The cause of Zhao Kuangyin's death is suspicious, and Sima Guang reveals the truth
One night in 976 AD, a grand banquet was being held in the palace of the Song Dynasty. Suddenly, the palace ladies waiting outside the door were surprised to find that under the candlelight, the distance between the two important people drinking was getting closer and closer, and the shadows of the two overlapped on the window screen.
In the fog of history, the cause of Zhao Kuangyin's death is still a mystery for the ages. It is said that on the night of his death, a shadow pulled out an axe, and the little palace maid seemed to hear the sound of the axe.
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Guangyi, the king of Jin, came out. His succession to the throne has caused widespread controversy, and people have speculated whether Zhao Guangyi is the ** who killed Zhao Kuangyin.
Zhao Kuangyin ascended to the throne during the Chenqiao Mutiny, and at that time, the yellow robe was draped over his body. However, the stage of history is always full of uncertainties and unknowns. After the Huangchao uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the speculator Zhu Wen took the Huangchao as the banner, abolished the emperor and established the Houliang.
The prelude to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms thus began. In this chaotic era, the Turkish warlords fought each other, and the imperial power changed frequently. Later Jin, Later Tang, Later Han, Later Zhou and other dynasties successively appeared on the stage of history during this period.
In the troubled times, Zhao Kuangyin's father, Zhao Hongyin, led him to fight left and right, making them become dignitaries of the dynasty when Guo Wei became emperor in the Later Zhou Dynasty. After Guo Wei's death, his nephew Chai Rong took over the throne.
Chai Rong had great ambitions, taking Tang Taizong as an example, and fought in the south and the north, laying the foundation for the unification of the Central Plains. Under Chai Rong's leadership, Zhao Kuangyin performed well and won Chai Rong's trust.
Later, under the planning of his staff Zhao Pu, Zhao Kuangyin grasped the real power. Despite Chai Rong's ambitions, he died too early and reigned for only six years, leaving a young son to inherit the throne.
On the day when Zhao Kuangyin was ordered to go north to quell the chaos, when he arrived at Chenqiaoyi, a group of sturdy men suddenly draped a yellow robe that had been prepared on him. With the yellow robe added, Zhao Kuangyin felt unable to refuse.
He could not fail the kindness of these faithful brothers. Back in the court, he forced the seven-year-old Zhou Gong Emperor Chai Zongxunchan to abdicate the throne. There was no *** incident, and the history of the Song Dynasty kicked off after this event.
After Zhao Kuangyin's death, his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi took his place. In order to avoid his brother's name, Zhao Kuangyi changed his name to Zhao Guangyi.
The power of the country is always eye-catching, otherwise you can't even have a name as you like. I don't know if Zhao Guangyi secretly slandered himself at the moment when he changed his name? In the wild history and romance, the image of this Song Taizong does not seem to be tall, and Zhao Guangyi has been suffering from the notoriety of killing his brother, killing his nephew, and forcing his brother for thousands of years.
So did Zhao Guangyi really do these things? When Zhao Kuangyin died, not only did he have a son, but the eldest son was only in his twenties. Brother to brother is really unexpected, far from the traditional customs of our country.
This way of changing imperial power will inevitably leave many reveries for the people. In the wild history, Zhao Kuangyin is inclined to die abnormally in his prime, pointing to Zhao Guangyi as the culprit.
Zhao Kuangyin's death remains a mystery to this day. Historical records record that he died without obvious injuries, but there are rumors that he may have been poisoned.
However, the "History of the Song Dynasty" and the "Long Story of the Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian" defended Zhao Guangyi. The biography of Empress Dowager Du records a story known as the "Golden Kui Alliance", in which Zhao Pu made an agreement between the Empress Dowager and her sons six years after Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne.
It is said that when Zhao Kuangyin was visiting his mother, Empress Dowager Du chatted with him and said that she was seriously ill and could not see the future. She instructed her son to remember that the reason for the fall of Hou Zhou was because the country did not have a long-term leader.
While the truth of history may never be fully revealed, these records still provide us with some clues.
His mother hoped that Zhao Kuangyin would pass the throne to Zhao Guangyi in the future, and Zhao Kuangyin's son would wait until his uncle would take over the throne a hundred years later, so as to avoid the death of the Song Dynasty due to the young age of the monarch.
However, why did Zhao Pu make this agreement public six years later? History is written by the victors, and the records of the official history must be reviewed by the emperor.
For the secrets of the royal family, most people believe in wild history more, because gossip is more interesting. This leaves behind many mysteries, such as the sound of axes and candles, and the alliance of gold.
So, what is the truth of history? Sima Guang revealed the mystery of the Golden Alliance. According to him, this agreement may be a ploy that Zhao Pu came up with in order to curry favor with Zhao Guangyi to block the mouth of the world.
After all, Zhao Kuangyin, as the founder of the country, will not obey his mother's dying orders to control the government.
Zhao Kuangyin was worried about the chaos of the five generations of regimes, so he hoped to protect the safety of the Zhao family so that his son could grow up healthy and happy. At the time of his accession to the throne, the eldest son was only a young child, so it was not surprising that he had the idea of passing on the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi.
In order to achieve this goal, Zhao Kuangyin reused Zhao Guangyi and made him a prince, while putting him in charge of managing the imperial capital Kaifeng Mansion Yin. As time passed, Zhao Taizu found that his son had grown up**, and Zhao Guangyi's wings had also plumped.
Song Taizu knew that if his son was appointed as the crown prince at this time, he might not sit on the throne for long, and it might even cause drastic changes in the imperial court. He was unwilling and wanted to adjust the situation of the court by moving the capital, but he was helpless and not as good as the sky, and just when he was thinking about it, he died suddenly.
According to the record of "Continuation of Capital and Governance Tongjian", one day in October of the ninth year of Kaibao, Zhao Kuangyin invited his younger brother Zhao Guangyi to the palace for a drink. After three rounds of drinking, Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly that night.
Empress Song asked the eunuch to inform her son Zhao Defang, and the eunuch knew that Zhao Kuangyin had already decided to pass on Zhao Guangyi, so she hurried to Zhao Guangyi's palace to report the news.
Empress Song was surprised by Zhao Guangyi's arrival. She pleaded with Zhao Guangyi that the fate of mother and son would depend on the decision of this today's emperor brother and tomorrow's emperor. Zhao Guangyi responded to the eldest sister-in-law, saying that they would share the glory and wealth.
It's a picture full of warmth. Sima Guang was an impartial historian who wrote the Zizhi Tongjian during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, one of the few benevolent monarchs in Chinese history.
Therefore, there is no doubt about Sima Guang's account. Since Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, there was no turmoil in the Song Dynasty, which shows that there was no accident in the court about the brother and brother, and no one doubted the cause of Zhao Kuangyin's death.
The rumors about Zhao Guangyi caused him a lot of trouble, especially the premature death of his two sons of his younger brother Zhao Tingmei and Zhao Kuangyin, and no matter how many inside stories these rumors had, the people regarded him as the culprit.
There is also a story about a priest who saw a man carrying two young children and casually said, "Everyone in the world says that the Son of Heaven is less, and now I see the Son of Heaven carrying a burden." The intention of this story is the same as that of the Jinkui Alliance, which clearly shows that Zhao Guangyi and his brother have the appearance of the Son of Heaven, and he did not kill his brother and nephew.
The succession of the imperial throne is often accompanied by the accident and inevitability of history. Zhao Guangyi passed the throne to his son, but it was not until his sixth grandson, Zhao Jian, established the Southern Song Dynasty court, that he could not find a direct descendant to inherit the throne.
Most of Zhao Guangyi's descendants followed Huizong Qinzong to the north, and finally Zhao Gou passed the throne back to Zhao Kuangyin. This may seem like a coincidence, but it is also a historical necessity.
Whether you fight or not, what belongs to you will eventually come back, and what doesn't belong to yours will be lost in other ways even if you get it temporarily.