Wars between Song and Jin Dynasties

The War between the Song and Jin Dynasties

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, political corruption and peasant uprisings occurred one after another. The ruling groups of Song Huizong, Cai Jing, and Tong Guan wanted to take advantage of the decline of the Liao Dynasty and take advantage of the The Jin strategy of destroying the Liao Dynasty was to seize the sixteen states of Yan and Yun that were ceded to the Liao Dynasty by the Jin Dynasty after the Five Dynasties, in order to establish eternal achievements.

In the first year of Zhenghe (1111), Zheng Yunzhong and Tong Guan were envoys to the Liao Dynasty. Ma Zhi, a native of the Liao Dynasty, paid a night visit to Tong Guan to propose a strategy to destroy the Liao Dynasty. Tong Guan paid attention to it and asked Ma Zhi to return.

After Ma Zhi arrived at Tong Guan’s home in Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty, he wrote to Huizong, suggesting that the Song Dynasty send envoys from Dengzhou and Laizhou to cross the sea to Liaodong to form an alliance with the Jurchens. The Yan and Yun areas were ceded to the Liao Dynasty. He was deeply appreciated by Huizong, who gave Ma Zhi the name Li Liangsi, and later gave him the surname Zhao. After the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, the Song Dynasty sent envoys across the sea, but they failed to land and returned.

However, due to the corruption of the Song army and lack of combat effectiveness, hundreds of thousands of troops attacked Liao Nanjing twice, but were defeated by the Liao defenders both times. Liao Nanjing was still captured by the Jin army. The Song Dynasty paid an additional one million yuan each year in lieu of taxes, along with the annual "Sui coins" to the Jin Dynasty. In April of the fifth year of Xuanhe, the Jin Dynasty returned Yanjing and the six western states among the nine states to the Song Dynasty.

However, most of the residents of Yanjing have been captured by the Jin and sent to the northeast as slaves. What the Song Dynasty got was only a dilapidated empty city "at the Qiu Ruins and Fox Cave in the city". The Song Dynasty established Yanshanfu Road to rule the newly gained land. Yanjing area.

In the Yunzhou area, Jin Taizu also stated that he would belong to the Song Dynasty on the condition that the Song Dynasty paid military expenses to the Jin Dynasty. In May, the Jin Dynasty promised to return the three states of Shuo, Wu, and Wei to the Song Dynasty. Before it could be implemented, it was suspended due to the death of Jin Taizu from illness in June of the same year.

Jin Taizong also abided by the covenant when he came to the throne. In the second year of Tianhui, the then generals Zong Han and Zong Wang opposed the cession of Shanxi territory from the Song Dynasty. Taizong also said: "This is against the order of the late emperor, so he should do it quickly." Zong Han and Zong Wang opposed the cession of Shanxi territory, "Jin Dynasty" There is a very clear account in "The Biography of Zonghan in the History": "Zonghan reported again: 'At the beginning of the expedition of the Liao Dynasty, the former emperor wanted the Song Dynasty to join forces to attack from a pinch, so he promised the land of Yan. After the Song people formed an alliance, they asked for more money to win over the towns in Shanxi. The former emperor resigned from the alliance.

The alliance letter said: There is no room for hiding and nurturing the border people. In the Song Dynasty, many rebels were recruited, and the names of the traitors were generously rewarded. , I have made an appointment in months and days, and made an oath, but nothing has happened. It has been like this for a long time, and it is hopeless to keep the promise. If the West is not peaceful, the Shanxi counties will be surrendered, and the armies will be lost. The garrison will be under control, and it may not last long, so please leave it alone and not cut it off."

In May of the fifth year of Xuanhe's reign in the Song Dynasty, Jin Liao generals and Jin Nanjing were surrendered. Zhang Jue, who stayed behind in Pingzhou, rebelled against the Jin Dynasty. In early June, Zhang Jue was defeated and fled to Yanshan Mansion, where he was accepted by the Song Dynasty. He recruited rebels and violated the Song-Jin Dynasty covenant. "Breaking trust in the Jin Dynasty will inevitably lead to foreign aggression." Although the Song Dynasty later executed Zhang Jue And sending the head letter to the Jin Dynasty still became an excuse for Jin Taizong to invade the Song Dynasty.

In March of the seventh year of Xuanhe, the Jin captured Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty and wiped out the remaining Liao forces except Yelu Dashi who had moved westward. Jin general Zong Han reported that "Song soldiers recruited rebels", "Olu reported that the Song Dynasty did not send annual coins to account for household registration, but also sent Chongqing alliance", "Zong Han and Zong Wang both requested to attack the Song Dynasty", Jin Taizong reported on October 1st of the same year At the end of the month, an imperial edict was issued to attack the Song Dynasty. The Jin army was divided into two groups. The West Army, led by Deputy Marshal Zong Han of the Left, attacked Taiyuan from the south of Datong Prefecture in Xijing.

In November, the Jin Army from the East Route occupied Tanzhou. In early December, Zong Han, the commander-in-chief of the Jin Army on the West Route, first sent an envoy to Taiyuan, asking Tong Guan to "hurry up and request that the land be ceded to Hedong and Hebei for the time being, with the river as the boundary, and to deposit and withdraw the ancestral temple of the Song Dynasty."

Tong Guan immediately fled to Kaifeng. Zong Han immediately went south from Heyin, first captured Shuozhou, which already belonged to the Song Dynasty, and then defeated Daizhou and Xinzhou, then besieged Taiyuan. In the same month, the Jin army on the east route advanced to Sanhe, and defeated the Song army of Guo Yaoshi at Baihe in the east of Yanshan Prefecture. They also defeated another Song army at Gubeikou. Guo Yaoshi sent gold to Yanshan Prefecture. ?

When the Jin army encircled Taiyuan and captured Yanshan Prefecture, the news reached the capital Kaifeng, and the faint emperor Huizong issued an edict to "stop Zhejiang's Huashi Gang, Yanfu Palace, Xicheng Rentu and the Internal and External Manufacturing Bureau". "Dismiss Taoist officials, dismiss Dasheng Mansion, Xingxing Bureau", Ying Feng Bureau, etc.

When the Jin Army on the East Route attacked Zhongshan and Zhending Prefectures, they failed to capture them, so they crossed the city and went south. After Qinzong ascended the throne, the Jin Army from the East Route successively captured Qingyuan Prefecture and Xinde Prefecture.

At the beginning of the first month of the first year of Jingkang, the Jin army from the East Route occupied Xiangzhou and Junzhou, and the defenders on the south bank of the Yellow River fled at Fenhe Bridge. The news reached Kaifeng on the third day of the lunar month, and Huizong, as the Supreme Emperor, immediately fled in the middle of the night.

The Jin Army on the East Road quickly crossed the river and headed south, arriving at Kaifeng City on the seventh day of the lunar month. Led by Li Gang, who was in power and stayed behind in Tokyo, Kaifeng's army and people repelled multiple attacks by the Jin Army.

But when the Jin envoy asked the Song Dynasty to cede the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan and Hejian, and to retreat on the condition of the prime minister and prince as hostages, Qin Zong decided to send his ninth brother Kang Wang Zhao Gou and Shao Zai Zhang Bangchang to the Jin Dynasty. During the military negotiations, when the Song Army directly led by Song Qinzong failed to attack the Jin Army at night in early February, he immediately dismissed Li Gang to show his sincerity in suing for peace and agreed to cede three towns.

Taipei students led by Chen Dong and tens of thousands of residents rose up in opposition and demanded that Li Gang be reinstated to lead the anti-golden struggle. Qinzong had no choice but to reinstate Li Gang as the ruling officer and defense envoy of the capital, but continued to cede territory and seek peace. . When the troops of King Qin of the Song Dynasty continued to arrive in Kaifeng, the Jin army on the west route failed to attack Taiyuan for a long time and was stranded in Hedong and failed to come.

Under the condition that Qinzong agreed to cede three towns and replace Zhao Gou with his third brother Su Wang Zhao Shu, and Zhang Bangchang was promoted from Shaozai to Dazai as hostages, the Jin Army on the East Route withdrew from Kaifeng on February 9th. When the Jin army on the west route could not attack Taiyuan for a long time, some Jin soldiers were left to attack outside the city. The main force turned south and attacked Wei Shengjun and Longde Mansion. When they arrived in Zezhou, they encountered the Song envoy Houbei who was going north to cede territory. return.

After Huizong fled to Zhenjiang, he immediately followed the imperial decree of the Supreme Emperor and detained the troops of "Di Jiao", "Gang Yun" and "King Qin" in the southeast region, and took control of the military, political and economic power in the southeast region. , trying to regain power as emperor.

In order to maintain the throne, Qinzong not only demoted Wang Fu, Li Yan, and Zhu Meng among the "six thieves", but also soon executed Wang Fu, Li Yan, and Liang Shicheng, and then had the children around Huizong killed. Guan, Cai You, and Cai Jing, who fled south, were demoted and ordered the Supreme Emperor Song Huizong not to interfere in political affairs.

Huizong was forced to express to Qinzong in a secret letter that he was willing to return to Kaifeng, "please live in peace and quiet" and no longer "peep at his old position". After returning to Kaifeng, his movements were restricted. Cai Jing died on the road, and Cai You, Tong Guan, Zhu Meng, etc. were executed one after another.

Although Song Qinzong issued an edict to cede three towns in order to seek peace, the soldiers and civilians of Taiyuan, Hejian, and Zhongshan did not accept the edict to cede territory. Zong Han, the leader of the Jin Army in the West, had to leave part of the Jin army to continue attacking Taiyuan. Return to Datong by yourself. The Jin army on the east route also temporarily returned to Yanjing with the Song army led by Song Jiangzhong's division following.

Under the situation where Li Gang and others insisted on resisting the Jin Dynasty and the soldiers and civilians of the three towns resisted the cession of territories, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty canceled the peace agreement on ceding territories in mid-February. Zhong Shizhong led his army westward to reinforce Taiyuan. The main force encountered the Jin army in Shouyang. They won three out of five battles and continued to march towards Yuci to reinforce Taiyuan. They met the Jin army again in Yuci. The Song army was hungry and besieged, and they fought fiercely for nearly half a day. The other two supporting armies failed to arrive as scheduled. The Song army in the middle part of the Zhong division was defeated and died in the battle. Other Song armies in Hedong were also defeated one after another.

In early August, Emperor Taizong of the Jin Dynasty canceled the land ceding peace talks with the Song Dynasty, and ordered Zong Wang and Zong Han to lead the East-West Route Army to invade the Song Dynasty for the second time. Wang Xun led his troops and civilians to hold on to Taiyuan for more than eight months despite running out of food and support. Finally, they were defeated by the Jin army in early September. Wang Xun led his army to commit suicide after being defeated in a street battle.

In early October, the important town of Zhendingfu was captured after nearly 40 days of siege with 2,000 Song troops resisting the main force of the Jin army on the east route. Song general Liu Yi was defeated and committed suicide after a street battle. Prefect Zhang Miao was captured and killed unyieldingly. . The two Jin armies captured the city and quickly moved south. Song Qinzong hurriedly sent King Kang Zhao Gou as envoy and Minister of Punishment Wang Yun as deputy envoy to Zong Wangjun, commander of the Jin army on the east route, and once again agreed to cede the three towns.

The Jin army on the east route has crossed the river again and headed south. The Jin envoy proposed to draw the river as a boundary. Song Qinzong immediately sent the consuls Geng Nanzhong and Nie Chang to separate the two Jin army commanders Zong Wang and Zong Han in front of the army and agreed. The river was drawn as the boundary for peace talks. At this time, Zhao Gou and Wang Yun arrived in Cizhou. Wang Yun was immediately killed by the people of Cizhou City. King Kang Zhao Gou hurriedly returned to Xiangzhou. Geng Nanzhong and the Jin envoy went to Weizhou. The local soldiers wanted to kill them, but the Jin envoy escaped. , Geng Nanzhong went to Xiangzhou to meet Zhao Gou, King of Kang, and made an appointment to raise troops to serve the king.

Nie Chang arrived in Jiangzhou and was killed by the defenders, but failed to complete the mission of ceding territory and negotiating peace.

At the end of November and the beginning of leap November, two Jin armies arrived at Kaifeng City and attacked the city many times, but were repelled by Kaifeng soldiers and civilians. However, Song Qinzong and his right minister actually listened to the liar Guo Jing and used the so-called "Liujia Divine Soldiers" to attack the Jin Dynasty. military.

Jin Taizong has decided to destroy the Song Dynasty and set up a puppet government to rule the original Song ruled area south of the Yellow River. After deposing Emperors Huizong and Qinzong of the Song Dynasty, he issued an edict and appointed Zhang Bangchang as the emperor of Chu. He ascended the throne as emperor in Kaifeng and designated the capital as Jinling. Zhang Bangchang was a native of Dongguang, Song Dynasty. He came to power in the Song Dynasty in the first year of Xuanhe (1119).

Later he was promoted to Shaozai, and he advocated the cession of territory for peace. He successively served as deputy Kang Wang Zhao Gou and Su Wang Zhao Shu as hostages, and was promoted to Dazai. Jin withdrew his troops in early April after canonizing him as the puppet emperor of Chu. Forced by the situation, Zhang Bangchang welcomed Meng as the Empress Dowager of the Song Dynasty after Zhezong was deposed, and he became Shangshu Zuopushe. The puppet Chu regime established by Jin Dynasty to rule the area south of the Yellow River actually destroyed itself in only 32 days.