Looking at the Song Dynasty from a distance and looking at it from a close distance•120· Mi Xin: If you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself?
Statue of a warrior in the tomb of the Southern Song Dynasty
Mi Xin (926-992), "History of the Song Dynasty· Volume 260· Lie Biography 19".
In this biography, Mi Xin's original name was Mi Haijin, who lived in the western neighborhood of the Khitan people, was later conquered by the Khitan and became a vassal of the Khitan.
As a young man, Mishin was brave and strong, and was known for his ability to shoot arrows.
In the first year of Guangshun (951), Guo Wei, Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, replaced the Later Han Dynasty and became the emperor, and Mi Xin became a soldier of the "Guardian Army" of the forbidden army.
In the first year of Xiande (954), after Zhou Shizong conquered the Northern Han Dynasty, he narrowly defeated the Northern Han army in Gaoping (now Gaoping, Shanxi).
In the sixth year (959), Song Taizu served as the leader of the "palace front division" of the Zhou forbidden army, recruited Mi Xin to the account, and made a personal entourage, Mi Xin took refuge and changed his name to Mi Xin, in order to show his loyalty to Song Taizu, and Song Taizu appointed him as a low-level officer of the pro-army "Tooth School".
In the first year of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, that is, in the first month of the first year of Jianlong (960), Mi Xin was promoted to the commander of the forbidden army's "Dianqian Division", and later promoted to the deputy "Zhichang" of one of the six bureaus of the "Diannei Province", including Shangshi, Shangyao, Shangyi, Shangshe, Shangcheng, and Shangran. The rank of the officers of the Song Dynasty was set very low, and they were seven-rank military attachés, which were already close to middle-level officers.
In September of that year, stationed in Yangzhou (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu), the Later Zhou Huainan Jiedu made Li Chongjin raise troops against the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu personally recruited Li Chongjin, Mi Xin held a bow and arrow to protect Song Taizu, in the battle, a cavalry scout under Li Chongjin attacked the place where Song Taizu was, Mi Xin opened his bow and arrows, and shot him to death with an arrow.
After the war, Mi Xin was promoted to the forbidden army under the front division of the palace, and was filled by the sons of military ministers and low-level officers.
In the first year of Kaibao (968), Mi Xin was reappointed as the commander of the forbidden army in front of the palace, and led the assassination of Chenzhou (now Chenzhou, Hunan).
In October of the ninth year, Song Taizu died, Song Taizong succeeded to the throne, and Mi Xin was transferred to the "commander of the head of the scattered capital" (here it is suspected that the "History of the Song Dynasty" is wrong, or it should be the commander of the scattered command.) In the early Song military system, the head of the capital and the commander were different titles for the same position, while the Song army did not have the position or title of "commander of the scattered capital"), and he was promoted to the rank of commander of the regiment training envoy of Gaozhou (now Gaozhou, Guangdong).
In the third year of Song Taizong's accession to the throne, that is, the third year of Taiping Xingguo (978), Mi Xin was promoted to the position of observer envoy of Taozhou (southwest of present-day Lintan, Gansu).
In the fourth year, Song Taizong personally conquered the Northern Han Dynasty and appointed Mi Xin as the "commander of the camp horse infantry army", and led the Song army to fight with the general Tian Chongjin. The Northern Han sent troops to attack the Song army, and Mi Xin led his troops to defeat them, killing Pei Zheng, the general of the Northern Han sneak attack force.
The Song army defeated the Northern Han Dynasty and moved troops to attack Youzhou (now Beijing), where the Khitan was based. The Song army was defeated, and many generals were reprimanded, but Mi Xin was promoted to the envoy of the Baoshun Army (now Wudi, Shandong) because of his meritorious service, and became the feudal official with the highest military position.
At that time, most of Mi Xin's relatives lived outside the north of the Great Wall, the ancestral land of the Xi people, and Mi Xin's brother's son Mi Quan defected to him from Shuozhou (now Shuozhou, Shanxi).
Mi Xin reported the situation to Song Taizong, who summoned Mi Quan and sent elite troops to protect Mi Quan and rushed to Daizhou (now Dai County, Shanxi) by post road, looking for an opportunity to pick up his relatives and return to Song.
However, Mi Quansu stayed in Daizhou for more than a year, and the Khitan border was tightly guarded and did not materialize. Mi Xin sighed: "Loyalty and filial piety are not mutually exclusive, I just want to serve the country with my body, how can I take care of my relatives anymore!" Facing the north, he howled and wept bitterly, and warned his children and nephews not to talk about it again in the future.
In the fifth year, Mi Xin was ordered to work with Guo Shouyun and other generals to support the Song army stationed in Dingzhou (now Dingzhou, Hebei).
In the autumn of the sixth year, Mi Xin was promoted to the commander of the Dingzhou garrison "stationed and deployed". In eight years, he was reappointed as the envoy of the Changhua Army (now Jingchuan, Gansu).
In the third year of Yongxi (986), Song Taizong launched the "Yongxi Northern Expedition" to conquer the Liao State, sent the eastern, central and western armies to attack the Liao State again, and appointed Mi Xin as the "Northwest Road Camp and Horse Infantry Army Deployment of Youzhou" as the chief general of the Middle Route Army.
Mi Xin led his troops to defeat the Liao army at Xincheng (now Gaobeidian, Hebei). Later, more Liao troops came to fight, the Song army lost and retreated, Mi Xin alone led the "Dragon Guard" 300 soldiers to fight without retreating, the Liao army surrounded Mi Xin and others, the arrows in front of the two armies rained down, Mi Xin shot several Liao soldiers one after another, and most of the soldiers under his command died.
In the evening, Mi Xin held a big knife in his hand, led the cavalry to shout loudly, launched a counterattack, killed dozens of enemies, the Liao army retreated slightly, and Mi Xin led more than 100 cavalry to break out of the encirclement.
However, the overall operation of the "Yongxi Northern Expedition" failed, and after the war, Mi Xin should be executed according to military law because of "undisciplined marching and fighting".
In the second year, Mi Xin resumed his official position as the envoy of the Jiedu and was appointed as the envoy of the Zhangwu Army (now Yan'an, Shaanxi).
In the early year of Duangong (988), Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty issued an edict to set up "Fangtian", that is, a military reclamation area in the border area, and appointed Mi Xin as the "deployment of soldiers and horses in Xingzhou (now Xingtai, Hebei)" to supervise the implementation.
In the second year, Mi Xin was reappointed as the envoy of the Henghai Navy (Zhicangzhou, now southeast of Cangxian County, Hebei).
Mi Xin is illiterate, doing many things and doing illegal things, serving as the envoy of the Henghai Navy, Song Taizong ordered another army to take He Chengju as his deputy, responsible for handling Cangzhou government affairs, and then He Chengju was transferred to supervise the affairs of the military tun, Mi Xin was also in charge of government affairs, and he acted more wantonly, and gave little reward to the soldiers, but he privately bought silk silk, and let the "Shangji Official" who reported the tax situation in the capital take it, pretending to be government property, in order to evade tariffs, and was found out by Song Taizong.
In the fourth year, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty recalled Mi Xin to the capital and appointed him as the general of the Right Guard, who had no actual position.
In the fifth year (992), Mi Xin served as the "judge of the left and right Jinwu Street Battles", responsible for managing the palace guards, the emperor's chariot patrol when the arrows were drunk, the police cleared the road, inspected the market, picketed the law, and sent the Dao Festival to make the festival. Less than a month after taking office, many of the petty officials and soldiers in the capital were beaten and whipped without any guilt.
Mi Xin also forcibly bought official and civilian property, his wife died, Mi Xin bought land to bury his wife, and dug up the ancestral graves of the people in the land he bought. His house slave Chen Zan was old and sick, and Mi Xin was beaten to death by Chen Zan's family and was denounced by Chen Zan's family.
Song Taizong ordered Yushitai to try the case, and Mi Xin "confessed". But before the case was concluded, Yushitai reported the case to Song Taizong, and Mi Xin died at the age of 67.
Song Taizong still treated Mi Xin very favorably, and after his death, he did not pursue his guilt, but gave him the honorary title of "Henghai Festival Envoy".
The "Theory" after the "History of the Song Dynasty" said that most of Mi Xin and others relied on martial arts and bravery, although they had no knowledge, but because they were loyal to the imperial court, they had military exploits, but they always enjoyed wealth and nobility, and did not "cook rabbits and dead dogs" like Han Xin and Peng Yue in the early Han Dynasty, because Song Taizu and Taizong "controlled them in a good way". And although Mi Xin has done a lot of tyrannical behavior, he is still a brave and resolute general.
I think that Mi Xin's life and deeds and his death recorded at the end of the biography of "History of the Song Dynasty" have the meaning of "committing many injustices will kill oneself".
Song Taizong