If marriage is the graveyard of love, then politics is the express train to the grave.
Because of the unfortunate marriage of his beloved daughter, Song Renzong cried in his old age: "In this life, I will never marry a person again!" ”
01
In the second year of the Great Song Jiayou, the 46-year-old Song Renzong crowned his eldest daughter Princess Fukang as the Princess of Gongguo, and at the same time, the recruitment of a pony for her was also put on the agenda.
According to the custom, the princesses were going to be married by Zhang Luo when they were fourteen or fifteen years old, and now Princess Fukang was 18 years old and unmarried, which was already considered to be an older leftover woman at that time.
Song Renzong's heirs were not prosperous, except for four daughters, the rest died in infancy, Princess Fukang was his first child, and Song Renzong was 28 years old when he was born.
Princess Fukang has been wise and filial since she was a child, and when she was eight years old, Song Renzong was ill for a long time, so she prayed barefoot to the moon.
Hoping that heaven will replace her father's health with her life, she can be called Song Renzong's most intimate little cotton jacket.
Now the princess is at a wonderful age, and she has gathered thousands of pets in one, but she is only a powerful person in the Manchu Dynasty, but she cannot raise interest in the temptation of the horse.
As the emperor's son-in-law, the horse should pay attention to the family lineage, the range of options is actually very small, and in addition, there are other hidden feelings.
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, was born in Wufu, and since the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has always taken Xingwen and suppressed martial arts as the basic national policy, and the military generals have been suppressed for a long time.
If the horse is a military general, after marrying a princess, he will be dismissed from all his positions, and then grant such a false position to the envoy of jiedushi, and receive a generous salary for the rest of his life, and there is no hope of meritorious service.
If the horse is a civilian official, the situation is not good.
The princess was the emperor's daughter, and after the marriage, the whole family of the horse had to ask for peace every day, in addition, the horse was not allowed to marry a concubine, and even if she lived a conjugal life, she had to be edicted.
Whether it is a civilian official or a military general, once he becomes a donkey, his political life is over.
For those young people with strong families, talent and dreams, marrying a princess is not to reach the peak of life, but to meet a living ancestor who has buried his future.
Everyone in the world knows that Song Renzong loves his daughter with all his heart, who dares to take the initiative to marry this female bodhisattva?
This is where there are royal leftovers like Princess Fukang.
Although there were many difficulties, but in the end could not let his daughter end up in the boudoir, Song Renzong still decided to face the difficulties, after screening, there were four candidates in front of him.
02
The first candidate was Liu Yongnian, the nephew of the late Empress Dowager Liu E.
Liu E actually has a disgraceful black history, she and her cousin and husband Gong Mei walked the streets and alleys to make a living in her early years.
Later, she was favored by Zhao Heng, the king of Xiangyang, and secretly placed her in an apartment, and when Zhao Heng ascended the throne, he helped her to be an empress, and in order to hide his eyes and ears, Liu E renamed Gong Mei to Liu Mei, and the two were called brothers and sisters.
Under the auspices of Liu E, her ex-husband Liu Mei married the daughter of Qian Qi, the King of Wu yue.
The couple had a son named Liu Congde, Liu Congde was arrogant and indulgent, and died violently at the age of 24, but the son Liu Yongnian, who was born to him by his wife Wang, was a talent.
Liu Yongnian was deeply favored by Emperor Renzong of Song, and he was raised in the palace at the age of 4 until he was 12 years old before going out to become an official.
He was intelligent since childhood, and once when he was driving in the garden, Song Renzong pointed to the rockery to let him compose a poem, and Liu Yongnian gave him a poem, which included the sentence "One Pillar of Heaven" that Made Song Renzong applaud in public.
Not only is the literary style, Liu Yongnian's martial arts are also quite good.
Song Renzong once played with the Wenwu courtiers in Yaojin Pavilion, and left the golden cup for drinking there, in order to enliven the atmosphere, Song Renzong promised on the spot that whoever could retrieve the golden cup would be rewarded heavily.
Yaojin Pavilion was built in the middle of the lake, surrounded by water on three sides, stripped naked in front of the public to take it out of the water, afraid that it was indecent, the generals and guards present looked at each other, and none of them dared to admit it.
Liu Yongnian stood up at this time, he jumped, hooked the pavilion with his foot, and then quickly bent down to grab the golden cup, and then a harrier turned back into the crowd, Song Renzong was overjoyed, praising him as a "strange boy".
When Liu Yongnian became an adult, he served as an envoy to the Khitan of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Khitan people saw that he was young and became interested in teasing him.
Blocking the door of the station with a large stone, the entourage did not know what to do.
Liu Yongnian went forward and moved the big stone away, and the Khitan people saw that he was so brave that they did not dare to make a mistake.
However, such an excellent young man, Song Renzong thought about it again and again, and still did not choose him as a donkey.
On the one hand, Liu Yongnian was 19 years older than Princess Fukang, and he had already married and had children, and if he gave the princess to him, he would break up the family, which was not in line with Song Renzong's consistent image of benevolence.
On the other hand, since Emperor Renzong of Song ascended the throne, the imperial government had been controlled by Empress Liu for many years, and it was difficult to wait for the empress dowager to die.
Song Renzong had only just begun to pro-government, and he was very afraid of the empress dowager when he was young, and now of course he did not want the Liu family to marry the royal family again.
There is also a hidden reason, Liu Yongnian's biological mother Wang Shi, was selected by Emperor Renzong of Song when she was running for concubines in her early years.
Later, Empress Liu beat Mandarin Duck with a stick and promised her to her nephew Liu Congde, and Song Renzong had previously had many secret meetings with the Wang clan.
After Liu Congde's death, Wang was given the title of Lady Suiguo and entered the palace many times.
Some people suspect that Liu Yongnian is the illegitimate son of Song Renzong, and if he is selected as a donkey, his reputation will be bad.
03
The second candidate was the nephew of Empress Yang, Emperor Renzong's adoptive mother.
Empress Liu was a very scheming person.
She was favored for many years but did not have children, so she gave birth to a son through the belly of the maid Li Shi, and then included the child in her own name, but after all, she was not her own flesh and blood, and she could not avoid some uneasiness in her heart.
In order to gain the support of her concubines, she on the one hand crowned Song Renzong's birth mother Li Shi as Concubine Chen, and entrusted the child to Yang Shufei to raise under the pretext of busy government affairs.
This can not only cut off the connection between the child and the birth mother, but also win over Yang Shufei.
After Empress Liu took over the throne, she also crowned Yang Shufei as empress dowager, and Empress Yang and Song Renzong were like blood relatives and sons, and their relationship was far closer than that of Empress Liu.
Empress Yang had a younger brother named Yang Jingzong, who was originally a prodigal son of the capital and fought cocks and dogs with a group of young people all day.
Empress Yang arranged a compilation work for him, but Yang Jingzong was stubborn and stubborn, and once drunk and broke the sentence violently.
Prime Minister Lü Yijian couldn't see it anymore, so he repeatedly advised him to restrain himself, who knew that this Yang Jingzong was not only not grateful.
He also went to Empress Yang's side to make false accusations, but fortunately, Song Renzong understood the great righteousness and demoted Yang Jingzong to an official.
After Empress Yang's death, Emperor Renzong of Song remembered that she had raised her, and transferred Yang Jingzong back to the capital and granted him the post of Chongyi envoy.
Chongyi envoy was an important post responsible for the safety of the palace, but Yang Jingzong did not know how to cherish it, he privately put the old fox friends into the palace, and after being denounced, he was deposed again.
When Yang Jingzong was old, he wrote to plead for a real job, but the requirements were not high, and a zhizhou could be enough.
When Song Renzong learned of this, he said, "Yang Jingzong is a corrupt person, so how can I trust him with a state?" ”
The sons of Yang Jingzong are not well documented in historical records, but from the perspective of Song Renzong, he could not look up to such a person.
Undoubtedly, the Yang family is not in the scope of consideration.
04
The third candidate was Cao Ping, the nephew of Emperor Renzong of Song's second empress Cao Shi.
After Emperor Renzong of Song's first empress, Guo Shi, was deposed, his adoptive mother Empress Yang chose for him the granddaughter of the founding general Cao Bin, who was 18 years old at the time.
Although Empress Cao was born as a shogun, she was good at calligraphy and reading the history of the scriptures, and more importantly, she was kind in temperament and frugal in handling things properly.
However, her appearance is ordinary, and Song Renzong only respects her and is not pampered.
Empress Cao had a younger brother, Cao You, who was indifferent to fame and fortune by nature, and was well versed in music and painting, and it is said that Cao Guo's uncle, one of the "Eight Immortals", was this person.
In terms of family style, the Cao family is definitely better than the previous two.
Cao You's son Cao Ping, who was about the same age as Princess Fukang, was proficient in calligraphy, and Empress Cao asked him to write subtitles and paste them on the screen, and even Song Renzong praised him.
Cao Ping was still a sharpshooter, one year the Khitan envoys came to visit, the envoys of the two countries went to the martial arts training field to compete in archery, the Khitan people shot an arrow at the bullseye, just when they were proud, cao Ping on the field fired two arrows in a row with his left hand, the first arrow shot through the arrow target, and the second arrow passed through the arrow hole shot out, which made the Khitan people stunned.
Moreover, Cao is low-key and humble, the world says that he has the style of a gentleman, and Princess Fukang is simply a pair made in heaven and earth.
But Song Renzong did not think so.
Song Renzong's life was very bitter, and the three princes born to him in the harem for decades all died prematurely, and in his later years he had to make his nephew Zhao Zongshi crown prince.
Zhao Zongshi was raised by Princess Fukang's mother, Princess Miao Guifei, since childhood, and has a deep affection for the princess, but is in awe of Empress Cao.
And Empress Cao was proficient in the art of power, and had a good reputation in the dynasty, before she had already mated her niece Xu to Zhao Zongshi, if this time she would give her daughter Xu to her nephew, after the death of Song Renzong, if the Cao family stood on their own, would this Great Song Dynasty not die at his hands?
For the sake of the Great Song Dynasty, Princess Fukang absolutely could not marry Cao Ping!
05
The fourth candidate is Li Wei, the weakest of the candidates.
Li Wei was the second son of Emperor Renzong of Song's uncle Li Yonghe.
In terms of generations, he was the cousin of Song Renzong.
As mentioned earlier, Empress Dowager Liu'e took the son born to the maid Li Shi as her own, but she did not do anything absolutely.
Under her arrangement, the surrogate Li Shi was first given the title of Chongyang County Jun.
Soon, Li Shi gave birth to another daughter, Jin Fengcairen, and officially entered the ranks of concubines.
Unfortunately, the little princess died soon after, and Li Shi admitted that his life was too poor to be blessed, and he no longer recognized his son throughout his life.
Out of compensation for the Li clan, Liu E ordered Li Yonghe, the younger brother of the Li clan (who was still a small worker outside the city to make a living in paper boxes), to the palace to reunite their sisters and brothers.
Later, he plotted a six-pin errand for Li Yonghe in the Ministry of Works, which showed a rare human warmth in the cold palace secret struggle.
Song Renzong did not know that his birth mother was Li Shi until After Empress Liu's death, and as a son, he did not fulfill his filial piety for a day, and he felt sorry in his heart.
Subsequently, he posthumously honored his birth mother as empress dowager, and promoted his uncle Li Yonghe to an unusual position.
Li Yonghe came from a humble background, and after he was awarded the same fate as pingzhang, he was treated the same as the prime minister, and he was kind and duty-bound.
In the capital, he did not even buy a house, and a large family rented a house to live in, and never made friends with the powerful people in the imperial court.
The imperial relatives despised him and called him "a papier-mâché" behind his back.
Li Yonghe had two sons, the eldest son, Li Zhang, was born to his wife, had been an official for many years, was much older than a princess, and was already married, not considered.
The youngest son, Li Wei, was born of a concubine, and his family status was lower than that of his brother, and when he grew up, Li Yonghe had died, and out of gratitude to his uncle, Song Renzong decided to choose Li Wei as a donkey.
However, as soon as the opinion came out, it was immediately opposed by the imperial family, because this Li Wei was really a dick who could not be on the table.
Perhaps when the concubine was pregnant, Li Yonghe was very old, Li Wei grew up to be stupid and stupid, and he was also dumbfounded, plus he was from a lowly background.
When he was a child, he was not well educated, and his speech and demeanor were very vulgar, and the princess of the golden branches and jade leaves married him, and indeed a flower was planted on cow dung.
In the end, Song Renzong defied the public opinion and insisted on selecting Li Wei as a donkey.
And this is the beginning of another tragedy...
References: History of the Song Dynasty, General Guide to the Continuation of Zizhi, Strategy of the Eastern Capital