When mentioning the "sharpshooter" of the Song Dynasty, many people will think of a character, that is, Hua Rong in "Water Margin". Because he shot a hundred arrows and shot a hundred shots, he had the kung fu of "100 steps through Yang", and was called "Little Li Guang" by the people in the jianghu. But Hua Rong is a character in the novel after all, is there no real sharpshooter in the history of the Song Dynasty? In fact, there are, but everyone is not familiar with it. This person was He Guan, who was surprised by the Liao army as a "god man".
World War I fame
As we all know, the way to become an official in ancient China, in addition to the imperial examination, was also martial arts. And He Guan is the court that enters through martial arts. At the beginning, He Guan joined the army in Hedong and held a position on Hedong Road. Hedong Jing slightly made Han Zhen very optimistic about him, and once said to him: "You are a wizard, and one day in the future, you will sit in my position." With the favor of his superiors, He Guan's career was also smooth sailing, and he successively served as the inspector of Fuzhou and the inspector of the Volcano Army.
Sharpshooter
At that time, there was frequent friction on the Border of Song and Liao, and the Liao people often crossed the border to fetch water. For this situation, He Guan naturally did not allow it to happen, so he personally demarcated the border and prohibited the Liao people from crossing the border to fetch water. The Liao were furious and decided to teach The Song army a lesson. One day, the Liao, taking advantage of the lack of preparation of the Song army, gathered an army of nearly 10,000 people and crossed the border and ran to the camp of the Song army. At that time, He Guan only had more than a hundred soldiers under his command, and the situation was very critical.
Liao Army
In the face of this 100-to-1 situation, the Song army was panicked, and the Liao army posed as a cat and mouse. He Guan did not hesitate to pull out an arrow and shoot at the enemy, and as soon as the arrow was fired, a Liao soldier fell down in response. But the Liao army didn't care at all, there were so many of them, how many could he shoot? So they pressed against the Song army step by step. At this time, He Guan no longer shot arrows at the Liao soldiers, but shot to the side. Three arrows in a row, all shot deflected.
archery
Liao Jun laughed, "You sharpshooters can't do it either?" Song Jun's side also began to panic. He Guan said calmly, "Really? Why don't you take another look?" The Liao army looked back at He Guan's deflected arrows, only to see that the three arrows had all shot into the rock next to them in turn, and the clusters of arrows had all entered the stone. The Liao army could be frightened this time, what kind of person could do such a thing? It's like the Arrow God is alive. So they ignored the advantages they had already gained and retreated 30 miles.
This move of He Guan was spread all over the world, not only the Song Dynasty, but even the people of the Liao State knew that the Song Army had an additional sharpshooter. About thirty years later, The Khitan Xiao Taishi met He Guan, talked about this matter, and said with awe in his heart: "I don't know who that young general is?" He Guan smiled and said, "I am the inspector at the beginning." Master Xiao solemnly saluted and hurriedly gave He a salute.
He Guan died on the battlefield
After that, He Guan ascended all the way to the top and took charge of the military states of Hebei Road and Xihe Road, and participated in the Battles of the Zhenwu Army, the Battle of Renduoquan City, and the Fang La Uprising. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, he was also in charge of guarding. But it was such a famous general who was killed by the father and son of Emperor Huizong of Song.
The change of Jingkang
In the seventh year of Xuanhe, after the Jin soldiers went south, He Guan was appointed to defend Baimajin in Junzhou. However, the imperial court did not give him enough troops, so he had to recruit civilians as backups. In the first year of Jing Kang, Jin Bing was stationed in Huazhou, but Due to Liang Fangping's escape, He Guan's army was defeated. When He Guan returned to Jingshi to meet the emperor, Song Qinzong did not see him, but asked him to guard the Western Wall. He Guan defended the city and fought against Jin Bing for three days, and finally died on the battlefield due to physical weakness, at the age of 62.
veteran
The most chilling thing is that after He Guan's death, Yan Guan also impeached him for defending Bai Ma Jin unfavorably and chasing down the official rank. It was not until the fourth year of Shaoxing, after the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, that he was reinstated to his rank and posthumously awarded the title of Grand Master of the Footsteps and the Envoy of the Zhongzheng Army. It can be seen how corrupt the Northern Song government was at that time?