Chapter 461: Fanfiction 12: Later Records and Related Evaluations of the Song-Jin War — Cai Youmingtian

Fanfiction 12: Later Records and Related Evaluations of the Song-Jin War — Cai Youmingtian

The Song-Jin War refers to the large-scale war waged by the Song Dynasty from the seventh year of the Xuanhe era of the Southern Song (1125) to the tenth year of the Jianyan era of the Northern Song (1137) to resist the Jin army's southern invasion, recover lost territory, and sweep their lair clean.

Main commanders: Jin: Wanyan Zonghan (Zhanian), Wanyan Zongwang (Wolubu), Wanyan Zongbi (Wushu), Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Balisu; Song: Zhao Jiu, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Wu Jie, Zhang Rong, Zhang Jun, Ma Kuo

Result: In the early stage of the war, the Southern Song capital was breached and the emperor captured, with Jin power reaching its peak; in the later stage, the Huaxia Allied Forces destroyed Jin, leading to the Jianyan Restoration.

Background: See "Jin-Liao War" and "Maritime Alliance." During the process of destroying Liao, Jin skillfully employed the tactic of sustaining war through war, and the Jurchens reaped great war profits, possessing a strong desire for expansion. At the same time, they saw through the true state of the Southern Song court—that behind its flourishing facade lay extreme weakness—hence they launched multiple southern invasions.

Brief Introduction to the War Process:

First Stage: The Jin Army's Offensive Stage.

In October 1125, the Jin army invaded south for the first time. Zhanian's western route advanced into Shanxi, and Wolubu's eastern route emerged from Hebei, attempting a pincer movement to seize Dongjing. Ultimately, due to the arrival of the imperial rescue troops from across the realm, they temporarily withdrew, and the Southern Song ceded the three prefectures of Hebei to sue for peace.

Impact: The Jin army's first southern invasion marked the beginning of the Song-Jin War.

In August 1126, the Jin army invaded south for the second time. Zhanian again attacked Taiyuan from the west, while Wolubu attacked Zhending from the east. In November, they surrounded Dongjing. Zhao Jiu was ordered to go to the Jin camp to beg for peace, proposing the Yellow River as the boundary, but the Jin army refused. The following month, Dongjing fell, and the Jingkang Humiliation occurred.

Impact: The Southern Song was destroyed.

In September 1127, the Jin army invaded south for the third time. Loushi, as commander of the western route army, attacked Shaanxi but was blocked by Li Yanxian. Wushu, as the vanguard of the eastern route army, attacked Jingdong. Song Shizu deployed Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and Liu Guangshi to lead troops, resisting the enemy layer by layer. The Shouzhou Defense Battle erupted. However, Liu Guangshi abandoned his position first, then placed Zhang Jun in danger. Song Shizu personally executed Liu Guangshi, entered Xiacai alone, calmed the army's morale, and reaffirmed military discipline. The Song army's morale soared, and the Jin army retreated in defeat.

Impact: The Jin army's large-scale offensive suffered its first setback, shattering the myth of Jin's invincibility. The Northern Song gained a breathing space. Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, and others earned Song Shizu's appreciation, sowing the seeds for the subsequent counterattack.

In August 1128, the Jin army invaded south for the fourth time. The Southern Capital Yingtian Prefecture was breached, and Zhang Suo died for his country. Kong Yanzhou, Zhang Yu, and Zhe Keqiu surrendered. In October, Han Shizhong was besieged. In November, the Nanyang Defense Battle erupted. The main forces of the Jin army's eastern and western routes were checked at Nanyang and Shanzhou. In December, Zong Ze of Dongjing fell gravely ill, and Du Chong was sent to replace him. The Song imperial rescue troops massed along the Yanling line, but Du Chong, unmindful of serving his country, feared the enemy and shrank from battle, falsifying military intelligence and deceiving both superiors and subordinates. His son Du Yan, understanding the greater good, rode alone to the south to report the true situation. In the first month of the following year, Shizu, leading only his personal guards, secretly arrived at Yanling, executed Du Chong, appointed Yue Fei as commander, attacked Wanyan Dalai, and won a great victory.

Significance: The Song army achieved its first victory in a large-scale field battle, breaking the rumor that "if the Jurchens are not yet ten thousand, they are invincible when they reach ten thousand." This battle supported the Song army's operations on the Shaanxi and Shandong flanks, curbed the Jin army's offensive, created favorable conditions for the Song army's counterattack, and foiled the Jin army's strategy of destroying Song in the short term.

Second Stage: Strategic Stalemate Stage

Song Shizu's return to the old capital made the Jurchen nobles realize that their boast of destroying Song in the short term had become empty talk. Hence, they focused on localized key offensives, attempting to seize the initiative in a prolonged confrontation.

In the first month of 1130, the Jin army launched its fifth southern invasion, mainly as a probe, with no large-scale battles between the two sides. In March of the same year, relying on their armored troops and defying the seasons, the Jin army launched a sixth southern invasion. In May, they breached Luoyang. Northern Song Privy Councilor Wang Boyan set himself on fire and died for his country. Song Shizu entrusted his heir to his ministers and personally led the imperial expedition. On May 29, the Song and Jin armies engaged in a decisive battle at Yaoshan. The battle was exceptionally fierce; at the closest point, the two armies' main banners were less than a hundred paces apart, and the supreme commanders even exchanged fire. Nearly a hundred thousand soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded. Ultimately, Jin commander Wanyan Loushi was killed in action, and the Song army won a pyrrhic victory.

Impact: The bloody battle at Yaoshan dealt a heavy blow to the Jin army's main forces, significantly affecting the Song army's resistance against Jin. The Jin's last large-scale offensive failed, their strategic advantage gradually disappeared, and Song and Jin entered a strategic stalemate. This battle can be considered the Northern Song's war of national foundation.

In 1131, the Jin army repatriated captured Song imperial clan members, intending to sue for peace. The Northern Song feigned peace negotiations while secretly deploying troops and generals, successfully eliminating the puppet Qi. In 1132, the Song army attacked Western Xia, and the Jin army went to its aid. In September, Song, Liao, and Mongolia held the Jinhepo Alliance, establishing a unified coalition. Western Xia was then declared destroyed, and the Song army recovered the Hetao region.

Impact: During the strategic stalemate stage, the Song army took the initiative to strike, eliminating the puppet Qi and Western Xia that had submitted to Jin, allying with the remnants of Western Liao and the Mongol tribes that strongly desired to resist Jin, and forcing Goryeo to remain neutral. This cleared obstacles for the strategic counterattack, laid the foundation, caused a dramatic shift in the balance of power between Song and Jin, and solidified the anti-Jin sentiment within the court.

Third Stage: The Song Army's Counterattack Stage

In November 1132, Song Shizu summoned Ma Kuo for an audience and asked about the strategy to destroy Jin. Subsequently, in the following year, he initiated army expansion and tax reform. In 1134, during his southern inspection tour, Shizu began implementing the "head-tax-to-land-tax" reform and started land registration, historically known as the "Jianyan New Policies."

In June 1135, at the Southeast Public Assembly, through open court debate, internal consensus was unified, and the course of resisting Jin was determined. In September, the Northern Song, together with the Liao and Mongol tribes, formed the Huaxia Allied Forces, issued a proclamation, and swore an oath to attack Jin, historically known as the "Jianyan Northern Expedition."

The 300,000-strong Huaxia Allied Forces split into two routes, adopting the strategy of taking Yuancheng in the east and Taiyuan in the west, then joining forces to advance north. Song Shizu personally served as commander of the western route army, with Yue Fei as commander of the eastern route army. The Jin army was led by Wushu, with Balisu as commander. On December 30, using gunpowder, the Song army's eastern and western routes simultaneously breached Taiyuan and Yuancheng.

In 1136, the main forces of the Huaxia Allied Forces and the Jin army met at Jingxing. In February, the final decisive battle took place in the Huolu region. When the battle was at a stalemate, Song Shizu personally crossed the river, joined the various units, routed the Jin army, and killed Jin commander Balisu in battle. Subsequently, Zhang Rong used his navy to block the Jin army's retreat, and the various Huaxia units pursued closely. The Jin army suffered a massive rout, with fewer than one in ten of those fleeing north surviving. This was historically known as the "Battle of Huolu."

Impact: The Battle of Huolu was a tremendous victory achieved by the Huaxia Allied Forces (mainly the Northern Song), which basically destroyed the Jin army's main forces, completely reversed the situation of the Song-Jin War, accelerated the destruction of Jin, laid the political and military pattern of Northeast Asia for the next century, and filled countless people with admiration.

Literature: There are many poems and lyrics eulogizing the figures and events of the Song-Jin War. The most famous among them is Song Shizu's personally inscribed "Green Jade Cup · Lantern Festival Night." For details, see "Appreciation of Song Shizu's Poetry and Ci."

In painting, the most famous are Zhang Zeduan's "Dongjing Boiling Picture," painted after the great victory at Huolu, and Japan's national treasure "Within a Square Inch."

Operas and novels written about the Song-Jin War are vast in number and diverse in style... Among them, "Shaosong Book Club" is the most absurd. Later, "Gao Bao Strange People" referenced this style, adopting a vulgar and playful approach.

Historical Evaluation: The Song-Jin War lasted for over a decade and was, at the time, a contest for supremacy in East Asia, even the world. In the early stages of the war, the Jin army was in an ascending phase militarily, politically, and diplomatically, with the quality of its officers and soldiers unmatched in the world. Jin's founding ruler, Wanyan Aguda, could be called a man of heroic talent, laying a solid economic, political, and military foundation for the Jin army's southern advance. During the destruction of Liao, they obtained a pretext for war against Song, occupying a favorable position in public opinion.

During the first two southern invasions, the Jin army employed sound tactics, fully utilizing their own advantages. Coupled with the Southern Song court's civil officials being indulgent and military officers being complacent, military preparedness being neglected, the ruler being foolish and ministers being incompetent, and the pursuit of a policy of appeasement, they reaped rich rewards. However, due to their own overextended supply lines, the troops' lack of acclimatization, harsh rule, failure to gain recognition from the Han Chinese, lack of control over occupied territories, difficulty in obtaining supplies, and the Song's great strategic depth and rich cultural heritage, they failed to completely destroy the Song Dynasty.

In the middle of the war, Zhao Jiu, the famous Song Shizu in Chinese history, ascended the throne and adopted a policy of resolute resistance. Although the Northern Song only held half of the country, the army and people shared a common hatred for the enemy, held fast to strategic points, and a succession of capable ministers and famous generals emerged. In famous battles such as the Shouzhou Defense Battle, the Suotou Beach Battle, the Nanyang Defense Battle, the Yanling Battle, and the Yaoshan Bloody Battle, they blunted the Jin army's edge, consumed a large amount of the Jin army's effective strength, and established confidence within the Northern Song court and populace in successfully resisting Jin.

In the later stages of the war, after the wars to destroy Xia and Qi, and "Hu Hongxiu's Mission to Western Liao," the Song Dynasty established a favorable military and diplomatic environment. After the "Shaoxing Conference," under the leadership of Song Shizu, the Northern Song court unified its thinking and pace, carried out internal reforms, and the accumulation of quantitative change gradually accelerated. The balance of power between Song and Jin gradually tilted. Ultimately, with the "Jianyan Northern Expedition" and the "Great Victory at Huolu" as the qualitative change results, they destroyed Jin and achieved the goal of "driving straight to the Yellow Dragon."

The victory in the Song-Jin War ended the division between north and south that had existed since the end of the Tang Dynasty, reunified the country, promoted ethnic integration, strengthened the sense of identity of the Huaxia nation, and refreshed the social spirit. It was conducive to social stability and progress, promoted the economic development of the north, rebalanced economic development between the north and south, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the "Shaoxing Golden Age."

Later Generations' Related Evaluations:

Song Wuzong: After reading through the history of the Southern Song, I finally understood why Shizu was ashamed to call himself a man of Zhuojun.

Zhu Xi: Shizu possessed the magnanimity to rule the realm.

Lu Jiuyuan: After the Huizong and Qinzong eras, to encounter Shizu was the fortune of the myriad people and the fortune of Huaxia's institutions and culture.

Xin Qiji: I regret being born at the wrong time, never having the chance to personally slay the hated foe.

Lu You: Fortunate to have lived in such an era, to have witnessed such a glorious chapter of the times.

Meng Gong: Today, we should emulate the various predecessors of the Jianyan era—defend the borders, resist the invaders, capture and behead the great chieftains, lead the army to victory, and display our might beyond the borders. All officers and men, today, there is only advance, no retreat.

Bi Zaiyu: Every time I read history up to the war with Jin, I realize that there is no inevitable defeat for an army.

Xu Heng: After the Jingkang Incident, who ever spoke of victory?

Song Jingzong: The achievements of Shizu and the worthy ministers of the Jianyan era shine brightly in the annals of history. I and all my ministers should emulate them.

Zhang Yanghao: Shizu is a model for emperors.

Guan Hanqing: Shizu once said, "There is nothing that cannot be spoken of with others." But now times have changed; where is that ancestral precept?

Ma Zhiyuan: Although the present times are difficult, it is not that things cannot be done. Emperor Shizu set a shining example before us. I hope Your Majesty will rouse yourself.

Song Xianzong: Shizu's reign is called a restoration, but in reality, it was a founding.

Song Yizong: Now the four seas are in turmoil, and border troubles have arisen again. Which of you ministers can emulate the various lords of the Jianyan era to relieve my worries?

Chen Youliang: If I had encountered Song Shizu, I would have laid down my arms and surrendered, seeking to achieve the merits of Han and Yue. If I had encountered Song Taizu, I would have planned to fully occupy the Great River, advancing to seize the Central Plains if possible, or retreating to divide the realm in two.

Liu Ji: When a sage ruler appears, famous ministers emerge. The Jingkang and Jianyan eras are separated by a single line, yet the distance between the rulers and ministers of the two courts is more than a thousand li.

Ming Taizu: Song Shizu was one who accomplished what was impossible for his time.

Wang Zhen: Your Majesty is young and heroic; the First Emperor of Qin, Han Wudi, Tang Taizong, and Song Taizu are no more than this.

Yu Qian: Although the present times are difficult, they are not as bad as the Jianyan era.

Ming Zhaozong: Yu Qian is my Zong Ze.

—Excerpted from Baidu Baike