The Song Dynasty ended a period of great division in Chinese history, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and in 960, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin added his body to the Yellow Robe at Chenqiao to establish the Song Dynasty, and then destroyed the three kingdoms of Nanping, Chu, Houshu, Southern Han, and Southern Tang. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's wish was to unify the whole country, but he died young, and it is said that his younger brother Zhao Guangyi harmed Zhao Kuangyin, and it is obvious that his younger brother Zhao Guangyi did not have the great talent of his brother, and he continued the great cause of national reunification, but he forgot to recuperate properly, but instead continued the Northern Expedition despite the fatigue of the army.
I don't know what the situation of the Song Dynasty would be if Zhao Kuangyin continued to complete the great cause alive? But from the beginning of Zhao Guangyi's term as emperor, the development of the country is not too satisfactory, although the Song Dynasty is a feudal dynasty in ancient Chinese history, it is customary to be called "Tang Song Yuan Ming and Qing", the Song Dynasty did not achieve great unification, the Song Dynasty at that time can be said to be a small country, with the Liao State, the Western Xia State, the Jin State, and the Mongolia that eventually destroyed the Song Dynasty. In many years of foreign wars, most of the Song Dynasty was in a weak position, and after its defeat, it signed treaties that humiliated the country, completely without the momentum and style of the Central Plains Dynasty.
The most famous thing in the Northern Song Dynasty is the "Shame of Jingkang", the two emperors of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong were taken captive by the Jin people to the Five Kingdoms City, and later died in the Five Kingdoms City, the emperor's harem and the female relatives of the officials and people were also plundered to the Jin Kingdom, the women arrived there, most of them were submerged into the official brothels and laundry houses of the Jin Kingdom, you can imagine what kind of inhuman treatment they suffered, life is better than death, and the men are acting as slaves of the Jin people, since then the Northern Song Dynasty fell, Zhao Zhao went south to take the throne in Nanjing Yingtianfu, for The Song Gaozong, known as the Southern Song Dynasty.
Emperor Huizong of Song was the ninth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, and also the last emperor, he was the eldest son of Emperor Huizong of Song, zhao Huan, and speaking of Emperor Huizong of Song, after he took the throne, he introduced the new law, quite the style of a ming emperor, but he did not hold great power, but he and the empress dowager "had the same power to dispose of military and state affairs", the empress dowager was a conservative faction, so he appointed the conservative faction, Han Qi's eldest son Han Zhongyan as the ruler, and soon promoted to right minister, left xiang Zhang Huan, ruling Cai Bian and so on were attacked one after another, and when the empress dowager returned to power, the struggle between the old and new factions intensified. Subsequently, Emperor Huizong of Song reused Cai Jing, but this person was only a speculator, who would only "fight" for his own interests, and he did nothing evil under the banner of the new law, bribing the public bank, and selling officials and lords.
Cai Jing was promoted to right minister, and soon rose to left minister, alone for three years, he has been developing his own power in the middle of the dynasty, in the last year of Emperor Huizong, Cai Jing was in charge of the government, in fact, during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the court was always the world of Cai Jing and his henchmen, they made the politics of the Northern Song Dynasty darker, resulting in the people of the Northern Song Dynasty, several small-scale peasant uprisings broke out, most of which were suppressed, and the surrounding countries have always been looking at the Northern Song Dynasty that is going downhill, and the Jurchens have also risen. It posed no small threat to the Northern Song Dynasty.
Jin Bing invaded Beijing in a big way, Xuanhe seven years, Zhao Huan accepted his father Song Huizong's Zen concessions, ascended the throne as emperor, for Song Qinzong, in fact, he was not prepared for this emperor at all, he was incompetent, cowardly, after succeeding to the throne, he had already suppressed Cai Jing's forces and reused Li Gang to resist Jin, but in the end he listened to the rumors of the traitors, deposed Li Gang, and asked Jin for peace, if he could insist on reusing Li Gang, this could replace his cowardice and incompetence, but unfortunately Song Qinzong was indecisive and had no opinion.
In the face of the attack of the Jin army, the DPRK was divided into two factions, the main peace faction and the main war faction, while Li Gang was the representative of the main war faction, he organized the nationalist army to resolutely resist Jin, and Song Qinzong sent Li Gang to fight in order to keep the throne. After Li Gang went out of the city to fight, Song Qinzong summoned li Bangyan, the chancellor, and ordered Li Gang to be recalled on the grounds that the capital was empty, but at this time Li Gang was fighting against Jin, which was the best time to defeat the Jin soldiers, and Li Gang could only return to Beijing, so he lost the opportunity to win.
In fact, Song Qinzong was afraid that Li Gang would lead his troops into battle, and after the defeat, the Northern Song Army would be greatly weakened, but this was already the last attempt, but unfortunately Song Qinzong could not see the situation clearly at all, blindly recalled Li Gang, and afterwards found a scapegoat for himself, deposed Li Bangyan, issued an edict, and denounced the shameless behavior of the lord and the faction. However, at this time, the Jin Kingdom had already taken the opportunity to cross the Yellow River south and attack Tokyo, known as the Jingkang Revolution, And Emperor Taizong of Jin deposed the two emperors, Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Qinzong of Song, reduced them to shuren, forcibly ripped off the dragon robes on their bodies, and then took the two north with them and died in the Five Kingdoms City.
In fact, Emperor Huizong of Song could have been spared this disaster, after his abdication, he left Beijing with Cai Jing, Tong Guan and other close ministers, and soon after Emperor Huizong of Song restored in Zhenjiang, but later he was deceived by Emperor Qinzong of Song to return to the capital, Emperor Huizong of Song was imprisoned, and his confidants were also killed by Emperor Qinzong of Song, which was a good thing, the people's impression of Emperor Qinzong of Song had changed slightly, but history's evaluation of Emperor Qinzong of Song could not be changed, he was a cowardly and incompetent emperor.
Emperor Qinzong of Song recalled Li Gang at a critical moment in the fight against Jin, and later expelled Li Gang from the imperial court, which had already set the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the process of resisting Jin, Li Gang repeatedly made military achievements, but he had a straight personality, often offended people, and spoke out in righteousness, repeatedly letting Song Qinzong lose face, Song Qinzong hated him in his heart, which drove him out of the imperial court and let him leave the power center, but Li Gang eventually went to the front line and served as the commander-in-chief, but he made a mistake and resigned, after he left, there were no more people in the army who resisted Jin, and the remaining generals also had no morale, surrendered, and the Northern Song Dynasty went to ruin.
Many people think that the "shame of Jingkang" is mainly the fault of Emperor Huizong of Song, but in this way, it is actually because of the death of Emperor Qinzong of Song, he has too many concerns and cannot firmly believe in loyal subjects, which led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.