EBE Chapter 316 The Difference Between Before and After Wanyan Gou
Chapter 316 The Difference Between Before and After Wanyan Gou
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty
Hearing this, Li Shimin and the others were truly speechless. They were not assertive when they should have been, and now that things were settled, they still had to cause trouble!
Cheng Yaojin, who was standing to the side, couldn't hold back any longer and said, "That damned Emperor Qinzong of Song, if he gets angry, is he going to kill him? And how can he treat Li Gang like this!"
Li Shimin did not answer, but Fang Xuanling said, "The Northern Song Dynasty has reached this point and is beyond saving. It has missed a good opportunity, making matters worse!"
Hearing this, everyone understood that the two emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were utterly incompetent in governing the country!
I've never seen anything like this before; a situation that was still going so well has deteriorated to this extent!
……
Back to the live broadcast room.
"The choice made by Emperor Qinzong of Song this time directly led to the failure of a later operation, and indirectly caused the originally favorable situation to directly tilt in the favor of the Jin army."
"If I hadn't known you were a native Song person, I would have really thought you and your father were sent by the Jurchens to cause trouble!!!"
Everyone in the Song Dynasty: Damn it... you really have to admit...
"Besides the incompetent Emperor Qinzong of Song, the responsibility also lies with the group of civil officials led by Li Bangyan. It's hard not to believe that this group was involved in what Li Gang did!"
"But there's no use in saying all this. Getting angry is bad for your health. After all, things will only get worse later. If we get angry now, what will happen when we do?!"
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: ...Well said! I won't need your advice next time!
The optimist Su Dongpo: ...He seems like a normal person, so why does he say such cold things!
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: That's not wrong! It really is tragic!!
Shangguan Wan'er of the Tang Dynasty: ...Just how useless did she become to reach this conclusion!?
A bystander from the Han Dynasty: So that's why it's considered the shame of Jingkang?!
……
"As we mentioned earlier, before the arrival of the Western Army and other reinforcements, Zhao Huan had already sent his ministers and a prince as hostages to the Jin camp. This prince was none other than Prince Kang, Zhao Gou."
"Zhao Gou, who was given the title of Wanyan Gou by later generations, spent at least half of his long life surrendering. But in reality, Zhao Gou at this time was a little more assertive than Emperor Qinzong of Song!"
"By the way, having offspring was always a problem for the first few emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty; otherwise, they wouldn't have had to adopt sons. But Emperor Huizong was an exception."
"He enjoyed a life of luxury in the first half of his life, and although he was imprisoned in the second half, he still had many children there!"
"Well, it seems like he didn't suffer much in his life. Even when he was captured by the Jurchens, I heard his treatment wasn't that bad! Otherwise, he wouldn't have lived to be over fifty!"
"So in a way, it's really infuriating to compare yourself to others! He was the one who ruined the great Song Dynasty, yet he still lived to be over fifty!"
Emperor Zhao Zhen, the greatest benevolent ruler of all time: ...
Zhao Xu, Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty: (｀へ′)…
A bystander in the Ming Dynasty: Who could be more miserable than the common people?!
A certain romantic scholar of the Tang Dynasty: "To be obsequious to the enemy while ruthlessly attacking one's own people—isn't that just bullying the weak and fearing the strong?!"
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! Could anything be worse than these two!?
……
Jingkang period
Emperor Huizong of Song, who was firmly based in Jiangnan, felt very at ease after having just stopped the reinforcements from Jiangnan.
They had no idea that people were waiting for rescue far away in the capital!
He didn't think there was anything wrong with such behavior; after all, he was the retired emperor!
But upon hearing Lin Ke's words, he felt a renewed sense of unease. Had he been arrested in the end?
What is Zhao Huan doing?! How did he get arrested?!
……
The live broadcast continues.
Lin Ke continued, "And Emperor Huizong of Song not only had many children after his capture in the north, but he also had quite a few children before that. I wonder who would envy such an ability!"
Zhao Xu, the most benevolent ruler of all time: ...
"Therefore, Emperor Qinzong of Song was very conflicted when choosing a prince; having so many children was also a problem."
"After all, once they're inside the Jin camp, it's hard to say what will happen. They're a bunch of cowards who'd rather die than go!"
"It was at this moment that Prince Kang stepped forward. Perhaps due to his youthful impetuosity, Zhao Gou at the time was quite resolute and willing to be the hostage. In the eyes of a group of people who were greedy for their own lives, this guy was crazy!"
"In their eyes, besides that fool Li Gang, who would stand on the side of the Song Dynasty and fight back? So these people pretended to fool him. We had no choice but to do this. It was all because the Jurchens insisted on sending the prince!"
"When Zhao Gou, who was only a teenager, heard this, he retorted, saying that these old men in their fifties were not as good as him!"
"He even told Emperor Qinzong that if war broke out between the two sides, then he need not worry about him!"
"It's hard to believe that Zhao Gou, who humiliatingly sought peace and surrendered, was such a person before entering the Jin camp. In the Song Dynasty at that time, he could be considered courageous and bold!"
"I'm not sure if this account is embellished. After all, his bravery in the early stages and his cowardice in the later stages are worlds apart. Or maybe he suffered some kind of trauma in the Jin camp. In any case, the difference between before and after is indeed very large!"
A skilled farmer in the Ming Dynasty: This is quite an achievement compared to a bunch of cowards!
Judy, the Grand General Who Conquered the North: Later on, as she got older, she really became a coward! A wimp! She even wrongfully killed General Yue!
A spoiled young man from the Tang Dynasty: Maybe I'm young and fearless! But when I get older, I can't keep up!
A bystander from the Han Dynasty commented: "No matter what, if it weren't for those surrender faction members, we wouldn't have had to agree to such outrageous demands from the Jin people!"
……
"The junior minister who accompanied Zhao Gou was so terrified when he learned that he was going to the Jurchens as a hostage that he couldn't understand why he had to suffer this misfortune!"
"But what good was his refusal? After all, the initiative wasn't in his hands. So one of them was composed and calm, while the other went to the military camp obsequiously."
"As for Zhao Gou's performance in the Jin camp, historical records say that he remained calm and even shot arrows with the Jin royal family, and was able to hit the target with three arrows in a row."
"It is said that when the Jurchens saw the prince sent by the Song Dynasty, they were surprised by his composure and calmness, which was unlike the impression they had of the Song imperial family."
"Therefore, the Jurchens strongly suspected that this prince was an imposter! Could someone so assertive really be a descendant of their Song Dynasty royal family!?"
"It seems that the impression of the Song Dynasty's royal family being weak has spread to them; this is common knowledge!"
All emperors of the Song Dynasty: ...
A bystander from the Ming Dynasty commented: "Indeed! He was such a coward later! I can't imagine him preferring to spend money rather than fight back!"
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: If I hadn't been a coward, would I have ended up in this situation?
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: This... is a well-known secret. If we hadn't wanted to surrender to preserve our status, how could we have allowed the Jurchens to take advantage of us!
Liu Zhuzhu of the Han Dynasty: ...Unbelievable...there are emperors like this, and what's more, they are all from the same lineage!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: Damn it... How come the descendants of that kid Zhao Guangyi are like this?!
……