Zhu Chao accompanied me to watch short videos

Chapter 153: The End of the Northern Song Dynasty

[In Chinese history, the greatest talent of all time, Li Qingzhao, the Song Dynasty]

She was the most talented woman in ancient times, with everything from wine, women, money and power, and she was truly a master of dealing with people. Her family background was even more amazing, her brother-in-law was Cai Jing, her brother-in-law was Qin Hui, the painter of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was her younger brother-in-law, and even Wang Anshi was her relative.

She is Li Qingzhao, the representative of the graceful and elegant school.

Li Qingzhao was born into a scholar-official family that loved literature and art. Her father was a student of Su Shi, and her mother was the granddaughter of the top scholar in the imperial examination and was also very talented.

So the parents took the poem by Wang Wei "The bright moon shines among the pines, and the clear spring flows over the rocks" and gave their daughter an elegant name - Li Qingzhao.

Li Qingzhao lived in such a family. She was influenced by her surroundings and, with her superior genes, she laid a solid foundation in literature as a child.

As a teenager, Li Qingzhao lived with her father in Bian Jing. The prosperous scene and elegant living environment of the capital greatly inspired Li Qingzhao's creative passion.

In addition to writing poetry, Li Qingzhao also began to emerge in the field of ci poetry, and wrote the famous poem "Ru Meng Ling" which was widely praised by later generations. This poem caused a sensation in the entire capital as soon as it came out, and Li Qingzhao was not yet 18 years old at that time.

In 1101, 18-year-old Li Qingzhao met her love and married Zhao Mingcheng, a student of the Imperial College who was three years older than her, in Bianjing. At that time, Li Qingzhao's father worked in the Ministry of Rites, and her husband's father worked in the Ministry of Personnel, both of whom were senior officials of the court.

However, Li Qingzhao and her husband led a very simple life. Zhao Mingcheng, who was studying at the Imperial College, would often go to the pawnshop to pawn a few pieces of clothing for some money when he returned home to reunite with his wife during holidays.

He walked into the bustling Xiangguo Temple Market and bought the inscriptions and fruits that his wife liked. After returning home, the couple sat opposite each other and enjoyed them.

Not long after, Zhao Mingcheng entered the official career. Although they had an independent source of income, the couple still lived a very simple life and determined to search for ancient Chinese texts and rare characters in the world.

Although the Zhao family had a rich collection of books, it was far from enough for Li Qingzhao. So the couple tried every means to borrow rare and precious books from the imperial collection through relatives and friends and tried their best to copy them.

When they saw famous paintings and calligraphy, or miracles of three generations, they would not hesitate to take off their clothes and trade them. Therefore, although their married life was poor, it was quiet, harmonious, elegant, interesting, and full of happiness and joy.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. In the second year after Li Qingzhao got married, the fierce struggle between the new and old parties in the court dragged the Li family into it. Li Qingzhao's father was listed as a member of the Yuanyou Party and was not allowed to serve in the capital. After being dismissed from office, he had to return to his hometown with his family.

A year later, the intensified factional struggle in the court even implicated Li Qingzhao. Not only did the loving couple face the threat of separation, but the huge Bianjing had no place for Li Qingzhao to survive, so she had to leave Beijing alone and return to her hometown to join her family who had been sent back earlier.

It was not until she was 23 years old that Cai Jing was dismissed from his post as prime minister, the court destroyed the Yuanyou Party Monument, issued a general amnesty, and expelled all party members from the court. Only then was Li Qingzhao able to return to Bianliang to reunite with her husband.

But things are unpredictable. Just one year later, Cai Jing was reinstated as prime minister, and this time the ruthless political disaster befell the Zhao family. Unable to continue living in the capital, the Zhao family had to return to their private residence in Qingzhou, and Li Qingzhao followed her husband and began to live in seclusion in the countryside.

At the age of 25, Li Qingzhao named her study "Guilaitang" after Tao Yuanming's "Returning to the Countryside" and used the pen name "Yi'an Jushi". Although she had lost her former affluent life in the prime minister's mansion in the capital, she gained the infinite pleasure of living in the countryside in peace and tranquility.

The couple supported each other, studied literature and created works. They lived frugally, searched for ancient books and spent a rare harmonious time in their lives.

At the age of 34, with the help of Li Qingzhao, Zhao Mingcheng basically completed the writing of "Jinshilu". Soon after, the two came to Laizhou, and during their stay in Laizhou, Li Qingzhao continued to help Zhao Mingcheng organize "Jinshilu".

The two of them lived happily together for 10 years, until the Jin army invaded the south and the Jingkang Incident broke out, and the situation in the north became increasingly tense.

At the age of 44, Li Qingzhao began to sort out her collection and prepare to travel south. After several rounds of selection, she finally filled several carts. With her great wisdom and courage, Li Qingzhao successfully delivered this batch of rare treasures to Jiangning Prefecture in the midst of war.

After Li Qingzhao arrived in Jiangning, the compromising and surrendering faction headed by Song Gaozong used the excuse of difficult current affairs to refuse the war faction's northward advance into the Central Plains. Li Qingzhao was very dissatisfied with the national crisis and wrote many poems to satirize them.

When Li Qingzhao was 46 years old, Zhao Mingcheng was dismissed from his post in Jiangning and fled the city alone. He died on the way to Huzhou to take up his post. After Zhao Mingcheng's death, Li Qingzhao fell seriously ill. In order to preserve the cultural relics and books left by Zhao Mingcheng, Li Qingzhao sent someone to transport the luggage to Zhao Mingcheng's brother-in-law who worked in the Ministry of War.

Unexpectedly, the Jin army captured Hongzhou, and Li Qingzhao fled south in a hurry with a small number of books and manuscripts. In the displacement, most of the remaining cultural relics were lost.

After arriving in Hangzhou, the books and cultural relics were lost, and the great pain caused, coupled with the ruthless torture of the displaced life of escape, plunged the 49-year-old Li Qingzhao into a desperate situation of pain and despair.

In the loneliness and helplessness, Zhang Ruzhou, who had long coveted his precious collection, took advantage of the opportunity and married Li Qingzhao. But after the marriage, Zhang Ruzhou found that Li Qingzhao's family did not have much property. In great disappointment, Zhang Ruzhou beat Li Qingzhao.

Li Qingzhao could not tolerate Zhang Ruzhou's barbaric behavior. When she found that Zhang Ruzhou had committed crimes such as corruption, false reporting of official positions, and fraud, she decisively reported Zhang Ruzhou to the government and asked for a divorce. Although Li Qingzhao was eventually granted a divorce, according to the laws of the Song Dynasty, a wife who reported her husband would be sentenced to two years in prison.

With the strong rescue efforts of her relatives and friends, Li Qingzhao was released after only nine days in detention.

There is much controversy among later scholars about Li Qingzhao's remarriage to Zhang Ruzhou. Although she experienced the disaster of remarrying a bandit and being imprisoned for no reason, the 50-year-old Li Qingzhao's will to live was not depressed, and her passion for poetry creation became even higher.

After he was freed from his personal suffering, he turned his attention to national affairs. A year later, Li Qingzhao came to Jinhua for refuge. During her stay in Jinhua, Li Qingzhao wrote the poem "Wulingchun", lamenting her miserable life of wandering and homelessness, and expressing her sorrow for the destruction of her country, the loss of her family, and the separation from her father.

He also wrote the poem "Inscription on the Eight-Song Tower", lamenting the decline of the Song Dynasty, opening up the southern end of the country, and leaving the future generations with sorrow. It can be said to be a masterpiece through the ages.

In 1155 AD, Li Qingzhao died quietly in extreme loneliness and desolation at the age of 72, with endless longing for her deceased relatives and infinite disappointment in her inability to return to her homeland.

——"His poetry is of the graceful and elegant school, he is a social person, his personality is that of a queen, and his poetry is like Daiyu."

——"Who gave the term gracefulness? Is there any female poet more bold than him?"

——"After such a turbulent life, she actually lived to be 72. She is really a strong woman."

[Song Huizong, a great artist who was delayed by his imperial career, thin gold style, historical stories of the Song Dynasty]

He was born in a noble family and was extremely talented. He was good at painting, riding, archery, and even football. Except for being an emperor, Song Huizong was very good at everything in his life.

The thin gold style of calligraphy he created is still amazing. So how did this emperor who almost reached the pinnacle of the Northern Song Dynasty become the synonym of the first tyrant in history in just two years?

In this video, let us take a chronological look at this artist who was delayed by the imperial career.

It is said that before Song Huizong Zhao Ji was born, his father had carefully viewed the portrait of Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and then gave birth to Zhao Ji. Although this legend of Li Yu's reincarnation is not credible, we can indeed see the shadow of Li Yu in Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji was very fond of calligraphy, painting, horse riding, archery and Cuju since he was a child. He also had a strong interest in exotic flowers and rocks, birds and animals, and showed extraordinary talent in calligraphy and painting.

However, it was precisely because he was born in an imperial family and lived a life of luxury that gradually cultivated his frivolous and dissolute character. Zhao Ji, who could have been an idle prince, changed his life because of an accidental opportunity.

In 1100, Song Zhezong died of illness at the age of 19. Because he had no offspring, with the support of Empress Dowager Xiang and others, the 25-year-old Zhao Ji was enthroned as Emperor Huizong of Song. In the second year after Emperor Huizong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Xiang also died of illness, which also marked the official beginning of his -year rule.

Since Empress Dowager Xiang was a conservative, conservative officials came to power one after another when Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne. Although Emperor Huizong of Song tried his best to reconcile the forces of the new and old factions after he came to power, the struggle between the new and old factions not only did not stop, but intensified. So Emperor Huizong of Song decided to abandon the policy of reconciliation and implement reforms.

At that time, there was a very famous political opportunist named Cai Jing. When Wang Anshi was carrying out the reform, he supported the reform, but later he joined Sima Guang in actively overthrowing the new law, wavering.

Soon after Song Huizong ascended the throne, Cai Jing was dismissed from his post and returned home because of attacks from conservatives. It was during his stay in Hangzhou that Cai Jing met Tong Guan, a eunuch who collected calligraphy and paintings. Cai Jing catered to Tong Guan's tastes and gradually gained Song Huizong's appreciation with his calligraphy skills.

But what Song Huizong did not expect was that it was this political speculator who would change the fate of the Song Dynasty in the future.

When Emperor Huizong was 21 years old, Cai Jing was promoted to the position of Left Prime Minister in a very short time, and he dominated the position for three years. Under the banner of promoting new laws, Cai Jing committed all kinds of evil, openly selling official positions and titles at a fixed price, and also made up excuses to increase taxes and burdens in order to plunder people's wealth.

In order to prevent other officials from complaining to Song Huizong, Cai Jing even modified the process of issuing imperial edicts. The original process required drafting, reviewing and submitting for promulgation to a process whereby imperial edicts were directly issued after being written by Song Huizong himself, and the euphemism was called the Imperial Edict.

He even asked the eunuch Yang Qiu to write for him, calling himself Shuyang, so that he could do whatever he wanted. Although Cai Jing was dismissed from his position as prime minister twice, he still controlled the government as the Grand Tutor. Cai Jing and his followers' greedy exploitation of the people finally led to a riot.

In 1119, Song Jiang gathered 38 people to revolt in Liangshan Lake, which quickly developed into a peasant uprising army of a certain scale and was called the Hebei Giant Bandits. Although the -year-old Song Huizong issued an edict to surrender, Song Jiang ignored the imperial edict and led his army to fight southward.

A year later, Fang La in the south also led his people to revolt in Xixian Village of She County. The people of Liangzhe, who had suffered greatly from the Hua Shi Gang, responded one after another. The uprising army developed rapidly and soon became the largest peasant uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

The news soon reached the capital Kaifeng, and Song Huizong immediately sent his trusted confidant to lead an army of several hundred thousand originally prepared to attack the Liao Kingdom to the south to quell the rebellion. After a year of fighting, the Song Jiang and Fang La uprisings were successively quelled.

However, although the Northern Song Dynasty suppressed the uprising, it did not learn from it and reform the political situation, but became even darker and more corrupt. At this time, there were only about 5 years left before the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty.

Some unofficial histories after the Southern Song Dynasty often recorded that Song Jiang participated in the battle against Fang La, but some historical books of the Northern Song Dynasty listed the defeat of Song Jiang after the defeat of Fang La.

When the Northern Song Dynasty was devastated, the Song and Jin Dynasties decided to jointly attack the Liao Dynasty. The Song army was responsible for conquering the Liao Dynasty's Yanjing, while the Jin army attacked the Liao Dynasty's Zhongjing Dadingfu and other places. After the demise of the Liao Dynasty, the Yanyun area belonged to the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty transferred the annual tribute originally paid to the Liao Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, which was known as the Sea Alliance in history.

However, due to the corruption and lack of combat effectiveness of the Song army, the army of tens of thousands of people attacked Yanjing twice, but was defeated by the Liao defenders. Nanjing of the Liao Dynasty was finally captured by the Jin army.

In 1123, the Jin Dynasty returned the six western states of the nine states of Yanjing to the Song Dynasty, but most of the residents of Yanjing had been taken to the northeast by the Jin Dynasty and were called slaves. The Song Dynasty got nothing but a dilapidated empty city.

However, the price of this empty city was an additional 100 million yuan in taxes every year, as well as high military expenses. After the death of Jin Taizu, Jin Taizong once again ordered the eastern and western armies to march south. When the Jin army was approaching the city, Song Huizong listened to Li Gang's words and abdicated to the crown prince Zhao Huan, who became Song Qinzong.

If Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong had listened to the good advice of their loyal ministers, the Northern Song might have had a chance of survival. However, after dismissing Li Gang, the Northern Song army placed all its hopes of victory on a soldier named Guo Jing.

Guo Jing lied that he had the magic of Buddhism and Taoism and could defeat the enemy with the Six Jia Method and the Buddhist Vaisravana Method. But the so-called magic soldiers were eventually defeated, and the Jin soldiers took the opportunity to attack the city in four directions and occupied Bianjing.

Three months later, the Jin army marched south again and captured Bianjing. The Jin emperor deposed Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong as commoners, and escorted them to the north along with their concubines, royal family members, thousands of officials, as well as the music troupe, musicians, craftsmen, treasures, toys, royal collections, maps of prefectures and cities throughout the world, and other technical personnel.

All the public and private savings in Bianjing were looted, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. Because this incident happened during the Jingkang period, it is called the Jingkang Incident.

It is said that when Emperor Huizong heard that all the treasures had been looted, he did not care at all, until he heard that the royal collection of books had also been looted, and then he sighed to the sky. During his escort, Emperor Huizong was humiliated and suffered mental torture during his imprisonment, and he wrote many poems of regret.

After being imprisoned for nine years, Song Huizong finally died in Wuguo City due to unbearable mental torture. He was 54 years old.

——"The Song Dynasty's territory was at its largest during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. (dog head)"

——"Why is the Slender Gold Body Style so thin? Because it lacks flesh and blood!"