In ancient times, some ethnic minority countries often held grand celebrations or ceremonies after winning the war, which was not only to express the joy of victory, but also hoped to boost morale and inspire people in this way, such as during the Song Dynasty, after the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, a grand sheep-leading ceremony was held.
And this so-called sheep-leading ceremony is not as simple as it is literally, it is a very insulting ceremony, mainly for those slaves who were captured after the war, so how shameful is this sheep-leading ceremony? It is said that the 26-year-old empress who died after the ceremony did not tolerate humiliation and committed suicide, and other princesses and noble concubines were even more devastated, subjected to inhuman treatment and humiliation.
What is the lead ceremony
Having said all that, what exactly is the ceremony of the sheep-leading ceremony mentioned earlier? Simply put, the sheep-leading ceremony was the highest standard captivity ceremony in ancient times, and the emperor of the subjugated country had to take off his coat with his royal relatives and ministers, hold the sheep in his left hand, hold the grass in his right hand, and then be put around the neck by the victor with a rope, and bring them to his ancestral temple like livestock to declare victory to the ancestors, so in general, for the victor it was an ancient way of celebrating victory, but for the loser it was an insulting ritual of losing dignity and rights.
And this ceremony did not only originate from the Jin Dynasty, it first appeared since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but it was rarely used by the state in later generations, and there were very few large-scale captives, so people did not know much about this ritual, but the Jin Kingdom achieved a complete victory in the confrontation with the Song State, attacking the capital of the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty also declared its demise, and the Song Huizong and Song Qinzong at that time were captured by the Jin Kingdom.
Since they had achieved an unprecedented victory, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty naturally wanted to hold a grand celebration ceremony on a large scale, so they chose to use the sheep-drawing ceremony, let Song Huizong bring his concubines, daughters and a series of royal relatives, forcing them to take off their clothes, and were led by ropes one by one, into the temple dedicated to Jin Taizu, to comfort the ancestors of the glory and glory of the Jin Kingdom, all the princes and nobles of the Golden Kingdom gathered here, and everyone's face was filled with the joy of victory. This is undoubtedly the biggest event for the Jurchen people in the whole nation.
However, this was a great insult to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Huizong, and other concubines, not to mention stripping naked to show the public, that is, walking on the street and being stared at by others would be shy, after all, in ancient times, people were extremely conservative in their thinking, and women regarded their chastity as more important than life, how could they bear such humiliation? Therefore, even if the 26-year-old empress at the time chose to commit suicide by throwing herself into the lake, there were many concubines and princesses following closely behind, and such a choice may be the best ending for them.
Because if they endured this humiliation, they would be treated inhumanly, either selected by the rulers and princes and nobles of the Jin Dynasty as their concubines or slaves, and the rest were either assigned to institutions such as laundry houses, doing dirty work, or being wantonly trampled by soldiers and subordinates, and many women were tortured and humiliated to death, rather than surviving, it was better to die like the empress, so it was absolutely wise for many concubines to choose to commit suicide at that time.
Shame on Jing Kang
The occurrence of this sheep ceremony is naturally related to the famous Jingkang shame incident in history, and it should be said that the occurrence of jingkang shame has many factors, first of all, the political system of the Song Dynasty that emphasizes literature and light force, such a system has been established since the establishment of the Song Dynasty by Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty.
The purpose was to prevent his subordinates from carrying out mutinies like he once did, but such an approach directly led to a downward decline in the military strength of the Song Dynasty and then the whole country, the status of civilian officials was higher than that of military attachés, the generals did not have the autonomy to command the troops, and what countermeasures needed to be made had to be declared upwards and approved before they could be implemented.
Secondly, at that time, Emperor Huizong of Song was really too faint and incompetent, obviously there were yue fei and other famous generals who resisted the Jin state, and saved the country many times at a time of crisis, even if he could not completely destroy the Jin state, he would not usher in the fate of destroying the country, but he believed those traitorous ministers, listened to Qin Jun's rumors, and was stunned that Yue Fei and others were executed, so that the Song state would not have the strength to compete head-on with the Jin state, the army was scattered, and the army's combat effectiveness was weakening day by day.
So in 1127, that is, in the second year of Jing Kang, the army of the Jin State attacked the capital of the Song State, Tokyo, and the Northern Song dynasty was declared dead, and the Song Huizong, Song Qinzong, and all the harem concubines were all taken prisoners, adding up to more than 3,000 people before and after, and these people were sent back to China by the Jin State in two batches.
Of course, these soldiers escorting the captives could not treat these people kindly, and no one would care whether these Prisoners of the Song Dynasty were dead or alive, so nearly half of the people were damaged on the way of transportation, and the actual captives who arrived in the Jin Kingdom were only more than a thousand people, whether the emperor was subdued or the country was destroyed, which was a great shame for the people of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is the famous shame of Jing Kang in history.
An incompetent monarch, an emperor with a tragic fate
After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, although Emperor Huizong of Song, as the king of the fallen country, also became a slave, he still had a lot of use value for the rulers of the Jin Kingdom, they wanted to use Song Huizong as a handle to fight against the Southern Song Dynasty, and his son Zhao Jian established the Southern Song Dynasty, so he was not killed, but has been imprisoned in the Jin Kingdom, living a humiliating life with some of his concubines.
But you can't imagine that during this period, Song Huizong actually gave birth to six sons and eight daughters with concubines, and I have to say that this heart is indeed big enough, of course, he must also have his heart thinking about his country, and also wrote a lot of sad poems, but what is the use of writing so many poems? The country had perished, his fainting incompetence could not be changed, by the time he realized his mistake it was already too late, and later Emperor Huizong of Song was depressed before he could wait for his son to take him back to China.
In addition to Emperor Huizong of Song, there was an even more tragic woman, she was Emperor Gaozong of Song's half-sister Emperor Ruofu- Zhao Duofu, who had once been a princess and was also taken prisoner to the Jin Kingdom, and after being ravaged, she married the King of Gaishan, and then was given to Emperor Yan Zongxian, and after several twists and turns, she actually fled back to the Song Kingdom.
However, when she returned to her homeland, she was not recognized, but was denied her identity by Empress Wei, who was sent back to China at that time, and Song Gaozong, because he did not know the truth of this, he obeyed his mother to kill her, so that the 32-year-old Roufu Emperor Ji ended her tragic life.
epilogue
In this war, whether it is the princes and nobles in the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty, or the poor people at the lower levels, because the casualties caused by the war are incalculable, perhaps people pay more attention to these famous figures and often ignore those people.
As everyone knows, in this war, the damage caused by the Jin Dynasty to the Song Kingdom is huge, how many people have been displaced, how many people have been destroyed, and the suffering of these people is far more tragic than those princes and nobles, so the war is cruel, and we in the era of peace should cherish the life in front of us, and we must also do our best to maintain this peaceful and prosperous world.
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