Hou Shu Emperor Meng Chang Although he was the king of the country, he was destined to occupy a place in history because he was the founder of Spring Festival couplets. However, the issue to be discussed this time is not the Spring Festival couplet, but the death of Meng Chang. In 964, Meng Chang surrendered to the Song army, and then Shu was declared destruction. Afterwards, Meng Chang was taken to the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty , Kaifeng . However, just seven days later, Meng Chang suddenly died at the age of 47. It is generally believed that Meng Chang was killed by Zhao Kuangyin . What is going on?
1. The death of Meng Chang
Meng Chang was the second emperor of Later Shu. He inherited the throne in 934 and made great achievements in the early reign. He rectified the administration of officials and promulgated the "Official Justice", among which the four sentences "Your salary is the people's wealth, the people's ointment is easy to abuse, and the people are difficult to deceive" were regarded as the "criterion" by later rulers. However, in the late period of Meng Chang's reign, he was greedy for pleasure and appointed a large number of mediocre people. In 964, Song Taizu sent troops to conquer Hou Shu, and the Song army was in a state of unstoppable power. Three months later, Meng Chang summoned the ministers to discuss countermeasures. Some people advocated "gathering troops to hold on to them to wipe them out", but Meng Chang chose to surrender. After the surrender of Later Shu, Meng Chang and others arrived in Kaifeng in June 965. At the beginning, Song Taizu was not bad to Meng Chang. Not only did he entertain a banquet, but he also granted four official positions, "Kaifeng Yitong Sansi, the Taiwei of the Procuratorate and the Secretariat, and was granted Qin Duke ". However, seven days later, Meng Chang died suddenly. A common view in later generations believed that Meng Chang was killed by Song Taizu.
2. The confusing
Meng Chang died bizarrely. The first person to express doubts about this was Meng Chang's mother, Li, or Li knew the truth, but she dared not say it. After Meng Chang's death, Li did not shed a single tear. When commemorating Meng Chang, he said something interesting, "You cannot die in the country, and you will be ashamed of living. The reason why I endure death is that you are here. Why do I do it now!" Then, Li died of a hunger strike. Li's words were obviously accusing Meng Chang of not being able to "death the country" and living a life of silence but still dying.
Another thing that can also be used as evidence. In 971, Song Taizu sent troops to conquer the Southern Han Dynasty. After a battle, the Southern Han Emperor Liu Yu saw that the situation was hopeless, so he had to surrender to the Song army. Afterwards, Liu Feng was also taken to Kaifeng. Once, Liu Qing attended a banquet at the martial arts lecture pool, and Zhao Kuangyin gave Liu Qing a glass of wine. Liu Feng didn't dare to drink at all. He knelt on the ground and begged for his mission, " wishes to be the last of all the days and nights, and to the fullness of His Majesty, I dare not drink this wine."
3. Why harm
Since Meng Chang was killed by Zhao Kuangyin, why did Song Taizu kill him? Some people think it is because of a beautiful woman. of the Song Dynasty Cai Tao wrote in "Tieweishan Conghua", "After ten days after Chang arrived, he summoned Mrs. Huarui into the palace, and Chang died." Mrs. Huarui was originally Meng Chang's favorite concubine, but she was attracted by Song Taizu, so Meng Chang died suddenly. This statement is not entirely credible, because there are more complicated reasons behind Meng Chang's death.
Although the Northern Song Dynasty officially wrote Meng Chang as a foolish emperor, based on some clues, we found that although Meng Chang was the king of the country, he was not that bad. In addition to the "Official Instructions" mentioned above, Meng Chang was also deeply respected by the people of Shu. When Meng Chang left Chengdu, "all the people hugged the way, and the crying sounded moving", and he himself covered his face and cried. When arriving at Meizhou , hundreds of people along the way fainted due to crying, which shows that Meng Chang still has great political influence. Shortly after the demise of Later Shu, a large-scale rebellion broke out in Shu. For political reasons, Zhao Kuangyin finally decided to get rid of Meng Chang.
Reference: 1. "History of the Song Dynasty"; 2. "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian"; 3. "Old History of the Five Dynasties"
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