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Emperor Huizong of Song, as an emperor of a generation, undoubtedly failed.
God gave him a distinguished status and a special artistic endowment, but did not give him political enthusiasm or the ability to govern the country.
His naïve ideas and clumsy political tactics led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
But at the same time, he also created "thin gold body" calligraphy, gongbi flower and bird paintings, a large number of poems...
Today, let's take a look at the story of Song Huizong.
Among the ancient Chinese emperors, there was such a person:
He was born noble and talented, but in the end he ended up with a country destroyed and humiliated to death;
He should have been an idle king who studied art and flowed through the ages, but because he was "not dedicated to the emperor", he became a faint prince who had been left behind for thousands of years.
He could do anything well in his life, but the emperor couldn't do it well.
He was Emperor Huizong of Song.
Originally a rich and idle king, he had no choice but to become the honor of the emperor
In the Compilation of Anecdotes of the Song Dynasty, there is a story about the birth of Zhao Yao:
It is said that in 1082 AD, Zhao Tuo's father, Song Shenzong, once went to the secretary province to see the portrait of Li Yu, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and repeatedly praised Li Yu's elegant demeanor.
Soon after he admired Li Yu, his eleventh son, Zhao Tuo, was born.
Therefore, Song Shenzong said with great pride that his youngest son must have both appearance and talent, and was more than a hundred times higher than Li Yu.
Whether this account is true or not has no way of being verified by future generations.
But presumably every pair of parents is like Song Shenzong, when the child is just born, they hope that he will have a smooth life and achieve extraordinary achievements!
However, long before Zhao Tuo, Song Shenzong had already found an heir to the kingdom, and that person was Zhao Tuo's brother Song Zhezong.
Therefore, in order to avoid the occurrence of brothers competing for the throne, he hoped that his younger son would be a rich and carefree and unparalleled idle king for the rest of his life.
Under the deliberate teaching of his father, what he learned was not the means of pacifying the world and governing the country, but the ability to write poetry and write words and dance to ink.
Therefore, since he was a child, he has loved pen and ink and Danqing, likes to ride horses and bow, and is even more fascinated by exotic flowers and stones, birds and animals.
Moreover, his personality is the opposite of the serious and stereotypical royal style, and he is lively to the point of even being somewhat frivolous.
Of course, these are not a disadvantage for the much-loved little prince of the royal family.
Because, everyone's expectation of him was not the emperor who picked the beam.
If there is no accident, Zhao Tuo will follow the route planned for him by his parents, spend his life so freely and happily, and by the way, become a great artist who has left his name in history.
But accidents always came so unexpectedly, and in 1100 AD, his 25-year-old brother Song Zhezong, the emperor, died of illness.
Moreover, because Song Zhezong did not have sons and did not establish an heir before his death, it caused the imperial struggle of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the struggle between the various forces in the court, Zhao Tuo mistakenly became the best candidate to balance the forces of many parties.
In this way, Zhao Tuo, who was most unsuitable to be an emperor, was instead pushed to the throne and became the eighth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty.
When the initial political arena showed ambition, it was difficult for the emperor to recruit villains
When he first ascended the throne, Zhao Yao was only 18 years old, which was the age of youth and madness.
Therefore, although he was lucky enough to succeed to the throne in many party tug-of-war, he still wanted to prove to the world that he Zhao Tuo was not only good at Danqing calligraphy, but also could be a mingjun for thousands of years.
Therefore, in the second year of his ascension to the throne, he changed his era name to "Jianzhong Jingguo", indicating that he wanted to be a good emperor who was impartial and neutral.
In ancient times, even the emperor could not change the era name for no reason, so why did Zhao Tuo just become emperor and rush to change such an era name?
It turned out that as early as the era of Zhao Tuo's father and his brother's rule, two major parties were formed in the political arena of the Northern Song Dynasty because of reform issues.
One was the new party headed by Wang Anshi, who advocated reform and reform, while the other was the old party represented by Sima Guang, who insisted on preserving the ancestral system.
According to our current words, even if we have different political views and different concepts, we will respect each other's right to speak.
However, the two parties of the Northern Song Dynasty, old and new, were in a hurry, and no matter which party they were, once they came to power, they would have to suppress each other's officials fiercely.
The mutual inclination between the two parties not only disturbed the political arena of the Northern Song Dynasty, but also caused panic among the people of the whole country.
Therefore, the first thing Zhao Tuo did after he took office was to be a peacemaker and prepare to unite the old and new parties to jointly stop this party struggle that had lasted for decades.
Zhao Tuo had thought that when he, the supreme leader of the empire, took a stand, the old and new parties would be able to shake hands and make peace and stop the dispute.
However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very bone, and the old and new party struggles have not only not stopped, but have intensified.
In desperation, Zhao Tuo could only change the era name to "Chongning" again, re-embarked on the old path of the former emperor, and chose a new party that was more inclined to him, fiercely suppressing the old party.
But at this time, the New Party no longer had a minister like Wang Anshi who really served the people, but a treacherous person like Cai Jing.
Therefore, Zhao Tuo, who wanted to show his skills, not only did not succeed, but after offending a large number of old party ministers, he recruited many villains and traitors to himself.
Literature and art to save the country are not timely, and the shame of Jing Kang has been left for eternity
As it is said in the Table of Renunciation:
"Pro-villain, far-reaching sage, after that Han so the decadence also."
The reason why the Han dynasty perished was because the king of the house was close to the villain and alienated the sages.
Surrounded by traitorous courtiers, Zhao Tuo not only no longer adopted the anti-eared advice of governing the country, but also listened to the praise of the villains and chose to use his amateur means of governing the country to govern the Northern Song Dynasty.
For example, because he was very good at and loved painting, he founded the Xuanhe Painting Academy, which is equivalent to the current Central Academy of Fine Arts, and personally wrote the syllabus and provided the collection of books and paintings for teaching;
He trained painters such as Zhang Zeduan, the author of "Qingming on the River Map", and Wang Ximeng, who painted "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains".
He even formally included painting in the imperial examination, and was the first emperor in history to take artistic expertise as a plus point in the imperial examination.
In addition to promoting art, he also vigorously supported Taoism, claiming to be the "Daojun Emperor of the Sect" and building a large number of Taoist temples throughout the country.
In order to enhance the social status of Taoists, he also personally summoned Daoist priests to provide state service for cultivators.
However, what the Northern Song Dynasty needed at that time was force defense and thorough reform.
Therefore, his untimely "literary and artistic salvation" not only did not work, but also became a game for traitors to collect the people and eliminate dissidents.
Cai Jing was a cunning official master, good at grasping the psychology of Song Huizong's preference for enjoyment, he put forward the so-called "Feng Heng Yu" slogan, emphasizing enjoyment, which won the favor of Song Huizong.
At that time, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty was in Kaifeng, which was flat and lacked mountains, and only the Yellow River flowed day after day.
The scenery in the world is jiangnan, but Song Huizong can't rush to the south, he came up with a trick: to move the scenery of Jiangnan to Kaifeng.
So he decided to build a giant artificial rockery, and to this end, he mobilized a large number of ships to pull flowers and stones from Jiangnan.
First, the Taihu Lake Strange Stone was used to form a mountain, and the Qihua Yao grass was placed on it.
A certain family has strange flowers, a certain family has strange grass, Cai Jing and other people take the opportunity to accumulate wealth, and even demolish houses and destroy houses, for a time Jiangnan people do not talk about life.
Cai Jing gained the emperor's trust, and he and five of his allies, for emperor Huizong of Song, tried their best to plunder the people for their enjoyment, while rejecting integrity and virtuousness, then known as the "Six Thieves".
Under the "false prosperity" created by the six thieves, the good and great joy of Song Huizong's heart was also stimulated.
He decided to realize his ancestors' ambition: to expand the territory.
At this time, the old rival liao in the north was in decline and facing the threat of the Jurchen tribes, and Emperor Huizong of Song, believing that the opportunity was rare, established a maritime alliance with the Jin state in the northeast and agreed to attack the Liao state.
When Dajin's kidnapped horses wantonly slaughtered hundreds of thousands of heavy troops of the Liao state east of Yanshan, Emperor Huizong of Song also marched north to attack Liao.
Who knows, in the face of Fang La's very brave Song army, in front of the Liao army, it can be said that the sheep entered the tiger's mouth, and it was beaten to the ground to find teeth.
The Liao state was crushed by the iron hooves of the Jin soldiers, and it was the turn of the Song Dynasty.
In 1126, the first year of Jing Kang, Zhao Tuo ushered in the second turning point in his life.
In the north, Jin Taizong completed Yan Wu Begmai and marched south.
The Song Dynasty had always guarded the inside and outside, and the fortresses along the way were useless, and the Jin army soon besieged Kaifeng.
When Jin Jun went south, when he found that he had completely played away, he immediately threw the pot to his son.
However, he was too late to pass the throne, and in the second year of his abdication, the Jin soldiers captured the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fenjing, burned and looted countless times, and also captured him and his son Song Qinzong.
The war that led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty is known in history as the "Jingkang Revolution".
Throughout the life of Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Yao, he could have stood alone in the world with his artistic talent, but because he was born in the imperial family, he became the king of the subjugated country;
He originally wanted to end the party struggle, but he had no choice but to let himself be reduced to a dimwitted prince surrounded by traitors;
He originally wanted to show his skills and save the country through literature and art, but because of his unprofessionalism, his diligence became a ruin.
Step by step, he personally pushed the Northern Song Dynasty to its destruction.
The History of Song says that Emperor Huizong of Song:
"All things can be done, but not for the ear of the king!"
He can do anything well, but he can't be a good emperor. And in the end, he also paid a terrible price for his unprofessional imperial behavior.
And the Tao Te Ching says: "Those who know others are wise, and those who know themselves are wise." ”
The life of Emperor Huizong of Song tells us:
People must have self-knowledge, there is no diamond diamond, do not take porcelain work.
Don't use your spare time to challenge other people's professions, really smart people are doing what they are good at.