The first TV series featuring Song Renzong, "Qing Ping Le", is coming to an end, which is adapted from Milan Lady's novel "Lonely City Closed", starring Wang Kai and Jiang Shuying.
Since its launch on April 7, "Qing Ping Le" has received a lot of attention and controversy, and the picture, lighting, composition, color grading, and costumes of the drama are very exquisite, basically restoring the elegant charm of the Song Dynasty. The court drama Gu Wenduo triggered netizens' curiosity about the historical evidence of the Song Dynasty and the true appearance of the history of Song Renzong, played by Wang Kai.
Song Renzong Zhao Zhen was the fourth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, reigned for 42 years, famous for "Shi Renzheng", during the reign of the economy and literati politics developed rapidly, Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Liu Yong, etc. were all cultural celebrities during the Renzong period, so the audience said that this drama gathered a huge "recitation and silent writing heavenly group".
However, Song Renzong's sense of existence in historical notes and costume TV series is not high, and in the past, Song Renzong acted as a "tool man" emperor in "Young Bao Qingtian", "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness", and "Five Rats in Tokyo".
Historical writer Wu Hook, in his newly launched biographical work "Song Renzong: The Era of Co-governance", details the life of Song Renzong and the institutional environment he faced, from the folk tale "Tanuki Cat for Prince" to the prince of a country who created "Renzong Shengzhi", Although Song Renzong's life was uneventful, during his reign, many outstanding talents emerged, 6 of the "Eight Greats of the Tang and Song Dynasties" appeared on the historical stage in the Renzong Dynasty, and the "Mr. Song Chusan" and the "Northern Song Five Sons" in the academic circles were also active in the Renzong era. Three of the four great inventions of ancient China appeared in the era of Emperor Renzong.
China News Weekly spoke with historical writer Wu Hook to discuss the political, economic, military and other issues of the Song Renzong era, and also discussed the advantages and regrets of the hit drama "Qing Ping Le".
The multitude of sages gathered
China News Weekly: You have written many historical works about the Song Dynasty, why do you want to write a biography of Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong this time?
Wu Hook: Based on my understanding of the history of the Song Dynasty, I think that Song Renzong is the most worthy emperor for me to write a personal biography of him, and he is the kind of ancient emperor I most admire. It just so happens that Song Renzong was born in 1010, and this year 2020 is the 1010th year of his birth, which is of commemorative significance.
In "Qing Ping Le", Wang Kai played Song Renzong Zhao Zhen.
China News Weekly: What are the similarities and differences between Song Renzong in the book "Song Renzong: The Era of Co-Governance" and Song Renzong, played by Wang Kai in "Qing Ping Le"?
Wu Hook: Excluding the fictional plot in the TV series, from the perspective of character, I think that the Renzong in the TV series is still relatively high in line with the Emperor Renzong I want to show.
In the book, I want to express the conflict between the two identities of Emperor Renzong, who is both the son of man, the father, the husband, and the monarch of a country, and these two identities will definitely clash, and what I want to write about is his persistence and compromise, his willfulness and restraint, and his helplessness in the face of fate.
China News Weekly: In what ways is Song Renzong's helplessness or self-restraint reflected?
Wu Hook: He will discuss important matters with the ministers in the court and discuss important matters with the ministers, and brainstorm rather than make decisions alone; he is not free in terms of personal life.
To give two examples, one is that Emperor Renzong loved music since he was a child, was also very talented in music, could compose music, and wrote some articles on music theory, and after the death of his beloved concubine Zhang Guifei, he wrote many songs to commemorate and mourn her. However, he did not dare to show that he was addicted to music like Song Huizong, and when the minister heard him talking about music, he would also lecture him with a straight face, saying that the sound of silence was wrong, which frightened him into quickly clarifying, saying that he did not always pay attention to the sound, but only reluctantly watched the song and dance performance when attending the banquet, and did not really love music.
Emperor Renzong greatly admired Liu Yong's literary and musical talents, and when he participated in banquets to perform songs and dances, he would generally let these singers sing the new words written by Liu Yong, but he could only listen to Liu Yong's new words at private banquets and did not dare to openly show his appreciation for Liu Yong.
Second, his love is also unfree. He wanted to make an empress during Empress Liu's curtain and listening to the government, and he himself favored two women, one was the wang daughter of the merchant family, who looked very beautiful, emperor Renzong fell in love at first sight, but Empress Liu did not agree, thinking that the Wang clan was too charming, it would charm the king, so he married the Wang clan to one of his nephews; later Emperor Renzong again looked at the Zhang clan, but Empress Liu still did not agree, and chose an empress surnamed Guo, Empress Guo had a hot personality, flying and stumbling, and after Empress Liu's death, Emperor Renzong was pro-government. At the instigation of the chancellor Lü Yijian, Empress Guo was deposed and a new empress was established.
China News Weekly: Song Renzong's dynasty appeared a lot of historical and cultural celebrities, also appeared in "Qing Ping Le", by netizens called "recitation of silent writing of heavenly groups", do you think that "memorization of silent writing of heavenly groups" who has the strongest dramatic color?
Wu Hook: Ouyang Xiu's experience is somewhat dramatic, when he was a counselor, he accused other officials of adultery, but he was falsely accused of incest and adultery with others twice, which was a bit of dog blood.
I think two positive characters can be talked about more in the TV series, one is Fan Zhongyan, who appeared in the early renzong dynasty, and the other is Wang Anshi, who appeared in the late renzong dynasty, these two people are the two characters in the entire Song Dynasty scholar group that are most worthy of using a book to talk about.
In "Qing Ping Le", Liu Jun played Fan Zhongyan.
China News Weekly: What is the relationship between the members of the "Recitation and Silent Writing Heavenly Group"?
Wu Hook: Successive emperors have been more vigilant about the issue of the partisan party, and Song Renzong also did not have much good feelings for the partisans. Emperor Renzong once asked Fan Zhongyan's views on the issue of the partisans, and Fan Zhongyan replied: When I was guarding the northwest of the town, I found that there were some timid people who were afraid of death huddled together, and those who were brave and fierce also huddled together, and it was natural for people to be divided into groups, so it was also natural for some people in the imperial court to form friends. However, the emperor did not let them form parties for personal gain and endanger the country. That is to say, Fan Zhongyan also defended the phenomenon of partisans in general, believing that the partisans appeared naturally, and there was no need to insist on eliminating the partisans, and it was necessary to pay attention to the partisans and not to endanger the country. This was a new change in the Song Dynasty's attitude towards the partisans, and some people began to positively understand the phenomenon of the partisans.
In fact, within the "recitation and silent writing of the heavenly group", there will still be a phenomenon of newspaper groups to warm up and cover each other. For example, the "Qing Ping Le" also talks about Teng Zongyu's abuse of public money. Teng Zongyu is not a corrupt official, but he must have spent a lot of money, he must have done things with public funds to eat, drink, and entertain his friends, so the taiwan counselor impeached him for abusing public money, and when Teng Zongyu was investigated, in order to protect those friends he had entertained with public funds, he burned the accounts, which was an act of blatantly opposing the law, so the Taiwan counselor proposed to severely punish Teng Zongyu, but Fan Zhongyun still tried to protect Teng Zongyu, and I think Fan Zhongyun still had the consideration of protecting his own people, because Teng Zongyu was his good friend.
However, the "Recitation of Silent Writing Heavenly Tuan" is not a monolith, such as the relationship between Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu, in fact, it is not as played in "Qing Ping Le", in fact, Fan Zhongyan looks down on Yan Shu very much. Because Fan Zhongyan had written a recital to ask Empress Liu to return to Song Renzong when Empress Liu was bowing to the government, Yan Shu saw that Fan Zhongyan's recital was fiercely worded, and told Fan Zhongyan not to do things too much, and not to always point the spearhead at Empress Liu. Fan Zhongyan was very dismissive, thinking that Yan Shu was timid and afraid of things, and looked down on him.
In "Qing Ping Le", Yan Shu is portrayed as Renzong's life mentor, but in fact, Yan Shu's relationship with Emperor Renzong is not too good. After the death of Emperor Renzong's biological mother Li Shi, Emperor Renzong asked Yan Shu to write a sacrifice text, for fear of offending Empress Liu, and Yan Shu wrote that only Li Shi gave birth to a daughter, and did not dare to write that Renzong was also born to Li Shi. Emperor Renzong had always been grumpy about this matter, so his relationship with Yan Shu was not particularly good.
Border storm
China News Weekly: The beginning and end of the Qingli New Deal in "Qing Ping Le" are not clear, please talk about the beginning and end of the Qingli New Deal.
Wu Hook: "Qing Ping Le" does not clearly explain the ins and outs of the events that occurred in the Qingli New Deal, and the background of the Qingli New Deal is the war between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, as well as the negotiations between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao State. It was precisely because the Song Dynasty fought with the Western Xia, and the Liao State at the same time took advantage of the fire and robbery to put forward new requirements for the Song, so that the Song Dynasty faced many problems and reform was imperative.
The war led to the phenomenon of redundant troops, which led to financial overwhelms, thus increasing the burden on the people, so the people's livelihood was also very difficult. In the face of these crises, these ruling officials, led by Lü Yijian and Yan Shu, are relatively conservative, do not know how to deal with these crises, and are a bit inactive, at this time the demand for reform becomes very strong.
At that time, more and more scholars hoped that Emperor Renzong would be able to cheer up and stabilize the innovation, and Emperor Renzong also wanted to exert himself to get rid of the situation of twilight, so he appointed Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, and Han Qi as the new ruling officials. In "Qing Ping Le", the audience is not clear about why these three people are used.
The court drama of "Qing Ping Le".
Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, and Han Qi were the three most courageous and strategic ministers of the Song Dynasty in dealing with external crises at that time.
The ministers who resisted Western Xia were mainly Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, especially Fan Zhongyan, whose prestige in the northwest was still quite large, including Di Qing, who was also cultivated by Fan Zhongyan. In the Song-Liao negotiations, Fu Bi was ordered to go to the territory of the Liao State twice to negotiate.
If the crew is willing to invest more costs, it will be better to shoot the war between Song and Western Xia, involving war scenes and even spy battles, and the western scenery is also very magnificent, but "Qing Ping Le" basically has no location.
The story of Zhong Shiheng's use of divisive tactics to make Yuan Hao, the lord of the Western Xia Kingdom, feel suspicious of the Yeli brothers who hold military power is particularly wonderful, with a taste of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Seed Shiheng's divisive strategy weakened Yuan Hao's power, to a certain extent, so that Yuan Hao did not concentrate more on confrontation with the Song Dynasty, and thus turned to song to seek peace.
China News Weekly: The public's inherent impression of the Song Dynasty is that it is always under threat from ethnic minority regimes, so what is the real situation on the border of the Song Dynasty? What was the impact of these circumstances on the politics and economy of the Song Dynasty?
Wu Hook: This is a phased, war and peace coexist between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, after the father of the Western Xia Yuanhao submitted to the Song Dynasty, there was a long period of peace, Emperor Renzong claimed the title of emperor during the first year of the Bao Dynasty, and began to have a confrontation with the Northern Song Dynasty for several years, and during the Qing calendar year, Yuan Hao sought peace and concluded a covenant, and achieved a brief peace, and there was a war between the two sides for several years during the Shenzong period.
Since the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty established the Alliance of Liaoyuan, they have basically maintained peace for about a hundred years. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Frontier appeared on the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchens, and during the Southern Song Dynasty, there was Mongolia. Therefore, the opponents on the northern border of the Song Dynasty can be said to be one after another, resulting in the Song Dynasty consuming a huge amount of military resources, raising millions of troops, and causing serious problems of redundant troops.
The military system of the Song Dynasty was a conscription system, and soldiers entering the army as soldiers were voluntary and paid, and the salaries of soldiers were all borne by the treasury. Therefore, the cost of raising soldiers in the Song Dynasty was very large, and 60% of the fiscal revenue was basically used to raise soldiers, and the pressure was very large, and it was impossible to rely only on agricultural taxes to bear huge financial expenses. Therefore, the Song Dynasty shifted the focus of tax collection from agricultural taxes to industrial and commercial taxes to the government's monopoly system.
Therefore, the financial structure of the Song Dynasty has a situation that has not been seen in all dynasties, that is, the proportion of non-agricultural taxes is more than 70%. In order to increase commercial taxes, the Song Dynasty must vigorously promote commercial development, which also promoted the prosperity of the Song Dynasty's economy.
China News Weekly: In the New Deal for the Qing calendar, Fan Zhongyan proposed to revise the conscription system, but in the end it was not implemented.
Wu Hook: Although the conscription system has brought great pressure to the finances, it also has advantages, it will not force the pulling of Zhuang Ding, resulting in the tragedy of the separation of flesh and bones among the people, just like Du Fu's "Stone Trench Official", which is conducive to maintaining social stability, even in the time of disaster and famine, the peasants will have no food to eat, that is, to join the army, when the soldiers have food to eat, so generally will not rebel.
Therefore, the Song Dynasty was the only orthodox dynasty in Chinese history that did not undergo large-scale civil revolts, and it was destroyed by external forces, rather than internal civil unrest, which is different from other dynasties.
Bumpy love
China News Weekly: If you came to make "Qing Ping Le", who would the heroine be?
Wu Hook: The woman who really had a story and love with Song Renzong in history was Zhang Guifei, so I think it is natural to list Zhang Guifei as the number one woman. Zhang Guifei is also Zhang Yuhan in "Qing Ping Le". The love story of Zhang Guifei and Song Renzong in history can be compared with the love between Tang Ming Emperor and Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Ming Emperor and Yang Guifei have works such as "Long Hate Song", but the love story of Song Renzong and Zhang Guifei does not have poets to write poems to describe that entangled and compassionate love.
Zhang Guifei died at the age of 31, and after her death, Emperor Renzong was willful once, and she must bury Zhang Guifei according to the empress's etiquette. Although the ministers and the eunuchs were unanimously opposed, Emperor Renzong did not listen, and must posthumously crown his beloved woman as empress, which was to make up for the debt he owed her before his death.
Rare sugar-making moments for Empress CP.
China News Weekly: The Empress CP in "Qing Ping Le" is very sadistic, in fact, what is the relationship between Song Renzong and Empress Cao?
Wu Hook: The story of Empress Cao and Song Renzong in "Qing Ping Le" is a bit of dog blood, and it is against common sense that they have not had sex for 15 years. Although the feelings of Empress Cao and Emperor Renzong in history were not as passionate as those of Zhang Guifei, they got along better and respected each other as guests. Empress Cao's personality is relatively blunt, and many times she has a straight face and rules, which is not very pleasing to Emperor Renzong.
China News Weekly: When do you think the most brilliant chapter in Song Renzong's life was?
Wu Hook: The time when he was most spirited was when Empress Liu died, the year he first took the throne. When Empress Liu died, he was very diligent and wanted to work hard, but it lasted only one year, because Emperor Renzong had obvious character weaknesses, and after Empress Liu's death, no one restrained him, so he was vindictively infatuated with beauty, fell seriously ill, and then became a little depressed.
A few years later, in the Qingli New Deal, Emperor Renzong reused Fan Zhongyan and others to start reforms, which was also a small climax of his life, and in his later years, that is, during the Jiayou period, he basically relied on the group of scholars, all of whom were able ministers to govern the country, at this time he was the most relaxed in the court, he focused on the harem, wanted to have a son, but in the end did not do as he wished, and the children born to the concubines were all daughters.
China News Weekly: How many points do you think Qing Ping Le can score?
Wu Hook: About 7.5 to 8 points, generally still good. "Qing Ping Le" is very exquisite in terms of costumes and props, very sophisticated, but the screenwriter is not very satisfied, not like a complete story, but also lacks the tension of the drama and the ups and downs of the storyline, many places can not justify themselves, so the comprehensive 7.5 to 8 points.