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Chapter 154 Yue Fei and Qin Hui

[How wonderful was Yue Fei's life? Read the history of Yue Fei, a patriotic general in the Song Dynasty, in one go]

It is easy to shake a mountain, but it is difficult to shake Yue Fei's army. For thousands of years, Yue Fei's name has been associated with "serving the country with loyalty". In the dark era after the Jingkang Incident, Yue Fei grew from a grassroots to the most powerful god of war in the world, defending the Southern Song Dynasty and conquering the Central Plains in the north.

He was determined to recover lost territory all his life, but was eventually harmed by a villain. So how many legends are there in Yue Fei's life? How much helplessness and regrets are there?

In this video, let us walk into Yue Fei's life in chronological order.

Yue Fei was born in an ordinary peasant family in Tangyin County, Henan Province. Legend has it that when Yue Fei was born, there was a big bird as big as a lake hovering above the sky, so his parents named him Fei, with the courtesy name Pengju.

When he was young, Yue Fei was very fond of martial arts. He could pull a 300-jin hard bow and liked to read military books such as "Zuo Zhuan" and "The Art of War by Sun Wu". However, due to his poor family background, Yue Fei had to work as a tenant in someone else's house.

At the age of 20, Yue Fei was called up to join the army and followed his superior to wipe out a group of bandits. He was appreciated and recommended to the court. But at this time, the news of Yue Fei's father's death suddenly came, and Yue Fei had to return home to mourn.

Three years later, Yue Fei was called up again after his mourning period was over. Although the Northern Song Dynasty had conquered the Liao Kingdom and regained the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun through years of war, the weakness of the Song army exposed during the war with the Liao Kingdom gave the Jin Kingdom an opportunity to take advantage of.

An unprecedented catastrophe was about to befall the Song Dynasty, but Song Huizong, who sat on the throne, was completely unaware of it. Yue Fei had never thought that he would be at the center of the historical stage.

After the Jin army destroyed the Liao, it began to invade the Song Dynasty in a large scale. The Song army was defeated and Kaifeng was in danger. Song Huizong fled in a hurry and gave the throne to his son Zhao Huan, who became Song Qinzong. Song Qinzong had no choice but to sign a humiliating treaty with the Jin Kingdom and cede a large area of ​​land.

But less than half a year later, the Jin Kingdom launched another attack and captured Kaifeng. The 23-year-old Yue Fei bid farewell to his wife and children and once again joined the army to fight against the Jin. Yue Fei's mother-in-law, Yao, also tattooed the four words "Serve the country with loyalty" on Yue Fei's back as a motto.

Unexpectedly, Yue Fei never returned to his hometown. Soon after, the Jin army took the captured Emperor Qinzong and all the treasures in the city and marched north, and the Northern Song Dynasty was officially declared dead. King Kang Zhao Gou proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Southern Song Dynasty, becoming Emperor Gaozong of Song.

However, Zhao Gou only wanted to seek peace, so he gave up Hebei and Hedong and demoted the ministers who advocated war.

Although Yue Fei's position was not high at the time, out of patriotic enthusiasm, he repeatedly petitioned to cross the river to attack the north, but was driven out of the barracks. However, Yue Fei's determination to fight against the Jin was not discouraged.

At the age of 25, Yue Fei decided to cross the river and head north to the anti-Jin front. This was his fourth time to join the army. Facing the massive attack of the Jin army, Yue Fei fought desperately, accumulated rich experience in fighting against the Jin army, and gradually grew into an outstanding commander.

However, Kaifeng was isolated and helpless at this time. Although it wrote to Zhao Gou many times to ask for support for the Northern Expedition, it received no response. The commander Zong Ze died in hatred, and his successor Du Chong was cruel by nature and feared the Jin Dynasty like a tiger.

At this time, Song Gaozong, who could no longer escape to the south of the Yangtze River, called on all the righteous troops in the world to defend the king. Du Chong took the opportunity to abandon the north and led his troops south. Although Yue Fei, a general under Qin Hui, strongly opposed it, Du Chong insisted on his own way, so Yue Fei had no choice but to follow the troops south.

However, living in a corner did not only fail to keep him safe, but made the Jin Dynasty even more arrogant. In 1129 AD, the Jin army marched southward to search the mountains and seas, hunt down Zhao Gou, and capture several important towns in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhao Gou was forced to flee to the sea.

However, no one expected that when the arrogant Jin army was rampant in the south of the Yangtze River, it was strongly blocked by the new generation of generals such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. Yue Fei defeated Jin Wushu's army outside Jiankang City, and the Jin army's corpses were sunk for 15 miles. Jin Wushu had to give up his health and led his troops to retreat northward.

On the way of retreat, they were chased by Yue Fei again, and suffered heavy casualties. Yue Fei became famous in this battle and became a rising star of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the following battles, Yue Fei won many victories. In addition, the strict military discipline of Yue's army, "freezing to death but not demolishing houses, starving to death but not looting", was deeply loved by the local people wherever he went.

This made Song Gaozong Zhao Gou give up begging for mercy from the Jin Kingdom and instead make use of new generation generals such as Yue Fei, hoping to force the Jin Kingdom to reach an agreement with the Southern Song Dynasty through victory on the battlefield.

However, Yue Fei's heart was to recover his homeland and attack Huanglong, which doomed Yue Fei to a tragic fate. At the age of 32, with the consent of Zhao Gou, Yue Fei led his army to recover the six counties of Xiangyang.

Before leaving, Zhao Gou asked Yue Fei to recover only the six counties and not to take the opportunity to continue the Northern Expedition or recover Bianjing. At that time, the six counties of Xiangyang were under the control of the puppet regime of Qi established by the Jin Kingdom. Yue Fei's army won a great victory, defeated the Northern Qi defenders, and successfully recovered the six counties of Xiangyang.

This was also the first time that the Southern Song Dynasty recovered a large area of ​​lost territory, and the headquarters of Yue Family Army was moved to what is now Wuhan's Wuchang District.

But when Yue Fei, 34, was stationed in Xiangyang and preparing to go north, his mother suddenly died. Exhausted, Yue Fei had no choice but to write to the court, requesting to observe mourning for three years.

However, Zhao Gou was eager to fight the Northern Expedition or negotiate peace with the Jin Kingdom at that time, and turned a deaf ear to Yue Fei's request, and kept urging him to send troops to the Northern Expedition. In desperation, Yue Fei had to return to the barracks and march to the Central Plains in two groups, successively recovering many lost territories. However, due to the long battle line and insufficient supply of logistics and food, Yue Fei had to return to the court.

In an attempt to recover the lost territory, Weicheng and the Qing army attacked Xiangyang. Yue Fei led his army to the north for the third time and defeated the defeated army. Song Gaozong Zhao Gou issued an edict to commend him and transferred 5 troops from Huaixi to Yue Fei. Yue Fei was greatly encouraged and wrote a letter to request a northern expedition again. However, due to Zhang Jun's instigation, Zhao Gou gave up expanding Yue Fei's army. Yue Fei was also ridiculed by Zhang Jun, and he was very upset and returned to Mount Lushan to mourn.

When Zhao Gou learned that Yue Fei had resigned, he immediately sent someone to invite him back. Zhang Jun also resigned because of his improper use of people, which led to the Huaixi mutiny. When Yue Fei got the news of the mutiny, he immediately wrote a letter to express his willingness to lead the army to protect Jiankang. Zhao Gou's suspicion of Yue Fei has been increasing since then.

Two years later, the Jin Kingdom abolished the Northern Qi regime and signed the first joint agreement with the Southern Song Dynasty. Although Yue Fei and Han Shizhong strongly opposed it, it was of no avail. Zhao Gou also ordered Yue Fei not to go to Henan to recruit volunteers.

Unexpectedly, a coup d'état took place in the Jin Dynasty. Jin Wushu killed the ministers who advocated peace, tore up the agreement, and launched a massive attack on the Southern Song Dynasty. As Shunchang City was captured, Zhao Gou had to ask Yue Fei for help again and let him lead his army to the north to attack the Central Plains.

Yue Fei once again recovered a large area of ​​lost territory, penetrated deep into the hinterland of Henan and approached Kaifeng, defeating the Jin army in Zhuxian Town. Just as the news of Yue Fei's victory came in frequently, Zhao Gou was worried that Yue Fei's achievements would be too great for the emperor. If he really recovered Kaifeng, it would affect the rule of Zhao Song.

At the instigation of Qin Hui, Zhao Gou issued 12 golden orders to force Yue Fei to return. Yue Fei was very angry, as his 10 years of hard work was destroyed in an instant. Before he left, every household in Henan Province cried and begged Yue Fei not to withdraw his troops.

Yue Fei had no choice but to show the imperial edict, and the people cried bitterly. From then on, the Southern Song Dynasty had no hope of recovering its homeland.

In 1141, the Jin Dynasty wanted to renegotiate peace with the Southern Song Dynasty, and one of the conditions was to kill Yue Fei. In order to gain a safe haven and to show the stability of the imperial power, Zhao Gou colluded with Qin Hui to suppress the generals with heavy troops, especially Yue Fei, who had the greatest military exploits and the highest reputation.

As mentioned above, the military discipline of Yue Family Army was very strict, while the military discipline of the Southern Song Dynasty’s official army was generally poor. Not only that, the Southern Song Dynasty’s commanders were generally corrupt and took bribes, treating soldiers as slaves and civilians as grass.

Yue Fei not only had good personal ethics, but also managed the army well and loved the people like his own children. In comparison, it is no wonder that Yue Fei was deified both in the Southern Song Dynasty and in later generations.

Because of this, Yue Fei was hated by his colleagues and suspected by the emperor. In 1142, Yue Fei was killed on trumped-up charges at the age of 39. His son Yue Yun and his general Zhang Xian were also killed.

Twenty years later, Emperor Xiaozong of Song issued an edict to restore Yue Fei's title of loyal hero and reburied him on the shore of West Lake. Yue Fei was finally rehabilitated. Qin Hui and his son Qin Hui once controlled the complete collection of history books, and a large amount of historical materials about Yue Fei and Yue's army were destroyed and tampered with.

Officials of the Song court could only verify historical facts by visiting the deceased general's relatives. In 1204 AD, the Southern Song court posthumously conferred the title of King of E on Yue Fei.

——"Yue Fei is truly a flawless general and deserves the title of national hero."

——"When I am hungry, I will eat the meat of the barbarians; when I am thirsty, I will drink the blood of the Xiongnu!"

——"Zhuge Wuhou and Yue Wumu are both my idols. I really like such historical figures."

——"Alas, you, the famous general of your generation, Zhao Gou, you really deserve to die!"

[Is Qin Hui a traitor? Understand Qin Hui's life in one breath. Historical Qin Hui]

He was a notorious traitor in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, but you might not have thought that when he was young, Qin Hui was a loyal and righteous man who opposed ceding territory for peace. The Southern Song court even believed that he would be a famous prime minister.

So what kind of person was Qin Hui in history? Was he a loyal minister or a traitor? In this video, let us walk into Qin Hui's life in chronological order.

Qin Hui was born on a boat by the Huangzhou River in Hubei Province. His ancestors were just ordinary people. It was not until his father's generation that he passed the imperial examination and became an official and became a county magistrate. However, Qin Hui's wife Wang was very famous. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Wang Gui and a cousin of Li Qingzhao.

Given the difference in family background between Qin Hui and Wang, we speculate that Qin Hui married Wang after he passed the imperial examination at the age of 25, thus entering the marriage circle of the literati in the Song Dynasty. Since later historians were extremely disgusted with Qin Hui, Qin Hui's early resume is quite vague.

However, through historical research, we know that Qin Hui's remarks in the late Northern Song Dynasty were quite loyal. He strongly opposed ceding territory to Jin to seek peace. At the age of 37, Qin Hui suggested that a tough attitude should be shown to the invading Jin army.

After the Jin army captured Kaifeng, they wanted to establish Zhang Bangchang as a puppet emperor, but Qin Hui and others jointly wrote a letter to request the preservation of the Zhao Song Dynasty and the establishment of a member of the Zhao clan as emperor. He was detained by the Jin army. If you don't know what Qin Hui did later, you might really think that Qin Hui was a loyal minister.

Ironically, the later Southern Song Dynasty officials really always regarded Qin Hui as a loyal minister.

Soon after the Jin army captured Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song and marched north, Emperor Huizong's ninth son, Prince Kang Zhao Gou, proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Southern Song Dynasty. All officials gave advice, but Zhao Gou did not want to recover the lost territory at all. He only wanted to seek peace with the Jin Kingdom and live in peace in a corner. But how could the Jin Kingdom miss the opportunity to pursue the victory and destroy the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop?

Faced with the relentless pressure from the Jin army, Zhao Gou had no way to escape. He spent the entire Jianyan period on the run. At the age of 41, Qin Hui left the Jin camp with his family. There have been many controversies over how Qin Hui escaped from the heavy guards of the Jin camp. Many people believe that Qin Hui was a spy who was instigated by the Jin army to rebel.

But no matter what, as soon as Qin Hui returned to Song, he began to encourage Zhao Gou to seek peace with Jin. If there is no trouble in the world, men will go to the north and south, and people will go to the north. This is exactly what Zhao Gou wanted to turn the Southern Song and Jin into the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Zhao Gou thought Qin Hui was loyal and commendable, so he promoted him to the Minister of Rites, and soon appointed him as Prime Minister.

He ruled the country together with another prime minister, Lu Yihao. Lu Yihao was extremely disgusted with Qin Hui, while Qin Hui also wanted to monopolize power. The two sides fought openly and secretly, and the winner was finally decided in the autumn of the following year.

Lu Yihao and his group interpreted Qin Hui's proposal of "Southerners return to the south, northerners return to the north" as sending people from the north back to the north, and Zhao Gou was originally from the north. If northerners return to the north, what should Zhao Gou do? Zhao Gou was very angry and issued an order to dismiss Qin Hui, and posted a notice in the court stating that Qin Hui would never be used again.

By the time Qin Hui was 46, the situation in the Southern Song Dynasty had gradually stabilized. Zhao Gou began to use new generation generals such as Han Shizhong and Yue Fei to block the Jin Kingdom's southward advance, recover the six counties of Xiangyang, and eliminate the various bandits in the Southern Song Dynasty.

The Song and Jin dynasties began to turn into a state of confrontation between the north and the south, but the two prime ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun, had a disagreement, which gave Qin Hui an opportunity to make a comeback. Zhang Jun invited the wolf into the house and found Qin Hui to be his ally.

At that time, Zhao Gou was about to assign 5 troops in Huaixi to Yue Fei, but Qin Hui and Zhang Jun tried to persuade Zhao Gou not to give Yue Fei too many troops to prevent him from becoming too powerful. However, Zhao Gou did not expect that the new commander's improper command led to a military mutiny in Huaixi, and Zhang Jun resigned.

In 1138, the 17-year-old Qin Hui was appointed prime minister for the second time and was sent by the emperor to negotiate peace with the Jin Kingdom. After Qin Hui became prime minister, he drove Zhao Ding out of the court and began his -year dictatorship.

After Qin Hui came to power, he suppressed his political enemies, cultivated his followers, persecuted loyal ministers and generals, suppressed speech, and launched a literary inquisition. All of this was done with the tacit approval of Zhao Gou, the most notorious of which was the killing of Yue Fei.

Soon after Qin Hui came to power, Song and Jin signed the first Shaoxing Peace Agreement. Yue Fei and Han Shizhong strongly opposed it, but it was of no avail. Instead, Zhao Gou was suspicious of Yue Fei. However, the results of the first peace agreement lasted less than two years before it became a piece of waste paper due to a coup d'état in Jin.

——"If I were Yue Fei, I would have quit right now."

——"Qin Hui is a typical representative of someone who wants it all."

——"Zhao Gou is the one who should kneel down. I am really impressed!"