Song and Jin compete in Huazhou

Song and Jin compete in Huazhou

Author Yan Guangqin

In the fifth year of Zhenghe (1115) at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchens established the Jin Dynasty, destroyed the Liao State ten years later, and immediately targeted the Northern Song Dynasty. In the first year of Jing Kang (1126), Jin soldiers invaded Kaifeng, Tokyo, and in April of the following year, they captured Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Qinzong of Song, declaring the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty imperial family Zhao Zhao moved to the southeast and established the Southern Song Dynasty in May, for Emperor Gaozong of Song. At this time, the Guanzhong area had not yet been occupied by Jin Soldiers. In December, the Jin soldiers, led by the general Lou Fu, crossed the Yellow River from present-day Shanxi and captured Hancheng and Tongzhou (present-day Dali). Since most of the elite troops in Shaanxi were transferred to defend Tokyo earlier, the troops were empty. Jin soldiers marched straight in and occupied Chang'an in the first month of the second year of Emperor Gaozong of Song (1128), and in February, they occupied Huazhou and many prefectures and counties in Guanzhong. People everywhere organized volunteer soldiers one after another, and together with the Song army, counterattacked the invasion of the Jin soldiers, and successively recovered some lost land, and Huazhou was once recovered by Shi Bin's armed group.

Yunkong Zen Temple Song Dynasty Brick Pagoda Photographed by Zhongshan who wants to fly

Due to the stubborn resistance of the southern Song army and civilians, the Jin army shrank its strength and in May, retreated east along the Weishui River, and most of Guanzhong was controlled by the Song army. In July, the Jin Emperor ordered Lou Fu to attack Shaanxi again. In August, Lou Fu and Pu Cha led the Jin army to attack Huazhou, defeating the Song army and capturing Xiayi, a county under Huazhou. In September, the Jin army's rope and fruit department broke through Pucheng and Tongzhou, a county under Huazhou, and re-entered the Jin army in the eastern part of Guanzhong. In November, the Song general Wu Jiu captured Huazhou, but did not hold out, and changed hands between Song and Jin. However, in September of the fourth year of Jianyan (1130), Huazhou was definitely under the control of the Jin army. At that time, the Jin Dynasty general Zong Bi (i.e., Jin Wushu) marched west from Luoyang, through Huazhou to Xiayi, and fought a fierce battle with the Song army at Fuping with the Deputy Marshal of the Jin Dynasty, Zong Fushi, and the Song army was defeated. Taking advantage of the victory to expand the results, the Jin army took full control of the area north of the Qinling Mountains in Guanzhong in February of the first year of Shaoxing (1131). In November of the same year, the Jin Dynasty handed over the above-mentioned areas to Liu Yu of the pseudo-Qi dynasty, a puppet under the wing of the Jin dynasty, and Huazhou also belonged to the so-called "State of Qi".

In November of the seventh year of Shaoxing (1137), the Jin Dynasty felt that the puppet Qi regime of the traitor Liu Yu was useless, so it explicitly announced the abolition of Liu Yu's "State of Qi", and Huazhou and guanzhong were directly administered by the Jin Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong of Song and the chancellor Qin Ju vigorously advocated peace, and after many peace talks, in the first month of the ninth year of Shaoxing (1139), Song Jin reached a peace agreement, Song declared himself a vassal to Jin, paid tribute to silver and silk, and the Jin Dynasty "gave" Shaanxi and Henan to the Southern Song Dynasty. In March, the two sides completed the delivery of the land boundary. However, this peace agreement was opposed within both the Jin and Song dynasties. The Jin Dynasty general Zong Bi and others opposed the transfer of Shaanxi and Henan to the Southern Song Dynasty, and decided to send troops to retake them.

In May of the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), the Jin army, with Zong Bi as its commander, invaded the south in four routes, of which the invading Shaanxi was led by Yan Gao, crossing the Yellow River from Hezhong (present-day Yongji, Shanxi) into Tongzhou and straight to Chang'an. Most of the officials of the prefectures and counties were old officials appointed by the Jin Dynasty and the Puppet Qi, and after the Southern Song Dynasty took over Guanzhong, they did not replace them, and they surrendered one after another. The Southern Song Dynasty Chang'an general Hao Yuanda opened the city gates to welcome the Jin army, and his subordinates Fu Zhongxin, who were unwilling to surrender, cut out the pass, went straight to Huazhou, sneaked into Nanshan, relied on the cottage, and negotiated with the Jin soldiers. After the Jin army occupied Chang'an, it took advantage of the victory and marched westward, but was blocked by the Song army on the line of Baoji and Fengxiang. In June, jin soldiers attacked the Huazhou cottage occupied by the Song general Fu Zhongxin, and Fu Zhongxin led his subordinates Lu Shimin and Zhang Bao to repel the Jin army. The anti-Jin battles in the Guanzhong region rose and fell, effectively cooperating with Yue Fei and other units who were fighting the main force of the Jin army in Henan. In September of the eleventh year of Shaoxing (1141), the Song army in Guanzhong counterattacked and successively recaptured some important prefectures and counties. The Song general Guo Hao recaptured Huazhou and Tongzhou, and used this as a base to attack Shaanzhou (陕州, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) and Yuzhou (虢州, in modern Lingbao, Henan) to the east. However, at this time, Emperor Gaozong of Song and Qin Ju were stepping up negotiations with the Jin Dynasty, arrested The famous anti-Jin general Yue Fei on the charge of "false accusations", and also ordered the Song army in Guanzhong not to send troops to cause trouble. In November, the Song and Jin reached a peace agreement, and the Southern Song Dynasty, in addition to still claiming to the Jin Dynasty and paying tribute to the silver silk, also stipulated that the boundary between the two countries was: from huai shui in the east to Dashanguan (in the south of present-day Baoji City, Shaanxi). The Guanzhong Plain area, including Huazhou, and the northern slopes of Zhongnan Mountain, Zhen'an, Zaoshui, and Shangluo in the Qinling Mountains were basically allocated to Jin.

Twenty years later, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty tried in vain to annex the Southern Song Dynasty and marched south. One of them attacked south from the area of present-day Tianshui in Gansu and Baoji in Shaanxi in an attempt to invade Sichuan, but was severely attacked by Wu Xuan, the envoy of Sichuan Xuanfu. In order to cut off Henan from the Jin army in Guanzhong, a Song army under the command of Wu Xun set out from Jinzhou (present-day Ankang, Shaanxi) in October of the thirty-first year of Shaoxing (1161) to retake Shangzhou. The Jin people of Huazhou, who were adjacent to Shangzhou, were shocked, and Pucheng County Ling and the county lieutenant of Huazhou County heard the news and abandoned their posts and fled. In November, this Song army, under the leadership of Ren Tianxi, recaptured Yu prefecture (虢州, in modern Lingbao, Henan), and attacked Huayin from Yuzhou, killing the Jin Dynasty County Order, and then attacking Huazhou, without victory. Another Song general, Xing Jin, was ordered to attack Huazhou for the second time. At this time, part of the Huazhou Jin army was divided into Tun Weinan, the city had few soldiers, Xing Jin conquered in one fell swoop, and also captured more than 20 officials such as Huazhou Tongzhi of the Jin Dynasty and Han Duanwan, the general of Zhaowu. Other Song armies also recaptured many prefectures and counties in Guanzhong and its adjacent areas. However, Emperor Gaozong of Song still adhered to the consistent line of compromise and peace, and in December of the thirty-second year of Shaoxing (1162), he issued an edict to Wu Xuan's class. In the first month of the following year, the Song army that had retaken the shaanxi states retreated one after another, and Huazhou and other places were occupied by the Jin army until the fall of the Jin Dynasty.

About the author: Comrade Yan Guangqin is more than a rare person, and was the deputy editor-in-chief of the 1992 edition of "HuaXian Zhi", the deputy secretary-general of the Huaxian Guo Ziyi Research Association, and the vice president of the Zheng Huangong Culture and Art Research Association. He is the author of "Huazhou History" and other historical monographs. He is the editor-in-chief of Huazhou Ancient and Modern, and the deputy editor-in-chief of "A Hundred Years of Xianlin".

Original source: "Huazhou History"

Original author: Yan Guangqin

Finishing editor: Huazhou literature and art, Huazhou literature and history