Chapter 11 Lecture 9: Escape from the Emperor

In ancient China, all the emperors who founded the country had some legendary stories. Of course, many of them were compiled by later generations.Zhao Gou also has such a story, which is what we call the story of "a mud horse crossing King Kang". There are two different versions of the story of the mud horse crossing King Kang.One version is that Zhao Gou was taken north by the Jin army as a hostage, and when he traveled to Cizhou, he escaped while the Jin soldiers were not guarding him strictly.Zhao Gou fled to a small temple to stay overnight. At night, he dreamed that a god told him that the golden soldiers were coming.He woke up immediately, got up and rushed to the yard, and saw a horse in the yard, so he got on the horse and ran, and ran across the Yellow River in one breath.After crossing the Yellow River, Zhao Gou discovered that the horse was made of clay. It may have been instructed by some immortal power at that time, and it came back to life immediately, and carried him across the Yellow River.Of course, this version is not very realistic.Because we mentioned earlier that when Zhao Gou went to Jinying, he was suspected by the commander of the Jin Kingdom that he was not a prince but the son of a general, so he was released after being locked up for dozens of days, and then his fifth elder brother, King Su Zhao Shu, went to Jinying instead. Camp as a hostage.

The second version is that Zhao Gou arrived in Yangzhou from Yingtianfu in Nanjing (now Shangqiu, Henan). Hearing that the Jin army was going to attack Yangzhou, he fled in a hurry.Zhao Gou fled to a shrine, saw a horse, and then turned on Ma Zhi and ran south.However, the horse in this version is even more powerful. The mud horse in the previous version ran across the Yellow River, but this horse carried him across the Yangtze River.After Zhao Gou crossed the Yangtze River, he discovered that the horse was made of mud.Of these two versions, it is estimated that the latter one has more real basis, but it is definitely not a mud horse that carried Zhao Gou across the Yangtze River.

In fact, the central meaning of these two versions is that Zhao Gou has gods to help him, and mud horses can carry him across the river, which shows that he was ordered by heaven when he was emperor.Therefore, whether the legend of "Nima crossing King Kang" was compiled by folks or historians, its purpose is to show that Zhao Gou's throne is orthodox. Zhao Gou refused to listen to the persuasion of Zongze and the civil and military officials, and refused to return to Bianliang, Tokyo, but fled to Yangzhou.Yangzhou has gradually become prosperous since the excavation of the Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was the largest industrial and commercial city in the country, even surpassing Chang'an and Luoyang.There are many verses written about Yangzhou in Tang poems, such as the well-known "Fireworks under Yangzhou in March" and so on.

Zhao Gou fled to Yangzhou, and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. For more than a year, he has been wandering and wandering, witnessing the desolation of the countryside and the misery of the people. It's time to rest.So Zhao Gou took Yangzhou as his temporary capital and settled down here.But Yangzhou is after all north of the Yangtze River, and Jin soldiers can cross the Huaihe River if they can cross the Yellow River. Zhao Gou also knows that it will be a matter of time before the Jin army reaches Yangzhou.Therefore, Zhao Gou sent ministers to escort the queen mother, empress, concubines and crown prince to Hangzhou, south of the Yangtze River, where the natural danger of the Yangtze River acts as a barrier, which is relatively safe.But he himself stayed in Yangzhou, putting on an air of not forgetting to enter the Central Plains, but in fact he wanted to stay here in peace.He appointed Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan as the right and left ministers, and let the like-minded treacherous officials preside over the government. He also proudly said that if Boyan and Qianshan were the right and left ministers, I would have no worries from now on.Zhao Gou sighed that he had been wandering for so many years, and thought that now he could finally settle down and enjoy himself, so he lived a life of debauchery in Yangzhou.

However, Zhao Gou's stable life in Yangzhou did not last long.The emperor of the Kingdom of Jin was very angry when he saw that Zhao Gou became the emperor, and the Song Dynasty was revived.As a result, the army of the Kingdom of Jin went south again.This time, the commander-in-chief of the Kingdom of Jin vowed that no matter where Zhao Gou fled, he must be caught.The Jin people also named this military operation, called Searching the Mountains and Seas to Catch Zhao Gou. Live in Zhao Gou. The Jin army was about to hit Yangzhou City, and Zhao Gou was still having fun in the palace.At this time, the servant rushed to report, saying that the cavalry of the Kingdom of Jin was only a few dozen miles away from us.When Zhao Gou heard that the Jin army was coming, he couldn't care about anything. He put on his clothes, got on his horse and ran away.Compared with before, Zhao Gou's escape this time was even more hasty.It is said that the emperor took only a dozen guards with him when he ran away. His dragon robe, seal, and state secret documents were all thrown in Yangzhou. I can take care of it.In the end, all these things fell into the hands of the Jin people.Zhao Gou escaped across the Yangtze River in such a panic and went straight to Hangzhou.Some people say that because of this incident, Zhao Gou may have been overly frightened, so he lost his fertility.

The emperor fled in a hurry, without even taking his own crown and ancestral tablet, and of course he didn't care about those civil and military ministers.Therefore, when Zhao Gou fled, none of his ministers knew about it.At that time, Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan, two treacherous ministers, had just returned from listening to monks preaching scriptures in the temple. They were throwing a feast and drinking happily.Suddenly someone came to report, saying that the Jin army is coming soon, and the emperor has run away, why are you still here?When the two traitors heard this, they also put down their wine glasses, got on their horses and ran away.As soon as the two prime ministers ran away, all the civil and military officials in Yangzhou City dispersed like birds and beasts.Some officials are relatively loyal to their duties, knowing that they run with their official seals, and those irresponsible officials just run for their lives.Therefore, the seals and many important documents of the three provinces of the Southern Song Dynasty were lost in Yangzhou City.The common people saw that all the officials had fled, and the people of the Kingdom of Jin were killing people without blinking an eye. We can't stay here and wait to die, so everyone also fled.

As a result, the entire city of Yangzhou is in chaos.Officials, soldiers, and ordinary people were all eager to get out of the city, so they huddled together at the city gate.Under such circumstances, instead of protecting the people first, these fleeing ministers and sergeants hacked and killed the congested people with knives and sticks in order to clear the way and run first.The common people were furious and pointed their finger at Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan, the two treacherous ministers.The people said that if these two traitors hadn't brought disaster to the country and the people, the emperor wouldn't have left us alone, so everyone shouted to kill these two traitors to vent their anger.However, these two traitors ran faster than anyone else, so the people naturally couldn't catch them.At this time, another minister surnamed Huang was going out of the city and ordered his followers to drive away the people blocking the road.The entourage shouted while driving the people away, get out of the way, Mr. Huang is going out of the city.When the common people heard that it was Mr. Huang, they thought it was the traitor Huang Qianshan, so they rushed up, beat, kicked, and beat the minister surnamed Huang to death.This unlucky minister was going out of the city to flee for his life, but unexpectedly he became Huang Qianshan's scapegoat.

When he arrived in Hangzhou, Zhao Gou heard that there was a suburban county in Hangzhou called Renhe County.At that time, Emperor Taizu launched the "Chenqiao Mutiny" and ascended the throne in Chenqiaoyi, which is Bianliang, Tokyo, which entered from Renhemen.Now Zhao Gou heard that there is a Renhe County in Hangzhou. He was very happy. He thought to himself, the Emperor Taizu entered the Renhe Gate, and I am now in Renhe County, which means that the Emperor Taizu is blessed by the gods. .He didn't even think about it, he had thrown the throne of Emperor Taizu to the Jin people, so could Taizu still bless his unworthy descendant?

After all, Hangzhou has the danger of the Yangtze River as a barrier, and the Jin army will not attack it soon, so Zhao Gou settled down in Hangzhou.After settling down, Zhao Gou dismissed Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan from their posts.On the one hand, it is because the reputation of these two people is already too bad, and using them again will cause public outrage.On the other hand, Zhao Gou also felt that these two people were wronging the country.Of course, the emperor didn't feel that Wang Boyan and Huang Qian were wronging the country because of their clever words and flattery. Zhao Gou didn't like ministers like Li Gang and Zong Ze who were arguing all day long to recover lost land and welcome back the second sage. He lied to him, saying that the world was fine all day long, as long as the court begged for peace, the people of the Kingdom of Jin would agree, which resulted in the embarrassment of him fleeing from Yangzhou in a hurry when the Jin army was approaching the city.After Wang and Huang were removed, Zhao Gou appointed Zhu Shengfei as prime minister, and Wang Yuan as privy envoy and commander of the imperial capital.

While Zhao Gou was fleeing all the way south, the army of the Kingdom of Jin also quickly moved south.The reason why the Jin army attacked so fast was because most of the officers and soldiers in the Song Dynasty surrendered without fighting.Wherever the Jin army went, the city gates were basically opened. The officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty either knelt on the ground begging for mercy with the letter of surrender, or they had already run away without knowing where they were going.At that time, the commander-in-chief of the Jin army was Wanyan Zonghan, and he sent his generals to lead five thousand Qingqi all the way south to continue chasing Zhao Gou.

At that time, there were also many loyal people who rose up to resist the Jin army.Among them, there is a particularly touching story. It is said that the Jin army captured a state city, the defender surrendered, and the general of the Jin State led more than a thousand Jin soldiers into the city.As soon as the Jin army entered the city, a guard named Tang Qi in the Song army suddenly took out a stone from his arms and threw it at the Jin army.However, Tang Qi didn't hit the golden man with this shot, so he was arrested by the golden soldiers.The generals of the Kingdom of Jin felt very strange, so they asked Tang Qi, "Your commander has surrendered. You are just a small guard. Why do you risk your life to do such a senseless resistance?"Tang Qi replied sternly, "Although I am just a small guard, I still know loyalty. I was born as a Song official and died as a Song ghost." General Jin listened to Tang Qi's words, and said to General Song who surrendered next to him, you are the coach of a city, but your integrity is not as good as your guards.After listening to this general Song, he felt ashamed.Tang Qi turned around and said to his commander, my monthly salary is only one stone of rice, and I know that I will serve the country with my death. After a hundred years, what will it look like to see the ancestors and ancestors under the Jiuquan?Tang Qi's words made General Song feel so ashamed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground and sneak in.The general of the Kingdom of Jin lamented that Tang Qi was a righteous man and asked him if he would surrender to the Kingdom of Jin.Tang Qi said that he would rather die than surrender.So, General Jin killed him, and Tang Qi died generously. Zhao Gou has his own set of theories. He said that things like defending the capital and the country should be done by the princes, not the emperor.Zhao Gou believes that in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes were small and foreign enemies invaded, and those princes had nowhere to run, so they could only defend the city.However, now that he is the son of heaven and has a vast country, he can go to other places to regroup and make a comeback, so he must not do that kind of stupid thing that sticks to the country.He also found an argument for himself, saying that Li Gang persuaded my father and brother to stick to Bianliang, Tokyo. As a result, during the Battle of Jingkang, my father and brother were arrested at the same time. If they escaped at that time, wouldn't it be all right?He didn't feel guilty when he said this. If Emperor Huiqin had escaped at that time, what would happen to him now?From this, Zhao Gou came to the conclusion that he must not do the stupid thing of resisting, but had to run away.With this set of escape theory, it is logical for Zhao Gou to escape.The army of the Kingdom of Jin went all the way south, and Emperor Gaozong ran all the way, from Hangzhou to Yuezhou, and from Yuezhou to Taizhou. Finally, Taizhou couldn't stay any longer, so he had to go out to sea by boat and float on the sea.Gaozong fled all the way, not only had chariots and horses for transportation, but also boats. The Jin army went south this time and came to Jiangnan, a prosperous and affluent place. It opened their eyes even more. They looted a lot of gold and silver treasures along the way, and their waists were full of heavy yellow and white things, so the speed of their march slowed down.In this way, Song Gaozong had time to keep fleeing south.Moreover, while Gaozong ran away desperately, he did not forget to write letters to the commander of the Jin Kingdom again and again, begging the Jin Army not to chase him any more. Emperor Gaozong's letter to the commander-in-chief of the Kingdom of Jin was written sincerely.First of all, the title of the letter reads "Wang Gou of Song Kang sent a letter to His Excellency Marshal Dajin Guoxiang".Wanyan Zonghan was both the left deputy marshal and the prime minister in the state of Jin, so here it is said "to the great marshal of the state of Jin".Zhao Gou knew that the people of the Kingdom of Jin did not want him to be the emperor, so he thought, well, I will say that I am King Kang.Then, Zhao Gou said in the letter: "In ancient times, those who had a country but were forced to perish were just defending and running... Today, there is no one with the rules, and there is no land if you run." That is, if you attack me, I only have two Choice, one is to defend, the other is to escape.Look how pitiful I am now. If I want to defend myself, no one can defend me. If I want to run away, I have nowhere to escape.Then he said, "So I only hope that Your Majesty will feel sorry for you", which means that my only hope lies in your mercy, you have pity on me, don't chase me any more. "Therefore, the former is willing to cut off the old name even in the book... It is a country of great gold between the heaven and the earth, and there is no second place in respect, so why bother to travel far away and be happy?" I wrote to you several times before, expressing I am willing to cut off my old name, not to be the emperor of the Song Dynasty, but to be canonized by the Emperor Dajin, and Song to be a vassal state of the Dajin. In this way, there is only you and the Dajin in the world, how wonderful it is. "Your Majesty the Marshal, with a magnificent and far-reaching picture, thinking of the lonely and dangerous country, returning to Shi Yanjia, and giving me the rest of the year." You show mercy, take pity on me, and let me live on. This is the letter Song Gaozong wrote to the enemy commander as the king of a country.Although Zhao Gou repeatedly expressed his condolences, the people of the Kingdom of Jin refused to give up and continued to go south.At this time, Zhao Gou had no choice.According to what he said, there was nowhere to escape, so he had to go out to sea by boat.The Jin army saw that Zhao Gou had fled to the sea, and originally planned to continue the pursuit, but the northern cavalry were not good at water warfare, and the Jin people had no choice but to sigh, and finally gave up the operation. Song Gaozong and his party fled to sea by boat.It is said that he wandered at sea for more than forty days.Later, the boat drifted to the Fujian area and docked at a small island, and Song Gaozong and his entourage went to the island.There is a temple on this small island, and behind the temple there is a stone wall with a poem inscribed by the ancients on it.Emperor Gaozong was very angry after reading this poem, thinking that the poem was mocking himself.At that time, he might be tasting tea, so he picked up the teacup and poured the tea on the stone wall vigorously.According to legend, because Zhao Gou was so angry, he made too much force, and the tea was poured into the stone.Think about how strong Emperor Gaozong was.To this day, we can see the imprint of the tea that Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty poured on this stone.Since Zhao Gou was so brave, why didn't he lead his troops to resist the invasion of Jin people?With his martial arts, he shouldn't be able to catch him without a fight. Zhao Gou's original wife is the Xing family, and it is said that Zhao Gou and the Xing family have a very good relationship.The young couple had been married for less than a year, and Zhao Gou was about to go to Jinying as an envoy.At the time of parting, Xing took off his earrings and gave them to Zhao Gou, saying that in the future, seeing this ring is like seeing a concubine.Zhao Gou kept this earring all the time, and kept it in a small gold box.Later, when he fled from Yangzhou, he even threw away the ancestral god tablet, and he didn't forget to run away with this small golden box, which shows that Zhao Gou is still very emotional.However, Zhao Gou did not go back to Jinying for the second time as an envoy, and went to other places to become emperor.The Xing family was captured in the Jingkang Incident and went north. Later, they were humiliated and died in the Kingdom of Jin.After Zhao Gou became the emperor, Yao respected the Xing family as the queen, and the middle palace has been hanging in vain The Empress Wu we are talking about was originally just a maid in the palace.After Zhao Gou learned of Xing's death, he made Wu his queen.Wu Shi is the queen of generals, and he is very courageous.During Zhao Gou's escape, Wu Shi kept wearing military uniforms, bows and arrows, and protected Zhao Gou.In fact, no matter how heroic Wu Shi is, she cannot compare with Zhao Gou in terms of martial arts.However, after the Jingkang Incident, Zhao Gou, who was originally well-versed in literature and martial arts, was courageous and knowledgeable, was frightened like a frightened bird, and would only run away when the alarm came, which cannot but make people sigh. Once, when they were driving a small boat to go to sea, the rebels rushed to the shore and wanted to snatch the boat.At that time, the Imperial Forest Army might have almost dispersed, and Zhao Gou had only a few servants around him, and they couldn't stop the rebels at all.Just when the rebels were about to rush onto the boat, Wu stepped forward and shot three rebels to death with his bow and arrows.She told the rebellious soldiers that the boat is the current day, and since you are here, your task is to escort the boat, and you are not allowed to steal the boat.In this way, the rebellious soldiers were shocked at once, thinking, even the women are so powerful, the emperor Zhao Gou must have expert protection by his side.Therefore, these rebels immediately knelt down, shouted long live, and said they were willing to protect the emperor. The reason why Zhao Gou ran away blindly and did not resist was caused by several reasons.The first reason is that he is most afraid of being touched by people, worrying that his ministers think that his throne has come from a wrong path.This explains why the officials of the main battle faction in the Southern Song Dynasty, such as Yue Fei, ended in tragedy, while the main peace faction was able to be reused by Emperor Gaozong.Those ministers of the peace faction figured out the key point, that is, the current emperor is Zhao Gou, and our allegiance is to him, not to the two emperors of Huiqin who are farming in the northern kingdom.However, the ministers of the main combat faction were only focused on calling for the recovery of the Central Plains and the return of the Second Sage all day long. They never got the pulse of Emperor Gaozong.Not to mention whether this slogan can be realized, even if it is just a slogan, in Song Gaozong Zhao Gou's view, these ministers of the main combat faction do not take him seriously, so he will never listen to the opinions of the main combat ministers. As we said earlier, Zhao Gou's mother was not favored, so his status in the palace was not high back then.Later, when the Jin army hit Bianliang, he was sent to the enemy camp by his brother Song Qinzong as the captain of the death squad.Although Zhao Gou took the initiative to invite Ying at that time, it was also to attract the attention of Huizong and Qinzong.Zhao Gou was blessed by misfortune and was not captured by the Jin army. He managed to get to the position of emperor and could give orders in person. He would never work his life for his father and brother again.Zhao Gou's mind at this time was that if the green hills remain, he is not afraid of running out of firewood. As long as I don't get caught by the Jin people, one day I will be able to turn my hand over. The second reason is that when the Jin army went south, most of the local generals in the Song Dynasty were waiting and watching. In this case, it was very difficult for Song Gaozong to resist.In fact, there were very few troops around Zhao Gou at that time, and most of the troops were in the hands of local generals.When the Jin army went south, many generals in these places in the Song Dynasty chose to surrender in Kaesong. Even if there were some who fought against the Jin army, it was not to protect the country for Emperor Gaozong. There is a saying in "Sun Tzu's Art of War", which is called "avoid the sharp edge, strike the lazy", that is to say, in war, you must avoid the enemy's sharp edge. When the enemy retreats, the soldiers will be very slack, and then attack.These local generals in the Song Dynasty practiced this theory well.We know that the Jin army went south this time and looted a lot of gold and silver treasures. With so many things on them, their combat effectiveness will inevitably be affected.Therefore, some Song Dynasty troops took advantage of the time when the Jin people returned to their divisions and sent troops to sneak attack. In this way, they could not only wipe out the enemy and make meritorious deeds, but more importantly, they could obtain a large amount of treasure from the Jin people. However, after all, there were only a few who dared to fight the Jin army, and more Song Dynasty generals chose to surrender.When the Jin soldiers approached the city, I opened the city and surrendered. As soon as the Jin people withdrew, I immediately turned back.According to military law, this kind of surrender should be executed immediately, but the law does not punish the public. Faced with such a common situation, Emperor Gaozong couldn't pursue it at all.On the other hand, Zhao Gou was also afraid that all the local troops would be turned against him, and his own situation would be even more dangerous.In Zhao Gou's eyes, these soldiers will not only be incapable of escorting, but may threaten his life at any time.Therefore, Zhao Gou had no choice but to pretend not to know about the surrender of generals, and dare not delve into it.Faced with such a group of generals who made him worry, Zhao Gou would not lead them to fight against the Jin army, so he could only choose to run away. The third reason is that Zhao Gou could never forget the scene of Wang Yun being beaten to death by the people. He felt that the power of the people was terrible and would pose a huge threat to his throne.Therefore, Zhao Gou dared not mobilize the people to fight against the Jin army.Due to the above reasons, Zhao Gou had no sense of security at all at that time, and the only choice he had was to keep running away.