A live-streamed Chinese language lesson under the sky—the ancients were taken aback.

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, several scholars sat facing each other.

A middle-aged scholar with a short beard slowly shook his head: "Although what Tianmu said is mostly absurd, the four words 'emphasizing literature and suppressing military affairs' are not necessarily all bad things."

During the Five Dynasties period, military leaders caused chaos and misrule, resulting in widespread suffering and death.

If the Song Dynasty hadn't used civil administration to control military affairs, the Central Plains would likely have remained in chaos for another fifty years.

"Exactly," a young scholar chimed in, his voice brimming with barely concealed excitement. "If what Tianmu said is true, then we scholars will have a great opportunity to enter officialdom and rise to prominence in the future."

Five hundred people were selected for the imperial examination in one go! Just imagine what a grand occasion that was!

"The day we both achieve academic success and ride the crest of success is just around the corner."

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and even lightly tapped the table.

A man at the next table looked up and glanced at him.

The man was extremely tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back, and rough hands; he was clearly someone from a military camp.

"I don't object to scholars becoming officials," he said. "But don't trample us soldiers into the mud. You take your exams and we'll guard our borders. We'll keep to ourselves."

The teahouse fell silent for a moment.

The young scholar frowned, but ultimately didn't dare to reply.

The short-bearded scholar sighed softly and said in a low voice, "But Tianmu also said that the Great Song Dynasty had no internal strife for three hundred years. These three words, 'no internal strife,' represent the end of military generals' interference in politics and the achievement of scholars governing the country."

The man looked down at his knife, the hilt still wrapped with a worn-out hemp rope.

"Anyway," he suddenly said, "I was spared from the chaos of the Five Dynasties period. Back then, literate people just ran away, and soldiers just died."

You say it's good for intellectuals to govern the country, and I agree.

"Don't let it happen that when the north really attacks, you students will all run away again."

Side hall of Daqing Hall.

Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, and other founding military generals stood below the steps, staring at the scene in the sky where future military men were oppressed by civil officials and hampered by military supervisors before battle. Their faces were all ashen.

They followed Zhao Kuangyin in conquering Jinghu, destroying Later Shu, and taking over Southern Tang, rising to high positions as generals and prime ministers—how glorious they were!

Emperor Taizu used the "banquet to release military power" to take away their military seals, but he also ensured their lifelong wealth and the court's respect.

When have military officers ever been subjected to such filth?

"Your Majesty," Shi Shouxin said, "Back then, I only thought that taking away military power was to stop internal strife and protect the country. I never expected that later generations would trample on military men in the mud."

Gao Huaide stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said, "Military generals are the backbone of the nation. If these backbones are bound hand and foot, who will guard the nation's gates? Who will expand our territory? If the northern barbarians invade from the south, are we to expect civil officials to hold up their books of sages and try to stop them?"

Zhao Kuangyin sat upright on his throne, his face grim.

His initial system of establishing regulations and consolidating military power allowed the Song Dynasty to survive amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

He never considered abolishing military equipment.

In his mind, civil and military affairs were like the two wheels of a cart: civil affairs brought peace to the interior, and military affairs defended against external threats; neither could be lacking.

But the sky clearly told him: Song behind him was half off-center.

"I understand."

He slowly swept his gaze across the generals below the steps, then glanced at the silent civil officials on the other side.

"When I took away your military power back then, it was because I was afraid that you would be used by others, and I was also afraid that one day you would be unable to control your own destiny and stage another scene of usurping the throne. I will not hide this from you today."

Shi Shouxin and the others all lowered their heads.

"But I have never said that the military generals of the Song Dynasty should be inferior to others."

"I will not return the military power. But I will give you dignity. From today onwards, the Privy Council and the Three Military Commands, the military officers shall all have the rank, pay, and treatment they deserve, in accordance with the rules."

Any civil official who dares to belittle or insult a military officer will be demoted.

The civil officials in the hall, who had been excited along with the sky, all fell silent.

Zhao Pu lowered his eyes and remained silent.

The "most glorious era for civil officials" that Tianmu mentioned began with Zhao Guangyi.

He himself was the first among the earliest and most illustrious civil officials.

The shadow of a candle and the sound of an axe.

Tianmu even mentioned this.

Zhao Pu's back felt icy cold.

The curtain of light hasn't fallen yet.

"However, the rise of intellectuals also has its own brilliance."

After finishing what he wanted to say, he chuckled to himself and realized that his tone had been fluctuating wildly.

"Speaking of which, the Song Dynasty is probably the most difficult dynasty to talk about since this video series started."

"When talking about the Qin Dynasty, you can criticize it all the way through, its tyranny, its cruel laws, and its demise after only two generations, all very clearly."

The story of the Tang Dynasty is enjoyable in the first half and painful in the second half, at least giving the emotions a direction.

"Only the Song Dynasty."

He paused for half a second, as if he wanted to say something.

"You just finished criticizing its military incompetence and its use of tribute to buy peace, and then you see Su Dongpo standing on the banks of the Red Cliff, turning a defeat into a timeless masterpiece."

You've just finished praising its elegant governance and the integrity of its scholars, when you turn around and run into the flames of the Jingkang Incident, and half of the country is gone.

You call it weak and incompetent, but it talks to you about economics.

You say it's rich, but it talks to you about principles.

You say it's a case of scholars ruining the country, but it turns around and gives you a Fan Zhongyan and a Wang Anshi to show you that even scholars dare to jump into a fire pit.

The celestial screen unfolds.

In Bianjing, the night market was as bright as day.

A scholar in a blue robe emerged from the bookstore, carrying newly purchased books in his arms. He walked and read as he went, nearly knocking over a roadside stall.

In the academy in Jiangnan, the headmaster sat in front of the hall, surrounded by a dense crowd of students.

In the printing workshops of Fujian, craftsmen type, apply ink, and press paper, and pages of books fall like snowflakes, are bound into volumes, and transported to all corners of the country.

"From Zhao Kuangyin's ancestral precept of 'not killing scholar-officials' to Zhao Guangyi's expansion of the imperial examination system and opening up channels for public opinion, and then to Emperor Renzong's reign when 'the emperor and scholar-officials jointly governed the country,' the Song Dynasty elevated the status of literati to the highest point in ancient China."

A Springtime for Liberal Arts Students

[Song Zhen dared to criticize the emperor; in the Ming Dynasty, criticizing the emperor resulted in being flogged in court; in the Qing Dynasty, criticizing the emperor resulted in beheading.]

Haha, look at the current job market for liberal arts graduates!

……

Unable to stop speaking, he continued:

"The intellectual environment of the Song Dynasty was the most relaxed in Chinese history."

Scholars and officials could discuss state affairs, criticize the emperor, and openly form societies to lecture; academies were ubiquitous, and a hundred schools of thought contended.

"The Northern Song Dynasty lasted 167 years, from the founding of the dynasty by Zhao Kuangyin to the Jingkang Incident."

This was one of the most economically developed, culturally brilliant, socially open, and urban life-rich periods in ancient Chinese history.

Gunpowder, the compass, and movable type printing—these three great inventions took shape or were widely used in this era.

Neo-Confucianism, poetry, vernacular stories, landscape painting, porcelain, tea ceremony, and academies all reached heights in the Song Dynasty that were difficult for later generations to match.

"But we won't talk about that today."

"I want to talk about something else."

Screen switch.

Stacks of yellowed memorials lay on the table, covered with dense annotations.

Under the candlelight, a middle-aged man in a scarlet official robe was writing furiously.

"Before the flames of Jingkang ignited, before the nation crumbled, did anyone foresee these cracks?"

The scene cuts again.

A thin old man stood on the city wall, gazing northward, the wind ruffling his white beard.

Several young officials stood behind him, each with a different expression.

"What routes did they try? Why did none of them work?"

The scene continues.

In the imperial court, officials from two factions argued incessantly, while the emperor sat on the throne, looking weary and hesitant.

Outside the palace gates, people gathered around the notice; some nodded, some shook their heads, and some sneered.

Why did they fail?

The last scene.

A demoted official, carrying his luggage, walked alone on a mountain road in the south.

The mountain road was muddy, and his boots were covered in mud.

Looking back, the distant mountains were high and the rivers long, and the road I had come from was cut off.

"After the failure, did history change even slightly?"

"The most noteworthy aspect of the Song Dynasty was never its wealth or elegance, but rather the 'misery' of that group of people."

Even though it was already terminally ill, there was still a group of people who went to great lengths to save it.

Some of them came close to success, while others suffered a complete defeat.

Some have been cursed for thousands of years, while others have been forgotten for thousands of years.

Some of their names you may be familiar with.

There are some people you may have never heard of.

But it is precisely these people who prevent us from viewing this period of Song Dynasty history solely as one of poverty and weakness.

The screen went completely dark.

Then, a few lines of text slowly appeared:

Next episode preview: Qingli New Deal and Wang Anshi's Reform.

The Northern Song Dynasty created its own fork in the road of fate.

Why do they die even more the more they are saved?