Diqin Designer

Chapter 511 The Shame of Jingkang, the Fall of the Northern Song Dynasty (History of the Northern Song Dynasty)

Li Nian said: "Just as General Meng said, on the 22nd day of the intercalary eleventh month of the first year of Jingkang, as the Song army suffered another defeat in battle against the Jin army, Zhao Huan and others once again sent Guo Jing into battle."

"Guo Jing also knew that Zhao Huan and the others had reached their limit of patience with him. If he dared to make excuses again, he would not be the savior of the Song Dynasty, but a demon who would be beheaded!"

"Under these circumstances, Guo Jing agreed to fight, but he made several demands: he wanted the Xuanhua Gate wide open and the other Song troops to be withdrawn, leaving only his 'Six Armor Divine Soldiers' to fight the Jin. His reasons were the same as those given by General Meng!"

This was clearly a preparation for his escape. No normal person would agree to Guo Jing's request, but Zhao Song and his gang were not normal people.

"As for Zhao Huan and the others, they had no other choice but to place their hopes on Guo Jing, and they agreed to all the conditions proposed by Guo Jing."

"So, on the 25th day of the intercalary eleventh month, Guo Jing led his 'Six Jia Divine Soldiers' into battle. Xuanhua Gate was opened wide, and 7,777 'Divine Soldiers' rushed out from Xuanhua Gate to fight the Jin army."

"It was probably because the Jurchens were too ferocious and their killing aura too strong that they suppressed the magical powers of the 'divine soldiers.' The 'Six Armor Divine Soldiers' were no match for the Jurchen army and collapsed at the first contact. Taking advantage of the Xuanhua Gate being wide open, the Jurchen army seized the opportunity to storm into the city."

"When Guo Jing saw that the 'divine army' had been defeated, he knew that it would be too late if he did not leave. He immediately claimed that he would go down the city to perform a ritual to resist the Jin people, but in reality he took advantage of the chaos to escape and disappeared without a trace."

"Of course, no one had time to deal with him at that time. The Jin army stormed into the city, and the outer city of Bianjing was in chaos."

If Zhao Huan and others hadn't acted recklessly, the Jin army wouldn't have been able to breach the city so easily. The Jin army would have been nothing more than easy prey, while Zhao Huan and his men would have been the real MVPs.

Meng Tian said, "They brought this upon themselves; they deserve to die!"

Wang Ben also said, "Zhao Huan and his men were cowardly, weak, and foolish. The Jin people were not originally able to break through the city, but they themselves caused the city to be breached."

Feng Jie said, "The likes of Zhao Huan cannot see his strengths, nor can they distinguish his weaknesses. How can they not be defeated if they cannot differentiate between the two?"

Yes, if Zhao Huan and the others hadn't been so cowardly and had known their own strengths and weaknesses against the Jurchens, it would have been entirely possible for them to have defended Bianjing.

Wang Wan also said, "The fall of the city seems to be due to Guo Jing, but in reality it is due to Zhao Huan and others. Even without Guo Jing, they would have found 'Li Jing,' 'Zheng Jing,' or 'Han Jing.' They are terrified of the Jin people like tigers and have long lost their composure. It was only a matter of time before the Jin people broke through the city."

Li Nian said, "But even at this point, the Song Dynasty still had a sliver of hope for a comeback. Although the Jurchens had breached the outer city of Bianjing, the inner city had not yet been captured."

"Of course, once the outer city falls, it will be difficult to hold the inner city as well, but there is still a sliver of hope. However, Zhao Huan and his men squandered that sliver of hope. That was the most humiliating thing about the Jingkang Incident!"

Li Nian said: "After Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang broke through the outer city, they were quite clever. They did not immediately attack the inner city, but occupied the outer city first. They made feigned attacks to scare Zhao Huan and others, and then told Zhao Huan and others that they were willing to negotiate peace and withdraw their troops."

Meng Tian said speechlessly, "This is a feigned peace plan, and only someone like Zhao Huan would fall for it."

The Jurchens were clearly fishing; their hooks were shiny and straight, and only the Song dynasty would bite.

"Upon hearing that the Jin people were willing to negotiate peace and withdraw their troops, Zhao Huan and others immediately believed it to be true. They genuinely thought that the Jin people had only come to demand some wealth and land, and that as long as they satisfied the Jin people, the Jin people would really withdraw their troops. Perhaps, at that time, Zhao Huan and others even looked down on the Jin people in their hearts."

"Zhao Huan hurriedly sent people to the Jin camp to seek peace. Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang did not refuse. Instead, they said that as long as Zhao Song was willing to pay reparations and cede territory, they could negotiate peace, but the retired emperor had to come in person to negotiate peace."

Wang Jian said, "This is the Jurchens testing the bottom line of the Song Dynasty. If the Song Dynasty agrees, the Jurchens will only take advantage of the situation. On the contrary, if the Song Dynasty does not agree and is more assertive, the Jurchens will restrain themselves."

Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang's peace talks were a pretense; their true intention was to ascertain the bottom line and mindset of the Song Dynasty.

If Zhao Song truly agrees to their demands and sends his retired emperor to negotiate peace, they will know that Zhao Song has no bottom line when it comes to them. Then they can manipulate Zhao Song at will and make demands of him at will.

If they can send something even to their own retired emperor, what else can't they send?
Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang must have deliberately chosen Zhao Ji, because Zhao Ji was the father of Zhao Huan and the sovereign father of all the ministers of the Song Dynasty.

Choosing Zhao Ji would simultaneously test the bottom line of Zhao Huan and the officials of the Zhao Song dynasty.

Li Nian said, "But the great calligrapher didn't go. How could he have the courage to go to the Jin camp? Zhao Huan couldn't force the great calligrapher to go either. Helpless, he could only go to the Jin camp in person to negotiate peace."

In this respect, Zhao Huan was more responsible than Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji was a complete coward, while Zhao Huan was far less cowardly.

"On the 30th, Zhao Huan led several ministers to the Jin camp to negotiate peace. They were humiliated by the Jin people. For example, the Jin people asked Zhao Huan and others to present a surrender document, and they deliberately made Zhao Huan and others revise it several times. Then they deliberately suggested that a great calligrapher come to negotiate peace."

Feng Quji said, "This is the fate of a defeated army and a destroyed country, left to be humiliated by others."

Knowing that the Jurchens were doing it on purpose, what could Zhao Huan and the others do but grit their teeth and endure it?

"The Jin people then set up an incense table and ordered the Zhao Song emperor and his ministers to bow facing north with the respect due to subjects, and read out the surrender document. After all this was done, three days had passed before the Jin people released Zhao Huan and the others to return home!"

The Jin people were not afraid that things would change after they released Zhao Huan and his group. The fact that Zhao Huan and his group could endure their humiliation allowed the Jin people to thoroughly understand their mentality.

These Zhao Song emperors and ministers would absolutely not dare to resist them; letting them go back would not cause any trouble.

"As soon as Zhao Huan and the others returned, the Jin people sent their peace terms: ten million ingots of gold, ten million ingots of silver, ten million bolts of silk, ten thousand mules and horses, and fifteen hundred young girls. One ingot is worth fifty taels!"

The First Emperor and his entourage quickly did the mental calculations and were astonished to find that the Jurchens had demanded 50 million taels of gold and 100 million taels of silver this time.

Even if the Song Dynasty were wealthy, it would be impossible for them to come up with such a figure. Moreover, Bianjing was currently under siege and could not be sent from there. They could only plunder from within, but even if they scoured the city of Bianjing three feet deep, they still could not raise enough money.

Feng Jie said, "Zhao Song could never possibly raise such a sum."

Li Nian said, "Whether the Song Dynasty can gather enough supplies or not is none of the Jin people's business. They are just setting conditions; how to meet them is the Song Dynasty's problem. Besides, if the Song Dynasty can't fulfill them, wouldn't that be a better thing for them?"

"In order to raise the gold and silver demanded by the Jin people, Zhao Huan and his men had no choice but to plunder the people of Bianjing, causing countless families to be destroyed and people to die."

"To gather the mules and horses required by the Jurchens, all the mules and horses in Bianjing were sold out, and the Song officials had to walk to court. As for the beauties demanded by the Jurchens, Zhao Huan and others not only forcibly seized them from the common people, but also gave their own concubines to the Jurchens to make up the numbers."

"Zhao Huan and his men had searched the city with all their might, but they still could not meet the Jin people's demands. At this time, the Jin people came up with another plan: they threatened Zhao Huan to come to the Jin camp again by saying that they would let their troops into the city to plunder."

"The Jin people sent Zhao Huan to their camp this time to use him as a hostage so that the Song court would better meet their demands." "After Zhao Huan fell into the Jin camp, the Song court became even more frenzied, directly ransacking and plundering the people of Bianjing, not even sparing the poor, they practically dug three feet into the ground!"

The First Emperor and the others did not interrupt, and Li Nian continued, "But even so, the gold and silver treasures they plundered were still far less than what the Jurchens wanted."

"Because Bianjing was besieged by the Jurchens and ravaged by the Song Dynasty, the city was already short of food. The people of Bianjing had eaten everything they could find, and even resorted to eating corpses!"

The First Emperor and others remained silent. They exchanged children to eat each other. Such acts of cannibalism are catastrophic.

Although this disaster was caused by the Jurchens, the Song Dynasty court was also culpable. How could a central government be so muddle-headed and cowardly?

"At that time, the weather was cold, the wind and snow were incessant, and there was an epidemic in the city. The number of people who froze to death, starved to death, and died of disease was countless."

"But the Jurchens still wouldn't give up. What did it matter to them that the Song people were dying? Since the Song Dynasty couldn't gather the gold and silver they wanted, they offered to pay in kind and in people. There might be no more gold and silver in Bianjing, but there were still artisans, doctors, and many women. The Song court agreed to the Jurchens' demands and went on a rampage of looting and plundering in Bianjing."

“Wang Shiyong, a minister of the Song Dynasty, frantically plundered gold, silver and women for the Jurchens. Because he was the most diligent, he was called ‘Grandpa of the Jurchens’.”

"Another minister, Xu Bingzhe, was no less formidable. Because the Jurchens demanded women, the women among the people of Bianjing did not want to be abducted and humiliated by the Jurchens, so they deliberately made themselves disheveled. However, this man forcibly seized these women, dressed them up again, and then sent them to the Jurchens, even ignoring the fact that some of the women were sick."

Meng Tian laughed angrily, "Shameful! Hateful! What a shameless Song Dynasty! And what shameless ministers of the Song Dynasty!"

As expected, we underestimated the shamelessness of the Song Dynasty. This dynasty had no bottom line; there was only greater shame, no limit to how shameful it could be.

The First Emperor and others also looked grim. Although it concerned the Zhao Song dynasty, the Zhao Song was the Chinese dynasty that followed the Qin dynasty.

Hearing such humiliation from the Zhao Song dynasty, they felt as if their faces had been smeared with ashes.

If it weren't for the more than a thousand years separating Qin from the Song Dynasty, the First Emperor would have wanted to order: "Great Qin Iron Cavalry, join me in destroying these shameful creatures!"
"There were not enough women in Bianjing, so the Song court sent imperial concubines, women of the imperial clan, and wives and daughters of ministers to the Jurchens, who also offered them silver as a price."

This is yet another instance of breaking the bottom line of shame; the Zhao Song dynasty was truly "good" indeed.

Do you have any shame? Do you even know what "shame" means?

The Song Dynasty was practically a dynasty built on "humiliation".

No wonder Li Nian called "Song" a "coward" and showed it with extreme contempt; they despise it now too!

This thing dares to claim it's unparalleled in history and surpasses even the Han and Tang dynasties. Those boastful Song dynasty officials should come and see the humiliation of Jingkang for themselves.

When they see imperial concubines, princesses, and noblewomen being sent to the Jin camp like prostitutes to be humiliated by the Jin people, will these people be so angry that they vomit blood?

The First Emperor said, "It is shameful to openly offer one's concubines and princesses to the enemy for humiliation!"

Li Nian continued, "According to the exchange rate for silver set by the Jin people: each princess and concubine could be exchanged for one thousand ingots of gold. A princess was a princess of the Zhao Song Dynasty. This was changed during the reign of the great calligrapher."

“A princess of the imperial clan or a concubine of the clan can be exchanged for 500 gold ingots; a wife of the imperial clan can be exchanged for 500 silver ingots; a wife of the concubine of the clan can be exchanged for 200 silver ingots; a woman from a noble family, an official family, or a commoner with good looks can be exchanged for 100 silver ingots.”

"Many women chose to commit suicide because they did not want to be sent to the Jin camp, but a large number of women were still sent to the Jin camp and were humiliated by the Jin people."

Wang Wan said, "What a shameful country, what a shameful minister! Great Qin should take this as a warning!"

The First Emperor declared resolutely, "I will never allow Great Qin to suffer the same disgrace as the Song Dynasty. Great Qin may perish, but it must never endure such humiliation!"

Compared to the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor felt that the fall of the Song Dynasty was even more humiliating. He simply couldn't accept it, and he wanted to find a way to prevent the Qin Dynasty from becoming like the Song Dynasty.

If a country has fallen to such a shameful state, it might as well just perish.

Seeing the angry expressions of the First Emperor and others, and hearing their words, Li Nian was quite happy. This was the significance of telling the First Emperor and others about the history of later generations, so that they could learn from the mistakes of later dynasties, especially the Song Dynasty.

"The Song court thought that by frantically satisfying the Jin people's demands, they could make the Jin people return Zhao Heng and withdraw their troops. However, the destruction of the Song Dynasty was the Jin people's predetermined plan, so how could they give up for this?"

"Under the coercion of the Jin people, following Zhao Huan, Zhao Ji was also forced to go to the Jin camp. At this time, both Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong fell into the hands of the Jin people. Moreover, when Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong were captured, at the request of the Jin people, they sent all their concubines, princesses, and princes to the Jin camp."

"No, it should be said that the concubines and princes in Bianjing City were not in Bianjing City at that time."

"After Zhao Ji arrived at the Jin camp, on February 6th of the second year of the Jingkang era, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang ordered the abolition of the thrones of Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan, demoting them to commoners. From then on, the Northern Song Dynasty was legally and logically destroyed."

Although the Northern Song Dynasty had legally perished, the matter was not over, and the shame was far from over.

"After deposing Emperor Huizong and his son, the Jin dynasty installed Zhang Bangchang, the former prime minister of the Song dynasty, as emperor, establishing the state of 'Chu,' which is also known in historical records as 'Pseudo-Chu.' Zhang Bangchang was one of the Song court officials who advocated for peace with the Jin!"

The First Emperor and others were not surprised by this. The Song court had loyal ministers, but there were also many treacherous officials like Zhang Bangchang, perhaps even more.

"When the puppet state of Chu was established, the Jurchens were still plundering Bianjing's wealth, but Bianjing had already run out of resources."

"The Jin army gained a great deal from their attack on the Song Dynasty. When they heard that Zhao Gou had deployed troops in Hebei to cut off their retreat, they felt it was time to withdraw. But before withdrawing, the Jin army burned down countless houses in Bianjing and demolished the Genyue Garden, which Zhao Ji had built at great expense and cost to the people."

"On April 1st of the second year of the Jingkang era, the Jin army retreated in two routes. Wanyan Zongwang was in charge of Zhao Ji, and Wanyan Zonghan was in charge of Zhao Huan. Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan's wives and daughters, as well as all the imperial princesses, princes, and palace maids, were all taken away by the Jin people. According to records, no fewer than 100,000 people were captured by the Jin people!"

"Later generations often praise the wealth of the Song Dynasty and the prosperity of Bianjing. But what did it matter that the Song Dynasty was wealthy? Its wealth was plundered by the Jurchens. And what did it matter that Bianjing was prosperous? It was burned to the ground by the Jurchens."

Did the wealth of the Song Dynasty benefit the common people? Was the prosperity of Bianjing (Kaifeng) extended to all towns and cities during the Song Dynasty?

It didn't benefit the people; instead, it was plundered by the Jurchens. What good is this wealth?

(End of this chapter)