To say that ancient China made the greatest contribution to social development, those founding emperors of the great unified empire that ended many years of war and chaos are the most qualified to speak. You must know that the chaotic situation of war is not a local war, but refers to the major forces in the whole country fighting with each other for many years, and chaos is unbearable. To be able to integrate such a chaotic situation into one's own hands is definitely the highest in history.
Among these few founding emperors, Zhao Kuangyin, who unified the chaotic situation of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms for decades in one fell swoop, saved the world from water and fire, and established the economically prosperous Song Empire, is a wizard of the ages. Although his path to the throne seemed very smooth, he had made outstanding and unparalleled achievements when he was a general of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
However, after Zhao Kuangyin became the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, there was one thing that had always bothered him, and this matter was also a major headache for the founding monarchs of all generations, and if he was not careful, he might give up the imperial throne that he had so hard to seize. This matter is the disposition of the founding heroes. Zhao Kuangyin was born in a family of eunuchs, naturally full of poetry, he is well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the founding heroes since ancient times, like Liu Bang and other fierce people directly killed all the brothers who followed him to fight the world, even Li Shimin and other famous monarchs repeatedly beat and reminded the heroes who fought with him after becoming emperor.
Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin, who grew up in the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, had seen the monarch of a country being offended by his subordinate ministers, including himself, and he was also forced to retreat from the emperor he had served. Zhao Kuangyin was naturally afraid that those who followed his own heroes would be smoked by the desire for profit, and he would demonstrate again what he had done to the emperor, and the consequences would be really unimaginable. Whenever Zhao Kuangyin thought about this matter, he was always sleeping and eating, but he couldn't bear it, and he couldn't kill all these heroes, so that the newly unified dynasty might fall apart again. After thinking about it for a long time, Zhao Kuangyin came up with a way to release the military power with a glass of wine.
Zhao Kuangyin's "cup of wine to release military power" was carried out twice in total, the first time was shortly after the founding of the country, targeting the central imperial forbidden army generals; the second time was in the second year of Tianbao, targeting the local generals of the clan king. These two times, mainly aimed at the generals who hold military power, after the end, these generals are safely retired and save their lives, and Zhao Kuangyin is no longer worried, not afraid that some ministers will have the ability to repeat the drama of "yellow robe plus body". However, in these two retirement activities led by the emperor himself, Zhao Kuangyin selectively ignored a military general each time. The reason why even the emperor selectively ignored him was because his status was really high and powerful, and even the emperor Zhao Kuangyin himself had always been in awe and fear of this subordinate general, and did not dare to move him at all. This general was Fu Yanqing, a descendant of the Later Tang Dynasty envoys, born in a noble family. Under the influence of his father, Fu Yanqing learned martial arts in the army from an early age, and became a famous riding archer at a young age, and lived in the army all his life and fought countless battles. Fu Yanqing, like Zhao Kuangyin, was born in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, but decades earlier than Zhao Kuangyin. And there were three reasons why Zhao Kuangyin did not dare to move him, and each of them made Zhao Kuangyin afraid.
First, it is precisely because Fu Yanqing was born decades earlier than Zhao Kuangyin, so at the age when Zhao Kuangyin was breastfeeding, Fu Yanqing had already made meritorious achievements on the battlefield. Fu Yanqing's prestige was extremely high, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, he successively served in five dynasties and repeatedly accomplished miraculous feats, which was a feared existence in the enemy army during the war and chaos years, and after each monarch came to power, he had great respect for Fu Yanqing and thought of relying on Fu Yanqing to achieve his great cause.
As mentioned earlier, Zhao Kuangyin was originally a famous general of the Later Zhou, and Fu Yanqing also served in the Later Zhou after that, but the status of the two was very different, and Fu Yanqing was a being who could only be admired in the eyes of Zhao Kuangyin at that time. After Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, the power was not yet stable, not only could not move Fu Yanqing, but also needed to take the initiative to win him over and rely on his power to stabilize his throne.
Second, Fu Yanqing was not only a high-powered minister, but also a general who had made great achievements. Although the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms fought happily, in the face of the Khitan nation, everyone could only whisper, because the Khitan people's proud cavalry combat effectiveness was too terrible, and no force could pat their chests to ensure that I could defeat the Khitans.
Fu Yanqing fought with the Khitans for many years, was responsible for the work of guarding the frontier towns, and was one of the few generals who could successfully defeat the Khitans. If Zhao Kuangyin sent him to guard the frontier, he would save a lot of trouble. Third, Fu Yanqing is a person who knows how to judge the hour and size up the situation. He had three daughters, two of whom were married to the emperor, one of whom was Zhao Guangyi, who would later inherit the throne of Zhao Kuangyin, zhao Kuangyin's younger brother. This also killed Zhao Kuangyin, and made him even more unable to start. It is precisely for these three reasons that Zhao Kuangyin can only spare Fu Yanqing every time he carries out political cleansing, and sometimes even needs the help of his forces. And Fu Yanqing eventually died and was always good.