The story of the Yang family is widely circulated among the people, and a very popular TV series "Mu Guiying in Charge" many years ago has made the image of the Yang family more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
However, whether it is a storytelling, drama, folk tale or a contemporary TV series adapted for hundreds of years, there are actually no two people in the real Yang family generals in history, Yang Zongbao and Mu Guiying, they are all fabricated.
Speaking of the real Yang generals in history, the Yang family can be traced back to Yang Xuangan in the Tang Dynasty, and the glorious era of the Yang family's descendants joining the army and rising was to the end of the Tang Dynasty Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
However, what is puzzling is that since Yang Wenguang, the Yang generals have not appeared in the world's field of vision again, until the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the country's internal and external troubles, the invasion of Jin soldiers and the Liangshan forces in the Great Song Dynasty are the objects that this dynasty urgently needs military generals to pacify, but there are no generals to send in the court, only a large number of civil officials in the court for war for surrender, for Zhao'an for extermination and fight for red-faced.
It stands to reason that the Yang family's shadow seal is enough to enable the descendants of the Yang family to continue to have the right to speak in the court and on the battlefield, but now that the country is in an eventful time, why didn't the Yang family come out to fight for the country? The reason for this is also quite poignant, the so-called success is also Xiao He, and the defeat is also Xiao He, and it is the Song court that makes the Yang family disappear.
First, the rise of the Yang family
The Yang clan was recorded as early as the early Tang Dynasty, and the famous one was Yang Xuangan, who helped Tang Taizong win the Xuanwumen Change, and the Yang family was reused from then on, and at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Yang family still flourished in Shaanxi and Jin.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when human life was as cheap as mustard, the Yang family was able to continue to serve as high-ranking officials, and Yang Ye's father, Yang Xin, made the history of the Later Han Linzhou Thorn.
Yang Ye is arrogant by nature, chivalrous and courageous, free and uninhibited, although Yang Ye was born in a family, but he doesn't like to read, he doesn't recognize a few big characters, and in the chaotic times at that time, there is really no way out for reading, but Yang Ye is an expert in hunting on horseback, he can return with a full load every time he goes out hunting, and Yang Ye also has a grand ambition at a young age, he wants to carry a gun to the battlefield and deal with the enemy army like hunting.
Relying on his father Yang Xin, Yang Ye served under Liu Chong, the envoy of the Later Han Hedong County, and in 951, Liu Chong had been planning in Taiyuan for a long time, launched a mutiny to claim the emperor, and established the Northern Han court.
In the process of Liu Chong's army, Yang Ye played a pivotal role, Liu Chong appreciated this young man who had followed him in the military camp since he was a child, so Liu Chong regarded Yang Ye as his righteous son and renamed him Liu Jiye.
Yang Ye was loyal to Liu Chong, and he was very brave and good at fighting, Liu Chong trusted him very much, and successively made him the leader of his own army, that is, the security commander, responsible for the palace guards and Liu Chong's personal safety.
Liu Chong also let Yang Ye, the commander-in-chief of the Jianxiong Army, the trusted Yang Ye did not live up to Liu Chong's expectations, Yang Ye was never defeated on the battlefield, everyone praised him as "invincible", "Liu Invincible" The reputation spread louder and louder, Liu Chong was also happy, with Yang Ye, then Liu Chong's vision of dominating the world could be worry-free.
In 968, Liu Chong died, and his son Liu Jiyuan became the emperor, but Liu Jiyuan did not have the courage and ability of his father Liu Chong, in the same year that Liu Jiyuan ascended the throne, the Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Kuangyin sent troops to attack, the situation in the Northern Han court was critical, Liu Jiyuan sent the victorious general Yang Ye to the battle, but Yang Ye saw that the Song soldiers were menacing, and the number was far greater than his own army, so he expected that the war would not be won, so he ordered the withdrawal of the army.
After returning to Taiyuan, Liu Jiyuan was furious, reprimanded Yang Ye for fleeing from the battle, surrendering without a fight, and in a fit of anger, he cured Yang Ye's crimes, seized his military power, and exiled him from the imperial court.
But three months later, the Song army drove straight into and surrounded Taiyuan, and Liu Jiyuan saw that the generals in the court were invincible to the Song army, so he had to quickly invite King Yang Yeqin.
However, in the face of the large number of Song troops, Yang Ye's combat effectiveness was greatly reduced in a hurry, Yang Ye led hundreds of cavalry to fight against the Song army, but he was defeated by the Song army, and Yang Ye himself was almost captured, with the help of reinforcements, Yang Ye was able to return to Taiyuan alive.
Yang Ye is a martial artist, not accustomed to fighting in the court, Yang Ye has outstanding achievements, it is inevitable that there will be ghosts who will speak ill of him in front of the emperor, Liu Jiyuan is a stupid master, gradually, Yang Ye's status in the court is not as good as before.
Later, Yang Ye was injured in a battle, and the country was also facing the danger of collapse, Yang Ye knew that the Liao people forgot their righteousness, so he suggested that Liu Jiyuan send himself to plunder the horses of the Liao people as war materials, but Liu Jiyuan vetoed Yang Ye's suggestion, on the grounds that the Northern Han Dynasty was on good terms with the Liao Dynasty, how could he do such an unrighteous thing?
Yang Ye was completely disappointed in Liu Jiyuan, after Liu Jiyuan sat on the throne for six years, the Northern Song Dynasty marched into attack the Northern Han Dynasty, Liu Jiyuan surrendered without a fight, and only Yang Ye fought to the death.
Zhao Kuangyi had long heard that Yang Ye was a rare general, and he couldn't bear to kill him, so he asked Liu Jiyuan to persuade him to surrender in person.
Yang Ye felt the ruin of the country and felt deeply ashamed of Liu Chong, so he wept and kowtowed to the north, and then laid down his arms and surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty.
Second, the generals of the Yang family
After Yang Ye surrendered, he was reused by Zhao Kuangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyi took a fancy to Yang Ye's experience and ability to guard the border, so he made him serve as the defense envoy of Zhengzhou, and often rewarded Yang Ye with wealth and a field house, which shows Zhao Kuangyi's trust in Yang Ye.
However, when this general was conquering Liao for the Northern Song Dynasty, he was framed, defeated and captured, and died of hunger strike.
The tiger father has no dog son, Yang Ye himself is a powerful person, and his sons are not bad either.
Yang Ye had seven sons, and the eldest son, Yang Yanzhao, was the most outstanding and the luckiest. Yang Ye is a military general, he is most proud of his military exploits in his life, therefore, he also attaches great importance to the military education of his sons, the eldest son Yang Yanzhao has been a child who does not like to talk since he was a child, he especially likes to play military games with his partners, and always appoints himself as a marshal, commanding his companions to arrange troops, as if in a real military camp.
Yang Ye was very happy, as long as he sent troops to march, he must bring Yang Yanzhao with him, and he said that this son would inherit his exploits in the future.
Yang Yanzhao also followed his father to fight on the battlefield in the Northern Han Dynasty at the beginning, and later joined the Northern Song Dynasty court with his father, and was reused as a worship official.
In a battle with his father against the Liao army, Yang Yanzhao was wounded by the enemy's random arrows, but Yang Yanzhao didn't care and continued to rush into the enemy line with his spear.
Yang Yanzhao's combat object most of the time is the Liao Dynasty, he once splashed the city wall with water in the cold winter Layue, successfully stopped the Liao soldiers who tried to climb the city wall to attack the city, Yang Yanzhao defended the city without a single soldier, and also captured a large number of ordnance, Yang Yanzhao became famous in this battle, and was appointed as the assassin of Mozhou.
Yang Yanzhao, like his father Yang Ye, is a loyal general who serves the country, and his analysis of the battle situation is much higher than that of other generals, and Song Zhenzong, who is being overwhelmed by the invasion of the Liao soldiers, attaches more importance to Yang Yanzhao, Song Zhenzong knows that Yang Yanzhao was born in the army and has made countless military exploits, but he will not deal with all kinds of cold arrows from the court like his father, so Song Zhenzong has always tried his best to protect Yang Yanzhao, and even reached the point of favoritism.
The Liao and Song dynasties attacked each other for many years, each with its own victories and defeats, but no matter which side it was, it was impossible to annex the other party, so in order not to waste national strength, Song Zhenzong planned to negotiate peace with the Liao Dynasty and sign an armistice agreement.
After the peace of the Liao and Song dynasties, many military generals suddenly lost their usefulness, Yang Yanzhao was one of them, so most of these military attaches were turned into civilian officials, Yang Yanzhao was awarded the Baozhou defense envoy for his merits, and the official rank was gradually promoted to the deputy capital of Gaoyang Pass, and became a town side official.
But Yang Yanzhao still suffered the loss of no culture, he originally had to review military affairs every day, but he had a headache to do these things dealing with words, so he handed over the task of reviewing military affairs to his subordinate Zhou Zheng, Zhou Zheng was a villain with a bad heart, and when he reviewed military affairs for Yang Yanzhao, he deceived his superiors and subordinates.
Fortunately, Song Zhenzong was an understanding person, he dealt with Zhou Zheng seriously, and seriously admonished Yang Yanzhao.
After Yang Yanzhao's death, his son Yang Wenguang continued to be an official in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the reputation of the Yang family general continued.
But at this time, the political situation has changed a lot, the Song Dynasty appeased the Liao Dynasty, but the Western Xia in the west has never been able to get along with the Song Dynasty, Yang Wenguang was sent to guard the border at the beginning, resisting the invasion of the Western Xia, and was transferred back to the court because of his military exploits, and followed Di Qing to suppress the rebellion in Guangxi.
In 1074, Yang Wenguang had just reported to the imperial court the battle plan to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun, and died suddenly on the way to the north.
At this point, the Yang family, which lasted only three generations, declined. The reason for the decline is very simple, that is, the Song Dynasty formulated the national policy of "emphasizing literature over military force," and for what purpose did the Song Dynasty formulate this policy? At the beginning, Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, seized the throne of the Later Zhou Chai clan by holding heavy troops, but this incident was Zhao Kuangyin's heart disease, and even a lingering nightmare.
After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne and established power, at the beginning, although he was also afraid that giving too much military power to the generals would lead to him repeating the mistakes of the Chai family, but at the moment, it was still the most important thing to fight the world.
In the country slowly entered a period of steady development, such as the era of Song Zhenzong, the country basically did not need to fight, so the generals were about to be laid off.
Settling so many generals is a big problem, Song Zhenzong's approach is to "turn martial arts into literature", according to the will left by his uncle Zhao Kuangyin, Song Zhenzong and later emperors began to vigorously advocate the people to learn culture, rather than dancing with guns and sticks.
This can also be seen from the name of Yang Wenguang, a little trace of the times, so, in order to respond to the call, the Yang family will have to give up the military merits that the family is proud of and turn to Xi Wen.
3. Summary
Later generations said that the military strength of the Song Dynasty was too poor, which is a bit biased, and the military strength of the Song Dynasty in the early Song Dynasty was still quite good, and the Song Dynasty had to end the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and also resist the attacks of the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia.
In the middle and late Song Dynasty, in order to prevent military attachés from supporting their own troops, the army implemented a civilian management system, and military attachés never directly led the army for training, and the transfer of military attaches was extremely frequent, resulting in a situation where soldiers did not know generals and generals did not lead troops, and the grades and treatment of military attachés were also downgraded.
Therefore, the people of the Song Dynasty admired literature and suppressed martial arts, looked down on martial arts, and the military exploits of the Yang family generals were gradually forgotten.