After the Tang Dynasty, China experienced a period of five dynasties and ten kingdoms falling apart, and later after Zhao Kuangyin launched a mutiny to establish the Song Dynasty, it gradually ended the era of war and chaos, and China was once again unified.
As the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin has his own commentary on the history of his merits. Since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, a series of policies to benefit the people have been issued, so that the economy and culture of the Song Dynasty have reached a high degree of prosperity, and even surpassed the "rule of Zhenguan" of the Tang Dynasty.
However, soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, died suddenly, and his younger brother Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne. His death has also become a historical suspense, and many people think that the younger brother killed his brother, but what is the truth of history?
The beginning of the founding of the country
Zhao Kuangyin was born into a military family, and it is rumored that when he was born, the house was full of red light and accompanied by fragrance, and this strange experience also cast a legendary color on his life.
When he grew up, Zhao Kuangyin was very successful in horseback riding and archery, and he always learned things faster than others. When I was a child, I was killed several times, but I calmly avoided it, which seemed to be the arrangement of fate in the dark.
By chance, he traveled outside and, under the guidance of a senior monk, threw himself into the camp of Guo Wei, a secret envoy of Hou Zhou, and became a soldier. Relying on his superior courage and superb equestrian and sword skills, he gradually came to prominence in the army.
Zhao Kuangyin made many military achievements in the army, and gradually gained the appreciation of the Later Zhou Emperor Chai Rong, who promoted him to the leader of the forbidden army. Subsequently, he followed the emperor all the way to the south to fight in the northern war, laying a lot of jiangshan.
After Chai Rong's death, his son Chai Zongxun succeeded to the throne, and the gradually growing Zhao Kuangyin was not willing to always condescend to the young emperor, so he launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny, easily seized the power of Later Zhou from Chai Zongxun, and changed the name of the country to Song.
At that time, the society was in constant turmoil, and it was a situation in which large countries swallowed small countries, so Zhao Kuangyin's usurpation of the throne was also drowned in those wars.
Although the Song Dynasty was established, the situation was unstable, and Zhao Kuangyin was also worried all day, he often said: "The places outside of my sleep may be someone else's territory, and I can't sleep when I think of this." If this was the case, he would fight the whole world down, so he began to implement the plan to unify China.
After two years of preparation, Zhao Kuangyin and his Qunchen agreed on a strategy of first making things easier and then more difficult, from south to north, to create a unified situation. They first captured the land of Later Shu, then pacified Jiangnan and destroyed the Southern Han and Southern Tang.
Soon after, Zhao Kuangyin once again carried out the Northern Expedition and began to unify the northern region. However, at this critical moment, Zhao Kuangyin suddenly died at the age of 50. There are also many doubts about the history of his death.
Eve of death
In 976, after Zhao Kuangyin and his generals agreed on the strategy of the Northern Expedition, they returned to their tents. Soon he summoned his brother Zhao Guangyi to drink and have fun together, and the two of them drank in the camp until midnight, where Zhao Guangyi stayed.
Who knew that the next morning, everyone found that Zhao Kuangyin had died violently. His younger brother Zhao Guangyi buried him in the Yongchang Mausoleum, with the temple name Taizu. Subsequently, Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, and was known as Emperor Taizong of Song.
It is reasonable to say that Zhao Kuangyin got a gun from a small dance knife, and his physical fitness should be excellent, how could he suddenly die after drinking? Many people pointed their suspicions at his younger brother Zhao Guangyi, saying that he had murdered his own brother in order to become emperor.
Also on the night of Zhao Kuangyin's death, there were also rumors that he had actually been ill for a long time, and that night he summoned Zhao Guangyi to discuss things, and as a result, there was a scolding sound and the sound of the axe smashing into the ground in the tent, and as a result, Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly the next day.
Opinions are widespread and fearsome. However, in the face of accusations, The newly succeeded Song Taizong came up with the "Alliance of the Golden Plateau", which was the last word of his last words with Empress Du, Zhao Kuangyin's biological mother.
At that time, Empress Du was seriously ill, and Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi were lying in bed with their attendants. Empress Dowager Du discussed the succession to the throne with her brothers and summoned Zhao Pu to record it. It is said that at that time, it was planned that Zhao Kuangyin would pass the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi after his death.
Since then, this certificate of succession has been hidden in the golden temple, until rumors spread, Zhao Guangyi took it out to prove the legitimacy of his succession to the throne.
If the "Alliance of the Golden Daggers" is true, then the rumors that Zhao Guangyi plotted to kill his brother will not be broken. And even if he really had the intention of murder, he couldn't take matters into his own hands and let people catch the handle. Therefore, this doubt is not justified.
After that, Song Taizong devoted all his energy to rectifying the imperial program, and gradually stopped fighting with the outside world, focusing on developing the national economy and enhancing people-to-people cultural exchanges. It can be said that under his rule, the Song Dynasty entered a heyday.
This also shows the correctness of Zhao Kuangyin's decision to pass the throne to his younger brother from another aspect. So why would Zhao Kuangyin give the throne to his brother instead of his son?
The cause of succession
When Zhao Kuangyin died, he had two sons who had reached adulthood, namely Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang. From ancient times to the present, it is the rule of passing on the throne from father to son, unless the emperor of the dynasty has no heirs, he will choose his brother to inherit the throne, but Zhao Kuangyin does not belong to this situation.
To explore the reasons for this, we must start from the domestic situation at that time of the Song Dynasty. At that time, although the Song Dynasty was established, its foundation was still unstable, and many of the ministers of the DPRK and China were the founding heroes who followed Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi to fight the world.
Under such circumstances, if Zhao Kuangyin passed the throne to his son, I am afraid that their prestige would not be enough, and a situation of civil strife in the DPRK would be formed. Zhao Kuangyin took this into account, so he passed the throne to Zhao Guangyi.
Zhao Guangyi has always followed his brother to fight in the Jiangshan, the "Chen Qiao Mutiny" and the "Yellow Robe Plus Body" drama of that year, he is both a participant and a leader, and he has made many military achievements, and his prestige among the domestic subjects is extremely high.
There was an official of the Song Dynasty named Tian Quan, who was born during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, and in his later years he wrote a book called "Rulin Gonghui", which also recorded that "after Taizu inherited the surname of the fifth generation, he knew that the people's hearts were not solid, and Emperor Taizong was in danger, and he had the judgment of wisdom and wisdom, and he could rule the world, and the former residence was often promised by the main society." ”
The advent of this record has been 72 years since Zhao Kuangyin's death, but at the same time it has also solved the mystery of Zhao Kuangyin's succession to Zhao Guangyi.
This just happens to show that Zhao Kuangyin's letting his brother succeed to the throne was actually to consolidate the power of the Song Dynasty, after all, Jiangshan is rare, and the emperor of any dynasty hopes that Jiangshan will be solid for a hundred years. Passing the throne to his brother is not an outflow of imperial power, it is really a double victory.
Zhao Kuangyin's move is also a hope on his younger brother to let him complete his wish for reunification. During his lifetime, he had been constantly waging wars in the hope of following the example of Qin Shi Huang in unifying the world and ending the chaotic situation, but he was seriously ill and probably could not realize this wish.
Only by placing hope on Zhao Guangyi can there be a day when the Song Dynasty will be unified, and it has to be said that he has a long way to go to pass the throne to his brother. And Zhao Guangyi did not live up to his brother's expectations, and under his rule, the Song Dynasty became another prosperous dynasty after the Tang Dynasty.