In Which we talk about Emperor Huizong and the Song Dynasty

Hey everyone, good morning and happy Tuesday, how are you today, dear friend, reader of this post? I'm okay, missing home, as I'm here at the beach house with grandma and her sister, everything is a-okay, but I miss home anyway! The first days here were hectic, with my dad listening to loud music, a practice I abhor, and many barking dogs that drives me insane. Now, we only have two dogs, Pepita and Luna, and that's much better, no other dog to bother them, they are just chilling for the most part! The days are hot, unfortunately, and even if I go to the beach, I don't build much sandcastles for this season, as it is a tiring task, and an ungrateful one to do in the scorching sun, even if I wear a hat and proper clothing to endure it.

So, I've been back into Europa these days, and I've been playing mostly in Asia, first trying to Unify Japan, then playing in Korea, now I'm playing as Ming! The latter one starts as #1 world power, but as the age of reformation comes, they struggle with much internal strife, the first time I played as them, I collapsed, but the second time I managed to overcome this so called, very rightly, "Mingsplosion", and then the game became mostly a piece of cake, even very boring at moments, because I'm in such a strong position already. I have some problems in the horizon, such as revolutionary ideas rising in Fenyang and spreading across the land. I don't know what this will result in, but I have a bad feeling. I also faced a war against my vassals, that were backed by Spain. The war was won by me, but much damage was done in the colonies of Ming, specially those in the Indian Ocean. I also am facing the fact that the Mongols, even if they are my tributaries, became a horde, and are lurking in the borders of Ming, causing instability and causing my other tributaries to be more keen on questioning the Celestial Empire authority. In a way, that's good, because the game in the 17th century was a boring and uneventful walk in the park, good to have some challenges, I just hope they don't become too much to bear and consume me, as they consumed my ancestor, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, that I'm gonna chat about shortly.

Song Dynasty, like the Tang before them, could be known as the Chinese Golden Age, a period of art and prosperity for this region of the world. In Europe, Byzantium and the emerging kingdoms had to deal with the advance of Islam. Those were weak and poor in comparison to the sophisticated culture of the Song. Like the Tang before them, arts and sciences flourished, we had Qingbai Teapots, beautiful brush paintings and the first banknotes, a way to facilitate commerce. Those banknotes spelled disaster later on, but, when they were soberly administrated, made for much prosperity. There was the clocktower of the capital city of Kaifeng (the time known as Bianjing), the first true records of Gunpowder, indeed a relatively peaceful moment in a country known for its bloody wars and chaos. We had debates in Taoism and Confucionism, Buddhism (specially promoted by Empress Wu Zetian, of the Tang-Zhu dynasty) and so on.Emperor Huizong was a child of such prosperous moment in chinese court. Living in palaces filled with such beauty, he became an accomplished artist himself, exploring fields such as poetry, painting and caligraphy! Also known for promoting the Tao Philosophy. His ruleship was less than successful, however, as he faced invaders from the north, who ended up capturing him. Huizong lived the rest of his life as a hostage, used to blackmail his successors of the Song Dynasty. This invasion was the end of the golden years of Song, and would open the doors for the Mongols, who devastated China a bit later, and that would establish the Yuan Dynasty.

Well, this post turned to be waaaaaaay longer than I was desiring it to be, but well, I'm proud of myself for writing such post! I did a lot of research and double checking to be sure I wasn't making anything up on the glory and tragedy of Huizong and the Song Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty that came before, and so on. Anyway, but with that, I must wrap things up! Thank you so much for being around, reader of this post, my friend in potential! You are always welcome here at the divagation store! And I see you again real soon! Will try to write another one this week, or at least another one till the end of the month! Wish you the best!!!! See you real soon!