In The history of China, the shame of Jing kang is the most humiliating moment. The supreme ruler of the Central Plains Dynasty was abducted by the northern nomads, and the lives of the people of the Central Plains were destroyed, and the Northern Song Dynasty was also destroyed. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, King Zhao of Kang declared himself Emperor Gaozong of Song, and the Southern Song Dynasty was formally established in Lin'an. The newly established Southern Song Dynasty was in a state of turmoil, facing the offensive pressure of the Jurchens in the north, and the peasant revolts in southern China were also emerging, bringing many problems to the Southern Song Dynasty.
Southern Song Dynasty City Pool
The Southern Song Dynasty had to make a choice at this time, and most of the ministers believed that they should be in the south, claiming to the Jin Kingdom, or doing a good job of defense to ensure their strength, and then waiting for the opportunity to try to restore their homeland. But in addition, there were also staunch main warrior factions above the Southern Song Dynasty, who firmly believed that the defeat of the Jingkang Disaster was not the backwardness of the Northern Song Dynasty, but the poor operation of the central government that led to such an outcome.
Under such belief, they believed that as long as they could integrate the current living forces of the Southern Song Dynasty, they could repel the Jin people and restore the rivers and mountains. Among these generals of the main battle faction, Zong Ze was the most prestigious one, when he accumulated a good reputation by virtue of his outstanding battle with the Jin people, and was revered as "Zong Grandpa" among the Han people. Zong Ze's life has been persistently fighting, and when he is dying, he still does not forget to restore the rivers and mountains, which can be said to be a great national hero.
Anti-Gold famous general Zong Ze
In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom established by the Jurchens rose rapidly and became the new hegemon of northern China. After the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty jointly destroyed the Liao State, they became a new threat to the Northern Song Dynasty. At this time, many ministers in the Northern Song court also regarded the Jin State as their allies and did not guard against them, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent defeat of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Soon after, the Jin state did indeed tear up the alliance with the Northern Song government and launched a large-scale attack on the Northern Song. At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty's defensive strength in the north was very limited, and taiyuan and other important towns were lost one after another. At that time, Zong Ze planned to rush to taiyuan, but other officials refused to go with him. Zong Ze could only go alone, and at that time, only more than a dozen soldiers followed him. After arriving in Cizhou, Zong Ze immediately led the defenders at that time to repair the city walls, build weapons, and recruit township heroes in the nearby areas as rebels, preparing for long-term defense.
Zong Ze guarded Taiyuan
Zong Ze also strengthened the connection between the different cities in the region, so that when one city was attacked, the remaining four cities could send troops to support, which undoubtedly greatly strengthened the defensive strength of each city, and the defense of the Taiyuan area was consolidated. At that time, the Jin soldiers were preparing to attack Qingyuan, and fearing that Zong Ze, who was stationed in Cizhou, would send troops to harass them, so they sent more than a thousand cavalry to attack Cizhou City. In the defense, Zong Ze used the Divine Arm Bow to repeatedly repel the attacks of the Jin people, killing more than a hundred Jin people, achieving good results and boosting the morale of the local defenders. This incident is recorded in the History of the Song as follows:
"Zezhi, the wall of the city, the pond of the dredging pond, the treatment of instruments, the collection of volunteer courage, began as a strategy of perseverance. It is said: "The five prefectures of Xing, Huan, Ci, Zhao, and Xiang each have 20,000 troops, and if the enemy attacks a county, all four counties should be responded to, and there are often 100,000 soldiers in one county." 'Shang Jiazhi, except for the Hebei volunteer soldiers, are in charge. The Jin people broke through the true determination, led the army south to Qingyuan, crossed the river from Li Gu, feared that the Ze soldiers would creep behind them, and sent thousands of horses to directly capture cizhou city. Ze Jia ascended the city, ordered the strong man to shoot it away with a divine arm bow, opened the door and attacked, and beheaded hundreds of levels. "
Soon after, Zong Ze moved to the town of Kaide, which was under fierce attack from the Jin people at that time, and after Zong Ze's arrival, he reorganized military affairs and made the combat effectiveness of the Northern Song army have been greatly improved in a short period of time. Under the leadership of Zong Ze, they won successive battles and delayed the jin advance. However, Zong Ze was not satisfied with sticking to it, and he hoped to rush to the aid of the capital and repel the Jin soldiers who besieged the capital.
So he wrote to a number of generals, hoping to get their help, but did not get a response, Zong Ze then led his own troops to fight, the lone army went deep, Zong Ze knew that he had gone deep into the desperate situation, he encouraged the soldiers to fight to the death, under his leadership, kaide's soldiers also achieved many victories, but they could not help the capital to break the siege.
Zong Zechi aided the capital
Although Zong Ze's attempt to save the Northern Song Dynasty failed, his active attempts made the people of the Northern Song Dynasty see the government's efforts and gave the people hope of regaining the rivers and mountains. Moreover, Zong Ze not only accumulated prestige in the long-term war with the Jin people, but also trained a group of excellent soldiers, which were important capital for the future wars between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin people, coupled with the defense system established in Cizhou, Kaide and other places, it can be said that Zong Ze made great contributions to the defense cause of the north.
Although Zong Ze and other generals bowed down for the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty at that time was already in a big way, and the occurrence of the Jingkang Disaster also marked the complete fall of northern China. At that time, Zhao Zhuo was already on the road to Lin'an, and the entire Song Dynasty was also at a fork in the road of development.
The difficulty of Jingkang
Because the defeat of the Jing Kang Disaster was too great a blow to the Song court, the ministers of the DPRK and China, especially the civilian ministers, were mostly mainly peacemakers, and they hoped to reach a reconciliation with the Jin people through diplomatic means, and even did not hesitate to cut off the land and pay compensation, and even the titles were included in their consideration. However, Zong Ze and others did not agree with such an approach, knowing that once they really ceded the land of Hedong to the Jin State as they said, then there would be no possibility of recovery in the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, he advocated a war with the Jin people, taking advantage of their unstable foothold in the Central Plains, to fight a decisive battle with them and seize all the lost land.
Since Li Gang, the minister of the main war faction at that time, had not yet been excluded, Zong Ze was sent to Qingzhou to take charge of local defense. Zong Ze knew that it would be difficult for him to get the support of the imperial court, and it would be difficult to defeat the Jin army by relying on his own strength, so he set his sights on the rebels in the Central Plains.
ZongZe met with the leader of the rebels alone
In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the decadent rule of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the people of the Northern Song Dynasty were not happy, and there were already a large number of peasant uprisings in China, and after the invasion of the Jin people, the production and life of the people were even more damaged, and more displaced people joined the rebel army. Zong Ze knew that these people still had deep feelings for the Northern Song Dynasty, a Han Dynasty, so he actively contacted the leaders of the rebel army and used national feelings as a link, hoping to get their support.
At that time, there was a giant Kou Wang Shan in Hedong, who claimed to have an army of 700,000 people, and they planned to occupy the capital and stand on their own. When Zong Ze heard about this, he went alone to meet with Wang Shan, hoping that he would cooperate with him to resist Jin, and Wang Shan was persuaded by Zong Ze to join the anti-Jin team. This incident is recorded in the History of the Song as follows:
"Wang Shan, Hedong Jukou also." There are 700,000 people and 10,000 cars, wanting to take control of the capital. Ze Dan rode to the camp and wept: "When the imperial court is in danger, it is like a public and a second generation, and there will be enemies in trouble." Today is the autumn of Ru's meritorious service, and it must not be lost. Good feelings wept: "Dare not work." 'So disarmed and descended. "
At this time, there were also rebel armies in the Central Plains such as Yang Jin, Wang Zaixing, Li Gui and Wang Dalang, ranging in size from tens of thousands to 300,000, and zong ze was also included in the anti-Jin team.
While recruiting rebels, Zong Ze also understood that if he wanted to restore the Central Plains, he also had to take into account the people's livelihood problems, so he purged the local officials and cracked down on the local small-scale rogues, so that the people could be put into normal production, won the support of the people, and solved some logistical support problems.
ZongZe was supported by the people
The main war faction led by Zong Ze was actually a minority faction in the court after the Jing Kang Disaster, and they knew that relying on their own strength alone was absolutely not enough to defeat the Jin soldiers. So Zong Ze did his best to try to win over all kinds of rebels, and gathered considerable anti-Jin forces in the Central Plains, and Zong Ze also solved some of the local political problems, leaving a good reputation in the people, and providing a foundation for the future resistance to Jin.
Following Zong Ze's achievements in the Qingzhou area, he was appointed Kaifeng Yin and was responsible for the local military defense. The situation here is different from the previous Qingzhou region, and it will face the offensive pressure of the Jin soldiers. Zong Ze knew that the fortifications at that time would never be able to resist the Jinguo army, so he began to build fortifications in this area, forming a defensive chain to unite the defensive forces in the nearby areas.
The famous anti-Jin general Yue Fei was promoted by Zong Ze
At that time, Zong Ze first arranged generals on all four sides of the capital, each leading his troops to defend, and then built twenty-four strong walls outside the city to delay the attack of the Jin's cavalry. These solid walls form a continuous trend along the Yellow River, forming a complete defense system. It also effectively united many defensive forces in Shaanxi and the east and west of the capital. These fortifications played a key role in the subsequent defense, which was also a major contribution of Zongze. This incident is recorded in the History of the Song as follows:
"Between Zhending, Huai, and Wei, the enemy soldiers are very strong, and Fang Mi's cultivation of combat equipment is a plan to attack, and xiang Tian will not worry about it, do not cultivate weapons, and worry about it." Nai Du He asked the generals to discuss matters in an attempt to recover, and on the four walls of the capital, each envoy was placed to lead the troops. According to the situation, the twenty-four firm walls were erected outside the city, and the scales along the river were successively linked to the Zhongzhu Gang, and the loyal militias of Hedong and Hebei Shanshui were connected, so the people of Shaanxi and The Eastern and Western Roads of Beijing were willing to listen to Ze's moderation. "
The Jin army besieged the city
Zong Ze was still promoting new people in the army as a reserve force to resist Jin, and the national hero Yue Fei was still a young general at that time, and he was about to be punished for breaking the law, and it was Zong Ze who saw his military ability, released him and sent Yue Fei to stop the Attack of the Jin Soldiers on The Water. Yue Fei did not live up to Zong Ze's expectations and defeated the Jin Army, so he accumulated fame and gradually grew into the core force of the anti-Jin resistance.
Zong Ze was already old when he served as the governor of Kaifeng, but he still devoted himself to the work of resisting Jin, and his unswerving spirit touched the people of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was also the fundamental reason why he was revered as "Zong Grandpa", especially the three "crossing the river" he shouted when he was dying was the epitome of his lifelong adherence to anti-Jin, and Zong Ze, who bowed to the best of his ability, was definitely a hero of the Chinese nation.
When Zong Ze died, he still did not forget to restore the land
The era of the transition between the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties was a dark moment in the history of the Han people, and it was even more humiliating that the supreme ruler was captured. However, at such a moment, many heroic figures still emerged, showing the indomitable fighting spirit and noble integrity of the Chinese nation, and Zong Ze was the best representative of them. Although Zong Ze did not have a fabulous personal record and prestige like Yue Fei, his achievements in defeating the Jin army's attack, building a defensive system, and uniting multiple rebel armies were also commendable.
And Zong Ze is most commendable is not his actual contribution, but the spirit of resistance he showed in his persistent struggle, unlike Yue Fei, Zong Ze is facing a more turbulent and chaotic world, and under such circumstances, Zong Ze can still firmly devote himself to the war with the Jin Dynasty. Moreover, Zong Ze had the style of an elder in the process of getting along with the rebels, soldiers, and people, was generous and full of fighting spirit, and was the spiritual leader of the anti-Jin forces in the Central Plains at that time, and because of this, people were willing to use words such as "Grandpa Zong" to call him, which was also the highest praise of the Han people for heroes at that time.
bibliography
1 History of the Song Dynasty
2 "Compilation of the Continuation of the General Examination of Zizhi"
3 "Compilation of the Three Dynasties Northern League"
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