Chapter 21 Chapter Five: The Last Years of Pian An
Song Gaozong Zhao Gou was severely frightened when he escaped from Yangzhou, and he lost his fertility since then.And his only son, Zhao Yang, was sick and bedridden when he was three years old. It happened that when the court lady entered the house to serve, she accidentally kicked down a gold stove.Soon, Zhao Yang became seriously ill and died.The fate of the father and son is connected with shock. From this, we can see how unstable the situation was at the beginning of the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Central Plains after the looting by the Jin people did not recover for a long time.
After Zhao Yan died young, Song Gaozong was worried about his heirs, so he decided to choose one of Song Taizu's descendants as his adopted son.Since Song Taizong came to the throne with "brother end brother and brother", all the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were descendants of Song Taizu. Why did Song Gaozong have to choose Song Taizu's descendants?
Many people think that the shadow of "the sound of the ax and the shadow of the candle" has been hanging over the Northern Song Dynasty, but Song Gaozong deeply felt that Song Taizong's family really failed Song Taizu, so he decided to choose the heir to the throne from Song Taizu's descendants.This argument will be untenable on a little scrutiny.Song Gaozong didn't even care about his father Song Huizong and elder brother Song Qinzong, for fear that they would seize his throne after returning to the country, so he blindly surrendered and betrayed the country.How can such a person who is completely self-centered care about whether Song Taizong was sorry for Song Taizu back then?What's more, in Song Gaozong's generation, the blood relationship with Song Taizu has been quite distant.Obviously, Song Gaozong chose the descendants of Song Taizu as his heirs, which obviously had a deeper political meaning.
As mentioned earlier, the reason why Zhao Gou became a great treasure and became the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty was entirely because he was the only "fish that slipped through the net" among the princes.For him, the throne came from the sky.After Zhao Gou came to the throne as Song Gaozong, he respected his father and elder brother who were far away in the north as the Supreme Emperor, and he became the emperor with peace of mind.However, Zhao Gou was neither a descendant nor the eldest son.His mother, Webster, had a low status and was not favored, and Zhao Gou was inconspicuous among Song Huizong's sons.Moreover, the existence of Song Qinzong was a threat to Song Gaozong's throne.In order to show the legitimacy of the heir, Song Gaozong racked his brains. The previous legend of "the mud horse crossing the king of Kang" was a public opinion created by him to strengthen his "destiny" image.
After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, folks began to spread the eerie "sound of ax and candle shadow" again. What's even more incredible is that it is said that the reason for the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was that Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin wanted to use the hands of Jin people to avenge Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi's secret harm.The legend is certainly not credible, but Song Gaozong saw from this that Song Taizong's "brother end brother" was always an unorthodox image in the folks, which made him have a bold idea: as long as one of Song Taizu's direct descendants is selected As an heir, he would definitely be able to greatly strengthen his orthodox image.All of this is still centered on Song Gaozong himself.
At this time, Song Taizu's descendants were already quite large, with 1,600 descendants.After careful selection, two children were finally left, one of whom was a thin one named Zhao Bocong (later Song Xiaozong Zhao Shen), who was the seventh grandson of Song Taizu.At that time, Song Gaozong thought Zhao Bocong was too thin and weak, and he was afraid that he would not be able to raise him well, so he wanted to leave another stronger child.Just at this moment, a cat passed by the two children. Zhao Bocong remained motionless, but the sturdy child stretched out his foot and kicked the cat.This kick kicked away the cat, and also kicked away Song Gaozong's good impression of him, so Song Gaozong left six-year-old Zhao Bocong to be raised by Concubine Zhang Xian.But because Song Gaozong was only less than 30 years old at this time, he was still quite young, and he still hoped to have his own children in the future, so he did not immediately register Zhao Bocong as the prince.Song Gaozong's favorite concubine Wu (later Empress Wu) also adopted Zhao Bojiu (later renamed Zhao Chu), a descendant of the clan, as an adopted son.After Concubine Zhang Xian died of illness, Zhao Bocong was also adopted by Empress Wu.After that, Song Gaozong named Zhao Bocong and Zhao Bojiu the kings of Pu'an County and Enping County respectively.
After Song Huizong died in the Kingdom of Jin, the Jin people continued to release rumors, saying that they would send Song Qinzong or his son Zhao Chen back to Kaifeng to be canonized as Song Emperor.The Jin people's move was nothing more than deliberately disturbing the Southern Song court.Under such circumstances, it became very necessary for the Southern Song Dynasty to establish a prince.But for Song Gaozong, there was an unspeakable secret. If he publicly made his adopted son Zhao Bocong the crown prince, it would be tantamount to publicly exposing the fact that he was barren in front of the world.The selfish nature of this person makes him base everything on his own interests.Soon, the Jin people sent Song Qinzong's son Zhao Chen to Bianjing as the puppet emperor.Among the silent officials, the famous general Yue Fei stood up.He kindly wrote a letter, suggesting that Song Gaozong make Zhao Bocong the prince.Yue Fei's move was just to thwart the Jin people's conspiracy, but since the founding of the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that generals should not interfere in the government affairs, and Yue Fei touched the taboo.Song Gaozong immediately rejected Yue Fei's memorial, and said: "Although you are loyal, you still hold a heavy army outside. This kind of affairs is not something you should participate in." The words have revealed the emperor's strong displeasure and murderous intent.This incident is considered to be one of the root causes of Yue Fei's inevitable death.
Until Zhao Bocong was thirty-six years old, Empress Wu believed that Zhao Bocong was frugal, industrious, intelligent, studious, and worthy of a great job, and persuaded Song Gaozong to make Bocong the crown prince.It is said that Song Gaozong was always hesitating between Zhao Bocong and Zhao Bojiu.Later, Song Gaozong thought of a way: to give Zhao Bocong and Zhao Bojiu ten beautiful court ladies each.A few days later, Song Gaozong recalled the maids again. As a result, the ten maids given to Zhao Bocong were still virgins, while none of the maids given to Zhao Bojiu were virgins.Therefore, Song Gaozong felt that Zhao Bocong's character was more noble, and finally decided to make Zhao Bocong the prince.
In the thirty-two year of Shaoxing (1162), Zhao Bocong changed his name to Zhao Shen and was officially established as the crown prince.In the same year, Song Gaozong Zen was located in Zhao Shen, and Zhao Shen ascended the throne as Song Xiaozong.Since then, the throne of the Song Dynasty has returned to the line of Song Taizu.Song Xiaozong was grateful to Song Gaozong, always humble and benevolent and filial, and kept it all his life.Interestingly, on the contrary, Song Xiaozong's own son Zhao Dun (later Song Guangzong) has always been jealous of his father, and openly staged a big scene of discord between father and son, which will be mentioned later in this section.
Song Xiaozong did not have the tragic experience of his adoptive father Song Gaozong being chased by Jin people and running around with nowhere to hide, so he was not as afraid of Jin people as Song Gaozong was, and talked about the change of gold.He is also one of the most accomplished emperors in the Southern Song Dynasty.Song Xiaozong strongly advocated resistance to gold, and he had shown it as early as when he was the prince.In the 31st year of Shaoxing (1161), Wan Yanliang, the gold master, invaded the south on a large scale. Most of the ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty advocated fleeing. Song Xiaozong, who was still called Zhao Bocong at the time, was very angry and took the initiative to write a letter requesting to personally lead the army to fight the Jin army. .However, after being reminded by his teacher Shi Hao, in order to avoid Song Gaozong's suspicion, Zhao Bocong wrote a letter again, requesting to accompany Song Gaozong to protect him during his personal expedition, as a show of filial piety and loyalty.The relationship between Zhao Bocong and the power minister Qin Hui has always been very stiff, the main reason is that Zhao Bocong hates Qin Hui's blind humiliation and seeking peace.
As soon as Song Xiaozong came to the throne, he issued an edict to recover the official titles of Yue Fei and Yue Yun, and reburied them according to official rites. At the same time, he ordered to visit Yue Fei's descendants and specially recruit them.Yue Fei was wronged and murdered because of his resistance to gold, and many people at that time felt unfair about it.At this time, Qin Hui, the largest surrender faction, was dead, and Song Gaozong, the main peace faction, had abdicated. Song Xiaozong's edict greatly encouraged the ambition of the main combat faction, and both the government and the opposition were encouraged.Song Xiaozong immediately summoned Zhang Jun in a handwritten letter, saying: "I have heard the name of the public for a long time, but now the court relies on the public." He also appointed Xin Ciying, who had been framed by Qin Hui and had been exiled for 20 years, as a member of the Privy Council, and recalled him who had been denounced by Qin Hui. Hu Quan and the Qin Hui Party members in the court were all expelled.
Zhang Jun, courtesy name Deyuan, was born in Mianzhu, Hanzhou (now Sichuan).When Song Gaozong came to the throne in Yingtianfu, Zhang Jun came to participate in the emperor's enthronement ceremony and served as the editor of the Privy Council. Later, he was appreciated by the new prime minister Huang Qianshan and was promoted to the imperial censor in the palace.Once attached to Huang Qianshan, Zhang Jun attacked Li Gang, another prime minister who advocated resistance to gold, which directly led to Li Gang's dismissal.But soon after, Zhang Jun also had conflicts with Prime Minister Huang Qianshan.Zhang Jun once proposed in a memorial: "It is meaningless that gold can't come, and it should be used to prepare and manage the army. It is always like the enemy coming." It means that we should work hard to prepare for war and manage the army as Jin people often come to attack, so as to be prepared for no danger. .This was at odds with Huang Qianshan, who was blindly seeking peace, so Zhang Jun was pushed out of the court by Huang Qianshan.This incident should have had a considerable impact on Zhang Jun. After that, he began to actively participate in military activities against gold.In the third year of Jianyan (1129), the mutiny of Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan occurred in Hangzhou, forcing Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty to abdicate.After Song Gaozong was restored, Zhang Jun was promoted to the Privy Council.Later, he served as the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, managed Sichuan and Shaanxi, and made great efforts to conquer the Northern Expedition.In the seventh year of Shaoxing, Song General Liu Guangshi was dismissed from the army because of his arrogance, laziness and timidity. Song Gaozong had promised to assign Liu Guangshi's troops to Yue Fei to expand his army, but Qin Hui strongly opposed it.Zhang Jun also disagreed with merging Liu Guangshi's department into Yue Fei's army, so he took it under the direct jurisdiction of his concurrently serving as the governor's office. Liu Guangshi's general Wang De was in charge of the left guard army and Li Qiong was in charge of the deputy capital. Staff officer Lu Zhi temperance.Li Qiong refused to accept Wang De's control and appealed to Zhang Jun many times, but Zhang Jun didn't pay attention to it.Li Qiong simply launched a mutiny, killed Lu Zhi and others, led 40,000 troops to rebel, and surrendered to the Liu Yu Puppet Qi regime established by the Jin people. This is what is called the "Huaixi Mutiny" in history.Zhang Jun took the blame and resigned because of his mishandling.After Qin Hui's dictatorship, he blindly betrayed his country and surrendered, while Zhang Jun was excluded for a long time.But he has always been advocating resistance to the Jin Dynasty, and he has a high reputation in the Southern Song Dynasty. He is the leader of the Anti-Japanese War faction with a high reputation in the world, and the Jin people are also very afraid of him.
At that time, the poet Zhang Xiaoxiang wrote a song "Six States Getou", the word cloud:
The words are full of strong patriotic passion, and they condemn those who live in peace.After Zhang Jun accidentally read this word at the banquet, he was so moved that he left the banquet, which shows that this person really has the ambition to recover.It's just that it's one thing to have ambition, but it's another thing to have the ability.
After Zhang Jun was summoned, he saw that Song Xiaozong's personality was very different from that of the previous Song Gaozong, and he was determined to restore the Central Plains, so he tried to explain the various disadvantages of the peace agreement, and persuaded Song Xiaozong to try to restore it.In the first month of the first year of Longxing (1163), Zhang Jun became a privy envoy, governor of Jiang, Huaidong, and Xilu army horses, and founded Jiankang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu).His counselors are all chosen at the moment: for example, Chen Junqing was recommended by Zhang Jun to serve as the judge of Jianghuai Xuanfu;Song Xiaozong once summoned Chen Junqing and Zhang Shi, asked Zhang Jun about his movements, diet, and appearance, and said: "I rely on Zhang Jun like the Great Wall, and no one can talk about it." This shows his absolute trust in Zhang Jun.It is a pity that although Zhang Jun has a great reputation, he is a character with great ambition and talent, and his ability is even far inferior to Yu Yunwen of the same period.
Just at this time, the golden lion opened its mouth wide and asked the court of the Southern Song Dynasty for the land of Hai, Si (now in the North Hongze Lake of Xuyi, Jiangsu), Tang (now Tanghe, Henan), Deng (now Dengxian, Henan), and Shang (now Shangxian, Shaanxi). ) The Land of the Five States and the New Year's Coin were flatly rejected by Zhang Jun.The Jin people immediately sent a large army to Hong County and Lingbi, posing as if they were about to attack on a large scale, in order to deter the Southern Song Dynasty, and the situation suddenly became tense.Zhang Jun advocated a pre-emptive strike and immediately carried out the Northern Expedition to restore the lost land.The Anti-Japanese War faction also initiated the Northern Expedition one after another.Prime Minister Shi Hao objected. He believed that the Northern Expedition was expensive and expensive, and the Southern Song Dynasty had weak soldiers and mediocre generals. It was a risky move to send troops. He advocated the construction of two city defenses at Guazhou and Caishi to protect the Yangtze River.Zhang Jun and Shi Hao had a heated debate. The two debated for five days, but Shi Hao couldn't convince Zhang Jun in the end.
Shi Hao was Song Xiaozong's teacher, and the relationship between teachers and students has always been quite harmonious.At the beginning of Song Xiaozong's accession to the throne, he had received Shi Hao's support for rehabilitating Yue Fei and his son Zhaoxue.Shi Hao also recommended Lu You and other people of insight to Song Xiaozong.But Shi Hao is the representative of the peace faction.At this time, Song Xiaozong was full of vigor and ambition, so he resolutely dismissed his teacher Shi Hao and expressed his support for Zhang Jun's Northern Expedition.
At that time, Lu You was an editor in the Privy Council and had outstanding literary talents. Zhang Jun appointed Lu You to draft the Northern Expedition Edict, calling on the people of the Central Plains to fight against the war and cooperate with the Song army to recover lost land.
In April of the same year, Zhang Jun sent Li Xianzhong's army from Haozhou and Shao Hongyuan's army from Sizhou to attack the Jin army stationed in Henan separately.Li Xianzhong, formerly known as Li Shifu, joined the army with his father at the age of seventeen to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and made many military exploits.He has always persisted in the war of resistance, with high morale.Sent troops from Haozhou, captured Lingbi County in May.Shao Hongyuan besieged Hong County (now Si County, Anhui) from Sizhou, but failed.Li Xianzhong sent Lingbi to surrender, recruited the guard general of the Jin Army in Hong County, and then joined forces with Shao Hongyuan to attack Suzhou (now Anhui).Yang Chun, a warrior under Li Xianzhong's command, boarded the city of Suzhou first, opened the north gate, and the Song army entered the city.Shao Hongyuan, the queen of the palace, hesitated to move forward. After being urged by Li Xianzhong, Fang crossed Hao and ascended the city.The Song army and the Jin army launched fierce street battles, wiped out thousands of enemies, and finally recovered Suzhou City.
After capturing Suzhou, Shao Hongyuan planned to open warehouses to reward the soldiers, but Li Xianzhong thought it was impossible, so he ordered the troops to move out of the city, and only rewarded the soldiers with cash. Every three soldiers were given 1,000 yuan, which was an average of more than 300 yuan per person.Shao Hongyuan took the opportunity to make noises in secret, and the sergeants were very unhappy.
After the Song army captured Suzhou, the whole Central Plains was shaken.When the good news came, Song Xiaozong said excitedly: "Recently, the frontier news came, and China and foreign countries were encouraged by it. There has never been such a big victory in ten years."
Song Xiaozong immediately issued an edict, appointing Li Xianzhong as the emissary of Huainan, Jingdong, and Hebei. Shao Hongyuan was under Li Xianzhong because of his futility in besieging Hong County.However, Shao Hongyuan is narrow-minded and blindly competitive, so he has a quarrel with Li Xianzhong.As the commander-in-chief, Zhang Jun not only refused to mediate, but allowed Shao Hongyuan not to be restrained by Li Xianzhong.
After the Song army captured Suzhou, the Jin army immediately dispatched the main force to counterattack.In May, Heshi Liezhining, deputy marshal of the Jin Army, counterattacked Suzhou from Suiyang (now Shangqiu, Henan), but was repelled by Li Xianzhong.The Jin army continued to increase its troops, and Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan split up and attacked.Shao Hongyuan stood still before the battle, and said to people: "In this midsummer, if you can't even shake your fan, how can you fight hard in armor under the scorching sun!"
That night, Zhou Hong, the commander of the Chinese army, and Shao Shixiong, the son of Shao Hongyuan, and other generals saw that the two generals were at odds. They expected that the Song army would be difficult to win, so they each took their troops and fled. The Song army was in chaos, and the Jin army took the opportunity to attack the city.Li Xianzhong led his subordinates to resist vigorously, but Shao Hongyuan still refused to join forces with Li Xianzhong to defend the city at this critical juncture, and strongly advocated abandoning the city and retreating.Li Xianzhong knew that Shao Hongyuan was jealous of him and would not help, and it was impossible to defend the city with his own army alone, so he had to abandon Suzhou and retreat south overnight.As soon as the Song army retreated to Fuli (now Su County, Anhui), they were overtaken by the pursuing Jin soldiers.The Song army was defeated, and the dead were invincible.The Jin army won 30,000 first-class troops, and received many soldiers and battles.The two generals Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan escaped from the chaos and managed to save their lives.This is the famous "Battle of Fuli" in history.In this battle, the Song army's resources, food and equipment were completely lost, the main force of the Song army was defeated, unable to fight again, and the Northern Expedition failed.
After the defeat of Fu Li, the forces of the main peace faction rose immediately.Although Song Xiaozong had the heart to fight against the gold, but with the containment of the Supreme Emperor Song Gaozong inside, and many ministers who advocated peace outside, his will began to waver.In hesitation, Song Xiaozong appointed Tang Situi as prime minister, responsible for negotiating peace with the state of Jin.The Jin people asked for land in the four prefectures of Hai, Si, Tang and Deng.Tang Situi agreed with all of them, and sent Qin Hui's remaining party, Wang Zhiwang, as an envoy to the Kingdom of Jin to cede territory.
The surrender and compromise of Song Xiaozong and Tang Situi were opposed by the ministers of the Anti-Japanese War faction. Xin Ci resigned out of anger. Shi and others, and the drama "The Story of the Hairpin" is about him and his wife Qian Yulian) and others wrote consecutive letters, resolutely opposing the summation.Song Xiaozong was not firm in his will, and he repented, and ordered to stop the peace talks.But at the same time, he promoted Tang Si to retire as the left chancellor and privy envoy, and promoted Zhang Jun to be the right chancellor and privy envoy.It can be seen that Song Xiaozong hesitated between war and peace, and his position was always wavering.The reason for this was the resistance of the capitulators, but the greater resistance came from Emperor Song Gaozong.Song Xiaozong had absolutely no chance of becoming emperor, but was accidentally adopted by Song Gaozong as his adopted son, and Song Gaozong voluntarily abdicated as the Supreme Emperor, so he was able to inherit the great rule. The gratitude for this is self-evident.It was this gratitude that weakened Song Xiaozong's will to resist gold.
But Tang Si retreated and refused to give up. He conspired to frame Zhang Jun, the leader of the Anti-Japanese War faction. Taking advantage of Zhang Jun's visit to the front-line army, he ordered his party member You Zhengyan Yin Yi to attack Zhang Jun for being domineering, wasting state resources, and resisting the imperial order. Pie became arrogant again.Under the intervention of the Supreme Emperor Song Gaozong, Song Xiaozong wavered and gave in again, and summoned Zhang Jun from the front to return to the court, dismissed his position, and gave him an idle job instead.Zhang Jun passed through Yugan, and died of illness at the age of sixty-seven.
After Zhang Jun died, Song Xiaozong finally decided to negotiate a peace and sent Wei Qi as an envoy to the Kingdom of Jin.Hu Quan, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Zhi, Zheng of Taixue, wrote to oppose it.Tang Situi knew that Song Xiaozong still wanted to fight against the gold in his heart, and worried that the anti-Japanese faction would continue to write letters against it, and Song Xiaozong would waver again like last time, so he acted first and sent more than 20 anti-Japanese factions who opposed the withdrawal of troops to cede territory. The minister was arrested and imprisoned.What is especially shameful is that Tang Si returned and sent someone to Jin Guotong to communicate the news, asking the Jin people to dispatch soldiers to threaten the peace talks.The Jin people got the information, and in October, they sent troops across Huainan to invade and attack Chuzhou.It is known that Wei Sheng in Chuzhou fought against the enemy bravely and died in battle.Liu Bao was ordered to abandon the city and flee.The Jin army captured Haozhou, Chuzhou, and Shangzhou.
Tang Situi's conspiracy was later revealed, and the Southern Song Dynasty's court and opposition were agitated, and they impeached Tang Situi one after another.Song Xiaozong had to dismiss Tang Si and withdraw from the dynasty.However, Tang Situi colluded with the enemy and misled the country, and the public anger was too great. Seventy-two people, including Tai student Zhang Guan, signed a letter requesting to kill Tang Situi, Wang Zhiwang, and Yin Yi to thank the world.Tang Situi was on the way to be demoted at that time, and when he heard the news, he died of fear.However, Wang Zhiwang and Yin Rong were only dismissed from office.
At this time, under the threat of force from the Jin army, Song Xiaozong had to humiliate and sue for peace.In addition to ceding the four prefectures of Hai, Si, Tang, and Deng, Shang and Qin (now Tianshui, Gansu) were also ceded; the condition of the exchange was that the two sides were the kingdoms of uncles and nephews, and the Song Emperor was called the emperor, no longer a minister to Jin, and renamed the nephew emperor The original "year-old tribute" was renamed "year-old coin", and the gold, silver and silk were reduced to 200,000 taels each year.This is the shameful "Longxing peace agreement", also known as "the alliance of Qiandao". Both "Longxing" and "Qiandao" are the reign titles of Emperor Xiaozong of Song Dynasty.After the establishment of the peace agreement, Song and Jin maintained a peaceful relationship for about 40 years.
Although Song Xiaozong concluded the Longxing Peace Agreement with the Kingdom of Jin, he was unwilling to compromise on this. He held the power of employing people alone, handled political affairs in person, and continued to plan to regain lost land.For this reason, Song Xiaozong, who personally witnessed the work, was very busy. He once said to the people around him: "I will parade the whole country for a week every day (referring to processing documents from various places)." The minister Yu Yunwen, who was also determined to recover the lost land, was reappointed under such circumstances and joined the Privy Council to participate in military affairs.
Originally Song Xiaozong planned to let Yu Yunwen be the prime minister, but at this time, the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, Wan Yanzhong, was sent to the Southern Song Dynasty, domineering in the court.Yu Yunwen really couldn't see it, and wanted to kill Yan Zhong, but was impeached by the censor because of this incident, and was forced to resign.However, Song Xiaozong never forgot the shame of Longxing's peace talks, and Yu Yunwen was the main representative of the anti-war faction in the court and was appointed prime minister later.
After Yu Yunwen came to power, he built city defenses in various places and actively prepared for the Northern Expedition.During this period, Yu Shi Xiao Zhimin impeached Yu Yunwen for arrogating power and unfairness.The Taiwan remonstrance system in the Song Dynasty was so powerful that Yu Yunwen had no choice but to ask himself to be dismissed from power.At the critical moment, Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty unexpectedly stood up to speak for Yu Yunwen, and he said very eloquently: "Where was Xiao Zhimin during the quarrying battle?" Xiao Zhimin didn't know where she was yet.Yu Yunwen was reinstated because of this, and Xiao Zhimin was also demoted.
In the eighth year of Qiandao (1172), Song Xiaozong sent Yu Yunwen to Sichuan to prepare the army for war.Song Xiaozong had high hopes for Yu Yunwen's trip, so he went to the main hall to farewell Yu Yunwen in person, and authorized Yu Yunwen to ride a horse at the gate of the hall, and to leave the capital with a guard of honor.This is a very special courtesy.Before Yu Yunwen left the capital, Song Xiaozong solemnly agreed with Yu Yunwen: "If you send troops and I don't send troops, then I will bear you; if I send troops and you don't, then you will bear me." Yu Yunwen is scheduled to come from Sichuan , Shaanxi sent troops, Song Xiaozong sent the main force of the imperial court to march into Lianghuai, and the two sides finally joined forces in Henan.It can be seen from this that Song Xiaozong's trust in Yu Yunwen is limited, otherwise he would not have repeatedly emphasized the words "you owe me" or "I owe you".This is not only a problem of Song Xiaozong alone. For a long time, the Song Dynasty's opponents have limited trust in generals who hold heavy troops. This is also the most direct consequence of Song Taizu's "drinking wine to release military power".
After Yu Yunwen arrived in Sichuan, he took a series of measures in the military: appropriately increasing the salaries of officers and men so that they can support their families to improve morale; According to the opinions of the army, change the situation of the dispersion of troops so that the army can respond from head to tail.Yu Yunwen is actively preparing for the war, but has never made a clear plan to send troops.After waiting for more than a year, the impatient Song Xiaozong couldn't hold back anymore, and urged Yu Yunwen to send troops as soon as possible with a secret edict.Yu Yunwen didn't want to send troops hastily because he didn't have enough military supplies.Song Xiaozong was quite dissatisfied with this.Yu Yunwen knew Song Xiaozong's intentions well. In order to live up to his high expectations, he ran day and night, "riding on horses with stars, and his temples were full of ice", and finally became ill from overwork. He died in February of the first year of Chunxi (1174) at the age of sixty-four. age.
After Yu Yunwen's death, Song Xiaozong was angry with him for not leaving the army for a long time, and refused to give him a posthumous title.When he later saw that the army left by Yu Yunwen was all strong and strong soldiers, he suddenly realized it, and he was very emotional.
Yu Yunwen is generous and upright, with great ambitions, and takes restoring the Central Plains as his mission.He has been in the prime minister for twenty years, devoted himself to state affairs, and has always been the most resolute anti-war faction in the court.The most rare thing is that he has been paying attention to searching for talents, and the people he promoted and recommended, such as Hong Shi, Wang Yingchen, Wang Shipeng, Zhao Ruyu, Chao Gongwu, Li Tao, etc., all later became famous officials of a generation.
The death of Yu Yunwen dealt a great blow to Song Xiaozong. It not only failed the plan to send troops to Sichuan, but also made Song Xiaozong lose the most powerful support in the court.At that time, within the ruling group of the Southern Song Dynasty, the vast majority of people were already content with the status quo in a corner.After Yu Yunwen's death, Song Xiaozong appointed Wang Huai as the prime minister to finance and prepare for the war. However, the war of resistance was by no means just a matter for the emperor and the prime minister.This caused Song Xiaozong's determination to be greatly frustrated, and with no one to serve as the prime minister, he began to hesitate and waver, physically and mentally exhausted.From then on, he sought political stability and gradually became conservative.
In October of the fourteenth year of Chunxi (1187), Song Gaozong, who had been the Supreme Emperor for twenty-five years, died of illness.Song Xiaozong has always been very grateful to his adoptive father Song Gaozong for his kindness to Zen. He was overwhelmed with grief, obediently obeyed the mourning, and let the prince Zhao Dun participate in political affairs.At this time, Song Xiaozong had completely lost his ambition at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, and he deeply felt that ZTE's great karma was not enough.He decided to mourn for three years and abdicate in the name of "keeping filial piety".In February of the 16th year of Chunxi (1189), Song Xiaozong, who was in the 27th year of the throne, officially passed on to Prince Zhao Dun as Song Guangzong, and he himself retired to Chonghua Palace and became the Supreme Emperor. Regardless of the Northern Expedition, the passion and enthusiasm of Longxing before the Northern Expedition have become an eternal memory in my heart, and I will never repeat it.Thinking about it, his heart should be filled with the sadness and loneliness of unfulfilled ambitions.
After that, Song Xiaozong served as the Supreme Emperor for another five years, and finally died in anger at his son Song Guangzong's unfilial piety, at the age of sixty-eight.Compared with other emperors in the Song Dynasty, Song Xiaozong, whose ambition is hard to pay, is more sympathetic.