3,000 concubines and dignitaries of the harem to the north. The "shame of Jing Kang", which Yue Fei did not dare to forget until his death, came to open the curtain. However, a few years later, when the Northern Song Dynasty literati recalled these humiliations, they pointed the finger at the former Chancellor Wang Anshi, who had been dead for more than forty years, and angrily scolded that if it were not for his change of law, the Northern Song Dynasty would not have ushered in such a great shame. The Northern Song Dynasty literati pushed all the responsibility on the Wang An stone, which had long been turned into a touch of loess, which was actually not far-fetched.
In the third year of Jiayou, Wang Anshi, who was then the judge of the Du Branch, entered Beijing to report for duty and sent Song Renzong a 10,000-word "Letter of Words and Deeds of Emperor Shangrenzong", summarizing in detail his experience as an official in many places and the problems that needed to be solved urgently in the Previous Great Song. Wang Anshi said that the Northern Song Dynasty now needs a complete change of law in order to make the whole country look new. However, after reading this book, Song Renzong did not take his position.
Ten years later, the 19-year-old Song Shenzong succeeded to the throne, and like all new monarchs, he hoped that he would make a difference in his life. Faced with a financial deficit of more than 17.5 million taels in the treasury, Emperor Shenzong no longer dared to believe the "Law of the Ancestors" formulated by Song Taizu and Song Taizong a hundred years ago, so he immediately summoned Wang Anshi to Beijing to provide him with all the conveniences and implement the change of law.
Wang Anshi's method of transformation specifically targets five aspects. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were a large number of officials, most of whom were paid empty salaries and did not do anything. If the government is reorganized and the useless people are kicked out, it will naturally reduce a large amount of expenses. In addition, it is necessary to reduce the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes and fees, so that the peasants' lives will gradually improve; they will vigorously promote water conservancy and consolidate the foundation of farming; strengthen the army and lay off useless people; and revitalize the imperial examination so that the students of the cold door will have a head start. These variations, no matter what era they are placed in, are good things.??
However, Wang Anshi's five changes can never be realized. When Emperor Shenzong of Song tried to change the law, the Manchu ministers all stood against him. Putting aside the hysterical accusations of the opposition, the factions that support the change of law have repeatedly attacked each other, and have long been scattered. Empress Gao, who was accustomed to being high and mighty, naturally did not want to talk about giving up power to others, and once Emperor Shenzong returned to the harem, she pulled Empress Cao to cry and complained that Wang Anshi had broken the ancestral family law and harmed the people of the world. Like Wang Mang, Wang Anshi's method of change was too advanced, violating the fundamental interests of the magnates, and in the end there was only one way to die.
History has no ifs, but assuming that Wang Anshi's transformation method is successful, will there still be the shame of Jing Kang at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty? After the death of Emperor Shenzong of Song, Emperor Zhezong, who was only 8 years old, succeeded to the throne, and had always been obsessed with imperial politics, and Empress Gao, who was praised by the "Continued Zizhi Tongjian" as "Female Yao Shun", held the highest decision-making power in the entire Great Song Dynasty. She immediately rose up against Sima Guang, who was resolutely opposed to Wang Anshi's change of law. Sima Guangyi changed the style of the literati and quickly abolished all the new laws that Wang Anshi had previously carried out, and also completely washed away all the dreams of Song Shenzong's former life of a rich country and a strong army.
The elderly Empress Gao died, and the little emperor Song Zhezong, who had been suppressed for nine years, finally had the opportunity to take sole power, so the law-changing faction was able to breathe and gradually restore the new law. However, Song Zhezong's support has changed, his father Shenzong wants the country to be rich and the people are strong, and Zhezong is only to suppress the old courtiers who have insulted him for many years. Sima Guang and others were degraded again and again after their deaths, and the living conservatives were exiled to Lingnan. However, disputes began within the Fa-reform faction again, and wave after wave of unevenness and wave after wave of revolts between the dprk and the central government. The exhausted Song Zhezong held power for only six years, and he died early.
The kingdom could not be left without a monarch for a day, and Song Zhezong did not leave a son, and pushed Zhao Yao, the eleventh son of Emperor Shenzong, to the empress dowager. The 19-year-old Zhao Tuo has always loved calligraphy and painting, but at the beginning of his reign, he also had the image of a British lord, removing adulterers, opening up the way, lighting a fire, but no more firewood. In the second year of his ascension to the throne, Emperor Huizong of Song declared that "Chongning, Chongxining", obviously wanted to restore the law of the Divine Sect. At this time, Cai Jing relied on the recommendation of the right minister Zeng Bu to become Zhao Yao's favorite subject in one fell swoop, and he restored the old system and used Wang Anshi's new law to exclude political enemies in the name of "changing the law". And Zhao Tuo also believed in Cai Jing wholeheartedly, entrusting him with the affairs of the DPRK and China, and only caring about playing the piano and exchanging poems every day.
Since Emperor Shenzong, all three emperors have tried to change the law, but all have failed. Perhaps this is what people often call "historical inevitability." If Wang Anshi's change of law can be successful, Jing Kang shame can naturally be avoided, but unfortunately Wang Anshi's change of law is doomed to failure. Song Shenzong, Song Zhezong, and Song Huizong could not change the course of history, and this is the answer.