In China's five thousand years of history, many dynasties have emerged, including the Qin Dynasty that unified the world, the Han Dynasty that expanded its territory, and the Li and Tang Dynasties that were at their peak, but I only love the Song Dynasty.

China's five thousand years of history has emerged, including the Great Qin that unified the world, the Han Dynasty that expanded its territory, and the prosperous Li Tang . But I only love the Song Dynasty .

There is no reason for it, because the emperor and rule of the Song Dynasty were good enough to literati and doctors. As long as a dynasty is good to literati, this dynasty will not be bad?

Opening the vast books of Chinese history, people will see that in the more than 160 years of the Northern Song Dynasty, no scholar-official was killed for violating the court, which is rare in Chinese history - of course, this is related to the basic national policy of the supreme ruler. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's famous remarks "The prime minister must use scholars." Needless to say, he gave instructions to descendants of the Zhao family: "You must not kill scholars or write letters to talk about people." "If the descendants have this oath, heaven will kill them." The killing of scholars and officials is considered contrary to the will of heaven, and even punishing members of the Zhao family in the name of heaven. Such a sound is really a loud bell on the land of China. It had a huge positive influence in Song Dynasty culture.

Interestingly, Song Taizu himself was a brave warrior, known as "a rod that defeated four hundred military states."

For example: Fan Zhongyan During the Qingli Reform Movement, he violated the prime minister at that time, and was displeased with Long Yan and was sent to Raozhou as a local official. This incident caused an uproar. Secretary Cheng Yu Jing , also a friend of Ouyang Xiu , wrote a letter and asked Emperor Renzong to "resume the previous destiny" - because the emperor's edict was wrong; another prince, Yin Zhu , actually told Emperor Renzong that he belonged to Fan Zhongyan's party and was "willing to be demoted" (willing to follow Fan Zhongyan and was demoted together). As a supporter of Fan Zhongyan's reform, Ouyang Xiu was determined to stand on the side of Fan's family. When he saw Zuo Sijian Gao Ruone , claiming in a black and white manner that demoted Fan Zhongyan as the correct move, he could not suppress his anger and wrote the famous " and Gao Sijian ", mocking him for "not knowing that there are shameful things in the world"; he was demoted to Yiling, Xiazhou (now Yichang, Hubei) as the county magistrate.

Just as Fan Zhongyan and his colleagues who supported him were demoted one after another, a literati named Shi Jie (word Shoudao) wrote a shocking poem "The Poem of the Holy Deity of the Li Li", warmly praising Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu and other scholars who presided over justice and insisted on reform. His voice of support for righteousness spread throughout the country. Su Shi 's preface to "Fan Wenzheng Gong's Collection of Documents" vividly conveyed the news:

Su Shi When I was a child, I entered the village school to study. There was a scholar from the capital who showed my teacher the "Chingli Holy Deity Poem" written by Shi Shoudao, a native of Shandong Province. I peeked from the side and could recite and understand the words and sentences. I asked the teacher what kind of people are the eleven people praised in the article? The gentleman said, "What do children know about this?" I said, "If they are celestial beings, I dare not know; if they are ordinary people, how could I not know!" The gentleman felt strange about my words, so he told me the truth and said, " Han Qi , Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi , Ouyang Xiu, these four people are heroes among human beings." Although I didn't fully understand Mr.'s words at that time, I had already remembered them privately.

Please see, although Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu and others are in an unfavorable situation in the political struggle, their names have spread throughout the country. Even Su Shi, a little child far southwest of , knows their name. Fan Zhongyan and others who failed in politics are even more famous, becoming role models for the Chinese people and becoming celebrities praised by people. This situation does not just mean that the emperor’s inappropriate employment of people. Is the emperor’s exile of Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu and others wrong? Isn’t this an obvious threat to Emperor Renzong’s prestige? It was under this situation that Emperor Renzong did not take any warning or persecuted the situation where the ministers he exiled were famous across the country. And soon after, they were reused.

Just imagine, in an authoritarian country, the emperor allows the ministers who disagree with him to rise in prestige and become famous throughout the country. What kind of sentiment and broad-mindedness is required! No wonder historians gave him the posthumous title "Renzong". It can be said with certainty that in the more than two thousand years of Chinese autocratic dynasties, no court can compare with the Song Dynasty in terms of freedom of speech; no second emperor can compare with Song Renzong in terms of tolerating ministers' speeches and recruiting talents. "Being a king stops at benevolence."

Jiayou On March 29, the eighth year of Jiayou (1063), Song Renzong Zhao Zhen died in the Bianliang Palace at the age of fifty-four. According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", after the news of Zhao Zhen's death came out, "the capital (Bianliang) went on strike and cried in the streets for several days. Even beggars and children burned paper money and cried in front of the palace." After the obituary of Zhao Zhen's death was sent to Liao Kingdom , "people in the Yan Kingdom cried regardless of distance". Liao Daozong Yelu Hongji was also shocked and rushed up to grab the hand of the Song Dynasty envoy. Weeping bitterly, he said: "I haven't seen war for forty-two years." He also said: "I want to build a tomb for him to express my grief." Since then, the emperors of the Liao Dynasty "regarded him as their ancestors". It can be said from this that Renzong's tolerance not only did not reduce his prestige, but actually added points to him. It is no accident that people miss him like a mourner.

It can be concluded:

The brilliance of Song Dynasty culture first liberated the literati group to a large extent. There is a wider space for free expression of opinions than before. What is even more valuable is that the rulers promised and adhered to the policy of not killing ministers and speakers ( The Southern Song Dynasty killed Yue Fei and Chen Dong , but it was not guaranteed in the late festival, but it was an isolated incident after all). This allowed talents to emerge in large numbers and cultural giants one generation after another, becoming a wonder in the history of Chinese culture. If the Song Dynasty regime turned its back on its promises and failed to comply, then the spectacular cultural peak would be nothing more than a dream. The brilliance of literary talent goes hand in hand with the persistence of integrity. It was only after this persistence of integrity had been nurtured for decades that cultural giants like Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, who took the world as their own responsibility and dared to speak out, finally emerged.

The core of the culture of the Song Dynasty was to treat others with integrity and to treat different opinions with tolerance. Therefore, no matter in writing or doing things, there were a large number of people who were upright and generous and did not engage in intrigues. This kind of integrity formed the accessible and colorful charm of Song Dynasty culture.

Chinese history tells us that if the culture of dishonesty is allowed to flow unimpeded, those who are clever and good at taking shortcuts will have the opportunity to show off their skills. As for the turbulent waves that will spread to the sky and affect the entire nation, the consequences will be unimaginable.