Emperor is the title of the highest ruler during the Chinese imperial system. Below, the History Encyclopedia editor brings you this article. Interested friends can continue reading below
The governing ability of Zhao Kuangyin, the founder of Song Taizu, was far superior to that of Zhao Guangyi, the founder of Song Taizong. This can be reflected in many aspects, and even in some aspects, due to birth experiences and other reasons, no matter how hard Zhao Guangyi tried, he could not surpass Zhao Kuangyin.
Zhao Kuangyin was born in a military camp. Although his father was a junior officer in the army, he had little help for Zhao Kuangyin’s career. During his youth, Zhao Kuangyin grew up in a lower class environment, and it can even be said that he was a mischievous child. When it was time to go out and find a job, young Zhao Kuangyin decided to go out and find a job on his own because the country was in a turbulent era. His goal was also very clear, to join the army.
This long trip allowed Zhao Kuangyin to experience what the real bottom of the country really looks like. Zhao Kuangyin sought out several old friends of his father, but they were either rejected or excluded after working for a short time. Over the years, Zhao Kuangyin has grown rapidly, from an inexperienced youth to a person with rich social experience and interpersonal skills.
In the end, Zhao Kuangyin’s wish to become a soldier came true. At that time, Guo Wei took him in and made Zhao Kuangyin his personal soldier, which was very important. Many talented people in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period started as personal soldiers.
The so-called personal soldiers refer to the guards around the military commander. Although they are also the lowest level soldiers, they can have close contact with the military commander every day, learn a lot from it, and their talents are more easily discovered by the leader.
In this way, Zhao Kuangyin started as a soldier and gradually cultivated his own power in the army. He formed a famous brotherhood of ten brothers and formed the most trusted military general team of early Zhao Kuangyin, preparing for the future conquest of the world.
On the other hand, Zhao Guangyi’s growth process is completely different. Zhao Kuangyin is 12 years older than Zhao Guangyi, which is a remarkable 12 years. It is the process of Zhao Kuangyin gradually becoming a senior general in the court.
Basically, since Zhao Guangyi could remember, he has been the younger brother of a senior official in the court. His upbringing and contacts were all children of senior officials in the court, which determined that Zhao Guangyi was completely unable to understand the thinking logic of the lower class society and soldiers.
Especially after Zhao Kuangyin ascended to the throne, Zhao Guangyi was appointed as the leader of Kaifeng City at the age of less than 20. This appointment and experience made Zhao Guangyi mature very quickly, and he grew up very quickly in dealing with things and interpersonal relationships, far surpassing Zhao Kuangyin who was 20 years old. However, it is precisely because he was immersed in high-end and complex interpersonal relationships from a young age that Zhao Guangyi fundamentally lacked many romantic ideals. What he could come into contact with were very concrete thinking.
Perhaps in handling specific documents and interpersonal relationships, Zhao Guangyi can be on equal footing with others or even slightly better than his brother. In other aspects, especially in creating systems, Zhao Guangyi has been left several streets behind by his brother.
Zhao Kuangyin faced the chaos of the Five Dynasties and creatively invented many systems, fundamentally eliminating the situation of regional separatism since the end of the Tang Dynasty. For example, he vigorously strengthened the rule of civil servants, decentralized the power of military governors, and allowed the central government to regain control over taxation and appointment of officials. He also had the famous power to drink wine and release troops. It can be said that Zhao Kuangyin did pioneering work, and it was his genius in designing many systems that prevented the Song Dynasty from the situation of numerous small courts and short lifespans since the end of the Tang Dynasty.
On the other hand, Zhao Guangyi’s ability to be a defender of the city is completely inferior to his brother’s ability, especially in terms of warfare, because he has no understanding of the military and has never fought in battle.
This is fatal. In theory, not being able to fight was not a fatal flaw for the second generation of kings. However, due to Zhao Guangyi’s improper position, he always wanted to surpass his brother and block the leisurely mouths of the world. Because of his haste and recklessness, he led to many military failures. In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the strongest military strength was given to Huo Huo by Zhao Guangyi, which made it a luxury for the Song Dynasty to regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun until the end of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Guangyi didn’t know how to fight, but he didn’t think so. Zhao Kuangyin was a soldier who later became an emperor, while Zhao Guangyi was purely someone who didn’t understand military affairs and had never been a soldier. This wasn’t scary, but what was scary was that he believed he was very good at fighting, strictly controlled the army, and provided various marching routes and methods of arranging troops and formations for the army. As a result, all those who had hoped to unify the whole country in the early Song Dynasty were buried in Zhao Guangyi’s hands.
Overall, Zhao Guangyi’s level cannot be compared to Zhao Kuangyin, and the difference is not even a little far.
