Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly and "bizarrely", and the 24-year-old Song Empress Song suddenly became a lonely queen. At this time, the country is in a critical period of the transfer of imperial power, and who will be in charge next will determine the future and fate of the entire country. As the queen of the main family, the Song family should escort Zhao Kuangyin's son to inherit the throne. But the accident came too suddenly, which inevitably caused internal and external troubles. Zhao Guangyi's rapid seizure of the throne makes people speculate about what arrangements he will make for his sister-in-law, Empress Song? Later generations commented that Zhao Guangyi was "unkind", could it be that he was really ruthless and unfavorable to Queen Song? How will the battle for imperial power end, and what will happen to the young widow queen of the Song family?
In the battle for the succession of imperial power, Zhao Guangyi seized power and ascended the throne
The death of Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, came suddenly, and the founding hero died young, and he did not have time to make any arrangements for the heir to the throne of the Song Dynasty.
At that time, although Zhao Kuangyin had two sons, the eldest son Zhao Dezhao was born to Empress Zhao He, and he had a weak personality, and he was deeply snubbed by Zhao Kuangyin on weekdays, and was obviously not among the candidates for succession. The second son, Zhao Defang, was born to his wife Wang, and he was a shallow learner, and Zhao Kuangyin never instructed him to inherit the unification before his death. Before Zhao Kuangyin died, he only handed over Zhao Defang to the Empress Song who was passed on to take care of him temporarily.
Although Queen Song is young, her family background is famous and she has been well educated since childhood, and she can see the current situation clearly. She understood that Zhao Defang was still too young to succeed to the throne, and Zhao Dezhao was not valued by Zhao Kuangyin, so she secretly sent someone to notify Zhao Defang, the heir of another Zhao family, King of Qin, and was ready to assist him in ascending the throne.
Unexpectedly, the matter reached Zhao Guangyi's ears, and Zhao Guangyi was deeply angry about this, he always thought that he was the successor cultivated by Zhao Kuangyin. When Zhao Kuangyin established the Great Song Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi could be said to have made great achievements, repeatedly made miraculous achievements, and had a very high reputation in the army. Zhao Kuangyin did intend to pass on the power to Zhao Guangyi for a while, but in the end his mind changed.
As soon as the news spread, Zhao Guangyi immediately summoned his cronies and military generals, and led tens of thousands of imperial forest troops to watch the capital and intimidate the government and the opposition. Under the pretext of guarding the imperial mausoleum, he actually wanted to check and balance the military power of Empress Song, and at the same time put pressure on Empress Song. The ministers of the DPRK and China were shocked when they saw this, and they did not know where the government would go, so they had to be at the mercy of Zhao Guangyi.
Although Empress Song intended to train Zhao Defang to succeed to the throne, in the face of Zhao Guangyi's threat of force, she was timid and had no idea where to start, and finally had to announce her abdication under the pressure of Zhao Guangyi. Zhao Guangyi struck while the iron was hot, quickly summoned hundreds of civil and military officials to greet him in the Zichen Palace, and then crowned himself and ascended the throne in one go, officially calling the emperor Taizong, and the Song Dynasty changed from then on.
Zhao Guangyi's domineering seizure of power swept away the successor to the throne previously arranged by Zhao Kuangyin, which undoubtedly concealed the ambition of monstrous power. In order to achieve his goal, he did not hesitate to force Empress Song to abdicate. And all of this is due to Zhao Kuangyin's failure to clarify the candidate for the crown prince during his lifetime.
Zhao Guangyi treated Empress Song as a prisoner in the palace
After seizing the throne, Zhao Guangyi quickly began to rectify the government, and also dealt with the relationship with the Empress Song. As the widow of Zhao Kuangyin, Queen Song's status is not trivial, but Zhao Guangyi has no love for her, but instead puts her under house arrest in the palace and lives in embarrassment.
At first, Zhao Guangyi placed Empress Song in the West Palace to live, which seemed to give some courtesy. But in fact, Empress Song was under house arrest during her stay in the West Palace and was not allowed to leave the palace for half a step. Zhao Guangyi closely monitored all her whereabouts, and any suspicious actions would be restrained and punished. Empress Song was not allowed to move freely, let alone come and go from the outside world, which was equivalent to being isolated from the world.
The palace attendants in the West Palace are also Zhao Guangyi's cronies, and they always monitor Empress Song's every move and know her movements well. These palace people also concentrated all the power of the West Palace in their hands, and Queen Song could not move an inch and was controlled by others everywhere. Zhao Guangyi's arrangement was nothing more than to prevent Empress Song from colluding with the outside world and preventing her from posing any threat to her rule.
Ten years later, Zhao Guangyi actually moved the Empress Song to the East Palace. On the surface, it is to give higher courtesy, but in fact, the East Palace is the same as the West Palace, and it is also a cage of strict surveillance and house arrest. Zhao Guangyi also installed a large number of eyeliner in the East Palace, so that Empress Song could not contact any outsiders.
During the period of living in the east and west palaces, the life of the Empress Song fell into an extreme predicament, and there were no restrictions on food, clothing, housing and transportation, and she was almost imprisoned in the palace. Empress Song wanted to visit Zhao Kuangyin's mausoleum several times to show her respect for the former emperor, but was refused. She can only do nothing in the palace every day, sitting and spending time in her spare time.
Zhao Guangyi did not allow her to leave the palace at will, nor did she allow her to read and practice calligraphy, write poems, and even some small entertainment activities were strictly forbidden. Empress Song was imprisoned in the palace and hardly had any normal way of life, just waiting for time to pass every day. Although she has the title of empress, she is really just a captive captive.
Empress Song was treated unfairly
After being under house arrest in the palace for many years, Empress Song once hoped that her sons would be able to save her, but her sons died early one after another, and she no longer had children to rely on, and her life fell into an even more desperate situation. Zhao Guangyi not only had no humane care for Empress Song, but also deprived her of even the most basic rights, and his cold treatment towards her can be called the anger of people and gods.
At that time, Empress Song was most favored by her two sons, Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang. Zhao Dezhao is from the original He family, and Zhao Defang is from the Xu Xian Wang family. After Zhao Kuangyin died, Empress Song originally wanted to support Zhao Defang to inherit the unification, but was helplessly blocked by Zhao Guangyi. Whether the two sons can inherit the Great Song Dynasty is far away, but the Empress Song still hopes that they can save themselves as the imperial heirs.
Who knew that Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang died young one after another, and they were only in their early twenties when they died. Empress Song witnessed the death of her two sons one after another, but she was powerless as a mother, and her mood was imaginably painful. Since then, she no longer has any relatives in the palace to support her, and she has completely become a helpless and lonely person.
Even the most basic funeral rights were deprived by Zhao Guangyi. Empress Song personally took care of the funeral for her two sons on her deathbed, and planned to prepare a grand royal funeral for them. But Zhao Guangyi not only did not allow the royal funeral, but even the ordinary funeral procedures were forbidden, which made the Empress Song heartbroken.
Many years after the death of Empress Song, Zhao Guangyi still had a grudge in his heart and refused to allow the ministers of the government and the opposition to hold a condolence ceremony for Empress Song. Several ministers in the prime of life openly criticized Zhao Guangyi's unreasonable practices, but they were severely punished by Zhao Guangyi and sent to the cold palace to belittle him.
What's even more outrageous is that Zhao Guangyi was not buried with Zhao Kuangyin for Empress Song for a long time. After all, Empress Song is Zhao Kuangyin's main queen, and her reasonable and legitimate status as a queen is beyond doubt. However, Zhao Guangyi was stubborn and believed that Empress Song was a "conspiracy" to support others against Zhao Kuangyin's will, so he refused to let her be buried with Zhao Kuangyin.
It was not until a few years later that Zhao Guangyi, under the persuasion of Song Taizong, reluctantly agreed to be buried with Zhao Kuangyin for Empress Song. However, the funeral specifications were extremely simple, which was extremely incommensurate with Zhao Kuangyin's royal mausoleum, and also made the identity of Empress Song undignified.
The early years of the Song Dynasty were turbulent
Although Zhao Guangyi seized the throne by force, his power base was not stable, and the situation fell into turmoil in the early days of the Song Dynasty. On the one hand, there was a fierce power struggle between Zhao Guangyi and his brother Zhao Dechang's son, and armed conflict even broke out between the two sides for a time; On the other hand, in order to consolidate his rule, Zhao Guangyi had to strengthen the centralization of power and weaken the power of his relatives.
After Zhao Kuangyin's death, his second son, Zhao Dechang, was expected to inherit the throne. However, Zhao Guangyi was born in the garrison and threatened the Song Empress with force to abdicate, so he seized the throne. Although Zhao Dechang did not have a chance to ascend the throne, his son Zhao Defang, the king of Qin, repeatedly clashed with Zhao Guangyi.
Zhao Defang once wanted to use Empress Song to support himself to restore the throne, but Zhao Guangyi made a preemptive strike and struck first to monitor him. Later, Zhao Defang, the king of Qin, gathered his henchmen many times and rebelled near the capital. The two sides once fought each other, and small-scale armed conflicts and infighting broke out for several years, making the situation in the government and the opposition extremely turbulent.
In the end, Zhao Guangyi quelled the civil strife, imprisoned all the members of Zhao Defang's family, and exterminated their remnants. However, the government and the opposition were very dissatisfied with Zhao Guangyi's methods of seizing power, and they expressed resentment everywhere. In order to stabilize his rule, Zhao Guangyi could only strengthen the centralization of power and curb the power of local and foreign relatives.
He summoned the powerful members of the clan back to Jingshi, strictly monitored their whereabouts, and secretly took precautions. At the same time, he also appointed his cronies as officials in order to strengthen the power of the court. As for those old subordinates who were loyal to Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Guangyi used the excuse to ostracize them to prevent them from posing a threat to his rule.
Zhao Guangyi was once Zhao Kuangyin's confidant and general, and he played an important role in the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty. But in order to seize the throne, he had to cut off the power of Zhao Kuangyin's old department. Some generals who have made great achievements in war have been marginalized in this way, and even old age and decrepit are inevitably affected.
Even so, the people are still full of gossip that they are planning to overthrow Zhao Guangyi. In order to consolidate his rule, Zhao Guangyi had to increase military spending and use force to deter the government and the opposition. This undoubtedly increased the financial burden in the early days of the Song Dynasty, and also affected the stability of people's hearts.
Emperor Taizong of Song forgave Empress Song
Despite the turmoil at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the power of Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, gradually stabilized. After years of difficult rule, he finally consolidated his position. It was not until the later years of Song Taizong's reign that he had the opportunity to re-examine his harsh treatment of Empress Song. Under the leniency of Song Taizong, Empress Song finally received some leniency.
At the beginning of Song Taizong's rise to power, there was indeed a reason for the harsh policy imposed on Empress Song. First, he was worried that Empress Song would rebel with her relatives; second, she was suspected of colluding with Zhao Kuangyin's previous heirs; The third is also out of arbitrariness towards the imperial power. Therefore, Song Taizong has always put Empress Song under house arrest in the deep palace, coupled with surveillance and imprisonment, the treatment is extremely limited.
But as Zhao Guangyi ruled for many years, his power became more and more stable, and he gradually let go of the road to succession. In addition, Queen Song is also gradually entering her twilight years, and both sides silently obey each other's anger. This left the possibility for the future forgiveness of Empress Song.
When Song Taizong reached his old age, he was gradually surrounded by some virtuous ministers who were generous and loved the people, and they took the opportunity to intercede for Empress Song, hoping that Song Taizong would be gracious. Among them, the most active is Song Zhongming, the eldest son of Song Taizong. Song Zhongming repeatedly advocated that Empress Song be given higher courtesy and that she be freed from captivity.
Finally, under the repeated persuasion of civil and military officials, Song Taizong reluctantly agreed to improve the treatment of Empress Song. He ordered the removal of the surveillance personnel of the East Palace, and lifted the strict surveillance of the Empress Song. At the same time, it also restored some of the basic living conditions of Empress Song, such as allowing her to enter and leave the palace appropriately.
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However, Song Taizong still did not fully release Empress Song's freedom, and still imposed a certain degree of house arrest on her. For example, when Empress Song went out, there were still guards to follow, and there were strict rules on the travel route and time, and she was never allowed to move without permission.