In 976, Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, died, and was succeeded by the young Xiaozhang Song.
Then, Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne as Song Taizong.
This historical event was named "The Sound of the Candle Shadow Axe" and became an eternal mystery.
According to records, on the night before Song Taizu's death, he drank with his younger brother.
People could only see the faint shadows of the two men in the candlelight, and hear the sound of axes killing.
However, the truth remains a mystery to this day.
According to the "Chronicle of the Song Dynasty": "In the winter moon and October, the emperor was sick.
At midnight, the snow was falling, and the emperor summoned King Guangyi of Jin and instructed him to handle the government well.
I didn't know about it, and I saw that King Jin kept leaving his seat, and he seemed to retreat a little.
Suddenly, Taizu shouted loudly, "Take care of it!."Then Taizu died, and it was the middle of the night.
Sima Guang tried to defend Song Taizong in "The Chronicle of Lianshui".
According to the "Records of Lianshui", it was already four o'clock in the morning when Song Taizu died, and the filial piety of Song sent Wang Jilong (mistakenly known as Wang Jien) to summon Zhao Defang, the king of Qin, into the palace, but Jilong realized that Taizu wanted to pass the throne to the king of Jin, so he did not summon Zhao Defang, but went directly to summon Zhao Guangyi.
Zhao Guangyi was very surprised and hesitated, and it was not until the messenger urged him to walk into the palace in the heavy snow.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Taizong was not in the dormitory, so it was impossible to "kill his brother".
Bi Yuan also supported this statement in the "Renewal of Capital and Governance Tongjian".
In any case, Song Taizu died, and Zhao Guangyi succeeded him as emperor.
However, Taizong's treatment of Empress Song, an orphan and widow, was very despicable.
Empress Song had a noble status, so Zhao Guangyi had no choice but to treat her coldly, which doomed Empress Song to be lonely and sad for the rest of her life.
Empress Song's family background is extraordinary.
She is the eldest daughter of Song Wei, the envoy of the Zhongwu Army, her father is the general of the left guard, and her mother is Princess Yongning, the daughter of Liu Zhiyuan, the Taizu of the Later Han Dynasty.
And Song Wei's background is also very prominent, he is the grandson of Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, and his mother is Princess Yining of the Later Tang Dynasty.
The History of the Song Dynasty and the Biography of Song Wei called him "noble and prosperous in modern times, rare and matched".
Due to her superior background, Empress Song entered the court from an early age and was well-informed.
In February 968, at the age of 17, Song became the empress after the vacancy in the Middle Palace.
Although she did not rely on her status as a former empress, her family background had given her considerable influence.
However, as time went on, her later life became bleak.
Just eight years after the Song Emperor's ** Palace, in October 976, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly, and Emperor Zhao Guangyi succeeded him, that is, Taizong.
According to Sima Guang's records, it was late at night when Taizu died, and the Empress of Song asked Wang Jilong, the inner servant, to summon King Defang of Qin.
However, Jilong already knew that Taizu intended to pass on the throne to the King of Jin, so he did not summon Defang, but went straight to Kaifeng Mansion to summon the King of Jin.
On the way, he met the medical officer, Jia Dexuan, and then told him about the situation.
They went in together to see King Jin, but King Jin was very surprised and hesitated, saying that he needed to discuss it with his family.
So, they went in for a long time and didn't come out.
Jilong urged him: "After a long time, others will preempt it."
So they walked to the gate of the palace together and shouted Zhao Guangyi to enter.
Jilong asked the king to wait in Zhilu, and he himself went in to discuss.
Despite the flaws in the account of this event, in any case, the young Empress Song did not compete with Zhao Guangyi for the throne.
However, this does not alleviate Zhao Guangyi's ** against the Song Dynasty, because when Zhao Guangyi conducts **, sometimes there is no need for a reason.
After Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, he gave Empress Song the title of "Empress Kaibao" and ordered her to move to the West Palace the following year.
Ten years later, in the fourth year of Yongxi in 987, he ordered her to move to the East Palace.
Finally, in April of the first year of Zhidao, Empress Song died at the age of 44.
She was posthumously named "Empress Xiaozhang".
Song Taizong's attitude towards the late Empress Song was shocking.
He completely ignored her status as the empress of the previous dynasty, not only did he not hold a funeral for her, but also forbade his ministers to mourn her.
Even a private remark may cause trouble, and Wang Yuyan, a scholar of Hanlin at that time, was accused of "slander" because he said that "he once enjoyed the mother's rites of the world and should follow the old etiquette", and was finally demoted to Chuzhou.
Empress Song's body was even transferred to the mansion of the eldest princess of the Yan Kingdom (sister of Song Taizu) and temporarily placed in the Puji Buddhist House.
Not only did she fail to be buried with Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, but she also failed to enter the temple.
It was not until the first month of the third year of Dao (997), more than two years after the death of Empress Song, that she was buried on the north side of the Yongchang Mausoleum of Taizu.
It was not until the period of Song Shenzong, the great-grandson of Song Taizong, that the god of the Song Empress was able to enter the Taimiao, however, more than 70 years had passed at this time.
Zhao's example also shows the way Zhao Guangyi treats his relatives.
Soon after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, he destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, but the subsequent war against Liao was defeated.
After returning to the dynasty, "Zhao Dezhao did not receive a reward from Taiyuan for a long time."
Zhao Dezhao thinks this is unfair."
Zhao Guangyi said sharply: "You go and fight for it yourself, the reward is still too late!."After Zhao Dezhao returned home, in order to express his determination, or out of shame, he chose to kill himself.
When Taizong learned that he regretted it, he hugged his corpse and wept bitterly, posthumously presented it as the Zhongshu Order, posthumously named the King of Wei, gave him the nickname, and changed his title to King Wu, and then changed his title to King Yue.
treats his younger brother Tingmei, Zhao Guangyi is also ruthless.
Due to a mutiny, Tingmei was demoted to "Xijing Stay", and his status dropped significantly.
Then, Zhao Guangyi accused Tingmei and the prime minister of "privately sending people" to plot against him, which led to his house arrest and finally died at the age of 38 due to "palpitations".
In the evaluation of Taizong in the "History of the Song Dynasty: Taizong Benji", several aspects of Taizong that were unsatisfactory were also listed, including "Taizu changed his yuan less than a year after his death", "Fuling County Duke was demoted to death", "King Wugong committed suicide", and "Song Hou did not get a proper funeral".
Zhao Guangyi's ruthlessness and ** treatment of his relatives left a clear historical fact.
Later historians have always had different opinions on this Emperor Taizong's evaluation.
He ended the era of secession by a means of combining force and culture, and basically unified the whole country.
During his reign, he promoted culture, selected talents, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese culture.
However, in order to consolidate his position, he adopted the means of quick success and quick profit, which repeatedly aroused criticism from later generations.
The series of unknown deaths of Taizu led to the belief that the once considered wise Emperor Taizong was in fact an ambitious conspirator.
Historians such as Li Zhen condemned Taizong's ruthless behavior based on the "Records of Lianshui" and other sources, and believed that Taizong was related to the "candle shadow axe" incident in the last years of the Song Dynasty.