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Yingzong is filial by nature, good at reading, not blasphemous for Yan Huan, and serves the frugal like a Confucian, and must be polite when moving. - History of the Song Dynasty
In China's feudal dynasties, starting from the Xia Dynasty, it has become the political ecology of the world, and the supreme ruling power has always been the succession of father to son, brother to brother. Sometimes there are special cases where the emperor has no heirs, but he passes one from another master. The child is his own son, and the throne is passed to this child. In the Song Dynasty, there was such a situation, Song Renzong was good at benevolence all his life, but his son did not live long, and in the end, there was no way to inherit one of his brother's sons under his own name, and this lucky child eventually became the successor of Song Renzong - Song Yingzong.
Being born in the emperor's family is Zhao Zongshi's luck, but also his unluck. Originally, Zhao Zongshi was just an idle prince, and he should live a life without fighting with the world. But sometimes we just can't decide our own destiny, and sometimes we are pushed forward by fate.
Song Renzong, the most benevolent emperor of the Song Dynasty, has been troubled by children's affairs all his life. Song Renzong has not left any heirs of his own, so he has no choice but to choose one from the clan as his stepson according to the previous method. There is a certain number in the dark, and Zhao Zongshi was brought back to the palace to raise him by Emperor Renzong because of his young age. But when he was four years old, Emperor Renzong finally had a child of his own, and Zhao Zongshi was sent back to his Puwang Mansion.
Zhao Zongshi, who had just taken a breath, thought that he could stay away from the troubled court struggle, but the creation made people, and Emperor Renzong's child died prematurely, and Zhao Zongshi was ordered to enter the palace again. This time when he entered the palace, Zhao Zongshi never came back, until Emperor Renzong died, and Zhao Zongshi, who was later named by the emperor, became the next emperor, that is, Song Yingzong.
Song Renzong died, and Zhao Shu, who became emperor, was not as happy as others imagined. Because at this time, Song Yingzong Zhao Shu did not have the real power of the emperor, and there was a woman behind him who was there to listen to the government, she was his adoptive mother, the Empress Dowager Cao, the empress of Emperor Renzong.
For Song Yingzong and Zhao Shu, the pressure on him is very high. Because he himself knows very well that this throne of his is for nothing. He is not the biological son of Emperor Renzong, he is already a stepson, which means that Song Rensong can choose someone else as his stepson. The battle for the throne is either you die or I live, and the young Zhao Shu has to let himself be careful every day, because if he doesn't do anything well, it will become a reason for others to attack. Now he is the emperor, but there is a Empress Dowager Cao pressing on his head above his head.
Song Yingzong faced Empress Dowager Cao, on the one hand, he was afraid that she would threaten his position, and on the other hand, he did not want to share the power in his hands with others. But after all, she is the widow of Emperor Renzong, her own titular mother, how can she express her dissatisfaction and anger?Then pretend to be crazy, who would blame a madman?
Empress Dowager Cao was very dissatisfied with Emperor Yingzong's rebellious behavior, and even wanted to learn from Huo Guang to set up another emperor, anyway, this was not her own. For Empress Dowager Cao, in fact, it doesn't matter who becomes the emperor, as long as he listens to himself. Of course, this idea of the Empress Dowager Cao was unanimously opposed by the ministers of the DPRK and China, and they just had one idea, so don't make a mess of the two of you. So the ministers divided into two ways, one way to persuade the Empress Dowager Cao, and the other way to persuade Emperor Yingzong. After Sima Guang, Ouyang Xiu, Han Qi and other famous ministers of the Song Dynasty took turns to do ideological work, it was finally Empress Dowager Cao who made concessions. Empress Dowager Cao, who had been in power for many years, finally returned to Song Yingzong.
Although Song Yingzong Zhao Shu passed on to Song Renzong as a son, he has never forgotten his biological father. In Chinese history, this kind of stepson emperor has a very embarrassing problem that is how to treat his biological father and what kind of title to give them. In ancient China, this was a big deal. This matter is about the etiquette and face of the imperial court. Song Yingzong also understood the importance of this matter, so he waited until he had real power to do it - he wanted to call his biological father King Pu the imperial examination.
As soon as this remark came out, the imperial court was immediately divided into two factions, one side supported Song Yingzong's idea and thought that it should be called the imperial examination;The other party thinks that Song Yingzong's move is inappropriate, and he can only call King Pu the emperor. The controversy over the name lasted for eighteen months, and in the end it was Song Yingzong who emerged victorious. This also shows that after Song Yingzong was in power, he was able to control the decision-making power of the imperial court, and he was an emperor in the real sense.
Although Song Yingzong was a short-lived emperor for only five years, he continued to appoint reformist ministers during his reign, intending to change the situation of poverty and weakness in the Great Song Dynasty. And Song Yingzong is open-minded, although Sima Guang is now his opposite in the "Pu Yi" incident, and he is a conservative who does not support reform, but Yingzong still supports Sima Guang to complete the famous history book "Zizhi Tongjian", the merit is in the present generation, and the benefit is in the future!