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Chapter 492 The Emperor Who Lowered the Status of the Fengshan Ceremony at Mount Tai (History of the Northern Song Dynasty)

Li Nian echoed Wang Wan's words, saying, "That's exactly right! Seeing that success in the imperial examinations could bring such great benefits, many talented people at the time devoted themselves to the examinations."

"This is also what Zhao Guangyi wanted to see. First, it could reverse the trend of 'valuing military over civil service'; second, with many talented people devoting themselves to the imperial examinations and studying diligently until their hair turned white, they would not have any improper thoughts, which would be beneficial to the stability of the Song Dynasty; third, the imperial examinations did indeed select many talented people for the Song Dynasty, such as Kou Zhun, Li Hang, and Lü Mengzheng during Zhao Guangyi's time!"

"Kou Zhun, Li Hang, and Lü Mengzheng are all famous prime ministers who have left their mark on history."

Feng Quji then raised a question: "Using the imperial examination to recruit talented people from all over the country and reverse the trend of 'valuing military over civil affairs' is indeed a good strategy. However, with the increase in the number of people participating in the imperial examination and the increase in the number of places to be admitted, does the Song Dynasty have enough official positions for these people?"

"Even if Zhao Guangyi adds departments and official positions, the number of people admitted through the imperial examinations will continue to increase. In the long run, there will inevitably be too many people and too few officials!"

Li Nian said: "This is precisely a problem that arose after Zhao Guangyi elevated the status of the imperial examination: a large number of talented people were admitted to official positions through the imperial examination, which led to an increase in the number of officials in the Song Dynasty. However, the Song Dynasty did not actually need so many officials, which resulted in many people being admitted to the imperial examination but not being able to obtain an official position immediately."

"And even if these people have not been granted official positions after passing the imperial examination, the court will still provide them with a salary and subsidies."

It's like a group of people receiving salaries with nothing to do, being supported by the court for nothing, causing unnecessary expenses for the Song Dynasty's finances, and this was something the Song Dynasty itself created.

"This is also a major reason for the problem of 'redundant officials' in the Song Dynasty! There were three redundancies in the Song Dynasty: 'redundant officials,' 'redundant soldiers,' and 'redundant expenses,' meaning there were too many officials, too many soldiers, and too much useless financial expenditure."

"Many people in later generations often believe that the Song Dynasty had the best economy at the time and that its finances should be very abundant. In fact, the Song Dynasty's financial situation was quite bad. By the time of Emperor Yingzong of Song, the national treasury was empty and expenditures were insufficient."

Li Nian continued, "When Zhao Guangyi elevated the status of the imperial examination and began to recruit a large number of talents through it, some people reminded him that he was 'recruiting too many people and using them too hastily,' but Zhao Guangyi did not pay attention to it."

Wang Wan analyzed: "Zhao Guangyi should have been able to see the drawbacks of this method, but he thought it was tolerable. At that time, there was an emphasis on military strength over civil affairs, and he wanted to quickly reverse this trend. Moreover, he believed that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, and it would not be too late to make corrections after the disadvantages became apparent."

It truly reflects the belief in the wisdom of future generations. However, Zhao Guangyi never imagined that he would be the one to start this trend. "Emphasis on literature and suppression of military affairs" became the ancestral law of the Song Dynasty, and it was difficult for subsequent Song emperors to change it.

Moreover, the flourishing of the imperial examination system benefited the scholars of that time, who would naturally take the initiative to protect it.

Of course, Zhao Guangyi may have foreseen this development, but he thought it was a good development and intentionally let it continue.

They're just redundant officials. My country is very wealthy and can afford to support these idle officials who have no real power. As long as these people don't go around spreading fallacies and plotting rebellion, that's fine.

Compared to whether the country develops or the nation progresses, many emperors would first and foremost consider whether their empire is secure.

The First Emperor was also this kind of emperor, but under Li Nian's encouragement, he now had a higher and farther vision, broke out of the original pattern, and developed greater ambitions. This ambition prompted him to support the development of the Qin Dynasty.

Even without this ambition, the First Emperor would have prioritized consolidating his old Ying family's empire, thus becoming an obstacle to the development of Qin and China, suppressing everything within Qin that he believed might affect the Qin dynasty for generations to come.

Li Nian continued, "Zhao Guangyi's promotion of the imperial examination system and the elevation of the status of civil officials also created another problem. This problem has been mentioned before, namely, 'emphasizing civil affairs and suppressing military affairs'!"

"While the 'emphasis on military over civil affairs' during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was undesirable, the 'emphasis on civil affairs and suppression of military affairs' was also undesirable. Zhao Guangyi went too far in trying to correct this, which led the Song Dynasty down another wrong path."

"During the Song Dynasty, civil officials held a much higher status than military officials, and civil officials often looked down on military officials. Even if a civil official was a high-ranking official in the court, as long as he was a military officer or came from a military background, he would still find it difficult to hold his head high when facing a civil official, even if the civil official's official rank was lower than his."

The Song Dynasty jumped from one extreme to another, and the consequences of "emphasizing literature and suppressing military affairs" were not hard for Emperor Qin Shi Huang and others to foresee.

Meng Tian said, "With such a policy of 'emphasizing literature and suppressing military affairs,' the people of Song will regard entering officialdom through the imperial examination as an honor and joining the army as a disgrace. Most talented people in the country will take the imperial examination, and few will join the army."

The army also needs talent, but most of the talent has been absorbed by the imperial examination, and people are ashamed to join the army. How can the military of the Song Dynasty develop under such circumstances?
Li Nian said: "There is a proverb in the Northern Song Dynasty: 'Good men don't become soldiers, and good iron isn't used to make nails.' At that time, the prevailing social attitude in the Song Dynasty was that being a soldier was lowly. Despite being despised, the Song army was quite effective in combat, and there were many brave and valiant men among the common people."

"The Song army was no worse than the Liao or Jin armies, but unfortunately, the people in charge of them were incompetent."

It is said that the Liao army was strong and the Jin army was fierce, but the Song army had defeated the Liao and Jin armies before.

"Incompetent" was also the evaluation of Zhao Guangyi. When the Song people evaluated Zhao Guangyi, they said that he had "wise and intelligent appearance" and was a wise ruler.

Wang Jian laughed and said, "Those Song people who can evaluate Zhao Guangyi must be scholars and literati. They have received kindness from Zhao Guangyi, so how could they not give him a good evaluation?"

These Song Dynasty scholars and literati received benefits from Zhao Guangyi's promotion of the imperial examinations and his elevation of status, so naturally they had to speak in Zhao Guangyi's favor. And at that time, the power of discourse was in the hands of these people.

Li Nian said, "Therefore, some people believe that Zhao Guangyi's promotion of civil officials was because he knew that if he did this, the civil officials would take the initiative to leave him with a good reputation and help him refute. Great Confucian scholars would naturally defend him!"

"Later, although Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty also called Zhao Guangyi a wise ruler of the Song Dynasty, he also pointed out that the financial problems of the Song Dynasty were left by Zhao Guangyi. He was the first to start the practice of private wealth, which led to the Song Dynasty being plagued by war and the depletion of the Three Departments' finances, while the internal coffers remained unused..."

"When that person read the *History of Song*, upon seeing the praise, 'The emperor was wise and decisive, and had the ambition to pacify the world,' he wrote his comment, 'But he was incompetent.' When the *History of Song* praised Zhao Guangyi as a wise ruler, he also annotated, 'The defeat at Youzhou.'"

Upon hearing this, the First Emperor was immediately amused and said, "That person is indeed an interesting one, it's a pity I can't meet him."

That person clearly looked down on Zhao Guangyi. The word "incompetent" not only reveals the hypocrisy of the "History of Song" in praising Zhao Guangyi, but also accurately points out Zhao Guangyi's level of incompetence.

Meng Tian and the others had subtle expressions. By now, they had long since guessed the origin of the "that person" that Li Nian and the First Emperor were talking about.

Li Nian said: "Zhao Guangyi was indeed lacking in foreign military and diplomatic affairs. Not to mention his military affairs, his diplomacy was also unremarkable. His diplomacy with the Liao Dynasty is self-evident, but he did not handle the Dangxiang, Goryeo, and Jiaozhi properly."

"The Tanguts later established the Western Xia state during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, and Jiaozhi (present-day northern Vietnam) repeatedly invaded the Song Dynasty. Although the blame cannot be placed entirely on Zhao Guangyi, he cannot be said to be without fault either. As emperor, he should have fulfilled his duties in his position!"

Upon hearing this last sentence, the First Emperor glanced at Li Nian, wondering if this young man was subtly reminding him to also fulfill his duties in his position.

On the 29th day of the third month of the third year of the Zhidao era, Zhao Guangyi, one of the protagonists of "The Shadow of the Candle and the Sound of the Axe", "the God of the Donkey Cart" and "the God of the Sorghum River Cart", passed away from a critical illness at the age of 59.

"Zhao Guangyi's death was also related to the Battle of Gaoliang River, in which he was hit by two arrows in the thigh, and the arrow wounds never healed." "After his death, Zhao Guangyi's third son, Zhao Heng, succeeded him."

The third son succeeded to the throne, but he wasn't the eldest son of the legitimate wife.

Looking at the history of dynasties from then until now, it seems that very few eldest sons have been able to successfully succeed to the throne.

Meng Tian couldn't help but ask, "Isn't he the eldest son of the legitimate wife?"

Li Nian said, "Not the eldest son! Before Zhao Heng, Zhao Guangyi had two other sons, the eldest Zhao Yuanzuo and the second Zhao Yuanxi. Zhao Yuanzuo had the opportunity to succeed to the throne, but he had a very good relationship with his third uncle Zhao Tingmei."

"Zhao Tingmei was the younger brother of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi, and it is said that they were brothers from the same mother. Zhao Yuanzu had a very good relationship with his third uncle. So when Zhao Tingmei was demoted to Fuling by Zhao Guangyi and no one dared to plead for Zhao Tingmei, he took the initiative to stand up and plead for Zhao Tingmei."

Meng Tian said, "Could it be that because of this matter, Zhao Yuanzuo has lost Zhao Guangyi's favor?"

Even if one is the eldest son of the legitimate wife, it is difficult for him to ascend the throne if he is not favored by the emperor.

Li Nian shook her head: "No, Zhao Yuanzuo was very much liked by Zhao Guangyi. It's just that he pleaded for Zhao Tingmei, but Zhao Guangyi did not accept his advice, so he developed a 'heart disease,' which means he suffered from a mental illness."

"After Zhao Tingmei died in Fuling, Zhao Yuanzu went mad due to illness and injured his attendant with a knife."

It's not like the Gao family of Northern Qi; Zhao Guangyi wouldn't choose a madman to inherit the throne.

Upon hearing Li Nian say that Zhao Yuanzuo had gone mad, the First Emperor and others recalled what Li Nian had once told them about the group of madmen in Northern Qi who used human legs as pipa, playing and singing "A beautiful woman is hard to find again."

"Zhao Guangyi was actually quite good to Zhao Yuanzuo. In the second year of the Yongxi reign, when Zhao Yuanzuo's condition improved, he even issued a general amnesty. Unfortunately, Zhao Yuanzuo set fire to the palace in the same year, which led Zhao Guangyi to abandon his eldest son!"

"Later, some people speculated that Zhao Yuanzuo was faking madness because he was afraid that if he didn't pretend to be mad, he would suffer the same fate as his cousins ​​Zhao Dezhao, Zhao Defang, and his third uncle Zhao Tingmei."

Being a prince is stressful, especially being the emperor's eldest son. Even if he hasn't been made crown prince yet, the emperor will still be wary of him just because he is the eldest son.

"After Zhao Yuanzuo was abandoned, the second son Zhao Yuanxi was the most likely to become the crown prince. In October of the third year of Yongxi, Zhao Guangyi appointed Zhao Yuanxi as the Prefect of Kaifeng and concurrently as the Attendant-in-Ordinary."

"Zhao Guangyi had served as the Prefect of Kaifeng during the reign of Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Yuanxi was appointed Prefect of Kaifeng by Zhao Guangyi, which was equivalent to him becoming the crown prince. If Zhao Guangyi wanted to make a successor, he would be the first choice, provided that Zhao Yuanxi could not make any mistakes and was alive."

"However, in October of the third year of Chunhua, Zhao Yuanxi fell ill and died suddenly, passing away at a young age."

It turns out that Zhao Heng got the throne for nothing. If either of his two older brothers had been alive, he wouldn't have had a chance.

"After Zhao Guangyi's death, he was given the posthumous title of 'Emperor of Divine Merit, Virtue, Civil and Martial Arts' and the temple name 'Taizong'. Zhao Heng, who succeeded Zhao Guangyi as the third emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, was an even more outstanding 'hero' than Zhao Guangyi. The 'Treaty of Chanyuan' was signed during his reign."

"But what he is best known to later generations is his Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai!"

Did the third emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai?

His contribution must be considerable...

No, that's not what this kid meant. Judging from his tone, the "Treaty of Chanyuan" was a humiliating treaty. Moreover, since the Northern Song Dynasty had not recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, how could Zhao Heng be qualified to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai?
This kid is probably mocking Zhao Heng's Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai as undeserving of recognition.

Sure enough, Li Nian continued, "After Emperor Zhenzong of Song performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, no emperor in later dynasties ever performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai again."

Emperor Zhao Heng single-handedly lowered the level and status of the "Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai," making later emperors feel it was unlucky, and even our Great Qing Dynasty disliked it.

If Mount Tai had a spirit, when it saw Zhao Heng leading a group of people to ascend it for the Fengshan ceremony, it must have been thinking: Don't come any closer, don't come any closer! What achievements do you have that you dare to ascend my Fengshan ceremony? You have no shame at all.

Zhao Heng: Hehehe, I have to have it today, whether I want it or not. My achievements are comparable to those of Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, and my virtue is comparable to that of Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Taizong of Tang. How can I not perform the Fengshan ceremony?

Upon hearing Li Nian's words, the First Emperor's face darkened, because he was the first emperor to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, and later emperors who personally performed the ceremony at Mount Tai all followed his example.

These emperors were all those who had achieved extraordinary feats; they were the best among emperors.

These people imitated him by performing the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, which made him, the originator of the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, feel honored.

But now a shameless guy has popped up and is performing the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, which makes him feel unlucky. The Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, which he started, has been polluted.

Although the First Emperor of Qin in this world had not yet performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai as an emperor, he still felt that something good he had created had been defiled.

"Later emperors with great achievements, such as the Hongwu Emperor and the Chengzu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, were all qualified to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, but none of them did. There must be other reasons for this, but Zhao Heng's performance of the Fengshan ceremony is certainly one of them."

"Who were the emperors who performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai before Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng?"

Li Nian answered his own question: "Your Majesty, as recorded in history! Your Majesty led the Great Qin to conquer the six states, unify the world, and establish the first unified dynasty in China. Your achievements are immense."

"Then came Emperor Wu of Han, who conquered the Xiongnu and opened up the Western Regions, establishing the mighty power of the Han Dynasty; then came Emperor Guangwu of Han, who pacified the chaotic world, rebuilt the Han Dynasty, and was remarkable in both civil administration and military affairs."

"Then came Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xuanzong. During Emperor Gaozong's reign, he destroyed Goguryeo and the Western Turks, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty reached its widest point. He also had achievements worthy of the Fengshan ceremony. Although Emperor Xuanzong was senile in his old age and made many mistakes, the Tang Dynasty reached its peak under his rule. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was powerful in all directions. It was not an exaggeration for him to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai in the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era."

"But Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng... the Youyun region has not been recovered, and the land of China has not been unified. How dare he perform the Fengshan ceremony? Could it be that the Treaty of Chanyuan has become his achievement?"

(End of this chapter)