Chapter 9 Appendix Yue Fei's Death and the Balance of Violence

"Yue Fei must die." Li Yaping said.In the book "Past Events in the Political Circle of the Empire: Records of the Great Song Dynasty in 1127 AD", the author used one-fifth of the space to deduce this conclusion. This is a history book that insists on telling stories. It is very flavorful to read.But in a series of wonderful stories, I read a cruel equation about the balance of violence: self-violence = alien violence, which is a normal condition for maintaining the existing order.If a state regime wants to maintain the established pattern of interests, it must have enough violence to resist the invasion of dissident violence, so that the gains outweigh the losses for the invaders.In Chinese history, as long as other people's violence is stronger than ours, they can expand the boundaries of interests, dominate, make us pay tribute, and even step on us.vice versa.Yue Fei's death was determined by this equation.The loyalty, treachery, righteousness and evil of Qin Hui and others can be ignored.

The whole calculation process, just like the structure of the book, needs to start from the founding of the Song Dynasty.This is a story full of twists and turns. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was a military general who usurped the throne.With the support of his subordinates, he replaced the emperor he was responsible for defending.This incident let everyone see the result of "Tai Ah's inversion": Armed force was originally a sword used by the emperor to smooth out foreign aggression and suppress internal strife. "hold" trend, which in turn threatened the emperor himself.Zhao Kuangyin's usurping the throne is not a special case.Starting from the Anshi Rebellion, one king after another fell under the sword of his defenders.Therefore, people living in the early Song Dynasty inevitably came to the conclusion during the rise and fall of the previous dynasty: internal troubles are greater than external troubles, and internal alien forces are more dangerous than external alien forces.

The military system of the Song Dynasty was established against the background of this historical experience, and its theme was to suppress internal dissident forces.As for the specific method, we can imagine a general whose sword-holding arm is handcuffed to the other two, forming a three-way restraint.At the same time, the military commander is riding a civil servant or eunuch on his neck, and he must ask for instructions before turning his head.That's not all.Military generals are usually not allowed to touch that sword, because they don't know its weight, sharpness and bluntness, and the sword doesn't follow suit very much.In addition, there are other generals around this general, forming a mutual defense.Finally, on top of all the generals, there is an imperial forest army directly controlled by the emperor, just like the emperor himself holding a sword. Although it is not so big and round, it is enough to deal with small loopholes and small mutinies. At least it can delay time and wait for the swords to come to the king.

This system can ensure that slightly larger military operations are under the emperor's control, that each general's chance of rebellion is very low, and that guns will always obey the emperor's command.But can such an army still win battles? "Sun Tzu's Art of War" talks about five criteria for predicting victory and defeat, one of which says: "The one who is able but not defended by the king wins."Regardless of talent, based on this driving system alone, one can guess that the generals of the Song Dynasty cannot be really responsible, and it is easy to shirk responsibility, and it can also be predicted that the Song Dynasty's external record is not good. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" ranked first among the "Seven Books of Martial Arts" compiled by the Song Dynasty. It is a must-read for military education. The emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty would not understand this truth.

In this sense, we can assert that the weakness of the Song Dynasty to the Liao, Jin, Xixia and Mongolian Yuan was actually self-inflicted.More precisely, this was the emperor's deliberate choice—under the basic judgment that internal troubles outweigh external troubles, the lesser of two evils was chosen.Foreign aggression, that is, foreign violent groups such as the Liao and Jin Dynasties.Internal worries refer to the big and small warlords or senior agents of violent groups within the empire. If the emperor is compared to the boss of a legal and violent group, the official army, he entrusts some generals to manage the army on his behalf. In the case of weak supervision, the agent is likely to act in the wrong, to use the public to benefit himself, to turn the public into private, to implement insider control, and even Become a warlord and overthrow the emperor.With different levels of supervision, these agents have different concentrations of dissident colors.Once the concentration of aliens is similar to that of the enemy, the boundary between inside and outside becomes blurred.Li Yaping said that the traditional military system of the Song Dynasty exchanged internal security at the cost of reducing efficiency.This is understandable.For the emperor, being overthrown by the Liao and Jin Dynasties was the same as being overthrown by his subordinates. He only cared about avoiding harm, regardless of inside and outside.

In hindsight, it seems that the emperor of the Song Dynasty had a problem with his sense of proportion.Their heavy restraint on generals certainly prevented the emergence of warlords, but their own military strength was excessively weakened, destroying the violent balance of power with Liao, Xixia, and Jin. Compensate for the strength of the opponent.This is a bit of a loss, at least a bit embarrassing.Of course, Li Yaping said that in terms of the annual fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty of 60 to 70 million taels of silver, the 755,000 taels of silver and silk coins are not heavy, and are much cheaper than military expenditures.What's more, the money ultimately came from the common people, not the blood and sweat of the emperor and ministers.

In short, after compensating the strong with old coins, the balance of violence between the Song Dynasty, Liao and Xixia was reached.This balance of willingness to live below others is the starting point of the whole story. After more than a hundred years of subtle influence, the situation gradually changed, and the balance suddenly deteriorated. According to historical conventions, the military and political bureaucracy of the Song Dynasty will become increasingly corrupt, and the original weakness will become weaker and weaker.Similarly, according to the old tradition of the bureaucratic system deceiving the superior, the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty also lacked self-awareness of their own weaknesses.In fact, they even feel powerful.Seeing that the newly-emerging Jin State defeated the Liao State, the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers felt that they were stronger than the Liao State, so they made a wrong decision: they should have united with the weak to resist the strong, but they joined forces with the strong to destroy the weak, and allied with the Jin to destroy the Liao.Leaving a weak Song Dynasty, facing a Jin Kingdom that is stronger than the Liao Kingdom.In the process, the Song Dynasty's army, which thought it was powerful, was defeated by the declining Liao Kingdom. The military strength of the Song Dynasty was exposed in front of a more powerful opponent, which aroused the coveted heart of the Jin Kingdom.

The result of the violent imbalance between Song and Jin was that Jin State captured Bianliang, the imperial capital, and the two Song emperors, one old and one young, were captured, and the Northern Song Dynasty perished.Prince Zhao Jian, who escaped to the south by chance, established the Southern Song Dynasty regime. At this time, the main danger is external troubles, not internal troubles.The official army of the Northern Song Dynasty basically collapsed, and there is not much to worry about.During the war, some officials, officers, soldiers and robbers stood out, mainly relying on their own talents to build and expand the army and grow stronger.Using the analogy of contemporary enterprises, these entrepreneurs only use a small amount of official capital, and even start from scratch, recruit troops, merge and reorganize, and create a considerable family business.Although wearing the "red hat" of the emperor of the Zhao family, in terms of property rights, the Zhao family cannot hold a controlling stake.Some private companies don't even wear red hats.

Faced with this situation, the empire partially restored the feudal system in the border areas, established vassals and towns, appointed 39 governors, granted military, political, human and financial powers, and even allowed hereditary inheritance.Continuing with the corporate analogy, after the decline of Zhao's monopoly group, it was forced to recognize the legality of some small bosses killed in the original monopoly field, and at the same time drew them into the chamber of commerce, with the emperor concurrently serving as the chairman.Yue Fei is one of these 39 small bosses.Along with him, there were 12 bureaucrats and 11 thieves.A few years later, some of these small bosses died in battle, some defected to the enemy, and some were killed. More than half of them became officials of the Song Dynasty and were incorporated into the official system.Even so, there are many generals in the official army who are similar to warlords, and their troops are more like family soldiers than official soldiers.Among them, the five famous armed forces were indeed called Yue Family Army, Han Family Army, Zhang Family Army, Liu Family Army, and Wu Family Army by the people at that time. The "family army" had a strong dissident color, but the emperor had to tolerate it for the time being, which was also a helpless choice-in a situation where external harm outweighed internal trouble, the lesser of two evils prevailed.

Before continuing to calculate, one question needs to be clarified: Is Song Taizu overly sensitive to internal dissident forces?Could it be that the emperor of the Zhao family is guilty of being a thief, he judges others with himself, and regards two or three points of disagreement as five or six points? The personal experience of Zhao Gou, the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty, proved that the ancestors were not neurotic.From Zhao Gou's accession to the throne in 1127 to the execution of Yue Fei in 1141, in just fourteen years, Zhao Gou experienced three times of large-scale rebellion, not to mention small ones.

The first time was at the beginning of 1129, Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan, the commanders of the guarding army, launched a mutiny, killed a group of eunuchs headed by Wang Yuan and Kang Lu, and forced Zhao Gou to abdicate. Emperor, let the empress dowager listen to the government behind the curtain.Had it not been for the Han family army to drive away the rebels, Zhao Gou would have been overthrown. The second time was at the end of 1129. Du Chong, who was in charge of the defense line in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River under the title of Prime Minister Dai, led the directly-administered troops to surrender to the enemy.Li Yaping said that after Zhao Gou heard the news, he didn't eat or drink all day long, and said, "I have been so kind to Du Chong. I have promoted him from an ordinary official to prime minister. How can he do this?"This painful experience of being betrayed must have aroused Zhao Gou's doubts about the reliability of human conscience. The third time was the Huaixi mutiny in August of the summer calendar in 1137.After the emperor and the prime minister tried to remove Liu Guangshi's military handle, the prime minister Zhang Jun made a mistake in personnel arrangements, and Li Qiong, a senior general of the Liu family army, led 40,000 officers and soldiers (one tenth of the total strength of the Southern Song Dynasty) to join the enemy.It can be seen how a general's change of heart can cause huge losses to the empire, and the factors that affect a general's change of heart are so complicated.It is not enough that the emperor himself does not make mistakes, and the prime minister cannot make mistakes either. In short, we have to guard against internal alien forces.The traditional system of violent decentralization and checks and balances is not only important, it is literally life and death.The question is, restraint and decentralization have led to a decline in the efficiency of the violent machine. Can the court afford this price? After the situation was basically stabilized, the emperor often weighed the pros and cons of splitting up military power.At the end of the first month of the eighth year of Shaoxing, Yue Fei predicted that the Jin people would commit crimes in the south and applied for additional troops.Zhao Gou said to the left and right ministers: Yue Fei's defense is indeed vast and far away, but he would rather narrow his defense area than increase his troops.Today the soldiers of the generals are in trouble.If the tail is too big, it must be folded, and if the tail is too big, it cannot be dropped. This was admonished by the ancients.Although the recent situation has not developed to such a serious level, instead of increasing the strength of the general, it is better to add a few more troops, so that it is easy to separate and unite when there are few emergencies. This conversation took place on the sixth day of February in the eighth year of Shaoxing (1138), half a year after the Huaixi mutiny.In May, Zhang Jie, the supervisory censor, said to the emperor: "The power of the generals is too heavy now."Zhao Gou replied: "They are not arrogant and domineering."Although there are many soldiers, if you gather together you will be strong, and if you divide them you will be weak, and it is impossible to divide them. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty had only been established for twelve years, and it did not have the confidence to resist powerful enemies.Two years later, the kidnappers Ma and Tie Futu of Wushu, the commander of the Kingdom of Jin, were defeated by Liu Kai, and then by the Yue family army, which greatly lost their prestige.At this moment, the imperial court dare not destroy the Great Wall itself - even if only a section.As a result, the system was maintained and the status quo was maintained. Yue Fei was not supplemented, but he was not weakened either. How strong the country's military strength should be depends on what the emperor Zhao Gou wants.If he wants to regain lost ground, or even unify China, he must be stronger than the enemy country and establish an efficient military operation mechanism.This is the balance of guaranteed advantages.If he wants to defend successfully, his military strength does not need to be so strong, the loss outweighs the gain by letting the enemy country go to war.This is a defensive equilibrium.If he takes into account both internal and external balance, and wants to restore the tradition and be satisfied with a weak army that is easy to control, but does not want to continue to lose troops and lose ground, then it is best to maintain the status quo and wait for the peace faction of the enemy country to gain the upper hand. weaken one's own strength.As long as the gains outweigh the losses in launching a war, the peace faction of the enemy country will gain the upper hand sooner or later. Of course Zhao Gou wanted to regain the lost ground.He may not be as good at "generals" as Zhao Kuangyin, but he once took Liu Bang as an example and hoped that he would become an emperor who was good at "generals"—commanding all generals.The Huaixi mutiny seemed to have poured cold water on him.If he finds that he lacks Liu Bang's great talent and general plan, he naturally shouldn't embrace the grand ambition of regaining lost ground.Besides, Liu Bang's great talent is actually not reliable.Back then Kuai Tong persuaded Han Xin to rebel, forming a three-thirds of the world. Han Xin expressed that he couldn't bear it, and this achieved Liu Bang's great cause of unification.Later, Han Xin regretted not listening to Kuai Tong's advice.If Han Xin's conscience was a little weaker at that time, Liu Bang would not have the reputation of being good at "generals", and he might not be able to complete the great cause of reunification.It can be seen that it is a very risky gamble to base the great cause of reunification on someone's conscience.Liu Bang was lucky enough to win a bet, and then he deposed the prince and killed the heroes.Zhao Gou does not want to gamble or seek luck, which does not mean that he is confused or morally corrupt. If they really want to regain the lost ground, they will encounter another problem: the Kingdom of Jin is detaining Zhao Gou's eldest brother, the former emperor Song Qinzong.This is a trump card.Just imagine, if Jin Guo established a country next to the Southern Song Dynasty, and supported Song Qinzong or his son as emperor, just like they supported Liu Yu to establish Qi State, what would happen in the world?Song Huizong's eldest son, Zhao Gouzhi's elder brother, and himself the former emperor, the legitimacy of the competitors is so strong that the Southern Song Dynasty may become a net of iron nails next to a strong magnet.Those who are unwilling, those who adhere to traditional morality, and those who try to obtain higher treatment are all potential defectors.That would be Zhao Gou's nightmare.In fact, when the emperor and the censor Zhang Jie were discussing the division of military power, the saying that "the Jinren wanted to establish Yuansheng (Song Qinzong) in Nanjing" had already begun to circulate. Volume 72 of "Song History Chronicles" says that it is rumored that "it ends with peace and stability."If the Southern Song Dynasty hadn't negotiated peace with Jin Guo in time, and if the peace faction represented by Qin Hui hadn't gained the upper hand, Zhao Gou might run into big trouble. In fact, let alone Jin Guo supporting Song Qinzong to establish a political power, as long as Zhao Gou's elder brother is sent back, from Zhao Gou's point of view, the threat is no less than the emergence of an enemy country.Hundreds of years later, in the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols sent back the captured Ming Yingzong, and the restoration of Yingzong took place soon after.Historical facts show that the previous emperor's coup was quite easy, just like a family dispute. In short, the opponent has many trump cards and is already very strong.It has many weaknesses.It will take extraordinary courage and talent to reverse this fundamental situation. When Zhao Gou tried to recover the lost ground, he promised to give Yue Fei more power and more troops.Later, Zhao Gou changed his mind, probably because he realized that the risk of regaining the lost land was too great for him to bear, or in other words, the temptation to regain the lost land was not great enough to bet his life.From the perspective of marginal analysis, the added benefits of recovering lost ground are mainly glory and prestige, which are icing on the cake; the added costs are fatal dangers intertwined internally and externally, which are lost charcoal in the snow.The emperor was unwilling to exchange charcoal in snow for icing flowers.Then, in maintaining a defensive balance of violence, there is no need to build a military force that surpasses that of the Kingdom of Jin.This intention is certain, and the future of the Yue Family Army has dimmed. Regarding this kind of calculation, the author of "The Chronicle of Song History" said: "Gao Zong forbears himself to abandon the Central Plains, so he forbears to kill Fei." Zhao Gou was determined to abandon the Central Plains, so he was willing to kill Yue Fei.This is the view that international relations determine domestic relations.Li Yaping figured out Zhao Gou's mind, and put forward the view that domestic relations determine international relations: "It is more cost-effective to make peace with Jin Guo than to use the imperial court's soldiers, horses, money and food to raise great achievements and outstanding military generals." Both views are reasonable, but they all lack a transitional link or an intermediate state: abandoning the Central Plains does not mean killing Yue Fei immediately; killing Yue Fei does not guarantee that the Kingdom of Jin will make peace, let alone guarantee that the Kingdom of Jin will abide by the peace treaty.Yue Fei is still useful for the time being, so Yue Fei will live for a few more years. At the end of the eighth year of Shaoxing (1138), Song and Jin successfully negotiated peace.As mentioned earlier, in February of this year, Zhao Gou refused to expand Yue Fei's power, but in May he refused to weaken Yue Fei, not daring to destroy the Great Wall himself.Now that the two countries have signed a peace treaty, does it mean that internal troubles outweigh foreign troubles?It's too early.First of all, the border demarcated by the peace treaty has not yet been handed over and fortified.Second, the two countries have not yet fought a good fight, and the balance of violence on which the peace treaty is based has not been confirmed.Although the Southern Song Dynasty paid tribute to the Kingdom of Jin, the people of Jin always felt that the advantages were not enough, and the main fighters of the Kingdom of Jin, represented by Wushu, still wanted to "winner takes all".The enemy is sharpening their knives, so naturally we have to sharpen our knives too. The conditions for self-destruction of the Great Wall are not ripe. In the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), Jin Guo rebelled against the alliance, and the four-way army attacked the Southern Song Dynasty.Marshal Du Wushu all the way, was defeated by Liu Qi in Shunchang (now Fuyang) with fewer victories and more victories.The Yue family army in the west reported success all the way, and the lone army fought near Kaifeng.This year, Zhao Gou had a clear judgment on the strength of Jin Guo.Zhao Gou said that although Wushu is powerful, he specializes in killing and cruelty, regardless of popular support, I know he won't make any great achievements. On the contrary, Jin Guo suffered repeated setbacks and gradually recognized the situation.In the first month of the lunar calendar in the eleventh year of Shaoxing (1141), the Kingdom of Jin invaded the south again, and fought two major battles in three months, with one victory and one loss, but the Yue family army did not participate in the battle.Although Jin is strong and Song is weak, the strategic balance of power has been confirmed.The main combat faction Wushu also has the meaning of making peace. In November of the lunar calendar in the eleventh year of Shaoxing (1141), Zhao Gou signed the Shaoxing peace treaty with the Kingdom of Jin. The emperor of the Song Dynasty accepted the canonization of the Kingdom of Jin and paid 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 pieces of silk to the Kingdom of Jin every year.The two countries are bounded by the Huaihe River. As mentioned earlier, once the enemy country really does not want to fight and is ready to disarm, the conditions for its own disarmament or self-destruction of the Great Wall will be ripe.At this time, Zhao Gou finally had a choice: he could restore the tradition and reform the "family army" system.In other words, after the establishment of the international balance of violence and the decline of the deadly threat to the Kingdom of Jin, the internal problem of dissidents has risen to become the number one major problem. A record left by Prime Minister Qin Hui’s adopted son, Qin Yu, can confirm the above calculation: "The Lord, the Holy Master, observed that there was no unity in the division of arms. The trouble of holding back." It can be seen that the trouble of "Tai Ah holding back" has been smoldering in the emperor's heart for many years.According to the Zhuhe faction, this danger has become more prominent as the threat of the Jin people has declined: "The people of insight are afraid of the peace of the Jin people, and the four sides are determined, but this generation is domineering and self-ruled, and accidents are unpredictable." The word "unpredictable" is used extremely precisely.Will Yue Fei rebel?uncertain.So, won't Yue Fei rebel?maybe.Even if Yue Fei doesn't want to rebel, his subordinates may rebel.Back then, Zhao Kuangyin didn't necessarily want to rebel, but his subordinates pursued wealth and status, so they had to support him as emperor.When there is no way out, you have to fight back if you don't want to.What's more, Yue Fei had objections to the emperor's peace negotiation policy, and had long expressed dissatisfaction with not increasing his military power, and repeatedly challenged the emperor.The military system in the early Southern Song Dynasty lacked restraint methods and mainly relied on the loyalty of subordinates. Yue Fei felt dissatisfied in his heart. How could this make the emperor feel at ease? The most important thing is that Yue Fei has the strength to rebel.The Yue family army has 100,000 soldiers and horses, accounting for more than a quarter of the country's military strength.Moreover, this army's combat effectiveness is extremely strong, and its reputation among the people is extremely high.The enemy said: It is easy to shake the mountains, but it is difficult to shake the Yue family's army.Yue Fei himself is familiar with the classics and history, he is respectful and corporal, gentle and courteous, honest and honest, and all rewards are distributed to his subordinates.This is simply a living saint.Many years after Yue Fei's death, many of his subordinates still gathered together to avenge his grievances, and they cried loudly, and the scene was touching-this shows how united the Yue family army is.The slogan of this army is: don't demolish houses to death from freezing, don't plunder to death from starvation.Let’s think about Zhao Gou’s evaluation of Wushu—although he is powerful, he only focuses on killing and cruelty, regardless of people’s support, I know he will not make any big achievements—how much should Yue Fei do?If such a violent group does not rebel, it will be done, and if it rebels, the world may collapse. Here and now, for the emperor, the choice became very simple: Either abolish Yue Fei, or not abolish Yue Fei.For Yue Fei, the choice is also very simple: either obey or resist.For the emperor, what strategy Yue Fei will adopt is unpredictable-"unpredictable".However, historical experience and personal experience told him that when the generals of the past dynasties filled in the blanks among the "unpredictable" options, as long as the odds of winning were greater, they would often choose "reverse".If not, I will regret it. So, for the emperor, should he pin the fate of himself and the empire on "unpredictable", or let Qin Hui come forward to do a dirty job?In the eyes of the emperor, compared with the safety and stability of the Zhao family, how much more important is the possible grievances of a good person?Is there even a question? I am afraid that only "pure Confucians" ask such questions.The emperor would not ask, and the Legalists would not ask.According to Mencius, "doing an unrighteous act or killing an innocent person to win the world is nothing to do." However, our imperial tradition is always Confucianism and law, kings and tyrants mixed, using "deception to use power" For the sake of housekeeping, actual decisions are based on calculus of interests rather than moral creed.Even when morality is considered, according to Plekhanov, there is always arithmetic in morality.In the words we are familiar with, it is "to take into account the overall situation".Compared with "common people in the world", what is a little personal grievance? Which tiger is the safest?Dead tigers are the safest.A tiger deserves to die.In this sense, Yue Fei's "unnecessary" accusation is a very appropriate one.Song Taizu said, how can you allow others to sleep soundly beside the couch.What's more, it was a fierce tiger sleeping soundly.As for the specific means, it is not free to choose whether it is better to "release military power with a glass of wine" or to bleed and kill people.In the face of the weak, the emperor might as well be magnanimous and win the name of benevolence.Facing a powerhouse of Yue Fei's level, the emperor lacked the strength and confidence to show magnanimity.They didn't dare to leave the opponent a chance to fight back, so they had to resort to methods that would shame the emperor's reputation.Of course, the emperor also had ways to cover up his embarrassment: one was to deceive the public and insist that he was going to rebel; the other was to pass on his bad reputation and let Qin Hui take the blame for him. Zhao Gou's fear of Yue's army is extraordinary.He must extend his inhumanity to Yue Fei's son Yue Yun and his trusted general Zhang Xian.Li Yaping wrote: On December 29th of the lunar calendar in 1141, the emperor approved the death of Yue Fei, and at the same time executed Zhang Xian and Yue Yun, who had been sentenced to two years in prison. Was Zhao Gou's choice right? From the perspective of international relations, after Yue Fei's death, the peace situation lasted for 20 years. In 1161, Wan Yanliang (King Hailing), the emperor of the Jin Kingdom, who was trying to unify the world, invaded the south with his alliance behind him, and was frustrated at the Yangtze River defense line, causing civil strife.Peace is negotiated again, and the border remains the same. In 1206, the Kingdom of Jin was weakened by the attack of Mongolia. Song took the opportunity to attack Jin. In 1217, in order to avoid the southward migration of the Mongolian army, the Kingdom of Jin started a war with the Song Dynasty, winning and losing each other.The weak balance between Song and Jin lasted for more than 90 years, until 1234, when Mongolia and Song joined forces to destroy Jin.Zhao Gou was not wrong in his judgment on the balance of power between the two countries. From the perspective of internal relations, in the first month of 1207, Wu Xi, the hereditary general of the Wu family army, rebelled and surrendered to the enemy in the Song-Jin War. In 1230, Li Quan, the envoy appointed by the Song Dynasty and the leader of the more than 200,000 loyal soldiers on Jingdong Road, rebelled, besieged Yangzhou, and was attacked and killed by the city guards.The Song Dynasty's strict precautions against its own generals were not self-moxibustion without disease. Generally speaking, the Southern Song Dynasty existed for 152 years, longer than the Jin Dynasty, and it was not too shameful to die in the Mongolian cavalry that swept across the Eurasian continent.Judging from the year, the Southern Song Dynasty also lived longer than the Yuan Dynasty, which destroyed itself.Zhao Jian established a longer-lived system than the Jin and Yuan dynasties, and the existence and stability of this system was based on the balance of internal and external violence.Regardless of whether the logic of the balance of violence is cruel or not, Zhao Gou just played his cards logically. What this article is talking about is not so much Yue Fei, but the representative of the "Family Army", and Yue Fei is just the embodiment of his personality.Looking around, the relationship between the official army and the family army, the imperial court and the vassal town, the exile official and the chieftain, unification and separatism, until the county system and feudal system in the pre-Qin period, and the relationship between official and family violence and private violence or local violence has always been an important part of Chinese history. theme. When other conditions are the same, as a violent group, the private army is generally more efficient, the local armed forces are second, and the official army is even worse. It is just like the efficiency of private enterprises is usually higher than that of township enterprises, and township enterprises are higher than government-run enterprises.After the establishment of the unified empire, the officials pursued the security of the court and strictly controlled power, which inevitably damaged efficiency; the pursuit of efficiency inevitably damaged the security of the court.The inside is safe, but the outside is not.Therefore, we have seen the efforts of the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty to find a balance between these requirements and pursue maximum security. "Yi Chou Since Jianyan" Shaoxing 16th year (1146) September Yichou quoted "Zhongxing Shengzheng" as saying: "Since Shaoxing, there are two people who have ruled the country: if gold wants to fight, divide the town of Jianghuai, To help the general; if the gold wants peace, then the power of the general will be taken back and returned to the court." Replaced with the general format of conditions and results: if foreign aggression worsens, power will be delegated and profits will be transferred, and violent incentive mechanisms such as feudal vassals and towns appear; When foreign aggression is alleviated, power will be reduced, and official agents will return to their dominant positions.The fate of Yue Fei shows the law of the rise and fall of private armies, local armed forces and even feudal vassals and towns under the official system, especially the law of decline and decline.This kind of rule can be called "Yue Fei's general rule"-although there are exceptions, this is the rule, and it is usually the case.