From the Northern Song Dynasty to the present day, countless people have no less than a thousand conjectures about the case of the candle shadow axe, but I didn't expect that now I can actually learn the truth of the original matter from the mouths of Juekong and Chunting.

Now it seems that the so-called case of the Candle Shadow Axe is indeed Zhao Guangyi's usurpation of the throne that Zhao Kuangyin originally intended to leave to Zhao Defang, but this incident was not his ill-intentioned attempt to kill his brother and seize the throne, but was unknowingly bewitched.

And Chunting also mentioned just now that after Zhao Guangyi discovered the truth of the matter, he even wanted to die for a while, but thanks to the timely enlightenment of the ancestors of Guan Shan, Zhao Guangyi gave up the idea of self-destruction.

The ancestors of Guanshan had insight into people's hearts, so they could easily see the true thoughts in Zhao Guangyi's heart, if Zhao Guangyi pretended to be like he wanted to die, then of course he couldn't hide the eyes of his ancestors.

And since he has been recognized by his ancestors, it also proves that Zhao Guangyi really wants to die to make his will, which means that he is an extremely kind person by nature, and he does have a deep brotherhood with Zhao Kuangyin.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this that after Guan Shan's ancestors lifted the bewitchment imposed on him by weak water, they did not punish Zhao Guangyi in any way, but let him fulfill Zhao Kuangyin's unfinished wish with a sense of guilt.

Because the ancestors knew that although Zhao Guangyi did something wrong, he was indeed a figure suitable for being the Son of Heaven, and later facts also proved that Zhao Guangyi did make great contributions to the stability of the Song Dynasty during his reign.

Although the throne should have belonged to Zhao Defang, Zhao Guangyi was Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother anyway, and it was justified for him to inherit the throne.

In this way, Zhao Guangyi sat on the throne that should have belonged to Zhao Defang, conquered Taiyuan, destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, took a defensive position against Liao, strengthened the centralization of power, encouraged land reclamation, developed agriculture, expanded the imperial examination, established civil politics, and laid a good start for the Northern Song Dynasty.

Twenty-one years after Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, he died of serious illness, and what is surprising is that the place where Zhao Guangyi finally died is the place where Zhao Kuangyin died, Long Live Palace.

Maybe this is a historical coincidence, but I don't know what kind of memories surged up in Zhao Guangyi's heart at the last moment of his life?

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile helplessly.

A thousand years have passed, what is the point of exploring the psychology of the original emperor now?

I shook my head slightly, dispelling the sudden thought in my mind, and continued to think about what followed.

After the death of Zhao Guangyi, he was called the Emperor of Shengong Shengde Wenwu, and the temple was called Taizong, and he was buried in Yongxi Mausoleum, which is what we later called Taizong of the Song Dynasty.

After Zhao Guangyi's death, the emperor who succeeded him was the third emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong.

And as long as Song Zhenzong is mentioned, the Tanyuan Alliance will definitely be mentioned.

In the year of Zhao Heng's accession to the throne, the Northern Song Dynasty had successively pacified the Later Shu, Southern Tang, Wuyue and other forces that had been divided by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the situation in the Central Plains was very good.

However, in the process of going north to fight for the sixteen states of Yanyun before, Zhao Guangyi's two northern expeditions failed miserably, and he was even shot by the Liao army with two arrows and fled in embarrassment, which led to his final death many years later due to repeated arrow sores.

Since then, Zhao Guangyi knew that the Northern Song Dynasty was invincible to the Liao State, so he no longer went on the Northern Expedition, and the war against the Liao slowly turned into a defensive position, and Zhao Heng, who had been in the deep palace for a long time since he was a child, had a fear of Liao since he was a child, and naturally did not dare to be an enemy with it.

In the first year of Jingde, 200,000 elite soldiers of the Liao State went south, and Zhao Heng was planned to move the capital for refuge, but in the end, under the persuasion of Kou Zhun and others of the main battle faction, he was forced to go north to fight in person and fight with the invading Liao army in the land of Lanyuan.

In fact, the original battle situation was favorable to the Northern Song Dynasty, but because Zhao Heng was afraid of Liao's momentum since he was a child, and he was worried that the two sides had been fighting for a long time and had won and lost each other, he sent his men to Liao to reconcile with it.

In the end, the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao negotiated and decided that the Liao and the Song Dynasty were brotherly countries, and the envoys visited each other regularly, and the two sides took the Baigou River as the boundary and withdrew their troops from each other.

In addition, the Northern Song Dynasty provided Liao with the cost of military assistance every year, with the cost of as high as 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 horses of silk cloth, and the two sides were delivered to Xiongzhou.

In addition, the two sides carried out mutual trade on the border, and subsequent facts proved that in the mutual trade, the income of the Northern Song Dynasty was far more than the annual currency, and many horses could be purchased at low prices for military equipment, which virtually dragged down the Liao economically, so that it failed to send troops to the Northern Song Dynasty in the following decades.

This is the agreement finally signed between the Northern Song Dynasty and Liao, because the two sides agreed to reconcile in Tanyuan, so later generations called it the Tanyuan Alliance.

The alliance ended the 25-year-long war between the Song and Liao, and since then, the Song-Liao border has been relatively peaceful for a long time, which has allowed the Song Dynasty to save huge war expenses, avoid the excessive conscription and tax pressure caused by the heavy army on the border for many years, and exchange peace at a lower cost.

In addition to the economic development of the Northern Song Dynasty, the mutual trade between the two sides also invisibly promoted the economic and cultural exchanges between the Song and Liao dynasties, and also played a great role in the integration of ethnic groups.

However, it has to be admitted that since there was no large-scale war between the Song and Liao sides for more than a hundred years after the Tanyuan Alliance, this led to the relaxation of the armaments of both sides, so that in the end, both were defeated by the Jin State established by the Jurchens.

But as the so-called flaws are not concealed, although the alliance of Tanyuan was essentially signed because Zhao Heng was afraid of Liao, but in fact, this is not a treaty that is too humiliating and humiliating, on the contrary, this alliance has played a great role in the development of the Northern Song Dynasty, and since then, the Northern Song Dynasty has entered a period of economic prosperity, known as the rule of Xianping.

But in the later period of Zhao Heng's reign, he didn't know anyone, and Wang Qinruo and Ding Wei were the prime ministers, and the two often used the book of heaven to confuse the government and the opposition, and Zhao Heng was also indulged in the matter of sealing Zen, building a wide range of palaces, working the people and losing money, causing the contradictions among the people to deepen, and the complaints were full of complaints.

In the end, Zhao Heng died after reigning for 25 years, and the temple name was Zhenzong, and he was buried in Yongding Mausoleum, with a sacrifice to the Taimiao.

Generally speaking, Zhao Heng had merits and demerits during his reign, and the merits and demerits can be roughly offset, relatively speaking, it can be regarded as a generation of Ming Jun.

However, it doesn't matter whether he is a Ming monarch or a faint monarch now, because during his reign, there has already been an unwitting figure in the land of Shenzhou who is destined to go down in history.

This person is Bao Zheng Bao Longtu.