The Ugliness of the Feudal Dynasties: Song
[The Song Dynasty was never a dynasty that unified all under heaven.]
[He bullied orphans and widows, yet lacked the ability to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.]
[He was much like Sima Yi.]
[A treacherous rebel was a treacherous rebel, plain and simple.]
[He bullied our Chai Household.]
[Weak Song.]
[In troubled times, the strong were supreme. At least Chai Rong's descendants were still alive; Zhao Kuangyin did not kill them.]
Many people agreed when they saw this comment.
At least Chai Rong's descendants were still alive. That alone was hard to come by!
But when they saw the next comment, they immediately changed their minds.
[Don't think too highly of the Zhao Household. They had a family tradition of striking from the shadows.]
[Chai Rong's line died out within three generations.
Chai Rong had seven sons in all. When Zhao Kuangyin usurped the throne, four were still alive: an emperor and three princes.
Zhao Kuangyin made Chai Zongxun the Prince of Zheng and sent him to live in Fangzhou. Fangzhou was a place famous in the Tang Dynasty for the exile of nobles.
Fangzhou's location was very unusual. Mountains surrounded it on all sides, and only one or two narrow paths led in and out, making it a natural prison.
As it turned out, Chai Zongxun lived only to the age of twenty.
Of Chai Zongxun's three younger brothers, Chai Xirang, Chai Xijin, and Chai Xihui, two disappeared for no apparent reason. They were probably butchered by rampaging soldiers, and Zhao Kuangyin was too embarrassed to admit it.
Chai Xijin did not disappear. Pan Mei adopted him, but a few years later, Chai Xijin died for no apparent reason.
Chai Zongxun had five sons, and all five died young, one after another. Not one lived out his later years in peace.
Within three generations, Chai Rong's line had died out.
By the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, he realized that the Chai Household's line had died out, but Emperor Taizu of Song had ordered that the Chai Household's descendants be treated well. He came up with a solution: he had the Chai Household's genealogy brought to him and picked a man named Chai Yong at random from a collateral branch to carry on the Chai family line. Chai Yong was made Duke of Chongyi.
This descendant of the Chai family had almost no connection to Chai Rong.
This collateral branch of the Chai Household had no grudge against the Zhao Household and received a noble title for nothing. From then on, their hearts beat as one with the Zhao Household's.
The Zhao Household preached benevolence and righteousness, but in truth they harbored ill intentions.
He used the same methods of usurpation as the Sima Household, but did not want to bear the same infamy.]
Chai Rong: My line just died out like that?!
Sima Zhao: This method is brilliant, but it would not be suitable for use on the Cao Household.
Sima Yan: Talk about Zhao Kuangyin and the Zhao Household, but leave my Sima Household out of it.
Li Zhi: Fangzhou truly is a fine place for exile.
[There is another matter worth mentioning. Chai Rong inherited the throne from his aunt's husband and changed his surname, becoming Guo Rong.
Zhao Kuangyin restored his surname to Chai. Why? Wasn't it because Zhao Kuangyin wanted to tell everyone that Chai Rong wasn't Guo Wei's legitimate heir either, so he, old Zhao, could inherit the throne too!]
This comment once again showed people across the dynasties how hypocritical Zhao Kuangyin was.
People from before the Song Dynasty wore looks of disbelief when they saw that Chai Rong had inherited the throne from his aunt's husband.
"Wasn't the throne always passed down to one's own son? It wasn't even passed to a daughter, yet it could be passed to a wife's nephew?! He wasn't related by blood at all!"
"If you had a son, you passed it to your son. What if you didn't?"
"If you didn't have a son, shouldn't you have passed it to a nephew?! Adopt the nephew as your own son."
[Zhao Kuangyin died at his own younger brother's hands, and his son was driven to death by Zhao Guangyi. The throne fell to his brother's line, so I suppose he got his retribution. His brother's descendants did not come to a good end either.]
"Was this retribution?"
Zhao Kuangyin gave a bitter smile, his voice hoarse, but a fierce light shone in his eyes.
He was going to kill a great many people.
In another plane, Chai Rong was also going to kill a great many people.
In Emperor Taizong of Song's plane, Zhao Guangyi also wanted to kill, but he did not know whom to kill.
He had long since killed the people who knew secrets that could threaten his throne.
[Understand Zhang Jue, and you will understand the Northern Song's cowardice and betrayal. Why did the Jingkang Incident happen? #History #Northern Song]
When Zhang Jue's name appeared in the title, some northerners in the Southern Song looked stricken with grief; others had already grown numb.
["In the fifth year of the Northern Song's Xuanhe era, a Han man named Zhang Jue, who lived in territory under the Jin State's control, took the initiative to contact a Song envoy and offered to surrender his lands."]
["Who was Zhang Jue?"]
["He was not well known in the historical records. But in Yan and Yun, Zhang Jue was a figure who held three prefectures and commanded an army of fifty thousand."]
["Zhang Jue's surrender delivered a resounding slap to the Jin State's face."]
["To establish his prestige, Emperor Taizong of Jin sent troops to attack Zhang Jue."]
["Though Zhang Jue was brave and skilled in battle, his forces were weak and isolated. He was ultimately defeated and fled to Youzhou."]
["The Jin army pursued him to the walls of Youzhou and demanded that Wang Anzhong hand him over."]
["Caught in a dilemma, Wang Anzhong sought Emperor Huizong of Song's instructions."]
["But Emperor Huizong of Song gave no indication either way."]
["With the Jin army on the verge of attacking the city, Wang Anzhong panicked. Disregarding the objections of Guo Yaoshi and other Ever-Victorious Army generals, he killed Zhang Jue and handed him over to the Jin army."]
["Zhang Jue's story was like the tragedy of the farmer and the snake."]
["By killing Zhang Jue, the Northern Song undoubtedly showed everyone under heaven that they would rather bend the knee and surrender to the enemy than protect their own subjects."]
["Zhang Jue's death utterly disillusioned the people of You and Yun with the Northern Song, and they turned against it one after another and surrendered to the Jin State."]
["In the end, the Jin army, led by Guo Yaoshi, broke through the defenses of Kaifeng, and the Northern Song fell."]
"How utterly foolish!"
"With such an incompetent emperor, no wonder it fell!"
"A man who surrendered with three prefectures and an army of fifty thousand met such an end!"
"With a man like that as emperor of our Great Song, how could it not fall?"
The Emperor of Qin, Wu of Han, Taizong of Tang, Taizu of Song—emperors who had accomplished great things throughout history—were astonished by Emperor Huizong of Song's stupidity!
Didn't he know what the consequences of doing this would be?
The heavenly screen was absolutely right.
By killing Zhang Jue, the Northern Song showed everyone under heaven that they would rather bend the knee and surrender to the enemy than protect their own subjects.
Zhang Jue had rendered meritorious service and should have been well protected.
In the time of the Emperor of Qin or Wu of Han, Zhang Jue could have been made a marquis.
In the time of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Zhang Jue could have been made a duke.
Yet in the Great Song under Emperor Huizong of Song's rule, Zhang Jue was killed!
How laughable! How tragic!
[When Zhang Jue was killed, the officers and soldiers of the volunteer army in Yanjing who had submitted to the Northern Song wept bitterly. They too were deeply disillusioned with the Northern Song and worried that they would be the next Zhang Jue.]
[This is my first time reading about it! What a sigh it draws! Those who feast on meat are contemptible!]
[Read more true history. Ordinary people fear consequences; bodhisattvas fear causes.]
[Song was the most untrustworthy, shameless dynasty in history! None other comes close. Breaking alliances and tearing up agreements was as commonplace as eating and drinking!]
[The Song Dynasty castrated the Han people's martial spirit.]
[Zhang Jue was the spark that set off the Jingkang Incident. No matter how the Northern Song treated him, it could not have changed anything. Even if you had not accepted Zhang Jue, the Jin people would still have invaded southward.]
[The Song Dynasty was foolish. When Zhang Jue offered his surrender, they should either have refused him outright or, if they accepted him, stood by him to the end. Unfortunately, the Song ruler and his ministers were not only spineless but stupid as well. That was why they lost the hearts of the northern people.]
Through comment after comment, Zhao Kuangyin could see where Great Song stood in the hearts of later generations. It was probably only a little better than the Jin Dynasty.
If the Sima Household of the Jin Dynasty had not gone too far, his Great Song's reputation would probably have stunk even worse than the Jin Dynasty's.