The third emperor of the Song Dynasty was Zhao Heng of song, and during the reign of Zhao Heng, a major event occurred in the Northern Song Dynasty, when Empress Xiao of the Liao State and Emperor Shengzong of Liao led an army of 200,000 troops south to approach the capital of the Song Dynasty, Bieliang (present-day Kaifeng). At the suggestion of Kou Zhun, Zhao Heng personally marched, which increased the morale of the Song Dynasty, and Empress Xiao took the initiative to negotiate peace with the Northern Song Dynasty, and the two sides signed the Alliance of Liaoyuan.
The Alliance of Liaoyuan stipulates that the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty are brothers, the Song Dynasty is a brother, the Liao Dynasty is a brother, the Song Dynasty honors Empress Xiao as an uncle, the two sides open border cities with each other, and the Song Dynasty gives the Liao Dynasty 300,000 coins every year. Objectively speaking, under the conditions at that time, the alliance of The Yuanyuan was favorable to the Song Dynasty for the following reasons: First, in order to resist the Liao Dynasty in the north, the Song Dynasty spent as much as 30 million taels of military expenditure per year, and the common people could not rest and recuperate, while the Alliance of the Liaoyuan Dynasty only spent 300,000 taels, only one percent of the military expenditure; second, the two sides opened border markets with each other, and the Song Dynasty made a lot of money from the border markets, which was more than three times the number of coins, so the border market alone had already recovered the losses of the Song Dynasty; third, the Song Dynasty could buy scarce military materials such as warhorses from the border markets It economically dragged down the Liao Dynasty, rendering the Liao Dynasty powerless to oppose the Song Dynasty.
The alliance of Yuanyuan can be signed, and the first meritorious person is Cao Yu. As an emissary of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cao took advantage of his humility and did not hesitate to finally reach an alliance with Empress Xiao of the Liao Dynasty, which won time for the Song Dynasty to recuperate. As the ruler of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Heng was also complacent because of the alliance of the Yuanyuan. Zhao Heng's complacentity is also understandable, because whether it is Zhao Kuangyin or Zhao Jiong, they both regard the Liao Dynasty in the north as a major problem for their confidants, but they have never solved this major problem, but Zhao Heng, who later succeeded to the throne, signed an alliance with the Liao Dynasty, and the two sides entered a period of peace.
However, Zhao Heng's complacency did not last long, and soon after, a minister named Wang Qinruo in the court said to him: "The alliance under the city, the Spring and Autumn Festival." There is nothing more humiliating than the act of the Yuanyuan, which is the alliance of the city with the honor of all multiplications." This sentence translates as follows: "The alliance of the Yuanyuan was signed under our city, and the Spring and Autumn Records that this kind of thing is a shame; the emperor personally marched, but signed the alliance under the city, and there is no more shameful than this."
After hearing Wang Qinruo's words, Zhao Heng suddenly woke up, and since then he has begun to sullen and unhappy, looking very worried all day. In fact, Wang Qinruo's remarks were only to demean his political enemy Kou Zhun, after all, Kou Zhun asked Zhao Heng to personally march, but he inadvertently hit Zhao Heng's self-esteem, which Wang Qinruo did not expect. After all, Wang Qinruo had been an official in the court for many years, and when he saw Zhao Heng's performance, he quickly guessed the reason for it, so how could he make the emperor happy?
Wang Qinruo really thought of a way, Wang Qinruo knew that Zhao Heng's personality was a good great achievement, and he was afraid of war, so Wang Qinruo suggested that Zhao Heng hold a zen ceremony, which was indeed very appetizing to Zhao Heng. Zhao Heng went to Mount Tai to hold a ceremony to seal Zen, and even named the god of Mount Tai as "Heavenly Qi Ren Saint Emperor" and the goddess of Mount Tai as "Heavenly Immortal Jade Girl Bixia Yuanjun", after which Zhao Heng successively sealed the East and West, and engaged in one farce after another in the whole country.
Because the emperor was keen on Xiangrui, the people below did their bidding, and the Jingshi began to build a lot of Taoist temples, which was a huge expense, fortunately, the Song Dynasty did have money, which did not quickly defeat after Song Zhenzong. In his later years, Zhao Heng was overwhelmed and often talked nonsense in the court, and in the late Zhenzong period, the government was basically controlled by his third empress Liu Shi, and in 1022 AD, Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong died, after which Zhao Zhen succeeded to the throne and became the fourth emperor of the Song Dynasty, that is, Song Renzong.