Zhao Heng was not the eldest son, nor was his mother the queen, so he was not qualified to inherit the throne.However, when the eldest brother Zhao Yuanzuo went crazy and the second brother Zhao Yuanxi died violently, the situation changed, because a madman can't be an emperor, and a dead person can't be an emperor. He is the oldest among the remaining princes. Emperor Taizong lived in Chunhua for five years (994) established his crown prince status, so it was his turn to be the emperor. In March of the third year of Zhidao (997), Zhao Heng officially ascended the throne and became the third emperor of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Before Zhao Heng ascended the throne, there was such a small episode that the eunuch Wang Jien contacted Li Changling and Hu Dan to conspire to push Zhao Yuanzuo, a lunatic who cut off the throne, to the throne.Fortunately, Prime Minister Lu Duan was wise and decisive, and smashed their plot, so that the palace coup was nipped in the bud before it was launched.Crown Prince Zhao Heng sat on the supreme dragon chair in the Golden Luan Hall without any risk. Zhao Heng's succession to the throne is a continuation of the authentic dragon vein, and his identity is legal. After Zhao Heng became emperor, he ordered the Yuan to be changed to Xianping, and the next year was the first year of Xianping (998). Zhao Jiong, the emperor of Daxing, was buried in Yongxi Mausoleum, and the temple was named Taizong.

Zhao Hengzhai was kind-hearted, not only didn't embarrass his brother, the lunatic Zhao Yuanzuo who almost robbed him of the emperor's throne, but he also restored his status as the King of Chu, granted him the same title, and enjoyed the treatment of a prime minister.In fact, having said that, this mentally ill person actually has no idea that someone is planning to make him emperor behind the scenes. Subsequently, Zhao Hengjin named his younger brother Zhao Yuanfen, King of Yue, King Yong, King Zhao Yuanjie, King of Wu, King of Yan, Duke Xu Guo, Zhao Yuanji, King of Pengcheng, Duke Jing, Zhao Yuancheng, King of Anding, younger brother Zhao Yuanyan, Duke Cao, and nephew Zhao Weiji, military governor of Wuxin. Make.

Not only did Zhao Heng not embarrass Zhao Yuanzuo who was alive, but even Zhao Tingmei, Zhao Dezhao, and Zhao Defang who were persecuted to death by his father restored their reputations for them. For Taibao. Lu Duan smashed the palace coup of Wang Jien and others, and was the greatest hero of the new dynasty. Zhao Heng worshiped Lu Duan as prime minister, and named his two teachers, Li Zhi and Li Hang, as political advisers, that is, deputy prime ministers. Those who should be sealed will be sealed, and those who should be rewarded will be rewarded. The next step is to clean up those people who conspired to stage a palace coup.Li Changling was demoted to Sima of the Zhongwu Army; Hu Dan was demoted to a civilian and exiled to Xunzhou, where he would never be hired;In fact, these treatments are not serious. In the hands of any emperor, a palace coup is a crime of beheading.

The Guo family was registered as the queen. The Guo family is the second daughter of Guo Shouwen, the envoy of Xuanhui South Court.Zhao Heng's first wife, Mrs. Pan, was the daughter of Pan Mei. She died of illness in the first year of Duangong, and she was named queen afterward. In April, the empress dowager Li was honored as the empress dowager, and the birth mother Li was named the virtuous concubine, with the honorary title of empress dowager Yuande. Not long after Taizu Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, he once complained to several generals that it was not easy to be emperor, but that was a foreshadowing for the recovery of military power, not the truth.Zhao Heng is really a bit difficult to be the emperor, because his previous two emperors contributed too much: Emperor Taizu created the Zhao Song Dynasty, and destroyed Jingnan, Hunan, Southern Tang, Houshu and other separatist forces. Unified southern China; although Emperor Taizong suffered defeat in the two Northern Expeditions, he also had the achievements of subduing Wuyue and Zhangquan and destroying the Northern Han Dynasty.Zhao Heng was not the same, he became emperor by relying on Yu Yin from his ancestors, therefore, he could only gain the prestige he wanted by governing the country conscientiously.

After Zhao Heng came to the throne, he didn't seem to want to be a mediocre emperor, watching the court every day in the main hall and reviewing official documents in the back hall.In order to strengthen management, he re-divided the administrative regions of the country into fifteen roads.Road is equivalent to Tao in Tang Dynasty and province in later generations.The main institutions of Lu are the four supervisors of Shuai, Cao, Xian and Cang. Shuai, also known as appeasement envoy, is a senior military and political officer of the route, who is in charge of the military and political affairs of the route; Cao is a transshipment envoy, mainly managing the finance of the route; Xian is in charge of justice; Cang is in charge of famine relief.The chief officials of the four systems have different functions and powers and check each other. This is a major feature of the official system in the Song Dynasty.

After Zhao Heng set up the road as an administrative area, he asked the various transfer envoys to go to Beijing to report on their duties in turn.This is a very tiring task, because when these people come to Beijing to report their work, they not only have to listen to their work reports, but also make corresponding decisions based on the specific conditions of each place.It can be seen from this that Zhao Heng was very diligent when he came to the throne. Zhao Heng is not only diligent in political affairs, but also requires local officials to do the same. During a court meeting, he told several prime ministers that all states in the world are vying to present rare birds and animals to the court. Auspicious things are superficial and useless. As long as the local officials are diligent and diligent, so that the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the grain is plentiful, they will be virtuous officials. This is the greatest auspiciousness.Not long after that, he specially issued an edict that no more rare birds and beasts could be offered, and no more auspicious reports such as one grain growing two ears, and ganoderma growing bigger than a millstone.

In order to better govern the world, he also advocated openness to the public, edicts to civil and military officials, all can speak out against the emperor's faults, the shortcomings of the government, the improper handling of the military, and the sufferings of the people. Wrong, and the speaker is not guilty. The policy was promulgated, and the enthusiasm of civil and military officials was also mobilized, and they went to the public school one after another to put forward some good suggestions.For example, Wang Yucheng, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and Sun He, the right secretary, wrote the book successively, and put forward a series of good suggestions such as repairing neighboring countries, reducing redundant troops, rectifying official administration, restoring imperial examinations, persuading farming, and harnessing the Yellow River.

Zhao Hengzheng wanted to put all his energy into working hard, adopted the suggestions of Wang Yucheng, Sun He and others, and even gave them certain rewards.Because of this, all civil and military officials expressed their views on the political affairs at that time, and they were outspoken. After the Yuan Dynasty was changed, Prime Minister Lu Duan was old and sick, and Li Zhi also asked to leave his post because of his vision loss and inability to see things. Zhao Heng approved them to retire and go home to take care of themselves. Subsequently, Zhang Qixian and Li Hang were appointed as Tongping Zhangshi, and Xiang Minzhong was appointed as a political adviser.

Not long after, Cao Bin, the privy envoy and servant of Lu Gong, also died of illness. When Cao Bin was seriously ill, Zhao Heng visited his residence and asked about Zhao Song and Khitan. Cao Bin warned: "Emperor Taizu decided to rule the world, but he still made peace with Khitan. Please be kind to your majesty, and don't use troops lightly." Zhao Heng nodded in agreement, and then asked: "Who will be the general from now on, and take on the important task of guarding the country's borders?" Cao Bin glanced at Zhao Heng and said, "Cao Can and Cao Wei are fine."

"Aren't Cao Can and Cao Wei your sons?" Zhao Heng asked in surprise. "Your Majesty is asking who is the general, not who is my son." Cao Bin said pantingly, "Cao Wei is stronger than Cao Can. He will be a general if there is a war in the frontier court." Zhao Heng glanced at Cao Bin, saw that he was struggling to speak, so he said a few words of comfort, and got up to leave. Cao Bin was a veteran of the three dynasties. He made great achievements in pacifying Xishu during Taizu's period and fighting against Liao Dynasty during Taizong's period. After his death, Zhao Heng felt sorry for him and bestowed on him the title of Zhongshu Ling, posthumous title of King Jiyang, and posthumous posthumous posthumous title of Wuhui. In the second year of Xianping (999), the retired prime minister Lu Duan also died of illness. Since the failure of Taizong Yongxi's Northern Expedition, the vast and beautiful north is no longer a temptation full of dreamy dreams of opening up territories for the kings and ministers of Zhao and Song Dynasties, but a nightmare that cannot be shaken off. Relying on the fast maneuverability of their cavalry, the Khitans, their neighbors in the north, often invaded the Zhao-Song border, looted and then left.The Song army, which is mainly infantry, can't keep up with four legs. What's more, after "guarding the inside and the outside", the imperial court implemented a policy of appeasement towards the Khitan people, trying to avoid frontal conflicts. The enemy came to rob and drive away. Just forget it, and the Song army is strictly prohibited from chasing and attacking the enemy. The northern border of the Great Song Dynasty has been bleeding. In the early days of Zhao Heng's administration, the Khitan people from the north continued to come to make trouble. Their iron cavalry not only crossed the borders of Song and Liao, but also went deep into more than ten states in Hebei and Shandong, plundering people, animals and property, massacring innocent people, damaging houses and crops, and causing great harm to the local people. The people brought great disaster. In October of the second year of Xianping (999), Yelu Longxu, the leader of Khitan, led his troops to invade the Song Dynasty in the south. Fu Qian was deployed on Song Tingzhen, Ding, and Gaoyang Pass, with more than 80,000 elite soldiers. He just didn't dare to fight, and became a turtle. Facing the arrogance of the Liao army, Fu Qian's soldiers were furious. They made heavy weapons such as iron rods and hammers with great lethality, and waited for the commander's order to charge at any time. When there was no news, some soldiers couldn't help it, so they went to Fu Qian to ask for a fight, but they were scolded by General Fu. The first batch of scolding retreated, and the second batch continued to come, still asking for a fight. Fu Qian was driven into a hurry, and simply scolded the soldiers who asked for a fight as fools, completely ignorant of his good intentions.He said that not going to fight was not for himself, but for the safety of the soldiers, and threatened that anyone who asked for a fight again would be pushed out and killed. The arms couldn't hold the thighs, and the soldiers dared not speak out, so they had to come out angrily. The main general did not fight, so everyone came to the deputy general Fan Tingzhao and asked him to persuade Fu Qian to fight. Fan Tingzhao's age is nearly ancient. Counting from Zhou Shizong, he can be regarded as the elder of the four dynasties. In the Later Zhou Dynasty, he participated in the Battle of Gaoping with Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. There were dozens of battles, including the Battle of the Mountains, the Battle of Ping Er Li, and the conquest of Li Jiqian. They have been on the battlefield for a long time, and they have repeatedly made outstanding achievements.People who lead troops to fight are very hot-tempered, Fan Tingzhao came to the tent of the Chinese army, first he patiently said to Fu Qian: "The enemy is in front of us, the general is sitting firmly in the tent of the Chinese army, he must have a clever strategy to retreat from the enemy, right? " "Defending instead of fighting, that's my strategy!" Fu Qian replied coldly. "I'm afraid this is not a good strategy." Fan Tingzhao said, "Our army has 80,000 to 90,000 people. Moreover, the soldiers are eager to fight and their morale is high enough to fight against the Khitan soldiers. If we send troops to guard the dangerous points and start a decisive battle with the enemy, we will definitely be defeated. Khitan people." Fu Qian just shook his head and didn't speak. When Fan Ting summoned Fu Qian with such an attitude, he became angry and said angrily, "As a general, you are as timid as a mouse, you are greedy for life and afraid of death, and you dare not go to war with heavy soldiers in your hands. You are not even as good as an old woman!" "The enemy is so powerful, sending troops to fight, isn't it courting death?" The ferocity of the enemy soldiers has also become a reason for Fu Qian not to resist. Fan Tingzhao said angrily: "How can the imperial court use people like you as generals!" Fu Qian still didn't change his face. A dead pig is not afraid of boiling water. You can scold him as you like, and he just doesn't send troops. At this moment, General Zhang Zhaoyun came in with a document in his hand and handed it to Fu Qian, saying: "General Fu, the imperial court has sent a post to urge our army to go to war." Although Fu Qian was unwilling, but the imperial court's order came, and if he didn't fight again, he would be resisting and not obeying the order.He glanced at Fan Tingzhao, and said coldly, "Since General Fan is asking for a fight, I'll send you eight thousand cavalry, two thousand infantry, and a total of ten thousand. You can go to the battlefield and make contributions!" Fan Ting summoned Fu Qian to only give 10,000 soldiers and horses, and said angrily: "There are more than 100,000 Khitan soldiers, and 10,000 soldiers and horses are not enough even if one counts as ten. How do we fight this battle?" "How much do you want?" Fu Qian asked back. "Another thirty to fifty thousand." Fu Qian said with a fake smile: "The general is more strategic than brave, and the soldiers are more skilled than many. You are the vanguard, and I will be the follower. What are you afraid of?" Fan Tingzhao asked in disbelief, "Are you really a backup?" Fu Qian said impatiently: "As long as you know that you are loyal to the emperor, I don't want to serve the country? Just lead the troops there, and I will send troops to support you later." After Fan Tingzhao withdrew, he felt that Fu Qian's words might not be credible, and worried that his army would fall into the enemy alone, so he wrote a letter and sent people to Bing and Daizhou, the closest to Gaoyang, to deploy Kang Baoyi and ask him to send troops for reinforcements. Kang Baoyi is a native of Luoyang. He was born as a general. His grandfather and father both died in battle. He inherited Shiyin as a leading general. In the Taizu Dynasty, he participated in the Battle of Shiling Pass. Du Yuhou, led the observation envoy of Liangzhou.After Zhao Heng came to the throne, he was transferred to Bing and Daizhou.Bing and Daizhou were the closest to Gaoyang, so Fan Tingzhao asked him to send troops to support him. Kang Baoyi is good at managing soldiers and is very bloody. He loves soldiers like a son at ordinary times, and is deeply supported by soldiers.He received Fan Tingzhao's request for help, and immediately led tens of thousands of people to come for reinforcements. Khitan soldiers have breached Langshan stronghold and cut off the road leading to Zhen and Ding.Kang Baoyi decided to go around behind the Khitan army and launch an attack. He led his troops straight to Yingzhou, and at the same time sent a letter to Fan Tingzhao, asking him to send troops to flank the Khitan soldiers. After Kang Baoyi arrived in Yingzhou, Fan Tingzhao's soldiers and horses did not arrive, but the Khitan soldiers came first.It was getting late at this time, Kang Baoyi ordered the troops to choose a place to set up camp, and prepare to fight again the next day. At dawn the next day, Kang Baoyi went out of the camp to observe the formation, and suddenly saw that the camp was surrounded by enemy soldiers. In one night, the Khitan soldiers surrounded the Song camp on the third floor and the outer three floors, and the Song army was surrounded by the Khitan soldiers. among.The enemy is outnumbered, and someone suggested that Kang Baoyi lead his own soldiers to break out of the encirclement. Kang Baoyi said excitedly: "Since I led the army, I have experienced hundreds of battles. Who of you has seen me retreat? The ancients said: 'When you are in trouble, you will never escape'. Today is surrounded by heavy siege. It is the day to die for the country. How can you leave the soldiers and escape by yourself?" Seeing the general's impassioned spirit, all the soldiers were greatly encouraged. They all raised their arms and shouted, willing to follow the general to fight the Khitan people to the death, and let them know that the Song army is not afraid of death. "Raise soldiers for a thousand days, use them for a while, and it's time to serve the country." Kang Baoyi swung his knife and shouted, "Brothers, follow me to kill the enemy if you are not afraid of death." Kang Baoyi took the lead, rushed out of the camp, and rushed into the enemy's formation. Seeing that the commander took the lead, all the soldiers rushed to the front, let out a roar, and rushed to the enemy's formation together. With the determination to die, the Song army rushed into the enemy's formation and rushed left and right. Although they broke out of the first encirclement with a lot of courage, they were trapped by the Khitan soldiers in the second encirclement and fought from sunrise to sun. Going down to the west, the soldiers and horses were exhausted. Although they killed thousands of enemies, the Song army also suffered more than a thousand losses. Seeing that they could not break out of the encirclement, they had to retreat to the camp.After fighting for a day, the Khitan soldiers also felt tired, so both sides called for money to withdraw their troops. After one night, the two armies fought again. The Song army rushed desperately, trying to break out of the encirclement, and the Khitan soldiers tightened the encirclement, trying to wipe out the Song army.The two armies fought desperately, killing until the sky was dark and the sun and the moon were dark.There were one hundred thousand Khitan soldiers, two of them were killed in front, and another pair was added at the back. The number of people who fought against the Song army was not small, and the Song army was less than 10,000. From sunrise to sunset on the western mountain, all the generals and soldiers were exhausted, but they were looking for rescue, but they were nowhere to be seen. Kang Baoyi took the lead and took the lead bravely, rushing left and right, but he was outnumbered, shot several times in the body, and became a bloody man.Most of the hundreds of soldiers who followed were also injured, unable to fight any more.Kang Baoyi looked at the remnants of the soldiers around him, and said to everyone with tears, "Come on, go on, go on! I am doomed, you all run for your lives at once!" Kill the place with the most soldiers. Although there are dozens of enemy soldiers, but there are many enemy soldiers. Poor Zhao Song, a general, died in the chaos. Kang Baoyi died in battle, and the troops he led were wiped out. Besides, Fan Tingzhao learned that Kang Baoyi had led his troops to Yingzhou, and asked himself to go to Yingzhou to attack the Khitan soldiers, so he led 10,000 Song troops to rush there. In the life-and-death struggle, Fan Tingzhao took the lead, and all the Song soldiers fought bravely, fighting for the first place.Although there were many Khitan soldiers, they had never encountered such a desperate way of fighting, and they were already timid before fighting. Fan Tingzhao seized this fleeting opportunity, killed the enemy soldiers in one fell swoop, cleaned the battlefield, and killed the enemy Twenty thousand, but also self-inflicted two thousand. After repelling the Khitan soldiers, Fan Tingzhao immediately ordered his generals Zhang Ning and Li Chonggui to lead 2,000 elite soldiers to Yingzhou to support the Kangbao descendants. Seeing that it was about to approach Yingzhou, suddenly the former army reported back, Kang Baoyi died in battle, and the 10,000 Song army led by him was wiped out. When Fan Tingzhao heard the news, he didn't dare to go further, so he had to choose a favorable terrain in the southwest of Yingzhou to set up a camp and station temporarily. This is the official history record, and there are unofficial records that Fan Tingzhao fled in front of the battle, leaving Kangbaoyi to fight alone, leading to the tragedy of the entire Kangbaoyi army being wiped out. The Khitan soldiers fought against the Song army led by Fan Tingzhao several times, but they were stubbornly resisted by the Song army. Seeing that they could not gain advantage, they turned to attack Suicheng. The Khitan people thought that Suicheng was a small city, and attacking Suicheng was like searching for something. Going to Suicheng was to carry food and embrace women.After arriving in Suicheng, they realized that they were wrong, because they met their deadly enemy, to be precise, Yang Yanzhao, son of Zhao Song general Yang Ye. Yang Yanzhao had just been promoted to the patrol envoy of the Marginal Capital of Baozhou, and the office was in Suicheng. Suicheng is indeed a small city, with limited resources and poor defense. The soldiers and civilians in the city were panicked when they saw the Khitan soldiers coming in a huge and menacing manner. Seeing that people's hearts were not stable, Yang Yanzhao immediately called together the young and middle-aged men in the city, and said to everyone: "You are from Suicheng, and your wealth and life depend on this city for your protection. If the Khitan people break through the city, they will kill you all." Men, rape your wives, daughters and sisters, do you want to see such a tragedy happen?" Yang Yanzhao knew that in the face of a great enemy, the most important thing was to seize people's hearts and muster courage. He told the results of the Khitan soldiers breaking through the city in order to arouse the fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in Suicheng. After hearing Yang Yanzhao's speech, the people present were full of enthusiasm, and they all expressed that they would take up arms and swear to defend their homeland, Suicheng, and the land of Song Dynasty. Yang Yanzhao saw that the morale and enthusiasm of the people had risen, so he mixed the generals and the people, distributed weapons and armor, and defended the city in sections. He himself patrolled the city walls day and night without daring to slack off. At the beginning, the Khitan soldiers didn't pay much attention to Suicheng. When they got close to the city, they were violently counterattacked by the soldiers and civilians who defended the city. It was the coldest winter at that time, and it happened that the north wind was raging again, making the weather even colder. On a whim, Yang Yanzhao ordered the soldiers and civilians in the city to move out the fish intestines and swallow horns from the warehouse, insert them all over the battlements of the city wall, and then pour cold water into them. At the mouth of the city wall, after dawn, the water froze, and the city wall turned into an ice wall, which was both strong and slippery. The next day, when the Khitan army came to the city, they were dumbfounded. The battlements were still broken yesterday, but now they were cast like silver, and the city walls seemed to be covered with a layer of ice armor. I can't climb it, and there's nothing I can do.The Khitan iron cavalry, who were invincible in the field, were helpless under the ice wall. The Khitan commander Yelu Longji sighed, "God help the generals of the Yang family!" and ordered the troops to withdraw from Suicheng. Yang Yanzhao saw that the enemy soldiers were retreating, so he led his troops to fight out and seized countless food, grass and equipment. The people at that time praised Suicheng guarded by Yang Yanzhao as "Iron Suicheng".