(This article is written by the book "Yue Fei and Anhui", the original text is longer and abridged.) The image was taken by the author of this article. ）
In the Bowang District of Ma'anshan, there are two cultural landscapes that are closely related to Yue Fei, one is the tomb of Gongsun Dezhao of the county, and the other is the Li Gang Memorial Hall. Sun Dezhao was Yue Fei's right-hand man in resisting Jin, while Li Gang was Yue Fei's benefactor. In Yue Fei's life, there were three people who had the grace of knowing him, Zhang Suo, Zong Ze and Li Gang, and Li Gang was the only benefactor who had never met Yue Fei.
Li Gang Memorial Hall
Tough main battle faction
In all the stories about Yue Fei, the two great people who "appeared" the most were Li Gang and Zong Ze. Without Li Gang and Zong Ze, Yue Fei's life would have been completely rewritten, and the chances of being listed as the "Four Generals of Zhongxing" in the Southern Song Dynasty were minimal. Zong Ze has the grace of reinvention for Yue Fei, which is equivalent to Yue Fei's life mentor. And without Li Gang, how can Zong Ze come? Without Li Gang, how could Zhang Suo come? Without Zhang Suo, Yue Fei might have always been just a small soldier in Henan. In the two Song Dynasty main battle faction groups, the pivotal figure was actually Li Gang.
The main hall of the Li Gang Memorial Hall
Bronze statue of Li Gang
Many people know yue fei's story through Liu Lanfang's commentary "Yue Fei Chuan" or the novel "Yue Quan Biography", in which Li Gang and Zong Ze are similar to the "old student" characters in the opera, while Yue Fei is "Xiao Sheng". In fact, among the three, the oldest is Zong Ze, who is 24 years older than Li Gang, and Li Gang is 20 years older than Yue Fei. In the golden years of Yue Fei's resistance to Gold, Li Gang was still middle-aged, and Zong Ze was a veteran who was over the age of huajia. These three people happen to be three generations.
Why is it said that Li Gang is the pivotal figure in the main battle faction group? That's because Li Gang was a civilian minister, he successfully organized the defense of Kaifeng, and took the lead in standing out at the level of central power. Zong Ze was a military general, who was 66 years old at the time, was still a local official, and had no military power in the central government.
After Zhao Zhuo succeeded to the throne at Ying Tianfu, he recruited Li Gang as his prime minister, and as soon as Li Gang took office, he did a lot of military and political reforms, eliminating many ills since the "Six Thieves of the Northern Song Dynasty" headed by Cai Jing and Tong Guan came to power, and making an important preparation for the later Southern Song Dynasty's Zhongxing. In terms of employing people, Li Gang boldly used many generals of the Anti-Japanese Faction, including Zong Ze and Zhang Suo. The shame of Jingkang is in January 1127, Zong Ze is already 68 years old, in ancient times is definitely an old man, in fact, only a year and a half before his death in July 1128. During this time Zong Ze led an army to resist Jin in Henan, yue fei became his subordinate, at this time Yue Fei was brave and aggressive in battle, and did not listen to the orders of the main general Wang Yan, he could be punished according to the army, but Zong Ze remembered that he was a general who was brave and good at war, and did not pursue it, giving Yue Fei a rare space for growth. Under Zong Ze's hands, Yue Fei fought several victorious battles in a row, and was heavily valued by Zong Ze, who taught him the way to arrange troops, and Yue Fei said the famous "use of the magic, with one heart", which made Zong Ze look at this young man with admiration.
Unfortunately, at that time, Song Gaozong and others were all staunch capitulationists and were very disgusted by the voice of the main battle. Due to the radical difference in the route, the main battle faction of the Northern Song Dynasty has always been depressed, so Zong Ze shouted "Cross the river" when he died of illness at the age of seventy! Crossing! Later, Yue Fei turned to the south, fighting in northern Jiangsu, Hubei, Anhui, and even Dongting Lake, and the northernmost battle reached the town of Zhuxian in Henan, but he still failed to cross the Yellow River.
Moreover, Li Gang, who had only been prime minister for 77 days, was deposed because of his disagreement with Zhao Shuo's military views. Li Gang's idea was the same as Yue Fei's, to recover Hebei and expel the Jin people, while Zhao Zhuo's mind was on how to keep Jiangnan, stabilize the political situation, and then bargain with jin guo. After Li Gang left class, the Southern Song Dynasty soldiers were defeated like mountains, and Zhao Zhuo was forced to sail to escape, but fortunately, the "Four Generals of Zhongxing" turned the tide of the tide and gradually turned the tide of the war, and only then did they have the temporary ZTE of the Southern Song Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song, Li Gang was always ostracized and never entered the power center of the Southern Song Dynasty. When he was the prime minister, Yue Fei's rank was still low, so it was impossible to see Yue Fei in the position of prime minister. After Li Gang was deposed, he was sometimes demoted and sometimes promoted, but he was always a magistrate. When Li Gang was serving as an envoy to Huguang, Yue Fei had become a famous general through Guangde's "six battles and six victories" and was stationed in Jiujiang and Chizhou, and it was Li Gang's subordinates, so why had the two backbones of the main war faction still failed to meet?
Advocate different, expectations are the same
Although Li Gang, Zong Ze, and Yue Fei were all the main warring factions and had the same goal in the general direction of resisting Jin, there were still differences in specific military strategies. Taking the contradiction between Li Gang and Zong Ze as an example, Zong Ze's attitude toward the Jin Army has always been the main attack, resolutely opposing peace talks and also opposing retreat and defense. But Li Gang's views are quite different from Zong Ze's. At the beginning of his tenure as chancellor, he gave Emperor Gaozong the Song Gaozong "Ten Discussions" on his views on the current situation and various countermeasures, and Li Gang's plan was to first repair internal affairs, reorganize military strength, and then carry out the Northern Expedition. At the tactical level of Jin, Li Gang also clearly opposed the initiative to attack and strongly advocated sticking to it. Zong Ze obviously did not approve of this idea of passive defense, and in the "Book of Shang Li Cheng Xiang", he borrowed the mouths of the people of Hedong and the tai students to hope that Li Gang would quickly restore his homeland, and finally solemnly exhorted him to "not follow the mistakes of the Eastern Jin Dynasty." Therefore, in the anti-gold strategy, Li Gang and Zong Ze have contradictions.
Blue Blood Dan Heart Plaque
Li Gang and Yue Fei had a similar situation in their military use. Before Li Gang went to Huguang to serve as an envoy, he was unusually concerned about the movements of the imperial court, which was determined by the vision of his prime minister and the embodiment of his patriotism. If he is concerned about the "four generals of ZTE" at that time, it is no less than the youngest Yue Fei. Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun were not in front of him, and their qualifications were not shallow, and Li Gang could not be a family. Yue Fei was different, he was very young, only in his early thirties, the soldiers and horses under his command were the most in the local area, less than twenty thousand, more than ten thousand, and Hunan relied on him, so Li Gang showed special attention to Yue Fei. At that time, the Yue family army was stationed in Jiujiang and Chizhou, preparing to lead the army and horses to Xianghan (present-day Xiangyang), but Li Gang opposed, advocating that the Yue family army should support the unstable Huaixi at any time, while the Yue family army went to Xiangyang, it was difficult to take into account Huaixi, and once Huaixi was lost, it was extremely unfavorable to the Southern Song Dynasty. However, Yue Fei did not listen to the "old chiefs" of the propositions, of which it was difficult to determine who was right, and differences in military propositions were the norm.
Although the specific strategy for using troops is unlikely to be completely consistent, with Li Gang's mind as prime minister, he will not change his overall view of Yue Fei due to the difference in specific propositions. When the Yue family army won more with less, it broke the Cao Cheng bandit army, which was known as the strongest in the Jinghu area. Yue Fei was warmly praised by Li Gang, saying that "he will definitely be a famous general in ZTE at different times", and his expectations for Yue Fei have never changed. After Cao Cheng was pacified, Yue Fei was immediately ordered to leave Jinghu Road, and at this time Li Gang had not yet arrived at the RenShou, and the two lost the opportunity to meet. In the sixth year of Shaoxing, Han Shizhong's attack on Huaiyang army failed, and Li Gang criticized his use of troops, and deeply admired Yue Fei's Second Northern Expedition. He compared the advantages and disadvantages of the second general Han Yue, and wrote a letter to Yue Fei in particular, hoping that he would "repeatedly inherit and transfer the text, show the shortcut, which has not been seen in more than ten years, and the good use is cheerful... Early jian Daxun, the head of the ZTE heroes." The Song Dynasty practiced a conservative civil official system, and civilian officials often despised military generals. Although Li Gang and Yue Fei had never met, it was obvious that after many inquiries and understandings, and painstaking searching for many years, they had to have this language, of course, it was not a polite remark, but a heartfelt statement. He transcended the common habits and prejudices of civilian officials, believing that only the military general Yue Fei was a qualified "head of the Zhongxing heroes". Now it seems like nothing, but in the Song Dynasty, it was simply a groundbreaking statement, which truly reflected Li Gang's foresight.
There is a saying that "the Northern Song Dynasty has no generals, the Southern Song Dynasty has no phase", in fact, the Southern Song Dynasty is not without phases, but there are too many scum, like a flood beast, which drowns these good phases. Li Gang finally died of illness in 1140 at the age of 58, and two years later, Yue Fei was killed at the age of 39.
Monument to the Holy Will
Why did Bowang build the Li Gang Memorial Hall?
Li Gang was an anti-Jin hero of the Song Dynasty, whose ancestral home was Shaowu, Fujian, and was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. It is not surprising that Shao Wu has built a Li Gang Memorial Hall, why does Potang Village in Bowang District also have a Li Gang Memorial Hall?
Potang Village is a famous zhongxiao village in Ma'anshan. Most of the residents of the village are surnamed Li, and according to the village's "Li Family Genealogy", they are descendants of Li Gang. After Li Gang's victory in kaifeng, he was quickly squeezed out of the center of power by Song Qinzong and the capitulation faction of Gou An, and drove out of the capital, when the Jin State attacked Kaifeng for the second time, when it was in danger, Song Qinzong wanted to use Li Gang again, but the time was too late, Li Gang was still on the road, the capital had been captured, Song Qinzong suffered the consequences of himself, and was captured together with his father, Emperor Huizong of Song, the Emperor taishang, for the change of Jing Kang. After the northern Song Dynasty capital Kaifeng Province was conquered, Li Gang's son once organized a military campaign against the Jin soldiers near Potang Village, and finally died in Potang Village because of the outnumbered people. One of Li Gang's descendants built a shrine for Li Gang and his sons, and the incense burned continuously and continues to this day. Li Gang Memorial Hall is in recent years, Li Clan descendants contributed to the expansion of the ancestral hall on the site of the ancestral hall, is now an AA-level scenic spot, the museum with pictures and physical objects, introduced Li Gang's meritorious deeds, as well as the historical evolution of the Li clan descendants in Potang Village. Strolling through such a quaint architectural complex, visitors can feel the strong spirit of loyalty and filial piety. As one tourist wrote affectionately after visiting the Li Gang Memorial Hall: "History has never been far away, and the inheritance has always been there." No matter how time and space are transformed, how the world is vicissitudes, the lively and loyal filial piety vein grows tenaciously in this small land, multiplies, and nirvana is reborn, and new shoots are renewed again and again. ”