Chapter 47 The "frivolous" emperor rules the world

In the first month of the third year of Yuanfu (1100), Emperor Zhezong of the Great Song Dynasty, the emperor died and had no sons. However, he did have a few brothers, so who would take over became a problem.Prime Minister Zhang Dun wanted to establish King Jian because King Jian was the same mother and brother of Zhezong, but Queen Mother Xiang wanted to establish King Duan.After talking about it, the two quarreled, and Zhang Dun said angrily: "Prince Duan is frivolous, he can't rule the world!" As a result, the arms couldn't twist the thighs, and the prime minister couldn't stand the queen mother.Emperor Shenzong's eleventh son Duan Wang Zhao Ji succeeded to the throne and became emperor at the age of nineteen. His temple name was Huizong.Zhang Dun dared to say that the emperor was "frivolous", so naturally he had no good fruit, and was eventually demoted to death.But he said that King Duan was not suitable to be emperor, but unfortunately he was right.Even Song Shi, who labeled him a treacherous minister, couldn't help sighing: If someone was willing to listen to Zhang Dun's words at that time, there would be so many twists and turns in the Song Dynasty.

Speaking of Emperor Huizong's character, there is a good comment: "He is a smart and handsome man. There is nothing about the family style of this floating boy who knows everything, everyone doesn't know it, and everyone doesn't love it; it is like playing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. It goes without saying that you can play football and play bombs, taste bamboo and tune silk, play music and sing and dance.” In this way, it can be seen that Prime Minister Zhang Dun’s “frivolous” words are true.But it can also be seen that this young emperor is also smart, knowledgeable and versatile.Back then, the Queen Mother insisted on establishing him, perhaps because of this.But even though smart people come to play piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and compose poems and poems, they may not be good emperors.Later, someone compared Emperor Huizong with his ancestor Renzong. Emperor Renzong was good at everything, but he knew how to be an official. Emperor Huizong was good at everything, but he just couldn't be an official.

Perhaps this is why Zhang Dun said that he is "frivolous and cannot rule the world", but this "frivolity" did not come out of thin air.Before Huizong became emperor, when he was still King Duan, the person who had the greatest influence on him was Wang Shen, the captain-in-law. Everyone has a deep relationship with calligraphy and painting, and the famous Xiyuan Collection is in his residence.He himself has a high attainment in painting, and his handed down works include "The Map of Overlapping Mountains in the Yanjiang River".Duan Wang was originally talented in calligraphy and painting, and under the influence of this uncle, he naturally improved a lot.But this gentleman is not only an elegant man, but also a bohemian master. In "Water Margin", the "Little Wangdu Taiwei" is talking about him. From the fact that he recommended the "kicked kick" Gao Qiu to Duan Wang, one can imagine what kind of character this gentleman is.It is the cockfighting dog, the sensual dog and the horse, and there must be one of them.It is said that he "admired" the princess, and the princess is extremely virtuous and not jealous, so if he allowed him to be the concubine on the left and the concubine on the right, he should be satisfied, but he still ran happily to Huajie and Liuxiang.Forget it, the princess was seriously ill, and he actually dragged a concubine to mess with her in front of the princess.Emperor Shenzong was very angry when he knew this, but because of the tradition of not killing ministers in the Song Dynasty, it was not good to do anything to him, so he had to be demoted.It would be strange for the young Duan Wang to mix with such a master and learn well.But if he is just a prince, even if he likes to play and make trouble, it doesn't hurt to be "frivolous".After all, before becoming an emperor, no one raised him as the heir to the throne, as long as he was a prince honestly, not participating in political affairs, eating, drinking and having fun.In the end, because of his elder brother's short life, he became the emperor during the quarrel between the queen mother and the prime minister, so when he became the emperor, he carried forward the "frivolity" of being a prince, and finally had to toss the country to the end.

But Emperor Huizong had just ascended the throne, and the Queen Mother was still looking at him.He also wanted to do a good job himself.In the second year of his accession to the throne, he changed the name of the reign to "Jianzhong Yasukuni", which showed that he was determined to rectify the messy fights between the old and new parties.So he became a virtuous minister, far away from a villain, cleared up unjust prisons, accepted advice, and did a great job.The queen mother was very satisfied, and half a year later, she withdrew the curtain and returned to power, letting him take charge of the government himself.But the emperor became annoyed when he was doing his work. The old officials were too nagging, always saying that this was wrong and that was wrong.There are too many memorials, and it is a headache to read. How can Wang Xizhi's calligraphy and Wu Daozi's paintings attract people?There is also the quelling of old and new party disputes, which seems simple, thinking that as long as the emperor is fair, impartial, and impartial, ministers still have nothing to fight for.Unexpectedly, the public says that the public is right, and the mother-in-law says that the mother-in-law is right, and the emperor doesn't know who to listen to.The emperor found that this kind of muddy policy not only failed to quell the debate, but also made him lose face. In addition, most of the people who talked about him were veterans of the old party, so the balance in his heart could not help but tilt to the side of the new party.In the end, it was Cai Jing, the candidate for the new party proposed by the ministers, that made the emperor decide to agree with the new party.

Before Huizong ascended the throne, the person who had the greatest influence on him was Prince Consort Wang Shen.Then after he became emperor, the person who had the greatest influence on him was Cai Jing.Huizong was an artist, and his initial contact with Cai Jing also started with art.Cai Jing is good at calligraphy. The "Cai" in the "Su Huang Mi Cai" of the Song Dynasty is actually referring to him, but because of his later reputation, later generations used the earlier Cai Xiang instead.Once, when he was in the Hanlin Academy, he was so excited that he wrote two lines of poems on fans for two internal officials.The next day, I found that the two internal officials were all beaming. It wasn't that they knew how to appreciate and knew that they had won the treasure, but that their fan was bought by a prince at a high price of ten thousand yuan, and this prince was Prince Duan.In this way, Huizong's reuse of Cai Jing in the future also has a little bit of bosom friend and mutual respect in it.Cai Jing also became his eternal favorite. Although he was inevitably demoted, he could always be demoted and rise again.It's just that Huizong's vision and heart of an artist, although he found a bosom friend for calligraphy and painting, also chose the biggest traitor for the Northern Song Dynasty.

Cai Jing claims to be a new party, but he is actually a "chameleon".When Sima Guang of the old party was in power, as the mayor of Kaifeng, he could abolish the new law implemented by his subordinates within five days; and when the prime minister of the new party, Zhang Dun, was in power, he could restore it at the same speed. One, there is no political principle.This person has first-rate abilities, and he was recognized as "capable of means" when he was a small official. In the end, he became a treacherous official who was notorious all over the world. Some people said that if he could have a correct mind, he would be incomparable to any virtuous official in ancient times. .With his intelligence, he naturally saw through the emperor's dissatisfaction with the old party.So he did what he liked, and the emperor quickly transferred to the new party, and changed the year name to "Chongning" to show that he wanted to respect the Xining New Deal of his father, Emperor Shenzong.For those old parties, they were driven out of the capital one after another.Later, their blacklist was engraved on the monument, which is the famous "Monument of Yuanyou Party Members".In the second year of Chongning (1102), Cai Jing was worshiped as the right servant and servant, and was promoted to the high position of prime minister.Therefore, this pair of "sage kings and sages" of artists are ready to do a big job.