The most prominent family of the Song Dynasty

The most noble, richest, and most powerful family in the cities of the Song Dynasty was naturally the Zhao royal family.

The royal family is always the fastest multiplying family, because they can enjoy some privileges and privileges that no other family can enjoy. All clans are paid salaries and allowances by the government from the age of five.

According to rough statistics, in the Northern Song Dynasty alone, the royal family of the Zhao family was named the prince and the dragon grandson of the prince and the king of the county (including those who died and were posthumously sealed), excluding the eight emperors, a total of 123 people. Coupled with the fact that those who have obtained other titles and various official positions, the high slopes snowball, and they have become a bloated group from generation to generation.

According to the records of the Xianyuan Genealogy of the Song Zongzheng Temple, the sons of the two dynasties of Huizong and Qinzong who lived in the late Northern Song Dynasty had 564 people in the line of "order" and 1,221 people in the line of "son", and in the line of Taizong, there were 1,499 people in the line of "shi" and 2,130 people in the line of "no". There are 5,414 sects in these four lines alone. Plus their families, what a team!

Soko lived mainly in Tokyo and Beijing, and the daimyo mansions were overcrowded. Later, Cai Jing suggested that they be dispersed to Xijing, Henan, and Yingtianfu in Nanjing, and their nearby prefectures, and to be resettled in convenient prefectures along the banks of the Yellow River.

In dealing with the issue of the clan, the Song Dynasty learned the lessons of the Han, Jin, and Tang dynasties and did not allow the clan to intervene in the substantive activities of the regime. In the Tang Dynasty, there were eleven sons who served as prime ministers. The rule established by the Song Dynasty was that members of the clan were generally not allowed to serve as pro-people officials, let alone hold important positions in the center, and they were only given relatively favorable economic benefits and military titles that showed respect for political status. As a result, they become a parasitic group that sits back and enjoys what they do.

Zhao Kuangyin, the founding monarch of the Northern Song Dynasty, had a special experience.

In 959 AD, before the death of Chai Rong of Later Zhou Shizong, he promoted the thirty-three-year-old Zhao Kuangyin to serve as the top commander of the forbidden army. Chai Rong's intentions are very obvious, and he has the intention of entrusting orphans, hoping that this crony will live up to his favor and trust, and protect his young son to inherit the throne. Chai Rong died, and the seven-year-old Chai Zongxun became emperor. But less than half a year, in the first month of 960 AD, through a short and quick coup d'état, that is, the famous Chenqiao Mutiny in history, Zhao Kuangyin easily seized the throne of the little emperor.

The Emperor's throne was so intoxicating that many careerists with considerable power wanted to get their hands on it. Before Zhao Kuangyin, in more than 50 years, there were 14 emperors in five dynasties. It's not a good thing that the crown is so easy to drop. So Zhao Kuangyin and his think tank racked their brains to eliminate all kinds of hidden dangers of repeating the yellow robe. At this point, Zhao Kuangyin succeeded. However, his throne finally fell into the hands of his closest brother, and he died a somewhat unexplained death.

Zhao Kuangyin has four sons, the eldest son Dexiu and the third son Delin have both died, leaving the second son Dezhao and the youngest son Defang. According to the general practice, one of the two sons should be chosen to inherit the throne, but Zhao Kuangyin did not appoint the crown prince for a long time, and even did not give the two sons the title of king.

According to the history books, Zhao Kuangyin's mother left a last word, asking the founding monarch to pass on the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi. Zhao Kuangyin agreed, and set up the "Golden Alliance". It may also be a lie made up by someone who later pleases Zhao Guangyi. However, Zhao Kuangyin did not designate an heir to the throne for a long time, whether intentionally or unintentionally, leaving Zhao Guangyi with an opportunity.

In the winter of the ninth year of Kaibao (976), there was a quiet change of power in the city of Tokyo. Late at night when the snow was falling, Zhao Kuangyin, who was sick, summoned Zhao Guangyi into the palace, and they drank wine in a large bedroom that no one else was allowed to enter, only to see the candlelight swaying and the axe shadow shaking.

That night, Zhao Guangyi stayed in the confinement center. When it was almost dawn, Zhao Guangyi officially announced that his brother had died, and he would take over the emperor's throne in front of the spirit.

This such a major event is not recorded in the records of the Northern Song Dynasty or in the history of the country, which is really difficult to understand. The account of this incident was first seen in the "Continuation of the Wild Records of the Xiang Mountains" written by the monk Wen Ying in the Xining period. How Zhao Kuangyin died has always been a historical mystery.

Since then, the throne has been occupied by Zhao Guangyi and his descendants, until Zhao Gou, Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, finally passed the throne to Zhao Bocong, the seventh grandson of Zhao Kuangyin. The baton of the throne returned to the line of Song Taizu. For more than 300 years, the emperor's throne has always been monopolized by the family of Zhao Kuangyin's brothers, although there have been some painful experiences that have made the imperial family sad.

There were nine emperors in the Northern Song Dynasty, and there were also nine emperors in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, during the reign of Gaozong Zhao Gou, there was a small episode of seizing power.

In February of the third year of Jianyan (1129), the Jurchen army crossed the Huai River from Henan and drove straight in. At that time, the Great Song Emperor Zhao Gou, who was stationed in Yangzhou, was like a frightened bird, and he didn't have time to greet the two prime ministers around him, Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan, so he fled in a hurry with Wang Yuan, Kang Lu and a few other cronies, and fled to Zhenjiang by boat, crossing the Yangtze River, and then fleeing non-stop, passing through Suzhou, passing through Chongde, and fleeing to Hangzhou.

On that day, Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan were leading some senior officials to listen to the monk's lectures, and after the end of the meal, everyone had dinner together, and suddenly heard the hall officials shouting: "The emperor is gone!" It was really a bolt from the blue! The two straw bale prime ministers, who were suffering from "fear of gold," immediately got on their horses and went to chase after the emperor who had fled south. Suddenly, there was chaos in the city of Yangzhou.

People shouted and rushed to the city gates, crowded, trampled, and killed and wounded. Even the ceremonial utensils used by the emperor were all lost. Only Taichang Shaoqing hurriedly recited the god card of the nine emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty and ran out, stumbling along the way, and actually lost the god card of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, which was really embarrassing.

The soldiers and civilians gritted their teeth at this shameful rout, and Zhao Gou had to depose the two prime ministers.

On the fifth day of the first month of March, Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan, the commanders of the imperial camp, took advantage of the dissatisfaction of the soldiers and the people, suddenly launched a mutiny, killed Wang Yuan, the newly appointed privy councillor and the commander of the capital, and forced Zhao Gou to hand over the eunuch Kang Xu, and further forced Zhao Gou to abdicate, supported Zhao Gou's three-year-old son Zhao Yang as the emperor, and asked the Empress Dowager Meng to listen to the government.

It was an ill-prepared coup d'état, and there were no shrewd leaders to navigate the mutation. What's worse is that in the context of the rising anti-Kim sentiment among the masses, they got rid of Zhao Gou, and instead of better uniting the masses to resist Jin, they strongly advocated peace with Jin. In their eyes, Zhao Gou was actually an obstacle to peace with Jin. This stupid proposition did Zhao Gou a great favor.

Although the greedy Zhao Gou who is afraid of death is disappointing, he is the descendant of the Zhao family after all, and he can use the identity of the emperor of the Zhao family as a banner to unite everyone to resist Jin. So Lu Yihao, Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong and other anti-Jin faction people raised troops to Qin Wang, and they cleaned up the mutiny in just one month. On the fifth day of the fourth month, Zhao Gou restored the throne.

In this way, if this little emperor is counted, there were ten emperors in the Southern Song Dynasty.

It can be seen from the transmission of the throne of the Song Dynasty that the political system of the organization of state power at that time was not very standardized, but, on the whole, the transmission of the throne of the Song Dynasty was relatively smooth and there was no bloodshed.

Theoretically, the emperor is the supreme lord of the whole world, and he has the power to kill and kill all his subjects. In reality, though, not all of his subjects were so willing or fearful to crawl at his feet. The aforementioned Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan dared to offend the Supreme because they had some soldiers under them.

The most superstitious about the emperor were the peasants, because their minds were confined to a very small extent, and they could easily become the taming tools of superstition. However, the most rebellious were also the peasants, and when they were oppressed, forced by hunger and cold, and really desperate, they smashed the idol of the emperor in their hearts. They supported their own kings, such as Li Shun of Sichuan, who was known as the "King of Great Shu"; Wang Ze of Hebei, who was called the "King of Dongping County"; Zhong of the Two Lakes was called "King of Chu"; and Yang Mo was even more courageous and was known as the "King of the Great Sage." Although these peasant kings did not escape the fate of defeat, they did pose a severe challenge to the sacred Great Song Emperor.

The greatest threat to the Zhao and Song dynasties were the Khitan nobles and the Jurchen nobles. Especially the latter, they finally smashed the Northern Song Dynasty, and even made Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan and his son both the most despicable captives.

During the two Song Dynasty and more than 300 years, although the emperor's dragon court was magnificent, sometimes it was terrifying. Faced with challenges inside and out, the feudal defenders did everything they could to repair and decorate this supreme authority. In the Confucian classics, in the textbooks of the "Lixue", a neo-Confucian doctrine that has undergone major integration, maintaining the norms represented by the emperor is always the first priority. Therefore, the theoretical construction and propaganda of beautifying and respecting the emperor have not been relaxed.

In order to make it easier to establish the image of the emperor among the broad masses, the imperial propagandists also used the influence of Buddhism and Taoism to label some emperors as gods. They said that Zhenzong Zhao Heng was Laihe Tianzun, Renzong Zhao Zhen was a barefoot immortal, and Shenzong Zhao Zhen was Chong Miaofu Zhenren. ("Huhai News Yi Jian Continuation")

The imperial city is so big, after all, it is within a radius of several miles, and it has been nested within the palace walls for many years, and it is inevitable that there is a feeling of curling up. What's more, even within the imperial palace, not all places allowed the emperor to come and go freely. In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, an old eunuch of the Southern Song Dynasty talked about a gourd well in the Lin'an Palace, and a large gold-lettered plaque was nailed to the well, which read: "The emperor will be fined one hundred taels if he passes this." "Even the gourd well is not allowed to be approached by the emperor, and there are too many constraints. A monarch who has made a difference, or a monarch who has a greater sense of anxiety about the longevity of the throne, may be more eager to go out and see the private life of his ministers and visit the suffering of the people. However, this is not something that can be done randomly. The Emperor is at the pinnacle of power, and it stands to reason that he should be the freest bird, but in fact he is the least free in terms of personal action. The biggest rope that binds him is not the issue of security, but the power itself.

As a symbol of imperial power and a confluence of power, he must be bound by a strict system of etiquette to preserve power. For a year, except for the etiquette system allowed to leave the palace, you can only stay in the palace honestly. Only those emperors who do not follow the rules have the courage to walk out of the palace gate without permission.

The emperor's private visit is an inconvenient activity, most of which is to secretly peek at certain movements, and there are also some dishonorable behaviors that need to be covered from people's ears.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Huizong Zhao Ji was bold and daring, sneaked out of the palace, pretended to be a wealthy businessman, went straight into the fireworks willow lane, and fell under the pomegranate skirt of the prostitute Li Shishi. This romantic affair, from the Southern Song Dynasty to the present, many literati have sung for it, written scripts, and written novels, which is already well known to everyone. Those who are engaged in historiography don't like to mention it. In fact, from the broad background of the entire social atmosphere at that time, as well as from Zhao Ji's personal attitude and interest in life, this scandalous incident seen in Zhuye History is not necessarily fictional. It is logical that the absurd emperor would do something absurd in an absurd atmosphere.

It was a special kind of private visit, or at least it showed that the market life in the towns of the Song Dynasty was charming and seductive.

If you like to go out of the palace, you still have to count Zhao Kuangyin. "When Taizu first ascended the throne, he urgently came out of the micro-line. He was originally a good man who traveled south and north, and after the yellow robe was added, he was not happy to cut himself off from society by this palace wall. It's not that he is attached to the prosperity of the market, but that some historical shadows make it difficult for him to sleep soundly in the deep palace. For more than 50 years, the frequent change of the owner of the throne in the dizzying military game was the most important history lesson for him to remember. Could the yellow robe, which he himself had not gained with much effort, be lost just as easily? This deep worry made him often unable to sit still in the palace.

One day, Zhao Pu had just received ten bottles of seafood from Qian Yu, the king of Zhejiang, and put them in the corridor, before he had time to clean up, Zhao Kuangyin came, and Zhao Pu had to tell the truth. The emperor said, "This must be a high-quality seafood, why don't you open it and take a look?" opened the bottle, it was full of golden gold, and Zhao Pu was very frightened and confessed: "If the minister knew that it was gold, he would definitely sue the official family and refuse to accept it." Zhao Kuangyin laughed and said: "You just have to accept it, people say that the affairs of the country are all up to you, a scholar, to come up with ideas!" ("Records of the Flowing Water")

Zhao Pu was always worried about the sudden arrival of the emperor, and every time he retired from the dynasty and went home, he never dared to take off his clothes. One day, the snow drifted into the night. He thought to himself: The emperor should not come out of the palace again, right? Just as he was about to unload and rest, he suddenly heard the door call again, and hurriedly ran to open the door, only to see Zhao Kuangyin really standing in the wind and snow.

After a while, Zhao Guangyi, the king of Jin, also came. They sat around the hall, threw aside the shelves of the emperor and princes, and piled up charcoal to roast meat. Zhao Pu's wife was busy drinking, Zhao Kuangyin called her sister-in-law, and the three of them lived like brothers.

Zhao Pu asked: "The night is very cold, why did Your Majesty come out?"

Zhao Kuangyin said: "I can't sleep, outside of the bed, it's someone else's territory." ”

On that night, the three of them agreed on the policy of "first the south and then the north" to cut off the separatist forces. (Shaw Brothers)

Zhao Kuangyin's micro-trip out of the palace made him understand the minister's movements and find the wisdom of decision-making.

There is another vivid story about his younger brother Zhao Guangyi's visit to Weifu during his reign.

There was a bloody incident in the city of Tokyo. A beggar begged in a certain shop, and when he was not satisfied, he leaned on the door and scolded. The owner of the shop came out to apologize, but he still couldn't calm down for a long time. Hundreds of onlookers were indignant at the beggar's vexatious exploitation. Suddenly, someone jumped out of the crowd, stabbed the troublesome beggar to death with a knife, dropped the knife and walked away.

It was getting dark, and the pursuers had not been able to catch the murderer of the beggar, so they had to report the sensational murder to the emperor.

When Zhao Guangyi heard that someone dared to kill people in the daytime on the streets of Kyoto, he was very angry and ordered a search and arrest. Kaifeng Mansion was terrified, so he had to pursue it with all his might.

A few days later, Kaifeng Mansion Yin reported that it turned out that the owner of the shop was unbearable and killed the beggar because he was insulted by the beggar, and the case could be closed.

Zhao Guangyi was very happy and said to Fu Yin: "It's good that you can work so hard! But please review it again for me, so as not to wronged the people." Bring the murderous knife next time. ”

A few days later, Fu Yin came to report the case to the emperor again, and brought the murder weapon with him.

Zhao Guangyi said: "Have you figured it out thoroughly?"

Fu Yin replied, "It's completely clear!"

Zhao Guangyi asked the little chamberlain beside him to take his scabbard, and then put the knife into the scabbard, which just fit. At this time, the emperor stretched his face, brushed his sleeves up, and said: "How can you not kill the common people in vain when you do things like this?" ("Tiewei Mountain Cong Talk")

Although the information that can be understood by the private interview of Weifu is very limited, but personal investigation and research, after all, you can see the true face of many things from these windows, and you can peel off some of the whitewashed camouflage of the subordinates' reports. More importantly, it can broaden the horizons of the emperor himself and reduce the blindness of being trapped in a corner, which is an important factor in the vitality of the emperor in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

It is a pity that Zhao Guangyi no longer insisted on this good style in the later period of his reign. Later emperors were even more subordinate.

The Emperor's private visit had no direct impact on the lives of most of his subjects, but it was a different story when he walked out of the palace openly and in a dignified manner.

At that time, there were three main situations for the emperor to leave the palace: the first was to drive the imperial conquest in person, which was experienced by Taizu, Taizong and Zhenzong; the second was the private meeting of the fortunate aristocratic ministers, most of which were condolence and appeasement actions to show favor; and the third was political activities with religious overtones, such as burning incense in temples such as Xiangguo Temple and Yuqing Zhaoying Palace, or participating in some routine sacrificial activities.

The most spectacular trip of the emperor is the southern suburbs of the festival. According to the rules of etiquette, every year on the winter solstice, the god Haotian is sacrificed in the mound in the southern suburbs of the capital. It was one of the most highly regarded canons of its time. Every three years, the emperor would personally attend the festival, which was called a "personal ceremony". This large-scale ritual event became a major event in the life of the city at that time.

Three days before the winter solstice, the emperor first went to the temple to pay respects. That night, he stayed in the Daqing Palace. As the name suggests, this is the palace used for the Daqing ceremony. Among the palaces of the imperial city of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is the largest, and can accommodate tens of thousands of people inside and out. On this night, various ceremonial guards, utensils, and vehicles have been arranged in the palace according to the order of the travel queue, and they have been arranged outside the Xuanhe Gate. At the same time, from the prime minister down, the hundreds of officials who participated in the festival also put on their sacrificial clothes and waited in the palace, and tens of thousands of royal guards were fully armed to protect the palace.

The next morning, the various ministries dispersed to drive away the crowd. However, there are still many people on both sides of the royal street waiting to watch this solemn and high-standard trip. After Renzong, the honor guard of the emperor traveled to 20,061 people. In the first year of the Yasukuni Kingdom (1101), there were as many as 21,575 people. The scale and variety of forms are indeed eye-popping.

The Emperor's Grand Trip, which was actually a highly ornamental parade, became a special entertainment for city dwellers.

At the head of the honor guard are six elephants, three on the left and three on the left. They have purple embroidered breasts hanging on their heads, copper bells, apricot leaves and red rhinoceros tails hanging on the colored cords behind their stomachs, and wooden lotus seats and golden banana plates on their backs. Each elephant rides a soldier on its back and is led by four soldiers. They swayed slowly, stepping slowly, and the sound of tinkling copper bells brought a grand procession of ten miles into the royal street.

The elephant was followed by six high-ranking officials, known as the "Six Leads". The first one is Kaifeng Prefecture, and the second one is Kaifeng Prefecture. These two official positions were often left vacant in practice, and were replaced by the lower official rank of Kaifeng Fu Yin (from Sanpin) or Quan Zhi Kaifeng Fu, who represented the Tokyo City Government. Walking in the third place is the Great Sile (Zheng Sipin, a new official position in the Chongning period), representing the ceremonial and sacrificial center Taichang Temple. Walking in fourth is the young elder Fu (Zheng Erpin), representing the high-level elders. Walking in fifth place is the Imperial Historian (from the second grade), representing the central judicial system. The last of the six great officials was the military department Shangshu (from the second rank), which represented the central administrative system. They all walked with their heads held high in the midst of their respective honor guards.

Then, facing the bitter cold wind, came twelve black flags. One person on each side holds it, one person holds it up, and four people protect each other. Then there were four horsemen and eight knights holding eight lances. This was followed by four or so generals (from the third rank), four generals (from the fourth rank), and two about the great generals (from the fourth rank), all of whom were guarded by guards holding spears, and they were all tall and majestic, and they appeared to be strong and majestic.

So far, it is only a precursor to the big team leading the way. You can imagine the grandeur of the whole trip.

Flags are always admirable. It is a command, a majesty, a soul. In this parade, there were many exhilarating and surprising colorful banners before and after.

In the Vermilion Bird Banner Team and the Dragon Flag Team, there are Vermilion Bird, Qinglong, Fengbo, Yushi, Lei Gong, Electric Mother, Five Stars, Beidou, Seti and other colorful tooth flags.

In the leading flag team, there are two Tianwang flags, twelve twelve star flags, one Taiping flag in the world, five dragon flags of five directions, one Jinluan and one Jinfeng flag, one long live the king's flag, one sun and moon flag, one sun and moon flag, two Erive flags, one five-star bead flag, two auspicious cloud flags, and two longevity buildings.

In the Jinwu Thin Staff Banner Team, there are one Green Dragon and White Tiger Flag, five Wuyue Divine Flags, five Divine Flags, five Dragon Flags, and five Phoenix Flags.

At that time, most of the flags were tooth-rimmed pennants. The colors are red, yellow, blue, white, blue, and black, and the flags are embroidered with different ornaments. They are surrounded by many soldiers, waving in the wind, and they are magnificent.

Motorcades have always been the most attractive part, they not only show the status and wealth of the passengers, but also often reflect the scientific and technological level of an era. There was a special convoy in the Great Trip of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. Among them, there is a guide car. This is a big red cart, driven by four large horses, thirty drivers, the carriage is painted with a green dragon and a white tiger, and on it stands a wooden immortal, no matter how the car is transported, the wooden man's hand is always pointing to the south. This was a very remarkable scientific and technological achievement at that time. In addition, there is also a Jili drum car, which is also a big red car, with four horses riding side by side, flowers and birds painted on the walls of the carriage, and a wooden figure also stands on the upper floor of the carriage. Every mile of the car, the wooden man beats the drum, and every ten miles, there is a wooden man beating the bracelet on the second floor. This kind of drum car, gear set, accurate calculation, high level of craftsmanship, is actually the prototype of the later mechanical clock.

There are also Egret cars, Luanqi cars, Chongde cars, Hupixuan cars, etc., each with 18 drivers. There are also cultivator cars, Jinxian cars, Mingyuan cars, Huang Yue cars, leopard tail cars, etc., and there are also subordinate vehicles driven by three oxen, which are really dizzying.

The most magnificent are the gold, ivory, leather, and wooden four chariots, as well as the four auxiliary chariots. These are royal luxury cars with dome and four walls. Each vehicle is driven by two horses and four horses. During the Xuanhe period (1119-1125), there were 150 drivers and 100 deputy chariots.

The jade chariot on which the emperor rode was the center of the procession, and it was pulled by six large cyan horses. During the Xuanhe period, there were 8 people who surrounded the jade chariot, 234 drivers, 134 Guduozhi guards, 35 Xingmen, 2 accompanying generals, and a deputy jade chariot and a big chariot behind him. More than a thousand years ago, there could have been no more magnificent than this.

In order to strengthen its momentum, the honor guard is also equipped with a large band. It is divided into two parts, front and back. In the front part, there are 290 drums, stanza drums, big drums, small drums, feather drums, cymbal drums, 24 gold cymbals, 600 pieces of long sounds, middle sounds, horizontal blows, and arch pipes, 890 pieces of flute, flute, and other musical instruments, and 48 singing teams. There are 438 people in the back who are drumming and singing. The two bands beat and shook the whole city of Tokyo.

The mighty emperor's travel brigade crossed the royal street, went out of the South Xunmen to Qingcheng Zhai Palace, and stayed overnight. The next day is the winter solstice, and in the middle of the night, I drove to the altar of the mound. After a day of tossing, I returned to Qingcheng.

On the fourth day, the god of the human world, who had shown his respect to the god of Haotian, took 20,000 horses and roamed back to the palace along the same route. Since it is a return, it seems that it is not as solemn as when it first appeared, so the spectators on both sides of the royal street are more relaxed. The noble people put on gorgeous tents, row upon row. The middle and lower households had to squeeze in those gaps, crowded in the crowd, and enjoy the grand occasion that happened once in three years.

The emperor sitting in the jade chariot is not only the object of admiration by all the people, but also the spectator who watches the people. How much chance did he have to be able to admire these pious people so much?

Large-scale imperial travel was not only a ceremonial necessity, but also brought benefits to some bureaucrats.

(Excerpted from "The Great Song Dynasty Menghua: The Urban Life of the Song Dynasty" by Li Chuntang/Written by Yuelu Publishing House/Published)