This once stormy dynasty of the northern minority fell from the peak in just over a hundred years, and was finally trampled by ruthless iron hooves. By what power did they rise in one fell swoop? What caused their fall? A history of the rise and fall of swords and swords is worth tracing back to the source and exploring the roots. The fall of the Jin Dynasty is an intriguing historical suspense, let us follow the footsteps of the story and find out.
The Jurchens who made a fortune quickly: the just cause of the Jurchens when they drove away the Khitan
The Jurchens were originally a small nomadic tribe in the northeast region that had long been subject to the rule of the Bohai and Liao dynasties. During the period of Liaowei Town, the Jurchen people lived in extreme poverty and oppression. They live by fishing and hunting, and are exploited and bullied by the Khitans all year round, only maintaining a state of abject poverty.
Just when the Liao Dynasty of the Khitan was gradually decaying and internal and external troubles were increasing, the Jurchens finally couldn't hold back the idea of resisting. In 1115 AD, a Jurchen army led by Akuta began to openly oppose the rule of the Liao Dynasty, setting off a massive peasant uprising. Aguta was just a hunter at first, but he had extraordinary wisdom and bravery. He raised his arms and won the support and response of a large number of low-level Jurchens, and in just a few months, tens of thousands of people gathered to join the ranks of the rebel army.
Relying on the heroic fighting and unexpected resourcefulness of the enemy, the Jurchen rebel army under Ah Guta won successive battles, quickly occupied the Liao Dynasty's important towns in the northeast region, and twice dealt a severe blow to the Liao army's counterattack. The Liao Wenzong had no choice but to support Aguda as the "Emperor of the Jin State" and temporarily cede sovereign power and territory to the Jurchens. Just when the Liao people thought that an expedient measure could preserve the dynasty and reverse the decline, Aguta saw through the trick and categorically rejected the letter of surrender of the Liao Dynasty, and pushed forward the war process of destroying the Liao Dynasty.
In 1125 AD, Aguta completely destroyed the main force of the Liao army at Huitongcheng, and the Liao state existed in name only, and the remaining remnants of the force had to move westward, thus officially ending the era of Khitan rule that had occupied northern China for more than 200 years. Aguta, on the other hand, inherited all the territory of the Liao State in North China and a large number of Han people, and established the Jin Dynasty with the Jurchen as the main body, officially opening the period of a new generation of minority regimes in the Central Plains.
The Jin Dynasty in the Central Plains: From the Fall of the Dynasty to the Blending of Cultures
With its unexpectedly military might, the Jin dynasty quickly established a foothold in the Northeast Plain. The Jin soldiers successively captured the important towns of the Liao State and expelled the last Liao Dynasty Wenzong, completely ending the Liao Dynasty's rule in North China for more than 200 years.
At the same time that the Jin army swept away the remnants of the northeast, the rulers of the Jin dynasty began to set their sights on the Central Plains. At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty was in a period of decay and decline, and the central group of political power was divided due to the long-term struggle for power, the quality of the army was low, and the national strength was declining. Faced with this scene, Jin Bing was full of desire and confidence to conquer the land of the Central Plains.
In the spring of 1126, the battle-hardened Jin army began a campaign to capture the Central Plains. The Song army stationed on the northern border was defeated and vulnerable. In just a few months, the Jin soldiers occupied the cities of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, including Kaifeng, Tokyo. The Song court, who was guarding Tokyo, finally made the decision to survive in order to avoid the annihilation of the entire army, and evacuated from the burned ruins of Kaifeng City to Lin'an, and fled west alone.
In this way, in just ten years, the Jin Dynasty finally completed the largest expansion of its territory from conquering the remnants of the Liao State scattered in the northeast to conquering the richest areas of the Central Plains. However, the Jurchen people alone would not be able to fully assume the responsibility of ruling such a vast territory. As a result, the Jin dynasty began to implement a large-scale policy of sinicization, sending a large number of administrators to the old local Han officials, and encouraging Jurchens to intermarry with Han Chinese.
By the time of Jin Xizong, the royal family of the Jin Dynasty had gradually blended with the Han bloodline, and many Han people began to serve in the government and the opposition, and the cultural clothing of the Jin Dynasty gradually became sinicized. At the same time, the Jin army was constantly in conflict with the Southern Song Dynasty, and the two armies fought fiercely in the Huai River valley for many years, and after the forces of both sides were exhausted, a delicate balance of power was finally reached with the Jin Dynasty occupying the north and the Southern Song Dynasty occupying the south.
From the official confirmation of the border between Jin Xizong and the Southern Song Dynasty in 1142 AD to the destruction of the Jin Dynasty by the Mongol army in 1234, the Jin dynasty established a short but legendary reign in the Central Plains. In the past 100 years, the Jin Dynasty has had ten emperors reigning, invincible soldiers, princes and princes, and the culture has also integrated the characteristics of Han civilization on a large scale. But it is precisely this innate pluralism that has planted the bane of continuous turmoil within the Jin Dynasty.
All kinds of internal worries in the government and the opposition: the century-old dynasty of the Jin Dynasty is in decline
Although the Jin Dynasty absorbed the culture and system of the Han people into the imperial system on a large scale after the foreign tribes entered the Central Plains, it was unable to completely bridge the ethnic gap between the Jurchens and the Han people. From the government and the opposition, from the core royal family to the grassroots people, all kinds of internal worries continued to emerge one after another, and finally became the root cause of the Jin Dynasty's decline.
First, the ruling class is becoming more and more arrogant and lascivious. As ethnic minority aristocrats, the imperial relatives of the Jin Dynasty gradually became obsessed with the affluent life brought about by the Central Plains civilization, and abolished the hard and simple style in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They spent extravagantly, built palaces and gardens, lived a life of drunkenness, and gradually lost interest in the future of the country. It wasn't until the Mongol iron cavalry gradually became exhausted that the Jin Dynasty suddenly realized the weakness of its own strength.
Second, the infighting between the regimes has intensified. The prosperity of the descendants of the Jin emperors, coupled with the inclusion of Han Chinese into the royal family, made the internal power structure of the imperial family more and more complicated. Different interest groups intrigued with each other in order to seek a larger power map, which seriously divided the political power of the Jin Dynasty. The intensification of contradictions in the ruling group made it impossible for the Jin dynasty to deal with the invasion of the Mongol cavalry.
Third, the relationship between the government and the opposition is deteriorating day by day. In order to prevent the Han rebellion, the upper echelons of the Jin dynasty had to tighten their control over Han officials and limit their qualifications to serve in the government and the opposition. However, this kind of ethnic discrimination eventually led to the dissatisfaction and alienation of the majority of Han subjects. Groups of Han intellectuals and local gentry betrayed the Jin Dynasty and turned to the Mongols, resulting in a serious phenomenon of detachment from morality within the Jin Dynasty from top to bottom.
Fourth, the pressure of the three external forces is increasing. The Mongols, as the rising star of the northern nomads, began to expand wantonly with their strong military strength, approaching the frontier fortresses of the Jin Dynasty. At the same time, the Jin Dynasty once again broke out into war with the Southern Song Dynasty, and the two regimes fought repeatedly in the Huai River Valley. In addition, the two foreign regimes of Goryeo and Nüzhi also provoked the Jin and Korean borders from time to time. These three external forces gradually overdrew the national strength of the Jin Dynasty and depleted it.
The late Jin Dynasty of social turmoil: a miserable era of misery for the people
After entering the 13th century, the Jin Dynasty's national power had been declining day by day, and it was facing many crises from both inside and outside. During this period, various natural and man-made disasters continued to hit the Central Plains, plunging the social order of the Jin Dynasty into unprecedented turmoil.
Between 1211 and 1213, the Yellow River burst and flooded in Henan, causing the entire Central Plains to suffer a catastrophic flood rarely seen in a century. Tens of millions of people have been left homeless, and there have been years of famine. After three years of flooding, farmland was destroyed, distant relatives could not have more than one family, displaced people flooded the cities and villages, and the poor lived on the streets. In the year of famine, starvation was everywhere, and people had to eat tree bark and grass roots to sustain their lives. The Kim government was caught off guard and could only watch as the people's suffering deepened.
Soon after, the Mongol cavalry began a major invasion from the north. The armies sent by the Jin Dynasty have lost their combat effectiveness and are retreating. In 1213, the Mongol army arrived at Kaifeng City and completely destroyed the capital of the Jin Dynasty.
Just when the government and the opposition were in turmoil, the plague once again raged in the Central Plains. In 1232, an unprecedented large-scale plague was introduced to Guanzhong from the northwest and soon spread to all parts of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Millions of people died, and the population of the Jin Dynasty plummeted, exacerbating social unrest.
At the same time, the eunuchs seized the opportunity to seize the power of the court, wantonly amassed wealth, and exploited the people. When the eunuchs of the court were poor and luxurious, the people were hit by poison. The literati and have slammed the evils of the times, and there are poems "The world is secluded, the monarchs and ministers, and the haze and dust are bleak." The eunuch is in a high position, what is the crime of whipping the thieves? It can be seen that the contradictions between the government and the opposition have burned out like a burning stick.
Against the backdrop of internal and external troubles and the complete collapse of social order, the Jin dynasty was unable to contain the Mongol invasion offensive. In 1234, under the iron hooves of Shahara, the last capital of the Jin Dynasty was captured, and the rule of the Jin Dynasty came to an end. Those Jurchen nobles who had dominated the Central Plains for a time were taken prisoner and went north, some were killed by the Mongols, and some were expelled from the country, and have since disappeared in the long river of history.
Fall of the Conquerors: The Jin Dynasty is crushed by the Mongol army
In 1234 AD, the last remnants of the Jin Dynasty were completely defeated by the Mongol cavalry at the Kaifeng city of Yecheng. This marked the end of the glorious unification of the Jurchen people in North China for nearly a century. This minority dynasty, which once swept the entire northeastern territory to the Central Plains with its unexpected military might, finally could not escape the fate of the vanquished.
By the end of the Jin Dynasty, the Mongols had risen to prominence as a new nomadic power in the steppes. After unremitting conquests, the Mongol alliance finally unified a large part of the North Asian steppe. After Genghis Khan unified Mongolia, he soon set his sights on the Jin kingdom in the north.
In 1211, the Mongol cavalry made its first major invasion of the northern frontier of the Jin Dynasty. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Jin army at first, the elite Mongolian cavalry still relied on their strong mobile combat ability and excellent military equipment to invade and occupy a series of important towns of the Jin Dynasty in the north for many years. The national strength of the Jin Dynasty suffered a heavy blow, and the government and the opposition were shocked and had to dispatch a large army to fight hard.
After the Mongols conquered the Phnom Penh region, they did not stop there. In the spring of 1213, the Mongol cavalry suddenly marched south to the heart of the Jin Dynasty, and soon conquered the capital of Kaifeng and burned down the imperial palace. The Jin Dynasty was shocked and inexplicable, so it had to temporarily abandon the hinterland of the Central Plains and retreat south to Baoding, Daming and other places. The Mongols took advantage of the situation and occupied the last remaining strongholds of the Jin dynasty in the north over the next few years.
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Although the Jin Dynasty sent a large army to fight back, it was still defeated in the face of the highly motorized cavalry tactics of the Mongol iron cavalry. By 1234, the last remnants of the Jin Dynasty were completely surrounded by Mongol troops at Yecheng. After months of hard fighting, the last ruler of the Jin Dynasty, Chatwi Wen, was also captured and subjected to death by the Mongols. From then on, the remnants of the Jin Dynasty soldiers and civilians had no owners to attach to, so they could only be captured by the Mongols and go north. The rule of the Jin Dynasty came to an end, and the Central Plains changed hands again.