At this time, the Great Song Dynasty had unified the Central Plains and even the whole South, achieving the closest unification of the Central Plains dynasty in more than 200 years since the end of the Tang Dynasty. Although there are still strong neighbors in the north, in the sixteen years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the national strength of Dasong has been growing day by day and the national movement has flourished. Therefore, in the eyes of the accompanying civil and military officials, this trip to the West should be a nostalgic trip full of warmth.
Legend has it that when Taizu returned to visit Jiamaying's former residence, he was overjoyed and reluctant to return. He even dug up a toy stone horse buried as a child from a local Tuke and took it with him affectionately.
However, this trip to the west is not all about eating and drinking. Mao suddenly proposed to move the capital to Luoyang, which surprised the ministers and made Mao very unhappy with their strong opposition. He simply lived in Luoyang for two months, refused to return to Kaifeng in the east, and even proposed to move to Luoyang and then to Chang 'an.
This stalemate for two months is undoubtedly a kind of torture for ministers, and Luoyang's days are spent in anxiety. Finally, Mao was persuaded by Mao's younger brother Zhao Guangyi. Although unwilling, I was willing to drive back to Beijing in the end. Five months later, the sage who created the Great Song suddenly died in the palace in Kaifeng.
This is the so-called "discussion of moving the capital" in the early Song Dynasty. If you are not familiar with the history of the Song Dynasty, you may have the following impressions when listening to this story for the first time: First, Song Taizu, like most emperors in the feudal era, thinks about one thing and is obviously naive and difficult to serve;
Second, the emperor is very democratic, and his anger turns to anger. Finally, he can listen to the opposition of his officials and give up what he wants to do. As an emperor, it is not easy; Third, the failure to move the capital to Luoyang may be a great regret in the last stage of his life.
Comparatively speaking, Song Taizu is indeed a kind-hearted king, but at the same time, he also has a difficult side. However, people who study and pay attention to the history of Song Dynasty generally believe that Zhao Kuangyin's proposal to move the capital is by no means a whim, and it is a great regret for the whole country that his idea has not been put into practice. If we had really moved to Luoyang at that time, we might have been trapped in northern Xinjiang for 300 years, and the tragic fate of dying in a foreign country twice could have been avoided.
Judging from the topography, Luoyang is surrounded by mountains and waters, and the situation is the best in the world. Kaifeng, located on the plain on the south bank of the Yellow River, is a place to defend the four wars. If we compare Luoyang and Kaifeng only from this natural condition, the advantages and disadvantages of being a national capital are obvious. The civil and military officials in the Qing Dynasty were unanimously opposed to moving the capital. Of course, there were other reasons besides that.
Kaifeng was once the capital of Wei during the Warring States Period. It was called Daliang at that time and later renamed Bianzhou. The canal opened in the Sui Dynasty entered the Jianghuai area through the capital of the Song Dynasty, making it the throat to lock and control the north-south waterway traffic. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the northern buffer region was divided, and wars were frequent, and the economic center shifted to the southern region, and the capital of song dynasty became the only place for the transportation of grain from south to north.
During the Five Dynasties, Bianliang was the capital of Hou Liang, Houjin, Houhan and Houzhou successively, and the scale of the city continued to expand. By Chai Rong's time, Zhou Shizong in the capital of song dynasty had triple walls, which were high and deep, with regular buildings, wide roads and prosperous business, and were quite imperial. After more than ten years' operation in Zhao and Song Dynasties, the capital of Bianliang "is the most important capital in the world, with numerous boats and cars, controlling the crescent moon of Yan and the traffic of Jinghu Lake", and officials of the DPRK and China have lived here for many years. At this time, I really feel that I am shaking the foundation of the country.
What's more, at this time, Luoyang (including Chang 'an) has basically lost its status as the capital city because of years of war since the late Tang Dynasty, with serious urban damage and economic decline. In fact, since the Tang Dynasty and Shi Jingtang moved their capital to Kaifeng, Chang 'an and Luoyang have never been the capitals of any dynasty.
Zhao Kuangyin seized the post-Zhou regime through the Chen Qiao mutiny, so Kaifeng was not an option at first, but a natural inheritance. Kaifeng is indeed a place where four wars are easy to attack and difficult to defend. Previously, all capitals were short-lived regimes, but Song Taizu was brilliant. After the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, with the aim of opening up Xinjiang and expanding its territory, it began to fight against the North. Strategically, it is mainly offensive, and the battlefield is mainly in other people's territory.
For more than ten years, the capital has never been threatened, and the convenient transportation in Kaifeng has become an advantage for soldiers and wars. It should be said that Kaifeng, the capital of the early Song Dynasty, was the best plan to meet the objective needs of society, economy, politics and military affairs.
The problem is that when the Song Dynasty swept the southern countries like autumn leaves and turned its eyes to the north, the situation began to change fundamentally. The Northern Han regime entrenched in Shanxi was United with the Khitan in the north. With the favorable terrain of Taiyuan, the capital, Song Jun was successfully prevented from advancing northward. Song Taizu attacked Northern Han three times, but all failed.
When the strategic attack turns to confrontation, as an emperor who has been through many battles and outstanding military talents, he is not only disappointed and helpless because of his inability, but also aware of the great danger. The Northern Han Dynasty is in the north of the Yellow River, just across the water from the Bianliang River. And the powerful Khitan may go south at any time, with the flat and open terrain of the capital of song dynasty, how to resist the Liao army fighters?
In order to ensure the security of the fourth world war, we can only take soldiers as risks, so the number of imperial troops stationed in Kaifeng expanded rapidly. Ministers who are used to a comfortable life may feel at ease when they see that there are heavy troops guarding the capital, and Mao has clearly realized that the huge army consumes great national strength.
He proposed to move the capital to Luoyang in order to "make redundant soldiers according to the risks of mountains and rivers." Unfortunately, his foresight failed to be understood by ministers, and finally he had to make a compromise under Zhao Guangyi's persuasion, that is, "the world is safe, and the morality is not dangerous."
In fact, there is another conjecture about the proposal to move the capital: Zhao Guangyi, the eldest brother, has long been determined to seek a position and has been making careful preparations. He has been in the official seal for more than ten years and has cultivated a large number of cronies in Beijing. Whether Mao is aware of this or not, moving the capital is tantamount to a drastic measure for me. Of course, he will strongly oppose it.
Ministers were just encouraged by him to help him create an atmosphere. Such a "conspiracy theory" analysis is too strong, but it is not unreasonable. Subsequent developments, even the bizarre death of Mao a few months later, can be used as a reason to doubt Zhao Guangyi.
When he finally made a compromise, Mao couldn't help but sigh: "Within a hundred years, the people of the world will be strong!" This language was verified a hundred years later. The unprecedented huge army consumed nine-tenths of the financial resources of the Song Dynasty, but it was still unable to stop the invasion of foreign enemies. Kaifeng was finally captured by the Jin army in the second year of Jingkang (A.D. 1 127) and the Northern Song Dynasty perished.
At that time, on his way back to Beijing from Luoyang, he went to Gongxian (now Gongyi), and Mao went to the Yong 'an Mausoleum entrusted by his parents to pay homage. In the corner of the sacred wall of the cemetery, he looked around and sighed for a long time, then pulled out an arrow carved with feathers and shot it into the distant field.
Watching the arrow fall silently in the distance, he sighed and told all the officials around him that life must have a home. Today, the place where the arrow landed is where I rest after my death. After that, he took out the toy stone horse, ordered it to be buried where the arrow fell, and named his tomb Yongchang. This is the origin of the legendary Mao Yongchang Mausoleum.
That sharp arrow can penetrate the enemy's armor at first, but it will inevitably fall to the ground in the end, and the story of a generation of saints will come to an end.