The Song-Jin War refers to the large-scale war waged by the Song Dynasty from the seventh year of Xuanhe in the Southern Song Dynasty (1125) to the tenth year of Jianyan in the Northern Song Dynasty (1137) to resist the southward invasion of the Jin Army, recover lost territory, and wipe out the people.
Main commanders: Jin Dynasty: Wanyan Zonghan (Nianhan), Wanyan Zongwang (Wulubu), Wanyan Zongbing (Wuzhu), Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Balisu; Song Dynasty: Zhao Jiu, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Wu Jie, Zhang Rong, Zhang Jun, Ma Kuo
Result: In the early stage of the war, the capital of Southern Song was destroyed, the emperor was captured, and the power of Jin reached its peak; in the later stage, the Chinese coalition forces destroyed Jin and established the Jianyan Restoration.
Background: See "Jin-Liao War" and "Sea Alliance". In the process of destroying Liao, Jin was skilled in the use of war-to-support-war tactics. The Jurchens made a lot of money from the war and had a strong desire to expand. At the same time, they saw through the strengths and weaknesses of the Southern Song court, and realized that behind the prosperity was weakness, so they invaded the south many times.
Brief introduction of the war process:
Phase One: The Jin army’s offensive phase.
In October 1125, the Jin army marched south for the first time. Nianhan advanced into Shanxi from the west, and Olubu advanced out of Hebei from the east. They attacked from both the east and the west in an attempt to seize Tokyo. Eventually, they withdrew temporarily due to the arrival of troops from all over the world to support the king. The Southern Song ceded three towns in Hebei to seek peace.
Impact: The first invasion of the Jin army to the south marked the beginning of the Song-Jin War.
In August 1126, the Jin army invaded the south for the second time. Nianhan attacked Taiyuan in the west again, and Olubu attacked Zhending in the east. In November, they surrounded Dongjing. Zhao Jiu was ordered to go to the Jin camp to beg for peace, and agreed to use the Yellow River as the boundary. The Jin army refused, and the next month Dongjing was broken, and the Jingkang Incident occurred.
Impact: The Southern Song Dynasty fell.
In September 1127, the Jin army invaded the south for the third time. Lou Shi, the commander of the western army, attacked Shaanxi, but was blocked by Li Yanxian. Wuzhu, the vanguard of the eastern army, attacked Jingdong. Emperor Shizu of Song Dynasty sent Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi to lead the troops to block the enemy layer by layer. The attack and defense of Shouzhou broke out. However, Liu Guangshi abandoned the land first and trapped Zhang Jun in danger later. Emperor Shizu of Song Dynasty personally beheaded Liu Guangshi and went to Xiacai alone to appease the army and reiterate military discipline. The morale of the Song army was greatly boosted and the Jin army retreated.
Impact: The Jin army's large-scale offensive suffered its first setback, shattering the myth of the Jin army's invincibility. The Northern Song Dynasty had a chance to catch its breath. Han Shizhong, Yue Fei and others were appreciated by Emperor Shizu of Song, sowing the seeds for subsequent counterattacks.
In August 1128, the Jin army invaded the south for the fourth time. Nanjing Yingtianfu was captured, Zhang Suo died for his country, Kong Yanzhou, Zhang Yu, and Zhe Keqiu surrendered. In October, Han Shizhong was trapped. In November, the battle of Nanyang broke out. The main forces of the Jin army in the east and west were defeated in Nanyang and Shanzhou. In December, Dongjing Zongze was seriously ill and Du Chong was replaced. The Song Qinwang army gathered in Yanling, but Du Chong did not want to serve the country, was afraid of the enemy and was afraid of fighting. He lied about the military situation and deceived his superiors and subordinates. His son Du Yan, who understood the righteousness, rode alone to Nanling to tell the truth. In the first month of the following year, the Emperor Shizu led only his personal guards to sneak into Yanling, beheaded Du Chong, appointed Yue Fei as the general, attacked Wanyan Dalan, and won a great victory.
Significance: The Song army won a large-scale field battle for the first time, breaking the rumor that the Jurchens were invincible with less than 10,000 or more Jurchens. This battle supported the Song army's operations in Shaanxi and Shandong, suppressed the Jin army's offensive, and created good conditions for the Song army's counterattack. The Jin army's strategy to destroy the Song Dynasty in a short period of time failed.
Phase II: Strategic Stalemate
Emperor Shizu of Song's return to the old capital made the Jurchen nobles realize that their bold words of destroying the Song Dynasty in the short term had become empty talk, so they focused on local attacks and tried to seize the initiative in the long-term confrontation.
In the first month of 1130, the Jin army launched its fifth invasion to the south. This time, the Jin army was mainly for testing, and the two sides did not engage in large-scale fighting. In March of the same year, the Jin army relied on the power of armor and soldiers to violate the time and launched the sixth invasion to the south. In May, Luoyang was captured. Wang Boyan, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Song Dynasty, burned himself to death. Emperor Shizu of Song entrusted his son to the emperor and led the army to fight in person. On May 29, the Song and Jin sides launched a decisive battle at Yaoshan. The battle was extremely fierce. The two armies' banners were less than 100 meters apart at the closest point. The highest commanders even fired at each other, and nearly 100,000 soldiers on both sides were killed and wounded. In the end, Wanyan Loushi, the commander of the Jin Kingdom, was killed in the battle, and the Song army won a tragic victory.
Impact: The bloody battle of Yaoshan dealt a heavy blow to the main force of the Jin army and had a significant impact on the Song army's anti-Jin war. The Jin Dynasty's last large-scale offensive failed, and its strategic advantage gradually disappeared. The Song and Jin dynasties entered a strategic stalemate, which can be called the founding battle of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In 1131, the Jin army repatriated the captured royal family members of the Song Dynasty, intending to seek peace. The Northern Song pretended to negotiate peace while dispatching troops and successfully eliminated the pseudo-Qi. In 1132, the Song army attacked the Western Xia, and the Jin army came to support. In September, the Song, Liao, and Mongolia held a meeting in Jinhepo and established a unified alliance. Then the Western Xia was declared extinct, and the Song army recovered the Hetao area.
Impact: During the strategic stalemate, the Song army took the initiative to attack, cut off the Qi and Xixia that had surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and united the remaining Western Liao and Mongolian tribes that had strong desires to resist the Jin Dynasty, forcing Goryeo to remain neutral. This removed obstacles and laid the foundation for strategic counterattacks, causing a dramatic change in the balance of power between the Song and Jin Dynasties, and firming up the idea of resisting the Jin Dynasty within the court.
The third stage: the Song army's counterattack
In November 1132, Emperor Shizu summoned Ma Kuo to discuss the strategy of destroying Jin, and immediately began to expand the army and reform the tax system the following year. During Emperor Shizu's southern tour in 1134, he began to distribute the land tax according to the amount of land he ate, and started to implement the land tax system, which is known in history as the "Jianyan New Deal".
In June 1135, at the Southeast Gongge Conference, the internal thoughts were unified through public speeches and the progress of the anti-Jin campaign was determined. In September, the Northern Song Dynasty joined forces with Liao and Mongolian tribes to form the Huaxia Coalition Army, issued a manifesto, and vowed to attack the Jin Dynasty, which was known in history as the "Jianyan Northern Expedition."
The 300,000 Chinese coalition troops were divided into two routes, taking Yuancheng in the east and Taiyuan in the west, and then joining forces to march north. Emperor Shizu of Song personally served as the commander of the Western Route Army, and Yue Fei as the commander of the Eastern Route Army; the Jin army was led by Wuzhu and Balisu as the commander. On December 30, the Song army's Eastern and Western Route armies used gunpowder to simultaneously capture Taiyuan and Yuancheng.
In 1136, the Huaxia coalition forces and the main forces of the Jin army met at Jingxing. In February, the two sides launched the final decisive battle in the Huolu area. When the battle was tense, Song Shizu personally crossed the river, joined forces with various troops to defeat the Jin army, and killed the Jin general Balisu in battle. Later, Zhang Rong intercepted the Jin army with the navy, and the Huaxia troops pursued them. The Jin army was greatly defeated, and only one in ten escaped to the north. This is known in history as the "Battle of Huolu."
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