Chapter 109

Chapter 109

[Li Erfeng Becomes Wanyan Gou – 29 (Future-Era Extra)]

The more people liked and commented on the post, the more attention it attracted. Some even reposted it along with explanations of the historical sources for ordinary viewers unfamiliar with the period.

Bravely Holding On: “There is no defending Emperors Qinzong and Huizong. Seriously, *Ode to the Great Song* is grossly misleading. Don’t tell me they had hidden difficulties, and don’t start talking about some convoluted scheme to save the country. My God, anyone who didn’t know the history would think those two had actually been conscientious, diligent emperors! Honestly, the greatest contribution either of them made to Song was killing themselves. Nothing else comes close!”

Open the Door for Happiness: “+1 to the commenter above! I have to hand it to the production team for having the nerve to pull this shit. They used Emperor Shizong Wen’s name to attract fans and boost ratings, then took the opportunity to slip in their own agenda, whitewash the Two Sages of Snow Country, and give the actors more screen time? No, thank you. We aren’t stupid. We completed nine years of compulsory education. We can read books, and we know exactly what those two freaks were!”

Listening Closely to the Wind: “Fans of the actors, stop trying to defend this garbage. Lie down and take the ridicule. If you want to praise their acting, I can pinch my nose and put up with it. But praising the achievements of the Two Sages is complete fucking nonsense! When Jin first besieged Dongjing, who packed his bags and ran? Huizong! Who immediately followed his father’s example and tried to pack up and flee? Qinzong! They were ready to abandon their own capital. Li Gang had to threaten them with his death again and again to keep the situation from collapsing altogether. What is there to defend about those two pieces of trash?!”

Domestic Expert: “That’s not all. The moment the siege of Dongjing was lifted, Qinzong couldn’t wait to cede Taiyuan and the other two of the Three Garrisons to his Jin daddies!”

Eatffff: “When they were taken north as prisoners, Zonghan demanded Huizong’s favorite consort, Wang Wanrong, for his son. Huizong remained silent. Wang Wanrong was a defenseless woman, yet she resolutely drew a sword and killed herself. Huizong fans, come explain that one!”

Little Lion: “After the Jingkang Incident, Zhang Shuye, He Li, and Li Ruoshui died for their country. Qinzong and Huizong clung to life like a pair of turtles hiding in their shells. Fans of the Two Sages, come explain that one!”

Almost Lost Weight: “While they were in power, they eagerly promoted the peace faction and the surrender faction. The way they grovelled before Jin was truly attentive and considerate. Who wants to whitewash that? Their only presentable accomplishment was resolutely killing themselves. What else is there to praise?!”

World of Ice and Snow: “Reliable inside information: maybe those two were ‘suicided.’ The two supposed Jin men who were executed by lingchi after being sent back south may have been the real Emperors Qinzong and Huizong!”

Sweeter Than First Love: “Holy shit, sister. If that’s what you’re saying, you’ve got my full attention now!”

One Look Confirmed the Target: “Sister, explain! I can afford the data! @World of Ice and Snow”

Iced Orange Soda: “Oh my God, what did I just see? Are you serious, sister? Camping here for the answer!”

A Plump Cat: “Sister, don’t stop halfway! I have a friend who’s about to die, and his final wish is to hear the inside story of how Qinzong and Huizong died!”

Sakuragi Hanamichi’s Uniform: “I can confirm it. I’m the friend!”

One stone had stirred a thousand waves. Emperor Shizong Wen had always been extraordinarily famous. Without exaggeration, he was practically a calling card for Chinese civilization in its dealings with the outside world. His spineless father and brother had gained a little fame along with him, but only as foils to their son and younger brother-and they lost that comparison in spectacular fashion. Whenever anyone praised Emperor Shizong Wen’s magnificent achievements, they would usually drag those two out and flog their corpses for good measure.

The only remotely commendable act the pair had ever performed was probably when Huizong bit off one of his fingers and had Empress Dowager Zheng and several noble Consorts Dowager carry a message back home. He urged Emperor Shizong to continue resisting Jin and not to concern himself with father or brother. Not long afterward, the two had resolutely committed suicide for their country, leaving themselves a dignified end.

Now someone had suddenly claimed that Qinzong and Huizong might not have killed themselves in Jin at all-that the two supposed impostors whom Jin later sent back were actually the emperors themselves. How could anyone hear that without being shocked?!

Boatman of Utopia: “Holy shit. So Qinzong and Huizong stayed true to their lifelong image as idiots and cowards and never managed to work up the courage to kill themselves? That makes sense. Given their thick skins and nearly nonexistent sense of shame, this is much more in character!”

Cloud Who Loves Drawing Circles: “So the father and son sent to Dongjing by Jin during Emperor Shizong’s reign really were the Two Sages? Those two animals were executed by lingchi? Oh my God, why does Emperor Shizong suddenly seem even hotter?!”

Life Should Shine: “Cheering for Emperor Shizong Wen like crazy! Beautifully done!!!”

Others raised objections.

Mom Was Right: “This has to be fake! Qinzong and Huizong had both been emperors, after all, and they were Emperor Shizong’s father and brother. Unless everyone was certain the two men who came south were impostors, how could they possibly have been executed? And by a punishment as brutal as lingchi, no less!”

Lotus Seeds Clear as Water: “Obviously it’s fake. I don’t even know why the people above are getting so worked up. The histories state it very clearly. Precisely because Qinzong and Huizong had both been emperors, the process of confirming the men’s identities was exceptionally rigorous and thorough. After they reached Dongjing, court officials were called in to identify them. Once the officials concluded that they were not Qinzong and Huizong, Empress Dowager Meng and several noble Consorts Dowager who had been imprisoned with the two emperors in the north were summoned to inspect them together. After those women confirmed that the men were not Qinzong and Huizong, the imperial princesses were brought in to identify them as well. The process was repeated three times, until everyone who had known Qinzong and Huizong had seen the pair. Only after all of them concluded that the men were not the two emperors was the order given to execute them by lingchi.”

Can’t Stop Thinking 77: “Uh, the commenter above makes a good point…”

Hot Pot Fanatic: “So, sister, do you have hard evidence? Show us! @World of Ice and Snow”

World of Ice and Snow never replied. It seemed the user had gone offline.

Savory Tofu Pudding Needs Salt: “So it really was fake. They’ve gone silent.”

Charming Demon King: “Not necessarily…”

The user who had made the revelation, World of Ice and Snow, did not post again. More than a thousand replies piled up below in a frenzy of speculation, but no one ever reached an answer. At last, the crowd dispersed in disappointment.

Then, when they opened Weibo the following day, the number-one trending search was unmistakably **#Protective Excavation of Yongyou Mausoleum#**, followed by a blazing red **EXPLOSIVE** tag!

Yongyou Mausoleum-Emperor Huizong’s tomb!

It had undergone a protective excavation?!

When had that happened?!
Thinking back to World of Ice and Snow’s revelation the day before, could it actually have been true?

Chi Jian clicked into the topic impatiently, only to find a page full of official boilerplate.

Yongyou Mausoleum was approximately a thousand years old. Exposure to wind and rain had caused severe deterioration, so after several rounds of discussion between relevant experts and government officials, a protective excavation had been approved to safeguard the cultural relics and historic remains within.

Excavation had begun a month earlier and officially concluded three days ago. Because of the enormous implications, the preliminary work had been kept under exceptionally tight secrecy. The news was released to the public only after the project had been successfully completed.

The country’s foremost experts and scholars had personally overseen the preservation and relocation of the artifacts. The relics and ancient texts in the mausoleum held immense value for the study of Jianyan-era Northern Song culture and imperial life. They also offered later generations a detailed picture of Emperor Shizong’s relationship with his father, Huizong.

The Weibo post then made a special point of saying that officials had made a shocking discovery inside Yongyou Mausoleum. Once revealed, it might shake the entire world.

Chi Jian grew excited as he read. Without realizing it, he held his breath. He swiped to the next page-and discovered there was nothing else.

Nothing!

Was this something human beings did?!

What discovery could possibly shake the world? Tell us already!

Damn it! Accursed officials who stopped halfway through a sentence-he cursed every last one of them to open a package of instant noodles and find no seasoning packet inside!!!

Chi Jian was far from the only person whose curiosity had been roused only to be brutally disappointed. Thousands upon thousands of netizens left furious comments under the official Weibo post, then began debating what sort of discovery could have prompted such a dramatic assessment.

Bibi Loves Strawberry Cake: “Holy shit. Could it really be what that sister revealed yesterday?!”

Forever 10086: “Oh my God. If it is, I’ll spend the rest of my life cheering like crazy for Emperor Shizong Wen!”

Call Me Grape: “Sister, I’m browsing on a 2G connection. Please explain! What did that sister reveal yesterday? Save this poor child! @Bibi Loves Strawberry Cake”

Bibi Loves Strawberry Cake: “@Call Me Grape A sister said yesterday that she had inside information. The two supposed impostors who came south and were executed weren’t impostors at all. They were Qinzong and Huizong themselves!”

Call Me Grape: “!!!!”

Holy shit. Was that true or not?!!!

If the claim was confirmed, the entire world really would shake!

**#Protective Excavation of Yongyou Mausoleum#** was already number one on the explosive trending searches. Before long, **#The Mystery of the Real and Fake Emperors Qinzong and Huizong#** shot to number two. Hundreds of thousands of comments quickly accumulated beneath it, with netizens tagging the official account nonstop and begging to learn the truth as soon as possible.

Chi Jian had graduated from Peking University’s history department and later stayed on for advanced study. The moment he saw the trending topic, he remembered that his doctoral adviser, Elder Tang, had supposedly gone abroad on vacation the previous month. Then he considered his adviser’s towering status in the field of Chinese history. How could he fail to understand?

Their families had been friends for generations, on top of their relationship as teacher and student. Chi Jian immediately called his adviser and complained with a mixture of admiration and resentment, “You kept that secret awfully well. When I called you before, you said Greece was great fun. You didn’t let so much as a whisper slip!”

Elder Tang laughed heartily. “If something is confidential, shouldn’t we keep it that way?”

After exchanging a few pleasantries with his adviser, Chi Jian could restrain himself no longer. “Professor, what exactly did you find in Yongyou Mausoleum? Were those two supposed Jin impostors executed all those years ago really Qinzong and Huizong themselves?!”

Elder Tang did not answer. Instead, he asked, “I’ve seen the arguments online. What do you think?”

Chi Jian hesitated for a moment, then answered honestly, “I find it hard to believe.”

He began analyzing the question point by point. “Like the skeptics online have said, Qinzong and Huizong had both been emperors. They were also Emperor Shizong’s elder brother and father, which gave them ritual and dynastic precedence over him. Before the court could execute them-especially by a brutal punishment like lingchi-it would have had to establish that their identities were false. Otherwise, how could the subjects of Song, who observed the Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, possibly have accepted it?”

After a brief pause, Chi Jian continued, “The historical record is also perfectly explicit. Emperor Shizong himself, the court officials, the empress dowagers and noble Consorts Dowager, and even every imperial princess identified the men in turn and said they were impostors. Only then were they executed. There was also another piece of irrefutable evidence. According to the *History of Song*, before Empress Dowager Zheng returned south, Huizong bit off one of his own fingers and had her carry it home. Yet when Jin later sent the supposed Qinzong and Huizong back to Dongjing, ‘Huizong’ still had all ten fingers. The court officials cited that directly as proof that the man was an impostor. How could such evidence be overturned on a whim?”

Elder Tang neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely asked in a kindly voice, “Anything else?”

Chi Jian rubbed his nose and went on. “There is. If they truly were Qinzong and Huizong, Emperor Shizong’s actions don’t make much sense.”

“If they really were the Two Sages, then Emperor Shizong falsely declared them impostors and executed them because he feared they would threaten his rule. But look at it from another direction. Emperor Shizong held absolute power. He could even silence everyone and make the entire court call a deer a horse. Why would he fear the Two Sages so much that he had to kill them? Given his courage and martial prowess, he would never have taken either man seriously. Besides, if he truly wanted to eliminate two threats, he should have acted quickly. Wouldn’t it have been easier to drag them outside and behead them? Why insist on lingchi, torturing them for three days and three nights before finally allowing them to die?”

Silence filled the other end of the line.

Chi Jian glanced at his phone. The call was still connected, so he ventured uncertainly, “Professor? Professor, are you still listening? Is the signal bad?”

Elder Tang remained silent for a long time before finally saying, “I’m listening.”

“The truth is, I’ve been reflecting too. Our understanding of Song’s scholar-officials, Emperor Shizong, even Empress Dowager Zheng and the imperial princesses… has always been far too one-dimensional.”

Chi Jian froze.

Without saying anything more, Elder Tang ended the call.

…

The next day, the authorities issued a formal announcement. The artifacts from Yongyou Mausoleum had been properly preserved and secured. Three days later, Elder Tang, the leading historian of his age, would appear in a worldwide livestream to reveal the astonishing conclusions officials had drawn from the excavation.

Needless to say, it became another explosive trending search.
Moonlight Is the Sea’s Dream: “Why does it have to be three days from now!!!”

Li Diudiu’s Real Mom: “Same question! The wait is driving me insane!!!”

But wait they must.

Industry insiders predicted that the livestream three days later might set a new record for the highest viewership in history.

When the day finally arrived, Chi Jian ate early, opened the streaming app on his phone, and waited for the broadcast to begin with a complicated heart.

At nine in the morning, Elder Tang appeared in the studio alongside a famous host from China Central Television. After a brief introduction, they quickly came to the point.

“One of the most important objectives of our protective excavation of Yongyou Mausoleum was to determine whether the two men executed outside the Meridian Gate in the second year of Jianyan truly were Emperors Qinzong and Huizong.”

Elder Tang adjusted his reading glasses and spoke slowly. “For a very long time, most historians believed the men who were killed were Jurchens. A small minority, however, argued that they might not have been Jurchens posing as the emperors, but the real Qinzong and Huizong. Speculation is useless. Conjecture is useless. Every conclusion must rest on evidence.”

“When Emperor Shizong later campaigned north and destroyed Jin, he failed to find the remains of Qinzong and Huizong. The tombs eventually built for them were empty as well-mere cenotaphs containing robes and caps. The finger of Emperor Huizong that Empress Dowager Zheng had brought back, however, was reverently sealed inside Huizong’s coffin.”

At this point, Elder Tang smiled. “Before we excavated Yongyou Mausoleum, I joked with Elder Xi that perhaps the two Jurchens executed all those years ago truly were Qinzong and Huizong. If that were the case, we could be bold and overturn both the identifications made at court and Empress Dowager Zheng’s impassioned declaration. We would uncover a story completely different from the one recorded in the histories.”

He took a sip of water, then continued. “Elder Xi replied that if this were true, the finger Empress Dowager Zheng brought back to Dongjing could not have belonged to Huizong. Emperor Shizong built Huizong’s mausoleum in the sixth year of Jianyan, by which time his power was already secure. Given Emperor Shizong’s pride, he should have disdained falsifying the evidence. Perhaps the coffin was completely empty. Perhaps there was no finger at all.”

“Of course, those were only guesses between the two of us and could not be taken as fact. On the day Huizong’s coffin was opened, several of us arrived early. Once we had put on protective gear and the staff removed the lid, we went over at once to inspect the contents.”

The viewers unconsciously leaned closer to their devices, entirely forgetting that this was a livestream and they could simply raise the volume.

Elder Tang’s expression turned wistful. After a pause, he said, “Inside the coffin was a square sandalwood box. It had no lock, but because it had been so well sealed, even its fittings had not rusted. I opened the box. I had already braced myself to find a lump of decayed flesh or a severed piece of bone. Instead, neither was inside. There were only two letters.”

The livestream instantly exploded with a solid wall of comments.

“Holy shit, letters?! Letters from a thousand years ago?!”

“Who wrote them? Tell us!”

“I bet a bag of spicy strips that Emperor Shizong wrote one of them!”

“+1!!!”

Elder Tang did not keep them in suspense. After only a brief pause, he gave the answer. “Both letters come from a thousand years ago, and everyone is familiar with their authors. One was Emperor Shizong Wen. The other was Empress Dowager Zheng, honored as Xianci. We opened the letters with the utmost care and scanned the original text.”

As he spoke, the director switched cameras at precisely the right moment. A letter appeared on the screen. The strokes were powerful and vigorous, their robust grace impossible to conceal. It began:

“Zhao Gou, Emperor of Song, writes so that those who come after may know…”

“When Emperors Qinzong and Huizong ruled, the strength of the realm withered and the people could not survive. Above, the two emperors could not uphold the state; below, they could not succor the common people. They brought boundless humiliation upon country and subjects alike. They were criminals against the nation and a disgrace to the descendants of the Zhao clan!”

“The *Book of Documents* says, ‘The Son of Heaven serves as father and mother to the people and thereby becomes king over all beneath Heaven.’ As Son of Heaven, We must place the people of the realm above all else. How could men without virtue, conduct, shame, or honor be permitted to inherit the ancestral temples and reign over the Nine Provinces? They had to die to make recompense to the realm!”

…

Then came the letter left by Empress Dowager Zheng. Its words were grief-stricken but filled with undisguised hatred. It spoke directly of the Humiliation of Jingkang and declared that Qinzong and Huizong had shown not the slightest bearing of true sovereigns. For that reason, she, the Consorts Dowager, and the imperial princesses had acted together.

At the end, she wrote:

“When a ruler regards his ministers as his own hands and feet, they regard him as their heart and belly. When a ruler regards his ministers as dogs and horses, they regard him as a stranger. When a ruler regards his ministers as dirt and weeds, they regard him as an enemy. Though I am but a woman of the inner palace, my sense of shame surpasses that of these two men! The court condemned them. The inner palace condemned them. Their own children condemned them. Men so incompetent and shameless had no place beneath Heaven! If the Judge of the Dead holds me to account in the underworld, I would not change my resolve even through ten thousand deaths!”

“A few days ago, one of my students called and asked what we had discovered in Yongyou Mausoleum. I thought for a very long time, but I did not know how to answer him.”

Elder Tang continued, “In the end, I told him that I, too, was reflecting. Our understanding of Song and of the people who lived under it seems to have been far too one-dimensional.”

Tears glimmered in his eyes. “Empress Dowager Zheng’s letter reveals the truth behind the real and false Qinzong and Huizong in the second year of Jianyan. How should we judge what happened? Did Emperor Shizong devise a plan to torture his father and elder brother to death merely to safeguard his throne? No. I would rather call it an awakening-an awakening that extended from the Son of Heaven down to the court officials and even to the empress dowagers, Consorts Dowager, and imperial princesses of the inner palace.”

“This was not persecution. It was an awakening and a trial. After a people had survived a mortal national catastrophe, they punished the men chiefly responsible-even though those men had been emperors! What an astonishing discovery. Everyone maintained the same account and used an almost inconceivable method to put Qinzong and Huizong to death because they were guilty. They had committed grave wrongs, and they bore an inescapable responsibility for allowing the Jurchens to trample the Chinese realm!”

“In my view, this achievement did not belong to Emperor Shizong alone. It embodied the moral courage of an entire people!”