Chapter 5 The third lecture

The three prime ministers reused by Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty were extravagant and ruthless one by one. They encouraged Huizong to not do his job properly, which led to chaos in the government and the people's livelihood.Such a person is in power, and the leader of the army is even worse.In fact, the power of the prime minister in the Song Dynasty was not great anymore, because the court specially set up a privy envoy (roughly equivalent to our defense minister today) in charge of military affairs.However, in order to prevent military generals from causing chaos, the Song Dynasty implemented a system of separating military, government and military orders, that is, those who command the army have no right to mobilize the army, and those who can mobilize the army cannot command the army.The Privy Council can mobilize the army, generally held by civilian officials.In Song Huizong's reign, the person in charge of the Privy Council for a long time was the eunuch Tong Guan.Generally speaking, eunuchs are people who have survived punishment, and their six sense organs are incomplete. They often only seek wealth and honor, and they have a deep-rooted hatred for normal people. Therefore, once such people take power, the world will be chaotic.

When Huizong ascended the throne, Tong Guan was 45 years old.Without Song Huizong, Tong Guan might have died of old age in the palace all his life.As a result, he met Cai Jing when Emperor Huizong sent him to Hangzhou to collect antique calligraphy and paintings for himself.The two hit it off immediately, and Tong Guan began to support Cai Jing vigorously.The ponies under Tong Guan didn't understand very much, saying that Cai Jing had been demoted from the imperial court, who is not good for us to curry favor with, why bother to curry favor with such a poor guy?Tong Guan said, what you said is wrong, let's go and curry favor with the current prime minister, can we curry favor?Will people care about us?Furthermore, since the prime minister's annual salary is so high, even if he is able to curry favor with him, how much money would he have to give him to be noticed?How about we take a fancy to a person, and then help him to a phase, wouldn't it be a lot of money?

Tong Guan's vision and skill in "burning cold stoves" are top-notch. After Cai Jing returned to Beijing, he jumped three levels in a row and became the prime minister.Naturally, Cai Jing reciprocated, recommending Tong Guan as Jiedushi to oversee the northwest of the army, which is equivalent to today's commander of the military region.At that time, the Song Dynasty wanted to recover the land of Hehuang in the northwest, and was fighting with the Qiang tribe in Qinghai, Gansu.Tong Guan was ordered to supervise the army and had the opportunity to make meritorious service.After the army slaughtered the cattle and sheep to sacrifice the flag, it went out in a mighty way.

Not long after Tong Guan led his troops to set off, the Bianliang Palace in Tokyo suddenly caught fire. The ministers and Taoist priests said it was unlucky and they should not use weapons rashly, so the emperor ordered people to fly to the front to inform Tong Guanzhan not to fight.Tong Guan read the edict sent by the emperor, as if nothing had happened, stuffed his boots, and still ordered to send troops. The Song army sent troops and won a complete victory.The generals in the army were very happy, and they came back to hold a celebration banquet, because the emperor must reward him for a big victory.At this time, Tong Guan took out the edict of the emperor and showed it to the generals.When the generals saw it, they were so frightened that they knelt down on the ground.Since ancient times, military orders are like mountains, not to mention imperial decrees, what a serious crime it is to disobey the imperial edicts. If you win, you will not be punished, but if you lose the battle, all the members of this group will lose their heads!The generals felt scared after thinking about it, so they asked Tong Guan, are you not afraid of sending troops against the edict?Why not tell us?Tong Guan said that I am not afraid, if you win the battle, the credit is yours; if you lose, I will face the king alone and lose my head.In this way, this group of soldiers naturally felt grateful to Tong Guan and became Tong Guan's best friend.

The most capable troops in the Song Dynasty were all in the northwest, because horses were produced in the northwest, and the cavalry in the Song Dynasty were basically in the northwest.Tong Guan held a heavy army in his hand and won another battle, and he was even more arrogant.In addition, he was very generous to the concubines, ministers, Taoist priests and other favored people around the emperor, and his actions were particularly bold, so people kept saying good things for Tong Guan, so his reputation grew.But as the war in the northwest subsided, Tong Guan gradually felt very lost and depressed because he had nothing to do.Quiet and thinking of moving, Tong Guan wanted to make a big move, so in 1111 AD, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty sent him to Liao Kingdom.

When the Liao Kingdom saw that the Song Dynasty sent a beardless eunuch as an envoy, it was very contemptuous, which made Tong Guan very depressed.However, Tong Guan also found out along the way that because Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Kingdom Yelu Yanxi did not revise the government, the bureaucrats of the Liao Kingdom were corrupt, and class and ethnic conflicts were also intensified.The last emperors of each dynasty have striking similarities.The last emperor of the Liao Kingdom was the Tianzuo Emperor Yelu Yanxi. He and Song Huizong had "one article and one martial arts". Song Huizong was a professional calligrapher and painter, while Yelu Yanxi was a professional hunter, but they None of them are professional emperors.Yelu Yanxi hunted all day, hunting in Nanshan today and Jiajin mountain tomorrow, anyway, he just hunted all day long and ignored the government at all.The ministers wanted to submit a memorial, but they couldn't find where the emperor was, and they didn't know which mountain he went hunting again, so the government was also very corrupt.

On his way back to the Song Dynasty, Tong Guan traveled to Lugou (near today's Lugou Bridge in Beijing), and met a Han man from the Liao Kingdom named Ma Zhi who came to visit him.Beijing used to be the ancient capital of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Except for the Ming Dynasty, which was ruled by the Han, the Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing were all ruled by ethnic minorities.If we lived in "The General of the Yang Family" or Beijing in the era, we would not be from the Song Dynasty, but from the Liao and Jin states, and we would be citizens of the capital of the Liao and Jin states.Ma Zhi's family is a big family of Yanyun, who have been officials in the Liao Kingdom for generations.In Ma Zhi's generation, he has achieved Guangluxun, which is equivalent to the official position of the manager of the royal canteen of the Liao Kingdom.Ma Zhi also saw the corruption of the Liao Kingdom, and believed that the Liao Kingdom must perish. In addition, he was a Han, so he hoped that after the demise of the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty would take back the Youyun area, so he came to visit Tong Guan.

There are a total of sixteen places in the Youyun area, called Youyun Sixteen States, which are probably today's Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and northern Shanxi.In the late Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang, the son of the emperor, ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun to the Liao Kingdom.Beijing is basically located in the northernmost part of the North China Plain. Yanqing and Huairou in the north are mountainous areas, which serve as natural barriers.After Liao got this place, the natural dangers of the Central Plains Dynasty were lost, and the blocking function of the Great Wall was gone.The farming in this area is well developed, and the armed forces of the ethnic minorities are strong. After being exposed to the advanced culture of the Central Plains, the economic and cultural levels have been greatly improved.The rulers of the Liao Dynasty themselves said, "I cultivate cultural relics, and I am as polite as China." This means that our conditions in all aspects are similar to those of your Central Plains dynasty.

In 979 AD, Song Taizong, the second emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, had just wiped out the last regime of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Northern Han Dynasty, and personally commanded an army of 100,000 to attack the Liao Kingdom.As a result, in the battle of Gaoliang River, it was near today's Zizhuyuan Park in Beijing. The 100,000 Song army was almost wiped out by the 9,000 cavalry of Yeluxiu, the famous general of Liao and the king of Nanyuan.Emperor Taizong was shot by three arrows, and all the horses may have died. Later, he fled all the way back to the south in a donkey cart, and finally died of a recurrence of the arrow wound.Later, the Song Dynasty tried several times, but they all failed.Therefore, all the emperors of the Song Dynasty were worried about the sixteen prefectures of Youyun in the hands of Liao, but they also suffered from the lack of force to take them back.Now that a powerful Jurchen tribe has emerged in the northeast of Liao Kingdom, the Jurchen tribe, which has been ruled by Liao for a long time, is bound to rise up to resist, so Ma Zhi suggested that Tong Guan can send someone to contact Jurchen to attack Liao Kingdom together, and take the opportunity to regain Youyun's lost land .Tong Guan was very happy after hearing this, so he made an appointment with Ma Zhi and had the opportunity to introduce him to the emperor.

Jin Taizu was a generation of outstanding people with great talents and strategies. He rose between the white mountains and black waters in the northeast.At this time, Ma Zhi fled to the territory of the Song Dynasty, and met Song Huizong under Tong Guan's introduction.Ma Zhi advised Song Huizong to take advantage of the weakening of the Liao Kingdom to send troops to attack Liao with the Jin. He hoped that His Majesty "remember the suffering of the old people, restore China's former borders, and complete the unfinished business of the ancestors."As soon as this sentence was said, Song Huizong was very happy, because Ma Zhi immediately praised him to a very high level: to save the people, recover the territory, and complete the unfinished business of the ancestors.Because Song and Jin were separated by the Liao Kingdom, Song Huizong sent envoys across the Bohai Sea and signed a "Sea Alliance" with the Jin Kingdom, agreeing that the two sides would jointly attack the Liao Kingdom. Every year, 250,000-year-old coins of silver and silk given to Liao are donated to the Kingdom of Jin.Of course Jin was very willing. They didn't even know where Youyun Sixteen States were, because it wasn't their territory in the first place, and there was no loss in returning it to the Song Dynasty.And one year can get 250,000 silver and silk for free, white silver, shiny colorful silk, plus the help of the great powers in the Central Plains, the Song Dynasty was rich and vast, and the army alone had more than one million people. What a thing.

There are five capitals in the Liao Kingdom, namely Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing (now Bahrain Left Banner, Inner Mongolia), Dading Mansion in Zhongjing (now Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia), Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo (now Liaoyang, Liaoning), Yunzhong Mansion in Xijing (now Datong, Shanxi), Nanjing Xijin Mansion (now Beijing).According to the covenant, the Jin army was responsible for attacking the three capitals outside Youyun Sixteen States, namely Shangjing, Zhongjing and Tokyo, and the Song army was responsible for attacking Xijing and Nanjing.After the war started, the Jin army was as powerful as a broken bamboo, and quickly captured the three capitals, and finally even Xijing was occupied by the Jin army.The Jin army stopped when it reached Yanshan, because according to the agreement, the Yanshan mansion should be attacked by the Song army.So the Song army sent troops, and the commander was Tong Guan. Tong Guan commanded 150,000 Song troops to attack Nanjing in the Liao Kingdom. At this time, the last emperor of the Liao Kingdom, Yelu Yanxi, had fled and disappeared, and the Jin army cast a net to catch him.The Liao army who stayed in Nanjing was already frightened, but when they saw the Song army coming to fight, they became angry. We thought, we will admit that we can’t beat the Jin army, but we grew up on horseback anyway, and you dare to bully us?So the Liao army dispatched 10,000 people and beat the 150,000 Song army to almost annihilation.The Song army was defeated and lost, with swords, guns and tents piled up like a mountain, and they withdrew for hundreds of miles.If Liao didn't want to tear himself apart from Song and didn't pursue him any further, Song's army might really have been wiped out. Tong Guan's army suffered a disastrous defeat, and he could not explain to the emperor when he went back, so he collected the remnants of the defeated generals, and transferred troops from the country, intending to attack the Liao Kingdom again.Liao was afraid of being attacked by Song and Jin, so he sent envoys to see Tong Guan, saying that let's stop fighting, anyway, you can't beat us, and we gave you enough face last time.The Jurchens used to be our subjects, and now they are rebelling. Any country should suppress the rebellion. Can you not suppress it in your Song Dynasty?How can you aid the rebels?So it's best for us to make gold together, otherwise you will be neutral and stop doing such things of helping the evildoers.Tong Guan refused to listen and threw the Liao envoys out.The envoy of the Liao Kingdom stood in the yard and cried, because he knew that the Liao Dynasty could not withstand the attack from two fronts, and once it was attacked, it would die.The envoy of the Liao Kingdom cried and pointed to Tong Guan's tent and shouted: "Song and Liao have been reconciled for a hundred years, and the oath of covenant is written in every word. You can deceive the country, but not the sky." Said Tong Guanding You can bully the country, but you can't bully the sky, so it won't end well.That night, seven thousand Liao troops took advantage of the night to rob the camp, and the Song army withdrew another three hundred miles, leaving behind a pile of swords, guns and tents.According to historical records: "The Song army ran on the cliffs and trampled on each other, and tens of thousands of people died." As soon as they heard that the Liao army was coming, the Song army turned around and ran away. Tens of thousands of people were trampled to death by trampling on each other. In this way, Tong Guan failed again, and in the end he had nothing to do, so he could only sue the Jin people.He said, originally we wanted to take down Youyun Sixteen States by ourselves, but our emperor has the virtue of being good at life and couldn't bear to kill, so I would trouble you to take down it.So the Jin army sent troops, and when they attacked Nanjing, the capital of the Liao Dynasty, the Liao army surrendered without any resistance.After it was defeated, the Song Dynasty wanted to get Youyun Sixteen States back.Jin Guo said to give the money, plus military rations, a total of one million, and Song Dynasty agreed to the deal.The Jin people left the city walls and houses, and all the gold and silk and their children returned.Therefore, what the Song Dynasty took back were empty cities, and all the population and property were taken away by the Jin people.What's even more frightening is that in this way, the people of the Kingdom of Jin understood that the so-called big country in the Central Plains could only practice one mouthful. Seven thousand people chased and fled, which shows the low combat effectiveness of the Song army. Tong Guan was the supreme commander of the Song Army, and every time he sent troops to fight, he first received military expenses from the imperial court.But when he received the military expenses, he left them at his home, and then asked the states and counties along the way to make up for him during the march.In this way, can the common people not hate Tong Guan?Tong Guan will not really use the money to make up the money to pay the soldiers, and maybe some of it will go into his own pocket.As the saying goes, "The emperor does not send hungry soldiers." If you can't even supply the soldiers with food, there is no need to talk about fighting.As a result, the soldiers began to rob the people of food, the whole thing is "there is no way to defend against the enemy, but there is no way to disturb the people."How can the people support such an army, and how can it have combat effectiveness?Later, Yue Fei's army had combat effectiveness, because Yue's army "won't demolish houses to death from freezing, and wouldn't plunder to death from starvation."I would rather freeze to death than demolish the houses of the common people; I would rather starve to death than rob the common people of their food.However, Tong Guan's troops went to rob them even if they were not hungry, and they had to drive out the common people and live in a good house by themselves, so they couldn't get the support of the common people at all. Tong Guan was named the King of Guangyang County because of his "merit" in redeeming Youyun Sixteen Prefectures.He wants to decorate the palace, and entertain the foreman for dinner, which is just an ordinary breakfast.There is no record in the history books about what kind of dishes were served, only that the first dish was served on a silver plate and bowl, the second dish was served on a gold plate and bowl, and the third dish was served on a jade plate and bowl. And there was a beautiful woman waiting on her side.After the foreman had finished his meal and left, Tong Guan's family caught up and said, please stay, our prince said that all the table utensils you used and the two beauties who served you just now are given to you.As soon as this person sold these tableware, he immediately became rich and became the richest man in the local area.Tong Guan took these things, just like we take paper cups, and he didn't want them if he said no. It can be seen how much wealth he has in his family, and how can the army he commands not fail? As for the commander-in-chief of Sanya, everyone is very familiar with this person, and it was mentioned in the book that he is Gao Qiu.Gao Qiu is a treacherous minister, needless to say, the book portrays him as treacherous and bad.But such a bad person was not ranked among the "six thieves" in the Song Dynasty, which shows how many bad people there were in Song Huizong's reign.How did Gao Qiu fall in love with the emperor?It's because he played a good kick. When Song Huizong was King Duan, he had a good relationship with Prince Consort Jinqing.Wang Jinqing is not a good person either, he is a slutty young man who is congenial to Prince Duan.Some of Song Huizong's debauched behaviors when he was King Duan were lured by Wang Jinqing.As the son-in-law of Emperor Shenzong, Wang Jinqing married a princess, but married concubines one by one.Emperor Shenzong was also very kind to him. If he were to be placed in the hands of the Ming and Qing emperors, he would have lost his head long ago.Once, Wang Duan wanted to grate his head, but he didn't bring a grate knife, so he borrowed Wang Jinqing's.Duan Wang found that Wang Jinqing's grate knife was very exquisite in style and workmanship, so he said it was very good, could you give it to me?Wang Jinqing said that I just made a new pair, and I will send someone to send it to you in a while.Who did Wang Jinqing send it to?It was Gao Qiu. When Gao Qiu arrived at Prince Duan's mansion, he happened to meet Prince Duan in Cuju.Ju is football in ancient times. It is played similarly to today's shuttlecock kicking. There are many tricks and skills are required. It is not a game of physical collision.The prince was playing football, so of course he couldn't go up and disturb him, so Gao Qi stood by and watched, as soon as Duan Wang kicked something exciting, he would applaud again and again.Duan Wang saw that this man was an expert, how could he know where to applaud him?So I asked Gao Qi, do you know how to play cuju?Gao Lian replied that he knew a thing or two.King Duan said, then show me the kick.Gao Qiu said he didn't dare to make a fool of himself.Duan Wang said, it's all right, just kick it.When Gao Qi kicked, Wang Duan was taken aback. This person not only knew how to play, but also played very well. He was simply a superstar.King Duan immediately sent someone to send a message to Wang Jinqing, saying that I want this man, and I will keep both the grate knife and the person who sent the grate knife.In addition, Gao Qiu is more handsome, and he is a handsome young man, which is also very popular with Duan Wang.Later, when King Duan ascended the throne as the emperor, Gao Qiu became a Jiedu envoy, and later became a Taiwei, the highest rank in military generals.Seeing Gao Qiu become a high-ranking official, the group of people who played with Song Huizong in the early years were very unconvinced, saying that we are all from Conglong, so why can he be such a high-ranking official?Emperor Huizong actually said, make you officials?Do you have such good feet?Therefore, Gao Qiu was favored by the emperor by playing a good kick, and he traveled through the three Yamen for more than 20 years, and held the direct command of the Song Dynasty army. Before the Tang Dynasty in China, strictly speaking, there were no professional soldiers.Soldiers are farmers, and farmers are doing their duty when they serve as soldiers.Especially during the Han Dynasty, Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, soldiers even had to prepare their own military uniforms and weapons.We read "The Song of Mulan", Hua Mulan went to the army in place of her father, first she had to "buy a horse in the east market, a saddle in the west market, a bridle in the south market, and a long whip in the north market".Because there were no professional soldiers at that time, you had to prepare everything yourself.After the Tang Dynasty, China began to implement a formal recruitment system, and began to have professional soldiers, and ordinary people could earn wages to support their families through serving as soldiers.Although the Song Dynasty also implemented the recruitment system, Song Taizu believed that the purpose of recruiting soldiers was to give the common people a bite to eat so that they would not rebel, not to resist foreign captives.Wherever there was a famine in the Song Dynasty, the emperor sent people to recruit soldiers there, so there is a saying that goes, "Put up the recruiting flag, and there will be people who can eat food."At that time, the purpose of ordinary people serving as soldiers was to have enough food, not to be loyal to the country.Therefore, although the Song Dynasty army had a large number, it lacked combat effectiveness, suffered frequent defeats, and had many deserters.Because the chief deducted military pay, he still couldn't eat enough to serve as a soldier.How to deal with the soldiers who were caught after escaping?After being arrested, tattooing on the face is called "tattoo face", which is an ancient criminal law for prisoners and deserters.Di Qing, a famous general in the Northern Song Dynasty, started as a soldier. In the end, he was the deputy envoy of the Privy Council with tattoos on his face when he was a soldier.The emperor later gave him a medicine to wash off the words, but Di Qing refused, saying that this would motivate the soldiers and let them understand that anyone with tattoos on their faces can be a privy envoy.However, the military generals who really rely on one knife and one gun to fight for fame on the battlefield can only reach this position at the highest.Later, Yue Fei was also the Deputy Privy Envoy, and the Privy Envoy was under the control of Tong Guan, and it is generally not possible for a real general to be a general. Gao Qiu was originally a rascal in the market, he is not only good with bare feet, but also good with his brain.He recruits only those who have special skills, who can either play football or do handicrafts. They really don't have any special skills, and they can work hard to carry heavy bags.He told these soldiers, you don't need to train or serve as errands, but you must give full play to your skills, such as making shoes for those who can make shoes, and making pottery for those who can make pottery.Gao Qiu sold the things made by the soldiers, and the money belonged to him.As a result, the 800,000 banned soldiers in the entire Song Army barracks became wage earners of Gao's company, and they didn't need to be paid by Taiwei Gao, and the money for raising soldiers was allocated by the state.The servants of Tong Guan and Gao Lian's households are also all soldiers, there are more than 3,000 people. They provide private services to the Privy Councilor and Gao Taiwei, cleaning toilets, serving as guards, and shopping, just do these things. The Song Dynasty emphasized literature over military affairs, and the status of generals was very low, so it is generally said that good men should not be soldiers, and good irons should not be nailed.Inside, Lin Chong is the coach of the 800,000 forbidden army. Everyone would think, why was the majestic coach of the 800,000 forbidden army persecuted by Gao Lian?In fact, Lin Chong was not the head martial arts coach of the 800,000 Imperial Army.How many coaches are there in the 800,000 forbidden army?More than five thousand.Lin Chong is just one of more than 5,000 coaches.Didn’t there still be Head Hong later?Didn't Chai Jinzhuang also raise a lot of coaches?Among the more than 5,000 instructors, the position of commander is the highest, and they are also upright fifth grade.Below the commander of the capital is the commander, and then the prince of Yu, Marquis of Yu, the head of the capital, and the head of the capital.The instructor is from the eighth rank, according to what we say today, it is a cadre at the company and platoon level. In Gao's company, it is impossible to get promoted based on one's own talents.If you want to be promoted, you can only rely on bribery.All the officials and titles are clearly marked with a price, one price for the commander, and another price for the Marquis Yu.If the money for buying an official is spent, we have to find a way to earn it back. From whom?Naturally, it was earned from being a soldier.These officers, without exception, know how to recruit money.The first trick is to falsely report the number of people.There are obviously 4,000 troops in the army, but they receive military pay for 7,000 from the imperial court, and the 3,000 vacancy is put into their own pockets.The army of the Song Dynasty always said how many tens of thousands of horses it had as soon as it dispatched troops. It sounded bluffing, but it was actually a number on paper, which was used to lead the army's salary.It was claimed to send 7,000 troops, but in fact it might be 4,000, and if another 2,000 escaped, there would be only 2,000 left.The second trick is to drink the blood of soldiers.Except for the military pay received from the imperial court, which went into the pockets of the officers, will the remaining 4,000 military pay be paid to the soldiers in real amount?No, it will be deducted according to a certain percentage.The third trick is what I mentioned earlier, let the soldiers perform unpaid labor for the commander, and perform various services in the commander's house.Whether such an army can still have combat effectiveness can be imagined. The soldiers of the Song Army, the rider fell off the horse, and the arrow fell to the ground.When the cavalry got on the horse, they could only hug the horse's neck. When the horse barked and let go, the whole person fell off.Let’s not talk about whether you can hit the target or not in archery. Soldiers can’t even draw their bows. Before they hit the target, the arrows fall off.The Song army usually did not practice, and only sold their handicrafts to the Taiwei for money. Is there any reason for such troops not to lose the battle when they meet Jin Liao's army like wolves and tigers?These faint monarchs and courtiers were drunk and dreamed of death, feeling good about themselves amidst the peacefulness of singing and dancing. The original simple and frugal Song Empire, under the guidance of these treacherous ministers, treacherous generals, and treacherous eunuchs, went step by step towards luxury and even destruction.