The two Song dynasties spanned 319 years, which was not short for a feudal dynasty throughout ancient Chinese history. However, under the direct control of the heavy literature and the suppression of the martial national policy, even if the wealth reached the peak of ancient history, it was difficult for the two Song Dynasties to find several emperors with an iron fist and great talent like the Qin Emperor Han Wu. There are few emperors who are as enterprising as Emperor Zhao of the Song Dynasty, and a "Xining Change" has been vigorously carried out for more than ten years, with the intention of eliminating social ills and strengthening imperial power, and the Northern Song Dynasty also once had a scene of Zhongxing, who expected that the Song Huizong would succeed to the throne, and the previous efforts were all in vain, and even the great empire was lost.
Compared with Emperor Shenzong and Emperor Huizong, Zhao Xu, the Song Zhezong sandwiched in the middle, was relatively unknown. At first glance, Zhao Xu's life: when he ascended the throne at a young age, he was also a short-lived emperor, with the empress dowager controlling the government for many years, and a large group of old ministers under the emperor and the empress dowager, who could not escape the life of the "puppet emperor". However, what is rare is that Song Zhezong did not obey orders, and he also became one of the most iron-blooded and most regrettable emperors in the history of the two Song Dynasties.
Dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes, and in ancient times, they attached great importance to their origins, and song Zhezong lost on the starting line alone. Zhao Xu's original name was Zhao Wu, and although he was indeed the son of Emperor Shenzong, his mother was a low-status concubine, so the mother and son were ostracized in the court. Let's talk about a specific example: in 1085 AD, Song Shenzong died. At the time of the burial, Zhao Xu's biological mother, Zhu Shi, escorted the coffin into the Yongyu Mausoleum. According to the feudal etiquette, Han Dai, the governor of Zhihenan, who is now the governor of Henan Province, went to greet him, and when they met, they knelt down to pay homage to zhu shixing. This matter did not come and there was nothing, who knew that empress Dowager Gao actually pointed at Zhu Shi in person and scolded: Han Dai is the minister of the former emperor, what are you a thing, or do you mean to receive heavy gifts from others?
The difficulty of Zhao Xu's initial situation was evident, but he did not give up on himself because of it. On the contrary, it is very valuable that he has been very strong since he was a child, deeply influenced by his father, and he has honed his old and stable character that does not match his age early on. The history of the Song also records such a small episode: In 1084, When Emperor Shenzong of Song feasted on the courtiers at the Jiying Hall, Zhao Xu, who was only 8 years old at the time, behaved generously and decently in front of everyone, quite royal majesty, and gave Emperor Shenzong a long face. The following year, when an emissary from the Liao state entered the dynasty, the minister was worried that the Liao people's rough faces and strange clothes would frighten Zhao Xu, but Zhao Xu asked very calmly: "Aren't the Liao people human?" Since they are people, why should we be afraid of them? Some of the old courtiers who valued the etiquette and unification could not help but be excited when they saw that the prince was so outstanding, and even congratulated the saint on the spot for giving birth to a good son. Zhao Xu gained favor step by step with his own efforts, and his early performance was destined to become an extraordinary monarch.
In 1085 AD, the seriously ill Shenzong's physical condition plummeted, even to the point where it was difficult to enter the dynasty, and he had to consider choosing a successor. Emperor Shenzong did not lack heirs, but the problem was that at that time, the court was lined with mountains, not to mention the emperor's son, and the two younger brothers of Emperor Shenzong, Zhao Hao and Zhao Hao, were not fuel-saving lamps. On the one hand, both belonged to the kind of people with bright heads and relatively skilled people, who had considerable prestige among the courtiers, on the other hand, the two obviously had plans for the throne--when Shenzong was critically ill, they frequently approached Shenzong on the pretext of visiting, with the intention of controlling it, but at the critical moment, Empress Gao ordered the gate of the palace to be locked tightly and prevent outsiders from entering, which did not allow the two to succeed.
The emperor's own siblings are not worrying, and the ministers at the bottom are also not stopping. Because according to the royal etiquette, the emperor must first consider passing the throne to the emperor's son. However, Cai, who was very powerful at that time, obviously wanted to make a profit from it, but this person was quite shrewd, and he knew that royal affairs could not be directly mixed, so he "consulted" the opinion of the prime minister Wang Jue. In fact, Cai and Wang are sworn enemies in the political arena, and Cai Qing's move is quite meaningful: if the statement given by Wang Jue is in line with his own wishes, Cai Zhen can push the boat along the water and take advantage of himself; if something happens in the future, he can also push most of the responsibility on the other party, and at most bear the responsibility for his own negligence. Interestingly, Wang Jue was even more well versed in the way of officialdom, and he slipped his head so badly that he asked on the spot: Is there no son in shengshang? In desperation, in order to maximize the interests, Cai Qi and his gang could only choose one of the sons of the Divine Sect that seemed to be the easiest to control, and as a result, Zhao Xu, who was only 9 years old, was put on the throne.
From here, we can also see that although Zhao Xu is very insightful, he is still designated as a "puppet" candidate by the powerful ministers, which shows that he knows how to be patient and will not expose his sharp edge until the conditions are not ripe. In fact, in the years that followed, Zhao Xu had also been quietly waiting for the opportunity.
For Zhao Xu, the moment he sat on the dragon chair, the challenge had just begun. As we said at the beginning of the article, the emperor is young and the empress dowager is strong, and the imperial power is easily overlooked. Empress Gao was also a relatively greedy woman, and she was happy to hold the government in her hands. On the one hand, in the later period of Emperor Shenzong, the conservatives regained power, and as soon as Emperor Shenzong left on the front foot, Empress Gao's back foot took up Sima Guang, who opposed the change of law, as the prime minister; on the other hand, the absolute gap in political strength between the two sides also made the ministers in the wait-and-see state choose to side with Empress Gao, which further aggravated the imbalance, and it is no exaggeration to say that Zhao Xu was in a state of near isolation for a long time.
As a result, a very interesting situation appeared at that time: Empress Gao bowed to the curtain and sat opposite the emperor. Whenever the ministers reported to the empress dowager, no one paid any attention to Zhezong, and as a result, in the few hours of the upper court, Zhezong could only stare awkwardly at the buttocks of the courtiers. While taking over the government, Empress Gao also tried to "transform" Song Zhezong: she intended to build Zhao Xu into an old and good man like Emperor Renzong. As we all know, the character of Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong has nothing to say, but his political skills are relatively mediocre. If Zhezong can be cultivated into "Emperor Renzong II", from the perspective of royal etiquette, the Gao Empress Group will not suffer losses; from the perspective of practical interests, the latter will pick up a big bargain. In order to realize this plan, Empress Gao and her courtiers packaged a number of corrupt Confucians into great sages and brainwashed Zhao Xu day and night; in order to cultivate the private virtues of the little emperor, Empress Gao also specially selected 20 elder mothers to take care of the emperor's living.
As he grew older, Zhao Xu tried to break through. Once, Empress Gao ordered someone to throw away a table that Zhao Xu liked very much as garbage, and Zhao Xu rushed to find someone to retrieve it after learning about it. Empress Gao questioned, and Zhao Xu replied: This is the table that my father used. Empress Gao was shocked, and immediately installed a group of henchmen around Zhezong. In short, Empress Gao built an airtight wall around Zhao Xu. In this situation, Zhao Xu knew very well that he could only endure and endure, and even his mother was ostracized and insulted every day, and he pretended not to see it.
At an age when Song Zhezong could personally govern, Empress Gao ostensibly promised to return to power, but not only did she wantonly use the old party to suppress the new party, but even concocted many political injustices, trying to make it impossible for the new party to turn over. However, with the death of a number of old party ministers and empress dowager Gao, no one could stop Zhezong anymore.
In fact, what Zhezong took over was also a mess. During the Shenzong period, the powerful Northern Song Dynasty once took the initiative in the war against the Western Xia, and later, Sima Guang's party advocated "benevolence and favor for the government", and even gave a large area of border territory and military towns to foreign countries. Inside the imperial court, Empress Gao controlled the government for many years, and the ministers formed parties for personal gain, and the political atmosphere was very unclear. At the beginning of Emperor Zhezong's pro-government, a storm of rectification was set off, drastically dismissing the old party ministers and reappointed hundreds of officials; externally, Emperor Zhezong rectified the soldiers and horses to launch the Hehuang War, restoring the Qingtang region in one fell swoop and directly subjugating the Qingtang regime. Two years later, the Northern Song Dynasty seized the initiative in the war against Western Xia. It should be known that at this time, Song Zhezong was only 23 years old, according to the average age of the Northern Song Emperor, he still had at least a dozen or twenty years of good time; under the rule of such a tough and tough emperor, it was very likely that the Northern Song Dynasty would completely eliminate the consistent ills of military weakness, so as to avoid the embarrassing situation of repeated defeats against hostile regimes in the future and create an "iron-blooded Great Song". However, Zhao Xu, the Emperor of Song Zhezong, died violently at this time.
The history books explain Zhao Xu's death very lightly, saying only that he was "contaminated with wind and cold"; there is a wild history that Zhao Xu was overpressed in his early years, which led to excessive indulgence later. However, we have reason to believe that there may be some political conspiracies involved behind Zhao Xu's death.
First of all, Zhao Xu, who had a strong and resolute personality, was suppressed for too long, and his future administrative measures carried a lot of revenge against Empress Gao and the old party. During the Song Dynasty, the ills of party strife were already very prominent, and the emperor attacking a minister was likely to offend a political group, which could be described as "pulling a hair and moving the whole body". Zhao Xu's political foundation is not solid, and it is undoubtedly difficult for him to avoid offending a considerable number of people by taking revenge on a large scale. Therefore, historians have the view that Zhao Xu's so-called "wind chill" is actually a political murder.
Second, the Song Dynasty emphasized literature and suppressed martial arts, and civilian officials dominated its political system. Zhao Xu also made considerable achievements in launching wars one after another, which undoubtedly directly cultivated a large number of "military merit parties", and on the basis of merit and reward, he was able to increase his official titles. As a result, there will inevitably be a conflict of interest between the two factions, and in order to protect their superior position, the civilian official clique, which is still in a dominant position for the time being, will have to eliminate the biggest threat, that is, Song Zhezong.
The early death of Song Zhezong brought a terrible chain reaction to the Northern Song Dynasty: first, Zhezong's reform of the Northern Song Dynasty's land annexation, "three redundancies" and other social ills was over before it began; secondly, the Northern Song Dynasty's attempt to rebuild its armaments died prematurely, and becoming a super empire could only exist in fantasy. What's worse is that Song Zhezong is too young to have a son, and in desperation, the ministers can only make the eleventh son of Shenzong the new king—yes, he is the famous "emperor of literature and art" in history, Emperor Huizong of Song.