History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 844: Chenqiao Mutiny: Two Days in the Sky

【There are two suns in the sky】

The word "mutiny" is one of the most frequently appearing words in this book. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, there have been numerous mutinies. The "Chenqiao Mutiny" during the Spring Festival in 960 AD is the most famous mutiny in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and even in the entire ancient history.

However, authoritative historical materials are very secretive about this period of history. The reason is simple: the dynasty that compiled the history of the Five Dynasties was the Song Dynasty, which was born out of the "Chenqiao Mutiny", and the Song Dynasty survived tenaciously for more than 300 years.

The writing of "History of Song Dynasty" is quite interesting:
First, in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, followed the convention and issued an edict to compile the history of the previous dynasty, but this Mongolian leader on horseback did not really take this matter seriously, which led to a fruitless end. When the court really started to compile the history of the Song Dynasty, it was already the third year of the Zhizheng reign of Emperor Shundi of the Yuan Dynasty (1343), nearly 400 years after the "Chenqiao Mutiny". At that time, the Yuan Dynasty was already on the verge of extinction.

Second, the two "foreigners" who took the lead in compiling the "History of Song Dynasty" were Comrade Mierqi Tuotuo Timur and Comrade Arla Arut. Among them, Comrade Arla Arut did not understand Chinese at all...

Merkit Toghto Temur, also transliterated as "Tokto", but his most well-known name is "Toghto", a very cute hairy-faced, toe-picking man from the Merkit tribe of Mongolia.

The two Mongolians were nominal supervisors, and it was more than 20 Han historians who actually participated in the compilation of "History of Song Dynasty".

Third, while compiling the "History of Song", the editors of the History Museum also had to compile the "History of Liao" and "History of Jin", which was a huge workload.

Fourthly, the History of Song Dynasty records the history of the Song Dynasty for more than 300 years, with a total of 496 volumes, making it the most extensive official history among the Twenty-Four Histories. The volume is voluminous, and its "Biographies" include more than people, which is twice as many as the Old Book of Tang; and its "Food and Goods Records" is seven times that of the Old Book of Tang!
Fifth, such a huge amount of work took only two and a half years. In March of the third year of Zhizheng (1343), the emperor issued an edict to compile it; in October of the fifth year of Zhizheng (3), it was declared completed.

To sum up, nearly 400 years after the "Chenqiao Mutiny", two foreigners led more than 20 Han historians to write the history of the Song Dynasty for more than 300 years. At the same time, they also had to write the history of the Liao Dynasty for more than 200 years of the Khitans and the history of the Jin Dynasty for more than 100 years of the Jurchens... It was completed in two and a half years.

When we understand the background of the compilation of "History of Song Dynasty", we may be more comfortable with accepting all its shortcomings and say to the historians of the Yuan Dynasty: "Thank you for your hard work!"

Yuan Dynasty historian: "My life is too difficult."

It is generally believed that the compilation of "History of Song Dynasty" was rather hasty, lacking in distinguishing the authenticity of historical materials, and the materials were not carefully edited. It was almost a copy and paste of ready-made materials at hand, and its structure was also relatively chaotic, and its values ​​also had historical limitations... Therefore, since the Yuan Dynasty, there have been people who have revised the History of Song Dynasty in every dynasty, such as the Ming Dynasty's "Song History Quality", "Song History New Edition", and "Song History Records"; the Qing Dynasty's "Song History Quan" and so on.

Back to the beginning of the topic, when we understand the background of the writing of "History of Song Dynasty", it is not difficult to understand the mystery of "Chenqiao Mutiny". The concealment and whitewashing of the people of Song Dynasty posed this century-old problem for the historians of Yuan Dynasty hundreds of years later.

We can only speculate on the situation at that time through indirect records of a few words. As usual, this book will use the authoritative official history as the basic template, first briefly describing what happened, and then combining various historical materials to give a reasonable analysis and logical speculation.

According to the description in the official authoritative history books, when the Khitan and Northern Han coalition forces marched south to invade the border, Comrade Zhao Kuangyin was ordered to lead the empire's most elite armed forces, the Central Imperial Guards, and rushed to the front line in Hebei to resist the foreign enemies and share the worries of his lord.

However, the officers and soldiers who were accompanying him were very reluctant, because it was the third day of the first lunar month during the long Spring Festival holiday. More importantly, the current emperor was a 6-and-a-half-year-old kid. Could he be compared with the previous emperor, Chai Rong? If there were treacherous officials in the court, what would be the fate of us frontline soldiers?

As the saying goes, when the ruler is young, the country is in doubt. A layer of haze hangs over this army. Everyone is thinking about it, but no one dares to say it out loud.

During the boring march, an astrologer named Miao Xun suddenly stopped, raised his face to a 45-degree angle, stared at the sky, stroked his beard and murmured in a low voice: "How strange!"

This abnormal behavior immediately attracted the attention of the soldiers. They all looked in the direction he was looking, and then they became even more confused. There were no rare animals or UFOs in the sky, and they couldn't even see anything unusual.

A general named Chu Zhaofu came to maintain order, but Miao Xun stopped him and asked him to watch with him, "Did you see it? There are two suns in the sky, one above and one below, and the one below is chasing the one above."

"what?!"

The soldiers began to stir. Some were still confused, but others began to agree, "I see! Two suns!"

Seeing the crowd begin to stir, Miao Xun said mysteriously to Chu Zhaofu: "This is God's will, and it cannot be violated by human power."

What is God's will? It has been said since ancient times that there can be no two suns in the sky and no two rulers in a country. Now, there are two suns in the sky, which of course means that there are two emperors in the world. That night, the army marched to Chenqiaoyi, about 20 kilometers away from Bianzhou City, and set up camp. At this time, there was a lot of discussion in the army, and finally someone broke the window paper.

"The emperor is young and ignorant. Who would know that we are fighting for the country? It is better to support someone who can make decisions for us, and then make meritorious deeds and seek wealth and honor!"

Who should we support? Of course, it is Comrade Zhao Kuangyin, our supreme commander, who has experienced many battles and cherishes his soldiers.

Under the instigation of Zhao Pu, Zhao Kuangyi and others, the soldiers were outraged and gathered together to clamor, saying that they would not move forward unless Zhao Kuangyin was made emperor.

Zhao Pu was Zhao Kuangyin's trusted think tank; Zhao Kuangyi was Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother, who later changed his name to Zhao Guangyi to avoid taboos, and later became Emperor Taizong of Song. For the convenience of narration, he will be directly referred to as "Zhao Guangyi" in the following text.

All the generals and soldiers gathered outside Zhao Kuangyin's tent to present their opinions.

Zhao Kuangyin was shocked when he heard about the change in the army. He told them to retreat and stop talking nonsense. Then he returned to the tent, drank and went to sleep.

I can't sleep tonight. Only Zhao Kuangyin is snoring like thunder.

At the fifth drum, the sky was still dark, but Chenqiao Post was lit up as brightly as day. The soldiers held up torches, gathered together and made a lot of noise, asking the general to endorse and lead them to seek wealth and glory.

Zhao Kuangyin was still drunk.

The soldiers were thoroughly enraged, and under the leadership of some radical elements, they tried to force their way into the central army tent. At the critical moment, Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi stepped forward and were the first to break into Zhao Kuangyin's bedroom and wake him up from his deep sleep, "General, wake up! There's a mutiny!"

Zhao Kuangyin stretched out his body leisurely and yawned loudly. "Oh? Oh, that's annoying. Let's go and take a look."

The gate was divided into two parts, and Zhao Kuangyin finally came out in his pajamas, followed by Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi. Under the firelight, the soldiers had solemn expressions and held their swords tightly in their hands. It was obvious that they were very sincere.

"You soldiers are wearing armor and drawing your swords, forcing your way into the commander's tent. What do you intend to do?"

The leaders spoke passionately, saying that the soldiers were not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice, but they wanted to die with a clear mind, knowing who they were fighting for. They wanted to fight for you, hoping that you could lead them to wealth and honor. In a word, they would support you as the new emperor. If you don't agree, the brothers know you, Zhao Kuangyin, but the swords in their hands don't know Zhao Kuangyin!

Before Zhao Kuangyin could react, someone took a yellow robe and put it on Zhao Kuangyin. Then everyone knelt down and shouted "Long live the emperor".

This scene is also called "adding a yellow robe". Some people say that the robe was the dragon robe worn by the emperor, while others say it was just a yellow piece of clothing, or even a piece of yellow cloth torn from a military flag. The "Song History: Taizu Benji" records that "before he could answer, someone put a yellow robe on Taizu, and everyone knelt down and bowed."

According to the records in "History of Song Dynasty", at this time Zhao Kuangyin no longer had the agility and courage he had in the battlefield, but behaved like a mentally retarded person. He was pulled out of the bed in a daze, put on the emperor's dragon robe in a daze, and then was carried onto the horse by everyone in a daze, "that is, Taizu was helped to ride on the horse."

Zhao Kuangyin said nothing, and was powerless to resist, because this was the "truth" that the historians of the Song Dynasty needed. Only in this way could Zhao Kuangyin deserve to be great, glorious and correct. Any of his words and any of his small actions would be taken out and magnified infinitely by later historians, so the official simply left no trace. The Great Ancestor was "not able to respond" and was put on the dragon robe and carried on the imperial horse before he had time to speak. Believe it or not, we believe it anyway.

When he got on the horse, Zhao Kuangyin finally said, "Do you really obey my orders?"

Everyone knelt down to show their loyalty. "We will climb mountains of swords and plunge into seas of fire. It's all a matter of your words."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded with relief, "Return to Bianzhou!"

(End of this chapter)