When the Northern Song Dynasty fell, where did the so-called invincible Yang family go? Why did no one stand up to save the country when the soldiers of the Jin State were fierce and vigorous, trampling the earth with iron hooves and murderous spirits, but this heroic army that had terrified the enemy? They have experienced a hundred battles and can be called a generation of heroes, why did they choose to be silent at this most critical moment? Could it be that they have released their previous suspicions and gradually drifted away from the Song Dynasty? Where did the Yang family, who was regarded as the "protector god" by the people, go? Why did they stay out of the matter and avoid saving the last breath of the royal family? These invincible soldiers who once terrified the enemy, when the golden soldiers came to the door, how would they deal with themselves?
1. The rise of the Yang generals: all the way from the garrison frontier to the center of the dynasty
At the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the smoke of war gradually dissipated. The Yang family, which was in a turbulent era, had the opportunity to soar to the sky by virtue of Yang Jiye's indomitable will like a stone bell. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of the Northern Han Dynasty, wars were frequent. Yang Jiye, a military general from a humble background, was quickly appreciated by Liu Chong, the core of power at that time, with his extraordinary courage and fearless spirit. Liu Chong had a large number of generals, but he favored Yang Jiye and handed over the most difficult military affairs under the support of heavy troops to Yang Jiye. Yang Jiye also used excellent military command and tenacious combat to complete this heavy trust one by one.
When the Northern Han Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty confronted each other, Yang Jiye once again showed his brave and fearless side. In 960 AD, the Northern Han and Khitan states formed an alliance to wage war and launched a general offensive against the Later Zhou. The Later Zhou Dynasty was just a puppet regime of the emperor, and it was Zhao Kuangyin who actually controlled the overall situation. He took advantage of the chaos to launch the Chenqiaoyi Mutiny and established the Northern Song Dynasty. In the turbulent period at the beginning of the new dynasty, it was obvious that there was a need for a mighty and brave military general like Yang Jiye to guard the frontier and purge the remnants. Zhao Kuangyin and Song Taizu appreciated Yang Jiye's extraordinary talent and canonized him as the commander of the forbidden army of the Song Dynasty. Yang Jiye was high-spirited and eager to fight. He was eager to show his skills in the smoke of war in the new dynasty and make great achievements for the Song Dynasty.
However, the good times did not last long, and after Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly, Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne and became Song Taizong. For Yang Jiye, a former courtier with outstanding martial arts, Song Taizong had a lot of guilt in his heart. On the one hand, he attached great importance to Yang Jiye's military ability as a veteran horse, which was exactly the precious resource that the Northern Song Dynasty needed most in its infancy and embattled. However, on the other hand, Yang Jiye came from the previous dynasty after all, and as the monarch of the new dynasty, he was naturally reluctant to reuse it in order to establish the majesty of his own dynasty.
In this ambivalence of advancing and retreating, Song Taizong decided to pin the heavy responsibility on Yang Jiye and gave him a generous reward. But I don't know whether it was out of vague anxiety about this move, or simply out of conceit of his own authority, Song Taizong intentionally or unintentionally downplayed Yang Jiye's exploits when compiling the history books. The rise of the Yang generals seems to have hidden dangers, but the Yang generals at that time did not care too much about the rights and wrongs between the government and the opposition, they were only eager to use the fire of war to temper their martial arts and expand the territory for the emerging Song Dynasty.
2. The twists and turns after the glory: the dictatorship of the civil government led to the fall of the samurai
The general of the Yang family, Wei Hehe, is famous. However, the glory of this martial arts giant is also ushering in a turning point. Since the reign of Taizong Zhao Guangyi, the Northern Song Dynasty has gradually undergone changes. The literati clique flourished in the DPRK, advocating a gentle and elegant way of governing the world, and there were many criticisms of the military generals, who were rude and arrogant, brave and aggressive. It is important to know that "literature" and "martial arts" have also competed since ancient times, and the literati who were keen on Confucianism at that time were certainly unwilling to control the power of the court and politics in the hands of martial artists who only knew how to wield in their eyes.
Although as the founding hero, the Yang family has served the dynasty for generations, but it has faded more and more under the impetus of the new Ke Wenchen. General Yang's iron-blooded and ruthless style was criticized as unreasonable, and his father, son, and brothers' wielding power was seen as a potential threat. Zhao Guangyi knew that the reuse of martial arts was easy to make him arrogant and difficult to restrain himself. In order to strengthen his own rule and avoid civil strife, he gradually promoted Wenchen to the court, weakened the real power of the martial arts, and finally overthrew the once famous Yang generals.
It is almost impossible to find traces of the Yang family in the late Song Dynasty in the history books. In order to survive, many children of the Yang family had to let go of their former glory and live incognito as ordinary people. Only a very small number of people are still stubbornly insisting on their own martial arts, hoping to find a place to survive in the martial arts. However, except for the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the status of military generals was not at all high. There is a family wealth that has suppressed the door to the point of almost ruin, and it is obvious that there is no time to make a comeback and regain its strength.
Originally, it was not uncommon for the morning dew and sunset, but the reason for the sudden decline of the Yang family from its heyday is indeed intriguing. It can be seen that Zhao Guangyi and other literati monarchs are not ancient, and they are cautious and precautionary against military generals, which also reflects that after the new scholar class took control of the government, they made great innovations and changes to the old system that lasted for many years. The second also illustrates the disadvantages of the generals' single-core skills and lack of cultural accomplishment, and they really suffered a loss in the face of Confucian students' intrigues and tricks.
Third, the internal struggle of the imperial power worsened the contradictions, and the Yang family was unable to protect itself under the pressure of survival
However, the decline of the samurai was not solely due to the exclusion of the civilian clique. With the decline of the Northern Song Dynasty, the situation in the court changed abruptly, and the royal fighting intensified. The Zhao dynasty was struggling to start a business, and by the time the third generation of King Zhao ascended the throne, the imperial power was already in turmoil. The various factions competed for power and profit, from the princes and princes to the eunuchs and magnates, and the undercurrent was turbulent. King Zhao Yu did not reign for a long time, and was usurped by his younger brother Zhao Gao. Since then, the throne has been changed to several masters, and there has even been a situation where eunuchs are in power after the lack of power.
In the troubled times, the people are not happy. As ordinary civilians, the descendants of the Yang family have long since withdrawn from the martial arts and live a peaceful life. However, their livelihood was also stretched, and because they were caught in the whirlpool of power struggles, the Yang family fell victim to the eunuch party struggle. Gao Gongquan leaned towards the government and the opposition, and his most favored minister Wang Qi once plundered the minister's mansion, and the Yang clan also suffered an injustice in it, and was raided and confiscated. The ministers are strife, the family is falling, and the Yang family is struggling to even have food and clothing, and they have no time to care about the survival of the dynasty.
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the government was corrupt, coupled with the emptiness of imperial power, and the war was continuous in internal and external troubles. Even if the Yang family still has children and grandchildren, it is difficult to carry forward martial arts in such an era. The martial arts sects are fighting for themselves, and no one dares to claim that they can command the world, just like the former Yang family generals. What's more, these ordinary martial arts children, compared to the Yang family generals back then, are obviously no longer beautiful.
Fourth, at the time of the death of the Song Dynasty, the Yang family declined: the strength was weak and it was difficult to resist the righteousness of Jin
The Northern Song Dynasty was in decline, and during the period of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the party struggle for eunuchs intensified, and the dynasty fell into an unprecedented predicament. Finally, in the Jingkang Disaster in 1127, the Northern Song Dynasty completely collapsed under the trampling of the iron hooves of the Liao and Jin dynasties.
In this historical drama, the descendants of the Yang family who were caught in it became unknown passers-by. The Yang generals, who had long been eclipsed, seemed to be powerless in the face of the final destruction of the Northern Song Dynasty. As warriors who had been completely abandoned and deprived of their rights, they were no longer able to fight back against powerful foreign enemies. Even the cronies of the royal family, those wealthy and powerful people who were previously rewarded as princes and generals, were only in danger to protect themselves when the Jin people came to attack, not to mention the descendants of the Yang family, who were far away on the border and had long existed in name.
Under the power vacuum, it was really difficult for the Yang family to save the Northern Song Dynasty. They have always been loyal and patriotic, but at this last moment, they have no way to find a Ming monarch who can serve their lives. From the initial rich reward to the later complete marginalization, the descendants of the Yang family are full of enthusiasm but have nowhere to go. Even the ancestral training of the Yang family, which had been tested by war several times and could not be called invincible, had reached the end of the road when the Northern Song Dynasty fell to the end of the road.
Seeing that the country was ruined and the family was ruined, the children of the Yang family could only seek self-protection first. Their spirit has long been stifled in the turbulent era of the dynasty's decline, and even martial arts have declined with the decline of the dynasty. In this final war, the descendants of the Yang family can only be a bystander, bowing their knees in the face of Qiang Jin's iron hooves. The ordeal of experiencing the national disaster made them unable to bear the "invincible" reputation of the former Yang general, and even resisted reluctantly.
5. Summary and reflection: The road to the revival of the samurai's favor stems from the wisdom of the monarch
From the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty to the fall of the country, the rise and fall of the Yang family is like a mirror, reflecting the vicissitudes of the dynasty and the vicissitudes of fortune. The rise and fall of a dynasty actually has far-reaching implications. It can not only witness the rise and fall of a generation, but also reflect whether the rulers of the current dynasty have a wise way of rule.
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Yang Jiye was appreciated and favored by Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty. It can already be seen here that Song Taizu is wise. As the founding monarch of the new dynasty, he first had a discerning eye for heroes, and included promising people under his command in an eclectic manner; Then he gave a heavy reward and high hopes to boost the enthusiasm of the soldiers to serve the new dynasty. Such a way of employing people can be said to have won the hearts of the people.
However, it is clearly not enough to rely on the old generals alone. Song Taizu had another outstanding move, that is, to cultivate his own cronies and ministers. Zhao Kuangyin recommended Yang Ye, who had won his appreciation, as his heir, hoping to cultivate a virtuous military general of the new dynasty. This is a fairly long-term vision. He intended to give the generals a sense of belonging to the new dynasty, rather than seeing the Song dynasty as a legacy of his successors.
Such wise governance continued until the reign of Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty. While praising Yang Jiye's previous achievements, he also deliberately downplayed his exploits in order to establish the ruling authority of the new dynasty. It seems to be a contradiction, but in fact it is far-sighted. On the one hand, Zhao Taizong treated the military generals as usual, and on the other hand, he also deposed the ministers into the court and restricted the powers of the military generals. He is very careful against military generals, precisely because he knows that there is a long way to go, and people of insight must be cautious. The monarch's introverted wisdom and wisdom were prepared for danger in times of peace, which finally made the civil official group dominate the government and the opposition in the middle of the Song Dynasty, and fundamentally solved the hidden danger of losing power and being started by military generals.
However, after the cycle of dynasties, the monarch became increasingly mediocre, and the party was left to be in turmoil. It can be seen that the Hehe Yang family will be reduced to ordinary people. Even if party strife is avoided for the time being, the country will die precisely because it is difficult for those in power to govern the people with wisdom. When the building was about to fall, the descendants of the Yang family were no longer able to hold up the former flag. All this is due to the wisdom and unpreparedness of those in power. Just like Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi back then, such a knowledgeable and courageous heroic man can make the country prosperous and the society will be forever safe.