The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
In our impression, most of the ancient literati and writers were talented and rich. But there is a special case in this, his talent is like the sea that embraces all rivers, and his martial arts are like breaking bamboo, he is the general and poet of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Xin Qiji was born in Jinan in the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140) of Song Gaozong, and the Song Dynasty had moved its capital to Lin'an at the time of his birth. The north fell into the hands of the Jin people, and my grandfather failed to go south to Hangzhou with the imperial court because of the change in Jingkang, and then worked as an errand in the Jin Dynasty.
Although his grandfather served in the Jin Dynasty, the Xin family always hoped that the Southern Song Dynasty would be able to recover the mountains and rivers and counterattack the Jin Dynasty. When his grandfather was young, he often took him to "climb high and look far" to see the country's great rivers and mountains.
In his youth, Xin Qiji never forgot the expectation of counterattacking the Jin Dynasty, and in order to observe the local situation, he twice followed the officials to Yanshan, during which he witnessed the various sufferings and grievances suffered by the Han people under the rule of the Jin.
It made Xin Qiji's resentment towards the Jin people even stronger. His grandfather, Xin Zan, saw Xin Qiji's talent, so he had high hopes for him. He once asked Xin Qiji to participate in the imperial examination of the Jin Dynasty twice, taking the opportunity to inquire about the news of the Jin people.
Defect to the Rebels
In the thirty-first year of Shaoxing (1161), the Jin Dynasty obeyed the orders of its lord Wanyan Liang to invade the Southern Song Dynasty, intending to unify Jiangnan and completely destroy the Song Dynasty. During the reign of the Jin Dynasty, the Han people had been enslaved and oppressed for a long time, and the miserable Han people finally couldn't bear it anymore and raised their banners to revolt against the Jin Dynasty.
Among them, the most vocal was Geng Jing in Shandong, and under his call, the anti-Jin team quickly expanded from more than 100 people to hundreds of thousands. Seeing this situation, Xin Qiji also responded to the call and gathered 2,000 men and horses to join the rebel army led by Geng Jing.
Careless dating
However, Geng Jing didn't attach much importance to Xin Qiji, who was born as a literati, and thought that he couldn't go to the battlefield at all as a weak scholar, so he gave Xin Qiji a civilian job that was more suitable for him.
During his refuge in Geng Jing, Xin Qiji became acquainted with a flower monk named Yiduan, who became a flower monk because he couldn't stand the precepts and rules, and he couldn't bear the hardships of the army. Immediately, he stole Geng Jing's handsome seal, and because this flower monk Yiduan was pulled by Xin Qiji to join the righteous army, Geng Jing could only ask Xin Qijian Xingshi for his guilt.
Xin Qiji, who was careless in making friends, issued a military order to Geng Jing, "Give me three days to recover Shuai Yin, and if you fail, it's not too late to kill." Geng Jing saw that Xin Qiji was so sincere, so he believed him and gave him three days.
Righteousness and righteousness
That night, Xin Qiji led a group of men and horses to chase and kill Yiduan, and Xin Qiji speculated that this flower monk Yiduan must have taken the handsome seal and defected to the Jin Dynasty army to receive a reward. He immediately set up an ambush on the road from the righteous army to the Jin army, waiting for the righteous end.
When it was almost dawn, Yiduan really passed by here, and Xin Qi rushed up with a knife. This knife is powerful and heavy, and it will cut down the horse of Yiduan with one sword. Yiduan found out that Xin Qiji had such martial arts, and he felt that he could not resist and would definitely die.
Immediately pleaded with this Xin Qiji, "You are really like a green man (referring to the rhinoceros, here touting Xin Qiji's martial arts) to pull out the mountain and cover the world, and there will be a great creation in the future, so you will go around me", Xin Qiji did not pay attention to the righteous end at all, and the head of the righteous end fell into his hand.
Catch the traitors
Although Geng Jing had an army of hundreds of thousands, he was like a floating tree compared to the 600,000 army of the Jin Dynasty. Xin Qiji suggested to Geng Jing that he cooperate with the Southern Song Dynasty court to fight against Jin.
In order to gain the support of the Southern Song court, Geng Jing ordered Xin Qiji and Jia Rui to meet the court in the south, and Zhao Gou, Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, received Xin Qiji and others in Jiankang (now Nanjing). The emperor decreed that Geng Jing should be appointed as the envoy of the Tianping Army, and Xin Qiji was awarded the title of Right Chenglang/Secretary of the Tianping Army (both civilian official positions).
And let Xin Qiji hurry back to Shandong to convey the will of the imperial court to the righteous army, and at the same time that Xin Qiji and others communicated with the imperial court, there was a major rebellion in the righteous army. The rebel generals Zhang Anguo and Shao Jin jointly killed the rebel commander Geng Jing and led the men to surrender to the Jin dynasty. Xin Qiji added the news of Geng Jing's murder when he passed through Meizhou on the way back, and led fifty masters to the Jin army camp.
When Xin Qiji and the others arrived at Zhang Anguo's tent, Zhang Anguo and the generals of the Jin Dynasty were drinking and enjoying themselves, and Xin Qiji and the warriors were tied up by them when they entered. got rid of the pursuit of the 50,000 Jin army and returned to the righteous army with Zhang Anguo. After sending him to the imperial court, he was sentenced to behead in Lin'an!
Runner-up
Xin Qiji, who was arrested twice and had a high prestige in the army, was also very important to Xin Qiji, and Zhao Gaozong of the Song Dynasty rewarded Xin Qiji for signing the judgment for Jiangyin, and the 23-year-old Xin Qiji also embarked on his career in the Southern Song Dynasty.
After the death of Song Gaozong Zhao Gou, Song Xiaozong succeeded to the throne, and his attitude towards the Jin people became even stronger, wanting to recover the land occupied by the Jin people. At that time, the main battle faction was reused by Xiaozong and appointed Zhang Jun to preside over the Northern Expedition against Jin, thus starting the first active action against Jin after the Song Dynasty moved its capital. In the early stage of the Northern Expedition, the Song army won many victories.
However, the factional relationship between the civil and military officials of the Southern Song Dynasty was complicated, which led to repeated envy and disenchantment among the generals. The Song army suffered frequent defeats in the ensuing battles, and finally the Song and Jin sides signed the "Longxing Peace Agreement", and the two sides entered a confrontation.
Sullen
After the Song and Jin dynasties signed the "Longxing Peace Conference", the Southern Song Dynasty court and the main peace faction regained power. Xin Qiji, who was 26 years old at the time, was unmoved by the courtship of the Lord and the faction, and also played the "Ten Treatises on Mei Qin" to Zong Xiaozong, explaining his analysis of the current situation to the emperor, and making a detailed and very careful strategy to defeat the enemy according to the combat strength of the two armies.
After that, he also played the "Nine Discussions" to Prime Minister Yu Yunwen, and once again expressed his views and battle strategies to the Jin people. However, the anti-gold strategy proposed by Xin Qiji, who was in power at that time, did not attract the attention of Emperor Xiaozong and Prime Minister. Seeing that the anti-gold strategy he had painstakingly researched was sunk into the sea under the bewitchment of the Lord and the faction, Xin Qiji was hit hard, and he was very sad and angry, and fell into depression.
Ambition is unpaid
In the third year of Jiatai (1203), when the power minister Han Yanxuan advocated the Northern Expedition, and reused the main battle faction, Xin Qiji, who was sixty-four years old at that time, was appointed as the governor of Shaoxing Mansion and the pacification envoy of eastern Zhejiang, and was transferred to Zhenjiang Mansion as an errand in the following year.
Xin Qiji, who learned that he was reused in old age, was also very spiritual, and was targeted by many counselors during Xin Qiji's tenure. made Xin Qiji be demoted to Chaosan Doctor and returned to Shaoxing Mansion.
But Xin Qiji, whose heart had been exhausted, had no heart to be an errand, and returned to Lead Mountain after resigning. A series of blows made Xin Qiji seriously ill and bedridden, and the holy decree that was reused again reached Lead Mountain, and Xin Qiji, who was sick in bed, could only play a resignation, and finally Xin Qiji died at the age of 68 with his ambition to regain the lost land.
Resources
[1] History of the Song Dynasty - Biography of the Song Dynasty, Volume 160