diskusbooks Chapter 427 The teacher returns to the court
Chapter 427 The teacher returns to the court
"But it is unclear whether it was Yue Fei's victory report or the unstoppable advance of Yue Family Army that led Zhao Gou, the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, to develop a wrong perception of himself."
"He suddenly realized that since the Jurchens were so powerful, wouldn't it be a case of whoever fought whom losing? So, in addition to ordering Yue Fei to stay in Jingxi, Zhao Gou also ordered Yang Yizhong to lead the Palace Guards to Huaixi."
Sang Hongyang of the Great Han Dynasty: Since Yue Fei has already been ordered to withdraw his troops, why send Yang Yizhong to lead the army to Huaixi?
A bystander from the Ming Dynasty commented: "If Zhao Gou had given this order earlier, when Yue Fei had already stationed himself at Zhuxian Town, he would have ordered the entire army to advance. Things would never have turned out this way!"
Zhu Bajie of the Ming Dynasty: As the emperor, why is he so hesitant? What is he planning to do?!
Cheng Yaojin of the Tang Dynasty: I've really seen something new! It's a pity we missed this opportunity; the next Northern Expedition will be much more difficult!
A spoiled young master from the Song Dynasty: ...I never imagined that one day my language skills would be so weak!
His father, who was often driven to the brink of madness by his rebellious son: ...
In another timeline, the people in the lost territories, who were desperately waiting for the Song court to send troops to attack, were truly filled with despair upon hearing these words!
Why have they waited so long? It's all because they hope the imperial court can launch a northern expedition to recover lost territories!
Not only did this render Marshal Yue's ten years of effort futile, but it also led to these returnees being labeled as "retrogrades" and not given important positions!
They don't understand what use such a court is, or why they can rest easy and ignore the suffering of the people just because the flames of war don't reach those treacherous officials!
……
Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang was utterly speechless. What kind of thought process did he have, insisting on using such a method of warfare?
So Zhu Yuanzhang turned to Zhu Biao and said, "Look at the lessons of the Song Dynasty, our Great Ming Dynasty cannot let scholars govern the country!"
Zhu Biao fell silent, a resounding silence that made Zhu Yuanzhang realize that, damn it, the Ming Dynasty's apparent power of civil officials was ultimately due to the later use of eunuchs to check and balance them.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang was discouraged. He didn't even dare to imagine what the end of the Ming Dynasty would be like!
Think back to the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the disaster of the partisan purge, the interference of eunuchs in politics, and on top of that, the civil officials faced external threats and natural disasters!
Who can stop this?!
……
Just then, Lin Ke's voice rang out again.
"From the moment Yue Fei's army withdrew from the campaign, the situation between the Song and Jin dynasties had already quietly changed."
"In August, Han Shizhong, having failed to capture Huaiyang Army after a prolonged siege, was ordered to retreat by the Song court."
"Then, in mid-August, Yang Yizhong arrived in Suzhou on Zhao Gou's orders, but this time he ultimately failed to live up to Zhao Gou's expectations."
"No one expected that after Yang Yizhong led his Palace Guard to Suzhou, the Jin people deliberately sent false intelligence, claiming that several hundred Jin cavalry were stationed in Liuzi Town."
"Yang Yizhong was also unsure whether the news was true or false, or whether the Jin army still had any fighting capacity!"
"A decision was immediately made to launch a night raid on Liuzi Town with 5,000 cavalry. However, upon arriving at Liuzi Town, the entire army found no trace of the Jin army."
"Later, it was learned that the Jin army had ambushed the retreat route with a large force, causing the Palace Guard to collapse, and its commander, Yang Yizhong, barely escaped with his life."
"However, the most tragic victims were not Yang Yizhong and others, but the local people. When Yue Fei retreated to Caizhou, Yue Fei's army stayed for five more days to cover the local people's migration to Xianghan."
"But Suzhou wasn't so lucky; the Song army they encountered didn't treat them well."
"On the contrary, because the local people had welcomed the Song army, the Jin army that later conquered the area harbored resentment and retaliated against these people."
"This shows that during the Song Dynasty, from the onset of the Jurchen invasion, the people never had a single good day, constantly suffering from the ravages of war."
"They almost regarded the recovery of lost territory by the imperial court as their hope, but who knew that this hope would be as fleeting as a bubble on a wave."
"Yue Fei's fourth Northern Expedition, having previously recovered vast areas of Henan, should have smoothly entered Kaifeng, but Zhao Gou and Qin Hui, for their own selfish reasons, interrupted this golden opportunity."
"He's not just severing other people's dreams, he's destroying the livelihoods of ordinary people. But this empire doesn't belong to Zhao Gou alone; it belongs to all the people!"
"Oh, I almost forgot, it's half the country! Not long ago, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng, bribed his officials to perform the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. Now look what's happened, even the territory of Mount Tai is gone!!"
Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng: There's no need to go into such detail…
These words enraged the people of the Southern Song Dynasty, and even the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were disappointed.
They didn't expect Zhao Gou to have the power to turn the tide; they were already grateful if he could govern that half of the country well!
However, reality is a resounding slap in the face to them. The people of the Song Dynasty were suffering, and what was this emperor doing?!
Just as they were feeling indignant, Lin Ke continued, "And with the retreat of Yue Fei's army, the morale of the various rebel armies that had once been inspired was utterly demoralized."
"Even though they were still fighting the Jurchens at this time, their forces were not on the scale of a regular army."
"Furthermore, the Jin army far outnumbered these people, and without the support of the imperial court, they quickly found themselves in a situation of fighting and retreating."
"In particular, the vast anti-Jin volunteer armies in the north, led by Li Bao, Li Xing, Liang Xing, Zhao Yun, Wang Zhongzhi, and others, were all besieged and annihilated by the Jin army within one or two years and subsequently suffered defeats."
"However, Li Bao, Liang Xing, Zhao Yun and others truly lived up to their reputation as followers of Yue Fei. After Yue Fei returned from his campaign, Li Bao followed Han Shizhong and went on to make outstanding contributions to the Song Dynasty."
"Liang Xing and Zhao Yun were unwilling to retreat south, so they stayed behind to cause trouble for the Jin army by intercepting and killing their supply convoys. However, the Jin army was not yet ready to be destroyed, so they could not hold out and led their troops south."
"How should I put it? As military officers, they did not betray the court. In fact, some of them were loyal to the emperor and loved their country throughout their lives. The Northern Song emperor's lifelong obsession was the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun."
"This shows that even Emperor Huizong of Song wanted to recover it back then. Although he briefly possessed it, he did try, didn't he?"
"But in the Southern Song Dynasty, apart from a few emperors who were determined to launch a northern expedition, it's hard to say about the rest... At that time, the common people, as well as some civil and military officials, all wanted to launch a northern expedition to recover lost territories."
"If anyone is to apologize, it is the Song court that has wronged the vast majority of people, especially the Yue Family Army, who fought valiantly and sacrificed their lives to achieve such a great situation, which has now been squandered!"
"Even though we are separated by more than eight hundred years, I can't help but sigh with regret. How could we have turned back just forty-five miles away?!"
All emperors of the Song Dynasty: (*?????)…
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: The Southern Song Dynasty was pretty frustrating, wasn't it?! Didn't any of the Zhao family members have any capable people?!
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: If it were us, Old Zhu would have attacked long ago. Instead, we retreated. Now all the fighting we did before was for nothing!
A romantic scholar from the Tang Dynasty: To be honest, if I were the family of those soldiers, I would curse them out and wish someone would come and take Zhao Gou down!
Emperor Shenzong of Song, Zhao Xu: It's his fault! He gave birth to that brat Zhao Ji! And that brought Zhao Huan and Zhao Gou with him!
A Han Dynasty official: Who could know that? But you are [the one who can give birth], and you destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty in one lifetime!
Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu: Collecting all three of these is bad luck!
……