Chinese dynasties, when it comes to the Song Dynasty, everyone has only one impression - "weak Song", as for the reasons for the weakness of the Song Dynasty, it is inconsistent. Speaking of which, at the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, it was not weak, and after the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin Chen Qiaobing became a state, he formulated a strategic policy of first going south and then north, pacifying the southern Tang and Later Shu and other ten kingdoms, and realizing the basic unification of the country. However, the unification war to the north did not go well, and with the strength of the founding emperor, Zhao Kuangyin did not dare to confront the Khitan and set up a pile vault to accumulate wealth, hoping to redeem youyun Sixteen Prefectures in the hands of the Khitans. There was a Song dynasty, from Emperor Taizong of Taizu to Emperor Huizong of Song, the reason why it had not been strong was that the sixteen states of youyun, the life gate of the empire, were held in the hands of the Khitans.
Redeeming or retaking the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun became a knot in the heart of the Song Dynasty, torturing successive monarchs. In the late period of Zhao Kuangyin's reign, he lost confidence in redeeming Youyun Sixteen Prefectures from the Liao State and thought of moving the capital. In the ninth year of Kaibao (976 AD), on the ninth day of March, Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, led the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu to Luoyang, the western capital, to worship his parents.
After paying homage to the ancestors, Zhao Kuangyin climbed the Que Platform and personally shot arrows in the northwest direction. Why did you choose the northwest direction? Because there were two fierce enemies in the northwest, the Northern Han Dynasty and the Liao State, these were the two regimes that he did not eliminate in his lifetime. In particular, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were in the hands of the Liao State, and Bieliang was located in the plain and had no danger to defend. Since there was no way to take it back, I had to take a step back: move the capital.
Of course, moving the capital to Luoyang is just a transition, and his real goal of the capital is Chang'an, which is surrounded by mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is an excellent place to build a capital. However, the idea of moving the capital to Luoyang was strongly opposed by the ministers, who believed that Luoyang had been plagued by war and that it was costly to rebuild. After five generations of continuous operation by various dynasties, Beijing has become a metropolis. The dignitaries also have their own careful thoughts, they have lived in Beijing for many years, and moving the capital is bound to affect the development of the family.
Zhao Kuangyin did not expect that the resistance to the relocation of the capital was so great, and Zhao Guangyi, the king of Jin, ended the discussion with "not in danger in Germany", and the plan to move the capital was stillborn.
When Emperor Taizong of Song became emperor himself, he knew that Fenjing did have a fatal weakness. To this end, he first destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, and from the fourth year of the Taiping Revival (979 AD), he launched two large-scale Northern Expeditions, hoping to retake Youyun Sixteen Prefectures from the Khitans. However, the two Northern Expeditions ended in failure. Zhao Guangyi himself, eventually because of the recurrence of the arrow wounds of the Northern Expedition, died.
Over time, this historical legacy was pushed to the third emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Zhenzong. He helplessly took on the burden of his ancestors, could he completely solve the problem of Song and Liao territory without leaving regrets for future generations? Everything takes time to test.
Qi Xinlong, an expert in song history, wrote "The First Year of Jingde: The Great Historical Changes of the Great Song Dynasty in 1004" is a popular reading of the history of the Song Dynasty, telling the history of the Alliance of the Yuanyuan. The first year of Jingde is destined to become an ordinary year because of the alliance of the Yuanyuan, and the author uses this year as a dot to trace and look forward to the past and forward, telling the causes and consequences of the bumpy fate of the Song Dynasty. With a unique perspective and the language of prose culture, the whole book tells the before and after the alliance of The Yuanyuan, and the first year of Jingde not only laid the cornerstone of the long peace between the Song and Liao dynasties, but also laid a far-reaching foreshadowing for the final southern crossing of the Song Dynasty to the "death of the world".
Former cause: "Emperor Er" sent out Youyun Sixteen Prefectures in vain
When I was a child in history classes, everyone knew that "Emperor Er" Shi Jingtang was the one who, for personal gain, gave away such a strategic powerhouse as Youyun Sixteen Prefectures in vain in exchange for khitan support for his claim to the throne. As a result, several dynasties in later generations, countless emperors worked hard to recover the lost land.
There are only a few short paragraphs in the textbook, and what we don't know is that Shi Jingtang was a Shatuo person, not a traitor, and the loss of Youyun Sixteen Prefectures seriously affected the national fortunes of the later Song Dynasty.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, after the late Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Congke succeeded to the throne, the jealous chancellor Shi Jingyao supported the army and respected himself, and the monarchs and ministers were constantly suspicious. In order to contain Shi Jingyao, Li Congke set out to transfer him from Taiyuan, which had been occupied for many years, in order to disintegrate his power and achieve centralized power. Shi Jingyao knew that Taiyuan was his base and rear area. The dragon left the sea, not even the small shrimp rice, and would only let Li Congke slaughter it.
What to do? Shi Jingyao's countermeasure was to turn to the northern power of Khitan for help. He promised that if the Khitan came to the rescue, he would repay the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Shi Jingyao also said that as long as the Khitan helped him repel Li Congke, he was willing to recognize Yelü Deguang as his father and was willing to be his son. This is the origin of the famous "child emperor" in history.
Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, also known as Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, are an important barrier in the northern part of the Central Plains. The so-called "losing the north of the mountain will bring disaster to Yanyun, and losing Yanyun will bring disaster to the Central Plains", once the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun are lost, the entire North China Plain will be completely exposed to the iron hooves of the northern nomads, and then directly threaten the hinterland of the Central Plains.
Youyun Sixteen Prefectures are adjacent to Khitan and have developed agriculture, and the people living here have advanced technology, which is a huge temptation for the nomadic Khitan who has been living in water and grass.
The Khitan lord Yelü Deguang was impressed, and he led an army of 50,000 south to support Shi Jingyao, helped him repel Li Congke, and supported Shi Jingyao to proclaim himself emperor in Bieliang and establish the Later Jin.
Shi Jingyao was willing to become the Khitan Emperor and gave you the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to the Khitan (later, he also lost the three prefectures of Ping, Ning, and Ying). The Great Wall defense line has since lost its meaning, and the Khitans have also been very careful, and they have let the Han people living here continue to farm, produce grain, and process products.
After Shi Jingyao's death, his nephew Shi Chonggui succeeded to the throne, and the relationship between the two countries underwent subtle changes. Shi Chonggui's recognition of the Lord angered Yelü Deguang, and he led his troops south to destroy the Later Jin. It was easy to occupy the Central Plains, but it was difficult to defend the Central Plains, and it was eventually driven out of Bieliang. The Central Plains experienced a short period of Later Han, and here in the Later Zhou Dynasty Emperor Chai Rong, he was a monarch with great talent and great strategy, leading the Northern Expedition to prepare to retake Youyun Sixteen Prefectures to solve the problem of the long-term survival of the Central Plains regime.
At that time, the internal political situation in the Khitan was changeable, and the places connecting the Youyun regions of Waqiao, Yijin, And Sikou, as well as Ying and Mo Prefectures, collectively known as the south of Guannan, were retaken by Later Zhou. These places are also parts of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. However, the talented Zhou Shizong died young, and the throne passed to the young emperor Chai Zongxun. The general Zhao Kuangyin took the opportunity to launch a mutiny at Chen Qiaoyi to replace Later Zhou in establishing the Song Dynasty.
By the time of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the Song Dynasty was strong and prosperous, and the relationship between the Song and Liao countries was increasingly tense. Beginning in the first year of Xianping (998 AD), the Liao state repeatedly launched wars against the Song Dynasty, intending to take the land of Guannan. In the first year of Jingde, Song Zhenzong and his contemporaries had to face the question of whether to recover Youyun Sixteen Prefectures. The situation is like a volcano before the eruption, and it is accumulating strength.
Passing Through: Joy and Sorrow of the Alliance of the Abyss
Youyun Sixteen Prefectures is the boundary of Liao, and the land of Guannan is the boundary of Song, and the two places are adjacent. In order to compete for these two places, the Song and Liao had many large-scale wars in the past 25 years. In the years after the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the intensity of the war became more and more intense. In the first year of Jingde, the two countries must somehow settle the matter, whether it is war or peace.
In September of the first year of the Jing Dynasty, the Liao Emperor Yelü Longxu, the ruling figure Empress Xiao and the general Xiao Tao, led 200,000 elite soldiers and iron horses out of the nest and attacked all the way, sweeping through dozens of prefectures and counties in the Song Dynasty, and the troops reached the north bank of the Yellow River.
The Khitan appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the 5th century AD, mainly nomadic, living in the Liao River Valley. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties of the Central Plains Dynasty split, the Khitan took this opportunity to develop and grow rapidly, and in 916 AD, the state was established, with Youzhou as a springboard, and the force passed through the Central Plains, and by the time the Northern Song Dynasty was founded, it had become a northern power.
In the first year of Jingde, Empress Xiao of the Liao State, who was half a hundred years old, became the actual ruler of the empire, she spent more than 20 years of painstaking management, twice defeated the Song army, and now, she felt that she could solve the problem once and for all.
Emperor Zhenzong of Song held a royal council to ask the courtiers for countermeasures. The ministers Wang Qinruo and Chen Yaosu all believed that the Liao state was very sharp and advocated that the emperor temporarily avoid moving the capital. Only the newly appointed young prime minister, Kou Zhun, opposed the public opinion and advocated a battle. He believes that for the sake of the present, only by personally marching and working together can we preserve the Jiangshan Society. If there is a slight retreat, the people's hearts disintegrate, and the foundation moves, can the world still be preserved? Emperor Zhenzong of Song agreed to the imperial conquest.
In November of that year, Emperor Zhenzong of Song set out from the capital Kaifeng and drove straight to Liaozhou to meet the Liao army. Lanyuan is an inland lake located in the west of Puyang and the south of Neihuang, and the lake is named after the crossing of the water. Liaozhou was only one river away from the Northern Song capital of Bieliang (汴梁, in present-day Kaifeng, Henan). The Yellow River in Liaozhou was divided into two cities, north and south, and when the emperor's imperial cover appeared in the north city tower, the generals cheered and thundered, and their morale was greatly boosted.
There are better cases to come. On this day, a sergeant named Zhang Gui was guarding a crossbow and monitoring the positions ahead. Suddenly, several generals from the Liao army camp exchanged heads and ears, and one of them, a general in a yellow robe, was pointing fingers.
Zhang Gui didn't care about three seven twenty-one, adjusted the position of the bed crossbow, did not want to aim at this general, a switch, "whizzing" a few times, several arrows fired in unison, the Liao general suddenly fell a few, the yellow-robed general was also among them. Afterwards, it was learned that this yellow-robed general was the staunch main warrior faction of the Liao State, and the commander of the three armies, Xiao Taorin, was shot in the head and died that night. The Liao army lost its generals before the battle, and its morale was greatly demoralized.
The army was hanging alone, the commander was killed, and Empress Xiao did not dare to love the battle. Finally, in December (January 1005), a peace agreement was reached with the Song Dynasty, and an armistice and peace agreement were signed, which is the famous alliance of The Yuanyuan in history.
There is also an interesting story before and after the peace treaty was reached. The Song representative Cao Yu took Zhenzong's reply and went with Han Qi to see the Khitan lord. Regarding the gift of the year coin, it was decided by Emperor Zhenzong after consultation with the chancellor. Regarding the number of coins, Zhenzong means that it is necessary to promise a million as a last resort. Kou Secretly warned Cao that the use should not exceed 300,000, otherwise he would come back to him to settle the account.
Cao used the final amount of coins to be 200,000 silk and 100,000 taels of silver, and then he returned to Lanzhou. When he was preparing to report the results of the peace talks to Song Zhenzong, Song Zhenzong was eating. According to the system, foreign ministers could not disturb the emperor's meal. Because of the importance of the matter, Cao Yu told the doorman outside the door, hoping to see the emperor as soon as possible.
But the dish had just been served, and Song Zhenzong could not go directly to Cao To use it. Emperor Zhenzong wanted to know the outcome of the negotiations earlier, so he asked the eunuchs around him to inquire, and what he was most concerned about was the number of coins given to the Liao state. Cao Yu did not say that he thought such an important matter could only be reported to the emperor in person. Zhenzong was even more anxious, and asked the eunuch to continue to ask questions, so Cao Yu held out three fingers to the eunuch and shook them.
Seeing the emperor, the eunuch also stretched out three fingers and shook in front of Song Zhenzong's eyes. Song Zhenzong asked what this meant? The eunuch said with an innocent face, and Cao Yu stretched out three fingers for him and said nothing. Could it be that he promised to give the Liao kingdom three million a year?
Song Zhenzong's heart was cold. After a long struggle deep inside, I still figured it out. He said to himself, three million is three million, as long as the Song and Liao truce from then on, the Song Dynasty can be settled, it is not a good thing.
After the meal, Zhenzong summoned Cao Yu, who fell to his knees as soon as he entered the door, and kept saying that he was guilty. Emperor Zhenzong of Song ordered Cao to get up and answer the question, but Cao still could not get up. At this time, Cao Yucai said that the subject was guilty, and the minister promised to give the Liao state 300,000 coins, which was a capital crime!
Song Zhenzong was stunned when he ascended, he had already accepted the number of three million, and Cao Yu actually said that it was three hundred thousand? When it was repeatedly confirmed that it was 300,000, of which 100,000 were silver and 200,000 silk, a total of 300,000, I was immediately overjoyed.
The overjoyed emperor rewarded Cao Yu, who also brought back the fact that Xiao Tao Rin was shot by the crossbow on the bed. However, now that the Liao and Song dynasties had completed the negotiations, this belated news had no effect.
The defending generals of the Song Dynasty were not very comfortable, and this time they could have fought a decisive battle with the Liao army and annihilated the Liao army, but in the end, because of the signing of this covenant, they tied their hands and feet and abandoned their previous achievements. Emperor Zhenzong of Song vigorously defended this hard-won peace, and he gave orders to the front-line soldiers to forbid them to sneak up on the Liao army retreating north. The soldiers on the front line could only watch as the Liao army returned to the north.
Consequences: "Weak Song" became an established fact
The Song and Liao dynasties formulated the "Oath of Liaoyuan", which had several important provisions:
First, in terms of national names, the two dynasties called each other "Great Song" and "Great Khitan", the emperors between the two dynasties called each other emperors, and the Song Dynasty called Khitan the Northern Dynasty.
Second, the coin was not a tribute, but a compensation for the Khitan troops, and was the price of preserving the Guannan land. The payment of the coins was not sent by the ambassador to the Khitan court and held a ceremony of tribute, but by the ministers who delivered the coins to the Khitan officials at the border.
Third, the Eastern Song Dynasty was demarcated with the Baigou River as the boundary, the north of Baigou belonged to Liao, and the land of Guannan to the south belonged to the Song Dynasty. That is to say, the Song Dynasty recognized that fourteen of the sixteen states of Youyun belonged to the Khitan permanently and were not allowed to carry out recovery activities. The two sides withdrew their troops, did not stock up heavy troops on the border line, and the other country was not allowed to hide any thief who crossed the border and fled. The original cities and pools on the border between the two countries continued to remain in their original state, and they were not allowed to establish fortifications on the border line without permission.
During the negotiation, Empress Xiao proposed that the emperors of the two countries should be about brothers, because Song Zhenzong was older than Liao Shengzong, Song Zhenzong was a brother, and Liao Shengzong was a brother. As a result, Song Liao became a brotherly state. The kinship relationship between Song and Liao was based on the age of the two monarchs at that time, and the later generational relationship would change with the passage of time, not that Song would always be a brother and Liao would always be a brother.
In the following 116 years, there was no large-scale war between the Song and Liao. This was a rare well-off era of the Great Song Dynasty, and later generations referred to the 19 years of the three eras of Xianping, Jingde, and Dazhongxiangfu as the "Rule of Xianping".
However, the long-term peace also brought the song dynasty rulers the idea of being rich and noble, that is, peaceful, and secretly living, and even The Zhenzong Emperor Zhao Heng later fell into the "Taishan Feng zen" of laboring and hurting the people's wealth, and even prepared for the "Five Mountains and Continuous Sealing".
On the other hand, the old coin enriched the Khitan but made the finances of the Great Song Dynasty more tight. Emperor Zhenzong could not use Kou Zhun's strategy to retreat from the enemy, causing Liao Yiqiang, while Song Yiqiang was weak, laying hidden dangers for the later collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty.
summary
Before the signing of the Alliance of Liaoyuan, the two armies won and lost against each other, and although the Liao army invaded the border of the Northern Song Dynasty, it did not actually take the slightest advantage. When the alliance was signed, the situation on both sides was not optimistic, the domestic situation of the Liao army was tight, and it was anxious to withdraw from the army to deal with family affairs, and the Song army was afraid that the Western Xia would take advantage of the void and was also anxious to shrink the front. Both sides were unable to ride the tiger, so they sat down at the negotiating table. The envoys of the two countries came and went, and the Liao side did not want to return empty-handed and also had to take into account the problem of face, and the Song side was anxious to negotiate peace, as long as everything was easy to discuss without cutting the land. The first year of Jingde is a year that reflects the "Tao" of historical development, and in this year, as well as before and after, many far-reaching events occurred in the Song Dynasty, testing the wisdom and courage of those in power and triggering endless reflections on future generations.