(Zhao Shu, later Emperor Yingzong of Song)
Song Renzong Zhao Zhen had a very headache problem, and he did not have a son under his knees.
The emperor can have no great achievements, no ancient names, but he must not be without sons.
The absence of sons means that the emperor's throne is not inherited, and no one inheriting the throne means that the Northern Song Dynasty's state is likely to be broken.
Of course, Zhao Zhen could not let himself carry the cauldron of the imperial pulse on his back, so he quickly brought his cousin Zhao Shu, the son of Zhao Yunrang, the King of Pu'an Yi, into the palace as his alternative plan.
The reason why it was an alternative was because Zhao Zhen still stubbornly believed that the heavens would not treat him in this way, and he still felt with great anticipation that the concubines in the harem would definitely give birth to flesh and bones for himself.
But the heavens were partial to love, and the concubines in the harem gave birth to one after another, either prematurely or girls.
This made the emperor very anxious.
Zhao Shu was his own alternative plan, but who would want to pass the throne to a distant relative?
Emperors like Rende, such as Zhao Zhen, also had selfish intentions in the face of the issue of the transfer of power.
So one of the situations we can expect is that the young Zhao Shu lost his freedom early and was taken into the palace, and his life was not satisfactory.
Because he did not know what his future fate would be, infinite confusion has been lingering in this child's mind.
Through some historical records, we will find that Zhao Shu in his childhood was a very good child.
The teachers in the palace who taught him to read and read sensibly, every time he met, Zhao Shu dressed formally and respectfully.
He said to the teacher:
"Master, dare to be polite?"
From this small act, we can see something that is known in a small way, that is, Zhao Shu is a very polite and cultivated person.
Looking at Chinese history, there are many royal disciples in the palaces of the past, those who play absurd, and those who are rude and rude, but it is rare for Zhao Shu to treat others with such humility and caution.
The glory and wealth of the royal family, to some extent, is the honey pot of the princes, which will only make them flow in glitz, but they will not let them really grow.
The plain and difficult years may have made Zhao Shu suffer some hardships, but it will benefit him infinitely in his future life.
(Restoration of the Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Palace)
Soon, Zhao Shu's biological father, Zhao Yunrang, died, according to the rules. The wealth accumulated by this prince before his death was to be divided equally among his heirs, and naturally there was also a share of Zhao Shu.
After all, it is a piece of money, and the other children are all in their pockets, only Zhao Shu has distributed the money he deserves to the people who once served his father.
This may be just a few small things, just a few words, but recorded in the corners of the vast history books, and the legends of those emperors, there seems to be no comparison between life and ups and downs.
But it is precisely this record that is true enough to let future generations of people understand Zhao Shu's complete personality.
He was a humble, cautious, kind man.
This personality began as a young boy and never changed until his death.
In the eighth year of Jiayou, in the third month of the lunar calendar, a generation of renjun Song Renzong Zhao Zhen completed his life journey, and the whole country mourned and was sad.
As an alternative, Zhao Shu finally came to the foreground from behind the scenes and became the new master of the Northern Song Empire. (i.e. Song Yingzong)
Zhao Shu, who ascended to the throne, did not have the ecstasy of gaining power, nor did he immediately intend to exert his fists and feet, and he announced a decision that surprised everyone, that is, he wanted to keep filial piety for the former emperor Song Renzong Zhao Zhen for three years.
Observance of festivals and rituals.
This was the first impression the new emperor left on his first ascension to the throne.
Of course, the ministers could not agree that the new emperor ascended the throne, just when everything was in ruins and waiting to be revived, the emperor kept filial piety for three years, and who would preside over the operation of the whole country in these three years?
When the ministers dismissed Zhao Shu's idea of keeping filial piety, the emperor quickly did something else.
And when it comes to this, we must first mention a person.
This person is Han Qi, the prime minister of the dynasty.
(Portrait of Han Qi)
Han Qi proposed to the emperor that a meeting should be arranged and that the officials of the imperial court should be invited to discuss the name of the emperor's biological father, Zhao Yunrang, the Prince of Pu'an Yi.
Of course, the emperor was very happy, because Song Renzong Zhao Zhen was only his nominal father, and now that he was the emperor, Zhao Yunrang, as his biological father, always had to have a name, right?
The courtiers had two very different ideas on the subject.
Officials led by Chancellor Han Qi believed that Zhao Yunrang was the emperor's biological father and deserved to be examined by the emperor. (Former Emperor)
Officials led by the university scholar Wang Jue believed that Zhao Yunrang was the older brother of Emperor Renzong of Song, and according to the patriarchal system of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhao Shu should call Zhao Yunrang "Emperor Uncle".
According to the modern perspective, it was obviously unreasonable to let Zhao Shu call his biological father his uncle, but at that time, this idea was actually supported by the vast majority of the ministers above the court.
Of course, Zhao Shu was very confused, he thought that he just wanted to earn a name for his father, why was he so strongly opposed by the ministers?
The emperor thought that I was the emperor and I had the final say, so he planned to honor Zhao Yunjian as the emperor despite the objections of the courtiers.
Prime Minister Han Qi pointed out a very crucial point.
The emperor's behavior seems reasonable, but it is challenging the patriarchal system of the Song Dynasty, and the person who has the most say and decision on this patriarchal system is not the minister, but the empress dowager of the current Great Song Dynasty, Empress Cao.
But when the emperor went to ask Empress Cao's opinion, the answer was consistent with that of the ministers who opposed him.
The empress dowager believed that Zhao Yunrang had never been an emperor, so at most he was an imperial uncle.
A more crucial message is that since Emperor Renzong Zhao Zhen was not the emperor's biological father, then empress dowager Cao shi was of course not related to the emperor by blood, and the relationship between the empress dowager and the emperor had always been discordant in ordinary days, so on the issue of Zhao Yun's abdication, Empress Cao would naturally vote against it.
But what everyone did not expect was that not long after, the emperor actually had an edict signed by Empress Cao herself, and the content of the edict was about the establishment of Zhao Yun's concession, and on this edict, Empress Cao actually signed the word consent.
We have no way of knowing why Empress Cao, who had always been unable to deal with the emperor, actually changed the direction of the wind and began to support the emperor instead.
It was rumored that the emperor's cronies coerced empress dowager to sign it while empress dowager Cao was drunk.
(Portrait of Empress Cao)
If this matter is true, then this kind of behavior is certainly shameful, but the black paper and white words are there, and the empress dowager can no longer deny it.
The emperor had the edict of the empress dowager and gleefully announced the news that Zhao Yun rang as the emperor.
He thought he had finally won back a city, but he did not expect that what awaited him was the stronger opposition of the ministers.
Those officials who had opposed the emperor said that if they wanted to honor Zhao Yunjian as the emperor, then they would collectively resign and stop doing it.
The emperor was confused.
He really couldn't understand that he was just out of the heart of a filial piety, wanting to give his late father a name, why did the ministers always oppose him?
Of course, it was difficult for him to understand this, because there was a very complicated reason for it.
Because if Zhao Yunrang's status has always been that of a prince, then Zhao Shu's background identity will always be a succession of princes, and the succession of princes to inherit the throne, to some extent, will never be justified.
And the unjustified emperor is difficult to have absolute authority in the imperial power.
Without absolute authority, ministers could do a good job of restraining the emperor, and even the imperial power.
So I thought, maybe Song Yingzong Zhao Shu had already thought of this.
If he wanted to truly control the power hub of the entire Song Empire, then he had to take this step.
Only by turning his father's position into an emperor is he the rightful heir to the throne.
In order to make himself the emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Shu tossed and turned for 18 months.
After 18 months of unremitting struggle and struggle, the ministers finally made concessions.
Because Zhao Shu seemed to have infinite combat effectiveness, he would not give up if he could not achieve his goal one day.
A large number of officials were deposed for opposing the emperor's opinion, and a large number of state affairs were shelved because of the endless controversy in the court.
(This controversy over the posthumous imperial examination was later called: the Dispute of the Pu Council)
The ministers finally gave in, and Zhao Shu succeeded in promoting his father's position to the imperial examination, and for this matter, he had already spent a quarter of his imperial career.
Because Zhao Shu only passed four years from his ascension to the throne to his death.
For four years, he devoted a great deal of energy to this matter, resulting in almost a blank political performance during his reign.
His temple name is "Ying", but I really can't see where the emperor's name is.
For the rest of the time, he worked as a star chaser for a while, and he was madly in love with the literati Su Shi at that time. He even wanted to promote Su Shi to the position of Zhizhi (知制诰), equivalent to his own personal secretary, but was soon opposed by his ministers.
The ministers of the Yingzong dynasty may have had too deep feelings with the former emperor Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong, which led to their seemingly irreconcilable contradictions and dissatisfaction with the successor Song Yingzong.
But the emperors of the world are different, who can do it all as they wish?
Some people say that Yingzong was very capable, and the Northern Song Dynasty experienced great economic prosperity under his short four-year rule.
Yes, in the second year of Zhiping, for example, the annual fiscal revenue is about 110 million silver, which is indeed a huge and proud figure.
But if I look up the fiscal expenditure of the current year, I will find a shocking truth, because the fiscal expenditure of that year was 120 million taels.
Is the prosperity of not being able to make ends meet also called prosperity?
Throughout the life of Song Yingzong Zhao Shu, young into the palace, old and heavy, humble and dignified, is a young man of good character, and after the imperial throne, it can only be said that he is honest and honest, one by one, and has not brought any real changes to the Song Empire.
With his ability, he could not travel farther on this giant ship of the Great Song Empire, but he would definitely not let this giant ship leak or sail out of the course.
He was just an ordinary Northern Song Emperor.
Ordinary is like everyone around us.
This is the luck of the emperor, because the emperor who can distinguish everyone must not be tyrannical and faint, and must be a normal person.
But this is also the misfortune of the emperor, because as an emperor, mediocrity is a sin.