Chapter 13 Yao and Shun among the Three Daughters

In the autumn of the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1084), at a banquet, Song Shenzong suddenly started to convulse and knocked over the wine glass.This is a precursor to the emperor's serious illness.But it was not very serious at the beginning. Until the first month of the eighth year of Yuanfeng (1085), Song Shenzong suddenly became bedridden and could not handle the government affairs.In February, Song Shenzong's illness worsened and became more and more serious.When the Privy Councilors of the three provinces came to the inner palace to inquire about illnesses, Prime Minister Wang Gui asked Song Shenzong to make Yan'an County King Zhao Xu the crown prince as soon as possible.At this time Song Shenzong could no longer speak, but nodded in agreement.Wang Gui also suggested that Empress Dowager Gao be allowed to temporarily handle the government affairs, and then return to power after Song Shenzong recovers. Song Shenzong also nodded in agreement.At that time, Empress Dowager Gao, Prince Zhao Xu and Concubine Zhu De (Zhao Xu's biological mother) were all present.

After exiting Song Shenzong's bedroom, Prime Minister Wang Gui and others knelt in front of Empress Dowager Gao and asked her to handle the government affairs.Empress Dowager Gao hurriedly avoided, but the eunuch Zhang Mao said to Empress Dowager Gao: "The Empress Dowager should think about the country and the country, and should not try to evade responsibility." So Empress Dowager Gao agreed to listen to the government behind the curtain. Although Song Shenzong agreed to appoint the prince Zhao Xu as the crown prince, he never issued an edict to establish the crown prince.Zhao Xu, formerly known as Zhao Gong, was the sixth son of Song Shenzong, and his mother was the concubine Zhu.He was neither a direct descendant nor the eldest son, but because Queen Xiang had no son and the five older brothers died young, he was the oldest, so he was embraced as the crown prince.At this time, Zhao Xu was only ten years old, while Song Shenzong's two younger brothers Yong Wang Zhao Hao was 36 years old, and Cao Wang Zhao Kai was 30 years old, they were in the prime of life.The most important thing is that Zhao Hao, Zhao Kai, and Song Shenzong were all born to Empress Dowager Gao. In terms of status and background, these two are also qualified to be emperors.In the Song Dynasty, there was another precedent of Song Taizong's "brother ends up with brother", so some people began to move around.

Minister Cai Que had always been at odds with Prime Minister Wang Gui. He saw that Wang Gui planned to support Zhao Xu as the crown prince, so he conspired with another minister Xing Shu to choose one of Yong Wang Zhao Hao and Cao Wang Zhao Kai as emperor, so that he could have support. merit.In this battle for crown prince, the position of Empress Dowager Gao immediately became very important.Both sides are closely related to her: one is her own grandson, the other is her own son.Undoubtedly, the choice was not easy. Empress Dowager Gao was born in a famous family. Her great-grandfather was Gao Qiong, a famous general in the early Song Dynasty. Her grandfather was Gao Jixun, a famous general.Gao's nickname was Tao Tao, and she was regarded as her own daughter by Empress Cao since she was a child, and she was raised in the palace and was called "Queen's Daughter".At that time Song Yingzong Zhao Shu was young and was also raised in the palace, known as "official son".The two children happened to be the same age, and Song Renzong said to Empress Cao, "We should marry each other in the future." In this way, Gao Taotao and Zhao Shu's childhood sweethearts have a very good emotional foundation.When they grew up, Song Renzong and Empress Cao personally presided over the wedding for the two. At that time, there was a saying that "the emperor marries a daughter-in-law, and the queen marries a daughter".After Zhao Shu ascended the throne as Song Yingzong, he immediately made Gao the queen, and the relationship between the two has always been very good.Gao Shi grew up in the palace since she was a child, experienced many important political events, and her knowledge is quite extraordinary, which is by no means comparable to that of ordinary women.

Cai Que and Xing Shu also felt that they must obtain the support of Empress Dowager Gao in order to be successful.After some careful planning, Xing Shu came forward and invited Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji, the nephews of Empress Dowager Gao, to the mansion in the name of appreciating flowers.After Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji were invited to come, Xing Shu said straight to the point: "The emperor's condition is serious, and the imperial physicians are unable to recover. The king of Yan'an County is young, and King Yong and King Cao are very wise. It is possible Become the heir to the throne..." Before he could finish speaking, Gao Gonghui said in shock, "Xing Gong is trying to frame our family!" Then he and Gao Gongji hurriedly left the Xing Mansion.

Cai Que and Xing Shu decided to kill Prime Minister Wang Gui who supported Zhao Xu.One day, Cai Que asked Wang Gui to visit Song Shenzong's condition together. When they were halfway, Cai Que asked Wang Gui what he thought about the matter of opposing the crown prince.At this time, Cai Que had already arranged in advance that Cai Jing, the prefect of Kaifeng, would lead killers to ambush around. As long as Wang Gui insisted on making Zhao Xu emperor, he would kill Wang Gui. Wang Gui, courtesy name Yuyu, was originally from Huayang, Chengdu. He moved to Shuzhou (now Qianshan County) with his uncle Wang Han when he was young.In the second year of Qingli (1042) of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, Wang Yuzhong ranked second in the first division of Jinshi (second place).At the beginning, he served as a general judge in Yangzhou, and later he served as a daily life note in Kyoto, and then worked as a zhizhigao.In the fourth year of Zhiping (1067) of Song Yingzong, he was also a bachelor of Duanming Palace and was awarded the Panlong Golden Box.In the third year of Song Shenzong Xining (1070), he paid homage to Shen Zhizhengshi (deputy prime minister); in the ninth year of Xining (1076), he entered Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi and Jixiandian University Bachelor (Prime Minister).Wang Gui "reveals his status through his articles", "his articles are rich and magnificent, and he is a family of his own", "surrendering between the two Song Dynasties, he is not ashamed. Wang Gui, Xie Ji, Lu You, Yang Wanli, etc. are often called, and they are not empty Beauty" ("Siku Quanshu General Catalog").He drafted imperial edicts for the Song court for eighteen years, and most of the major policies were written by him.When Ouyang Xiu read the imperial edict drafted by Wang Gui, he couldn't help admiring and said: "A real scholar."

Among the descendants of Wang Gui, there are several very famous figures.Wang Gui's eldest daughter married the famous literati Li Gefei, and the daughter she gave birth to was the famous Li Qingzhao.Throughout the ages, Li Qingzhao is recognized as the woman with the highest literary achievements.The daughter of Wang Gui's fourth son, Wang Zhongao, married Qin Hui as his wife. She was the notorious "long-tongued woman" Wang.Therefore, Li Qingzhao is Wang Gui's granddaughter, and Qin Hui's wife Wang Shi is Wang Gui's granddaughter. These two famous women who left their names in history in different ways are actually relatives of the cousins.

However, Wang Gui was timid and afraid of getting into trouble. He always obeyed the emperor's wishes and acted wisely to protect himself in the world. To communicate the decree is "the decree has been received").When he saw that Cai Que, who was famous for his insidiousness, asked about Li Chu, he already expected that the other party had bad intentions.Cai Queze originally thought that Wang Gui was timid and afraid of getting into trouble, so when he was asked such a question, he must not dare to express his opinion easily.Unexpectedly, Wang Gui replied slowly: "His Majesty has a son." The implication was to establish Song Shenzong's son Zhao Xu.

Cai Chue clearly arranged for a killer, but he didn't kill Wang Gui for some unknown reason. He probably saw that Wang Gui was already old, and he wouldn't live long if he didn't kill him.Just three months later, Wang Gui died of illness. Obviously, without the support of the prime minister and the queen mother, Cai really couldn't do anything. In desperation, he had to resort to an extremely insidious trick: spread around that he was the one who set up the prince Zhao Xu, and instead slandered that the queen mother Gao had a relationship with the prime minister Wang Gui. The meaning of abolishing Zhao Xu.Cai Que's move was unwise, and it really brought him a huge disaster.

Zhao Hao and Zhao Kai, two eye-catching figures, often went to the palace to visit their elder brother's condition, but these two obviously didn't really care about his elder brother. The younger brothers had ulterior motives, but at this time he was already dying of illness, so he could only "stare at him angrily".Empress Dowager Gao played a role in stabilizing people's hearts at critical times. Just in case, she ordered the palace gates to be closed, and her two biological sons, Zhao Hao and Zhao Kai, were prohibited from entering and leaving Song Shenzong's palace.This is actually Empress Dowager Gao's clear statement: Zhao Xu will be the future emperor.

One day, when the ministers came to see him, Empress Dowager Gao praised her grandson Zhao Xu for being smart and smart, and showed the ministers the Buddhist scriptures that Zhao Xu had handwritten to pray for his father.The ministers all expressed their praise.Empress Dowager Gao immediately ordered people to lead Zhao Xu out, read the imperial edict of Song Shenzong, and made Zhao Xu the crown prince, and the dispute between crown princes was thus settled.It can be said that Empress Dowager Gao played a decisive role in quelling the crisis of establishing a reserve bank. At this time, no one could have foreseen that the party disputes caused by Wang Anshi's reform would affect the relationship between the grandparents and grandchildren in the future.

A few days later, Song Shenzong died of illness, and the crown prince Zhao Xu ascended the throne as Song Zhezong and Yuanyou. At that time, the Empress Dowager Cao was dead, and the respected grandmother Gao was the Empress Dowager, the empress of Song Shenzong Xiang was the Empress Dowager, and the birth mother, Concubine Zhu, was respected. The surname is the imperial concubine, and the military affairs are temporarily handled by the empress dowager.From then on, the fifty-four-year-old Empress Dowager Gao Taotao began to listen to the government behind the curtain, and was in charge of the government for eight years. Empress Dowager Gao has always opposed Wang Anshi's new laws and is very dissatisfied with her son Song Shenzong's vigorous implementation of the New Deal. However, according to the Chinese patriarchal system, the adult emperor is in power, and even his own mother, the empress dowager, cannot interfere in politics.But it's different now. Like Empress Dowager Liu and Empress Cao who were behind the curtain to listen to politics back then, she already has supreme power in her hands. After Empress Dowager Gao listened to the government behind the curtain, she immediately appointed opponents of Wang Anshi's reform.She first recalled the veteran minister Sima Guang who was excluded by the reformists.Later, Empress Dowager Gao abolished the new law promoted by Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi, and recalled all the old ministers who had been demoted because they did not support the new law to the capital, and reused them respectively. Among them was Su Shi, who had been relegated to the outside world. During the Yuanfeng period of Xining, a group of important officials were dismissed for opposing the reform, including Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang, Fan Chunren and others.After these people were dismissed, they had very close contacts with some scholar-bureaucrats in Luoyang.At that time, there were famous scholars in Luoyang, such as Shao Yong, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, etc., all regarded themselves as Taoists, and Wen Yanbo and others treated them as honored guests.Fu Bi, Sima Guang and others imitated the story of Bai Juyi's Gulaohui, and often gathered together to compose poems for fun.They only arrange the order according to age, not according to the seniority of the official position.They built a special house in the place where they often met, and painted the portraits of all thirteen of them in the house, which was called "Luoyang Senior Citizens Association" at that time.These "Luoyang seniors" like to receive guests very much. They often call scholar-bureaucrats together to talk about some anecdotes or national events, and then drink a few glasses of wine and have a light meal, which is called "true meeting".Luoyang people respect the knowledge and demeanor of this group of people, and envy their lifestyle very much.Every time the "Qi Ying" gathers, there are always many people watching, and it has become a major sight in Luoyang. Among these "Qiying", the most eye-catching one is Sima Guang.As the leader of the conservative faction, Sima Guang had a very high reputation. At that time, there was a saying among the people: "If you don't come out, how can you be like the people in the world?" Junshi is Sima Guang's word.In the minds of people all over the world, Sima Guang is the "true prime minister".After Song Shenzong's death, Sima Guang went to Kaifeng, the capital, to mourn Song Shenzong.As soon as he arrived in Kaifeng, the palace guards and ordinary people in the capital crowded around Sima Guang and said to him: "Your Excellency, don't go back to Luoyang. If you stay as prime minister, the people will live better." There were thousands of onlookers.This shows the great reputation of Sima Guang.However, Sima Guang couldn't bear such a star-like support, and was very frightened, fearing that it would arouse suspicion from the court, so he hurriedly left without saying goodbye and returned to Luoyang.When Empress Dowager Gao heard that Sima Guang had returned to Luoyang, she hurriedly sent eunuch Liang Weijian to chase him to Luoyang, comforted him on behalf of the Empress Dowager, and asked Sima Guang about politics.After that, Sima Guang entered the pilgrimage. As soon as Empress Dowager Gao came to power, she worshiped Sima Guang as her prime minister, and immediately won considerable support.Even Khitan, the enemy of the Song Dynasty, was in awe when they heard that Sima Guang was the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, and warned their border guards not to provoke disputes easily, but to maintain friendly relations between the Liao and Song Dynasties. After the Empress Dowager Gao drew down the curtain, she "put the first priority on restoring the patriarchal laws and regulations of the ancestors, and fully carried out the government of Renzong", trying to live with the people as much as possible.The nine years under her rule are known in history as the "Government of Yuanyou". Empress Dowager Gao herself advocated frugality and was famous for her simplicity. . ” Empress Dowager Gao’s clothing was often mended in the palace, except for court ceremonies, and silk brocade was not used.Meals in the palace only use mutton, because sheep eat grass and do not need grain.But cattle are strictly forbidden to eat because they can plow the fields.When Empress Dowager Gao celebrated her birthday, the imperial chef made two delicious dishes with goat breast and lamb meat ingeniously, and dedicated them to Empress Dowager Gao.When the Empress Dowager Gao learned about it, she said: "When the lamb is suckling, if you kill the ewe and take its udder, the lamb will be weaned and starved to death. The lamb is young, and it will hurt the way of heaven if you cook it." No lamb shall be slaughtered for food.Empress Dowager Gao often went to the imperial room to check whether the tableware was clean, and refrained from extravagance and waste. Gao Shilin, the younger brother of Empress Dowager Gao, has been in the inner hall for a long time and has not been promoted.Song Yingzong felt very sorry, and wanted to promote his brother-in-law's official position, but the empress refused, saying: "It is already too much grace for Shilin to be an official in the court. How can we follow the practice of the previous generation and the descendants?" Shenzong repeatedly wanted to improve the treatment of his mother's family, and planned to build a luxurious mansion for the Gao family, but the Empress Dowager Gao refused.In the end, the imperial court rewarded a piece of open land, and the Gao family paid for the construction of the house without using a penny from the treasury. Not long after Empress Dowager Gao came to the court, the three provinces had the previous court regulations, and the memorial invited "Gaen Gaoshi" to grant officials and ranks to the empress dowager Gao's clan. One-fourth is subtracted from the personal rewards of officials. Empress Dowager Gao's two nephews, Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji, should be promoted to observer envoys, but she insisted on not allowing them.Song Zhezong asked repeatedly before he was promoted to a higher level.Once, Gao Gonghui presented a memorial, asking the court to respect Zhezong's biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhu and the family of Empress Dowager Gao.Empress Dowager Gao saw that Zou summoned Gao Gonghui and asked, "You have limited knowledge, how could you write such a memorial?" Gao Gonghui said that it was Xing Shu's idea and drafted it on his behalf. , Also expelled Xing Shu from the court. Although Empress Dowager Gao belongs to the conservative faction, she has excellent governance skills.During her reign, she was diligent, thrifty and honest, and worked hard to govern. Therefore, during this period, the politics were relatively clear and the economy was very prosperous.This is also the last period of the Song Dynasty when the country was strong: the economy was prosperous, the world was well-off, and the politics were clear. "Song History" records: Empress Dowager Gao "has been in power for nine years, the court is clear and bright, and Xia Sui'an is established, and luck is eliminated from the inside; the things offered by Wensiyuan, regardless of size, will not be chosen for life. People think that women are Yao and Shun."