In this year, the land of China actually stood three emperors side by side, which was not only the fourth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty, but also the third year of Dajin Da'an, and the sixth year of Mongolian Taizu. Although the world is peaceful, it is actually just a calm before the storm.
In June of this year, the fourth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Ningzong Zhao Kuo, had been in power for seven years, and the 43-year-old Taiping Emperor was already full of gray hair, and they all said that it was good to be the emperor, and only when he became the emperor did he know that this emperor was really not human. At this time, the prime minister's report had arrived, which was to remind the emperor that according to the content of the Song and Jin "Jiading Peace Conference", the Jin and Song dynasties had changed from "the country of uncles and nephews" to "the country of uncles and nephews", and the Southern Song Dynasty had a lower seniority, and it was time to set off this year for Dajin's "New Year's coin" of 300,000 taels.
Zhao Kuo couldn't help but sigh when he saw it, and immediately sent a diplomatic mission headed by Yu Rong, a member of the household department, to Dajin to congratulate Emperor Wanyan Yongji on his birthday. Although there has been constant friction between the two countries of Jin and Song, the two countries have not been at war. So the face is still passable, every time the Song envoy visits, Daikin is still quite good in etiquette. According to the usual practice, when the envoys of the Song Dynasty visited, the Dajin Rites Department received them throughout the whole process, and ate and lived with them along the way, which was not only a matter of etiquette, but also to prevent the envoys of the Great Song Dynasty from stealing information, and after the diplomatic activities were over, they would send people to send the Song envoys out of the country.
But this time, the situation is very different, when Yu Rong and his party just entered Zhuozhou, the border of the Jin State, the Jin envoy in charge of the reception told Yu Rong that now we have a little trouble in the country, now please return to China, after the fact, our emperor will send someone to visit the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty.
Yu Rong has also traveled back and forth to Jinguo several times. It's the first time I've eaten behind closed doors. Yu Rong immediately realized that something big must have happened in the Jin Kingdom, and the problem was that the Imperial City Division (the Song Dynasty secret service) did not have any information back, what happened to this caused Dajin to put international affairs on hold.
Yu Rong, who is quite politically astute, immediately realized that something was wrong, but at this time there was no choice but to return empty-handed. As soon as he returned to the Song realm, the information of the imperial court arrived. It turned out that Dajin was at war with the Mongols in the north at this time, but the situation was quite not optimistic, and the Jin army suffered several defeats in a row, and the Mongols had reached the vicinity of Xuande. It was precisely because of the military defeat that the Jin State had to temporarily suspend diplomatic activities with the Great Song, from which it can be inferred that the Mongols had formed a huge military pressure on the Great Jin.
Yu Rong immediately thought of the Great Liao at the beginning and the Dajin at that time, and how similar this situation and this scene were to the present! As the so-called feng shui turns in turn, is it the turn of the Jurchens to be unlucky now? How should the Great Song Dynasty deal with it, should it be the same as it was back then, whether to join forces with Jin to destroy Liao, or to make another plan.
Immediately after Yu Rong returned to the dynasty, he wrote, "Today's Tatar (i.e., Mongolia) is strong, that is, at the beginning of the rise of the Jurchens, and the Jin people are depressed and playful, and there is a tendency for the old Liao to perish." In order to confirm the accuracy of the news, Song Ningzong Zhao Kuo then sent envoys to Dajin many times, but the result was to persuade him to retreat. The monarchs of the Southern Song Dynasty had already realized that this powerful Dajin had indeed made a big deal.
Indeed, at this time, Daikin was facing the first existential test since the founding of the country. The current Dajin is Wanyan Yongji, the seventh emperor of the Jin Dynasty. At this moment, Wanyan Yongji was already anxious. Wanyan Yongji, the emperor, was a very wretched, and he reigned for only five years, and Dajin turned from prosperity to decline in his hands, not to mention the internal and external troubles that did not have a good life, and finally let his subordinates carry out a coup d'état and kill him, so he didn't even get a temple number after his death. Among the ten emperors of Dajin, in addition to the king of Hailing, Wanyan Liang, who enjoys this treatment, is the king of Weishao, Wanyan Yongji.
The contradiction between Daikin and Mongolia can be said to have a long history, as an empire established by nomads, Daikin has a natural sensitivity and suspicion of the rise of northern nomads. In order to ensure the security of his regime, Daikin always keeps an eye on their development. And the greatest threat to the Jin Dynasty was the Mongols. At that time, the Mongols were still called Tatars.
In order to curb the development of the Tatar population. Every three years, Daikin would "send troops to the north to kill", killing only men and not women, killing all men who were taller than the wheels, and cutting off the thumbs of those who were lower than the wheels, so that they could never hold the bow and arrows, which was called "extermination". The aim was to control the number of Mongol men and prevent them from rebelling.
However, Mongolia is like a weed under a boulder, and such a barbaric policy not only did not destroy its will, but made it stronger and stronger. With the advent of a man named Temujin, the Tatars finally developed as rapidly as a fission. Soon the Mobei grassland was unified, and just like that, Dajin's doom came. It was in February of that year that the Mongol troops pointed south and launched an attack on Dajin. As a result, Daikin was defeated again and again, and finally faced the danger of losing the country.
In this case, Dajin implemented a very wrong policy, that is, to compensate the Song Dynasty", to put it bluntly, the north lost the south to make up, how much territory Mongolia invaded Dajin, Dajin invaded the territory of the Southern Song Dynasty, originally the Southern Song Dynasty was quite controversial about whether to join Mongolia to destroy Jin, mainly because of the fear of repeating the mistakes of the Northern Song Dynasty, but Jin Xuanzong Wanyan Xun's miraculous operation completely pushed the Southern Song Dynasty to Mongolia. And the war situation began to be unfavorable to the Jin army, many cities were lost and lost, the Song army began to counterattack on all fronts from everywhere, Dajin at this time can be said to be embattled, so in the second year of Xingding, Jin Xuanzong took the initiative to extend an "olive branch" to the Southern Song Dynasty. Unexpectedly, the Southern Song Dynasty was very resolute and refused to allow even the Jin envoys to enter the country. The Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia strategy was thus determined.
From the standpoint of the Song Dynasty, it was wrong for Lianjin to destroy Liao, but it cannot be said that it was wrong for Lianmeng to destroy Jin. Because Da Liao is a highly sinicized country, and it has been a brother and brother to Song for hundreds of years. Song Huizong was automatically deprived of the legitimacy of the Celestial Empire. Coupled with overconfidence, the seemingly powerful Great Song is already full of holes. didn't expect Dajin to turn his face and deny people, which led to the sudden death of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The so-called Lianmeng exterminated Jin, in the early days, the Mongolian side was more enthusiastic, and Mongolia in the seventh year of Jiading came to the Southern Song Dynasty to discuss this matter - the Southern Song Dynasty did not express its position at all, and the Mongolians came to discuss this matter in the eleventh year of Jiading, and the Southern Song Dynasty did not express it substantively. The Southern Song Dynasty always had a clear understanding that it was indeed the initial political strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty to form an alliance with Dajin against Mongolia, but it was entirely due to Dajin's wrong strategy that forced the Southern Song Dynasty to change its policy, and under the combined effect of various factors, the Southern Song Dynasty had to embark on the road of destroying the Jin. had to form an alliance with the Mongols.
In the final analysis, the entire strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty was very conservative on the issue of the destruction of Jin, and although some mistakes were made, it was still very different from the series of riotous operations carried out by the Northern Song Dynasty at the beginning. At that time, not only did they learn the lesson of the original Lianjin to destroy the Liao, but it was precisely because of the existence of this mentality that the Southern Song Dynasty was able to make sufficient preparations for battle and resist the Mongols for so long with a weak national strength in a corner of peace.
Although the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia had the purpose of "holding on to hatred and shame", the most fundamental purpose was to "make peace with Mongolia", "this is the correct move in line with the interests of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is the only correct choice of the Southern Song Dynasty."
The significance of Lianmeng's destruction of Jin is to end the century-old feud between Song and Jin and wash away the shame of the capture of Emperor Hui and Qin. But at least it will give the Southern Song Dynasty valuable time to prepare, whether it is to build and prepare the Yangtze River defense line, or to learn more about this new neighbor who is far more terrifying than the Khitan Jurchens. The real problem of the Southern Song Dynasty was that after that, out of the rush for quick success, the implementation of the "Duanping into Luo" operation, if it was not strong, it was a matter of time for the Mongols to enter Lin'an.
I am the clear water and the watchman of history. Looking forward to your attention and comments.