The Song Dynasty is a popular dynasty in the past two years, whether it is the city style represented by the "Qingming Upper River Map" or the magnificent boundlessness in the "Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", which makes people full of yearning.
So, if ordinary people want to understand the Song Dynasty, but do not have the patience to chew on ancient books such as the "History of the Song", which book should they choose? The author recommends Zhang Bangwei's "History of the Two Song Dynasties" by Professor Zhang Bangwei of the College of History, Culture and Tourism of Sichuan Normal University, which unfolds the ups and downs of the 320 years and 18 emperors of the Two Song Dynasties with a rational and peaceful style, thick and light strokes, and rich and informative content.
The two most important emperors of the Song Dynasty were the brothers Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty and Zhao Guangyi of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Kuangyin was the founding emperor, and on the basis of his father Zhao Hongyin, who served as a Later Zhou Heavy Minister, he further became a red man of Chai Rong of Later Zhou Shizong by military merit; his younger brother Zhao Guangyi became Chai Rong's brother-in-law because he married the daughter of Fu Yanqing, a heavy minister, which also brought the Zhao family closer to the Later Zhou imperial family; the author Zhang Bangwei believes that it is precisely because of this relationship that Chai Rong dismissed Zhang Yongde from his post because of "point inspection as a heavenly son", and appointed Zhao Kuangyin as the inspector of the school and the inspection of the palace.
But what Chai Rong did not know was that Zhao Kuangyin had already controlled a lot of power through his relatives and friends; after Chai Rong's untimely death, the Later Zhou Gong Emperor Chai Zongxun and Empress Fu's orphans and widows were not opponents at all, and Zhao Kuangyin took the opportunity to conquer the Liao state, and with the support of Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Pu and others, launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny, and the Yellow Robe was added to overthrow later Zhou and establish the Song Dynasty.
Through such measures as "releasing military power through a glass of wine" and "recalling the town of Houyuan", Zhao Kuangyin dismissed the generals with high merit and power from military power, thus eliminating the hidden danger of dynastic subversion; after internal stability, Zhao Kuangyin adopted the opinions of Zhao Pu and others, "first the south and then the north, first easy and then difficult", and successively recruited Jinghu, Later Shu, Southern Han, Southern Tang and other forces, basically completing reunification.
Zhao Kuangyin also weakened the power of the prime minister, and at the same time prevented foreign relatives from interfering in the government, and initially established a situation of civil rule and military armament, but still did not lose the spirit of shangwu.
In October of the ninth year of the Northern Song Dynasty (976), Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly, and although he had two adult sons, Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang, the throne was taken over by Zhao Guangyi.
For thousands of years, there have been many opinions on this public case, and there are "candle shadow axe sounds" and "golden alliances", which are inconsistent; the author Zhang Bangwei believes that although Zhao Guangyi served as the king of Jin and the governor of Kaifeng before his brother Zhao Kuangyin was alive, he was the standard candidate for the imperial throne, but after all, it was not clear, and Empress Song asked the eunuch Wang Ji'en to find Zhao Defang, indicating that the heir in her heart was Zhao Kuangyin's son, but Wang Ji'en went to zhao Guangyi, and Zhao Guangyi rushed to the palace, and there was a fait accompli. "The Alliance of the Golden Plateau" is the words of the Zhao Pu family, and it was only put forward many years later, the parties have all died, there are many perverse places; Zhao Guangyi is anxious to change the era name, forcing the death of two nephews, younger brother Zhao Tingmei and other potential opponents, which is a very abnormal performance.
However, judging from Zhao Guangyi's actions as empress dowager, he was the most suitable successor to Zhao Kuangyin: first he forced Chen Hongjin, who had divided the two provinces of Zhangquan in Fujian, and Wu Yue, who had divided the two Zhejiang provinces, to surrender, and then attacked the Northern Han and completed the unification; but unfortunately, after the failure of the Northern Expedition to liao, like Zhao Kuangyin gave up the southwest, Zhao Guangyi also gave up Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, resulting in a very passive Song generation.
Generally speaking, the "History of the Two Song Dynasties" not only has a historical background of words and signs, but also has a historian's vision of overseeing the overall situation, taking into account vivid details when outlining the general trend of a generation, imitating key figures when replaying major events in the past dynasties, expounding on history with insight, writing smoothly and elegantly, blending scholarship and readability in one furnace, and becoming a first-class reading material that is suitable for depth and shallowness in the introduction to Song history, which is very worth appreciating.