In 979 AD, it was the highest moment in the life of Emperor Zhao Guangyi of the Great Song Dynasty, at this time he was sitting on the high platform north of Taiyuan City, kneeling at his feet was the former Northern Han Emperor Liu Jiyuan, since then, except for Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, the old land of China has basically been restored, and the five generations of chaos have ended.
In the past, when reading this passage, there was a question, among the Ten Kingdoms, the national strength of the Northern Han Dynasty was the countdown, why was it the last country to perish? To answer this question, it is necessary to have a brief understanding of the establishment, development, and demise of the Northern Han Dynasty.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > How did the Northern Han Dynasty come about? ------------------------</h1>
In 948, the Later Han Emperor Liu Zhiyuan (Gaozu) died, and the 17-year-old Liu Chengyou (Yin Emperor) succeeded to the throne, and the little emperor naturally could not govern independently, in fact, his father's old subordinate Guo Wei and others were in power. Under the pattern of the lord being weak and the government in power, an undercurrent surged in the capital Kaifeng City. At the same time, in taiyuan city a hundred miles away, Liu Chong, the uncle of the little emperor, Taiyuan Yin, and Hedong Jiedu, was watching from the sidelines, and the opportunist had a premonition that "Han politics will be chaotic!" So he resigned from the conscription, collected Haojie, and used Ding Min to benefit the soldiers, turning the ten states around Taiyuan into his independent kingdom.
Sure enough, three years later, a farce of killing kings and subjects occurred, and the little emperor's plan to murder Guo Wei was leaked, forcing Guo Wei to kill into Kaifeng, and Liu Chengyou, who fled in a hurry, was also killed by his subordinates.
Liu Chong looked at the opening of the chaotic pot of porridge and prepared to touch the fish in muddy waters. However, just before he left for the army, he received news from Kaifeng that Guo Wei recommend to Empress Dowager Hou of Han to make Liu Yun (Liu Chong's eldest son and Liu Zhiyuan's adopted son) emperor. Liu Chongxi said, "Wu'er is the emperor, what a problem!" "I'm going to be the emperor, so what throne will I grab?" Strike immediately. It can be seen that Liu Chong not only has the immediate Gou And, but also the distant Gou He.
Unexpectedly, more than twenty days later, what was waiting was the news that Guo Wei was called emperor (Later Zhou Taizu), and after that, the bad news that his son had been killed came. It turned out that this was just Guo Wei's strategy to slow down the army, because the Manchu ministers did not immediately respect him, so they did not dare to stand immediately, and he needed time to brainwash the Later Han ministers. As soon as the poor tool man Liu Yun arrived in Song Prefecture (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), he completed his historical mission and completed his natural lifespan.
Bearing the pain of the fall of the country and the revenge of killing his son, Liu Chong, who was full of grief and indignation, called himself emperor (Shizu) in Taiyuan, and used the Han state name and the Qianyou nian number to show his rivalry with the Later Zhou, because this "Han" state was located in the north of the Central Plains, so it was generally called "Northern Han" in history, and because it was located in Hedong, the "New Five Dynasties History" was called "Eastern Han".
The Northern Han Dynasty was a buffer state sandwiched between the Central Plains and the Khitans
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" >2, how did the Northern Han Dynasty live? -----------------</h1>
In the twenty-eight years since the founding of the Northern Han Dynasty, it has been in the midst of internal and external troubles.
○ Militarily suppressed by Hou Zhou.
After Liu Chong's succession to the throne, he wanted to avenge the hatred of seizing the country and killing his son, so he personally marched back to Houzhou, and as a result, he was driven back on the border twice. In 954, Guo Wei died, and his adopted son and nephew Guo Rong (Sejong) succeeded to the throne, Liu Chong, believing that Zhou had a great death, and Tianzi Xinli, would not be able to send troops, and it was advisable to attack guo Rong's children without taking Guo Rong'er seriously, so he joined forces with the Khitan to attack Hou Zhou again. In Kaifeng City, Guo Rongli was in the crowd, and the imperial conquest was to win this battle for the founding of the country. The two armies launched a decisive "king-to-king" battle at Gaoping. However, before the war, Liu Chong, in conflict with the Liao general Yang Gun, ran away from friendly troops in anger, and attacked the Zhou army despite the unfavorable weather of the headwind, and was beaten by the Zhou army, the Han army collapsed, and Liu Chong fled back to Taiyuan alone. The Zhou army took advantage of the situation to besiege Taiyuan for two months, but fortunately the Khitan reinforcements rushed to relieve the siege. Since then, the Northern Han Dynasty has been seriously injured and no longer able to provoke the Central Plains. In 960, after the fall of Later Zhou, because the Enemy family was gone, Zhao Kuangyin also gave Liu Chengjun a promise of "Kai'er all the way to live", I will not fight you if you live, and the military pressure of the Northern Han Dynasty has finally eased.
Later Zhou Shizong Guo Rong
○ Politically, he became a puppet of the Khitans
The Northern Han Dynasty only had ten states, and it was certainly impossible to confront the Later Zhou, but fortunately, shi Jingyao's historical experience could be learned from, so it was about the "kingdom of father and son" with the Liao state, and Liu Chong, called himself the nephew emperor, and took the Khitan emperor Yelü Ruan (Sejong) as his uncle. Why not be called Emperor Er? Probably because Liu Chong was 22 years older than Yelü Ruan, he was not yet disgusted to the point of Shi Jingyao. When Liu Chengjun (Emperor Ruizong) succeeded to the throne, he simply called himself "male" (son) to the Khitan emperor Yelü Jing (Muzong). Yelü Jing was also not polite, calling Chengjun "Son" and allowing him to take the throne.
Although the Liu family's father and son targeted Shi Jingyao, the Northern Han Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty were completely different, Shi Jingyao only cut the land and sent money plus as a son, and the Khitan almost controlled the internal affairs of the Northern Han. The year after Liu Chengjun succeeded to the throne, he changed the Yuan Tianhui, and for a moment he was careless, did not inform the Khitans, and broke the matter on this point, causing Yelü Jing to be angry, sending emissaries to blame Chengjun, and Chengjun was afraid to apologize for his sins, and the result of his enduring humiliation and stealing life was that he was more and more cautious in accepting Jun's flattery, and Khitan treated Chengjun with greater weakness.
○ On the verge of economic fiscal collapse
The financial expenditure of the Northern Han Dynasty was two major, one was to raise soldiers, and when the Northern Han Dynasty fell, there were only 35,000 households, but it had to raise 30,000 troops. The other is to give filial piety to the Liao state, the land is narrow and thin, and the Khitan is lost to the years, so the country uses the Japanese to cut. If the normal development continued, the Northern Han Dynasty would be able to kill itself even if it was not killed by Zhou and Song.
Fortunately, Liu Chengjun met a god of wealth, a monk who was able to preach the Huayan Sutra and get a lot of alms by giving a lecture, so he used this money to subsidize the Finances of the Northern Han Dynasty. Hundreds of horses were also imported from the Liao every year to sponsor the Han army, known as the "Tim Du Horse". In addition, he also opened a silver mine in Wutai Mountain, for which Liu Chengjun also specially designated an "economic development zone" - Baoxingjun. Relying on the painstaking management of Ji Yuan, the economy of the Northern Han Dynasty was barely maintained.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="24" >3. - Ran out of food</h1>
In 968, Zhao Kuangyin, who had just destroyed Later Shu, suddenly took command of the Northern Han Dynasty, and the Northern Han Emperor Liu Jiyuan retreated to Taiyuan. In order to end the battle as soon as possible, Zhao Kuangyin referred to the experience of the Battle of Jinyang (Zhibo Wei Zhao) in the early years of the Warring States and dug the Fenhe River to flood Taiyuan. However, the water attack is a double-edged sword, although it can kill and injure the Han army in the city, but also put the Song army in a humid environment, the plague in the army is rampant, and the Liao army reinforcements arrive, Zhao Kuangyin can only be a teacher.
In 979, in order to add some confidence to the throne of his unknown origin, Zhao Guangyi also personally invaded the Northern Han Dynasty, and after four months of arduous siege of the city, Liu Jiyuan ran out of ammunition and was unable to resist, so he could only declare surrender.
The Northern Han Dynasty was not a big country in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and its population was only 35,000 at the time of the fall of the country, while the Southern Tang had 650,000 households, the Later Shu had 530,000 households, and even the Southern Han Had 170,000 households, and the Northern Han Dynasty was less than a fraction of them. However, compared with the eggshell army in the south, the performance of the Northern Han army was really too good - the Later Shu "140,000 people were disarmed", the Southern Tang "once they were classified as vassals", the Northern Han actually needed the Central Plains three imperial conquests, and finally had to surrender when they ran out of food.
In fact, don't look at the weak economic strength of the Northern Han Dynasty, but the military strength is very strong.
First of all, the quality of the army was excellent, the Hedong Army was the team of the Jin King Li Ke with his father and son Crow Er Army, Li Cunxun destroyed Hou Liang on this basis, and Shi Jingyao and Liu Zhiyuan also realized the change of dynasty as the emissaries of Hedong Jiedushi, so Liu Chong was able to resist the Central Plains with the land of bullets. At the beginning of the Battle of Gaoping, the Han army actually defeated the vanguard of the Zhou army, if it were not for Guo Rong's warriors, the soldiers would all fight for the first, and it would be the Later Zhou who would not be able to lose.
Secondly, Tai was originally the northern capital of the Tang Dynasty, and it was also an outpost fortress to resist the Turks and Hui, so the city was strongly defended, second only to Chang'an and Luoyang.
Third, it was the assistance of Khitan Ganpa, as a buffer between Yanyun and the Central Plains, the Khitan attached great importance to the Northern Han, and every time the Central Plains attacked the Northern Han, there were Khitan reinforcements, and Zhao Guangyi also calmly attacked the city after defeating the Liao army.
Finally, it was because the Han army was determined to resist. When Zhao Kuangyin attacked the city, the chancellor Guo Wuwei faced the Song army and was shaken in his heart: "Why should you refuse the Million King's Division with a lonely city?" "However, he wanted to shake the people (and states, that is, Taiyuan), and the people were willing to be strong. In the end, Liu Jiyuan disregarded his merits for his support and killed him. When Zhao Guangyi attacked the city, he used carpet bombing: the arrow (arrow) was like a bat on the city, and every time the arrow was given, it would be millions, and it was salty, and Liu Jiyuan in the city actually bought a target for ten dollars, gathering more than one million.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="54" >4, "North-South" dispute</h1>
Now back to the original question: Why was the Northern Han Dynasty the last of the Ten Kingdoms to perish?
First, this is the established policy. As for the order of the unification war, Guo Rong of Zhou Shizong and Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Taizu each had a document to explain, namely Wang Pu's "Pingbian Policy" (see "New Five Dynasties History of Zhou Chen's Biography") and Zhao Pu's "Snow Night Decision" (see "Continuation of the Zhizhi Tongjian Long Compilation : Kaibao First Year"), the core of which was to divide the unification war into three steps according to the principle of "the way to attack, starting from the easy one":
I. The southern states (Southern Tang, Later Shu, Southern Han, etc.) with rich countries and weak armies.
Second, the Northern Han Dynasty, which was poor and strong.
3. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun annexed by the Khitans.
Ming Liu Jun's "Snow Night Visit to Putu", now in the Palace Museum in Beijing
However, in practice, Guo Rong and Zhao Kuangyin did not seem to fully follow their plans: Guo Rong immediately went north to Yanyun after fighting the Battles of Guanzhong (Later Shu) and Huainan (Southern Tang). After Zhao Kuangyin destroyed Hou Shu, he immediately waved his troops to Taiyuan. Why?
In the author's opinion, the premise of these two plans is that the Liao is unassailable and the Northern Han Dynasty is difficult to destroy. If the situation changes, then achieve the second and third steps ahead of schedule.
When Guo Rong went north to Yanyun, the Khitan Emperor was not a famous emperor Yelü Jing, this duke hunted good drinking, did not sympathize with state affairs, every time he drank, from night to Dan, he often slept during the day, and the people of the country called him "Sleeping King". How important was Yanyun to the Liao? However, when he heard that the Zhou army had captured the three prefectures of Ning, Mo, and Ying, he actually said, "This native Han dynasty is now returned to Han, so why bother?" ”
The main reason for Zhao Kuangyin's northern expedition to Taiyuan was the civil unrest in the Northern Han Dynasty. Originally, after Liu Chengjun's death, he made his adopted son and nephew Liu Ji'en emperor, and as a result, six months later, he was enshrined as the official Hou Barong, and it was said that the chancellor Guo Wuwei and Liu Ji'en had a vendetta, fearing that they would not be good for themselves, so they hired murderers, and then killed Hou Barong to destroy his mouth, and established Liu Ji'en's half-brother Liu Jiyuan as emperor. A series of political events made the already weak political situation in the Northern Han Dynasty worse.
Therefore, Guo Rong and Zhao Kuangyin seized these two windows of the Northern Expedition. Unfortunately, because of various force majeure and yin and yang errors, they have not been realized. First of all, Guo Rong died suddenly, and zhou jun could only withdraw, otherwise Yan Yun would really be able to recover. Secondly, when Zhao Kuangyin flooded Taiyuan, he had already soaked the rammed earth city wall into a piece, and it was a coincidence that a clump of grass actually drifted out of the city, just blocking the gap, and the Han army took the opportunity to repair the gap. Interestingly, not long after the Song army withdrew, the Taiyuan city wall actually collapsed. It turned out that after the rammed earth absorbed enough water, small gaps were created, and after the water dried up, the gaps widened, causing the city wall to collapse, which is the same principle as the cracks that appear after the riverbed dries up.
It was precisely under the dual effect of the inevitability of national unification and the contingency of political changes that the Northern Han Dynasty became the last country to perish among the ten kingdoms.
References: History of the New Five Dynasties, History of Liao, History of song, Chronicle of the Continuation of the Zizhi Tongjian
Author: Our special invited author Ningbo Captain