Author: Our special guest author Nine Fish Pavilion
In 1127 AD, the Jin army attacked the city of Kaifeng, the Song dynasty people were powerless to resist, could only cut the land to pay compensation, even the two emperors of the Song Dynasty, Song Qinzong and Song Huizong, also became prisoners, on the way back from the Jin army, they also took a large number of royal concubines, princes and nobles, for the Great Song Empire, it was a great shame, and the Northern Song Dynasty was also declared dead.
There are many reasons for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as the emperor's fainting, adultery, long-term peace, and the exhaustion of military equipment, etc., and there is another important reason for this, that is, the Northern Song Dynasty lacks a natural barrier against nomadic peoples. In the age of cold weapons, the most powerful weapon was the cavalry, and farming peoples often fell behind in their wars against nomads.
So our ancestors began to build castles and great walls, relying on artificial or natural barriers to resist foreign invasions. In the era when there were no planes and tanks, the role of natural barriers in warfare was self-evident.
In the northern part of the North China Plain, traversing the Yanshan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, without mechanical assistance, it is extremely difficult to cross this lofty mountain, so this place has become the best barrier to defend against nomads.
This important position is called Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, and the Song Dynasty has always been at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Khitans, the main reason being that Youyun Sixteen Prefectures were occupied by the Khitans. For safety, the Northern Song Dynasty had to accumulate a large number of troops on the border and around the capital for a long time, and even so, the capital kaifeng was still constantly exposed to the blades of the enemy.
Although Chai Rong once recaptured Yingzhou and Mozhou, the other fourteen prefectures were still controlled by the nomadic regime, and after years of conquest, the Northern Song Dynasty could not recover the Youyun region, and could only blindly be in a passive situation until the moment of extinction, all of which pointed to one person, that is, the Later Jin Dynasty Emperor Shi Jingyao.
First, military merit began, and he was an extremely popular subject
In the chaotic world of the five generations, the general situation is that the emperor takes turns to do it, and he is not sure whose house he will go to, as long as he has the military power in his hands, he can compete for the position of nine-five.
Shi Jingyao's father was the famous Gao Jiao, who had accompanied Li Ke, the King of Jin, to fight in the northern wars in the south, and made many military achievements, and Shi Jingyao served in Li Cunxun's army when he grew up, and his immediate boss was Li Siyuan.
At first, Li Cunxun attacked Wei Prefecture, and Zhu Liang's general Liu Yu attacked Qingping, and Li Cunxun immediately led his troops to rescue him, but because the time was too urgent, the formation had not yet been opened, and he was attacked by the enemy. Although Li Cunxun was good at military and strategic strategy, it was also difficult to overcome at this time, and the general Shi Jingyao raised his sword and rode his horse, with only a dozen cavalry, rushed into the enemy position and rescued Li Cunxun.
Shi Jingyao was also reused immediately, and Li Siyuan saw that Shi Jingyao was brave and brave, so he betrothed his daughter Xu to him. Li Cunxun claimed to be the empress, indulged in pleasure, jealous of subordinates, and unpopular, Li Siyuan was forced to launch a coup d'état, and Shi Jingyao, as the vanguard, helped Li Siyuan win the world.
After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, Shi Jingyao was also promoted to the rank of envoy of the Baoyi Army and deputy envoy of the Sixth Army. Li Siyuan is Shi Jingyao's old father-in-law, and he is highly respected, in addition, Li Siyuan can also be regarded as a Dao Ming jun and has won the hearts of the people, so under Li Siyuan, Shi Jingyao is still relatively peaceful.
However, after Li Siyuan's death, power was loosened, and Shi Jingyao's ambitions gradually began to expand.
Second, contradictions escalated and troops rose up against The Tang Dynasty
Li Siyuan had two close generals under him, one of whom was his son-in-law Shi Jingyao, and the other was his adopted son Li Congke, who was no different from Shi Jingyao in terms of military merit.
Under feudal despotism, most of the legitimate heirs of the king are the eldest sons, excluding special circumstances such as coups, it is generally difficult for adopted sons to obtain inheritance rights, and it is even more difficult to obtain the right to inherit in peacetime.
In the end, Li Siyuan handed over the throne to his son Li Conghou, but Li Conghou was not the material for the emperor, not only did not understand the governance of the country, nor did he have military ability, if in the Chengping years, there were a few ministers who took care of the order, they might be able to fool the past, but at this time, it was a chaotic world, countless eyes were staring at the emperor's throne, so his throne also became shaky.
Since he could not take the throne from the normal way, Li Congke rebelled, after all, Li Siyuan was dead, and Li Conghou was powerless to resist and fled from Luoyang City. The situation was turbulent, the emperor fled, this is a great opportunity for Shi Jinghou to show his fists, Li Conghou met Shi Jinghou on the way to escape, Shi Jingyao not only did not protect Li Conghou, but also killed all his entourage, put Li Conghou under house arrest, and asked Li Congke for merit.
Although Shi Jingyao helped Li Congke, Li Congke did not have the affection of Shi Jingyao, they had all followed Tang Mingzong Li Siyuan in the southern expedition to the north, and they knew each other very well.
After Li Congke ascended the throne, he wanted to get rid of Shi Jingyao, who was originally an envoy to Hedong Jiedushi and was deeply rooted in the domain, but Li Congke had to transfer him to Tianping. In successive dynasties and dynasties, if the army wants to have combat effectiveness, it is necessary to unite the soldiers, and if the soldiers do not know the generals and will not know the soldiers, the combat effectiveness of such a unit must not be high.
In order to prevent the warlords from dividing the territory, Zhao Kuangyin divided the military power of the generals into pieces, resulting in the low combat effectiveness of the army, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, the soldiers and generals were united, and they exerted unparalleled combat strength, such as the Yue family army, the Han family army, and so on. Shi Jingyao knew very well that to let him transfer to Tianping was to dig up his foundation, and once the military general had no military power, he would die.
Therefore, Shi Jingyao raised an army to create Li Congke's rebellion, and the relationship between the two sides was also broken.
Third, seek the throne and bow down
Li Congke sent the general Zhang Jingda to attack Hedong, and Shi Jingyao's strength was not good, and he could not fight. It turned out that Shi Jingyao had already planned, and before that, Shi Jingyao had gone eye-to-eye with the Khitans, and at this critical moment, it was a good opportunity for the Khitan Iron Horse to take a shot. If you want khitan to help you, you need enough chips, on the one hand, it is a matter of attitude, on the other hand, you need to make real interests.
According to historical records, "Shi Jingyao sent an envoy to the Khitan for help, and made Sang Weihancao claim to be subordinate to the Khitan Lord, and please do it with his father, and on the day of the appointment, cut off lulong and the states north of Yanmen Pass with him." ”
Shi Jingyao's attitude was extremely respectful, and he directly worshiped Liao Taizong Yelü Deguang as a dry father, and if Yelü Deguang was older, it was also reasonable, but Shi Jingyao was ten years older than Yelü Deguang, which made Shi Jingyao's subordinates feel bad.
Shi Jingyao may only lose his own people to others as sons, but his next step is really to risk the world, in order to let the Khitan help him sit on the throne, Shi Jingyao ceded the "Lulong and the states north of Yanmen Pass" to the Khitans, which is what we later called you youyun Sixteen Prefectures.
The general Liu Zhi foresight Shi Jingyao was too unreliable, so he advised: "It is still okay to call a subject, but it is too irrational to recognize the father, we can give the Khitan money as a chip, instead of ceding the land, if you do this, the catastrophe may be in front of you, and it will be too late to regret it." ”
For Liu Zhiyuan's pertinent advice, Shi Jingyao ignored it and insisted on the decision to be a son and cede territory, and in the end, Shi Jingyao successfully became emperor, and the Khitan also got the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun that they dreamed of.
From then on, the Central Plains Dynasty would have no danger against the nomadic peoples, and the Northern Song Dynasty would also tremble under the iron hooves of foreign races, until more than four hundred years later, the Ming army under the command of Xu Da took back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, ending this cruel reality.
Reference: Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 280
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