"Eternal Renjun", "The best emperor", "The emperor who made the enemy country cry for mourning", "Benevolence to the bone"......
When talking about Song Renzong, this is the most Common words of praise. The addition of a temple name with the word "Ren" makes various documents not hesitate to use beautiful words when mentioning Song Renzong.
reigned for 42 years and was also the emperor with the longest reign of the Northern Song Dynasty. Song Renzong can be regarded as a well-known emperor. But it would be too much to hold it to the sky.
How to evaluate the merits and demerits of an emperor?
In many articles that strongly praise Song Renzong, the most analyzed are Song Renzong’s thrift, tolerance, and restraint. In terms of personal morality, Song Renzong is much stronger than many emperors. It can be said that Song Renzong is a good person.
However, a good person must be a good emperor?
We must first understand what is the standard to measure an emperor's "good" and "bad".
goes bigger, it depends on its contribution to the nation and even human history, such as Qin Shihuang who established a centralized system for more than two thousand years. At a lower level, it depends on the social atmosphere and people's living standards under his rule, such as Emperor Taizong of Tang who pioneered the prosperous age of Zhenguan.
From this perspective, we can make a fairer evaluation of an emperor.
With this as a benchmark, let’s see if Song Renzong is qualified to be called "the best emperor."
If internal affairs work, why do we have to engage in a New Deal?
An excellent emperor, under his rule does not say anything about singing and dancing, but at least the people's livelihood is stable. What was the livelihood of the people during the reign of Song Renzong?
Guo Zuo in 167 of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were about 140 civil rebellions. In the 42 years of Song Renzong's reign, there were more than 50 cases.
Today's thieves are more than a year like a year, a fire is as strong as a fire, the world's disasters, why not worry! —— "Re-discussion on the Zhazi of Zhibingyu Thief"
From these words of Ouyang Xiu, we can also see the state of people's livelihood at that time. If the people's living standards are improved, are the people who are full and have nothing to do and want to rebel as entertainment?
Nong Zhigao, Wang Ze, and others have been swiftly suppressing their activities in various places, but this has clearly demonstrated the difficulties of the people’s livelihood and ethnic conflicts. Hedong and Shaanxi, which were poisoned by the war in Xixia, are described as "Bone and Flesh Displaced, Pastoral Drift" .
From the "Qingli New Deal", it is not difficult for us to see the problem. The New Deal advocates clarifying the rule of officials, enriching the country and strengthening the army, and strictly enforce the rule of law. As a result, it was only implemented for a few years, and it was forced to abolish it because it touched the interests of the princes and nobles.
What does this mean? If Song Renzong's original policy is feasible, there is no need to implement a New Deal at all. The forced termination of the New Deal after the implementation of the New Deal means the cowardice of an emperor, and such cowardice is crowned with the reputation of "benevolence", and it can be regarded as a "win-win" between the emperor and his subjects.
Don't touch our interests, we will give you a thumbs up, after all, the pen is in our hands, nothing more.
The economy is excellent, but it is limited to running water
During the reign of Song Renzong, was it rich or not? Must be rich! During
's reign, Song Renzong also issued China's earliest banknote-Jiaozi.
Since it is so rich, why does the people's livelihood still have the problem of unstable? Because I always cannot make ends meet, no amount of money is enough to spend.
Sima Guang once commented that Song Renzong was "Though the body is frugal but good to others" , this is a strong proof of Song Renzong's personal frugality. But an emperor's personal frugality does not mean that he will save money, especially for Song Renzong.
Redundant officers, redundant soldiers, redundantFees, these 3 items are enough for Song Renzong to drink a pot, plus the need to spend money with Liao and Xixia to buy peace, when Song Renzong died, the treasury was almost exhausted.
If there are many officials, there are more salaries to be paid. Even if he occupies the pit and does not shit, he still has to pay the salaries. There are a lot of soldiers, reaching 1.26 million at the peak. Even after the reduction, the army will remain at 1.1 million. The military payment alone can almost run out of taxes. There is a lot of public expense, and I always build a temple and give me a reward. No matter how good the economy is, it cannot withstand such a toss.
A person earns 100 yuan a day, spends 50 yuan, he has 50 yuan left. A person earns 10,000 yuan a day, spends 12,000 yuan, he pays 2,000 yuan. Li is just such a reason, it can only be said that Song Renzong's transaction flow is large, but he really can't save money.
Song Renzong has a lot of money, but "hidden wealth in the people" is really nothing like that. Don't forget, so much money comes from taxes. Coupled with the serious land annexation, floods and droughts, the princes and nobles are so rich that there are still so many poor people.
really responded to the sentence: "Xing, the people suffer; perish, the people suffer."
The military is weak, not to mention
The military does not mention it. It is one of the characteristics of Song Dynasty that emphasis on culture and over military affairs. It was also said that Song Renzong couldn't fight because of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures.
is not so much for this reason, it is better to say that the size of the 1.1 million army is too large to be on the table, it should be enough to enlist 10 million, and the soldiers can spit the Liao country. reasonable.
Not to mention the payment of protection fees to Liao State, but also the "halfway increase in price" to make a Qingli increase currency, on the basis of the previous year, an additional one hundred thousand taels of silver and one hundred thousand silk were paid each year.
After Song Renzong died, can you say Yelu Hongji can stop crying? Moneybags, there is no need to fight for decades, and protection fees are collected every year. As a result, the "golden master" actually died. If the new Song Dynasty king who succeeded to the throne wants to start fighting again, Yelu Hongji will suffer a lot! Can you not cry?
I only heard that "the more the enemy is afraid, the better we are doing it right", but I have never heard that "the more the enemy feels sad for us, the more it means we are doing it right".
However, for Song Renzong, who was generous in the Liao Kingdom, he treated his own soldiers without a little meaning.
In the Qingli, the West used soldiers...Soldiers were badly injured to get two thousand dollars, how small!
worked hard to serve the country and received 2000 money after being seriously injured. This is really unreasonable.
The famous general Di Qing withstood Xixia and got Nong Zhigao. He still failed to exchange for a comfortable old age, and finally died of depression. It can only be said that this is the sorrow of Wen Yuwu, in such an environment, a few more Di Qing may not help.
The culture is strong, but the literati is not a civil official.
Among the four great inventions, gunpowder, compass, and movable type printing were promoted and used in Song Renzong. This is also very powerful.
At the same time, the traditional "emphasis on agriculture and business" has been changed, shops can be opened at will, and night markets can be opened at will. During Song Renzong's time, it was ok to go to the streets to have a supper at night, after all, there was no curfew system.
During the reign of Song Renzong, talents appeared in large numbers. It can be said that this is an era of "talent blowout".
Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Su Shi, Su Che, Zeng Gong, Fu Bi, Han Qi, Bao Zheng, etc. After the founding of the Song Dynasty, the emphasis on culture and education was finally achieved in Song Renzong. .
"The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved over thousands of years, and is built to the best in the Zhao and Song dynasties."-Chen Yinke
won by Song Renzong The rave reviews are inseparable from this cultural prosperity.
However, we need to understand one fact: There is a difference between a literati and a civil official.
Literati is a literati, and a civil official is a civil official. For the people, what is needed is not gorgeous rhetoric and beautiful articles. Of course, we do not deny that what these literati brought is a cultural treasure. But what the people need are good ministers and good ministers, and the pillars of the country.
Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Fang Xuanling and other good ministers, what gorgeous chapters have been passed down to later generations? That is definitely not as good as these literati talents of Song Renzong. But when it comes to governing the country, it is not comparable.
At this point, Song Renzong's "Wenzhi" is really not very good.
Song Renzong's "benevolence" is more just the "benevolence" of individuals.
However, from the four different realms of self-cultivation, equanimity, governance, and peace, Song Renzong is indeed not so good.
Fortunately, Song Renzong's private morals are good, and he has self-knowledge and not tossing about it, so he can be regarded as a gentleman, but there is no need to praise him.
