Up and down five thousand years, modern times all cover different history, I want you to look good
Text: Wei Jiwei
In 976 AD (midnight in October of the ninth year of Song Kaibao), Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, fell seriously ill and summoned Zhao Guangyi, the king of Jin, to discuss matters, and was not heard of left and right. During the banquet, some people saw Zhao Guangyi leaving the table from time to time under the candlelight, and they were evasive, and they heard Taizu leading the pillar and poke the ground, and said loudly: "Good for it" (another record says "good to do, good to do"). However, in the early morning of the 20th, Emperor Taizu of Song died, and Zhao Guangyi, the king of Jin, succeeded to the throne according to his posthumous photos, and was known as Emperor Taizong of Song. This is the famous axe light candle shadow incident in history, because Song Taizu suddenly died, and only Zhao Guangyi was present before his death, the mysteries of the axe light candle shadow incident caused many people to be full of doubts about Zhao Guangyi's inheritance to the throne, plus what Zhao Guangyi did after inheriting the throne made people believe that Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was murdered by his younger brother Zhao Guangyi! The reasons are as follows:
▲ Zhao Kuangyin (March 21, 927 – November 14, 976)
First, after Zhao Guangyi inherited the throne, he did not change the ninth year of Kaibao, which had only two months left, to the first year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom according to the practice of successive generations of succession to the throne, so people thought that it was Zhao Guangyi who had a ghost in his heart, so he couldn't wait to cook raw rice into mature rice, so as to create the fact that he had inherited the throne and could not be changed.
Second, Song Taizu's two sons later died. Zhao Dezhao, the second son of Emperor Taizu of Song Zhao Kuangyin, the Prince of Wugong, was forced to commit suicide in 979, and his second son Defang died without cause in 981. Therefore, many people think that this is Zhao Guangyi's attempt to cover up the truth of his brother's seizure of the throne, and cut the grass and root out the root to never cause trouble.
Third, Zhao Guangyi once named the imperial sister-in-law Empress Taizu of Song as "Empress Kaibao", but after the death of Empress Taizu of Song, Zhao Guangyi did not follow the etiquette of the empress, which caused many people in later generations to criticize, thinking that this was the manifestation of Zhao Guangyi's brother-in-law seizing the throne, and he did not have the slightest respect for the imperial sister-in-law.
4. After Zhao Guangyi inherited the throne, he repeatedly persecuted his brother Zhao Tingmei, causing him to end up depressed, since Zhao Guangyi inherited the throne of his brother Zhao Kuangyin, then according to the rules of his brother's final brother, Zhao Tingmei had the right to inherit Zhao Guangyi's throne. Zhao Guangyi's persecution of his brother shows that he does not recognize his brother's inheritance law at all.
Fifth, there is a wild historical saying: After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty Zhao Zhi has never had any heirs, and it is said that one night Zhao Zhi dreamed back to the scene of the axe light candle shadow incident, witnessed the truth at that time, and woke up feeling ashamed of Song Taizu, so he appointed the descendants of Song Taizu and returned the great Song Jiangshan to the descendants of Song Taizu.
▲Emperor Taizong of Song Zhao Guangyi (939-997)
For thousands of years, people have painted and painted how Zhao Guangyi killed his brother to seize the throne, ruthless, etc., but it is nothing more than the above five points, but the above five points do not prove that Zhao Guangyi killed Zhao Kuangyin, the ancestor of Song, for the following reasons:
First, Zhao Guangyi's hurry to change the year name after inheriting the throne can only show his eagerness to get the throne, and if it is really his brother who took the throne, doesn't he know how to hide? Also deliberately aroused everyone's criticism? Zhao Guangyi is not only not stupid, but also very scheming, he changed the year name in advance, everyone's criticism of him, he can't not know, so why did he do this? That's because Zhao Guangyi has a particularly strong desire for power, and he only admires his brother under the whole world, and he has waited for the throne for 17 years, and now that Zhao Kuangyin is dead, he is no longer willing to endure, he wants to create his own era!
Second, the death of Song Taizu's son is controversial, but the death of Song Taizu's two sons has been a few years since Zhao Guangyi inherited the throne, and Zhao Guangyi's throne has been stabilized, if it is because Zhao Guangyi in order to cover up the truth of his brother's murder to seize the throne, then Zhao Guangyi should have started when he first ascended the throne, why wait a few more years? Could it be that Zhao Guangyi is soft-hearted? Of course not! Take 10,000 steps back and say that Song Taizu's two sons were killed by Zhao Guangyi, then Zhao Guangyi is also to eliminate the hidden danger of his son ascending the throne as emperor, after all, Jiangshan was laid down by Taizu, and Taizu's two sons are older and more capable than their own sons, how can Zhao Guangyi tolerate this?
▲Map of the Northern Song Dynasty
Third, as for Zhao Guangyi's failure to treat his sister-in-law according to the etiquette of the empress, although this is a loss of national body, it cannot be so on the line, so it is judged that Zhao Guangyi killed his brother to seize the throne. Back then, Li Shimin was thin to Li Yuan, Tang Suzong was to Li Longji, were they all father-killers? This is clearly nonsense. The real situation is that the Empress Song has always persuaded Taizu to make his son the prince, so Zhao Guangyi holds a grudge.
Fourth, after Zhao Guangyi inherited the throne, he repeatedly persecuted his brother Zhao Tingmei, which has nothing to do with Zhao Guangyi's succession to the throne, but with the inheritance of the throne. By the time Zhao Guangyi became emperor, the Great Song Dynasty had basically unified the Central Plains and the south, the situation was stable and the culture was prosperous, and Zhao Guangyi's son had been cultivated into talents, and he was worried that his brother Zhao Tingmei was still worried about his brother's final brother and inheritance laws, so he repeatedly persecuted his brother Zhao Tingmei.
Fifth, this wild historical statement is even more nonsense, the reason why Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty made the descendants of Taizu emperors was because the descendants of Taizong were slaughtered by the Jin people in the Jingkang Change, and there was no choice of objects. Emperor Gaozong of Song had no choice but to do so.
▲ Jingkang's change wax figure
After the author flipped through the history books, I found that Zhao Guangyi may have the idea of killing his brother to seize the throne, but he does not have this courage, nor this opportunity, nor this ability! In fact, Song Taizu was indeed not murdered by Zhao Guangyi. The reasons are as follows:
First, Song Taizu lived in the turbulent era of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, especially in the Central Plains, from 907 to 960 AD, in just fifty-three years, five dynasties changed, and more than a dozen emperors appeared, and rebellion has become commonplace. It was by launching the Chen Qiao Mutiny that Emperor Taizu of Song himself took the throne from Later Zhou. Can he see through Zhao Guangyi's thoughts?
Second, Song Taizu started by military merit to seize the world, he mentally knows very well how much influence the army has on the emperor, although Zhao Guangyi has part of the military power, but he only commands a quarter of the forbidden army, the rest of the army is in the hands of Song Taizu's cronies, that is, Zhao Guangyi commanded a quarter of the generals in the forbidden army were also brought out by Song Taizu, if Zhao Guangyi rebelled against the army in his hands, did he really listen to him?
▲Chen Qiao mutiny
Third, let's go back to the night of the axe light candle shadow incident, Zhao Guangyi entered the palace alone, and he could kill Song Taizu when he was awake? Some people speculate that Zhao Guangyi killed him while Taizu was sick, don't tease Emperor Taizu, but he is famous for his martial arts, and even Xiao Feng in the Eight Heavenly Dragons admires him; Some people said: It may also be poisoned, don't forget that Taizu invited Zhao Guangyi to eat, could it be that Zhao Guangyi took advantage of Taizu's words not paying attention? Or did Zhao Guangyi do it in the palace? But the emperor is not like us when he eats, he has to go through countless humane testing processes. In Emperor Taizu's palace, Zhao Guangyi alone with his bare hands can kill Song Taizu without knowing it? Is he Superman?
Fourth, Emperor Taizu of Song had been vigorously cultivating Zhao Guangyi, allowing Zhao Guangyi to hold military power, and since the second year of Jianlong (961), Taizu made him the governor of Kaifeng. It has been more than ten years, and there has never been a change. Yin of Kaifeng Prefecture was the supreme administrator of the capital, and since the Five Dynasties period, there has been an unwritten rule that anyone who serves as the supreme administrator of the capital is a candidate for the future crown prince. In the sixth year of Kaibao (973), Taizu even made Zhao Guangyi the King of Jin, ranking above the prime minister and becoming the second most important person in the country. On the contrary, for his son Taizu of Song, he did not even make a king, and there was never any sign of his intention to make his son crown prince. Therefore, it is obvious that Taizu also cultivated Zhao Guangyi as the heir to the throne.
Fifth, in the summer of the year when Song Taizu died, Zhao Kuangyin spent a month in Luoyang. When parting, Zhao Kuangyin went to his father's Anling to worship and cry, saying, "I must not go to this place again in this life!" Subsequently, he "changed his clothes, took the arc arrow, ascended the platform, looked northwest and sounded the arrow, and the arrow was called left and right: that is, this is the imperial hall (that is, the cemetery)" ("Jade Kettle Qingyu"), which shows that Zhao Kuangyin is very aware of his physical illness, and he also has a premonition in his heart that his death is coming.
▲ Axe light candle shadow
On the night of the axe candle shadow incident, the author speculated that the biggest possibility should be that Song Taizu explained the fate to his brother before he died, Taizu saw very clearly the various small actions that Zhao Guangyi made behind his back, he knew that his younger brother was of despicable character, but his sons were young, the whole country had not yet been unified, the Great Song Dynasty had not yet been firmly ruled, and if he let his son inherit the throne, it would be difficult to ensure that the Great Song Jiangshan was taken away.
Taizu had no choice, he could only hand over Jiangshan to Zhao Guangyi, although he was 10,000 unwilling in his heart, but Jiangshan Sheji was a heavy monarch and light! He had to! Of course, the historical truth is difficult to verify, and future generations can only speculate on the most reasonable possibility from historical materials.