The Song Dynasty had a general who was known for his wisdom rather than force, who was not only good at fighting, but also "a soldier who surrendered without a fight".
He is Li Yunze, and even Su Shi once praised his wisdom.
However, at the beginning of his career, such a brave and resourceful general was not reused by the imperial court.
Why is that?
First of all, let's start with Li Yunze's family background.
Li Yunze, whose name is Chuifan, was a native of Yu County, Shanxi Province (now Yu County, Shanxi Province).
Regarding Li Yunze's family history, there are few existing historical records. Li Fugui, a native of the Song Dynasty, once wrote "The Biography of the Li Family", which no longer exists.
According to the "History of the Song Dynasty: The Biography of Li Qianpu", the Li family originated from his grandfather Li Xun. Li Xun mainly served in the Later Tang Dynasty to the Later Jin Dynasty. In the second year of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Xun, who was the official of Zhenzhou (now Zhengding County, Hebei), was responsible for the clerical work of Li Jiqi, the king of Wei, but was replaced by Li Song because of his lack of literary accomplishment.
This change of job deeply hurt Li Xun's self-esteem. So Li Xun continued to encourage future generations to practice writing and calligraphy, which may also be one of the reasons why Li Qianpu, Yun Ze, and Yun Zheng brothers "know quite a lot".
In November of the fourth year of Changxing, Li Congrong, the king of Qin, conspired to force the palace. As a young Yin in Henan, Li Xun was implicated and sent to Shizhou (now Lishi District, Shanxi). Taking this opportunity, Li Xun became Shi Jingjiao's staff.
In November of the third year of the Qing Dynasty, Shi Jingjiao was registered as the Jin Emperor by the Khitan lord. Li Xun also took advantage of the situation to be promoted to the official of Kaifeng Prefecture. Later, because of the admonition that "Qu Jie foreign countries (Khitan) is not a long-term strategy." He was demoted by Shi Jingjiao to the order of Lushan (now Lushan County, Henan).
Soon after, Li Xun died in office. At this time, the Li family was still a low-level official, and his political influence and network resources were limited.
Li Yunze's father, Li Qianpu, became a senior military general in the early Song Dynasty with his military talent and courage in this chaotic situation. Li Qianpu, the word Deming. At the request of his father Li Xun, he studied the article, "Shaotong "Zuo's Spring and Autumn", and had a little talent.
At the beginning of Tianfu, Li Qianpu followed his father Li Xun into Kaifeng Mansion, and the shade was made up for the palace. In the first year of Qianyou, Wang Jingchong, Li Shouzhen and others rebelled against the Later Han Dynasty one after another. The privy envoy Guo Wei led his troops to attack.
In the process of conquering Wang Jingchong, Song Xuanzu and Zhao Hongyin, the general of the forbidden army, bravely resisted the enemy and were promoted to the commander of the battalion. Subsequently, Song Taizu also recruited under Guo Wei's account. During the Pingsan Town Rebellion and the garrison of Yedu, Li Qianpu "went back and forth to announce secret orders", which was deeply appreciated by Guo Wei. Or during this period, Li Qianpu became friends with Song Tai's grandfather and son.
In the first month of the first year of Guangshun, Guo Wei established the Later Zhou regime, and his subordinate Li Qianpu also moved to the deputy envoy of the personal official supply and reserve treasury. In the first year of Xiande, the Northern Han Dynasty invaded the Khitan South. During the campaign, Liaozhou could not be attacked for a long time, and Zhou Shizong sent Li Qianpu to go. Li Qianpu, who was brave and strategic, also lived up to his mission, "Riding alone said, (Liaozhou Thorn Shi Zhang) B surrendered to the city."
In the process of conquering the Northern Han Dynasty, Li Qianpu became more and more courageous. So far, Li Qianpu's wisdom and courage in resisting the enemy have been fully revealed, and his foresight and wisdom have also been initially demonstrated, and these wisdom and wisdom have also been passed on to Li Yunze and other descendants.
Of course, compared with Song Taizu, who accompanied Shizong's personal expedition to Huainan and commanded the envoys in front of the palace, Li Qianpu was inferior.
Chen Feng once wrote: "The phenomenon of Jiangmen was very prominent in the Northern Song Dynasty, and they played an important role in the military and national defense activities at that time."
In the Song Dynasty, when social classes were frequently mobile, "driven by the strong and rapid upward movement of society, it was not easy to maintain wealth and nobility for three generations." According to He Guanhuan's statistics, "the generals who can be generals for more than three generations are only more than a quarter of the total number of generals in the Northern Song Dynasty (1,291 people)."
Like the Li Jilong family, the Li family has five generations of generals, namely Li Xun, Li Qianpu, Li Qiansheng, Li Yunze, Li Yunzheng, Li Zhonghe, Li Zhongji, Li Zhaoxu, etc.
In short, under the influence of his family, Li Yun also entered the career of military attaché. However, contrary to Li Yunzheng's fight on the battlefield, Li Yun, under the influence of Taizu and Taizong's "right text" style, attaches importance to cultural construction and is known for being good at using tactics.
This may also be one of the reasons why Li Yunze's career promotion was not as good as Li Yunzheng's in the Taizong Dynasty, when the trend of "Youwen" was at its peak and force still occupied an important position.
Li Yunze's career as a eunuch
Li Yun was born in the second year of Later Zhou Guangshun (953) and died in June Wuchen of the sixth year of Tiansheng (1028) at the age of seventy-six.
Influenced by his grandfather's and father's martial arts tradition and family style, as well as Taizu and Taizong's policy of encouraging military generals to cultivate literature, Li Yun became famous for his talent at a young age.
From the perspective of his family background, his father Li Qianpu and Song Xuanzu were in the same room, and they were deeply appreciated by Taizu for their wisdom and bravery, and Shu Qiansheng and Taizu were friends of cloth, and after Taizong ascended the throne, he accepted the daughter of Qiansheng and the second son Yuanxi.
Li Yun commanded the shadow to make up for the office. But in the Taizu and Taizong dynasties, Li Yun was not treated as favorably as the children of meritorious heroes such as Wang Chengjun.
The reason for this is that when Taizu was in power, Li Qianpu was still in Danzhou and failed to participate in Taizu's position.
Secondly, Li Qianpu was in Xizhou for a long time, and after the founding of Taizu, he was unable to enter the center of power and became the founding minister.
In addition, Song Taizu and Taizong also had constraints on military generals, "most of them are military ministers, responsible for their side merits, not miraculous merits, and there is no reason to surpass, so Wenchen Zhenglang and Yuanlang each stop at three turns, and the military ministers are envoys and deputy envoys must each turn nine." And many of the sons and daughters of meritorious officials who supplemented the official with grace and shadow "because of their father's and brother's financial resources, were arrogant and extravagant," and were also suppressed by Taizu and Taizong. ”
These policies and circumstances have influenced Li Yunze's relocation to a certain extent.
After Taizong ascended the throne, Li Yunze, despite relying on his own talents, went to the Jingrong Military Field on the front line of the border when the relationship between Song and Liao was still tense.
However, with the outbreak of the Song-Liao war again, Li Yun was forced to change his position. Subsequently, Li Yun, as the emperor's personal servant, was temporarily assigned to the local area many times to inspect local affairs, and moved to the north and south, no longer holding long-term local positions.
However, Li Yun also took advantage of these four inspections and superintendents to understand the social situation in various places in the early Song Dynasty in more detail, so that he could quickly and effectively pacify the people and stabilize public order when governing government affairs in the future.
Through his own continuous efforts, Li Yunze finally went out to defend the town shortly after Zhenzong ascended the throne. He has worked in Tanzhou, Cangzhou and Xiongzhou.
During his stay in Tanzhou, Li Yun abolished redundant taxes in the previous dynasty and the early Song Dynasty, and actively provided disaster relief. Subsequently, while restoring the economy, Li Yun also devoted himself to supporting culture and education in the Jinghu area, and actively expanded the Yuelu Academy, which not only standardized the establishment pattern of the academy, but also promoted the rise and development of local academies in the Northern Song Dynasty for a long time.
In addition, during his thirteen years in Xiongzhou, he was the longest-serving local governor after He Chengju, and became a good guard and good minister inside and outside the world. Lee Yoon-jae's active defensive policy and battle of wits and courage in the process were praised by later ministers.
Bao Zheng has repeatedly praised Li Yunze as a "very good choice", Su Zhou praised him as "outstanding" and "slightly talented", and Yuan Fu even boasted of his "strange strategy". Compared with the subsequent Xiongzhou guards, Li Yun is exemplary.
In addition, from the perspective of official rank, Li Yun has gradually risen along the rank of military generals from his background to his career, like many generals. However, when we carefully examine the words and deeds of Li Yunze's family background and relatives, we will notice that Li Yunze, like Cao Yun, the son of another military general, does not belong to the real military generals who use military merits as officials.
Although Li Yunze's relatives did not have many Wenchen from the branch as Cao Yu in his background, and he did not directly participate in the Wenchen Party Struggle, his grandfather Li Xun, his father Li Qianpu and his younger brother Li Yunzheng all paid attention to the knowledge and cultivation of literature, especially during Li Qianpu's later years in Luoyang, he had close contacts with scholars, and Li Yunzheng's position in his life was mainly engaged in civil affairs.
Therefore, Li Yun can be regarded as one of the representatives of the military attachés in the Northern Song Dynasty who entered the government with grace and shadow, hovering between Confucianism and the generals.
Li Yun knows Tanzhou
In the spring of the ninth year of Kaibao (976), Li Qianpu died, and Taizu rewarded his son. Li Yun was promoted to Zuoban Dianzhi by the command of the Yanei and became Taizu's personal servant. However, the good times did not last long, in November of that year, Taizu died suddenly, and Taizong ascended the throne. In the following six years, Li Yunze's related deeds are not recorded in historical records.
In the seventh year of the Taiping Rejuvenation (982), the thirty-year-old Li Yun was sent by Taizong to the Jingrong Army, a military town in Hebei, to lead the affairs of the field, which seemed to be reused. Subsequently, Li Yunze, as a "short-term envoy" who "sent things when there was something to do, and stopped when the matter was done," was temporarily assigned to a number of localities to handle local political affairs on behalf of the central government.
During these years, he inspected the Jingrong military field, rectified the Hedong prisoner case, inspected the affairs of Jinghu Lake, dredged the Bianshui, made the northwest shape of the victory map, inspected the Xichuan city defense, and entered Chenzhou to recruit rebellions...... has made great contributions.
So in the first year of Xianping (998), Li Yun was ordered to know Tanzhou. As soon as he arrived in office, Li Yun went to the alleys to visit the suffering of the people one by one, "getting off the car to set up the government, comparing the house to the house, respecting the ability of the officials, and finding the people's diseases."
At that time, after the major fire in Tanzhou, "the people had no home, and many froze to death." It is allowed to take the official bamboo, and the fake people are the houses, and the spring is paid. There is no displacement of the people, and there is no shortage of official use", which shows Li Yunze's talent in governance.
Subsequently, Li Yun abolished all kinds of redundant taxes levied on the people for five generations, reformed the maladministration, followed by timely relief to the victims, appeased the people, and more importantly, carried out large-scale renovation and expansion of Yuelu Academy, making Yuelu Academy one of the main representatives of the Southern Academy in the early Song Dynasty.
Li Yunze's achievements in Tanzhou were not only praised by the local people, but also appreciated by Zhenzong. After the expiration of his term, Zhenzong, who was interested in promoting Li Yunze, took advantage of the situation to transfer Li Yunze to Hebei, where the situation was tense, to deal with border affairs.
After more than ten years of polishing, Li Yun, who went to the Song-Liao border again, will be more stable and thoughtful in Hebei, so that in Hebei for 20 years, his name has spread abroad.
In July of the fifth year of Xianping (1003), Li Yun was recalled to the capital and "connected for three days". Zhenzong was quite satisfied with Li Yunze's achievements in Tanzhou and began to use him.
So, as tensions continued to arise between Song and Liao, Zhenzong sent Li Yunze to the North. During this period, Li Yunze's deeds in governing the border were outstanding and were highly praised by historians, "Li Yunze has been in Hebei for 20 years, and he has been in Hebei for 20 years, and he has been quiet and quiet, and the Khitan is called an elder." ”