Chapter 265
Wang Jiazhi was flipping through those old books. In the comic section of a magazine published a few months ago, there was a cartoon with the title: The cat at home went out.
A cute little white cat, its four paws leaving a trail of paw prints, wagging its tail, carrying a bundle on its back, with a stuffed rabbit, a book, or something else showing through the knot. Inside was a furry apple.
It was the first time she saw an apple painted with fur, it was so cute.
That night she had a dream. She dreamed of many round fruits, including apples, pears, tangerines, and oranges... They were all furry, as if covered with animal fur. They were golden, white, black, tricolor, black and white, tortoiseshell... The tangerines had green leaves on them.
Wang Jiazhi has recently studied relevant materials and started writing a new novel about the story of Emperor Taizong of Song.
She had never liked the Song Dynasty, but recently, when she happened to read about Emperor Taizong's story, her interest in writing was suddenly ignited.
Born into a family of military commanders, he was a scholar by nature and not good at military affairs. His second brother usurped the throne of Northern Zhou and became Taizu, and he was named King of Jin.
The second brother worked diligently to unify the south, and the unification of the country was imminent. However, he was not good at political maneuvering, and he watched helplessly as his father manipulated his father's power, won over the people, and coveted the throne that was meant for his own son. Finally, with the sound of an axe and the flicker of a candle, he died suddenly at the age of 49. He had a son who had grown up to be a capable man, but his younger brother succeeded him as emperor. His two sons were also forced to commit suicide, and the other died under mysterious circumstances, both living only to their twenties.
The Taizu and Taizong dynasties of all dynasties were descended from father to son. Only the Taizong of the Song Dynasty was Taizu's younger brother, who was already awkward with him. He even killed his brother to seize the throne. His access to the throne was not legitimate and extremely dishonorable.
Even his name was a complicated and awkward one. Originally named Kuang Yi, he changed it to Guang Yi when his brother became emperor to avoid taboos. As emperor, he wanted the people to avoid using the characters "Guang" and "Yi" because they were both commonly used. To avoid this, he messed up the names of places, people, and temples. After finally changing it, he didn't want to use that name anymore and changed his own name to "Jiong".
Come to think of it, he was quite capable. Throughout his life, he'd messed up something as important as his name, reeking of the sour, fussy argot of a persnickety intellectual. He'd originally intended to have a fresh start, to shed his second brother's shadow, but he'd only managed to make matters worse.
He also followed his elder brother's lead in the campaign, but he was inept at military affairs and prone to chaotic command. During the fighting, he received an arrow wound in the leg, suffering torture for the rest of his life, and nearly being captured. He was afraid to join the next battle, but for the sake of face, he couldn't disclose it openly, deliberately delaying his departure. By the time he arrived, the battle was already over.
Not only did he fail to fulfill his second brother's legacy and unify the country, he also suffered repeated failures in his northern expeditions, which led to his fear of conquest. He also lost control of the border tribes due to his fear of fighting. He also implemented various outrageous measures, such as requiring scholars to manage military affairs and creating "universal" battle formations that required generals to plan military operations on paper, which resulted in the "weak Song Dynasty."
He was not good at fighting, but he was good at scheming and intrigue, and he played power games in the court and the harem. In order to pass the throne to his son, he tried every means to kill his younger brother and his second brother's two sons.
Although he messed up the foreign wars, he worked hard to govern the country, and his merits ultimately outweighed his faults.
Because he came to power through unfair means, he struggled throughout his life to escape his brother's shadow and achieve his own success. He practiced frugality, wearing only coarse linen clothes and working day and night, even working until two days before his death.
Of course, the reason why he worked diligently was not only because of his responsibility, but also because of the lesson learned from his second brother, which made him sensitive and suspicious and afraid to delegate power. The arrow wound often tortured him and prevented him from sleeping, so he used official duties to distract himself from the pain of his old illness.
He loved writing poetry and studying various calligraphy styles, especially the flying white style. He would always find opportunities to give his ministers his poems and calligraphy. To please him, two ministers would deliberately fight over his calligraphy. He said he could only give it to one person first. One of the ministers would say like a child, "I asked for it first, so it should be mine first."
He was very proud and happy to hear that.
The name he established when he ascended the throne was: Taiping Xingguo.
He longed to surpass his brother all his life, but in the end he could only live in his brother's shadow, leaving behind criticism and ridicule from future generations.
The Song Dynasty always showed a sense of cause and effect, especially in the case of Emperor Taizu of Song and Emperor Taizong of Song.
The founding emperors of all dynasties either conquered the country themselves or managed the country for several generations before taking over the throne.
The Song Dynasty's rise to power was truly ignominious. Zhou Shizong held Song Taizu in such high esteem and trust, yet he betrayed his loyalty, bullied orphans and widows, and staged an outrageous show of donning a dragon robe to seize the throne. Then, several of Song Taizu's sons died under mysterious circumstances, practically wiping out such a worthy emperor.
Then he himself suffered backlash, his own brother also gave him an outrageous axe and candlelight drama, killed him, took his throne, and killed his son. The world he worked hard to build was finally given to others, benefiting his brother's descendants, while his own descendants were left lonely and bleak.
Emperor Taizong of Song, having gained power through shameful means and then murdering his nephew and brother, finally passed the throne to his own son. His actions drove his eldest son insane, and his second son died under mysterious circumstances. This was retribution he witnessed while still alive. Surprisingly, half of his successors were childless.
After the Jingkang Rebellion, Emperor Gaozong, who was once fertile, could no longer have children and passed the throne to Taizu's descendants. This was considered as returning the country to Taizu's lineage in his generation and atonement for the sin of the axe and candlelight.
Every monarch who succeeded to power in history had some degree of utter lack of conscience, but perhaps the Song dynasty was even more utterly unscrupulous. Consequently, for three hundred years, China remained ununited, with only half of the country remaining. This even led to the Jingkang Rebellion, an unprecedented humiliation.
Wang Jiazhi's ideas flowed freely, and she wrote until after midnight. In the past, if she was still energetic, she could have written even later, but she had to think about her stomach, so she could only turn off the lights and go to bed reluctantly.
Finally, I opened the old book and found the last blank page, written in Feibai style. This style of calligraphy is very unique. With each stroke, the strokes are not completely filled with ink, but with a trace of white space, as if they were drawn with a brush.
She touched the handwriting, the ink was very light, it was many years ago. This book was published when she was five years old.
The next day she slept until almost noon, ate dinner and went out to buy a candle. Late at night, she lit the candle and wrote something. The candlelight in the candlelight echoed the sound of the axe. The night wind blew in, blowing the candlelight left and right, in various shapes, and leaving various shadows on the wall.
She was staring at the shadow on the wall in a daze. There was no sound of an axe, but there was a knock on the door.
"What's wrong?"
The voice of the aunt on the second floor.
"Nothing, I'm just lighting candles for fun."
The aunt on the second floor's son would come back once every week or two and bring her a lot of things. This time she asked him to deliver several manuscripts to the city for submission.
"I'm so sorry, it's just too much. If they get lost in the mail, it will delay things and I'll have to recopy them. I really can't handle it."
The young man smiled and said, "Don't worry, sister. I will definitely deliver it. How can such an important item be mailed? It's too easy to get things lost in the post office these days."
Soon after, the magazine sent a reply, saying that her stories, "White Cat Pillow," "Twenty-Four Bridges Red Medicine," "Axe Sound and Candle Shadow," and "Red Rose Blood," were all excellent and would be published in sequence. Her illustrations were also suitable, so they were accepted as well. They also sent a substantial fee.
Wang Jiazhi thought, no matter how good it is, not all of it will be given away.
Suddenly I felt regretful and wondered if this was too embarrassing.
She calmed herself down, put the check away, and went downstairs for a walk. Passing a house, she saw a rabbit cage perched high on a shelf. Inside, two furry little rabbits, one white and one yellow, were munching on leaves. Rabbits are particularly interesting to watch as they eat, because their mouths are so small that you can't see any big movements; they just chew and chew quickly.
Wang Jiazhi said to her unborn child, "Look, little rabbits are so cute. Your dad's nose looks just like a rabbit's."
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