When it comes to the Southern Song Dynasty, everyone may be amazed by his highly developed economic and foreign trade, highly developed culture and art,
It not only has the significance of cultural rejuvenation in the development of Chinese civilization, but also plays an indispensable role in promoting the process of world history.
And when it comes to the people who shaped the Southern Song Dynasty into such a ZTE situation, we have to mention Song Xiaozong, it is precisely because of his leadership that the Southern Song Dynasty will grow and grow so fast,
The people will have more and more stable and peaceful days, today we will make a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of this great historical hero.
To enable him to make these contributions, in addition to his ability, his extremely high social status is also essential, and the social status here is naturally the emperor, so how did he ascend to this throne step by step, let's take a look first.
How to be king
Song Xiaozong's throne was actually given to him by Song Gaozong, and here it is said to give rather than pass on, because Song Xiaozong is not the son of Song Gaozong, so why did Song Gaozong pass his throne to Song Xiaozong.
It turns out that in 1129, Song Gaozong was left infertile because of fright, so in so many years of his reign, only Concubine Pan Xian gave birth to a son for him.
But unfortunately, he was also frightened (in the Miao-Liu mutiny), and also began to fall ill, and fell ill.
In the following day, because a palace man accidentally touched the golden incense burner in his room, the sound of this fall scared him to the point that his whole body convulsed, and then this situation became more and more serious, and the imperial doctor could not do anything about this situation.
Soon after, he died of the disease.
His death means that Emperor Gaozong of Song really does not have his own son alive.
But as an emperor, Song Gaozong also had to think about the future of the country, that is, to find a suitable heir for his country as soon as possible.
So he said publicly:
"Emperor Taizu was mighty and heroic, serving the country and the people, but his descendants did not inherit the heirs. Now that the world is in turmoil, I want to emulate Emperor Taizu and benefit the motherland and the people, so as to comfort Taizu's spirit in heaven. ”
Of course, as the minister of the state, he also has to assist the emperor in solving the matter of the successor, so they are also doing their best,
So after some deliberation, Emperor Gaozong of Song selected Zhao Yu (renamed Zhao Wei at this time) and Zhao Xuan to adopt in the harem in 1132.
Although Emperor Gaozong of Song listened to the advice of the ministers and adopted two people who might become heirs, it was also a delaying measure,
In fact, this is also to stabilize the hearts of the people, especially the hearts of the people, after all, as long as there are leaders, they may have a stable life.
But in fact, Song Gaozong did not give up the idea of having his own son, he did not quite believe that he would be sterile for life because of fright, so he never made a prince,
He still wanted to have his own son, so he had been working hard in this direction, but he never succeeded, and as he grew older, Song Gaozong gradually accepted this fact.
So he decided to choose one of the two descendants of Taizu adopted in the harem to inherit the position of prince, although it is said that the two of them are descendants of Taizu,
But it was not so easy to become a prince, so Emperor Gaozong of Song put the two of them to the test.
Academically
Emperor Gaozong of Song tested the cultural knowledge of the two of them from time to time, often talking with them about poetry and exchanging what they had learned.
Once Song Xiaozong also asked each of them to write 100 copies of the Orchid Pavilion Preface and submit it, and the master who taught them at that time reminded them that this was the order of the sovereign father and must be taken seriously.
But in the end, only Zhao Wei was the one who handed in on time, and he not only wrote, but also wrote 700 copies, far exceeding the amount required by Emperor Gaozong of Song.
Zhao Xuan, on the other hand, did not write a single one.
Ethics
With the examination of cultural knowledge, Song Gaozong turned his goal to the aspect of human integrity.
Therefore, he sent people to send ten beautiful women to their mansion, and after a few days, Emperor Gaozong of Song sent people to check these women, and found that all ten women in Zhao Wei were still chaste, but none of them were in Zhao Wei's.
This also proves that Zhao Yu is not only outstanding in terms of knowledge, but also very good in terms of character ethics.
So in the thirteenth year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of Song renamed Zhao Wei to Zhao Yang and officially passed on the position of crown prince to him.
In this way, the Song Dynasty can be regarded as having an official successor.
In 1161 AD, the Jin state Yan Liang led an army to attack the Song Dynasty, which once again caused a full-scale war between the Song and Jin.
In December of this year, the Song army turned defense into attack under desperate struggle, left Beijing for Jiankang's personal campaign, and selected Zhao Yang to follow him.
In the course of the war, Zhao Yang showed high will many times, regarded death as if he were home on the battlefield, bravely killed the enemy, and was very intimate to his father, often personally arranging food and accommodation for him.
Such a performance further aroused Song Gaozong's trust and love for Zhao Yang,
Moreover, even if it is not for his own selfishness, with such a person of outstanding learning and moral character in power, the country will definitely become richer and stronger, and the people will live more steadily and prosperously.
So after going back, he gave his position to Zhao Yang, so Zhao Yang successfully sat on the emperor's throne, and Song Gaozong successfully became the emperor and enjoyed his old age.
The most accomplished emperor
1. Economic aspects
Since his accession to the throne, Song Xiaozong has repeatedly ordered to reduce the people's tax burden,
Especially in terms of land tax, and it is not just said before, he attaches great importance to practical results, and even went to the countryside to investigate.
This also shows that Song Xiaozong is very concerned about the people.
The development of paper money, in the era of Song Xiaozong, the currency used can be printed with paper that is circulating and made of wood veneer, so these currencies are also called Chinese currency,
When Emperor Xiaozong of Song came to power, he printed the "Seal of the Official Seal of the Ministry of Longxing Shangshuhu" on these coins.
The purpose of this is to strengthen its authority and promote its circulation.
The subsequent development of facts also confirms that this not only maintains the stability and circulation of the value of paper money, promotes the development of the commodity economy, but even promotes the prosperity of socio-economic status.
Water conservancy is also a very important factor in promoting economic development,
Therefore, Song Xiaozong also attached great importance to the development of water conservancy, and during his reign, he rectified many officials who did not act in water conservancy.
Such punishment also made others dare not make another attempt, and began to dedicate themselves to the country's water conservancy cause, so when he was in power, water conservancy also developed very well.
2. Political aspects
(1) Restrain the prime minister, we all know that Qin Hui is a famous big bad guy in history, and he did these bad things with the help of his high-ranking identity, and his high-power position is the position of the prime minister.
Therefore, Song Xiaozong is still very afraid of comparing weights.
Therefore, Zhao Yang was always wary of the development of the prime minister's power, so when setting up the prime minister, he also set up political affairs to participate in the governor, hoping that he could become the prime minister's containment force.
In addition, the supervisory duties of the Taiwan counsellors have been strengthened, and they are mainly aimed at the prime minister.
Facts have proved that these measures are not useless, and the restrictions on the power of the prime minister in the later development of the Song Dynasty did give the Song Dynasty a relatively stable period, and also played a certain role in promoting the improvement of the Song Dynasty system.
(2) Modifying the decree, Song Xiaozong revised and compiled the "General Categories of Laws and Laws of the Seven Divisions of the Ministry of Officials" into the "Chunxi Article Legal Affairs Category", and used it as the main basis for Dali Temple to handle cases,
The promulgation of this regulation has raised the country's legal undertaking to another dimension, largely avoiding the abuse of private law by officials, and safeguarding the interests and rights of the broad masses of the people.
Military aspect
From ancient times to the present, in order to ensure the stability and stability of a country, in addition to having a reasonable political policy, military measures are also indispensable, after all, everyone knows that without a strong armed force, the country will inevitably face the fact that it will be beaten.
Therefore, Song Xiaozong also attached great importance to the military, and at the same time made many efforts in these aspects.
To enhance military strength, Zhao Yang actively sorted out the army and held three large-scale military parades in five years, which greatly improved the overall military quality of the country.
Moreover, it also attaches great importance to military talent, and actively promotes people who have the ability to lead troops and learn martial arts to official posts, and the selection requirements for these people are still very high.
After they are selected after martial arts, they must be familiar with military politics in the army for up to seven years before they can formally lead the troops for training, so those who can be selected as officers are very good.
Not only that, he also frequently expanded his military contingent, actively recruiting in both inland and remote areas to enhance the military strength of various places.
Reforming the military system, Zhao Yang implemented the volunteer soldier system, these volunteer soldiers are different from ordinary soldiers, they are not separated from production, that is to say, when the farm is busy, they have time to invest in the harvest of their own crops.
And when the country needs it, put on a military uniform and become a soldier to defend the country, the implementation of this system not only helps the country reduce the financial burden (because if there is no one to manage agriculture, the state needs to fund help), but also provides a good guarantee for the country's military strength.
This system was also widely praised at that time and in later developments, and has been used by many future generations.
Cultural aspects
Attaching importance to cultural learning, Zhao Yang is also very concerned about the development of national education and culture, after all, a strong country can not only have hard power, but also should have its own cultural soft power.
Therefore, he actively advocated "a hundred schools of thought contending and common development", and under the influence of this thinking, the country has successively emerged schools such as science, new learning, and Shu school, which has greatly improved the country's cultural strength and shaped a strong atmosphere of cultural learning.
Not only that, under the leadership of this thinking, a large number of literati and writers also emerged in the country at that time, such as Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan, Chen Liang, Yang Wanli and so on.
These literati not only drove the overall level of poetry and writing of the country during the Song Xiaozong period, but also left many immortal poems to future generations.
It can be said that this period can definitely be regarded as a period of cultural development and prosperity in Chinese history.
Advocating the virtues of thrift and diligence, we know that the study of culture is not only limited to those poetry and song talents in books, but also reflected in life, such as those excellent virtues, and the virtue that Song Xiaozong attaches more importance to is diligence and thrift.
It is precisely this good habit that, under his leadership, has accumulated a lot of military and material strength and social material strength for the country, which can not only resist some unexpected natural and man-made disasters, but also play a lot of role in the prosperity and development of the country.
Brief summary:
From the above information, we can see that during the reign of Song Xiaozong, the country was governed by political clarity, military strength, and cultural prosperity, and under the influence of such a prosperous situation, the people of the country lived a prosperous and healthy life.
Therefore, to rate him as the most accomplished emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty is definitely worthy of the name!