Chapter 34 214 Jia Sidao Wronged the Country

After Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty jointly destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty took the opportunity to send troops to recover the land in Kaifeng and Henan.Wo Kuotai used the excuse that the Southern Song Dynasty broke the agreement and attacked the Southern Song Dynasty. After this fight, wars broke out between Mongolia and Song Dynasty. After Wokuotai's nephew Meng Ge ascended the throne, he sent his younger brother Kublai Khan and general Wuliang Hetai to march into Yunnan and control the southwest region.In 1258 AD, Meng Ge divided his troops into three groups and attacked the Southern Song Dynasty.He personally led the main force to attack Hezhou (now Hechuan, Sichuan), Kublai Khan attacked Ezhou (now Wuchang, Hubei), and the other led by Wuliang Hetai, attacked Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan) from Yunnan to the north, and prepared three routes After joining forces, we went straight to Lin'an.

When Meng Ge's army attacked Hezhou, the Song general Wang Jian of Hezhou and the army and people in the city rose up to resist and held on to Diaoyu City in the east of Hezhou.The Mongolian army besieged Diaoyu City for five months and hadn't captured it yet. However, Meng Ge was hit by a cannon stone during the siege and was seriously injured. He died soon after returning to the camp. Kublai Khan was marching towards Ezhou, and before he crossed the river, he heard the news of Meng Ge's death. Some people advised him to return to the north to fight for Khan's throne.Kublai Khan said: "I was ordered to attack the Song Dynasty, how can I go back empty-handed?"

Kublai Khan observed the situation along the river, and sent hundreds of death squads as vanguards to forcefully cross the Yangtze River. The Song soldiers were unprepared, and they were defeated.The Mongolian soldiers crossed the river in a large scale and surrounded Ezhou. Alarms were sent to Lin'an one after another, shaking the Southern Song Dynasty.Song Lizong ordered all Song armies to rescue Ezhou; he also appointed Jia Sidao as the right prime minister and privy envoy to Hanyang to supervise the battle. The new prime minister, Jia Sidao, was originally an ignorant libertine. He got the official position because his sister was Song Lizong's favorite concubine.After he became an official, he did nothing, and often took a group of singers to drink and have fun on the West Lake.One night, Song Lizong climbed up in the palace and looked at the bright lights on the West Lake. He said to the left and right courtiers: "This must be the boy Sidao."

The courtier knew that Song Lizong doted on Jia Sidao, so he said jokingly: "Although he is young and likes to play, he has great talents." This time, Song Lizong asked him to go to the front line of Hanyang to supervise the battle, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go.Once, when he heard that there was a group of Mongolian soldiers in front of him, he was so frightened that he shuddered and kept yelling: "What should I do? What should I do?" Later, when the Mongolian soldiers robbed some property and left, Jia Sidao patted his chest , took a breath. Kublai Khan's siege became more and more fierce.Seeing that the situation was tense, Jia Sidao secretly sent a confidant to the Mongolian camp to seek peace without telling the court, saying that as long as the Mongolian army retreated, the Song Dynasty would be willing to become a minister and pay tribute of silver and silk.Kublai Khan was attacking vigorously and refused to stop there.At this time, Kublai Khan received a secret letter from his wife from the north, saying that some Mongolian nobles were preparing to make his younger brother Ali Bukor the Great Khan.Kublai Khan was anxious to go back to fight for the Khan position, so he agreed to Jia Sidao's request and made a secret agreement.

Jia Sidao promised to cede the land in Jiangbei to Mongolia, and to pay 200,000 yuan in silver and silk to Mongolia every year.Kublai Khan got Jia Sidao's wish and hurriedly withdrew his troops back to the north. Jia Sidao returned to Lin'an, concealed the secret of the peace treaty, but captured some Mongolian soldiers and boasted that the Song army from all walks of life had won a great victory. All powers are wiped out. Song Lizong believed Jia Sidao's outrageous lies, and believed that Jia Sidao had made great contributions, so he issued a special edict, praising him for his bravery and good command, and immediately promoted him to rank.

Kublai Khan returned to the north and won the support of most Mongolian nobles, that is, the Great Khan.He remembered the peace agreement made with Jia Sidao in Ezhou, so he sent an envoy Hao Jing to the Southern Song Dynasty to demand the fulfillment of the terms of the peace agreement. When Hao Jing arrived in Zhenzhou (now Yizheng, Jiangsu), he first sent a deputy envoy to bring a letter to Jia Sidao.When Jia Sidao heard that Hao Jing was coming to Lin'an, he was afraid that his deception would be exposed, so he quickly sent someone to Zhenzhou to detain Hao Jing.Kublai Khan was furious when he heard the news.At that time, civil strife broke out in Mongolia, and Kublai Khan's younger brother, Alibu, competed for power with Kublai Khan, and a war broke out.Kublai Khan tried his best to deal with Brother Ali, so he had to temporarily put the Southern Song Dynasty aside.

Jia Sidao relied on deception to make a living, and he was the prime minister for more than ten years.After Song Lizong's death, Prince Zhao Yu (sound qi) came to the throne, which was Song Duzong.Emperor Duzong of the Song Dynasty granted Jia Sidao the title of Grand Master, worshiped Duke Wei, and his status was so high that no one could compare with him.While Jia Sidao deliberately asked to sue his old man to go home, he sent his cronies to spread rumors that the Mongolian army was coming again.Song Duzong, who had just ascended the throne, tried hard to keep him, so his status became higher and higher.Duzong specially built him a luxurious villa in Geling, West Lake.Jia Sidao lived a happy life in Geling every day, and officials had to go to the villa to find him to decide on major political affairs.

After Kublai Khan stabilized the interior and defeated Brother Ali, he proclaimed himself emperor in 1271 AD and changed his country's name to Yuan.This is Yuan Shizu. Yuan Shizu used the excuse that the Southern Song Dynasty did not implement the peace treaty, and sent generals Liu Zheng and A Shu to attack Xiangyang. The Song army was defeated in a row, and Xiangyang City was besieged for five years.Jia Sidao blocked the news from the front line to keep Song Duzong from knowing.An official sent a memorial to Song Duzong for emergency, but the memorial fell into the hands of Jia Sidao, and the official was dismissed immediately.

One day, when Jia Sidao went to court, Song Duzong asked him: "I heard that Xiangyang City has been besieged by Mongolian soldiers for several years, what should I do?" Jia Sidao deliberately pretended to be surprised and said: "The Mongolian soldiers have been repelled by us long ago. Where did Your Majesty hear such news?" Du Zong said: "Just now I heard a palace maid talking about it." After the dynasty was over, Jia Sidao found out the maid who revealed the news, and found an excuse to kill her.After that, Song Duzong never heard the news of the Mongolian army's attack.

Under the siege of Mongolian soldiers, Xiangyang became more and more critical.But Jia Sidao hides in his Geling villa every day.Once, a trusted official came to him, and he was lying on the ground fighting crickets with several of his maids.The official patted Jia Sidao on the shoulder and said: "Is this also a national event?" Jia Sidao was playing vigorously and didn't take it seriously. Xiangyang was finally broken by Yuan soldiers.The Southern Song Dynasty was greatly shaken.At this time, Jia Sidao couldn't hide it no matter how much he wanted to hide it, so he shifted the responsibility to the Xiangyang guard and dismissed the guard.

Yuan Shizu saw how corrupt the Southern Song Dynasty was, and decided to wipe out the Southern Song Dynasty in one go.He sent Prime Minister Zuo Boyan to lead 200,000 yuan soldiers to march in two ways, one to attack Ezhou from the west, and the other to attack Yangzhou from the east. At this time, Song Duzong died of illness, and Jia Sidao supported a four-year-old child Zhao Xian (sound xian) as emperor.Boyan captured Ezhou, went eastward along the river, and took Lin'an directly.While Jia Sidao led 70,000 Song troops to garrison Wuhu, he sent envoys to the Yuan camp to seek peace.Boyan refused to negotiate peace and ordered the Yuan army to attack on both sides of the Yangtze River. The Song army collapsed and Jia Sidao fled back to Yangzhou.By this time, the situation of the Southern Song Dynasty's demise was irretrievable.