Chapter 3 Santoku's death

On October 21, the ninth year of Kaibao (976), one day after the death of Song Taizu, the 38-year-old Jin Wang Zhao Guangyi came to the throne as Song Taizong.Because the process of Zhao Guangyi's accession to the throne (officially) was full of mystery, everyone in the world wondered about Song Taizu's unexplained death, so Zhao Guangyi emphasized that he was "ordered by Queen Mother Du".What I want to emphasize here is that the so-called "Golden Chamber Alliance" has not yet been revealed, and it was not proposed by Zhao Pu until five years later.I'll talk about this later.

Zhao Guangyi was criticized, mainly because the method of succession of the throne between brother and brother was not justified and not right compared with the traditional father-son inheritance.However, it is not without precedent for brothers and sisters to die. In addition, Zhao Guangyi became the emperor, so he has the power to usurp history and guide public opinion, and he can do a lot of tricks.When the matter came to this point, with the statement of Queen Mother Du's death, why would later generations still say that Zhao Guangyi won the country and was unjust?It is generally believed that "there is an effect when there is a cause", and cause and effect sometimes use the effect to infer the cause.The main reason why Zhao Guangyi was suspected by people all over the world, but he could not escape Yoyo's mouth, was that after he won the throne, he did a few major things that are difficult for future generations to understand. On the contrary, it further proved that the Golden Chamber oath was purely non-existent. It was a lie fabricated by Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Pu.

In particular, as soon as Zhao Guangyi came to the throne, he immediately ordered Zhao Pu to enter the court and serve as the prince's Taibao and serve in the capital.Prince Taibao, Prince Taifu, and Prince Taishi are collectively known as the "Three Masters of the East Palace". From a first-rank official, it is a typical false title with the highest honor but no real power.In fact, the emperors of all dynasties all regarded the prince Taibao as an additional official to reward the ministers.Obviously, Zhao Pu's entry into Beijing to take up the post of Prince Taibao is not a sign that Zhao Guangyi will reuse him.Zhao Guangyi did this because he considered that Zhao Pu was an important minister of the founding of the country and had a great reputation, especially because of the extraordinary relationship between Zhao Pu and Song Taizu. Entering the capital is easy to control.

At that time, people inside and outside the court were uneasy, suspicious, and the atmosphere was very depressed.After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne as Song Taizong, he first pardoned the world and made his younger brother Zhao Tingmei (that is, Zhao Guangmei, renamed Tingmei to avoid taboo) as Kaifeng Yin and Zhongshu Ling, who was named King Qi at the age of 30; Song Taizu's eldest son Zhao Dezhao was Yongxing Festival At the age of 27, Zhao Defang, the second son of Song Taizu, was seventeen years old when he was the Jiedu envoy and Tongping Zhangshi of Shannan Xidao.As for the children of Song Taizu and Zhao Tingmei, they are called princes and daughters together with Zhao Guangyi's children.Xue Juzheng, Shen Lun, Lu Duoxun, Cao Bin, and Chu Zhaofu, the former subordinates of Song Taizu, also joined the ranks.Obviously, this was a move by Song Taizong to calm people's hearts and eliminate turmoil when he had just ascended the throne and his foundation was still unstable.

Zhao Tingmei was appointed Kaifeng Yin by Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty, which obviously implied that she was the No. 1 candidate for the crown prince.Because at this time Song Taizong did not know that there was a so-called golden chamber oath, the reason why he did so was that he explained to the world that he inherited the throne by the Queen Mother Du's will: Guo Lai Changjun, his sons are all younger than Zhao Dezhao, Therefore, there is no reason to be crown prince.Under such circumstances, Song Taizong had to give the seat of Kaifeng Yin to his younger brother Zhao Tingmei.It is worth emphasizing that both Zhao Tingmei and Zhao Dezhao are listed in the Golden Chamber Oath (if there is one) and can inherit the throne after the death of the emperor.

The most incredible thing is that Song Taizong couldn't wait to change the reign name to "Taiping Xingguo" as soon as he came to the throne, expressing his intention to achieve a new career.According to the practice, when the new emperor came to the throne, the new year was changed to the new year in the following year.Why did Song Taizong break the routine and change the ninth year of Kaibao to the first year of Xingguo with only two months left?This all the more shows that he has ulterior motives and wants to "rectify his name" first, in order to create an irreversible fait accompli.

In any case, Song Taizong succeeded to the throne despite the fog of "The Alliance of the Golden Chamber" and "The Sound of the Ax and the Shadow of the Candle".After that, he focused on cultivating and promoting his cronies. Members of the shogunate, such as Cheng Yu, Jia Yan, Chen Congxin, and Zhang Ping, entered the court one after another to take up important positions, gradually replacing the ministers of the Song Taizu Dynasty. The most critical point is that Song Taizong expanded the number of candidates for the imperial examination, which played an important role in changing the political structure of Song Taizu.After Song Taizong came to the throne, the number of candidates for the first imperial examination was more than twice that of Song Taizu's maximum one year.The increase in the number of scholars recruiting scholars, on the one hand, enabled more talented people to have the opportunity to become officials;As "students of the son of heaven", the scholars will undoubtedly be grateful to Song Taizong, and thus serve the new emperor wholeheartedly.In this way, the power inside and outside the court will be gradually controlled by Song Taizong's cronies, and Song Taizong's throne will gradually become stable.And with the passage of time, the shadows of "The Sound of the Ax and the Shadow of the Candle" and "The Alliance of the Golden Chamber" have gradually faded away.

Everything seemed to be fairly peaceful, and Song Taizong seemed to treat his younger brothers and nephews fairly well.The change began in the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo (979).In this year, many future figures stepped onto the stage of history in various identities.And Zhao Dezhao, the eldest son of Song Taizu, also died in this year. Although the Song Dynasty was called "Tang and Song Dynasty" together with the Tang Dynasty, not only did it not have the great martial arts of the "Tian Khan" of the Tang Dynasty, but it did not even complete the unification of the country. There were multiple regimes in the world. This is the so-called " There is a lack of Jin'ou".Jin'ou is an ancient wine container, which is often used as a metaphor for a country.Emperor Liang Wu of the Southern and Northern Dynasties once said: "My country is like a golden Ou, and there is no wound." ), Liao (Khitan), Jin (Jurchen) in the north, and later Mongolia.The complex situation of multiple regimes coexisting will be gradually covered in later chapters. Let us first talk about the events after Song Taizong ascended the throne.At that time, between the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, there was the Liu family of the Northern Han Dynasty, which was the only regime in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms that was not unified by the Song Dynasty.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Khitan destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty, and Liu Zhiyuan took the opportunity to proclaim himself emperor, the Later Han Dynasty.The Later Han Dynasty existed for only five years and was destroyed by the Later Zhou Dynasty.But Liu Zhiyuan's younger brother Liu Chong occupied Taiyuan and established himself as emperor. This is the Northern Han Dynasty.Later, Liu Chong passed on to Liu Jun, Liu Jun passed on to Liu Jien, and Liu Jien passed on to Liu Jiyuan.The Liu family, the ruler of the Northern Han Dynasty, had been attached to the Liao Kingdom for a long time and fought against the Song Dynasty.During Song Taizu's reign, he had two soldiers approach the city of Taiyuan occupied by the Northern Han Dynasty. Because of the Khitan's help, the Song division returned without success.The Northern Han Dynasty had no fear, and often invaded the border states and counties of the Song Dynasty.

The Northern Han Dynasty also had different opinions on the handling of the relationship with the Song Dynasty, and there were many contradictions.When Liu Jien, the third lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, was in power, Hou Barong killed Liu Jien and wanted to surrender Liu Jien's head to the Song Dynasty.Unexpectedly, after hearing the news, Guo Wuwei, the prime minister of the Northern Han Dynasty, sent troops to surround the palace, and sent dead soldiers with high martial arts skills to climb over the wall and enter the palace, killing Hou Barong in one fell swoop. This Guo Wuwei was originally a Taoist priest from Wudang Mountain. He defected to the Northern Han Dynasty during the troubled times and was appreciated by Liu Jun, the second ruler of the Northern Han Dynasty.When Liu Jun was seriously ill, he talked with Guo Wuwei about the successor to the throne. Guo Wuwei thought that Liu Jien was not talented enough.After Liu Jien came to the throne, he always wanted to kill Guo Wuwei, but before he could do it, he was killed by Hou Barong. He only reigned for 60 days.So at that time, some people thought that the real inside story was that Guo Wuwei instigated Hou Barong to kill Liu Jien, and then Guo Wuwei killed Hou Barong to silence him.

After Liu Jien's death, Guo Wuwei insisted on establishing Liu Jiyuan as emperor.Liu Jiyuan trusted the villain and killed his relatives wantonly.Seeing that the Northern Han Dynasty was over, Guo Wuwei advocated surrendering to the Song Dynasty.However, Liu Jiyuan believed that he had the backing of the Liao Kingdom, and he had always refused to bow down to the Song Dynasty. In the first month of the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo (979), Song Taizong decided to attack the Northern Han Dynasty so that there would be no shortage of Jin'ou.However, most of the courtiers objected, mainly because the Northern Han Dynasty could somewhat act as a barrier between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom.But the famous general Cao Bin strongly agreed, which strengthened Song Taizong's determination.Therefore, Song Taizong sent the famous general Pan Mei (the prototype of Pan Renmei in the opera) and other troops to besiege Taiyuan.After that, Song Taizong planned to go to the front line to supervise the teachers in person.At this time, I began to see Song Taizong's suspicion of his younger brother Zhao Tingmei. According to the usual practice, when the crown prince goes on a personal expedition or travels abroad, the prince must supervise the country.Zhao Tingmei was the Yin of Kaifeng at that time and was the first heir to the throne. Song Taizong had no choice but to keep his younger brother Zhao Tingmei to stay in the capital.Lu Duan, who was "confused about small things but not confused about big things" mentioned above, was the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture at that time and was Zhao Tingmei's direct subordinate.This person is indeed a person who is not confused about major matters. He saw that Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty was not at ease with Zhao Tingmei, so he persuaded Zhao Tingmei to say: "The lord is fighting against the wind and rain, and he will be punished. The king is in a position of relatives and virtuous people. He should be an example and follow him. It is not appropriate to do business." ("Continued Zizhi Tongjian Volume IX") Zhao Tingmei suddenly realized that she took the initiative to ask Song Taizong to go out with his entourage.Song Taizong was overjoyed, of course he immediately agreed. In fact, Lu Duan's high-sounding words solved Song Taizong's biggest heart disease.In the future, Song Taizong reused Lu Duan and praised him for "not being confused about big things", which started from this incident.Regarding Lu Duan, there will be a wonderful show of "not confused". In March of the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo (979), Guo Jin, the observer of Song Yunzhou, broke through the Xilongmen Village of the Northern Han Dynasty and captured many people.Seeing that the Song army was approaching menacingly, Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, was determined to win, so he sent someone to the Liao Kingdom for emergency help. The Liao Kingdom was a dynasty established in Chinese history with the Khitan people as the main body, and the founder was Yelu Abaoji.During the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, Khitan began to rise. At that time, there were eight major tribes. The leader of each tribe was called "Adult", and the eight tribes elected a leader, called "Eight Ministers". for one term.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Yelu Abaoji began to rise, and served three consecutive terms and eight ministers.During the melee in the Central Plains, Liu Shouguang, the governor of Lulong who occupied Hebei, was defeated by Li Cunxu, the king of Jin who occupied Hedong (now Shanxi). He was desperate, so he had to send a member of the army to Yelu Abaoji, the ruler of Khitan, for help.The soldier who joined the army was Han Yanhui, a famous legendary figure in Khitan history, but at that time he was not well-known, just an unknown little person.After Han Yanhui came to Khitan, he met Yelu Abaoji, and because he refused to bow down, he was detained by Khitan to do hard work and raise horses.Yelu Abaoji's wife was extremely intelligent, and she saw at a glance that Han Yanhui was definitely not something in the pool, and urged her husband to reuse him, and Han Yanhui became an official in Khitan.Han Yanhui helped the Khitan build the city walls, which were divided into cities to accommodate the Han people who were captured by the Khitan and who surrendered to the Khitan. He made spouses for these Han people, taught them farming skills, and stabilized the lives of the Han people. Objectively, he developed the Khitan region. It played an important role in stabilizing Khitan's rule over the Han people.The most interesting thing is that despite being highly valued, Han Yanhui cherished his homeland in the Central Plains and found an opportunity to escape from Khitan quietly, and returned to the Central Plains after going through untold hardships.When passing by Li Cunxu's territory, Han Yanhui was appreciated by Li Cunxu and recruited him by his side as secretary, but soon Han Yanhui was squeezed out by Li Cunxu's other staff.At that time, a friend of Han Yanhui asked him about his future plans. Han Yanhui thought that since the world could not accommodate him, he had to go back to Khitan again.The friend was shocked when he heard this, and said: "You escaped from Khitan with great difficulty. If you go back, you will definitely be killed by the Khitan people." Han Yanhui replied confidently: "Not necessarily. Since I left, the Khitan Lord It's like losing eyes and ears, like losing hands and feet. If I go back, it's equivalent to him regaining eyes, eyes and hands and feet, and it's too late to reuse me, so how can he kill me?" So he calmly returned to his hometown to visit his mother, and then returned to Khitan.Sure enough, as Han Yanhui expected, Yelu Abaoji not only did not blame him, but even reused him more.Later, Yelu Abaoji proclaimed himself emperor and appointed Han Yanhui as the minister of government affairs, equivalent to the prime minister of the Central Plains.Although Han Yanhui was prominent in a foreign country, he never forgot his homeland in his heart.He sent someone to send a letter to Li Cunxu, explaining that he was ostracized and left without saying goodbye, and asked Li Cunxu to take care of his mother. He also promised that as long as Han Yanhui was with him for a day, the Khitan would not be allowed to invade the south.After that, Yelu Deguang, the son of Yelu Abaoji, succeeded to the throne and continued to reuse Han Yanhui.And it was in the hands of Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang that the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures were received into the hands of Khitan, which will be discussed in detail later.After Liao Emperor Taizong Yelu Deguang, after two generations of Liao Shizong and Liao Muzong, fierce disputes arose within the Liao Kingdom.First, Yeluwu, the nephew of Emperor Taizong of Liao Dynasty Yelu Deguang, wanted to succeed, so he changed his name to Yeluruan and became Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty. He was killed in the fifth year of his reign.Then Yelu Wulu, the son of Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang, succeeded to the throne, renamed Yelujing, and became Liao Muzong.Emperor Muzong of the Liao Dynasty loved hunting and drinking, and he did not care about state affairs. He drank heartily every day and often slept during the day. People in the country called him the "Sleeping King".Emperor Muzong of the Liao Dynasty reigned for eighteen years and was finally murdered by his servants.Liao Shizong's son Yeluxian succeeded to the throne, that is, Liao Jingzong, who is now the lord of the Liao Kingdom. Because of Liao Jingzong's illness, the punishment, rewards, government affairs, and military use of the Liao Kingdom were all decided by Queen Xiao Yanyan.The country only knows that there is Empress Xiao, but not Jingzong.Xiao Yanyan's real name is Xiao Chuo, and her small character is Yanyan. She is the daughter of Xiao Siwen, the Prime Minister of the Northern Mansion of the Liao Kingdom.Although the two young people are from different nationalities, they agree with each other and admire each other.Unexpectedly, Xiao Yanyan was caught by Emperor Jingzong of Liao at a glance, and a good show of the emperor seizing love was staged, which gave Xiao Yanyan the opportunity to become the famous Empress Dowager Xiao later. Xiao Yanyan has always been resourceful and good at controlling ministers, and everyone is happy to use them.She also reused the Han family who had a marriage contract before.Xiao Yanyan heard that the Northern Han Dynasty was besieged by the army of the Song Dynasty, and immediately appointed Prime Minister Yelusha as the capital, and King Tal of Ji as the supervisor to lead the army to help.When the Liao army arrived at Baimaling, there was a big stream in front of it. Song general Guo Jin led the Song army to station on the opposite bank.Yelusha and other generals believed that they should wait for the rear army before fighting the Song army, but Tal believed that they should lead the vanguard to attack the Song army in one go, but Yelusha refused to listen.Tal led his army across the stream to attack the Song army, and the Liao army had just crossed halfway. Guo Jin led his cavalry to fight hard and defeated the Liao army.Tal, Huage, Linggun Tumin, Yanggun Tanggu and others were killed in battle, and Yelusha and others were also surrounded by the Song army.Just at this time, the Liao general Yelu Sezhen led the rescuers to arrive, repelled the Song army, and rescued Yelusha and others. After the Song army defeated the reinforcements from the Liao state, the momentum was greatly shaken. Liankeyu County, Longzhou, Lanzhou, and Taiyuan City were besieged tightly. The Song army attacked in turn, and the battle was very fierce.Song Taizong came to the city of Taiyuan in person and ordered Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, to surrender, but Liu Jiyuan ignored him, so Song Taizong ordered the Song army to attack the city with stones.On the first day of May, the city of Yangma in the southwest of Taiyuan was broken. At this time, a very dramatic scene took place.People in the Northern Han Dynasty were panicked and felt that it was hopeless to defend the city. Many people began to seek a way out.Xuanhui envoy Fan Chao of the Northern Han Dynasty took the lead out of the city and surrendered.At this time, the Song army was attacking the city with all their strength, and all of them were red-eyed. Suddenly they saw Fan Chao leading a group of Northern Han soldiers out of the door. They thought it was the Northern Han soldiers who were out of the city to fight. Chao, without any explanation, beheaded him under the banner.When Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty in Taiyuan City, learned of Fan Chao's surrender, he also ordered Fan's family to be beheaded.All of Fan Chao's family, young and old, had their heads cut off and thrown outside Taiyuan City.Only then did Song Jun know that Fan Chao had come to surrender, but he was killed by mistake inexplicably. Song Taizong moved to the south of the city again and continued to attack the city.In the Northern Han Dynasty, the desperate reinforcements were lacking in food and grass, and the morale of the army began to waver.Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, was unable to fight, so he had to surrender, and the Northern Han Dynasty was flattened.The Song Dynasty obtained the land of its ten prefectures and forty-one counties. It is especially important to mention here that after Liu Jiyuan, the ruler of the Northern Han Dynasty, surrendered the city, Liu Jiye, the famous general of the Northern Han Dynasty, continued to resist in the city.Liu Jiye was from Taiyuan, whose real name was Yang Chonggui. Because he was young and heroic, he was highly valued by Liu Chong, the ruler of the Northern Han Dynasty, so he adopted Yang Chonggui as his adopted grandson and changed his name to Liu Jiye.Liu Jiye first served as the commander of the defense, known for his bravery, and was promoted to the Jiedu envoy of the Jianxiong Army for his meritorious service. Song Taizong loved Liu Jiye's loyalty and bravery, and wanted to recruit him for his own use, so he sent Liu Jiyuan to recruit Liu Jiye.In order to protect the people in the city, Liu Jiye worshiped again in the north, and then he released his armor and opened the city to welcome the Song army.Song Taizong was overjoyed, and immediately granted Liu Jiye the title of General Wei, the leader of the right army, and gave him a thicker gift, resuming his surname Yang and his name Ye.Later, Yang Ye became a famous general in the Song Dynasty, and the deeds of Yang Ye and his descendants were interpreted into various stories, the most famous of which is "The General of the Yang Family". After the surrender of the Northern Han Dynasty, Song Taizong ordered the burning of Taiyuan City in order to cut off the hope of the subjects of the Northern Han Dynasty, and changed Taiyuan to Pingjin County and Yuci County as Bingzhou. The common people moved to Bingzhou.When the fire broke out, there were still many old, weak, sick and disabled people in Taiyuan who had no time to move, and they were all engulfed by the fire. After the Northern Han Banner was successfully opened, Song Taizong was full of ambitions and planned to do a more earth-shattering event, which was to recover the Sixteen States of Yanyun.Let me first talk about the background of Yanyun Sixteen States. Yanyun Sixteen States, also known as Youji Sixteen States, refers to Youzhou (now Beijing), Shunzhou (now Beijing Shunyi), Ruzhou (now Beijing Yanqing), Tanzhou (now Beijing Miyun), Jizhou (now Beijing) Now Jixian, Hebei), Zhuozhou (now Zhuozhou, Hebei), Yingzhou (now Hejian, Hebei), Mozhou (now Renqiubei, Hebei), Xinzhou (now Zhuolu, Hebei), Guizhou (now Huailai, Hebei), Wu Zhouzhou (now Yihua, Hebei), Weizhou (now Yuxian County, Hebei), Yingzhou (now Yingxian, Shanxi), Huanzhou (now east of Shuozhou, Shanxi), Shuozhou (now Shuozhou, Shanxi), Yunzhou (now Shanxi Datong). Geographically speaking, the seven prefectures of You, Ji, Ying, Mo, Zhuo, Tan, and Shun are located in the southeast of the northern branch of Taihang Mountains, and the remaining Kyushus are in the northwest of the mountain.The sixteen prefectures roughly consist of large tracts of land in present-day Beijing, Tianjin, northern Hebei, and northern Shanxi.The terrain of Yanyun Sixteen States is condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It has always been the barrier of the Central Plains and has an important military status. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, China entered the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. At that time, the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures were the territory of the Later Tang Dynasty, and Shi Jingtang, the governor of the Eastern Tang Dynasty, was under the jurisdiction of the Later Tang Dynasty.Shi Jingtang had always had conflicts with Li Congke, Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty.Once, Shi Jingtang refused to obey Li Congke's dispatch, and Li Congke sent tens of thousands of troops to attack Jinyang City where Shi Jingtang was located.Shi Jingtang couldn't resist.Seeing that Jinyang was in critical condition, the secretary Sang Weihan came up with an idea to ask Shi Jingtang to ask the Khitan for help.Therefore, Shi Jingtang wrote a letter to profess his minister to Khitan king Yelu Deguang, expressing his willingness to worship Yelu Deguang, the king of Khitan (which was not renamed Liao at that time), as his father, and promised to take Yanyun Shi, north of Yanmen Pass, after defeating the Tang army. The land of the six states was dedicated to Khitan. Regardless of personal dignity, Shi Jingtang brazenly recognized Yelu Deguang, who was ten years younger than himself, as his father, and put forward many shameful conditions, which made even his subordinates feel embarrassed.The general Liu Zhiyuan (later Emperor Gaozu of the later Han Dynasty) said: "It is fine to be a minister, but it seems too much to be a son. Send more gold and silk, and the Khitan soldiers will come naturally. You don't have to give land. I am afraid that it will be a disaster for China in the future. I regret it. It’s too late.” But Shi Jingtang wanted to become the “child emperor” quickly, so he ignored Liu Zhiyuan’s advice and asked Sang Weihan to write a memorial and send it to Khitan. Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang was overjoyed when he heard the news. He personally led 50,000 cavalry to break the siege of Jinyang, and helped Shi Jingtang become emperor after destroying Houtang.Afterwards, the Khitan annexed the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, established the Daliao Kingdom, and established a companion capital in Youzhou, called Nanjing, also known as Yanjing. Shi Jingtang's act of ceding Yanyun sixteen prefectures to Khitan had a profound impact on later generations.Afterwards, there was almost no danger to defend Hebei and Hedong, and the Central Plains lost its natural and artificial defense lines with the northern nomads, which created extremely favorable conditions for the future southward advance of Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongolia.Therefore, many historians list Shi Jingtang as the first traitor in Chinese history and the most notorious feudal emperor.Sang Weihan, who came up with the idea, was also named "the sinner of all ages" by the later historian Wang Fuzhi. After the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun were ceded, none of the subsequent dynasties could regain them, and the disaster was far-reaching, causing harm for four hundred years.Chai Rongxiong, Emperor Shizong of the later Zhou Dynasty, only regained Ying and Mozhou. When he captured Youzhou, he suddenly became seriously ill and died young.After the founding of the Song Dynasty, facing the threat of the Liao cavalry galloping from the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, they had to plant trees near Bianjing in an attempt to prevent the charge of the Liao cavalry with this extremely negative method.Of course, Song Taizu also thought that one day he would be able to recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, but not by force, but by money.Song Taizu specially set up a "sealed pile warehouse" in the inner government treasury, which is equivalent to a small treasury dedicated to special funds. He also said: "Once the five million yuan is full, you should redeem Yan Ji from Khitan." He planned to wait until the money in the small treasury accumulated. If a certain amount is enough, the money will be used to redeem the lost land in the Sixteen States of Yanyun.Song Taizu once said to the left and right: "I will buy a Khitan head with twenty-four silks. The elite soldiers will only cost two million silks, and the enemy will be wiped out." So frankly using money and self-interest to measure the major affairs of the enemy country, It is rare among Chinese feudal monarchs.This is the "ambition" of the dignified founding emperor of the Song Dynasty. One hundred and fifty years later, it should not be surprising that the Jurchen cavalry easily rushed through the forest planted by Song Taizu and entered Kaifeng. Let’s talk about Song Taizong’s mentality of wanting to regain Youyun Sixteen States. Song Taizong ascended the throne amidst the suspicious "sound of the ax and the shadow of the candle". Although the government and the public dared not discuss it openly, the cloud of suspicion has lingered for a long time for several years.Therefore, Song Taizong wholeheartedly sought to surpass Song Taizu's status in Wenzhiwugong, in order to get rid of Song Taizu's shadow.Take this expedition against the Northern Han Dynasty as an example. Except for Cao Bin, everyone in the civil and military courts of the Manchu Dynasty opposed it, but Song Taizong insisted on going his own way.After surrendering the Northern Han Dynasty, the Song army had been fighting outside for nearly half a year, and the troops were exhausted.Therefore, when it was heard that Song Taizong was going to take advantage of the situation to attack Liao, all the ministers objected, and Song Taizong refused to listen and insisted on sending troops. Everything went smoothly at the beginning, the Song army was in full swing, Song generals Fu Qian and Kong Shouzheng defeated the Liao general Yelu Xida in Shahe, Liu Yu, the governor of Yizhou in Liaodong, and Liu Yuande, the judge of Zhuozhou in Liaodong, offered to surrender the city.Song Jun hit the city of Youzhou (Beijing) without any difficulty along the way.At that time, the guard general of Youzhou, Yelu, learned from the ancients and adopted a strategy of strictly guarding against death. The Song army attacked for a long time, but it was in vain.The two sides showed a stalemate. When Xiao Yanyan of the Liao Kingdom learned that Youzhou was besieged by the Song army, she immediately sent Prime Minister Yelusha to reinforce it.Just as Yelusha set off, Liao general Yeluxiuge also volunteered to lead his troops to Youzhou. When Song Taizong heard that reinforcements from the Liao State had arrived, he ordered the Song army to deploy defenses at the Gaoliang River (now outside Xizhimen, Beijing).Liao Prime Minister Yelusha led his troops to fight fiercely with the Song army on the river beach.After a bloody battle, the Liao soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and Yelusha hurriedly ordered to retreat.Song Taizong ordered the Song army to catch up quickly.At this moment, Yeluxiuge led the army to arrive in time, and Yelusha immediately decided to return to the division.After the two divisions of the Liao army merged into one, the momentum was greatly shaken, and the Song army was thrown into disorder at once, and was defeated in the end.The generals of the Song army were killed one after another, and Song Taizong's yellow umbrella cover dedicated to the emperor became the target of the Liao army.If it weren't for the Song soldiers who held up the yellow umbrella cover and fell off the horse with an arrow, Song Taizong might have died under the Liao army's sword.Song Taizong fled all the way with the defeated generals, his shoes fell off, his hat flew off, and his horses got stuck in the mud.At this time, it was Yang Ye who arrived and killed the Liao soldiers, saving Song Taizong's life. It was already August at this time, the autumn wind had already blown, and the autumn outside the Great Wall was tall and the horses were fat. The Song army was in a disadvantageous position when it was neutral in the confrontation with the Liao army.After Song Taizong suffered a disastrous defeat in Gaolianghe, he decided to withdraw his troops.Unexpectedly, Liao general Yelu Xiuge pursued him relentlessly, and Song Taizong was in a panic after chasing him.When he arrived in Zhuozhou, Song Taizong was also shot by two arrows, and then escaped in a donkey cart, but the accompanying ladies and luggage were all obtained by Yelu Xiuge.Later Song Taizong died because of this arrow sore attack. The dignified emperor of the Song Dynasty almost became a prisoner of the Liao army. One can imagine the chaos at that time.And in the great chaos, a huge mistake was made.Just as the Song army was on the way to defeat, everyone was only concerned about running for their lives, and when it was a little safer, the officials suddenly discovered that Song Taizong was missing.So people panicked and ran to tell everyone that the emperor was missing.More people suspected that Song Taizong had already suffered in the chaos.Therefore, someone suggested: "A country cannot be without a king for a day. Now the emperor's whereabouts are unknown, and he may have died. Zhao Dezhao, the king of Wugong County, is the heir of the Taizu. He should be made emperor as soon as possible to calm people's hearts and prevent the Liao Kingdom from taking advantage of it." chance." As mentioned earlier, Qi Wang Zhao Tingmei was supposed to stay in Kaifeng, but because of Lu Duan's words, he had to follow Song Taizong to the expedition to avoid suspicion.Zhao Dezhao also followed in the army. Of course, there are also people who object, suggesting to find Song Taizong first.When everyone was arguing, someone came to tell everyone: "The emperor is still alive." So the matter was settled. After returning to Kaifeng, Song Taizong was in a very bad mood. He sent troops this time for the purpose of raising his prestige and convincing people, but he was defeated miserably. Arrow is simply a great shame.When Song Taizong was depressed, someone told him that during the defeat of the Song army, someone had planned to make Zhao Dezhao emperor, and Song Taizong's face suddenly became terribly gloomy and very angry.But it happened for a reason, and he couldn't say much.But at this time, Zhao Dezhao, who had no plans, came to the door by himself. Because Song Taizong was extremely disappointed, even if he captured Taiyuan and subdued the Northern Han Dynasty before, he could not make up for it, so no rewards were given to the soldiers who made contributions to the capture of Taiyuan.The soldiers of the Song Army had great opinions on this, and all of them were dissatisfied.Seeing that the soldiers were talking a lot, Zhao Dezhao was afraid that the morale of the army would be unstable, so he kindly suggested to Song Taizong to reward the soldiers immediately for meritorious service, so as to appease the soldiers.Song Taizong was annoyed by the defeat of Youzhou. Before he finished listening, he said angrily: "What credits do you have for returning from the defeat? What rewards?" Zhao Dezhao said: "This cannot be generalized. Although our army conquered Liao. The Northern Han Dynasty has been leveled, Your Majesty will be assessed separately and rewarded according to merit." Song Taizong slapped the table and shouted sharply: "When you become emperor, it will not be too late to reward you!" At first Zhao Dezhao didn't understand why his uncle suddenly got angry, He was stunned on the spot, but later he came to his senses, he didn't dare to argue, he just left the palace in a hurry. After returning to his mansion, Zhao Dezhao was furious and asked his followers: "Have you brought a knife?" Seeing that his face was flushed and his emotions were very agitated, the followers did not dare to say that he had a weapon for fear of accidents, so they prevaricated and said: " When we enter the palace, we are not allowed to carry sharp weapons according to the regulations, so we don’t have a knife with us.” The more Zhao Dezhao thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and the more annoyed and saddened he was, he quickly walked into his tea and wine pavilion, closed the pavilion door, took the fruit knife on the table and killed himself. Died, only twenty-nine years old when he died. Zhao Dezhao committed suicide in a fit of anger, and it must be said that it was related to the previous misrepresentation that Song Taizong was missing and that the Song army wanted to make Zhao Dezhao emperor.Although Song Taizong spoke in a moment of anger, his suspicions were evident at a glance.As the son of Song Taizu, Zhao Dezhao couldn't have heard nothing about the oath of the golden chamber and the comments about the sound of the ax and the shadow of the candle, but now he is suspected by his uncle and has no way to prosecute himself. He can only prove his will through death. up. Zhao Dezhao's death was very unexpected.Emperor Taizong of Song came here after hearing the news. He was very regretful and cried and said, "You silly boy, what uncle said just because of his anger, you take it seriously. Why did you commit suicide?" , after the king of Wei, later changed to king of Wu, and then to king of Yue. If there was a reason for Zhao Dezhao's death, Zhao Defang's death is particularly suspicious.More than a year after Zhao Dezhao's death, in March of the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo (981), Zhao Defang, the youngest son of Song Taizu, died of a mysterious sudden illness at the age of 23.There is no explanation for his bizarre death in the history books, which has become another suspicious case.There are not a few people in the ruling and opposition parties who suspect that Zhao Defang died at the hands of Song Taizong, but no one has ever dared to discuss it publicly.On the night of the sound of the ax and the shadow of the candle, Empress Song once said to Zhao Guangyi: "The lives of our mother and son are entrusted to the officials." In fact, she was worried that Zhao Guangyi would attack Zhao Defang in the future. Unexpectedly, Empress Song's worry was justified. Here I want to emphasize again that the so-called Golden Chamber Alliance was fabricated by Song Taizong in order to deceive people. Although it can strongly prove the rationality of his succession, it ultimately restricted Song Taizong's desire to pass on his son.So far, Song Taizu's four sons have all died (two of them died young), and the order of succession to the throne has undergone tremendous changes.Only Zhao Tingmei, the younger brother of Song Taizong, was left on the Golden Chamber oath.The story of Zhao Tingmei will be told in the next section. Here is another post about Yanyun Sixteen States.After Song Taizong's disastrous defeat in Youzhou, he wanted to send troops to take back Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures several times, but each time ended in failure.Although the Northern Song Dynasty fought a long war with Liao, the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun were almost always occupied by Liao.The Song army has been unable to recover the lost ground.In the first year of Jingde (1004), Song Zhenzong arrived in the northern city of Chanzhou, the morale of the Song army was greatly boosted, and an armistice agreement was reached with the Liao State in Chanzhou, which was known as the "Chanyuan Alliance" in history.After that, the Song-Liao border remained relatively stable for a long time. In the fourth year of Xuanhe (1122), the Song Dynasty wanted to use the power of Jin to recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun in a whimsical way, so it made an alliance with Jin, agreeing that after the joint destruction of Liao, the gold would be returned to the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun in Song Dynasty.For this reason, the Song Dynasty also preset Yanshanfu Road and Yunzhongfu Road.However, after Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda drove Emperor Liao Tianzuo to the west of Yanshan Mountain, he only returned some states and counties such as Youzhou. In the spring and February of the seventh year of Xuanhe (1125), the Jin soldiers occupied Youzhou again, and designated Youzhou as Yanjing.In the second year, the Kingdom of Jin went southward, captured the two emperors of Huiqin, and occupied the Central Plains. This was known as the "Jingkang Change" in history, and the Northern Song Dynasty perished. In 1153 A.D., Wan Yanliang changed the name of Yanjing to Zhongdu and set it as the capital.The old royal family of the Song Dynasty traveled south, moved the capital to Lin'an (Hangzhou), and established the Pian'an regime in the Southern Song Dynasty. In 1213 AD, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures were again occupied by Mongolian cavalry. Genghis Khan's army went south and swept Hebei. Two years later, Zhongdu was occupied by Mongolia, and the Southern Song Dynasty regime was also eliminated by Mongolia.In 1272 AD, Kublai Khan established Dadu as his capital. As for the Yanyun sixteen prefectures, it was not until four hundred years later, in the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368), that Zhu Yuanzhang sent Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to conquer Dadu (now Beijing) before returning to the hands of the Han regime.