This story takes place in the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty (AC1118), and it was in the autumn of this year that a delegation of the Northern Song Dynasty sailed from Dengzhou, located at the end of the Shandong Peninsula, crossed the Bohai Strait, and went to Liaodong in an attempt to establish an alliance with the emerging Jin State to entrap the Liao State and restore the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. According to the history books, this small mission included a total of seven generals and 80 soldiers, of which the highest official position was Wuyi Dafu Ma Zheng, Wuyi Dafu was the official name of the Wuchen rank in the Song Dynasty, and the Wuyi Dachen was divided into 53 ranks, and Wuyi Dafu was the thirtieth rank, from the seventh rank. In other words, there were no civilian officers in the mission, and only one mid- and lower-ranking officer served as an envoy. If we consider the practice at the time, generally speaking, the officials who were sent to carry out such dangerous tasks would be suddenly promoted by several ranks as a reward, and it is likely that the military attache named Ma Zheng was originally of a lower rank. Moreover, in the name of buying horses, this mission did not carry any government documents, but only passed on the edict orally. It can be inferred from this that the nature of this mission was tentative and informal, but no one could have imagined that it was this small mission that opened the prelude to the great era of North China and even the entire Northeast Asia region at the beginning of the twelfth century.

Now let's turn the clock back to the spring of the fifth year of Zhenghe (AC1115), in the northern frontier of the Song Empire, the peaceful relations with the neighboring Great Liao have lasted for more than 100 years, although there are not without twists and turns, but on the whole, since the Tanyuan Alliance for more than 100 years, the Liao and Song basically maintained a harmonious and equal relationship, the two sides exchanged envoys, the envoys were courteous, when there was a famine on the border of the Liao State, the Song Dynasty also sent people to help, Song Zhenzong died, and the Liao Shengzong gathered the ministers of the Han Dynasty to mourn, of course, there was no whitewash of Confucianism at that time and later generations, But there are also quite a few truths.

This is extremely rare in ancient history, unless there is a more powerful third party, and relations between neighboring countries are generally cold and even hostile, and the calamity of one side is a great opportunity for the other to attack or even annex the other. Of course, this is not to say that the rulers of the Liao and Song dynasties were so morally noble that they were unwilling to use war to achieve their own goals, but in the several confrontations between the two countries during the founding of the Song Dynasty, both sides realized that the strength of the two was in a delicate equilibrium, and the Song side was unable to recapture the sixteen states of Yanyun from the Liao side, and the Liao side was unable to move south to take Bianjing. In this case, it would be foolish for either side to engage in an infinite war aimed at destroying the other side, and this delicate balance is the real reason for peace. But in the fifth year of Zhenghe, this balance was broken.

On March 2, the fifth year of Zhenghe, the Hebei Border Pacification Division, which was set up in Xiongzhou on the Song-Liao border, received a secret letter from Li Liangsi, the Liaoguang Luqing, and the recipient of the secret letter was Tong Guan, an important minister of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, Taiwei and Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi, Hedong, and Hebei. In the secret letter, Li Liangsi revealed the news of the founding of the Jurchen state, and pointed out that the fall of the Liao State was just around the corner, and expressed his desire to surrender to the Northern Song Dynasty.

After urgent deliberations, the Northern Song Dynasty Zhixiong Prefecture and Xu sent people to take Li Liangsi to the Song border and secretly escorted him to Tong Guan's home in Bianjing, and soon Li Liangsi gained Tong Guan's trust. Soon after, Tong Guan recommended Li Liangsi to meet with Huizong, in which Li Liangsi pointed out that Liao had no way to govern, the Jin army was getting stronger, and if the Song did nothing, Yanjing would inevitably be occupied by the Jin, and suggested that the Northern Song Dynasty immediately join forces with Jin to attack Liao and recapture the sixteen states of Yanyun. Song Huizong was overjoyed and discussed it in the court, which was tantamount to a spoonful of cold water thrown into boiling oil.

Probably because of the later Jingkang Incident, which led to the fall of Tokyo and the Northern Hunt of the Second Emperor, the scholars of the Southern Song Dynasty were one-sided and fiercely criticized the strategy of signing a maritime alliance and uniting Jin to destroy Liao, believing that it was this short-sighted policy that led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. The reasons for its criticism are probably as follows: this dynasty has a century-old alliance with the Liao State, and as a ceremonial state, it cannot break the century-old covenant for the sake of profit; Second, the current military and economic situation of the Northern Song Dynasty was insufficient to complete the major task of recapturing Yanyun; There is also suspicion of the alliance Jurchens, believing that this emerging barbarian nation is more aggressive, and it is better to be neighbors with the Liao State, which has been in peace for a hundred years, than to ally with them. Even Li Liangsi, a fugitive from the Liao State, was beaten into the list of traitors in the "History of the Song Dynasty".

These three articles sound very reasonable, and the fact of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty seems to confirm this, but history is so complex that it cannot be extrapolated backwards by simple cause and effect. If we take a deeper look at the history of that time, we will find that all three of the above are untenable. First of all, any diplomatic treaty between two sovereign states can not guarantee their own, if there is no strong third-party guarantee, then the only way to ensure that the treaty can be implemented is to maintain a balance in the balance of strength between the two sides, after the Jin uprising, the military strength of the Song and Liao on the border of Hebei has changed dramatically, and naturally this treaty can not continue to exist. Second, judging from later developments, Li Liangsi's judgment of the outcome of the Liao-Jin War was generally correct, and the Jin almost single-handedly defeated and eliminated the Liao state (the Song army played a negligible role in the entire war to destroy the Liao). Unless the Song and Liao united against the Jin (I suspect that the Northern Song reinforcements Liao still can't defeat the Jin, and the existence of the sixteen states of Yanyun makes the cooperation between the Liao and Song must be full of contradictions, it is difficult to form a joint force, as long as Jin said that he has no ambitions for Youzhou in the Guan, the Song and Liao will not be able to reach a real alliance. Then the demise of Liao is an established fact, and since this is the case, then Song's idea of trying to stay out of the matter and be left alone is unrealistic. In this process, it is the most rational choice to strive for the most favorable result for yourself, first ally with Jin, and seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and make them a barrier that can protect your heartland. If there is one thing that the anti-war faction is right, it is that they instinctively recognize that Kim is strong and fierce and weak; The military and economic conditions of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time were at great risk in accomplishing these tasks. To put it more directly, it is that the central institutions of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time were so decayed that they could not absorb the huge manpower and material resources possessed by the empire and organize them into a powerful military force to defend themselves. Unfortunately, their fears were correct.

For example, in the next ten years, the Northern Song Dynasty was like a huge and decrepit broken car, crawling a rugged mountain road, and could fall into the abyss at any time. The people in the car were completely unaware of the danger of their situation, and continued to drink and have fun and intrigue, while the few people who saw the danger clearly and tried their best to save it were torn away from the driver's seat, and finally the car finally fell into the bottomless abyss, and ended up with a car wrecked and a catastrophe from which it could never be recovered. This is a great tragedy, the classical Chinese civilization suddenly fell into the dark abyss after reaching the peak that its predecessors failed to reach, and although the later generations tried their best to climb out of that abyss, they were never able to reach this height again.

Why is all this happening? Hundreds of millions of people have overcome countless difficulties for thousands of years to produce such a splendid civilization, and the stupidity and greed of a few people can destroy it, sometimes when reading the historical materials of the late Northern Song Dynasty, there is a very ridiculous feeling, so many people's fate is actually in the hands of so few people, and these people actually do not take this seriously at all, with a very frivolous attitude to treat such a huge power, only as a tool of poverty and luxury. The war that would decide the fate of the empire seemed to them to be nothing more than an opportunity to pursue their own selfish interests, and their minds were not thinking about how to win, but how to maximize their selfish interests, even the Son of Heaven himself. In this way, there is nothing surprising about failure, the person sitting on the throne does not take the inheritance left by his ancestors seriously, and the only thing that others can do is to clean up the old rivers and mountains from scratch when the mountains and rivers are broken.

Before answering this question, I would like to quote a passage from the "Historical Records of the Xiongnu Liebiography": "The customs of the Xiongnu are that people eat animal meat, drink their juice, and dress their skins; Animals eat grass and drink water, and they can be transferred at any time. Therefore, if it is urgent, people will learn to ride and shoot, and if it is wide, people will be happy and have nothing to do, and its constraints will be light and easy to do. The monarch and the minister are simple, and the government of a country is still the same. When a father or son or brother dies, his wife and wife are taken, and the evil caste is lost. Therefore, although the Xiongnu are chaotic, they will establish a sect. Although China does not take the wives of his father and brother in detail, his relatives kill each other, and even change his surname, all from this category. And the etiquette and righteousness are not good, and the upper and lower sides are resentful, and the room is extreme, and the vitality will be bent. The husband cultivates the mulberry in order to seek food and clothing, and builds the city to prepare for himself, so the people are in a hurry and do not practice military exploits, and if they are slow, they will stop working. The people in the earth room, without much to say, let the chatter occupy it, what should the crown be? ”

First of all, let me explain, this passage is said by a eunuch called the Bank of China, this person is a person from the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, originally a eunuch in the Han Palace, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty made peace with the Xiongnu, and let this Bank of China say that he went with the attendant, and the Bank of China said that he was very unhappy, and said that if you let me go to the Xiongnu, it will definitely be a great harm to the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wen of Han didn't take it seriously, but forcibly sent it. As a result, after the Bank of China said that after the Xiongnu, he became a minister of Shan Yu, and made a lot of ideas for the Xiongnu, which was very harmful to the Han Dynasty, and can be said to be the originator of the "traitor", the above paragraph is part of his dialogue with the envoys of the Han Dynasty, and I translated all the dialogues into the vernacular, to the effect that it is as follows:

The Han envoy said: "The Xiongnu do not respect the elderly, and good food and clothes are for the young people to eat!" ”

The Bank of China retorted: "If the Han people are young and middle-aged, won't their parents give their sons the best food and clothes before they leave?" ”

The envoy replied: "Yes! ”

The Bank of China said: "The Huns understood that war is an important thing, and those who were old and infirm could not fight, so they gave those fat food to the able-bodied people to eat and drink, probably to defend themselves, so that the father and son could protect each other for a long time, how can it be said that the Huns despised the elderly?" ”

The envoy of the Han Dynasty said: "The father and son of the Huns actually slept in the same yurt. After the death of his father, the son became his mother's wife. When a brother dies, the living brother takes the wife of the deceased as his own. There was no clothing such as hats and belts, and there was a lack of court etiquette. ”

The Bank of China said: "The custom of the Xiongnu is that everyone eats the meat of livestock, drinks their milk, and uses their skins to make clothes to wear; Livestock graze and drink, changing locations over time. So when they were in a hurry, they practiced the art of riding horses and archery, and when the times were easy, they were happy, and they were easily accomplished with few constraints. The relationship between the monarch and the minister is simple, and the political affairs of a country are like a person's body, father, son and brother are dead, and the living take their wives as their own wives, which is the fear of the disappearance of the race. Therefore, although the Xiongnu are often chaotic, they must establish the descendants of their own people. Nowadays, although the Chinese pretend to be decent and do not marry the wives of their fathers and brothers, their kinship is becoming more and more estranged, and they kill each other, and even change their surnames, all because of such reasons. Moreover, the malpractice of propriety and righteousness caused resentment among the king's subjects, and the vigorous construction of palace houses inevitably exhausted the people's strength. They worked hard to cultivate the fields and grow mulberry to be satisfied with food and clothing, and to build fortifications to defend themselves, so that the people did not practice their offensive skills when they were in a hurry, but they were exhausted by labor when they were relaxed. Alas! Han people living in mud and stone houses, don't talk too much, chatter, whisper, put on hats, is there anything remarkable? ”

I believe that the vast majority of readers will be very surprised when they see this text, and it is rare to see similar words in the history books of our country, because this is a naked negation of civilized society from the standpoint of a barbarian. In the BOC's view, although the scholars and doctors of the Han Chinese claim to be the state of etiquette, it is nothing more than hypocrisy, and they are estranged from their relatives and contradictory to each other. The superiors brutally oppressed the people, forced them to cultivate the fields to pay taxes, and bear heavy labor to build palaces and houses, making the people miserable and unable to protect themselves, and all this for their own selfish interests, and this so-called civilization and etiquette was more clever than the "barbarism" of the Huns? In the end, the Bank of China said loudly reprimanded the Han Dynasty envoys, threatening, "You don't talk nonsense, as long as the tillers delivered to the Xiongnu must be in sufficient quantity and good quality, if it is not complete and shoddy, then when the crops are ripe, the Xiongnu will ride horses and gallop on your ripe crops to be harvested." ”

This kind of threat to the scholars of the Song Dynasty must have been familiar to them, and they must have heard it many times from the mouths of the Liao, Tangut, and Jin people. Thousands of years later, when we read this passage, we feel humiliated and at the same time have to admit that a considerable part of what the Bank of China says is true. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the ancient civilization of the Chinese nation that developed to the peak was already a heavy burden on our ancestors in a sense, whether it was the elegant Song Dynasty, exquisite handicrafts, profound philosophy, leisurely and elegant scholars, paintings, porcelain, free markets, and prosperous commerce, everything was built in the city, especially the emergence of big cities. If we seriously delve into the prosperous culture of the Northern Song Dynasty, we will find that everything revolves around Bianliang and serves this great city. In order for the people of this city to live a life that has never been possible in this land, the entire empire has to be transfused to it, and it is so exhausted that it is unable to defend itself. In later generations, when we claim to praise the advanced fiscal and taxation system that the Northern Song Dynasty never had, please do not forget that this also means that the peasants at the bottom have never been exploited. History is like this, he will always only record what those who can write history want to let future generations see, as for those silent majority, they will only be silently covered in the dust of history.

Now let's turn the clock back to the second year of Jingkang (1127), when the Jin army had already besieged Bianliang in Tokyo for the second time, and the fantastic city was already in danger. Historically, the city's population was at its peak at no less than a million, its walls were high, and it was home to some of the world's most ingenious craftsmen and a stockpile of weapons that could equip hundreds of thousands of troops. But by this time, there were not even enough soldiers to guard the walls. When I read this, I wanted to do a simple arithmetic problem, even if there are only 500,000 people left, according to the calculation of one ding drawn by five people in a household, you can immediately get 100,000 strong men, even if you can't go out to fight in the field, it is still enough to guard the city wall, and there is still a considerable number of Song troops. The total strength of the Jin army is only 150,000, according to the ancient siege of the city at least more than twice the defenders, the commander of the Jin army should not think about how to capture the city of Tokyo but how to retreat to the Yellow River. After Carthage surrendered all its weapons, it was able to resist the siege of the Romans for three years with the weapons made from the remaining materials in the city, and finally broke the city because of the lack of food, and Wanyan Zongwang, the commander of the Eastern Route Army of the Jin Army, arrived at the city of Tokyo on December 10, 1126, and broke the city on January 9 of the following year, which took less than a month in total.

In this way, Bianliang City was breached, and the two emperors and more than 3,000 Zhao royal families, ** concubines, Guiqing, courtiers, etc. were taken captive to the Jin Kingdom, many of them died after enduring cruel abuse, and many people in later generations left tears of sympathy for their tragic experience. But let's not forget that they did all this by themselves, and it was because of their stupidity and greed that they caused this result, they wasted the loyalty and bravery of countless people, destroyed this country, and dragged thousands of innocent people into the abyss of death.

There is no doubt that the protagonist of the book has to resist the invasion of the barbarians, defend his relatives and the country, but this does not mean that he must also protect these guys who ride on the heads of millions of good people, suck their blood, and bring the catastrophe above their heads. Yes, these people wear beautiful clothes, can write beautiful poetry and elegant articles, and hold the power to write history, but a poisonous snake is a poisonous snake, no matter how colorful and beautiful his appearance is.