In the Chinese national spirit, "gratitude" is a very important quality.
With a sincere heart, thank others for their help to you, and after accepting the help of others, find ways and find opportunities to return the favor. In ancient Chinese history, there are many stories and poems related to gratitude.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a small state between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Dali State, the Ziqi State. At first, it was very barren, but then the Song and Mongols were constantly at war, and the Southern Song Dynasty needed a large number of horses to support the front, so it started a horse business with the Ziqi State.
With the horse business, the country gradually became rich, people lived a good life, and the country slowly grew in strength.
Because of the favor of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Ziqi Kingdom has always been very grateful to the Southern Song Dynasty.
Later, the Mongols attacked the Southern Song Dynasty from the southwest, and many small countries along the way fell without a fight.
Only the Ziqi people bravely took up arms to confront the Mongolian army, and even sent the last piece of intelligence to the Southern Song Dynasty at the time of the fall of the country.
1. The establishment of a self-defeated state
The Ziqi Kingdom originated from the Thirty-Seven Ministries of Wuman, which was originally under the rule of the Dali State, and later there was civil unrest in the Dali Kingdom, and the Thirty-seven Ministries of Wuman took advantage of the chaos to rebel.
The forces of the various ministries continued to grow and develop, the territory gradually expanded, and the state was established, and the national territory reached the Honghe River in the south, Qujing in the north, Kunming in the west, and the border in Guangxi in the east.
Second, the middleman who earns the difference
Since the establishment of the State of Qi, its own strength is very weak, and it can be said that it has survived in the gap between the Southern Song Dynasty and Dali.
In order to win a relatively peaceful development environment, the Ziqi State took the initiative to pay tribute to the Southern Song Dynasty and used the Southern Song Dynasty as a patron.
At that time, the Song had been fighting against the Liao, Jin, and Xia kingdoms for a long time, and needed a large number of warhorses. After moving south, the supply of warhorses in the north was lost,
In order to defend against foreign enemies, the Southern Song Dynasty could only buy horses from the southwestern state of Dali. Dali is indeed rich in horses, but the southwest mountains are far away, the roads are impassable, and it is inconvenient for the Southern Song Dynasty to buy horses from Dali.
Ziqi guo saw a business opportunity in this and proposed cooperation with the Southern Song Dynasty.
The horses of the Ziqi Country are more expensive, but the quality is almost the same as that of dali Country, and the Ziqi State is adjacent to the Southern Song Dynasty, which saves a lot of trouble in transportation.
So the Southern Song Dynasty began to do horse business with the Ziqi State.
But in fact, the self-reliant countries do not produce horses, they just play the role of a "middleman".
Buy horses from Dali and then sell them to the Southern Song Dynasty court to earn the "difference".
In the way of making a difference, the self-proclaimed country has accumulated a large amount of wealth, and used this wealth to develop the economy and military, and its strength has gradually grown.
It became the ethnic minority regime in the southwest region second only to Dali.
The state of Ziqi was developed and founded by ethnic minority tribes,
Tribal peoples, peaceful and prosperous times, and stable political power are the people of the country, and when they resist foreign enemies and fight in the southern and northern wars, they are the soldiers of the country.
When their crops are ripe, they cultivate the fields and train the whole army during the growth period. In this way, the Ziqi State slowly trained a powerful armed force.
It is precisely this mode of integrating the military and the people, farming when busy, and reorganizing the army when idle, that the economy of the country prospers and develops.
The army's strict discipline and strong combat ability laid a solid foundation for the later resistance to Mongol aggression.
3. The first country to resist Mongolia
The Mongols attacked the Southern Song Dynasty for the third time and chose to march from the southwest. First annexed some small countries and tribes, and then destroyed Dali, thinking that the obstacles in the southwest region were basically cleared, and the Southern Song Dynasty could be conquered in one fell swoop.
A small, humble country has become the biggest obstacle.
Mongolia is strong and fierce, and many countries and tribes in the southwest almost all fell without a fight. But when the Mongol army pressed the border,
However, the self-reliant state made the most stubborn resistance, and can be said to be the first country to resist the Mongol invasion.
From the beginning of the Mongol use of troops against the Ziqi state, the Ziqi state made the most tenacious resistance, and the Mongolian army's offensive was hindered as never before.
After the Mongol army attacked the capital, the monarch of the Ziqi state also led the army and people to the mountains and began guerrilla warfare with the Mongolian army.
The Mongolian army's battle plan was completely broken.
The Ziqi State not only resisted the Mongol attack very tenaciously, but also did not forget to pass on information to the Southern Song Dynasty, and even provided warhorses for the Southern Song Dynasty while fighting.
It can be said that the stubborn resistance of the Ziqi State bought a lot of time for the Southern Song Dynasty to prepare for battle, and played a crucial role in the process of the Song-Mongolian War.
Fourth, the last piece of information
However, despite the tenacious belief in combat between the soldiers and civilians of the Ziqi State, the difference in strength between them and the Mongol army was too great.
After more than five years of stubborn resistance, the country was captured by the Mongolian army and retreated into the mountains to fight a guerrilla war, and there is no record of the country in history.
Later, the Mongol army came to the southern Song Dynasty, and the end of the self-reliant state could be imagined.
In the process of defending against the Mongol army, the Ziqi State also inquired into the mongolian army's battle plan many times, and passed on the information from the inquiry to the Southern Song Dynasty, so that they could think of countermeasures in advance. Later the capital was captured,
The Ziqi monarch retreated into the mountains with his soldiers and civilians, and also insisted on fighting the Mongolian army, and constantly passed on information to the Southern Song Dynasty.
In July 1259, the Southern Song Dynasty received a report from the Ziqi monarch that the Mongol army planned to cross the Duni River, and also analyzed that if the Mongol army crossed the Duni River, it would definitely attack Hengshan. afterward
The Mongol general Wuliang Hetai did indeed lead his army across the Duni River, and then attacked Hengshan, and the Southern Song army was defeated. This information also became the last piece of information of the self-reliant country,
Since then, there has been no historical record of the Self-Reliance Kingdom.
summary
The period of the founding of the Ziqi State was the period of successive conquests between the Southern Song Dynasty and the ethnic minorities in the north, and in such a turbulent and turbulent situation,
The Ziqi state seized the opportunity to monopolize the horse trade in the Southern Song Dynasty and earned great wealth from it, and with this wealth, the ziqi state was able to develop and grow.
The economic strength gradually increased, and at the same time a strong national army was trained.
It can be said that the self-reliant country has a good balance of opportunities and challenges, in order to survive and develop in the cracks.
The Southern Song Dynasty played a huge role in the development and construction of the Ziqi State, and for the Ziqi State, the Southern Song Dynasty was like a "benefactor".
While resisting the Mongol attack, the Ziqi State did not forget to pass on information to the Southern Song Dynasty, not only for the sake of its own safety.
It is also in this way to repay the favors of the Southern Song Dynasty.
However, despite the efforts of the self-reliant country to develop and build and strengthen its own strength, the situation at that time can be said to have become a foregone conclusion.
Mongolia is powerful, the army is brave in battle, and the only One that can compete with it is the end of the strong crossbow, and it is vulnerable to internal and external troubles.
But in this situation, the Ziqi state still bravely stood up and became the first country to stubbornly resist the Mongol invasion.
Although the outcome has not changed, the spirit of the self-defeating military and people who are not afraid of sacrifice and stubbornly resist the invasion of foreign enemies is still very worthy of respect.