Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi, whose original name was Zhao Kuangyi, changed his name to avoid the name of his brother Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi, whose original name was Zhao Kuangyi, was changed in order to avoid the name of his brother Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. Throughout the history of China's feudal emperors, it seems that all emperors with the temple name Taizong have been criticized for various problems. For example, Taizong of the Han Dynasty was not succeeded in succession, but a minister launched a coup, and brought him to the throne from the Congfan fiefdom;

For example, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty initiated the famous Xuanwu Gate Revolution in history and gained the right to inherit the throne after killing two brothers; another example is the Song Dynasty followed by the Ming Dynasty Taizong Zhu Di was the only rebel. Successful vassal king;

And today’s protagonist Zhao Guangyi is also a Taizong emperor, but because his identity is different from the ones mentioned before, Zhao Guangyi is Zhao Kuangyin’s younger brother, not his son, Therefore, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi Ascending to the throne is a classic historical story with a mysterious color.

Why did Song Taizu not establish his own son as the prince during his lifetime?

1, The historical tradition of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

During the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the changes in royal power were like a horse-race. The various political powers at that time did not explicitly establish a prince, and Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty. At that time, the troubled times of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms had not actually ended. The entire environment was still shrouded by the political influence of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Even though Zhao Kuangyin was a legendary king, did not think about making different changes for this immediately. .

What's more important is that when the Song Dynasty was first established, the Song Dynasty could only be said to be the largest separatist force and could not guarantee that its dynasty could be unified and continued, so it would be better not to establish a prince.

2, the regime was unstable

The Song Dynasty basically pacified the south under the leadership of Zhao Kuangyin, but there were still residual forces and Northern Han , Wu Yue , and there were also external Liao Kingdom Khitan people who were eyeing them. These all affected the Song Dynasty. The key factor for stability, and Zhao Kuangyin's son was still underage at the time. Under such circumstances, it was the right choice not to establish a prince.

Coupled with the shady story of various close relatives killing each other under the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there should be concerns about Song Taizu's opposition to the crown prince.

Why Zhao Guangyi could ascend the throne as emperor

1 because Zhao Kuangyin did not establish a prince during his lifetime

In ancient China the patriarchal system was the most important inheritance method, but this system is actually completely changeable in the face of royal power. As long as there is strength, whoever is stronger will speak After all, since Zhao Kuangyin did not establish a prince, and Zhao Guangyi, as the most powerful prince at the time and Zhao Kuangyin's biological brother, was fully qualified to inherit the throne.

And special treatment is given in special circumstances. In fact, if the prince is not legally established, then everything is possible. What's more, during the Tang Dynasty period, the 16th emperor of the Tang Dynasty was supported by the eunuch group because he could not control the situation. His uncle became the next emperor, with the temple name Tang Xuanzong - Li Chen .

Although Tang Xuanzong succeeded to the throne abnormally, the fact that the eunuch group dared to operate in this way shows that it was completely legal at the time. In this case, Zhao Guangyi, as the emperor's younger brother, also had the right to inherit without a prince.

2, Zhao Kuangyin reused Zhao Guangyi's political signal

Although Zhao Kuangyin never said anything about passing the throne to his younger brother Zhao Guangyi during his lifetime, Zhao Kuangyin's important use of Zhao Guangyi gave the ministers around him a signal that Zhao Kuangyin was going to pass the throne to Zhao Guangyi.

Zhao Kuangyin conferred the title of Zhao Guangyi, the King of Jin, as the governor of Kaifeng. Isn't this just an official position? What signal is conveyed? It may not have any special significance if placed in other dynasties, but during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, many people in power were unwilling to explicitly appoint a prince, but would decide the successor implicitly. One of the common ways was to appoint a prince as the administrative leader of the capital;

For example, Li Shimin once served as Shangshuling , After that, the post of Shangshuling in the Tang Dynasty became a high-level decoration. Since Li Shimin, only Tang Dezong Li Shi held this position before becoming the emperor, and at that time he was still He was not established as a prince. This shows that Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty decided that he would be his successor. In the same way, the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Song Dynasty also had such political meaning.

Zhao Kuangyin had always relied on Zhao Guangyi during his lifetime, and his importance to Zhao Guangyi was far beyond what ordinary ancient emperors did to their own brothers. This performance signaled to the ministers that Zhao Kuangyin trusted Zhao Guangyi very much. Since he was the younger brother whom the late emperor trusted so much, and With the qualifications to inherit the throne, should fully support Zhao Guangyi to become the new monarch;

On the other hand, Zhao Kuangyin's son Zhao Dezhao, although he has an official position second only to the king, in fact, as the 26-year-old eldest son of the emperor, he has no What an outstanding performance, because Zhao Kuangyin never really reused his successor, but just kept adding official positions.

In this way, Zhao Dezhao has no prestige in the hearts of ministers. This situation may not be a big deal at ordinary times, but at the critical moment of succession to the throne, it will become the key to losing the chain. Therefore, Zhao Guangyi's ability to inherit the throne is inseparable from Zhao Kuangyin's trust in Zhao Guangyi during his lifetime.

3, Zhao Guangyi’s own hard power

First of all, Zhao Guangyi, as Zhao Kuangyin’s younger brother, can always be reused by the emperor’s brother, which shows that Zhao Guangyi is very capable and powerful, because Zhao Kuangyin pays special attention to ability when employing people, and it is impossible to reuse a waste.

Secondly, when Zhao Kuangyin died, the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms had not yet ended. Under the chaos at that time, the deep-rooted idea in everyone's mind was that "the strong is king". This attitude was still popular among ministers in the Song Dynasty. We need their approval, otherwise Zhao Kuangyin's addition to the yellow robe would not be so smooth.

Therefore, Zhao Guangyi, as the most influential prince in the Song dynasty after the death of Zhao Kuangyin, naturally received the support of many ministers, and Zhao Guangyi became Song Taizong.

Thirdly, Because Zhao Dezhao has no strength, as ministers who follow Zhao Kuangyin to conquer the country, of course they are willing to follow a powerful king with strength and ability, rather than serving a young master who doesn't know what to do.

After all, the ministers also have a lifelong revolutionary friendship with Zhao Guangyi, and they are very clear about Zhao Guangyi's strength. They hope to achieve more ambitious goals through Zhao Guangyi's leadership.

4, the " Alliance of the Golden Chamber " recorded in history

According to the records in "Xu Zi Zhi Tong Jian Chang Bian", Zhao Kuangyin's mother, Empress Dowager Du, felt that she would soon die, so she sent Zhao Kuangyin and the important ministers of the early Song Dynasty to the throne. Zhao Pu was summoned to the bedside. Empress Dowager Du first asked Zhao Kuangyin what he thought about the reason why he won the world. Zhao Kuangyin looked at his sick mother and wanted to comfort Empress Dowager Du, and said it was his father. He is what he is today because of his mother's kindness and education.

But Empress Dowager Du did not accept her son's words of comfort at all. Instead, she said very directly that it was because the Chai family was an orphan and a widowed mother with little prestige, so you took advantage of it, so you can't let yourself make the same mistake again. You should pass the throne to your younger brother, , and then pass it to your son from your younger brother.

At that time, Zhao Kuangyin actually agreed. Zhao Pu, as a witness, recorded the agreement and kept it in a golden cabinet, so it was called the Golden Chamber Alliance.Later, several years after Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, there were rumors about the illegality of the succession, so Zhao Pu stood up and announced the agreement in the Golden Chamber to the world. This is why put an end to this farce.

(Friends who often pay attention to Song Dynasty history should also know that there is an unofficial saying, that is, candle shadow and ax sound , but this is completely an unofficial anecdote, so I will not go into details here)

The fate of Zhao Kuangyin’s son

Zhao Kuangyin had a total of four people in his life. However, the eldest son Zhao Dexiu and the third son Zhao Delin died very early. Only the second son Zhao Dezhao and the fourth son Zhao Defang grew up, and his father's throne was inherited by his uncle. These two nephews were a legal threat to the throne. What's the ending?

Zhao Dezhao's fate, after Zhao Guangyi stabilized the throne, he immediately embarked on a unification strategy, quickly conquered the Wuyue and Zhangquan regimes, and then eliminated the Northern Han regime, completing the basic unification of the Central Plains region.

So Zhao Guangyi decided to launch an attack on the Liao Kingdom in one go, hoping to take back the strategically important territory Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures . However, it backfired. Zhao Guangyi was defeated miserably and lost contact with the main force. When the ministers heard the news, they directly planned to support Zhao Dezhao's accession to the throne. .

While things were still being prepared, Zhao Guangyi suddenly returned safely and said to Zhao Dezhao: "You are going to be the emperor anyway. You can give rewards after you ascend the throne!"

Because the Song army was defeated at that time. , and heard that the throne was unstable, Zhao Guangyi did not want to reward the hard-working troops at all, but the kind-hearted Zhao Dezhao proposed that the three armies should be rewarded, so Zhao Guangyi said this, and after hearing this, Zhao Dezhao silently returned to his Taoist home and committed suicide!

Secondly, Zhao Defang's ending is recorded in a few words in history, saying that Zhao Defang also died of illness in the second year after his brother's death at the age of twenty-three. At this point, Song Taizu's only two remaining sons also died young, leaving endless legends to future generations.

To sum up, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi ascended to the throne was entirely determined by the situation at the time and his own strength. As for the various statements in unofficial history, they cannot be effectively verified, so they can be completely ignored.