The Northern Song Dynasty once dominated the Central Plains, with brilliant national strength and prosperous culture. However, during the Jingkang period, a military catastrophe that swept through the capital caused the rich state to collapse. What factors led to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty? Is it possible to avoid this great national humiliation? This is not only a painful historical memory, but also contains profound lessons and reflections.
1. The historical origin of the Northern Song Dynasty and the national struggle
Since ancient times, the land of China has been a country where many ethnic groups coexist. As the main ethnic group, the Han nationality has occupied the fertile land of the Central Plains for a long time, forming a highly developed agricultural civilization. But in the vast steppes of the north, it is the world of nomads.
The Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic, Dangxiang, Khitan, these famous ethnic groups have been passed down from generation to generation, all relying on galloping rivers and lakes to make a living. They were nomadic and brave in war, and with their elite cavalry strength, they repeatedly invaded the Central Plains in the south. Whenever natural disasters or wars came, they were forced to go south and fight to the death against the Central Plains Dynasty to seize food and territory.
The Central Plains Dynasty was naturally reluctant to give up its precious land. How many heroes and heroes died heroically in this long and cruel national war. Dou Wu, a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, bravely killed the enemy, but was eventually captured; The situation of the separation of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu also stemmed from the fight against the hegemony of Wuhuan; During the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan and Heida rebelled and rebelled, coercing the power of foreign tribes, which led to the collapse of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, the contradictions between the Central Plains Dynasty and the border nomads had accumulated to the extreme. In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin founded the Northern Song Dynasty, and from the beginning, they were doomed to face the threat of northern nomads. Seeing that the sixteen states of Yanyun ceded to the Khitan by the ancestors had become the fatal weakness of the Northern Song Dynasty, the later monarchs of the Song Dynasty were all conscientious and tried their best to regain the lost land, but in the end they gained nothing.
What is even more distressing is that the unequal "Lanyuan Alliance" was concluded with the Khitans, and the Song Dynasty lost the initiative since then, the frontier no longer exists, and the heartland is threatened at any time. Although a hundred years of peace were achieved on the surface, the root cause of the contradiction was never resolved. Once the situation changes, the two sides will inevitably turn against each other.
As the saying goes, it is difficult to return, and the root cause of the curse is rooted in the inside. Due to the excessive weakening of military power and border defense forces in the Northern Song Dynasty, coupled with internal and external troubles such as the gradual decline of imperial power, finally in the Battle of Jingkang, when the iron hooves of the Jin people stepped on the Beijing Division, they were vulnerable. Now, we can't help but reflect on whether there are deeper contradictions and conflicts hidden behind this.
2. The Rise of the Golden State and the "Maritime Alliance"
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, the territory of the northern nomads underwent major changes. Later Liao was replaced by a new minority force, and this powerful new force was the Jin State.
Jin was a regime established by the Jurchens, whose predecessor was Wanyan Aguta, a subject of the Liao Dynasty. Ah Gu fought bravely and well, commanded the troops, and never surrendered to the masters of the Liao Dynasty. After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, he led the people to be untamed, wantonly plundered, and ran rampant in the Mobei region. What's more, he even wore a yellow robe and proclaimed himself the "Golden Emperor".
Ah Gu was arrogant, and the Jin soldiers killed all the way south. At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty was in the Yongxi period of Song Shenzong, and the government and the opposition were arguing endlessly about whether Wang Anshi's new law should be implemented. At this time, the army of the Jin State had arrived at the city of Youzhou, and the defenders in the city also received a rescue order from the Song court.
Seeing that the tiger was looking at him, the rescue force had to meet Ah Guta in person and bargain. Unexpectedly, Aguda made an unreasonable demand, demanding that the Northern Song Dynasty pay a huge tribute during the Liao Dynasty every year. Faced with the threat of a strong enemy, the courtiers of the Northern Song Dynasty had no choice but to make concessions. In this way, the Jin State and the Northern Song Dynasty concluded a highly unequal "maritime alliance".
The Jin State relied on military coercion to force the Northern Song Dynasty to become its "vassal", and had to pay it a tribute of nearly 1 million taels of silver every year. This was undoubtedly humiliating the dignity of the Song Dynasty and increasing the financial burden on the state. But at that time, the Northern Song Dynasty had no choice but to reluctantly tolerate it.
After the signing of the "Maritime Alliance", the government and the opposition in the Northern Song Dynasty were in an uproar, and voices of denunciation arose. But what really triggered the crisis was that the Jin State began to deliberately expand its territory and eyed the Northern Song Dynasty.
Jin soldiers constantly invaded the border and plundered excessively. What's more, they plundered the subjects of the Northern Song Dynasty and took them captive to Mobei. The Northern Song Dynasty repeatedly reprimanded, but the Jin people ignored it. In the end, the contradiction between the two sides was quickly pushed to a white heat.
Seeing that the Jin State was growing stronger, Jin Taizong actually put forward a series of even more unreasonable demands, including Hebei and other places that ceded the heart of the Northern Song Dynasty. It can be seen that the Jin people have long held the reunification of China in their arms. And this is undoubtedly a cross-knife snatch of love and tearing up the "alliance at sea" of the year.
In the face of such unreasonable hegemony as the Jin State, the courtiers of the Northern Song Dynasty were excited. Prime Minister Zeng Bu, military strategist Zhen Wuwei and others have fought one after another, thinking that the Jin people are too much to deceive people, and they should be killed with them. However, Song Huizong was distracted and insisted on maintaining peace, hoping to re-establish an alliance with the Jin.
However, it backfired. The Jin army had already pressed the border, and a decisive battle took place between the two sides in Linhuang. Before the Northern Song commanders and soldiers could even draw their swords, they were defeated and retreated under the iron hooves of the cavalry of the Jin army. Since then, the war between Song and Jin has completely heated up and gone to an irreparable abyss.
3. Intricate internal and external troubles
Once the flames of war between the Jin Kingdom and the Northern Song Dynasty ignited, it quickly engulfed the entire Central Plains. It can be said that this was a crucial battle that doomed the survival of the Northern Song Dynasty. The reason for the final defeat of the Northern Song Dynasty was not only the powerful foreign enemy force of the Jin State, but also the internal and external troubles of the Northern Song Dynasty itself.
First of all, in the long run, the gradual decline of the imperial power of the Northern Song Dynasty is a foregone conclusion. After Song Zhenzong, generation after generation became more and more mediocre, and almost lost the wisdom and foresight of the ancestors to open the country. In the later period, even the simple ceremony of canonizing the clan had to be controlled by the prime minister, which shows the decline of imperial power.
In addition, the powerful ministers usurped the party and the eunuchs were in power, and the entire government fell into the quagmire of corruption and chaos. Wang Huang, the squire of the Ministry of Rites, repeatedly said not to fight with the Jin State, but was fiercely attacked by King Zeng and others. Zeng Bu was even more obsessed with alchemy and turned a blind eye to state affairs. In such a situation, how can we lead the whole country to resist foreign aggression in times of crisis?
Secondly, on the eve of the Jingkang Revolution, the Northern Song Dynasty suffered a series of natural and man-made disasters. The impurity of the imperial system led to the rise and fall of clan party disputes, and the northwest border was full of peasant uprisings. The "Yellow Robe Army" uprising during the Zhenzong period lasted for decades, and the "Green Forest Army" peasant uprising led by Song Jiang and others also occurred in the south, which was turbulent.
In addition, floods, droughts, and locust plagues occur frequently in the Yellow River, and the state's finances are increasingly stretched, and the vast rural areas are also in a state of desolation. Under the severe pressure of such internal and external troubles, it was impossible for the national strength of the Northern Song Dynasty not to be hit hard, so it was unable to resist the fierce attack of the Jin State.
The most deadly, I am afraid, is the serious weakening of the military power of the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the Xining Reform, Wang Anshi has pursued the concept of "using literature to control force", drastically reducing the establishment and expenditure of the armed forces and weakening the border defense forces. In order to quell the peasant uprising, Zhenzong even sent a large number of troops to the interior. By the time the Jin State came to attack, the Song army had no strength to catch it.
Once upon a time, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were the natural barrier of the Northern Song Dynasty against foreign invasions. But by the time the Jin Kingdom attacked, Yanyun had become a strategic place for Song and Jin to compete for. The Northern Song Dynasty guard general Zhen Wuwei was still able to win more with less, and defended Yanjing for more than 30 years. But in the long run, the most unguardable thing is probably the incompetence and negligence of the leaders of the Northern Song Dynasty in the military.
All kinds of internal and external troubles, coupled with the complicated civil strife situation in the Northern Song Dynasty, made the invasion of the Jin people the last fuse. A battle seems inevitable. The blue sky and the white sun are full of red, and the golden iron horse goes straight to the heart of the Central Plains, which is the bitter fruit brewed by the Northern Song Dynasty itself, and will also bring unprecedented shame and disaster to the entire nation.
Fourth, military defeat and spiritual disintegration
Although the war between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin State took place during the Jingkang period, in fact, the contradictions between the two sides have been around for a long time. As early as the Song Zhenzong period, border conflicts were already emerging. At that time, the Song general Zhenwu was still able to rely on elite cavalry to repel the attacks of the Jin army many times.
But the real trigger for a full-scale war was during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. At that time, Jin took the initiative to attack, and the army pressed the border and smashed into the hinterland of the Central Plains. The two sides fought a decisive battle in the Linhuang area, and the Northern Song commanders were demoralized and fled in defeat before they could draw their swords. Since then, the Song-Jin war has inevitably become white-hot.
Although Huizong tried to make peace with the Jin State again, no one paid attention to it. Instead, the Jin army took advantage of the victory to pursue and killed all the way to Kaifeng City. The Song army was losing and retreating, and it was difficult to stop the iron hooves of the Jin army.
The Jin army drove straight into the area north of the Yellow River. The sixteen states of Yanyun, which the Song Dynasty relied on to hold back then, may now become an accomplice of the Jin army in minutes. The Northern Song Dynasty was in danger of falling at any time.
Seeing that the enemy was pressing the border, Song Huizong ordered all the troops in the interior to rush to the front line to rescue the Beijing division. As a result, the generals Chen Xun, Guo Yankui and others left their respective bases one after another and led their elite troops to the battlefield.
However, these scattered warlords did not obey the commanders of the imperial court. Whenever they encounter an enemy, they are more likely to go their own ways and do not belong to each other. This not only caused serious discouragement of the army, but also greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Song army.
The civil strife caused the morale of the Northern Song army to gradually decline. In addition, the Jin army broke through the border city many times and was unable to form an army. The officers and men of the Song army have lost their combat effectiveness, and the whole country has fallen into an unprecedented crisis.
Huizong tried to recruit the army King Qin by asking for help with a lot of money. However, some local warlords have gone so far as to hoard resources and grain, monopolize taxes and seek personal gains. With the addition of internal and external troubles, the Northern Song Dynasty had already suffered a mental breakdown.
What is even more shocking is that Huizong himself is also a mediocre and incompetent monarch. When Jingkang's catastrophe came, he blindly hoped to renew the peace treaty with the Jin State, and asked for help everywhere to no avail. In the end, the Jin army attacked the city and plundered the land, and it was close to the Beijing division Kaifeng. Huizong hurriedly discussed countermeasures in the palace cabinet, but there were no troops to deploy, and there was no hope of making a decision to defend the city.
At this critical moment, the eunuch persuaded Huizong to abandon the city and flee to avoid its edge. Huizong listened to this unscrupulous advice and personally went out of the city to investigate, but was besieged by the Jin army. In this way, the ultimate fate of the Northern Song Dynasty was in the hands of the Jin army.
After a long period of internal and external troubles, the Northern Song Dynasty was already mentally discouraged and fragmented, and was simply unable to withstand the fierce attack of the Jin army. The emperor was incompetent, the morale of the army was gradually lost, the people's hearts were difficult to gather, and it was only a matter of time before they fell. A turbulent era came, and the northern peoples completely gained the initiative in the war.
5. Defeat and destruction
By the time the Jin army reached Kaifeng, the Northern Song Dynasty had fallen into an unprecedented crisis. The warlords, the withering national power, the disillusionment of the people, and the incompetence of Huizong had brought the Northern Song Dynasty to the brink of collapse. Seeing that the enemy was pressing the realm, the Song family was destined to suffer a catastrophe.
The Jin Corps besieged Kaifeng City and cut off the supply of grain and grass. The people of the city were starving, cold, displaced, and crying out. Song Huizong was at a loss and convened the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs overnight to discuss countermeasures. But whether it is the royal conquest or the stubborn defense of the city, there is nothing to be done. In the end, Huizong was instigated by the eunuch Zhou Yan and others, and decided to lead the entire Song family to abandon the city and flee.
That night, Song Huizong and his family came out of the wall at dusk. There were only a few cronies and eunuchs around him, and there was not a single soldier guarding the city. When Jin Jun found out about the abnormal movement, he immediately chased after him.
The scene was extremely chaotic for a while, and Huizong and his party were embraced in all directions, and they were almost captured alive by the Jin army. In the end, I had to stay in the fields overnight. It was not until the early morning of the next day that Jin Jun found the traces of Huizong and his party.
Huizong was surrounded by the Jin army and was helpless, so he had to go out of the city and surrender. And when Jin Taizong personally moved into the Forbidden City, the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was completely written. The civil and military forces of the government and the opposition, as well as the princes and royal families, were captured or exterminated by the Jin army. All of a sudden, the Central Plains north of the Yellow River was leaderless and all the dragons were trapped.
At this time, the Jin army had captured Kaifeng City, and the Northern Song Dynasty regime was destroyed. However, the remnants of the Northern Song Dynasty did not give up their resistance, and they established a provisional imperial court in the south, and eventually ruled the world in Bianjing for a long time. It is known as the Southern Song Dynasty in history. However, compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty had a small territory and a weak national strength, and it was difficult for it to dominate for a while.
Soon after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Jin Taizong moved the capital to Nanjing. They dominated the Central Plains and occupied the old land of the Song Dynasty, which for a time made the entire Chinese territory show a pattern of large and small gold and large and small Song Dynasty divisions.
In this way, Shengsheng turned the unified Central Plains Dynasty into a vassal of two nomadic peoples, ending the Northern Song Dynasty's ambition of "using literature to control military force" and emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. The great shame of the nation is enough to make future generations regret and deplore it.
The fall of the Northern Song Dynasty marked the end of an era. Since then, China's political map has undergone drastic changes, and the great cause of reunification will also be in ruins. The deep-seated reason for the decline and fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was the mutual influence of many factors, such as the decline of imperial power, the weakening of military strength, and the coexistence of internal and external troubles, which eventually led to the dissipation of national strength. The fuse was the rise of the Jin Kingdom and the ambition to enter the Central Plains. All kinds of internal and external troubles, under the combined effect, finally let the ship of the Northern Song Dynasty sink in the tide of history.