Chariot God of Gaoliang River, Donkey Cart War God, Chariot Emperor of Song: Zhao Guangyi

["Deng Ai, Marquis Deng of Cao Wei, who repeatedly defeated Jiang Wei, secretly crossed Yinping, and conquered Shu Han, was removed."]

["Du Yu, Marquis of Fengle Pavilion of Western Jin, who thrice presented plans for pacifying Wu and took part in the war to conquer it, was removed."]

["Tao Kan, Duke of Changsha Commandery of Eastern Jin, who suppressed the uprisings of Du Tao and Zhang Chang, put down Chen Min's rebellion, and, as leader of an alliance of righteous forces, directed the campaign to quell Su Jun's rebellion, and who served in the military for forty-one years, was removed."]

["Murong Shaozong, Duke of Yan Commandery of Northern Qi, who captured the Liang commander Xiao Yuanming at Hanshan and beat Hou Jing so badly that he fled south with only eight hundred surviving soldiers, was removed."]

["Wang Sengbian, Duke of Yongning Commandery of Southern Liang, who quelled Hou Jing's rebellion, was removed."]

["Wu Mingche, the renowned Southern Chen general who subdued Hua Jiao, defeated the combined forces of Zhou and Liang, marched north against Northern Qi, and captured and killed Wang Lin, was removed."]

["Heruo Bi, Duke of Song of the Sui Dynasty, who routed the main Chen army and captured Xiao Mohe alive, was removed."]

["Shi Wansui, a pillar of state of the Sui Dynasty, who drove back the Göktürks in the north, subdued the various southern peoples, pacified Jiangnan, and shook the northern frontier with his might, was removed."]

["Yang Su, Duke of Chu of the Sui Dynasty, who marched south to conquer Chen, defended against the Göktürks in the north, and quelled the rebellions in Jiangnan and that of the Prince of Han, was removed."]

["Wang Xiaojie, Baron of Qingyuan County of Wu Zhou, who defeated the combined forces of the Western Göktürks and the Tibetan Empire and attacked the Later Göktürks in the north, was removed."]

"Leaving aside their battlefield ability, these removed generals all had problems of one sort or another by the standards historians and scholars used to select them, or else..." Li Shimin understood.

"Wu Zhou? A Zhou Dynasty founded by someone surnamed Wu? Could my Great Tang be like the Han Dynasty, with Wu Zhou seizing its realm?"

["Li Guangbi, Prince of Linhuai Commandery of Great Tang, who repeatedly defeated the An Lushan and Shi Siming rebels and whose military achievements were judged 'foremost in the restoration,' was removed."]

["Zhang Qiqiu, Great Tang's military governor of Shuofang, who 'never suffered a defeat in his life' and was admitted to the Martial Temple without even having a record of battle, was removed. He is the only person I personally think deserved removal."]

["Guo Yuanzhen, Duke of Dai of Great Tang, who subdued the forces of the Göktürks and the Tibetan Empire without fighting and expanded the borders by fifteen hundred li, was removed."]

["These twenty-three men were removed from the Martial Temple according to the standard of 'selecting those whose accomplishments were flawless from beginning to end.'"]

["All told, the nine versions of the Four Sages of Warfare name fifteen men. Leaving out Jiang Ziya, the principal figure of worship, who could not possibly be removed, and Yue Fei of Southern Song, who had yet to be born, thirteen remained. Of those, the four most commonly named—Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Han Xin, and Bai Qi—were removed."]

"There were nine versions of the Four Sages of Warfare? Which nine? Who was in them?"

"You definitely weren't!"

"Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Han Xin, and Bai Qi—the four of them were called the Four Sages of Warfare by later generations?!"

["Of the four great generals of the Warring States, two, Bai Qi and Lian Po, were removed."]

["Of the three great generals of the early Han, two, Han Xin and Peng Yue, were removed."]

["Of the three heroes of Shu Han, two, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, both famed as enemies of ten thousand men, were removed."]

["Yang Su, the Sui Dynasty's god of war, was removed."]

["Li Guangbi, whose military achievements in the restoration were universally acknowledged as the greatest and who surpassed even Guo Ziyi in pure fighting ability, was removed."]

["But interestingly, if we're talking about being flawless, Li Guang of Western Han, the general who lost his way, and Deng Yu of Eastern Han, who suffered a crushing defeat in Guanzhong, both had clear defeats on their records. Wu Han of Eastern Han was so brutal that even his own men were driven to rebel, and his character was no good either. Yet they actually survived the cull and were not removed."]

["It seems the standard of 'selecting those whose accomplishments were flawless from beginning to end' wasn't fully enforced after all."]

["All I want to say is, either apply the standard of flawlessness all the way through, or select people based on military ability."]

["A double standard like this may be why many people acknowledge the Tang Martial Temple but not the Song Martial Temple!"]

"I had my reasons for doing this!" Zhao Kuangyin did not know whom to explain himself to.

He did not know whom to explain himself to, but the hot-tempered generals he had removed from the Martial Temple had already begun sending their regards across the distance.

"Zhao Kuangyin, you brat!"

"Who were his ancestors? I'll chop them down!"

[Zhao Kuangyin swept all the formidable generals in history out of the Martial Temple! Was it still a Martial Temple?]

[I'm not the least bit surprised something like this happened in the Song Dynasty!]

[Weak Song took its preference for the civil over the military to the extreme!]

[The famous generals Zhao Kuangyin removed fell into six categories: disloyalty, cruelty, arrogance, power struggles, few achievements, and genuine injustice.]

[Wu Qi, Lian Po, Peng Yue, Wang Sengbian, Wu Mingche, Wang Xiaojie, Li Guangbi, and others, as well as the disputed case of Han Xin, failed to serve just one master throughout their lives or harbored other intentions, so Zhao Kuangyin labeled them disloyal.]

[Zhao Kuangyin considered Bai Qi, Duan Jiong, and Yang Su cruel. Han Xin, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Heruo Bi, and others were arrogant. Zhou Yafu, Tao Kan, Shi Wansui, Yang Su, and others engaged in power struggles. Zhang Qiqiu, Guo Yuanzhen, and others had few achievements. Sun Bin, Deng Ai, Du Yu, Murong Shaozong, and others suffered genuine injustice.]

[By kicking these men out of the Martial Temple, Zhao Kuangyin was actually warning his officials that they must be loyal and not be cruel, unrighteous, arrogant, or engage in power struggles, and that even if they were wronged, they had to endure it.]

[What a joke! Zhao Kuangyin himself was a disloyal official! Zhao Kuangyin's table manners were truly ugly!]

[Zhao Kuangyin used this excuse to sweep the formidable generals out of the Martial Temple. I reckon quite a few generals looked down on him in their hearts at the time.]

[The Martial Temple should admit whoever has the ability, whoever excels at war. If it comes down to an emperor's preferences, why not just change the Martial Temple into a Temple of Loyal Officials? Put the loyal officials of every dynasty in there, and it'd work even better!]

"A Temple of Loyal Officials? That's a good suggestion!"

"Those people from later generations are right! Zhao Kuangyin's table manners were truly ugly!"

[Chariot God of Gaoliang River, Chariot Emperor of Song, Donkey Cart War God, Poison King of His Generation, Great Song's Strongest Pharmacist, Forefather of the Erotic Photo Scandal, Founder of Weak Song, Most Shameless Emperor in History—Great Song's Emperor Taizong, Zhao Guangyi #History #Northern Song]

"Just how many bad things did this Zhao Guangyi do? He has so many titles!"

"The last person with so many titles was Great Emperor Taizong of Tang Wen!"

"Unlike Li Shimin, Great Song's Emperor Taizong was... hard to describe in a few words!"

Zhao Guangyi himself looked as grim as could be.

["He was the emperor with the worst reputation in the Song Dynasty, the central figure in the Candle Shadows and Axe Sounds case. He was suspected of killing his elder brother to seize the throne, and also suspected of poisoning his younger brother, nephew, and the last ruler of Southern Tang. He was called the Poison King. He personally led an army into battle, only to be beaten and forced to flee in a donkey cart."]

["Not only did he seize the last ruler Li's wife by force, he also had someone paint a picture to commemorate it."]

["He was the Song Dynasty's second emperor, Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi."]

["Zhao Guangyi was originally named Zhao Kuangyi, the third son born to Emperor Xuanzu of Song, Zhao Hongyin, and Empress Dowager Du. He was the younger brother of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, and changed his name to Zhao Guangyi to avoid his elder brother's name taboo. After ascending the throne, he changed it again to Zhao Jiong."]

["On the night of October 19, 976, Zhao Kuangyin urgently summoned Zhao Guangyi to the palace to discuss matters, and their attendants were not allowed to ask about them."]

["During that time, someone saw candlelight flickering in the palace from afar, then heard Zhao Kuangyin strike the ground with an axe and say loudly, 'Conduct yourself well.'"]

["That night, Zhao Kuangyin passed away."]

["Empress Song sent the eunuch Wang Jien to summon Zhao Kuangyin's fourth son, Zhao Defang, to the palace, but Wang Jien went straight to the Kaifeng prefectural office and brought Zhao Guangyi instead."]

[Zhao Guangyi claimed that, according to the Oath of the Golden Coffer made before Empress Dowager Du's death, the throne was to pass from elder brother to younger brother. He was to inherit the throne from his imperial elder brother Zhao Kuangyin, pass it to his younger brother Zhao Tingmei after his own death, and after Zhao Tingmei's death, it would pass back to Zhao Kuangyin's son Zhao Dezhao."]

["And so Zhao Guangyi smoothly ascended the throne and became Emperor Taizong of Song."]