In the process of fighting the Khitan in the Northern Song Dynasty, it can be said that there were more defeats than less victories, such as the Battle of Sorghum River, the Battle of Qigou Pass, and the Battle of Junziguan, and the Song army was defeated miserably, losing tens of thousands of people. However, the Northern Song Dynasty still had many famous generals who could fight good battles, and one of them also broke the Liao army and killed five liao generals. But why did such a fierce general end his life by suicide?
This person's name is Guo Jin, a Native of Boye, Shenzhou, although born poor, but brave, and likes to make friends in the jianghu. At that time, Guo Jin was working in a large family, and the prince of this family thought that Guo Jin was a scourge and wanted to get rid of him. This matter was known to Gongzi's wife Zhu Shi, who told Guo Jin about it. Therefore, Guo Jin left Boye and came to Jinyang to join the army. At that time, Hedong Jiedu made Liu Zhi foresee Guo Jin's strong body, so he took him under his account.
After the fall of the Later Jin Dynasty, Guo Jin followed Liu Zhiyuan to pacify the counties of Hebei and was awarded the title of Assassin for his merits. After the establishment of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Guo Jin continued to serve as an assassin in various places, and had considerable political achievements. Although Guo Jin was brave and good at war, because he was a concubine of the Later Han Emperor Liu Zhiyuan, his official position was not promoted, and he served in the local area for a long time. It was not until the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty that Guo Jin's career ushered in a turnaround. Zhao Kuangyin declared himself empress, and the Zhaoyi army made Li Yun refuse to submit and rebel.
Zhao Kuangyin, who had just ascended to the throne, personally marched, and he appointed Guo Jin as a defense envoy of Honshu to patrol the Western Mountains. Later, Guo Jin, Cao Bin, and Wang Quanbin invaded Taiyuan and captured thousands of people. In the second year of Kaibao, Song Taizu personally conquered the Northern Han Dynasty, and Guo Jin served as the commander of the former army and horse army of the xingying camp. Guo Jin "recruited more than 37,000 people from the states after the mountain", which greatly weakened the strength of the Northern Han Dynasty. After Emperor Taizong of Song ascended the throne, Guo Jin was promoted again, "leading the Yun Prefecture to observe the envoy, sentence XingZhou, still concurrently inspect the Western Mountains, and give the first district of the capital Daodefang."
Taiping rejuvenated the country for four years. Emperor Taizong of Song personally marched and planned to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty. Although the Northern Han Dynasty's national strength was weakened, it had a strong foreign aid, which was the Khitans. Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong and Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin led troops on many occasions, but failed to destroy the Northern Han, the most important reason for which was that the Khitan army came to rescue the Northern Han. Therefore, in order to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty, it was necessary to intercept or even defeat the Khitan reinforcements, and Emperor Taizong of Song entrusted this task to Guo Jin!
Guo Jin's opponent was Yelü Sha, the chancellor of the Southern Prefecture of Liao, who led tens of thousands of Khitan cavalry to rush in. Guo Jin did not sit on guancheng, but launched an attack when the Liao army crossed the river, and as a result, the Liao army suffered a crushing defeat, including the son of Yelü Sha, five generals were killed, "the enemy Lie and his son Frog Brother, Sha's son Delhi, Ling Wen Dumin, And Xiang Wen Tang Xiao and other five generals were lost." If it were not for the rescue of the Great King of the Northern Courtyard, Yelü Xiexuan, Guo Jin might have completely annihilated this Liao army.
When Guo Jin placed the Liao army's captives and captured heads in front of Taiyuan City, the city was shocked, and the Northern Han Emperor knew that there was no hope for Liao reinforcements. At this point, the Northern Han Emperor Liu Jiyuan surrendered Kaicheng. Although Guo Jin did not directly participate in the siege, he was the first hero to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty. However, Guo Jin's merits have not yet been commended, but he committed suicide in the army! Originally, Emperor Taizong of Song arranged for Tian Qinzuo to serve as a supervisor in Guo Jin's army.
Tian Qinzuo was not a very good person, "arbitrarily engaged in adultery and illegal things", and Guo Jin argued with him many times. However, Tian Qinzuo was a close confidant of the emperor and often insulted Guo Jin. After all, Guo Jin had been a horse all his life, with a strong temperament and high battle achievements, so his self-esteem was very strong, but he could not help Tian Qinzuo. In the end, Guo Jin chose to commit suicide, "Qin Zuo invaded him with his deeds, his heart could not be reconciled, and he died at the age of fifty-eight." Afterwards, Emperor Taizong of Song learned of this and demoted Tian Qinzuo to a foreign country and posthumously awarded Guo Jin the posthumous title of Envoy of the An Guo Army.
Resources:
1. "History of Song"; 2. "Continuation of Zizhi TongjianChang"