Emperor Jiandao Beide (建道备德大功復烈文仁武聖明安孝皇帝) by Emperor Lizong of Song (26 January 1205 – 16 November 1264), originally known as Zhao Youju (赵與莒), was the fourteenth emperor of the Song Dynasty and the fifth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. Grandson of Zhao Dezhao, son of Zhao Kuangyin, the ninth grandson of Song Taizu. After the death of Emperor Ningzong of Song, Zhao Yun was proclaimed emperor for Emperor Lizong of Song. On November 16, the fifth year of Jingding (1264 AD), Song Lizong died in Lin'an, reigning forty years at the age of sixty.
Statue of Song Lizong
Looking at a person needs to be viewed from many angles and in many ways, and cannot completely deny what he has done just because of some wrong things he has done, especially like the emperor, who has also reigned for a long time in his life and faces different situations. That's what the emperor we're talking about today is like that. Speaking of Song Lizong Zhao Yun, I personally feel that he is an emperor who is both faint and wise, which seems contradictory, but the truth is like this, just like bad people have times to do good things, and good people also have times to do bad things. So, why would Zhao Yun be such an emperor? Today, let us review the life of Song Lizong Zhao Yun with these questions and comment on the merits and demerits of it.
On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Kai Jubilee (1205 AD), Zhao and Ju (赵昀) were born in the hongqiao family in the county. Here, it is worth mentioning that Zhao and Ju were not originally princes, but only distant cousins of Song Ningzong. Some friends couldn't understand: If this was the case, why did Zhao and Ju become emperors? Could it be that Song Ningzong was also an emperor who had cut off his sons and grandchildren? Well, you guessed it! Emperor Ningzong of Song's eight biological heirs all died young. However, at first, Zhao and Ju were not candidates to inherit the throne, but candidates to inherit the throne, and as for why Zhao and Ju eventually became heirs to the throne, that is an afterthought, which is not mentioned here.
Okay, let's get back to business. It is said that Zhao and Ju are not candidates to inherit the throne, but candidates to inherit the throne. Here's what happened: Shortly after Zhao and Ju were born, Song Ningzong's younger brother King Yijing Huiwang died, and it is regrettable that this prince was as sad as Song Ningzong, what, there are no descendants! Therefore, Emperor Ningzong of Song ordered the chancellor Shi Miyuan to find a well-behaved clan to inherit the throne of Yi, and Shi Miyuan entrusted this task to his aide Yu Tianxi. Yu Tianxi encountered heavy rain on his way through Shaoxing and took shelter from the rain at quanbaochang's house, so he met the zhao and Ju brothers. Yu Tianxi knew that they were from the Zhao clan, and also felt that the brothers behaved appropriately, and thought that they were suitable candidates to inherit the Yi King, so they recommended them to Shi Miyuan. Shi Miyuan took the two brothers to Lin'an for personal consideration, and also believed that his brothers Zhao and Ju were suitable candidates to inherit the Yi King, so in the fourteenth year of Jiading (1221 AD), Zhao and Ju were elected to the palace, and gave the name Guicheng to inherit the throne of Yi. Zhao and Ju's biological father was Zhao Hesun, who was later posthumously honored as the King of Rong, and his biological mother was Quanshi.
Portrait of Zhao Hu
This is Zhao Yun's background. The flowers bloom two flowers with one branch each, and we will talk about Song Ningzong again. There is a question just now that has not been finished, what is the problem? Succession to the throne. Some people may ask, Song Ningzong has no heirs, and the original candidate to inherit the throne is not Zhao Yun, then who will it be? The child's original name was Zhao Guihe, and on June 13, 1221, the fourteenth year of Jiading (1221 AD), he was made crown prince and given the name Zhao Hu. Regarding the life of Zhao Hu, I need to briefly introduce to you, Zhao Guihe (?-1225), that is, Zhao Zhu, the son of Zhao Xiqu, the southern Song Dynasty. He is the tenth grandson of Song Taizu and the ninth grandson of Zhao Defang.
So the question is, why didn't Zhao Hu become emperor in the end? This brings us to a man, who, shi miyuan, the prime minister at that time. Regarding Shi Miyuan, I don't know if you remember it, but Miyuan killed Han Nongxin before the early dynasty and promoted the peace agreement between Song Jinjiading and was made chancellor by Emperor Ningzong of Song. After Shi Miyuan lived in the position, he held a high position of power, and what was rare was that he also had a good relationship with Zhao Yuan, the prince of Jingxian, and Shi Miyuan regretted that in the thirteenth year of Jiading (1220 AD), Zhao Yuan, who was only twenty-eight years old, died, which made the old fox Shi Miyuan extremely depressed.
After Zhao Qian's death, Zhao Hu was made crown prince, at this time, the old fox Shi Miyuan thought: After more than ten years of hard work, he returned to the pre-liberation period. Yes, everything has to start all over again! So, he was inquiring about the north collection, what was he inquiring about? Zhao Zhu's hobby, why did he do it? Quite simply, in order to please the new Crown Prince Zhao Hu and spy on his words and deeds! After Shi Miyuan's long-term efforts, he finally learned that Zhao Zhu was good at piano art, so Shi Miyuan bought several beauties who were good at piano art and dedicated them to Zhao Miyuan. But Zhao Zhen, not only did he not appreciate it, but he hated this person even more, thinking that Shi Miyuan was a small person who would only please big people and was useless. Why? I will tell you a few things that you will understand: It is said that Zhao Hu once pointed to the place where the south island on the map was located and said: "I have attained the goal of the day, and I have set Shi Mi far behind." Another time was called Shi Miyuan "Xin'en", which meant that in the future, Shi Miyuan would be assigned to Xinzhou, Enzhou and other places. This was not enough, Zhao Hu once took advantage of the drunkenness to smash the beggar qiaoqi play that Shi Miyuan had offered. All this was heard by Shi Miyuan's spies installed in the Prince's Mansion and reported all this to Shi Miyuan.
Statue of Empress Yang
When Shi Miyuan heard these words, his heart clattered, things were not good, so he quickly calculated in his heart, and suddenly, a sinister idea was generated in Shi Miyuan's mind, what idea? Abolish the Prince! Hey hey, Zhao Hun Xiao'er, since you are not kind, you will blame Lao Tzu for being unjust! Therefore, in August of the seventeenth year of Jiading (1224 AD), when Emperor Ningzong of Song was seriously ill, Shi Miyuan summoned Zheng Qingzhi and Cheng Tuo of the Zhi Scholar Academy to enter the palace, and ordered Zhao Guicheng to be crown prince, gave him the name Zhao Yun, and conferred the title of Wutai Military Envoy, and was made a duke. This is not the end, such a big thing as abolishing the prince must also get the support of one person, otherwise all this is in vain. Who is this person? Empress Yang, the wife of Emperor Ningzong of Song. Therefore, on the night of Emperor Ningzong's death on the third day of the leap august, Shi Miyuan invited Yang Gu and Yang Shi, the sons of Yang Cishan, to enter the palace seven times in one night, and persuaded Empress Yang with the misfortune of the Yang family, and Empress Yang finally agreed, and Shi Miyuan sent an envoy to the palace of Yijinghui and summoned Zhao Yun into the palace, and Empress Yang stroked her back and said, "Ru is my son!" Therefore, Zhao Yun naturally became the emperor, and the original crown prince Zhao Hu was unwilling to bow down after entering the palace, and the palace commanded Xia Zhen to suppress his head salute, and Empress Yang ordered Zhao Zhen to be the kaifu Yi Tongsan division, and was made the prince of Jiyang County, and sentenced to the Ningguo Mansion. Later, Emperor Lizong of Song also enfeoffed Zhao Hu Shaobao, entered the fengji king, and ordered him to live in Huzhou. Later, after the failure of the Xiachuan Rebellion, Shi Miyuan sent Yu Tianxi to force Zhao Hu to kill himself and kill his son. After Zhao Hu's death, he was originally posthumously awarded the title of Junior Master and enfeoffed as an envoy of the Zhentong Army, but was soon stripped of his title and posthumously demoted to the Title of Duke of Baling County.
Zhao Yun thus became emperor, and zhao Yun was deprived of the throne that originally belonged to him. After Zhao Yun ascended the throne, the power fell to the side, and the minister of power, Shi Miyuan, controlled the government and acted arbitrarily, and his henchmen controlled almost all important positions from the central to the local level. Zhao Yun ignored the government and was idle all day. It was not until October of the sixth year of Shaoding (1233 AD) that Shi Miyuan fell seriously ill and died, and Emperor Lizong finally broke away from Shi Miyuan's hostage and was able to govern himself.
After he personally came to power, in politics, in order to change the phenomenon of a large number of redundant officials, he limited the number of soldiers per examination, stipulating that it was 450 people, which was 150 fewer than before. Moreover, he stipulated that the ministers of the DPRK and the CENTRAL Government could not recommend officials privately, and that no one who had not served as a state or county official could hold a position in the DPRK. Economically, he appointed Hong Zhikuo and others as overseers of the imperial history, impeached many useless people, recycled paper money, and wanted to control the rapid rise in prices. In culture, he identified science as a chinese study, reused Zhu Xi and others, and founded many academies, hoping to make culture better disseminated. In society, he hopes to give relief to those who are poor and to give homeless children on both sides of the road a part, at least in the Lin'an area. Due to his multi-faceted reforms, the overall strength of the Southern Song Dynasty was somewhat warmed up, and was called "Duanping Genghua" by later generations, and militarily, until 1235 AD, when the Mongols began to attack the Southern Song Dynasty, And Song Lizong also appointed some loyal military generals to be able to resist. These are all things that can reflect his wise and divine side.
Statue of Shi Miyuan
However, after that, he appointed Ding Daquan and others, and even handed over the situation to such villains as Jia Xiangdao, resulting in a political darkness, the killing of loyal subjects for no reason, and the increasing decline of the Southern Song Dynasty under the coercion of the Mongol army. In Ezhou, due to the civil unrest in Mongolia, the Song army saw the opportunity and achieved a certain victory, and Song Lizong was even more concerned about the safety of the country. Gradually falling into the obsession with beauty, blatantly summoning prostitutes into the palace, and alienating more loyal subjects, the Southern Song Dynasty was in danger. Due to the long reign of Emperor Lizong of Song, his number of era names is also very large. In 1224, he was elected by his courtiers and made the fifth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. The following year, the era name was changed to Baoqing, which was from 1225 to 1227 AD. Although he had already ascended the throne as emperor at this time, he did not have much power in his hands at all, but more of a symbolic role, coveting beauty all day and ignoring government affairs. These reflect his fainting side.
Well, this is Song Lizong Zhao Yun, for the evaluation of Zhao Yun, I have already said very clearly before, I will not say much here. At the end of the article, I would like to ask you: What is Song Lizong in your eyes? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section to discuss!