Song Xiaozong was the most enterprising emperor in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, and from the beginning of his reign, he has been committed to the Northern Expedition to the Jin Dynasty and the restoration of the Central Plains. However, in the end, Song Xiaozong still did not realize his ideals. During the twenty-seven years of Song Xiaozong's reign, he only carried out the Northern Expedition once, and the result ended in a fiasco, and 80,000 Song troops were beaten by 10,000 Jin troops! So, what is this "Longxing Northern Expedition" of Song Xiaozong?
In June 1162, Emperor Gaozong of Song abdicated, and Emperor Xiaozong of Song became the second emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the second month of his reign, the young Song Xiaozong ordered Yue Fei to be rehabilitated, and at the same time he also appointed a number of main war officials, including Zhang Jun, a main war figure who had been deposed for nearly twenty years. The following year, Emperor Xiaozong of Song changed his name to Yuan Longxing and took the righteousness of Jianlong and Shaoxing. It turned out that Jianlong was the era name of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, and Shaoxing was the era name of Emperor Gaozong of Song.
In 1163, Emperor Xiaozong of Song made Zhang Jun a privy councillor and Duke of Wei, and at the same time "the governor of Jiankang, Zhenjiang, Jiangzhou, Chizhou, and Jiangyin" was responsible for planning the Northern Expedition. At that time, the Song generals Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan offered advice to attack Hongxian and Lingbi, and Zhang Jun agreed and reported the matter to Song Xiaozong. The young Song Xiaozong was very excited, and in April of that year, he bypassed shi Hao and directly ordered Zhang Jun to send troops to the Northern Expedition!
Therefore, Zhang Jun mobilized an army of 80,000, claiming 200,000 to the outside world, led by Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan. At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the Song army's operations were still very smooth, "Xianzhong out of Haozhou, Towards Lingbi; Hongyuan out of Sizhou, Towards Honghong County." In May of that year, Li Xianzhong first defeated the Jin general Xiao Qi's "kidnapped horse", and then defeated the Jin army under the city, capturing Lingbi in one fell swoop. Because Li Xianzhong "declared virtue and intention, and did not kill a single person", many people came to surrender.
However, Shao Hongyuan was in trouble and had been attacking Hongxian County for a long time. Therefore, Li Xianzhong sent Lingbi to Hongxian to persuade him to surrender, and as a result, the Jin army in the city surrendered, and "The Jin Noble Qi Great Zhou Ren and Pu Cha Migrated Mu all surrendered." Originally, this was a good thing, but Shao Hongyuan was deeply ashamed. At the same time, Li Xianzhong also killed the robbery 'Hongyuan Pawn', resulting in a worse relationship between the two generals. After that, Li Xianzhong, after a bloody battle, recaptured Suzhou.
When the news reached Lin'an, Emperor Xiaozong of Song was overjoyed, and he demoted Li Xianzhong to the post of envoy to Huainan, Jingdong, and Hebei, and Shao Hongyuan as his deputy envoy. Shao Hongyuan was dissatisfied with this and opposed Li Xianzhong at every turn, and the two sides quarreled, especially over the issue of the reward of the Suzhou capital, which directly led to the floating of the Southern Song army. Just when the Internal Contradictions of the Song Army were fraught, the famous general of the Jin Dynasty, Qishi Liezhining, led 10,000 elite soldiers to kill Ben Suzhou.
Li Zhining bluffed, sent a small number of troops with many banners to the west of the city, as a suspect soldier, he himself led the main force stationed in the southeast of Suzhou City. Li Xianzhong was sure of the plan, he believed that the main force of the Jin army was in the west of the city, "and it is said that the southeastern soldiers are less worried, and attack them first." As a result, the Battle of Suzhou was fought very fiercely, but Shao Hongyuan did not move. Shao Hongyuan also said that the wind was cool, "When this summer is midsummer, shaking the fan is still cool, and being fought bitterly in the hot sun? ”
As a result, the military's morale has been even more shaken, and "people's hearts are shaking and there is no fighting spirit." That night, the Song army began to rout, and Li Xianzhong was unable to clap his hands alone, so he had to retreat. The Jin army launched a pursuit, the Song army was completely defeated, almost the entire army was destroyed, and the military equipment was even more lost, which is called "the collapse of Fu Yuan". After that, the Jin army began to counterattack, and Song Xiaozong was forced to negotiate peace with Jin Guo, reaching a "Longxing Peace Agreement". The discord between the front-line generals was one of the important reasons for the failure of the "Longxing Northern Expedition".
References: 1. "History of Song"; 2. "Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian"; 3. "History of Jin"