War between Song and Jin Dynasties

War between Song and Jin

From the seventh year of Xuanhe of Song Dynasty (the third year of Jin Tianhui, 1125) to the first year of Duanping in the south (the third year of Jin Tianxing, 1234), the Song Dynasty fought against The Jin army attacked south and fought a large-scale war with the Jin Dynasty to regain the lost territory.

In the fourth year of Liao Tianqing's reign (1114), under the leadership of their leader Wanyan Aguda, the Jurchen tribe raised troops to rebel against the Liao Dynasty and established the Jin Kingdom the following year. In the fourth year of Jin Tianfu (1120), the Jin and Song Dynasties formed an alliance, and the two countries destroyed the Liao Dynasty together. In February of the third year of Jin Tianhui's reign (1125), the Jin army captured Emperor Tianzuo of Liao, and Liao died. After the Jin destroyed the Liao, it was about to attack the Central Plains, and the Song-Jin War began. In the process of joining forces with the Song Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty realized that the Song Dynasty was politically corrupt and the army's combat effectiveness was low. Therefore, in October of the third year of Tianhui, it sent more than 100,000 troops to attack the Song Dynasty south in two directions. The west route, led by deputy marshal Wanyan Zonghan from the left, attacked Taiyuan from Xijing (now Datong, Shanxi). The east route, led by Wanyan Zongwang, the commander of Nanjing Road, attacked Yanshan Prefecture (southwest of today's Beijing) from Nanjing (now Lulong, Hebei), adopting a strategy of divided attacks and combined attacks, in an attempt to seize Tokyo (now Kaifeng, Henan) and destroy the Northern Song Dynasty. Under the powerful offensive of the Jin army, Zhao Huan, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty, was forced to send envoys to beg for peace and promised to cede the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan (now Dingzhou, Hebei), and Hejian (now in Hebei) to the Jin. The Jin army was also afraid that it would be disadvantageous to fight deep and for a long time alone, so they agreed to withdraw northward. In August of the following year, Jin Ting used the excuse that Song Dynasty did not fulfill the peace treaty of ceding the three towns and attacked Song Dynasty again in two directions. Wanyan Zonghan led the Western Route Army out of Xijing to attack Taiyuan in the south (see Battle of Taiyuan). In September, after capturing Taiyuan, he turned his troops eastward and attacked Tokyo. The Jindong Route Army, led by Wanyan Zongwang, set out from Baozhou (today's Baoding, Hebei Province). After defeating the resistance of Zhongshi Taoist Army at Jingxing (today's Jingxing North, Hebei Province), it conquered the important town of Zhendingfu (today's Zhengding, Hebei Province) and other places. In November, Jin's east-west armies advanced to the city walls of Tokyo and formed an encirclement of Tokyo. Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty urgently sent Kang Wang Zhaogou to the Jin camp to beg for peace, and promised to use the Yellow River as the boundary. The Jin army refused and launched a fierce attack on Tokyo. In the eleventh month of leap month, the city of Tokyo was destroyed, and Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty paid gold. In April of the fifth year, the Jin army captured the emperors Hui and Qin, their concubines, clan members and thousands of people and returned north, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed (see the Battle of Tokyo in which the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty). After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kang Wang Zhao Gou ascended the throne in Nanjing (now south of Shangqiu, Henan Province) in May of the fifth year of Tianhui. He was Gaozong, reestablished the Song Dynasty (known as the Southern Song Dynasty in history), and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jianyan. When Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty first came to the throne, although he made adjustments to the government and military deployment, he still pursued the basic national policy of seeking peace. In order to prevent the Jin army from going south, the main combatant Li Gang and others adopted the strategy of setting up defenses along the Yellow River. Although the Jin army defeated the Northern Song Dynasty, the area they occupied was limited to more than 10 states and counties in Hedong and Hebei. In order to expand their results and achieve their strategic goals, they once again sent troops south to attack the Song Dynasty. In October, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty moved the Jin army southward from Nanjing to Yangzhou (now part of Jiangsu), and moved the defense line from the south of the Yellow River to the Huai, Han, and Yangtze River lines. When Emperor Taizong of the Jin Dynasty Wanyan Sheng heard that Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty had fled south, he sent his troops in December to divide into three routes: east, middle, and west, and launch an all-out attack on the Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi areas of the Southern Song Dynasty. His strategic intention was to use the middle route army to carry out the main assault. With the support of the eastern and western armies, Tokyo was captured. On the 13th, after crossing the river from Cangzhou (now southeast of Cangzhou, Hebei Province), the East Route Army led by Wanyan Zongfu drove southward with the Central Route Army to form a pincer attack on Tokyo, approaching Huazhou (now east of Huaxian County, Henan Province). The troops moved eastward and raided along the river. In February of the sixth year of Tianhui, they captured Wei (now Weixian, Shandong), Qing (now Yidu, Shandong) and other states. The Central Route Army led by Wanyan Zonghan crossed the river from Heyang (now south of Mengxian County, Henan Province) and led his troops eastward, with Tokyo as the target. He also divided his troops southward to capture the southwestern route of Beijing. In the spring of the sixth year of Tianhui, the West Route Army led by Wan Yanlou, the commander of the capital, successively attacked Jingzhao Prefecture (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi), Fengxiang Prefecture (today's Fengxiang, Shaanxi) and other places. In less than three months, the Jin army quickly captured many prefectures and counties from Qinzhou (today's Tianshui City, Gansu) in the west to Qingzhou in the east. Because Song Zongze, who stayed behind in Tokyo, fought tenaciously in Tokyo, the Jin army's plan of echoing the east and west and advancing in three directions could not be fully realized, and they were forced to retreat one after another (see the Battle of Tokyo). After the Jin army returned to their divisions, in order to relieve their worries, they concentrated their efforts on attacking the Song army north of the Yellow River and the anti-Jin rebels in various places. In July of the sixth year of Tianhui, Zongze died in grief and anger because his efforts to cross the river to resist the Jin Dynasty failed. This made the favorable situation of the joint military-civilian resistance against the Jin Dynasty with Bianjing as the center deteriorate sharply. The Jin army took the opportunity to move south again, adopting a strategy of advancing east to west to attack the Song Dynasty. Wanyan Loushi was ordered to lead the West Route Army to attack Shaanxi, contain the Sichuan-Shaanxi Song Army, and cover the main force heading east; Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongfu led the East Route Army at Liyangjin ( Southeast of present-day Junxian County, Henan) went south and attacked the Song army in Jianghuai. After hearing the news, the Song court urgently deployed Jianghuai defense in October. In November, the Jin army launched a large-scale attack on the Southern Song Dynasty. By March of the seventh year of Tianhui, the West Route Army led by Wanyan Loushi successively attacked Yan'an Prefecture (today's Yan'an, Shaanxi), Jinning Army (today's Jiaxian, Shaanxi), and Linzhou. (Today's Fuxian County, Shaanxi Province) and other places. After the Eastern Route Army led by Wanyan Zonghan successively conquered Chan, Xiang (now Puyang, Anyang, Henan) and other states, he divided his troops from Teng County (now Tengzhou, Shandong) to attack Yangzhou, and led the main force to defeat Song Han Shizhong's army in Shuyang (now Jiangsu). , taking advantage of the momentum to move south, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty crossed the river, and the Jin army also retreated north due to the river's obstruction.

After Song Gaozong fled to Lin'an (now Hangzhou), he decided to abandon the Huaihe River line and retreat to the Yangtze River, holding on to half of the rivers and mountains. In October, the Jin army took advantage of the fact that the river defenses in the Southern Song Dynasty were not solidified. Under the command of Wanyan Zongbi, the Jin army divided into east and west routes and went south to attack the Song Dynasty for the third time. The Western Route Army crossed the river from Huangzhou (now Huanggang, Hubei) and took Hongzhou (now Nanchang, Jiangxi). They pursued Empress Dowager Longyou of the Song Dynasty, captured Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and other places and then withdrew. Wanyan Zongbi led the Eastern Route Army to capture Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui) in October.

In November, after successively conquering Luzhou (now Hefei), Hezhou (He County, Anhui) and other places, he wanted to cross the river from Quarry (now southwest of Ma'anshan City, Anhui) to pursue Gaozong. However, he was blocked by Guo Weijun of the Southern Song Dynasty, so he moved Crossing the river at Majiadu (now northeast of Ma'anshan City), they defeated the Song garrison and defeated Jiankang (now Nanjing) and Lin'an. Emperor Gaozong took a boat and wandered in the land and sea areas of Wenzhou (now part of Zhejiang) and Taizhou (now Zhejiang Linhai). Wanyan Zongbi was afraid that his lone army would penetrate deeply and be in danger of being attacked from both sides, so he withdrew from Lin'an to the north in February 8, and was intercepted by Han Shizhong's army at Huangtiandang (today's northeast of Nanjing), the envoy of the Western Zhejiang Province of the Song Dynasty. He was trapped for 40 days and was later defeated by a fire attack. The Song army finally had to cross the river to the north (see the Battle of Huang Tiandang).

The Jin Army’s all-out attack failed to achieve the expected goal of destroying the Southern Song Dynasty, so they changed their strategic deployment and changed their all-out offensive to defending in the east and attacking in the west. They concentrated their efforts on attacking Sichuan and Shaanxi in an attempt to control the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and encircle the Southern Song Dynasty in a roundabout way. Create conditions (see the Battle of Sichuan and Shaanxi). In December of the seventh year, Wanyan Lou's army captured Shaanzhou (today's west of Sanmenxia, ??Henan). In September of the eighth year, Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Zongfu's army defeated the Song, Sichuan and Shaanxi Fifth Route Army in Fuping (today's northeast of Fuhu, Shaanxi). The Song army was in trouble in the northwest battlefield and had to retreat to Heshangyuan (today's southwest of Baoji, Shaanxi) and other places. Land, take advantage of the danger and set up defenses to resist the Jin army (see the Battle of Fuping). From the ninth year to the beginning of the twelfth year, Wu Jie, the commander of Qinfeng Road in the Song Dynasty, defeated the Jin army at Heshangyuan and Xianrenguan (southeast of today's Hui County, Gansu), which stabilized the defense of Sichuan and Shaanxi in the Southern Song Dynasty (see Battle of Monkyuan and Xianrenguan) battle).

After the Jin army failed to defend in the east and attack in the west, they turned their main attack direction to the Xianghan area, hoping to control the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, implement a breakthrough in the middle, and destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. In the spring of the twelfth year, Jin ordered Liu Yu to puppet Qi and sent troops to capture Xiangyang Prefecture (now part of Xiangfan, Hubei Province) and other six counties. From May to July, the Song Dynasty ordered Yue Fei to lead his army to recover Xiangyang and other six counties (see the battle of Yue Fei to recover the six counties of Xiangyang). In September, Wanyan Zongbi and the puppet Qi army jointly launched an offensive in the Huaihe area. They were resolutely resisted by Han Shizhong and Yue Fei's army. Later, because Jin Taizong was critically ill, the Jin army crossed the Huaihe River and withdrew. In the fourteenth year, in order to restore the Central Plains, Yue Fei led his army in the Northern Expedition to the Puppet Qi Dynasty and recovered large areas of lost land in what is now western Henan and southern Shaanxi. Then the Song army defeated the puppet Qi army in Lotang (now southeast of Dingyuan, Anhui), forcing the Jin Dynasty to abolish the puppet Qi regime in November of the 15th year and return the Shaanxi and Henan areas it occupied to the Southern Song Dynasty. The two sides reached a peace agreement. A temporary truce. After the Song and Jin Dynasties negotiated peace, the Song Dynasty withdrew its defenses from Huainan. After the death of Jin Taizong Wanyan Sheng, Wanyan Zongbi was promoted to marshal of the capital. In May of the third year, he tore up the peace treaty and divided his troops into four groups to attack the Song Dynasty. The main force led by Wanyan Zongbi was defeated by the Eight-Character Army led by Song general Liu Qi in Shunchang (now Fuyang, Anhui) and retreated to Tokyo (see the Battle of Shunchang). Yue Fei took advantage of the situation to counterattack, repeatedly defeated the Jin army, and recovered Zhengzhou, Chenzhou (now Huaiyang, Henan) and other places. He also ordered Liang Xing and others to sneak across the Yellow River, go deep into the rear of the Jin Army, and contact the Lianghe Rebel Army to form a favorable situation of advancing east to west and attacking the Jin Army in Tokyo from the north and south. Just when Yue Fei was preparing to raise his troops to regain the Central Plains, the Song court forced Yue Fei to retreat in order to beg for peace with the Jin Dynasty. The lost territory fell into the hands of the Jin army. Yue Fei, a famous anti-Jin general, was also executed by Qin Hui on unfounded charges. In November, the Song and Jin Dynasties reached a peace agreement. The Jin and Song Dynasties were bounded by the Huai River to the east and Dashanguan (today's southwest of Baoji, Shaanxi Province) to the west, forming a long-term confrontation. This was the Shaoxing Peace Agreement.

In December of the ninth year of the Jin Dynasty (1149), Jin Pingzhang's political minister Hailing Wang Wanyanliang launched a coup, killed Jin Xizong, and proclaimed himself emperor. After rectifying the internal affairs, he wanted to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. In September of the sixth year of Zhenglong, the troops were divided into four groups and launched a massive attack on the Song Dynasty. Shan Hexi, the commander of the military and horse command of the Western Shu Province, was ordered to lead the West Route Army to attack Sichuan and Shaanxi. Liu He, the commander of the military and horse commander of the Hannan Province, led the middle route army to attack Jingxiang; Su Baoheng, commander of the navy of East Zhejiang Province, led the navy to detour to Lin'an by sea; he led the main force of the East Route Army to attack Huainan from Shouchun. The Jin army on the west route that attacked Sichuan and Shaanxi was severely beaten by Wu Jie. The armies of Song, Sichuan and Shaanxi took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and successively recovered 16 states and armies including Qin and Tao (now Lintan, Gansu). In October, the Jinshui Army was completely annihilated by Song general Li Bao and his boat division on Chenjia Island in Jiaoxi (now Jiaozhou, Shandong) with a fire attack (see the Naval Battle of Chenjia Island). In November, Wan Yanliang led the Eastern Route Army to Caishi, but was defeated by the local soldiers and civilians (see the Battle of Caishi), so he moved to Yangzhou, hoping to cross the river from Guazhou Town (now south of Yangzhou, Jiangsu). At that time, Wanyan Yong, who was left behind in Tokyo during the Jin Dynasty, took advantage of Wanyan Liang to go south to launch a coup and proclaimed himself emperor in Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo (today's Liaoyang, Liaoning Province). After the Jin general Wanyan Yuanyi learned about it, he killed Wanyan Liang and led his troops back north. The Song army took advantage of the situation to counterattack and regained more than 10 prefectures including Hai (governing Qushan, present-day Haizhou Town southwest of Lianyungang, Jiangsu) and Tang (present-day Tanghe, Henan). In the first month of the third year of Dading (1163), after Jin Shizong Wanyan Yong stabilized the internal affairs, he ordered his disciple Shan Hexi to attack Wu Lin's army, but Wu Lin's army was defeated. The Jin army took advantage of the situation and regained 16 states and armies. In April, Jin Shuaihe and Shi Liezhining stationed 100,000 troops in Henan and asked the Song Dynasty for Hai, Si, Tang, Deng, Shang states and annual coins. Song Xiaozong Zhao Shen flatly refused and ordered Zhang Jun to supervise the division. Northern Expedition. The Song army successively conquered Lingbi (now Lingbi, Anhui), Hongxian (now Sixian, Anhui) and other prefectures and counties, and was defeated by the Jin army at Fuli (now Fuliji, Suxian County, Anhui). In October of the fourth year, the Jin army crossed the Huaihe River again to attack the Song Dynasty, and the Chen army marched to the Yangtze River. Song Xiaozong was forced to negotiate peace with the Jin Dynasty. After that, there was no large-scale war between Song and Jin for more than 30 years. After Zhao Kuo, Ningzong of the Song Dynasty, came to the throne in the fifth year of Shaoxi (1194), Han Wanzhou took over the affairs of the state. He called for resistance to the Jin Dynasty and won the support of the main war faction in the court. Ningzong of the Song Dynasty was also determined to change the humiliating status of the Southern Song Dynasty and take advantage of the emerging Mongol Khanate to attack the Jin Dynasty. Taking this opportunity, in April of the second year of Kaixi (1206), regardless of the fact that he was not fully prepared, he rashly raised his troops to attack the gold. The Song army divided its forces into three groups to attack Shaanxi, Lianghuai and other places (see Han Zhou's Battle of Jin Dynasty).

After the Jin court heard the news, they appointed Pu Sankui as the deputy marshal on the left and Wanyan Kuang as the deputy marshal on the right. They led the army into Nanjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) to stop the Song army. At the beginning of the war, Song armies from all walks of life took the initiative to attack and successively recovered Sizhou, Hongxian and other places. Xuan suffered setbacks when attacking Su (now Anhui), Tang, Cai (now Runan, Henan) and other states. Sichuan Deputy Envoy to Xuanfu Wu Xi secretly colluded with the Jin army and abandoned key passes such as Monkshangyuan and Fangshanyuan (southwest of today's Longxian County, Shaanxi Province), allowing the Jin army to concentrate its forces to attack the Lianghuai and Jingxiang areas, and the situation of the Northern Expedition was reversed. In October, Pu Sankui took advantage of the success in the initial battle and divided his troops into nine groups to launch a comprehensive counterattack against the Southern Song Dynasty from Shaanxi, Henan, Huaibei and other places. The Song army was defeated and was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty with the Jin in March of the first year of Jiading (1208) (see the Battle of Pusankui against the Song Dynasty).

In the fifth year of Jin Zhenyou (1217), wars between Mongolia and Jin Dynasty continued frequently, and the national power of the Jin Dynasty was declining. In order to make up for its losses in the war, the Jin Dynasty divided its troops in April to attack Sichuan, Shaanxi and Jinghu in the Southern Song Dynasty. The area launched an attack and was defeated by Song. In the first month of the third year of Xingding (1219), the Jin Dynasty divided its troops into three groups with Pusan ??Anzhen as the commander, and used all its strength to launch an all-out attack on the Southern Song Dynasty in the vast area from eastern Sichuan and Shaanxi to Jianghuai in the west (see the Battle of the Three Jin Army Attacks on the Song Dynasty) ). The soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty rose up to fight, and successively defeated the Jin Army in Da'an Army (now northwest of Ningqiang, Shaanxi), Zaoyang (now part of Hubei) (see the Second Battle of Zaoyang), and Haozhou (now Fengyang, Anhui); the Jin army was broken. The army attempted to attack across the board and expand territory to the south to plunder goods. In June of the first year of Zhengda (1224), in view of the heavy losses suffered in the war with the Mongols, Jin Ting stopped attacking the Song Dynasty and concentrated its forces to fight against the Mongolian army. In the first month of the first year of Tianxing (1233), the Mongolian army's mine-trapping department implemented a strategic roundabout and defeated the Jin army in Sanfeng Mountain (today's Yu County, Henan). The main force of the Jin army was completely lost (see the Battle of Sanfeng Mountain). In the first month of the following year, Emperor Aizong of the Jin Dynasty abandoned Nanjing and fled to Guide Prefecture (south of Shangqiu, Henan Province) in view of the insecurity in the Central Plains. He attempted to move the capital to Shu to cultivate soldiers and horses and revive his power. He was defeated by Song general Meng Gong and his army. Seeing that he could not enter Sichuan, Jin Aizong fled to Caizhou. In August, Song and Meng reached an agreement to jointly attack gold. In October, the Song court ordered Meng Gong to lead his army to join the Mongolian army to attack Caizhou (see the Battle of Caizhou). On the ninth day of the first lunar month of the following year, when the city was about to be captured by the allied forces of Mongolia and Song Dynasty, Jin Aizong passed the throne to Wanyan Chenglin, the last emperor. The next day the city was destroyed, Aizong hanged himself, Wanyan Chenglin was defeated and killed, and the Jin Dynasty fell.

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Comment: The war between Song and Jin Dynasties lasted for more than a hundred years. In the early days of the war, the Jin Dynasty was in a period of military and political rise. It made full use of the agility of the cavalry in the military and adopted a strategy of multiple frontal advances and focused attacks to destroy the Northern Song Dynasty. They also took advantage of the cavalry to implement large-depth and roundabout tactics, and penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Southern Song Dynasty many times. However, due to the fact that the battle line was too wide and too long, the troops were outnumbered, the supply of supplies was difficult, and there was a lack of control and consolidation of the occupied areas, the Southern Song Dynasty failed to be destroyed. In the later stages of the war, the country's power declined after years of fighting, its military strength was sharply reduced, and internal conflicts intensified. It was exhausted from fighting on both sides against the Song Dynasty and Mongolia, and finally failed to realize its strategic intention to unify the north and the south. Because the Northern Song Dynasty adopted the policy of guarding the internal and external, strengthening the branches and strengthening the weak branches, by the end of the Song Dynasty, the military preparedness was depleted and the combat effectiveness was low. In particular, it pursued the national policy of compromise and peace, and was eventually destroyed by the Jin Dynasty. Although the Southern Song Dynasty only controlled half of the rivers and mountains and adopted a passive strategy of defending the south of the Yangtze River and waiting for the enemy, the country was still strong and the army and the people shared the same hatred of the enemy. Eventually, the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the alliance with Mongolia.