On August 8, 1137, the seventh year of Shaoxing (1137), the Southern Song Dynasty army's former commanders Li Qiong, Wang Shizhong, and Jin Sai, who were originally subordinate to Liu Guangshi's department, launched a rebellion, killing the supervising officer Lü Zhi and others, and coercing more than 40,000 people and more than 100,000 people into surrendering to the puppet regime supported by the Jin state, pseudo-Qi, known in history as the "Huaixi Mutiny".
The Huaixi Mutiny was, in the final analysis, a serious mutiny caused by the improper handling of the seizure of military power organized by Zhang Jun, who was then the right minister, at the behest of Emperor Gaozong of Song, and this mutiny had a profound impact on both Song and Jin at that time.
From the perspective of the Southern Song Dynasty, because 40,000 elite troops in the Huaixi Mutiny were coerced into defecting to the Jin Dynasty, occupying one-tenth of the total strength of the Southern Song Dynasty, it directly led to the national strategy from active attack to passive defense
In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, there were more than 400,000 soldiers in the Southern Song Dynasty, and as a result, 40,000 people suddenly threw themselves into the puppet regime supported by the Jin Dynasty, pseudo-Qi, accounting for one-tenth of the total troop strength. Moreover, the defection of its own elite army was completely one or the other, which led to the military strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty changing from offensive to defensive. This undoubtedly dealt a blow to Emperor Gaozong's previous confidence in the Jin offensive, and also made his leading ideology in the future change from the main battle to peace. The country's military strategy has also changed from active offensive to passive defense.
Southern Song Dynasty pseudo-Qi confrontation map
After the Huaixi Mutiny, Zhang Jun was deposed, and the front line lost its unified leadership across the river, which seriously affected the anti-Jin struggle of the Southern Song Dynasty
After the Huaixi Mutiny, the Song army suffered heavy losses, Gaozong's confidence in resisting Jin was also hit, and the situation of the Song-Jin war tended to ease, and Gaozong immediately changed his attitude toward Jin. There has also been a marked change in Zhang Jun's attitude toward the main battle: from "Jianghuai paid Zhang Jun as much as possible, relying on it for the Great Wall", actively encouraging and supporting Zhang Jun's measures to set up two Huai, to believing that "Zhang Jun took three years, exhausted the people's strength, consumed the country, how to taste the size of the land, and bad things are many." In the end, Zhang Jun was deposed as the right minister. Zhang Jun's resignation also led to the loss of unified leadership of the two Huai defensive lines he had single-handedly built, and Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and other road armies were leaderless and in a relatively scattered state, and the anti-Jin struggle fell into a trough.
Due to Li Qiong's defection to the pseudo-Qi, the Huaixi Gate on the Southern Song Dynasty's Lianghuai defensive line was opened, so that the strategic center of the Lianghuai was completely exposed to the Jin people's sharp edge
Because the Song Dynasty has always implemented the strategy of "using wen to protect the military", starting from Zhao Kuangyin's cup of wine to release the military power, the rulers of the Song Dynasty regarded the military power of the warriors as stricter, so Zhao Zhuo thought of taking advantage of the good situation of recovering the Lianghuai region and the stability of Jiangbei to seize the military power. However, due to Zhang Jun's improper handling, which caused the evil consequences of the Huaixi Mutiny, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and Liu Guangshi, who was originally stationed at the Lianghuai Portal, surrendered to the enemy country, and their strength was diminished, and their rebellion also led to the opening of the Huaixi Gateway, and the strategic center of the Two Huaihuai was completely exposed to the Jin people's sharp edge.
Liu Guangshi
Emperor Gaozong of Song changed from a main battle to a main peace
Because of Yang Yizhong's "victory in lotus ponds" in Huaixi, it proved that Zhang Jun's decision to protect the two Huai was correct, and Zhang Jun's achievement in taking the two Huai was also very remarkable, "since then the two Huai can be established." The stability of the two Huai regions, coupled with Han Shizhong's attack on the East Jingdong Road from Huaidong, Yue Fei's direct attack on the Central Plains from Xiangyang, and finally approaching Luoyang, the western capital, was greatly encouraged by the government and the public, the internal and external situation was very good, and Emperor Gaozong of Song also established the message of recovering the lost territory, and also took the initiative to attack the Jin Kingdom.
However, after the Huaixi Mutiny, the loss of troops and the sharp turn of the situation undoubtedly dealt a blow to Emperor Gaozong's previous confidence in the Jin offensive, coupled with the downfall of Zhang Jun, the right minister of the main war faction, and the rise of the main and faction Qin Jun, under his encouragement, led to Zhao Shuo's dominant ideology toward Jin from the main battle to the main peace.
From the perspective of the Jin Dynasty, the huge military pressure on its front was alleviated, so that it could easily deploy its military strength against the Southern Song Dynasty
For the Jin Dynasty, the biggest beneficiary of the Huaixi Mutiny, the tremendous military pressure it was under was relieved and they could reorganize and deploy their military forces against the Southern Song Dynasty relatively calmly. The defection of the Huaixi soldiers not only added fresh troops to their own side, but also completely exposed the two Huai regions to themselves, grasped the strategic initiative, and at the same time laid the foundation for the subsequent negotiations between the two sides to strive for greater interests from the Southern Song Dynasty.