Northern Song Dynasty Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Yan

Song Shenzong Zhao

Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), courtesy name Zhao Zhongjing, was the eldest son of Emperor Yingzong of Song, and his biological mother, Empress Xuanren Shengliegao, the sixth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty (reigned 25 January 1067 – 1 April 1085). In the first year of Zhiping (1064), he was enfeoffed as the King of Ying. In December of the third year of Zhiping (1066), he was made crown prince. He succeeded to the throne in the first month of the fourth year of Zhiping (1067).

At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Shenzong heard and witnessed the plight of poverty and weakness, so soon after he took the throne, he summoned Wang Anshi to Beijing to carry out the change of law, which is called "Xining Change law" in history. In the process of changing the law, the Divine Sect used the power of the monarchy to ensure the implementation of a series of new laws. In February of the second year of Xining (1069), Wang Anshi was appointed as the governor of the government, and from July to November of the same year, he promulgated and implemented the Equalization Law, the Green Shoots Law, and the Farmland Water Conservancy Law. During the Xining Reformation, Wang Anshi appointed Wang Shao to send troops to resist western Xia and expand the five prefectures, known in history as "Xihe Kaibian". Although the change of law was successful in the previous stage, the attacks of the conservative forces did not stop. As a result, the Shinjong began to sway from side to side, struggling to maintain the New Deal. During the YuanFeng period, Emperor Shenzong personally presided over the reform, hoping to promote the reform on the basis of maintaining the vested results of the new law. In the fourth year of YuanFeng (1081), the Western Xia imperial family was in civil strife, and Emperor Shenzong thought that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he sent troops to cut down xia in five ways, but the armies that went deep into xia were not good because of poor grain and grass, and they returned without success. In the fifth year of Yuan Feng (1082), he listened to Xu Xi's plan to build Yongle City, and Western Xia sent 300,000 troops to besiege Yongle City and was defeated. The Song army was defeated twice, and Emperor Shenzong's plan to attack Xia Xue shame and save the "year gift" was completely bankrupt.

In the eighth year of YuanFeng (1085), Emperor Shenzong of Song died of depression at the Funing Temple, at the age of 38, with the temple name Shenzong, the nickname of Emperor Shengxiao of The English Liewu, buried in Yongyu Mausoleum, and his son Zhao Xu took the throne. Under the opposition of the conservative forces, although Shenzong oscillated between the old and new parties, his determination to maintain the new policy and persist in change remained unchanged, and he was the aspiring and accomplished emperor of the Song Dynasty.