从《满江红》看宋高宗杀岳飞的真相

题图：Cheva用AI生成

前几天，我写了一篇张艺谋的电影《满江红》的观后感。这部片子大部分情节都是表现中国文化里的糟粕，那就是勾心斗角。最后的主题升华却显得非常的突兀。小人物们一个一个奋不顾身地赴死，最终目的竟然不是为了刺杀秦桧，而仅仅是让秦桧背诵出岳飞的《满江红》。

在之前的情节之中，也借沈腾之口批判了这种糟粕。说大人物们打的都是自己的算盘，背锅干脏活的都是小人物和无名之辈。结果影片的最后却让这些小人物去为一个更加虚无缥缈的大义献身。

其实按照儒家思想，君子重义，小人重利。舍身取义这种事情根本就不应该让小人物来干。当然，大人物小人物都是相对的。关于岳飞之死，只要是正经研究历史的都知道，秦桧也不过是一个给皇帝背锅的小人物。真正要杀岳飞的其实是宋高宗赵构。

那宋高宗为什么非要杀岳飞呢？民间的说法说岳飞要北伐，而高宗要和谈的说法其实并不完全站得住脚。因为杀岳飞之时，宋金双方已经达成了绍兴和议，岳飞并不能干扰和谈的进程了。比较站得住脚的说法是朝廷要收回军权，但是宋朝开国就有宋太祖杯酒释兵权的佳话。岳飞被杀时其实也已经交出了兵权，为什么还是逃脱不了被杀的命运呢？

这其中的原因其实是南宋虽然表面上是北宋的延续，但却已经是两个完全不同的朝代了。因为他们的统治方式和统治逻辑完全不同。北宋是在结束了地方割据之后形成的统一王朝。虽然是武力统一，但是按照中国历史的逻辑是具有天然合法性的，除了没有收回幽云十六州这个瑕疵之外。

因此，宋太祖所面临的问题则是要结束唐末五代以来的藩镇割据，维持大一统的局面。这就需要他尽可能地满足各方的利益需求，才能长久地维持住局面。所以就通过赎买的方式收回兵权，同时重文抑武，与士大夫共治天下。对知识分子采取宽松的政策，这样可以为他赢得最大的支持，将部下与臣民反叛的可能性降到最低。
但是南宋建国就是完全不同了。宋高宗的南宋小朝廷的底色是一个流亡政权，而且宋高宗的合法性一直没有得到很好的确认。因为北宋的太上皇和皇帝都在金人手里，他们也从来没有明确把皇位传给赵构。赵构的皇位实质上是从金人傀儡皇帝张邦昌那里接手的，所以合法性的缺失，以及形势的险恶和内忧外患使得宋高宗没有资本去延续北宋那种相对宽松和包容的政策。

而且从北宋靖康之变那种亡国的危局之下能够稳住南宋的半壁江山，对赵构来说已经是超额完成任务了。而且在南宋的建立过程中，像岳家军这样掌握军权的类似军阀的存在是发挥了很大作用，如果战争持续下去不断北伐，只会让这些军阀的势力壮大。而且宋高宗亲身经历了苗刘兵变，在后来南宋基本站稳脚跟之后，也还是发生淮西兵变，这样已经让赵构觉得继续北伐对他的政权来说是弊大于利。

所以赵构完全执行和平政策，其实在这一过程中，岳飞并不是反对派，也许是忠君思想在起作用。但是作为一面抗金北伐的旗帜，只要岳飞还在，就是对赵构求和政策的一种嘲弄，对他无能的嘲笑。所以杀掉岳飞的目的就是为了给赵构树立皇权的威信，压制所有的反对声音。连岳飞都能杀，还有谁敢反对和议的主张呢？

但是可悲的是，后面的历史证明赵构杀岳飞的这个决定，对他的政权来说是完全正确的。看看南明和东晋南渡之后的遭遇，他们都因为继续北伐而导致内乱频发、国力衰落、最终灭亡。而南宋却偏安了一百多年。岳飞的悲剧也说明政治是不可能双赢的，一方获利，必有一方要成为代价。真正有才能的人，“货卖帝王家”也许并不值得。

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A few days ago, I wrote an article about Zhang Yimou's movie "All Over the River Red". Most of the plot of this film is about the dregs of Chinese culture, that is, the intrigues. The final theme sublimation is very abrupt. One by one, the little people risked their lives to die. The ultimate goal was not to assassinate Qin Kuei, but to make Qin Kuei recite Yue Fei's "Man Jiang Hong".

In the previous episode, Shen Teng also criticized this dregs through the mouth. It says that the big guys have their own agendas and that it's the little guys and nobodies who do the dirty work. The film ends up leaving the little guys to die for an even more ethereal cause.

In fact, according to Confucianism, the gentleman values righteousness and the villain values interests. Sacrificing one's life is not something that should be done by little people. Of course, big and small are relative. As for Yue Fei's death, anyone who studies history seriously knows that Qin Hui was just a minor figure who took the blame for the emperor. It was Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou who really wanted to kill Yue Fei.

Why did Emperor Gaozong insist on killing Yue Fei? The popular argument that Yue Fei was going to the north and Emperor Gaozong was going to make peace was not entirely valid. Because by the time Yue Fei was killed, the Song and Jin had already reached a peace treaty in Shaoxing, and Yue Fei could not interfere with the peace process. It is more defensible to say that the imperial court would take back the military power, but there is a story about Song Taizu giving up the military power over a cup of wine in the founding of the Song Dynasty. Yue Fei had already surrendered his military power when he was killed. Why could he not escape the fate of being killed?

The reason for this is that although the Southern Song was ostensibly a continuation of the Northern Song, it was already two completely different dynasties. Because their way of ruling and their logic of ruling are completely different. The Northern Song Dynasty was a unified dynasty after the end of local divisions. Although it was unification by force, it had natural legitimacy according to the logic of Chinese history, except that it did not recover the sixteen states of Youyun.

Therefore, the problem faced by Song Taizu was to end the separation of vassal towns and cities since the late Tang and five Dynasties and maintain the unified situation. This requires him to satisfy the interests of all parties as much as possible, in order to sustain the situation in the long run. So through the way to buy back the military power, at the same time, and the scholar and officials to rule the world. A lenient approach to intellectuals would win him maximum support and minimize the possibility of rebellion among his men and subjects.
But the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty was completely different. The background of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty of Emperor Gaozong was an exile regime, and the legitimacy of Emperor Gaozong has not been well confirmed. Since both the Supreme Emperor and the emperor of the Northern Song were in the hands of the Jin, they never explicitly passed the throne to Zhao Gou. Zhao Gou essentially inherited the throne from the Jin puppet emperor Zhang Bangchang, so the lack of legitimacy, as well as the menaciness of the situation and foreign invasions, left Emperor Gaozong without the capital to continue the relatively lenient and inclusive policies of the Northern Song.

Moreover, Zhao Gou overfulfilled his task when he was able to stabilize half of the Southern Song Dynasty under the crisis of the collapse of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty. Moreover, during the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, the presence of warlords like Yuejia Army who held military power played a great role. If the war continued and the northern expedition continued, the power of these warlords would only grow. Moreover, Emperor Gaozong of Song had personally experienced the Miao-Liu Mutiny, and after the Southern Song had basically gained a firm footing, the Huaixi mutiny also occurred, which made Zhao Gou feel that continuing the northern expedition would do more harm than good to his regime.

Therefore, Zhao Gou fully implemented the peace policy. In fact, Yue Fei was not an opposition during this process. Perhaps the idea of loyalty to the emperor was at work. But as a banner of resistance to Jin's northern expedition, as long as Yue Fei remained, it was a mockery of Zhao Guqiu's policies and his incompetence. So the purpose of killing Yue Fei was to establish the imperial authority of Zhao Gou and suppress all opposition voices. If Yue Fei could be killed, who would dare oppose the idea of peace?

Sadly, later history proved that Zhao Gou's decision to kill Yue Fei was completely correct for his regime. Look at what happened to the Southern Ming and the Eastern Jin after they crossed over to the south. Both of them continued their northern expeditions, which led to frequent civil unrest, national decline, and eventual demise. But the Southern Song Dynasty was not peaceful for more than one hundred years. Yue Fei's tragedy also shows that politics is impossible to win both sides. One side gains, the other must become the cost. Truly talented people, "the sale of the emperor" may not be worth it. A few days ago, I wrote an article about Zhang Yimou's movie "All Over the River Red". Most of the plot of this film is about the dregs of Chinese culture, that is, the intrigues. The final theme sublimation is very abrupt. One by one, the little people risked their lives to die. The ultimate goal was not to assassinate Qin Kuei, but to make Qin Kuei recite Yue Fei's "Man Jiang Hong".

In the previous episode, Shen Teng also criticized this dregs through the mouth. It says that the big guys have their own agendas and that it's the little guys and nobodies who do the dirty work. The film ends up leaving the little guys to die for an even more ethereal cause.

In fact, according to Confucianism, the gentleman values righteousness and the villain values interests. Sacrificing one's life is not something that should be done by little people. Of course, big and small are relative. As for Yue Fei's death, anyone who studies history seriously knows that Qin Hui was just a minor figure who took the blame for the emperor. It was Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou who really wanted to kill Yue Fei.

Why did Emperor Gaozong insist on killing Yue Fei? The popular argument that Yue Fei was going to the north and Emperor Gaozong was going to make peace was not entirely valid. Because by the time Yue Fei was killed, the Song and Jin had already reached a peace treaty in Shaoxing, and Yue Fei could not interfere with the peace process. It is more defensible to say that the imperial court would take back the military power, but there is a story about Song Taizu giving up the military power over a cup of wine in the founding of the Song Dynasty. Yue Fei had already surrendered his military power when he was killed. Why could he not escape the fate of being killed?

The reason for this is that although the Southern Song was ostensibly a continuation of the Northern Song, it was already two completely different dynasties. Because their way of ruling and their logic of ruling are completely different. The Northern Song Dynasty was a unified dynasty after the end of local divisions. Although it was unification by force, it had natural legitimacy according to the logic of Chinese history, except that it did not recover the sixteen states of Youyun.

Therefore, the problem faced by Song Taizu was to end the separation of vassal towns and cities since the late Tang and five Dynasties and maintain the unified situation. This requires him to satisfy the interests of all parties as much as possible, in order to sustain the situation in the long run. So through the way to buy back the military power, at the same time, and the scholar and officials to rule the world. A lenient approach to intellectuals would win him maximum support and minimize the possibility of rebellion among his men and subjects.
But the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty was completely different. The background of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty of Emperor Gaozong was an exile regime, and the legitimacy of Emperor Gaozong has not been well confirmed. Since both the Supreme Emperor and the emperor of the Northern Song were in the hands of the Jin, they never explicitly passed the throne to Zhao Gou. Zhao Gou essentially inherited the throne from the Jin puppet emperor Zhang Bangchang, so the lack of legitimacy, as well as the menaciness of the situation and foreign invasions, left Emperor Gaozong without the capital to continue the relatively lenient and inclusive policies of the Northern Song.

Moreover, Zhao Gou overfulfilled his task when he was able to stabilize half of the Southern Song Dynasty under the crisis of the collapse of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty. Moreover, during the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, the presence of warlords like Yuejia Army who held military power played a great role. If the war continued and the northern expedition continued, the power of these warlords would only grow. Moreover, Emperor Gaozong of Song had personally experienced the Miao-Liu Mutiny, and after the Southern Song had basically gained a firm footing, the Huaixi mutiny also occurred, which made Zhao Gou feel that continuing the northern expedition would do more harm than good to his regime.

Therefore, Zhao Gou fully implemented the peace policy. In fact, Yue Fei was not an opposition during this process. Perhaps the idea of loyalty to the emperor was at work. But as a banner of resistance to Jin's northern expedition, as long as Yue Fei remained, it was a mockery of Zhao Guqiu's policies and his incompetence. So the purpose of killing Yue Fei was to establish the imperial authority of Zhao Gou and suppress all opposition voices. If Yue Fei could be killed, who would dare oppose the idea of peace?

Sadly, later history proved that Zhao Gou's decision to kill Yue Fei was completely correct for his regime. Look at what happened to the Southern Ming and the Eastern Jin after they crossed over to the south. Both of them continued their northern expeditions, which led to frequent civil unrest, national decline, and eventual demise. But the Southern Song Dynasty was not peaceful for more than one hundred years. Yue Fei's tragedy also shows that politics is impossible to win both sides. One side gains, the other must become the cost. Truly talented people, "the sale of the emperor" may not be worth it.