In the Tang Dynasty Zhenguan era, outside the Great Ming Palace.
“Offering sacrifices at Mount Tai… truly interesting…”
Li Shimin muttered to himself, his expression a bit complex.
Actually, Li Shimin and his court officials had discussed offering sacrifices at Mount Tai more than once before!
In Li Shimin's heart, he deeply desired to offer sacrifices at Mount Tai and believed he was both qualified and capable of doing so.
Among the officials, most, led by Changsun Wuji, supported Li Shimin offering sacrifices at Mount Tai, except for Wei Zheng!
Whenever Li Shimin proposed offering sacrifices, Wei Zheng would be the first to jump out and oppose it. This was already the third time he opposed it!
In a fit of anger, Li Shimin directly questioned Wei Zheng with six questions: "Are my achievements insufficient? Is my virtue lacking? Is the country not peaceful? Have the barbarians not been subdued? Is the harvest not abundant? Have auspicious omens not appeared?"
He thought that after asking these six questions, Wei Zheng would be speechless and agree to his offering sacrifices at Mount Tai.
Unexpectedly, the stubborn Wei Zheng directly answered: “They are sufficient, lacking, peaceful, subdued, abundant, and appeared!”
Six affirmative answers!
However, even so, Wei Zheng still disagreed with Li Shimin offering sacrifices, giving his own reason: “It would exhaust the people and waste money!”
Since the great chaos of the end of the Sui Dynasty, the population had been halved, and the people were struggling to survive. Although the Tang Dynasty had just been established and entered a period of prosperity, the people east of Tongguan were still impoverished. If Li Shimin offered sacrifices, his carriage would inevitably travel eastward, and the vast procession of the sacrificial ceremony, along with all the civil and military officials, would consume a significant amount of money and resources on the way!
It was due to Wei Zheng's advice that Li Shimin reluctantly abandoned his idea of offering sacrifices at Mount Tai.
But now, seeing Zhao Heng offer sacrifices at Mount Tai because of the Treaty of Chanyuan, he couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
“When I first ascended the throne, Jieli, thinking that the Tang Dynasty had no one, brazenly launched an invasion. At that time, our Tang Dynasty was impoverished, and the people's hearts were unstable. I had no choice but to single-handedly use a strategy to defeat Jieli and signed a treaty under the city walls with the Turks, which was known as the Treaty of Wei River!”
“That was the shame of my life. Even then, I did not offer sacrifices at Mount Tai. Later, in the fifth year of Zhenguan, I decisively launched a campaign to destroy the Eastern Turks. It was based on this achievement that I gradually developed the desire to offer sacrifices. Zhao Heng, how foolish he is!”
Li Shimin frowned and said coldly.
“Your Majesty is wise!”
Changsun Wuji was the first to praise him.
Wei Zheng furrowed his brows slightly, “Your Majesty's achievements naturally surpass those of Emperor Zhenzong, but the matter of offering sacrifices should not be imitated from him!”
Li Shimin shook his head and chuckled, “Xuancheng, don't worry, I won't offer sacrifices in the future.”
Wei Zheng was worried that seeing what Emperor Zhenzong did would rekindle Li Shimin’s desire to offer sacrifices!
However, Li Shimin now understood that Emperor Zhenzong offering sacrifices at Mount Tai had resulted in no future emperors offering sacrifices, causing him to be condemned throughout history!
Even if he achieved great feats in the future, he couldn't rashly offer sacrifices at Mount Tai. Otherwise, it would only defile the majesty of Mount Tai and make offering sacrifices into a ridiculous act!
Hearing Li Shimin's words, Wei Zheng nodded in satisfaction. Compared to Emperor Zhenzong, His Majesty is a hundred times wiser!
…
In the Song Dynasty Dazhong Xiangfu era, outside the Palace of Tranquil Support.
Emperor Zhenzong Zhao Heng, clad in a dragon robe, saw the evaluation of him on the Golden List and spat out a mouthful of blood!
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
The palace attendants rushed over and surrounded Zhao Heng.
Zhao Heng staggered to his feet, his eyes drooping, his face grim:
“No need to support me, I can get up!”
“I never imagined, I never imagined that my offering sacrifices at Mount Tai would end up like this…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Qinruo, the Minister of Rites, stepped forward from the crowd and exclaimed indignantly:
“Your Majesty, don't worry, auspicious omens appeared continuously in those days, it was truly Heaven's will for Your Majesty to offer sacrifices at Mount Tai. Since Your Majesty has offered sacrifices, what could be wrong with that?”
The court officials couldn't help but widen their eyes in shock.
What a Wang Qinruo! Truly a favored minister of His Majesty! He just makes up these lies on the fly, without even drafting them!
But the officials were powerless except to be surprised, after all, Wang Qinruo was deeply favored by His Majesty, and along with Ding Wei, Lin Te, Chen Pengnian, and Liu Chenggui, they became the five wicked ministers of the Zhenzong era, known as the “Five Ghosts” by the common people!
Zhao Heng waved his hand weakly, interrupting Wang Qinruo's nonsense. His face was bitter:
“My dear official, there is no need to say anymore. From now on, I will establish a rule, any future emperors, unless they have extraordinary achievements, shall not offer sacrifices at Mount Tai!”
“Your Majesty is wise!”
The court officials all knelt down. Zhao Heng sighed deeply. It seems that he could only use this method to redeem his lost reputation…
…
In the Song Dynasty Kaiping era, outside the Palace of Tranquil Support.
Zhao Kuangyin hung his head in dejection, his face filled with despair.
“It seems that even for the entire Song Dynasty, we won't be able to reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun!”
Since the Treaty of Chanyuan was signed and peace maintained for a hundred years, it meant that none of the emperors of the Song Dynasty after Emperor Zhenzong would ever send troops to reclaim Yanyun, and Yanyun would be lost forever.
Thinking of this, Zhao Kuangyin’s mood sank even lower.
“All because of that idiot Zhao Heng! Truly unforgivable!”
“It's a pity! Didn't any emperors of my dynasty before Emperor Zhenzong send troops to reclaim Yanyun?”
As he cursed, Zhao Kuangyin became puzzled.
While he didn't know which emperor Zhenzong was in the Song Dynasty, he knew for sure that he wasn't the second emperor, because none of his sons were named Zhao Heng!
If so, it meant that there must have been Song emperors between him and Zhenzong. If they had sent troops to reclaim Yanyun, how could there have been the Treaty of Chanyuan later?
Zhao Guangyi was also puzzled, “Brother, you’re right. Did no one before Emperor Zhenzong of our Song Dynasty send troops to reclaim Yanyun?”
This is too disrespectful to the ancestral instructions!
As for who Zhao Heng was, Zhao Guangyi had the same idea as Zhao Kuangyin—Emperor Zhenzong couldn't be the second emperor of the Song Dynasty!
As soon as the words left his mouth, the golden characters on the Golden List reappeared, immediately catching the attention of both Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi:
【The Battle of Chanyuan was not the first battle between the Song Dynasty and Liao over the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Since the death of Emperor Taizu, all emperors of the Song Dynasty have considered reclaiming the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun as an ancestral instruction. However, after the Battle of Gaoliang River by Emperor Taizong of Song, emperors of the Song Dynasty changed their previous tough stance towards Liao and instead adopted a policy of appeasement with tribute payments, showing a fear of the enemy like a tiger!】
“Emperor Taizong? De Zhao?”
Zhao Kuangyin was startled. The word Taizong clearly refers to the second emperor of the dynasty!
As for his own sons, besides his eldest son Zhao Dexiu, who died young, and his third son Zhao Delin, he only had his second son Zhao Dezhao and his fourth son Zhao Defang!
According to the order of seniority, after his death, the one who should inherit the throne of the Song Dynasty was his second son, Zhao Dezhao!
“The Battle of Gaoliang River? What was that battle about? Did our Song Dynasty lose again?”
Zhao Kuangyin was confused.
“Brother, most likely. I didn't expect that such a problem would arise with the second emperor of our Song Dynasty…”
Zhao Guangyi frowned and helped Zhao Kuangyin sit down.
【The so-called Battle of Gaoliang River occurred in the fourth year of Emperor Taizong's reign of Taiping Xingguo of the Song Dynasty. To seize Youzhou, the Song army engaged in combat with the Liao army in the Gaoliang River area...】
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