History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
The Song Dynasty scholar Li Xinchuan recorded in his "Miscellaneous Records of the Dynasty and the Opposition Since Jianyan" that the so-called "Thirteen Battle Achievements Since Zhongxing" is the thirteen battles that defeated the Jin soldiers since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, and it is also the thirteen key battles that belong to the Southern Song Dynasty to gain a foothold in the south. One of the thirteen battles was the Battle of Shangyuan. Where was the monk? It was located west of present-day Baoji, Shaanxi. The Battle of Shangyuan took place in 1131, and the entire battle consisted of three battles, the first two battles were of the nature of outpost warfare, and the third battle was the focus of the entire battle. In the end, the Jin soldiers were defeated by the Song army in three battles, especially the last battle, which caused heavy casualties to the Jin soldiers.
In 1129, Emperor Gaozong of Song appointed Zhang Jun as an envoy to The Chuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu System, granting him the right to handle the military and political affairs of the Sichuan-Shaanxi region with full authority. Soon after Zhang Jun took office, there was intelligence that the Jin soldiers might once again commit a crime in the south, and in order to ensure the safety of Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhang Jun practiced the tactic of "attacking the west with sound from the east" and took the initiative to launch an offensive in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Theater, so that he did not dare to rush across the jiangnan to commit crimes. Zhang Jun gathered about 200,000 infantry and cavalry troops, and the great war was about to break out. At that time, the Song general Wu Jiu believed that "the soldiers moved for profit, and now the terrain is unfavorable, and they have not seen what they can do", but Zhang Jun believes that "Gu Jin's southeast is urgent, and he has to do it". As a result, the Song army fought a major battle with the Jin soldiers at Fuping (富平, in present-day northern Fuping, Shaanxi), and the Song army was defeated. The defeat of Fuping caused a great shock to the Southern Song Dynasty, and shaanxi was lost after the war. It can be seen that the loss of troops will be secondary, and the Battle of Fuping led to the occupation of most of Shaanxi by Jin soldiers, which made Sichuan lose its effective barrier, and it was easier for Jin soldiers to attack Sichuan.
Why was Sichuan so important to the Southern Song Dynasty? On the one hand, because Sichuan is rich in products, if Sichuan is occupied by Jin soldiers, this is undoubtedly like a tiger adding wings, but the more important reason is that Sichuan is related to the safety of the Southern Song Dynasty, and there was a so-called "take Wu must take Shu" at that time, and the three major defense areas of the Song Army at that time were also planned in response to this situation, including the Sichuan-Shaanxi Defense Area (first) on the western front, the Jingxiang Defense Area (ridge) on the Central Front, and the Jianghuai Defense Area (tail) on the Eastern Front. The area of Sichuan-Shaanxi defense roughly included the entirety of present-day southern Shaanxi, southern Gansu, and Sichuan Province. Once Sichuan was occupied by Jin soldiers, they could attack from west to east and directly attack the Jianghuai region, the political and economic center of the Southern Song Dynasty at that time. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the reason why the Mongols wanted to capture Sichuan at any cost was this.
If the Song army wanted to defend against the Jin army's attack through Sichuan, it had to occupy the strategic position of Shangyuan. The monk was originally located on the east side of the Great Scattered Pass, and it was Wu Jiu who was in charge of the defense of the Great Scattered Pass at that time. The monk Yuan guarded the Shukou and was the main passage into Sichuan. Zheng Xingyi once did a field trip, climbing the monk Yuan to overlook the Great Sanguan. It can be seen that the monk was originally a strategic stronghold to guard the passage of Dashanguan into and out of Sichuan.
In the Battle of Shangyuan, the commander of the Song army was Wu Jiu, who advised Zhang Jun not to fight rashly before the Battle of Fuping. Wu Jiu's ancestral home was Qinfeng Lu DeshunJun (present-day Longde, Ningxia) Longgan County (present-day Jingning, Gansu), and Wu Jiu's father, Wu Jie, was born in Wu Xingwu and served as a pawn in Shuiluo City, where the Deshun Army belonged. As the old saying goes, "Kanto is out of the picture, Kansai is out of the general." The so-called "Kansai" refers to the area west of Hangu Pass, the so-called Qinlong region. Since ancient times, the Qinlong region has been one of the main war zones of war and conflict between the Central Plains Dynasty and the ethnic minorities on the northwest border, creating a martial atmosphere in this region. Wu Jie was a soldier cultivated in this martial land.
Wu Jie zixiao was "deep in perseverance and integrity, good at riding and shooting, known in the art of war, and able to read and understand great righteousness", and joined the army as a good family son at the age of nineteen, and belonged to the Jingyuan Road Economics And Pacifying Division. Western Xia entered the Kou, and Wu Jie had meritorious resistance to the enemy and was promoted to a general with dozens of soldiers. In 1128, when the Jin soldiers crossed the Yellow River and attempted to attack Jingyuan Road through Qin Yong, Wu Jiu was ordered to intercept the Jin soldiers and pursue them for thirty miles. Later, Zhang Jun served as an envoy to Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu, and because he was recommended by Liu Ziyu, a senator, Zhang Jun appointed Wu Jiu as his ruler. It is said that at that time, a song was circulated in the Qinlong region: "There is literature and martial arts is Qu Da, and there is strategy and courage is Wu Da." "Qu Da" refers to Qu Duan, "Wu Da" refers to Wu Jie, and we can see from "having strategy and courage" that Wu Jie is not only a brave general, but also a wise general, and is good at using wisdom to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. In the Battle of Shangyuan, Wu Jiu attacked the Jin soldiers with strange soldiers to cut off their grain routes; he also set up an ambush at Shenyuan to pursue the Jin soldiers at night.
According to records, Wu Jiu "must first occupy the land of victory on the plateau in every battle", and Wu Jiu concluded that the safest way to fight against the Jin soldiers in the west was to occupy the high ground, only in this way could the power of its cavalry be counteracted. In today's military terms, Wu Jie is an expert in mountain warfare.
According to records, the monks fought in the battle, the Jin people lost their troops, and the four princes fell into the army and were killed. It can be seen from this that the battle of Shangyuan was fierce and the casualties were heavy.
In the battle of Shangyuan, Wu Jie was able to win more with less, and successfully restrained the Golden Soldier Iron Horse, which really depended on the following factors. The first is to defend first and attack later. After the Battle of Fuping ended, after Zhang Jun sent Wu Jiu to guard Dasan Pass, Wu Jiu immediately bought time and ran monks as the main stronghold for defending the Jin army.
The monks were less than a hundred miles away from Fengxiang Province, and the two were able to coordinate with each other, so Wu Jiu used Fengxiang Province as a logistics base for Monk Yuan to solve the problem of military food supply. When Jin Bing arrived at Shangyuan, Wu Jie did not take the initiative to attack, but waited for work. The second is to make good use of the terrain. Wu Jie was very familiar with the terrain of the Sichuan-Shaanxi region, and took advantage of the favorable terrain from above and made it impossible for the enemy to be in a state of upward attack and unable to exert his strengths. On the contrary, the Golden Soldiers were limited by the terrain and could not play to the advantage of cavalry. At the same time, Wu Jiu often set up ambushes to attack The Jin soldiers where they had to pass. The third is to look for the weakness of the golden soldiers. In addition to using the terrain to offset the advantages of the golden soldiers' iron horses, Wu Jiu was able to attack the enemy's weaknesses with his own strengths, and ordered the troops to select strong bows and crossbows, form a "garrison arrow", shoot the golden soldiers endlessly, and implement the iron horse of restraining the golden soldiers with strong bows and crossbows.
After the Battle of Fuping, the Wu Jie brothers: one victory over Shangyuan, then better than Xianrenguan, Shuzhong was unharmed, and the Battle of Shangyuan played a key role in stabilizing the Sichuan region and even ensuring the security of the Southern Song Dynasty.