Yan Shu automatically ignored the words "military affairs are far inferior", turned around to look at Zhao Zhen and the others, and said with satisfaction: "It seems that Song Renzong is an excellent emperor."
"Almost, he's a wise ruler."
Zhao Jun added, "But I really want to beat him up."
"Forehead."
Yan Shu and Zhao Zhen were stunned. If he was a good emperor, why would they want to attack him?
"Why do you want to hit him?"
Yan Shu asked.
Zhao Jun said, "His dynasty produced a number of masters of writing Song poetry, including Yan Shu, Su Shi, Liu Yong, Ouyang Xiu, Yan Jidao, and Fan Zhongyan. When I was in school, I was driven to death by memorizing poetry. Now that I'm a teacher, I still have to teach students about Song poetry, and I can't avoid him."
Yan Shu looked at Zhao Zhen awkwardly. Zhao Zhen looked helpless, and several ministers behind him covered their mouths and laughed.
It seems that the literary style of the prosperous era under government rule was too harsh, bringing disaster to future generations.
"Of course, the emperor was indeed a good emperor. Aside from being unlucky and unable to father a son, there was nothing else to fault about Song Renzong. According to unofficial history, when he died, the enemy emperor, Liao Dao Zong, mourned for him. But our teacher said it was probably fake, as there's no official history of either Song or Liao."
"Also, the problems of redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenditures worsened during his reign. Although the Song Dynasty was the richest country in the world at the time, it was also the poorest because of these three redundancies. The army was suffering from a serious problem of unpaid salaries, the generals were corrupt and incompetent, and the civil servants received extremely high salaries. The number of officials was also extremely large, and they did nothing every day, hindering the court's progress."
"Add to that the annual tribute paid to the Liao Kingdom, which caused a serious financial deficit for the Song Dynasty. Land annexation was rampant, with large amounts of people's land seized by the powerful, leading to serious internal rebellion. The war against the Western Xia was also unsuccessful, which helped Li Yuanhao establish his prestige in the founding of the country, leading to the subsequent three-way balance of power between Liao, Xia, and Song."
"Renzong was a good emperor, but that was during the Song Dynasty. Compared to wise rulers in other dynasties, he was just a mediocre ruler."
"He had the idea to change this situation of poverty and weakness, but faced with enormous resistance, he didn't dare to fully support the Qingli New Deal. He was hesitant and used Fan Zhongyan but didn't trust him. He didn't have the ability to turn the tide like Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. From a macro perspective, he was at most a paperhanger."
"Of course, he did have a good character. It's generally acknowledged in the historical community that the Song Dynasty had many incompetent emperors and few wise ones. Among the Song Dynasty emperors, Renzong was a tall man among the short ones. Compared to the bunch of useless and mentally retarded emperors who came after him, he was considered to have accomplished something."
Zhao Jun muttered a lot more, and even though he added at the end that he had a good character and was accomplished, it still frightened Zhao Zhen and the others so much that their faces suddenly changed. They all fell silent and their breathing became heavier.
Although the heavy rain outside drowned out their voices, even Yan Shu remained silent, making the atmosphere in the room extremely tense.
This puzzled Zhao Jun, so he asked, "Old Village Chief, didn't you want to hear about the history of the Song Dynasty? Could it be that what I said is wrong?"
"Of course not."
Yan Shu almost instinctively wanted to cover up for Zhao Zhen, but he soon realized that he had spoken out of turn.
Because this year is only the third year of Jingyou, they are not very clear about the specific circumstances of what Zhao Jun said, and secondly, many things have not happened. They are only clear about the three redundant issues. So how should they refute it?
Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Then, old village chief, tell me what's wrong?"
"I......"
Yan Shu thought quickly and said, "You said Renzong was a good emperor, but you also mentioned so many shortcomings and problems. How can he be considered a good emperor?"
“Hey.”
Zhao Jun said, "That's where the old village chief is wrong. There are shortcomings, but they weren't caused by him. It was the brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi who were incompetent. Song Renzong simply didn't have the ability to change the status quo. He truly loved the people like his own children and had a kind nature. Bao Zheng always liked to criticize people, and he didn't say anything even when he spit in Renzong's face. Isn't that a good emperor?"
Yan Shu glanced outside and said, "It's getting late. You should get some rest first. I'll bring a doctor over tomorrow to give you acupuncture."
"Okay, thank you, old village chief."
Zhao Jun sighed, "Luckily, you, the old village chief, saved me, otherwise I would have been dead. By the way, does our village have toilet water? I woke up today with mosquito bites all over my body, and the clothes I'm wearing look weird. Is this the traditional Yi costume?"
"No."
Yan Shu replied stiffly and then hurried out the door.
Zhao Jun heard the door close loudly and was confused, not knowing what had made the old man unhappy.
But after talking so much, I felt dizzy, hungry and thirsty. I lay down on the bed and soon fell asleep again in a daze.
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