On November 14, 976, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, died mysteriously in the imperial palace of Bieliang City. Subsequently, his younger brother Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne the next day and became the second emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty.
It is rumored that the reason why Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly was because Zhao Guangyi encouraged his brother to drink a lot of alcohol, and after getting drunk, Zhao Guangyi took the opportunity to kill Zhao Kuangyin with an axe.
After ascending the throne, Zhao Guangyi persecuted Zhao Kuangyin's eldest son Zhao Dezhao to death, and his second son Zhao Defang also died mysteriously.
"Song Shi Zongmu Biography": Four years, from Zheng Youzhou. The army tasted night terrors, did not know where the superior was, and those who plotted to establish virtue were displeased. And return, the northern expedition is unfavorable, and the reward of Taiyuan will not be fulfilled for a long time. Dezhao thought that he was speechless, and Shang Da was furious: "Wait for Ru to do it for yourself, and reward it before it is too late!" Dezhao retreated and killed himself.
"Song Shi Zong's Biography": Zhao Defang's "Sleeping Disease"
For hundreds of years, history books have had mixed evaluations of Zhao Guangyi.
The Qianlong Emperor commented: Emperor Taizong's practice of Zen Dynasty is by no means ashamed, and it is more enough to enlighten future generations to discuss. Although it was not easy for the dynasty to take the throne at that time, and the city was not easy to be wanton, after that, Bu Wu repaired the text and corrected the chaos, and his country was not in the way, how could it be forgiven?
The "History of Song - Taizong Benji" praises: Emperor Shen Mouying asserted that he had the ambition to flatten the world.
How should Zhao Guangyi's life be evaluated?
In November 939, Zhao Kuangyi (renamed Zhao Guangyi to avoid the name of Taizu of the Song Dynasty) was born in the Beifang Camp of Kaifeng Province, and his second brother Zhao Kuangyin was more than ten years older than him.
Zhao Guangyi was born during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when the power struggle between various feudal towns was the most intense.
Zhao Guangyi and his second brother Zhao Kuangyin had a relationship since childhood, and in 960, Zhao Guangyi supported Zhao Kuangyin as emperor at Chen Qiaoyi and other cronies, establishing the Northern Song Dynasty.
After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he immediately created Zhao Guangyi the "King of Jin", Tongping Zhangshi, and concurrently held important positions such as Yin of Kaifeng Prefecture and Marquis Yu of Dianqian.
In 975, Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Kuangyin joined forces to suppress the Southern Tang And expand the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Judging from the above brief introduction of Zhao Guangyi, this Song Taizong's ability is not bad, and it seems to be on a par with his brother Zhao Kuangyin, regardless of whether he is a bozhong.
However, after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne as emperor, he launched many foreign wars and failed, such as the Northern Expedition, which failed twice.
That is, after Zhao Guangyi, the two Song Dynasties were no longer able to reclaim Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, and they always had to be wary of the northern nomadic tribes going south.
But during Zhao Guangyi's reign, he also did three major things for the Song Dynasty.
First, Zhao Guangyi maintained the integrity of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the fourth year of the Taiping Revival (979 AD), Zhao Guangyi led an army of 100,000 to personally conquer the Northern Han Dynasty. He divided his troops into two routes, one way to block the Liao people who wanted to rush to the aid, and the other way to attack the Northern Han capital Taiyuan, forcing the surrender of Zhao Jiyuan, the emperor of the late Northern Han Dynasty.
After taking Taiyuan, it also officially declared the demise of the Northern Han Dynasty. Since the Huangchao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the situation of the nearly 90-year feudal town division and chaos has ended, and the whole country has once again been formally unified.
The "New History of the Five Dynasties" records: "In the fourth year of the Taiping Revival, Wang Shi resumed the Northern Expedition, and after the Yuan was poor and embarrassed, he still wanted to stick to it. His Privy Counsellor, Ma Feng, lived at home, and when he entered jiyuan, he drooled to rise and die, and jiyuan descended. Emperor Taizong was demoted to the northern high platform of the imperial city, with Jiyuan as the general of the Right Guard, and the Duke of Pengcheng. ”
For the Northern Song Dynasty, the destruction of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty was of great political significance. Because the Northern Han Dynasty was the orthodox dynasty that inherited the Later Jin Dynasty, and the Later Zhou regime established by Guo Wei, it belonged to the land of Huaxia in one south and one north.
In 975, after the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang, it had unified a large area of Jiangnan, but the Northern Han Dynasty did not submit.
If the Northern Han Dynasty had always existed, it would have affected the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty with the North. At that time, the Khitan reached a cooperative relationship with the rulers of the Northern Han Dynasty, and the Northern Han Dynasty, which was supported by the Khitans, would also become the most difficult thorn in the eye and thorn in the flesh of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Song Taizong attacked the Northern Han Dynasty, so that the Northern Song Dynasty, after 19 years of establishment, finally ended the political division that ran through the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and ushered in a true sense of unification.
Second, after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, the "two governments and three divisions system" he established made an important contribution to the stability of the Song Dynasty.
The "Continued Zizhi TongjianChang" records: "(In December of the first year of Chunhua), Zuo Zhengyan and Zhishiguan Xie Bi asked to send zhongshu from the present political affairs, the machine affairs to the Privy Council, and the goods to the three divisions, and then to the back of the play." The edict is subordinate to the request, so it is customized, and the letters on the Chinese and foreign countries are also the same. ”
What is the "two governments and three divisions system"?
To put it simply, during the song taizu Zhao Kuangyin period, every time the troops were transferred, they needed the consent of both the Privy Council and the Zhongshu Men before the military generals could lead the troops. The "two governments and three divisions system" indirectly weakens the deliberative decision-making power of the prime minister.
During the reign of Song Taizu, the Privy Counsellors headed by Zhao Pu had great military power. After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, he raised the status of the "Three Divisions" under the Zhongshu Gate.
In this way, the deliberative power of the military state needs to be jointly discussed and submitted by the Privy Council, the Three Divisions, and the Zhongshu Menxia, and the Emperor agrees before the army can be dispatched.
The "two governments and three divisions system" established by Zhao Guangyi has also become the most important development process in the history of China's political system.
It is like saying that whenever a major event is encountered, the functional departments of the government cannot only listen to the opinions of the leaders of a certain department, but everyone works together to make a decision, and the final decision is still in the hands of the emperor.
Zhao Guangyi relied on this system to once again consolidate military power, and also indirectly reduced the right to speak of the prime minister, which can really be described as "killing two birds with one stone" and making an important contribution to the stability of the Song Dynasty.
Third, Zhao Guangyi reformed the imperial examination, reused talents, and broadened the road to promotion of cold students.
The imperial examination system was born in the Sui Dynasty, went through the Tang Dynasty and was eventually perfected. On the other hand, Zhao Guangyi first expanded the number of students admitted to each imperial examination, and at the same time, he also emphasized the idea of "teaching without class."
For example, Kou Zhun and Lü Mengzheng were all young talents discovered by Song Taizong from the people. In addition, in the Tang Dynasty, including the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many chief examiners and examiners in the imperial examinations, deliberately opening the back door for some rich children when reading the examination papers.
Zhao Guangyi adopted the method of "pasting names and reading papers," which put an end to the unhealthy tendencies and evil tendencies in the imperial examinations.
Secondly, Zhao Guangyi changed the temple examination to one every two years to one per year. This also helped the emperor to directly face the students, select talents, and use them for the use of the imperial court, avoiding the promotion path controlled by the family door valve.
Ouyang Xiu: "Stealing the system of the state to take the soldiers is the most common name than in the previous life." The Saint of Galley pays attention and pays attention to the end of the song. It is said that the king is the same as the family, so do not ask the people of the east, west, south and north, gather all the tributes, mix into one, and the only material is the choice. ”
In the Song Dynasty, it did not talk about the door, whether rich or poor, "everything was left with Cheng Wen."
Therefore, during the reign of Zhao Guangyi, many students from the cold door worked hard to read, which led to the atmosphere of the whole society at that time to study diligently and be proud of the students.
Judging from the few big things that Zhao Guangyi did, he did not seem to be useless. During his administration, he also introduced many policies that benefited the country and the people, and I will not elaborate on them here.
Then why did the later generations have a bad evaluation of Song Taizong?
For example, our great man Chairman Mao commented: Taizong "did not hesitate to take the stage by any means." "This man does not know the soldiers, and is not a Khitan enemy. After repeated defeats, the Khitan used the method of luring the enemy to go deep and gather and annihilate, and the Song people finally lost consciousness. ”
To put it simply, one is to do whatever it takes to ascend to the throne, and the other is military incompetence!
One thing to say is that Zhao Guangyi's military ability is indeed very poor.
For example, after succeeding to the throne, he repeatedly drove the imperial conquest and launched wars against the outside world. He also liked to interfere in the front-line military and blindly command, such as Yang Linggong, who died because of the blind command of Emperor Taizong.
There was also excessive restraint on the generals, and Song Taizong implemented the policy of "will be in the middle of the imperial court". To put it simply, I will teach you how to fight a war among the soldiers on the front line, and you will arrange your troops according to the battle map I have given.
It was all on paper, so many foreign wars were lost.
Then there is the above-mentioned cruelty to Zhao Kuangyin's heirs, perhaps because his own throne is not coming from the right way, so he paved the way for his son early.
He successively designed to kill Zhao Kuangyin's sons, Dezhao and Defang, and later persecuted his own brother Zhao Tingmei.
In addition to these, there is another matter, when Zhao Kuangyin died, Empress Song summoned Defang into the palace, because it hindered Zhao Guangyi's succession.
Zhao Guangyi was resentful, and after Empress Song's death, Zhao Guangyi not only did not accept the funeral, but also forbade the civil and military officials to mourn, and even forbade Empress Song's spiritual seat to enter the Taimiao Temple.
Reasonably, Zhao Guangyi's move was really excessive. Will these practices not be reviled by future generations? As for how to succeed to the throne, as well as his past with Xiao Zhouhou, because there is controversy, it will not be evaluated.
Spanish philosopher Baltasha Grazian: No one is worthless, and no one is too great to surpass.
On the whole, he is also a mixed merit, is he a Ming Jun?
This also depends on how to define, from the perspective of meritorious service, it is still a little worse. Although he destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, the subsequent Northern Expeditions were all defeated miserably.
It is true that Wenzhi has done a good job, and there are also some remarkable political achievements.
For example, the scientific expedition recruited a large number of talents; for example, the reconstruction of the Third Museum, the compilation of the four major books of the Song Dynasty, namely the Taiping Imperial Records, the Taiping Guangji and the Wenyuan Yinghua. Another example is to encourage reclamation, develop agricultural production, and so on.
The "History of Song" records: "The emperor took kindness and thrift as his treasure, wore the clothes of Huan Mao, destroyed the instruments of Kit Kat, but gave the female music, and realized the wrong of traveling." AbsoluteLy Far Away, Or Fu Rui, Min Nongshi, Kao Zhi Gong. Mourning and compassion, diligent self-encouragement, day and day forgetting to eat. As for the desire to self-immolate in order to answer the heavenly condemnation, he wants to do everything possible to relieve the people's strength. ”
Judging from these records, he did have the style of a wise king. However, it is not excluded that he is suspected of tampering with the "History of Song".
Do you think he is a Ming Jun?
References: History of the New Five Dynasties, Continuation of the Zhizhi TongjianChang, History of the Song Dynasty
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