Li Yu was the late master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but he was far better at writing poetry than he was as an emperor. How could an emperor who was obsessed with poetry govern the country well? The demise of the Southern Tang Dynasty was also a matter of time. When the Southern Tang Dynasty was about to be destroyed by Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Yu was willing to surrender, but Zhao Kuangyin ignored him at all and replied directly: "How can I allow others to snore on the side of the bed?"
Li Yu, formerly known as Li Congjia, He is the sixth son of Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Logically speaking, it is not Li Yu's turn to inherit the throne. Li Yu's eldest brother Li Hongji is the legitimate crown prince and future emperor. What's more, Li Yu himself is not interested in the throne. He is obsessed with poetry, calligraphy and a series of literary and artistic things. However, fate is always so magical that he has to hand over this important task to Li Yu.
As the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin was definitely a wise king compared to Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang. In order to stabilize his rule, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang massacred the founding heroes. Zhao Kuangyin was different. He firmly controlled the military power in his own hands in the blink of an eye. The release of military power over a glass of wine served as a model for the relationship between emperors and ministers in history. No one in later generations could achieve this.
As the saying goes: "The world is dominated by those who win the hearts of the people." Zhao Kuangyin knew this very well, so he did not kill the descendants of the Chai family purely to win the hearts of the people. After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he conferred the title of King Zheng on Chai Zongxun and moved to Fangzhou.
Some people say that the reason why the Song Dynasty was bullied one after another by Liao, Jin and Mongolia was ultimately the fault of Zhao Kuangyin. It was he who personally relieved the military power of the generals. From then on, the Song Dynasty army was "the generals did not know the soldiers, and the soldiers did not know the generals", which led to the failure of many wars, and eventually the country was destroyed and ruled by the Mongols.
Song Taizu may not be able to compete with Tian Khan Li Shimin, but Zhao Kuangyin's writing, martial arts, and state governance are both remarkable. Among the many founding emperors, he did not have the indiscriminate killings of Zhu Yuanzhang, he did not have the tyranny of Qin Shihuang, and he did not slaughter heroes like Liu Bang. In any case, Zhao Kuangyin is not comparable to the eternal sinners of the Chinese nation.
In fact, this is normal. Who doesn’t want his family to be forever strong? Of course, this is indeed problematic, because in the face of foreign enemies, Zhao Kuangyin chose the lesser of two evils, but in fact, foreign enemies are also a great threat. Both the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty eventually perished at the hands of foreign enemies, not internal ones.
Objectively speaking, Zhao Kuangyin is not perfect. He does have many problems. Therefore, we must be objective when looking at historical figures. Many of his policies indeed had a great impact on the two Song Dynasties, and many of his policies even directly threatened the stability of the regime. Even if the demise of the two Song Dynasties was related to him, then he can't be called a sinner through the ages. This label is really too big.