Chapter 21 Chapter 21: The "Surrender Faction" of the Chanyuan Alliance

Regardless of the dynasty or generation, the "surrender faction" is the most shameful character.As China's unified feudal dynasty, the dynasty with the smallest land area in China, the Song Dynasty, was also a dynasty that came out of the surrender faction.When the Liao Kingdom invaded, there were surrender factions; when the Jin Kingdom invaded, there were surrender factions; when Mongolia invaded, there were surrender factions.Cutting a piece of land today, paying for compensation tomorrow, and framing a Zhongliang the day after tomorrow seem to be commonplace. Randomly turning over a few capitulators will either become a white-faced treacherous minister on the stage, or run to kneel by the West Lake for thousands of years. Come on, the common people are always scolding.

But there is another saying: Those who talk war may not be brave, and those who talk peace may not be timid.The foreign enemy is very excited, and the one who clamors to resist is not necessarily Zhongliang. On the contrary, the foreign enemy is very calm and cautious, and the one who cannot be easily beaten is not necessarily a bastard.For example, when the Jin soldiers surrounded Kaifeng, Qin Hui at that time was more fierce than anyone else in the war. Therefore, if you put it in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, and put it in the Chanyuan alliance that decided the peace between Song and Liao, many people's faces should be looked at calmly.

Speaking of the Chanyuan Alliance, there are indeed mixed reviews today. Some say that it lost power and humiliated the country, while others say it promoted the peace of Song and Liao.Indeed, spending money to buy peace cannot be justified in any dynasty. Moreover, the Song Dynasty was a dynasty with a strong "defense against Hua and Barbarians". Therefore, there have been endless doubts about this treaty for many years. Therefore, amidst the doubts, the prime minister Kou Zhun, who has been fighting vigorously throughout the whole process, has become the image of a "national hero" in many history books, and quite a few courtiers who sang against Kou Zhun in this covenant Ugly became the image of a "treacherous minister".For example, Wang Qinruo, who tried his best to advocate peace, always appeared as the villain who framed the Yang family generals in the operas of the Yang family. There are even operas saying that he is the number one scholar of the Liao Kingdom, and was sent by the Empress Dowager Xiao to the Song Dynasty to lurk. , who speaks with a nose and eyes, basically whoever acts will be scolded.

But is this really the case? To understand the right and wrong of this war, we must first look at the process. After the failure of Song Taizong Zhao Kuangyi's Northern Expedition, the Northern Song Dynasty's offensive against the Liao Kingdom basically stopped. The so-called restoration of Youyun Sixteen States came to the generation of Zhao Kuangyi's son Song Zhenzong Zhao Zhen, which is just talking about it in a dream.But the Liao Kingdom is getting more and more arrogant. If you don’t hit me, I will still hit you. You dare not attack my Youyun Sixteen Prefectures. I want to take back the Guannan Seventeen Counties that were taken away by Chai Rong. Therefore, since Song Taizong Yongxi's Northern Expedition, the Liao Kingdom harassed the Song Dynasty's borders, day by day.

Because the Song Dynasty lost the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, it lost both the defensive barrier and the origin of war horses. It was basically a dream to form a powerful cavalry. Liao's infantry and crossbows are not vegetarian, so you come and go, in front of the iron-armed pass on the border of the Song Dynasty, the people of the Liao Kingdom were beaten again and again.This battle started when Song Taizong was in power, and he had to fight several times almost every year, until Song Taizong died and Zhao Zhen ascended the throne, but it was not over yet.The Song Dynasty has to pay a lot of military expenses every year, and the Liao Kingdom is even worse. We can’t break through the borders of the Song Dynasty, and we can’t grab things. We are nomads. What do young and old people eat?Over the years, with the burden of such a war on their backs, both sides have been exhausted, and more and more people bleed to death every year.

The bleeding continued until 1004 A.D. Xiao Yanyan, the empress dowager in power in the Liao Kingdom, resigned. The Khitan population was small, and if they died, they would die. Isn’t it just a siege?Can't we stop attacking? This non-attack does not mean not to fight, but a detour.In October 1004 AD, the 200,000 troops of the Liao Kingdom changed their tactics, abandoning the strong city of the Song Dynasty on the border and not attacking it, and changed it to a detour and drive straight in, directly entering the hinterland of the Song Dynasty.This move almost disrupted the defense deployment of the entire Song Dynasty.The Liao Kingdom won the first battle. The vanguard broke through Suicheng, an important border town in the Song Dynasty, and then the army marched south. After opening the border city gate of the Song Dynasty, they came to the Yellow River all at once. Seeing that Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty, was in danger.

With a strong enemy pressing down on the country, the Song Dynasty was of course in a panic. At this time, two famous surrender factions emerged.One is Wang Qinruo, the deputy prime minister, and the other is Chen Yaosou, a member of the Privy Council. Their attitudes are surprisingly consistent: move the capital and seek peace.Of course, there were disagreements. Chen Yaosou advocated moving the capital to Sichuan, and took refuge like the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. Wang Qinruo advocated moving the capital to Nanjing, relying on the natural danger of the Yellow River to continue to resist.Of course, there are reasons for the difference. Chen Yaosou is from Sichuan, and Wang Qin is from Nanjing. If the capital is moved, then it will be my territory and I will be the master.

Call the shots?At this time, a person yelled: It's not your turn to decide. This person was Prime Minister Kou Zhun who was later regarded as the national hero of this war. Kou Zhun was a resolute main fighter, but at that time, he could only be a minority force.At this time, the Liao Kingdom went deep into the Song Dynasty. The most terrible thing was that the border gates of the Song Dynasty and the capital were also separated by the troops of the Liao Kingdom. No one knew what was going on with the other party. Can you survive this desperate posture? Kou Zhun is very confident, if he listens to me, he will be able to beat him.

Kou Zhun's proposition is very simple, the emperor personally conquers and defeats the enemy. Personal Zheng, don't forget that Song Zhenzong is a good boy, unlike Zhao Kuangyin and his son who grew up on horseback, he grew up reading moral articles, he is gentle, and he has never killed anyone. One sound.The ministers didn't want to go, and they didn't know if they could win if they went, and Song Zhenzong himself didn't want to go.But in the end it is the son of the Zhao family and the grandson of the dragon. Kou Zhun strengthened Song Zhenzong's confidence with one sentence: Your Majesty is the master of enlightenment, and you will never lose the glory of the late emperor!He came up with the method of provoking generals, and sure enough, the young and vigorous Song Zhenzong was full of courage: if he conquers himself, he will conscript himself, and he is afraid of him.Then Chen Yaosou and Wang Qinruo, one on the left and one on the right, chattered about moving the capital, Song Zhenzong was like a fly buzzing, and he listened to Kou Zhun, and found an excuse to send Wang Qinruo to the front to supervise the battle.

The personal conquest, Song Zhenzong personally led the army, arrived at the city of Chanzhou to meet the enemy, just as Kou Zhun expected, the arrival of Song Zhenzong raised the morale of the Song army, the army cheered thunderously, and was about to rush to the Liao army with red eyes, but the Liao army No luck. After arriving in Chanzhou, the Liao army ran into obstacles everywhere. Although they conquered Qizhou in the Song Dynasty, they failed to attack Suicheng and were defeated by the Tianxiong army. There are only one or two cities, but now facing the army of the Song Dynasty, detours are impossible. The frontier army of the Song Dynasty is rushing forward, and Song Zhenzong is facing the enemy head-on again, posing as if he will fight you with his life.At that time, people will make dumplings for you, and there will be no place to bury you when you die.At this time, the Song army shot and killed the Liao army coach Xiao Landa in the battle. Xiao Yanyan was very sensible, and immediately went down the donkey and asked for peace negotiations.Before the negotiation, Kou Zhun firmly advocated encircling the Liao army and letting it spit out the Youyun Sixteen Prefectures that had invaded the Song Dynasty, but Song Zhenzong didn't think so, just don't fight, and there are so many demands?As long as you don't call, you can give money.

Then there was the bargaining made by the envoy Cao of the Song Dynasty, and finally agreed on 300,000 years old coins per year. In December 1004, the two parties signed and pledged, and Song and Liao became a country of brothers. "300,000, the younger brother did not fight the Song Dynasty for generations, because of the "Chanyuan Alliance".Song Zhenzong was happy, the ministers were happy, and the common people were also happy. Of course, Kou Zhun was not very happy. If he was not happy, that’s all. Not long after, Kou Zhun was framed by Wang Qinruo, the main peace faction, and he was dismissed from his post and exiled.Then, he became a great hero admired by future generations, and Wang Qinruo and others were forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history. But looking carefully at the process of the Chanyuan Alliance, we have to admit that there were reasons for the Song Dynasty to make such a decision.First of all, the 300,000 yuan given to the Liao Kingdom every year is really a small amount compared to the military expenditures for fighting the invasion of the Liao Kingdom every year. Secondly, the Song Dynasty has always been afraid of officials making military exploits. After all, they still learned from the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty. He believed that the country's biggest hidden danger was internal worries, so Song Zhenzong was also very concerned about internal worries, and it was only normal to find excuses to dismiss the meritorious Kou Zhun. As for the few capitulators in this incident, they also had different faces in real history. The person who is especially questionable is Wang Qinruo. This man was a complete jerk in all kinds of works of art praising the generals of the Yang family, and a complete villain in the official history records. In the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, his nickname was "Five Ghosts".He is good at opportunism, especially flattering Song Zhenzong, he likes to grab credit from others, and takes credit from others as his own, and he likes to frame people, for example, Kou Zhun was murdered by him.Later Song Zhenzong made a big fuss about Feng Chan, and he tried his best to cater to him, and he worked hard, and he was really shameless to the extreme.Therefore, in literary works, he is an undercover traitor and traitor, and in official historical records, he is also a well-known villain. But this villain also does good things. He is a well-known upright official. When he was the magistrate of Bozhou, he refused the people's gifts and worked hard for the people. He was able to enter the central government from Bozhou because he was regarded as "clean" in the official assessment of the Northern Song Dynasty. famous.And he is also very good at work. For example, "Cefu Yuangui" edited by him is an important treasure in the study of Chinese history, which organizes the materials before the Northern Song Dynasty in detail. He was also a very generous person. He often helped poor students and used his salary to support poor students to study. He could be said to be a famous philanthropist at that time. often. The other descendant, Chen Yaosou, was even more famous at the time.If Wang Qinruo was still recognized as a villain, then Chen Yaosou was recognized as a sage. He had a high prestige at that time, both in terms of character and achievements. Chen Yaosou was the number one scholar in the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he was the first number one scholar in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty to win three consecutive awards.When he was a transshipment envoy in Guangxi, in addition to doing his job well, he also vigorously popularized scientific and cultural knowledge, and brought the advanced well-drilling technology of the Han people to Guangxi. Since then, the local agricultural development has advanced by leaps and bounds.He also vigorously arrested pirates in the local area, eliminated harm for the people, and built pavilions and other convenience projects on various roads. It can be said that being an official will benefit one party. Therefore, Song Zhenzong has always given unreserved trust to this person.For example, when he met Song Zhenzong in his later years, Song Zhenzong even allowed him to avoid worshiping, and he was always called "Mr." In the Northern Song Dynasty, he was also a sub-sage. A villain who has done good deeds and a great Confucian with a good reputation, why faced with the problem of the country's peril, why did he make peace?In fact, it was not only them who advocated harmony at the time, it was the idea of ​​most intellectuals in the Northern Song Dynasty.The Northern Song Dynasty was established after the Tang Dynasty. The destruction of the country by the Tang Dynasty taught the Northern Song Dynasty the most profound lesson, the Anlushan Rebellion, but the people of the Northern Song Dynasty went too far, whether it was written by Sima Qian, or the intellectuals of the Northern Song Dynasty treated foreign wars and the like In all major events, they all hold a point of view: when warriors are in power, the country will be in chaos, and emphasizing civility over military is the way to stability.Although the words are reasonable, the result of overcorrection is that the Northern Song Dynasty's military preparations were weak and the foreign countries were peaceful, while those great Confucianists in the Song Dynasty who had read poetry and books joked that the invaders were barbarians and uneducated, but at the same time they lived in peace, like Ah Q I thought, why bother with the barbarians, and give them some benefits. This is the result of such peace. A little bit of peace in the Northern Song Dynasty became the Southern Song Dynasty, and finally a little bit of peace became the Yuan Dynasty.