What history remembers is often the legend of that snowy night in Chenqiaoyi, where a yellow robe was added to the body and the dynasty was changed without a single blow.
They say that I, Zhao Kuangyin, am a thief of the country and a tyrant who bullies orphans and widowed mothers.
They have never seen that when I was young, I rode on the battlefield, breaking bones and tendons, just to seek peace for the people in troubled times; they have never understood that I witnessed the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the dynasties changed like a revolving lantern, the king was weak and the ministers were strong, the warriors ruled the country, and the people in the world were like cud dogs.
The yellow robe is the pinnacle of desire and the shackles of responsibility.
I took over the Chai family's world, but I am determined to end this chaotic world that has lasted for hundreds of years. I put away the sharp edge of the general and released my military power with a glass of wine. It was not because of suspicion, but actually as a plan for the world. What I want to create is not a short-lived military government, but an eternal dynasty in which civil rule is prosperous and people can enjoy peace.
This road is full of thorns and doubts. The guilt towards my late master, the calculation towards Paoze, and the promise to the world tortured my soul day and night.
What this book records is not the myth of a saint, but the story of how a mortal was pushed to the top by the tide of the times, and how he used his extraordinary will and wisdom to reshape an era.
The merits and demerits of a thousand years are open to anyone's comment. But I have a clear conscience, because everything I have done is for the purpose of ending the war with force and returning the world to the Song Dynasty.
