On the night of October 19 in the ninth year of Kaibao of the Great Song Dynasty (976 AD), Taizu summoned his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi, the king of Jin, to the palace to drink. After three rounds of drinking, Taizu was tired, and the king of Jin dismissed all the servants and served Taizu alone. By candlelight, everyone saw the king of Jin leaving the table and retreating, and heard the sound of an iron axe poking the snow. In the early morning of the next day, Emperor Taizu died in the palace, and before his death, he was only alone with Zhao Kuangyi, and no one knew the cause of death. On October 21 of the same year, Zhao Kuangyi announced his accession to the throne in front of Taizu's coffin.

Zhao Kuangyin's death can be said to be without warning. As for the cause of death, the official records only record when Zhao Kuangyin died, and there is not a word at all about how he died. Then I will tell you why I said that King Jin was a thief. First of all, according to normal thinking, I am the emperor, and I naturally want my children and grandchildren to inherit my place. Zhao Kuangyin died in the ninth year of Kaibao, he had four sons, the eldest son Zhao Dexiu and the third son Zhao Delin died early, and the second son Zhao Dezhao and the fourth son Zhao Defang survived. So before King Jin ascended the throne, was there also a situation where Zhao Kuangyin's descendants were not old? Just like after Chai Rong's death, Emperor Zhou Gong ascended to the throne at the age of seven, and the fact is that this does not exist. When Taizu died, the second son Zhao Dezhao was already twenty-five years old, so this is incredible.

Let's understand the situation at that time, Zhao Kuangyin died, and the first echelon qualified to inherit the throne was the two brothers Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang, and then the two brothers Zhao Kuangyi and Zhao Tingmei. After the Empress Song learned of Taizu's death, who was the one who sent the chamberlain to inform, it was Zhao Defang, the king of Qin. Zhao Defang, as the adopted son of the Empress of the Song Dynasty, inheriting Zhao Kuangyin's position is naturally beneficial to the young queen. On the contrary, historical records record that the young Empress Song was at odds with Zhao Kuangyi, and it is not difficult to imagine what happened to Zhao Kuangyi after he came to power. But the first thing that this chamberlain Wang Jien informed was the King of Jin, and the moment Empress Song saw Zhao Kuangyi in the palace first, she knew that the overall situation had been decided. In a panic, he even called Zhao Kuangyi "Guanjia", the "Guanjia" here was actually another name for the emperor in the Song Dynasty, and begged Zhao Kuangyi to let him and Zhao Defang, the king of Qin, go. At this time, there is actually a big mystery, although this Queen of Song is young, he should also know that even if he inherits the unification Zhao Dezhao, he is obviously more convincing than Zhao Defang. Why didn't she inform Zhao Dezhao, who is Jing Zhaoyin, first, or that she, as Zhao Kuangyin's pillow person, knew that Zhao Kuangyin wanted to pass on the throne to her fourth son Zhao Defang. Of course, there is no record of this in the history books, it is just a personal speculation.

Let's take a look at how this chamberlain Wang Jien responded: "Taizu passed on the throne to King Jin's ambition", which roughly means that Zhao Kuangyin originally planned to pass this country on to his brother Zhao Kuangyi instead of his own son. If Zhao Kuangyin's intentions were obvious to the inner servants, the Empress Song would not go against Zhao Kuangyin's will to summon the King of Qin into the palace to inherit the unification. Let's take a look at what this King of Jin did, Sima Guang recorded that Taizu died at the time of the four drums. After the Song Dynasty, Wang Jien summoned the King of Qin into the palace, and Wang Jien turned his head and came to Kaifeng Mansion. Cheng Dexuan, a confidant of the King of Jin, waited at the door for a long time, as if he had expected such a thing. After learning the news, the king of Jin didn't bother to take the carriage prepared by the chamberlain, ran all the way to the palace in the snow, and went directly to the palace without waiting for the report, seizing the opportunity to ascend the throne.

In fact, at this point, the sequence of events has been very clear, although there are many embellishments in the history of the Song Dynasty about Zhao Kuangyi's accession to the throne, it cannot hide the fact of stealing the country. According to the etiquette system, the enthroned monarch will not change the name of the country in the same year, and the ninth year of Taizu Kaibao will end with only two months left. After Zhao Kuangyi ascended the throne, he immediately changed the name of the country to Taiping Xingguo, so 967 AD was not only the ninth year of Kaibao, but also the first year of Taiping Xingguo. Why did this Song Taizong insist on changing the era name knowing that this was an act that defied the condemnation of the world? Are you afraid that someone will rob him? Whether you want to make a name for yourself, we don't know. And Zhao Pu also opposed Zhao Kuangyi as the heir many times, and Lu Duoxun (Zhao Kuangyi's cronies) also had many disagreements, Taizong dismissed Zhao Pu as prime minister first when he came to power, and appointed Lu Duoxun as the prime minister of Taizong Dynasty.

But we all know that after Zhao Kuangyin's death, Zhao Pu was also prosperous in the Taizong Dynasty. So how did he return to the center of power after he was removed from the post of prime minister? This has to mention the biggest royal scam in the history of the Song Dynasty, the "Golden Kui Alliance", the content is roughly the Empress Dowager Du, that is, Zhao Kuangyin's wife. Before dying, he said to Zhao Kuangyin that I have seen too many emperors in my life, almost all of them are short-lived emperors. You can't follow in the footsteps of the Thirteen Emperors of the Five Dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty and make the young Great Song Dynasty a short-lived dynasty. It is necessary to establish an elderly successor to avoid the drama of the yellow robe from happening to the old Zhao family, and ask Zhao Kuangyin to pass on his younger brother and not his son. It sounds reasonable, right, but there's too much of it in it. Empress Dowager Du's original idea was to prevent the Great Song Dynasty from being so short-lived, so Xiang Boy, you will make your younger brother the crown prince, even if there is really any accident, our old Zhao family will always be a royal family.

Zhao Kuangyin did the same, after the death of Empress Dowager Du. Zhao Kuangyi was named Kaifeng Mansion Yin, and he was the same as Pingzhang. Later, he was crowned the king of Jin, ranking above the prime minister, and the standard crown prince treatment. Then why do I say that the "Jinkui Alliance" is a political scam, the problem lies in Zhao Pu, when the Empress Dowager Du gave Zhao Kuangyin instructions on this matter, Zhao Pu was present, according to his own later statement, he Zhao Pu was as a recorder, and marked at the end of the "Chenpu Ji" three big characters, this content was hidden in Jinkui, and someone was ordered to keep it.

If Zhao Pu took out this thing when Taizong ascended the throne, Zhao Kuangyi would not care about public opinion. The facts are here, my eldest brother really wants to pass on the throne to me, so don't be ignorant of you historians. However, Zhao Pu did not make this document public until the sixth year of the Taiping Rejuvenation (981 AD). Zhao Pu, as a person who followed Taizu Zhao Kuangyin to start a business, played a vital role in the establishment of the Zhao and Song dynasties. Its unique political sense is the main reason why it has been active in officialdom for so long.

In September of the sixth year of the Taiping Rejuvenation of the Kingdom, there were rumors in the court that Lu Duoxun, who was the prime minister at the time, and Zhao Tingmei were plotting against each other and intended to seek power. What is Zhao Tingmei's identity at this time, Kaifeng Mansion Yin. Is it a familiar feeling, that is, the position of Zhao Kuangyi before he came to power, and Zhao Kuangyi called Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang princes. Well, now that Zhao Tingmei is the nominal crown prince, where did the news of his conspiracy with Prime Minister Lu Duosun to seize power come from? Naturally, it is not difficult to see here that it is the masterpiece of Zhao Pu and Song Taizong. The content of the Jinkui Alliance is roughly Zhao Kuangyin's transmission of Zhao Kuangyi, Zhao Kuangyi's transmission of Zhao Tingmei, and finally Zhao Tingmei's transmission of Zhao Dezhao. With these three passes, it not only ensured that there would be no young lord in the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, but also passed the throne back to Taizu.

But empathy, who doesn't want their children and grandchildren to be emperors all the time. Therefore, the agreement of the three transmissions of the Golden Kui Alliance to Zhao Kuangyi is destined to not be passed on. After Zhao Pu learned about Zhao Tingmei, he recommended himself to Zhao Kuangyi at the court meeting: "I am willing to prepare the center to detect the traitorous change." What kind of behavior is this, Zhao Pu is reaching out to Song Taizong to ask for an official. Sure enough, a few days later, Zhao Pu was promoted to Situ and Servant. At this time, Zhao Pu is no longer in the center of power, not to mention that he has a long-standing grudge with Taizong, where is the confidence to open his mouth. There is no doubt that it is the Golden Alliance.

Zhao Kuangyi once vaguely asked Zhao Pu how the throne should be inherited? If you don't say that our Zhao Dashen can be a big official, he replied like this: "Taizu is mistaken!" How can Your Majesty allow any more mistakes? In fact, when I first saw this sentence, my opinion of Zhao Pu changed a lot. But officialdom is like this, and there is no room for sloppiness. When Taizong heard this answer, he was overjoyed and appointed Zhao Pu as prime minister the next day. Zhao Pu was able to return to the center of power. Zhao Pu is back, who is the most panicked, naturally it is Lu Duoxun, he felt for the first time that he couldn't understand Zhao Kuangyi, and said Okay, I am the little baby.

Half a year later, the case of Lu Duosun and Zhao Tingmei broke out, and all kinds of evidence pointed to rebellion. Soon after, the two died in the land of debasement. The content of the Jinkui Alliance announced by Zhao Pu is that Zhao Kuangyin passed the throne to Zhao Kuangyi, and it will be over as soon as it is passed. As for who the throne is given below, it depends on what Zhao Kuangyi means. The official history records the three-pass system I mentioned above, and in the end, the throne still has to return to the Taizu lineage. However, the seven generations of Northern Song Dynasty emperors after Taizong were all in the same line as Zhao Kuangyi, and the act of stealing the country could not be covered up by no amount of embellishment. After Zhao Kuangyi ascended the throne, Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang also committed suicide and died suddenly. Since then, only the only one who can inherit the unification is the children of Taizong's lineage, born in the royal family, and the brotherly affection can really be ignored.

In the third year of Chunhua of Taizong of the Song Dynasty (992 AD), more than 17,000 people participated in the provincial examination, and the scale was really unprecedented. In Bianliang City, many people gathered to participate in the provincial examination, and in a farmhouse outside the city, several students who stayed overnight were discussing this year's examination questions. An old scholar who is nearly 50 years old is quite eye-catching, and the old man strokes his beard and teaches his experience of several provincial examinations to several young students around him. There are also the Oiran ladies in Kaifeng City, who look so tender. In the corner, the young scholar also smiled indifferently after hearing this, and secretly said in his heart that he was old and uncultivated.

Several of them are candidates who entered Beijing to participate in the Ministry of Rites examination this year, and they are all the first time to come to Kaifeng Mansion. Only the old man is a frequent visitor to this Kaifeng Mansion, his name is Wanziya, he is a person from Tongshan County, Zizhou, and it is said that he is a fellow villager with Su Yijian, the chief examiner of this department. The old man claimed to be an old friend of Mr. Su, so this branch must be a leap into the dragon gate. Several people in the same group laughed and said: "Brother Wan, you have such a relationship, don't forget about us at that time." ”

The old man looked at the young man in the corner, just reading by himself, since he walked together, this little friend has not had much communication with him. Today, I taught some provincial test experience, and this person did not speak, and said: "Xiaoyou, you and I have been walking together for many days, why don't you communicate with us, it is because you look down on us." As soon as the young man heard this, he didn't say a word again, and I am afraid that these people would not let themselves stay in peace tonight.

Slowly got up, put the books in the luggage he carried, and made a gesture to everyone. With a smile, he said lightly: "I don't mean to despise you, it's just that the provincial test is imminent, and the young students are not as shallow as they are, and they are not as talented as you." Before leaving, my parents had many expectations and wanted to read more sage books. After everyone heard about it, it was very useful, and the old man immediately taught some little-known alleys in Kaifeng City, and the students who listened to it were red-faced, as if they had forgotten the purpose of coming to Kaifeng City. Now Lu Chongyuan can understand why this old man always fails to try.