History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1035: You Are Cruel (Part )

Chengdu and other counties were liberated, and the bandit leader Li Shun was captured and taken to Fengxiang with seven core members, where he was executed by slow slicing. However, the uprising did not end there. Although Wang Jie'en entered Chengdu, the "bandit-controlled area" was ten miles outside the city, and the bandit army elected Zhang Yu as the new leader.

Zhang Yu gathered the remnants of the defeated army and soon gathered a force of more than 10,000 people. They marched eastward along the Yangtze River and successively conquered eight states including Jia, Rong, Lu and Kai. The number of troops also grew to more than 100,000, showing a strong momentum of revival. Among them, Qin Chuanxu, the military supervisor of Kaizhou, destroyed his family property to help the people, spent all his family wealth to reward the three armies, and fought to the death with the enemy army. In the end, he was outnumbered and the city fell. At the last moment, Qin Chuanxu threw himself into the fire and died for his country.

Qin Chuanxu's son Qin Shi went upstream to collect his father's body, but his boat capsized and he drowned. The people sighed and said, "The father died of loyalty, and the son died of filial piety." After receiving the memorial, Zhao Guangyi sighed for a long time, and then appointed his second son Qin Xu as a palace guard and gave him a pension of 100,000 yuan.

Just when the Song Dynasty was busy suppressing the civil unrest in Sichuan, Goryeo sent an envoy saying that the Liao Kingdom was attacking them and requested the Celestial Empire to send troops to help.

Zhao Guangyi called on both sides to remain calm and restrained to avoid escalation of conflict...

"Since then, Goryeo's tribute has ceased."

In fact, as early as March of this year (994), Goryeo had already surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, used the Liao Dynasty's reign title, and followed the Liao Dynasty's calendar. In June, it came to the Song Dynasty to beg for troops. If it were not for the time difference caused by the long distance, it should be a test of the Song Dynasty by Goryeo. On the one hand, it was to test the strength of the Song and Liao countries, and on the other hand, it was to block the mouth of the Song Dynasty to "attack the Liao Kingdom". I personally tend to the latter. The extremely urgent military information would not linger on the road for three or four months.

In September, Zhao Guangyi sent envoys to visit Liao to seek reconciliation, but was flatly rejected by Liao. Later, Zhao Guangyi sent people to sneak into Liaodong Peninsula across the sea to collude with the Jurchens and Wushi tribes and ask them to rebel against Liao, but was also rejected.

The only thing that was gratifying for the Song Dynasty was that on the western front, Li Jiqian of Xiazhou was forced to submit to the Song Dynasty again due to military pressure. However, this was only a stopgap measure for Li Jiqian, and the Song Dynasty court was still unable to effectively control the Xiazhou area.

In order to destroy the Song Dynasty's control over the Xiazhou area, the Liao Dynasty sent Han Dewei to lead tens of thousands of cavalry to invade from the Daibei area (now northern Shanxi) to the south. Han Dewei's tactics were to avoid the strong and attack the weak, avoiding the Song Dynasty's fortresses and choosing to take a detour. Unexpectedly, the Song Dynasty scouts discovered it in advance, and Fuzhou Zhe Yuqing set up an ambush in advance, defeating the Liao army at Zihecha, killing more than 20 Liao generals, capturing a Tuyuhun leader alive, killing more than 5,000 enemies, and seizing more than 1,000 war horses and countless baggage. Han Dewei disguised himself as a soldier and fled the battlefield in a panic. It is known in history as the "Battle of Zihecha".

After receiving the victory report, Zhao Guangyi was very pleased and said to his subordinates: "I have said long ago that the generals along the border should not confront the Liao army head-on, but should lure the enemy deep into our territory, then divide and attack them, cut off their retreat route, and the Liao army will inevitably be defeated. Look, it is the same as what I said."

"Your Majesty!"

Let’s talk about the civil unrest in Shu.

Under the joint attack of the Song army by land and sea, Zhang Yu failed to capture Kuizhou and lost all his elite troops. The Song army held on and finally killed Zhang Yu in Jiazhou in February 995. His head was sent to the Xichuan camp, and the remaining rebels were also pacified one after another. The massive "Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Uprising" was finally completely quelled.

The uprising affected the whole of Sichuan, with a scale of hundreds of thousands at its peak. More than a dozen states including Chengdu were occupied by the rebel army. It lasted for two years from the time Wang Xiaobo started the uprising to the time Zhang Yu was killed.

The impact of the "Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Uprising" on the Song Dynasty was profound. The main force of the royal army was pinned down in the southwest of the empire, making it unable to operate to the north, which put the Song Dynasty in a passive position in its relationship with the Liao Dynasty. For example, the Song Dynasty declined Goryeo's invitation to "attack from both sides", thus completely losing Goryeo as a vassal state, and also completely losing its voice in the Liaodong region, making the Liao Dynasty the builder and maintainer of regional order, making it impossible for the Song Dynasty to "attack from both sides of the Liao Dynasty" again.

After pacifying Sichuan and Shu, the capricious Li Jiqian of Xiazhou started to stir up trouble in the northwest, looting Song baggage trains. For example, in March 996, Li Jiqian successfully robbed Song baggage trains transporting to Lingzhou and seized 3 shi of military rations. He then laid siege to Lingzhou.

After being defeated by the Song army, Li Jiqian submitted a petition to apologize and expressed his willingness to surrender to the Song Dynasty. After being accepted by the Song Dynasty, Li Jiqian continued to cause trouble in the northwest and used this as a token of his surrender to the Liao Dynasty.

In view of Comrade Li Jiqian's outstanding performance, the Liao Kingdom named Li Jiqian "King of Xiping" in March 997 as a reward.

In the same month, Comrade Zhao Guangyi suddenly felt unwell and took sick leave (did not attend court). He passed away the next day at the age of 59, leaving us prematurely.

Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, reigned for nearly 21 years, which is about the same as the reign of Emperor Muzong of Liao, the "Sleeping King". However, the number of words in "The Chronicle of Emperor Muzong" is shorter than the catalog of Emperor Taizong of Song. Emperor Taizong of Song did too many things in these 21 years, which were praised by later generations. Of course, there were also small flaws. In general, Emperor Taizong of Song's governance should be on the excellent line. Politically, he continued Taizu's ideas on governing the country, continued to strengthen centralization and weaken local forces; economically, he adopted the advice of his advisers and promoted many reforms that benefited the country and the people; at the national strategic level, he continued to build on the foundation of Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin, successively recovered southern Fujian and Liangzhe peacefully, and unified Northern Han by force, safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity... Completely ended the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms", and officially transitioned the historical progress bar to the Northern Song Dynasty.

"The emperor's merits and virtues are recorded in history books, and he is known as a wise ruler." - History of Song Dynasty

The final verdict of official history: a wise king.

Of course, there were some minor flaws, such as he couldn't wait to change the era name after he ascended the throne, demoted his younger brother Zhao Tingmei to death, forced his nephew Zhao Dezhao to death, and "the failure to complete the funeral of the Queen of Song."

The story of Empress Song's misfortune refers to the series of unfair treatments that Empress Song, wife of Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, received during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

Empress Song was a real descendant of a rich family, a daughter of an aristocratic family. Her grandmother was Princess Yining, the daughter of Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty. Her mother was Princess Yongning, the eldest daughter of Liu Zhiyuan, the Emperor Gaozu of the Later Han Dynasty. Her father was Song Yanwo (Song Wei). Empress Song married Zhao Kuangyin at the age of 17 and was made empress. She was a relative of the emperor for three dynasties, and "few people in modern times can compare to her in terms of nobility and prosperity."

When Emperor Taizu of Song died, Empress Song was only 25 years old. After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he first moved her to the West Palace, and then to the East Palace. In 995, Empress Song died at the age of 44. Logically, Empress Song was Emperor Taizong's sister-in-law, but Emperor Taizong neither wore mourning clothes for the emperor's sister-in-law (according to the ritual of wearing mourning clothes according to the degree of closeness of relatives), nor allowed ministers to attend her funeral, nor allowed her to be buried in the imperial mausoleum with Emperor Taizu, and even did not allow her tablet to be placed in the Imperial Ancestral Temple...

Faced with such an act that violated etiquette, all the officials remained silent. Only Wang Yuzhen dared to speak out and said in a memorial that "the queen was a model for the whole country, and we should follow the old etiquette." As a result, he was immediately made a fool of by Zhao Guangyi and demoted. The rest of the officials were even more silent.

Let me say a few more words about this upright Wang Yuzhen. He was born in a grassroots family. He could write poems at the age of 9. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 29 and entered the official career. He was appreciated by Emperor Taizong for his works "Duan Gong Zhen" and "Yu Rong Shi Ce". He gradually rose to prominence and became the Zhizhigao, entering the core power circle. However, for some people, entering the core power circle may not be a good thing, such as Comrade Wang Yuzhen who is obsessed with fairness and justice. Since entering the core power circle, Wang Yuzhen's life has become ups and downs.

In 991, Wang Yuzhen was involved in the "false accusation of Xu Xuan". Xu Xuan was the Minister of Personnel of the Southern Tang Dynasty and a famous writer. During the "Three Expeditions to the Southern Tang Dynasty", he debated with Zhao Kuangyin and made Zhao Kuangyin speechless. In the end, Emperor Taizu was so angry that he shouted the famous saying "How can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed?" Later, he surrendered to the Song Dynasty with Li Yu and became an official in the Song Dynasty. In 991, he was falsely accused by a nun in Luzhou and demoted to Bingzhou. After arriving in Bingzhou, Xu Xuan fell ill and died at the age of 76. A nun's false accusation obviously hides a pool of muddy water that is so deep that you can't see the bottom. The court officials avoided it as much as possible, but Wang Yuzhen stood up and defended Xu Xuan, so he was also demoted and sent out.

He was recalled to the capital in 993, but was soon sent out again, and then recalled again; he became a Hanlin scholar in 995, but was soon demoted and sent out again because of Empress Song's dissatisfaction; it was not until Taizong's death and Zhenzong's accession to the throne that he was recalled again and appointed as the Director of Imperial Edicts, and was ordered to participate in the compilation of "Taizu Shilu". For such an upright person, writing the Shilu of the Previous Emperor was a fatal task, and as expected, Wang Yuzhen offended the court because of his straightforward writing of historical events, and was demoted and sent out again. This was his last demotlion, because he died of illness in office a few years later and never returned to the capital. He was only 48 years old.

Both Su Shi and Ouyang Xiu spoke highly of Wang Yuzhen.

Back to the topic of Queen Song, there are many explanations or speculations about why Taizong hated Queen Song so much, such as worrying that Queen Song would threaten his rule. After all, during the "Candle Shadow and Axe Sound" incident, Queen Song sent eunuch Wang Jie'en to summon Zhao Defang into the palace, not the older Zhao Dezhao, let alone the emperor's younger brother Zhao Guangyi. When Wang Jie'en led Zhao Guangyi into the palace, Queen Song blurted out "Defang is here?" before she could see who was coming. When she saw that it was Zhao Guangyi, Queen Song was shocked and cried, "The lives of my mother and me are in your hands", so later people made a big fuss about it.

There are many contradictory records about the details of "the candle shadow and the axe sound" and Taizong's accession to the throne. It is meaningless to infer the deterioration of the relationship between the uncle and the sister-in-law based on this.

In short, no matter what the reason, "the failure to mourn the death of the Queen of Song" is a stain on Emperor Taizong of Song that can never be erased.

Criticisms of Emperor Taizong of Song also focused on military affairs, criticizing him for not understanding military affairs, repeatedly losing foreign wars, and being given the humorous and insulting title of "God of Chariots of Gaoliang River" by later generations. Objectively speaking, Emperor Taizong of Song did make major mistakes in military affairs, but Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin also made similar mistakes, but the former two were lucky, their opponents were of lower ranks, and the tolerance rate of the game was higher, so they did not lose their early advantages and were still able to revitalize in the later stages. Emperor Taizong of Song was very unfortunate to be matched with Empress Dowager Xiao.

Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin showed off in the diamond game, which whetted the audience's appetite. As a result, as soon as the new anchor Zhao Guangyi came online, he played a high-end king game and lost a tower at the beginning. The audience then filled the screen with all kinds of praise...

Emperor Taizong of Song was offline, and a new anchor, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, was replaced. Unfortunately, his opponent was still Empress Xiao. Perhaps Emperor Taizong of Song would mutter to the screen full of insults, "If you can do it, you can do it. Humph, you are not as good as me!"

(End of this chapter)