I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 51 There Never Was a Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Zhao Ji thought about it over and over again, digesting the wise advice of calling his son his nephew over and over again, and in the end, he liked it more and more.

He wanted to return to the palace immediately and summon the group of scholars from the Hanlin Academy to discuss this issue together, and reshape the Song Dynasty's previous attitude towards history, and the characterization of the stories of the previous dynasty and the deeds of the early period of the current dynasty. He wanted to reshape it according to Zhao Zicheng's ideas.

It’s a pity that he is still using the fake identity of “Zhao Shicong, a descendant of Prince Pu”. In order to avoid being exposed, Zhao Ji can only wait patiently for the banquet to end.

Chen Dong and several other students weren't particularly concerned with the outcome of the previous debate. Zhao Zicheng's conclusions had no bearing on their interests, so they simply entertained the topic for academic reasons. After discussing this question, they quickly branched out and raised new questions.

Zhao Ji could only patiently listen to them finish their words.

At this moment, Chen Dong was a little drunk due to his excitement. After thinking for a while, he continued to ask:

"Although I have never heard of what you just said, my dear brother, it does seem to make sense and is quite eye-opening.

However, if we really use the criteria of "whether it is conducive to the reunification of the Han people during the chaotic times, whether it saves the Han people from fighting civil wars, and whether they have to pay more military service and corvee, then we can judge whether a dynasty has the Mandate of Heaven and the Good Fortune, and how long it will last."

Then, I'm afraid the history of the Five Dynasties will have to be re-evaluated. The events will remain the same, but the historians' evaluation and discussion of those chaotic times will certainly be completely changed. Not only the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, but even the previous periods of continuous division and chaos, such as the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, will probably have some things re-evaluated by official historians.

Chen Dong and others have no purpose in their academic debates, they just speak whatever comes to mind.

But Zhao Zicheng's purpose was very clear. Every word he said today was full of hidden meanings and buried dangers - no one knew the true thoughts of Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin, and Zhao Guangyi back then. What Zhao Zicheng said just now did not represent the true thoughts of his predecessors. It was just that such an interpretation was most beneficial to Zhao Zicheng's future plans, so he said this deliberately.

Precisely because Zhao Zicheng had a clear purpose, he did not want to go too far and talk with Chen Dong and others about historical identification issues such as the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

However, Zhao Zicheng was also slightly enlightened by Chen Dong's question. For example, before the Song Dynasty, the traditional view of the Three Kingdoms history was entirely based on the Wei Dynasty as the orthodox, and the Han Dynasty was not considered. This was because traditional doctrine held that orthodoxy could only be all or nothing, with no intermediate state.

It seems that orthodoxy and destiny were instantly transferred from A to B at the moment of abdication.

However, after the Song Dynasty, both official and popular views on the series of divisions and turmoil in history underwent considerable changes. A major factor in this was the long period of division and confrontation during the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty was at a long-term military disadvantage against the Liao Dynasty and later the Jin and Mongolian Dynasties.

Including the people, it was during the Song Dynasty that people began to sympathize more and more with Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, and to discredit Cao Cao's image more and more. Later readers of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" might think that Luo Guanzhong discredited Cao Cao, but in fact, Luo Guanzhong always prided himself on being fair and restored Cao Cao's image from the previous folk "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

If you have read the folk stories of the Song and Yuan dynasties, you will know that the popular image of Cao Cao's camp at that time was many times worse than that in the novel. Let me give you an example to make it clear:
When Shi Nai'an wrote "Water Margin", he said that the clerk who seduced Song Jiang's concubine Yan Poxi was called "Zhang Wenyuan". Some people may wonder why this person has the same name as Zhang Liao, but in fact Shi Nai'an wrote it this way on purpose to reduce the readers' cognitive cost.

In the Song and Yuan Dynasty vernacular novels, there are no positive images of civil officials and counselors in Cao Cao's camp at all. All the brain-intensive tasks are done by Cao Cao himself or a bunch of clever and clown-like generals.

At that time, there were hundreds of novels in which the corrupt officials were all named "Zhang Wenyuan", just like in the 21st century, there are tens of thousands of online novels in which the vicious, rich and beautiful women are all named "Liu Ruyan".

Zhao Zicheng personally experienced this after traveling through time. He had seen dozens of clown-like characters named Zhang Wenyuan when he watched plays and listened to storytelling.

And all of this psychological basis can be further explored and utilized by Zhao Zicheng.

Although he would not comment on things that were too old to be useful, since Chen Dong had already given him the handle, taking the opportunity to slightly reconstruct his evaluation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which was not too far away, would definitely be beneficial for his future power grab.

……

After sorting out what he could do, Zhao Zicheng began to talk about his historical insights in a bold and decisive manner.

He first affirmed Chen Dong's skepticism: "Brother Chen, you are right! According to my previous historical insights, the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms does need to be re-evaluated.

In fact, at the beginning of this dynasty, Emperor Taizu and a group of knowledgeable civil servants had considered not compiling a "History of the Five Dynasties" but simply revising the history of the Tang Dynasty and then adding a "Biography of Wang Mang" at the end of the historical materials of the Western Han Dynasty, just like Ban Gu did when compiling the "History of the Han Dynasty".

Those usurpers without any legitimate claim to power were treated like Wang Mang, with biographies added directly, so that a single biography could record the deeds of a pseudo-dynasty. In fact, I have always felt that this idea was not wrong at the time, because there were so many usurpers during the Five Dynasties, but the unified territory was far less extensive than that of Wang Mang, and its duration was far less than that of Wang Mang.

At least Wang Mang actually unified the world for a short period of time and lasted for fifteen years. During the Five Dynasties, how many people lasted for more than fifteen years?
As for the name of the "Ten Kingdoms", it is just because someone wrote a book called "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms", and then historians agreed to call it the Ten Kingdoms. But in my opinion, it is also very problematic!
However, some treacherous ministers persuaded Taizu and Taizong, saying, "Our dynasty inherited from the Zhou Dynasty, not directly from the Tang Dynasty. If the Zhou Dynasty lacked legitimacy, who would have inherited it?" Finally, Taizu and Taizong were forced to allow the compilation of the "Five Dynasties History." First, Xue Juzheng compiled the "Old Five Dynasties History," and later, Ouyang Xiu compiled the "New Five Dynasties History."

If the historical perspective of the world in the future could reconsider the issues of the transfer and origin of the Mandate of Heaven and the good fortune before this dynasty as I have just said, then the history of the Five Dynasties would not have to be so complicated. However, since I am a humble person, there is no need to elaborate on these matters.

Zhao Zicheng's acting was excellent. He didn't directly reveal his entire academic structure, because that would be too fake. Given his current status, what was the point of saying so much? He was just a guy with two honors in the Imperial College, not even in the top few exams. How could he have the right to comment on such a topic?

He is still pretending not to know Zhao Ji's identity, so Zhao Zicheng seems to be thinking, "It's useless for me to say anything anyway, just stop here."

As a result, Zhao Ji, who had just listened with curiosity and excitement, became a little restless. After holding back for a while, he finally spoke: "Even if it's useless, why don't you speak freely, nephew? Anyway, there are no outsiders today, so we can drink and chat. We have nothing to do anyway."

Zhao Zicheng sighed a few more times, thinking it was useless to say anything. Finally, Zhao Ji persuaded him again and again, and he finally put on a bored attitude, saying "just waste a little more saliva", and said his own designed interpretation:
"If we follow my nephew's historical perspective, since the Great Zhou's Mandate of Heaven and its good fortune were not constant, then this dynasty can fully acknowledge that the Great Zhou had a Mandate of Heaven from its inception, shouldering the heavy responsibility of 'saving the Han people from the calamity of the world.' When Guo Wei and Chai Rong fulfilled this mission, their interests, good fortune, and destiny were in line with the expectations and aspirations of the people of the world.

Therefore, regardless of whether the "History of the Five Dynasties" was compiled, the Great Zhou Dynasty could have a certain destiny. It was a pity that this destiny was incomplete, so it would eventually be the turn of this dynasty to complete and supplement this destiny.

By extension, the Mandate of Heaven was completely non-existent during the Later Jin and Later Han dynasties! During the fourteen years they usurped the Central Plains, the Central Plains had no Mandate of Heaven at all, and was in a state of 'lost empire'!

As soon as this statement came out, everyone in the audience was shocked.

Song Dynasty scholars had never heard of the concept of "the end of the world." The Mandate of Heaven was undoubtedly passed from one person to another. Whoever reigned supreme at a certain moment possessed the Mandate of Heaven. How could there be a vacuum? A nation could not be without a ruler for even a single day!

"What do you mean? What does it mean to destroy the world?" Zhao Ji's face began to turn ugly.

Zhao Zicheng also realized that his distant cousin had a bad expression, so he adjusted his tone to make himself seem more drunk and arrogant, and then he skillfully borrowed Gu Yanwu's famous saying from hundreds of years later:
"Changing surnames and names is the downfall of a nation. Disrupting benevolence and righteousness, leading to beasts devouring humans and humans devouring each other, is the downfall of the world. The downfall of a nation is the work of the meat-eaters; the downfall of the world is the responsibility of every man!

Shi Jingtang was merely a puppet emperor of the Khitans, a vanguard of the barbarians who lost their Chinese dignity. How could such a beast, a pig or a dog, be considered legitimate? The eleven years during which the Shi family gained control of the country were eleven years during which China was a puppet of the Khitans!
The Later Han dynasty lasted only three years, but Liu Zhiyuan relied on friendly relations with the Khitans. When the Liao army was repelled by the Central Plains rebels and retreated north, the Liu family showed goodwill to the Khitans and helped them take over order in the Central Plains, temporarily maintaining a stable existence for three years. After Zhou Taizu Guo Wei launched an uprising against the Khitans, the Liu family continued to use the Khitans as external aid, colluding with foreign tribes, calling themselves "nephew emperor" and the Khitan ruler "uncle emperor."

The two pseudo dynasties of Jin and Han regarded the Khitan as their father and uncle, and the Central Plains as their son and nephew. They acted like beasts and replaced the Chinese clothing, so the world was destroyed for fourteen years!
Going back even further, during the late Tang Dynasty, although Zhu Wen temporarily seized power, how many prefectures and counties did he actually control? At the time of his rebellion, Jin and Youzhou refused to submit, nor did Shu, Chu, and Yang to the south. All Zhu Wen held were Heluo, Shandong, Huaibei, and part of Hebei excluding Youzhou. Even Yongliang still had Qi Wang Li Maozhen, who claimed to be a remnant of the Tang Dynasty.

Although the Li family, who later restored the Tang Dynasty to its former glory, did not have the direct bloodline of the Tang emperor, they at least inherited the Tang Dynasty's clothing and customs, and always coexisted with Zhu Wen. Therefore, Zhu Wen could not be considered orthodox from beginning to end.

After such analysis, there is no such thing as the History of the Five Dynasties in the world. There is only the History of the Tang Dynasty, the ten years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the current dynasty which supplemented the incomplete mandate of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The history of the Tang Dynasty should end with the moment when the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Congke, committed suicide by jumping into the fire while holding the imperial seal, rather than ending with Zhu Wen usurping the throne. Zhu Wen never completely overthrew the Tang Dynasty from beginning to end, but only usurped the central government. He only deserves to be listed in the history of the Tang Dynasty like Wang Mang, and be called the "Huang Zhu Rebellion" like the "Anshi Rebellion".

The Tang Dynasty should be considered to have been destroyed by the traitorous puppet Shi Jingtang, who led the Khitan barbarians into invading. The two subsequent Khitan puppets are no longer considered dynasties, but rather have a biography. Only when someone once again takes up the banner of restoring etiquette and resisting the Khitan will the world regain its legitimacy.

Therefore, for the historical materials of the Great Zhou Dynasty, later historians could follow the example of the "Records of the Three Kingdoms," where the "Book of Shu" placed the "Biography of Liu Ermu" before the deeds of the first lord. The "Biography of Liu Ermu" mentioned by Zhao Zicheng is the biography of Liu Yan and Liu Zhang written by Chen Shou in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, placed before the deeds of Liu Bei in the "Book of Shu." This can also be considered a way of recording historical figures who "possessed a certain degree of virtue and destiny, but were incomplete and ultimately destined to be used as a tool for others."

Because Liu Bei still regarded Liu Zhang as an ally of his camp, Zhao Kuangyin had to do at least the same thing towards the Chai family, or even a little bit more. This required the new historian to come up with a new solution, which was not something Zhao Zicheng could interfere with.

Zhao Zi said that the purpose of such drastic deconstruction and restructuring today is of course very clear, which is to play the "nationalism" card in advance for the future anti-Jin plan.

Before the Song Dynasty, Han Chinese didn't have a strong debate about the distinction between Chinese and barbarians. Han Chinese had no memory of the tragic struggles and ultimate annihilation of the barbarians. They believed that the succession of emperors merely changed dynasties, or simply "changed surnames and titles."

Historically, it was only after the Song and Ming dynasties were destroyed twice by nomadic invasions that the Han people developed this awareness.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, this kind of consciousness had a certain folk and academic basis, but because the beating was not severe enough, this consciousness was always vague and could not be clearly summarized.

Since this is the case, Zhao Zicheng will help them summarize it so that the people of the Song Dynasty can realize this in advance and be more determined to resist the Jin Dynasty in the future.

Zhao Ji was so stunned by his nephew's shocking remarks that he couldn't recover for a long time.

After calming down, he keenly realized that his nephew's words could also be used by him, because it was obvious that this would be beneficial to resisting the Liao, destroying the Liao, and destroying the Xia, and would be beneficial to uniting the Han people all over the world and strengthening the cohesion for foreign wars.

However, the hidden dangers are also obvious. According to Zhao Zicheng's theory, for the first time, the idea that "the Mandate of Heaven does not always exist, and there does not have to be a ruler carrying the Mandate of Heaven at all times" was introduced.

The Mandate of Heaven can be temporarily severed; at a certain moment, no one in the world can have it. As long as the empire is destroyed and etiquette and manners no longer exist, then the Mandate of Heaven can be gone.

Destiny can actually be in a state of "nothingness".

Should he adopt this theory? Zhao Ji was in a dilemma.

Moreover, he soon discovered that if it was adopted, the benefits would be more than that, because it could also make the history before the current dynasty simpler and purer, making it easier for the people to understand.

In the future, there will be no Five Dynasties, and the official ideological historical narrative will only be "The Tang Dynasty was destroyed by foreign races, while the Zhou Dynasty and our dynasty rebuilt the world from the hooves of the Khitans.

Because of Chai Rong's selfish motives, the Great Zhou was slow to save the people of the world. Taizu couldn't bear it, so he took over personally, just to speed up the rescue by twenty years.

In order to be worthy of Chai Rong and to ensure that he would not commit the same selfish motives as Chai Rong when he died, Taizu gave up his bloodline inheritance rights and passed them on to his younger brother because the new emperor was young and the speed of expelling the Tartars was slowed down.

This story is much easier to remember than the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou dynasties, and it sounds much more just and great.

The price was that the Han people's clothing and etiquette were raised to a new level, and the future emperor must be the spokesperson for national interests and the interests of clothing, etiquette and culture.

Before this doctrine came into being, the emperor had no regard for the nation and could sell out the interests of the nation.

After using this set of theories, the emperor's legitimacy was tied to the interests of the ethnic group with which he identified with his culture. If he continued to do things that betrayed his country for personal gain, he would "lose the mandate of heaven."

The pros and cons still need to be weighed. Zhao Ji decided to find someone to discuss the matter after returning.

However, Zhao Ji still felt in principle that this system was useful, and the advantages definitely outweighed the disadvantages, so it could be adopted for reference - and the reason was still the same reason, he was too confident.

He felt that it was impossible for him, Zhao Ji, to sell out the interests of the world and the nation. He was about to swallow up Liao and destroy Xia, so how could he cede land and pay compensation?

Therefore, a reform that "can make those who swallow Liao and destroy Xia more glorious and those who cede land and pay compensation more humiliating" would certainly be more beneficial than harmful to him.

After finalizing this view in his mind, Zhao Ji listened to his nephew, Chen Dong and others, and finally talked about some finishing topics to fill in the gaps, which could be regarded as filling in some academic shortcomings.

Zhao Zicheng finally boasted, "If the Five Dynasties History is compiled according to my historical perspective, the Ten Kingdoms will no longer exist. It's not that there weren't separatist regimes under the Ten Kingdoms, but there were far more than the Ten Kingdoms! Why do you say there were only Ten Kingdoms?"

When the Tang Dynasty fell, at least twelve separatist states emerged from its homeland! This was because Wang Jian of Goryeo had founded his kingdom forty years before the Song Dynasty, during the bloody battle between Liang and Tang. Ding Boling of Jiaozhi also did so.

However, in our traditional history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the ten kingdoms were eventually destroyed and then recovered by the Song Dynasty. However, during the Tang-Song transition, Goryeo and Jiaozhi were separated and isolated, and were never recovered for over a hundred years! To please their superiors, later historians only wrote about the ten kingdoms, avoiding mentioning the two that were never recovered!

Similarly, there is actually the Dali Kingdom in southern Yunnan, but considering that there was also the Nanzhao Kingdom in Yunnan during the Tang Dynasty and it was constantly fighting with the Tang Dynasty and was never swallowed up by the Tang Dynasty, the situation of the Dali Kingdom can be relaxed as appropriate, and we can not strictly include it in the Tang Dynasty's ancestral territory. Although as early as the Han Dynasty, the Han Emperor had conquered the Southwestern Yi, pacified Yunnan and established a county, and Zhuge Wuhou also pacified the Southern Barbarians and controlled Yunnan.

Therefore, even by the strictest standards, if I were to say so, there has never been a Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the world. There has only been the Tang-Song transition and the Twelve Kingdoms period! The great cause of restoring the Tang Dynasty's homeland has not yet been fully accomplished!
When Emperor Taizong of Tang expelled the Turks, it was only because "there was no historical debt with the previous Sui Dynasty" that he accomplished the feat of expelling the nomadic barbarians from the grasslands during his own reign.

If a sage ruler in our dynasty could accomplish such a feat, it would not only fulfill the achievements of Emperor Taizong of Tang, but would also help the Tang Dynasty repay the historical debt owed for hundreds of years since the An-Shi Rebellion. Therefore, the achievements of a sage ruler who accomplished all this would naturally far surpass those of Emperor Taizong of Tang.

What Zhao Zicheng said is indeed correct in theory.

Although both were about defeating the barbarians, the difficulty and achievements were different. The Song Dynasty had a much greater difficulty in accomplishing all this, and it also had to repay the historical debts of the previous dynasty. Many historical problems were not only buried after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, but had already been buried after the court lost its actual control of the world in the middle period of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Zicheng painted such a big pie, naturally, in order to make Zhao Ji accept it better and make him feel that "if I accomplish all this in the future, the evaluation in history books of future generations will be so high."

Emperor Wu of Han only handled his own affairs and did not repay the debt owed to the Qin Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty did not owe any debt to the Huns.

Emperor Taizong of Tang also concluded his own affairs and had no debts to pay back to the Sui Dynasty.

If I could do that, wouldn't I be far superior to Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang?

The cake was so delicious that Zhao Ji couldn't help but fantasize about the comments about himself in later history books as the greatest emperor of all time.

This historical view of "son calling nephew a virtuous nephew" must be secretly promoted by some means and opportunities! It must become the official ideology of the Song Dynasty!
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PS: Yesterday's comments were quite controversial, so I won't say anything else. I'll just reiterate one point:
Everything the protagonist said does not mean that I think the historical view at that time should be like this.

It does not represent the inner thoughts of Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin, or Zhao Guangyi, as the protagonist speculates.

Simply because it's in the protagonist's best interest to set up his own scheme. Every pie he paints now will be useful to him in the future. As for how it will be used, I won't spoil it, but any smart person can guess it pretty well; it's not that difficult.

This is just a ploy by the protagonist to take advantage of the opponent's strategy, nothing more.

(End of this chapter)