AWB Chapter 310 Jinyang and Taiyuan
Chapter 310 Jinyang and Taiyuan
"Therefore, Jinyang is also known as the Dragon City. There is a folk legend that there is a dragon vein buried under the city. In addition, the Song Dynasty lost Youzhou, which made Zhao Guangyi, who had just taken office, very unhappy."
"So, just in case, Zhao Guangyi ordered the burning of Jinyang City. Overnight, the palaces, temples and houses were reduced to ashes in the raging fire."
"Later, only Taiyuan City was built nearby, but Emperor Taizong of Song probably did not expect that the place he burned down would eventually become the turning point of the Jingkang Incident a hundred years later."
All emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty: ...
A spoiled young man from the Ming Dynasty: "My actions a hundred years ago have backfired in the end times. If Jinyang City hadn't been burned down back then, would things have been different?"
A romantic scholar from the Tang Dynasty: It's hard to say. Their national policy was to govern the country together with the scholar-officials, so military affairs were really important.
An official from the Han Dynasty: It's quite a sad story... Just because of a plan to ally with the Jin to destroy the Liao, both countries perished.
Zhao Guangyi in another timeline was extremely shocked, as if he could hardly believe that such a record would appear in his ears!
Has Zhao Ji gone mad?! He doesn't even know how to be an emperor?!
……
Lin Ke continued, "Although Tong Guan has escaped, Wang Bing still has three thousand Victorious Soldiers, elite troops selected from various armies."
"Finally, we added laborers selected from the city's populace; though few, it was better than nothing!"
"As for Taiyuan City, the city is well-fortified and the defense system is activated. The most important thing for defending a city is food and supplies, so Zhang Xiaochun and Wang Bing had already prepared sufficient food and supplies before the Jin army arrived."
"At this very moment, Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, seeing that his empire was doomed and unwilling to bear the blame for the country's downfall, abdicated in favor of his son, Crown Prince Zhao Heng."
"If those two had even a fraction of their senses, if they had just stood up a little, the Jingkang Incident wouldn't have happened so tragically!!!"
Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu: (*?????)…
"Perhaps it was because of the lessons learned from the past that Zhao Gou was able to so easily abdicate the throne to Emperor Xiaozong of Song. It's absurd that the neighboring families were fighting tooth and nail over this, but the Zhao family was so easygoing."
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: ...
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: ………
"On another note, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the army led by Wanyan Zonghan advanced with unstoppable momentum and overwhelming force."
"But he must have been laughing to death in his dreams along the way, because he never encountered any decent resistance or counterattack from the Song army, and they were already routed before they even had a chance to fight."
"Not to mention that Emperor Huizong of Song was so frightened by the Jurchens that he immediately had his son, Zhao Heng, ascend the throne. That's why the Song Dynasty is often perceived as having weak military capabilities and is known as a coward."
Emperor Huizong, hastily packing his luggage: Son, this empire is yours! You are the new emperor!
Crown Prince Zhao Heng: Thank you so much, Father!
"But we all know that the reason why the Song Dynasty was militarily weak was because of its national policy: emphasizing civil affairs and de-emphasizing military affairs. So the question is, why did the Song Dynasty adopt such a national policy? Let's talk about that as well."
"First of all, we also know that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, regional warlords held sway, and the central government was in a weak position, a situation opposite to that of the Song Dynasty."
"Therefore, after Zhao Kuangyin donned the yellow robe, he learned from this lesson and implemented policies such as 'releasing military power over a cup of wine' and 'emphasizing civil administration while suppressing military power'!"
"However, Zhao Kuangyin did not expect that the Song Dynasty, which failed to reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun and emphasized civil affairs over military affairs, would ultimately suffer greatly because of this national policy."
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: Good heavens! My dead memories have returned!
Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty retired (facepalm): How can this even be related to the Tang Dynasty?!
General Judy, the Northern Expeditionary Army: Therefore, our Great Ming Dynasty has learned from the mistakes of the Zhao family!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: …
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: Wasn't it your grandson Tumu Fortress that ruined the military generals' status?!
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: The person upstairs is a descendant of the Jurchens! He'd die if I didn't mention him!
Zhu Houzhao, the number one brat of the Ming Dynasty: You daughter are really something! You still had to cede territory and pay reparations, and that money could circle the earth!
Emperor Qianlong (muttering): ...Oh! What's so great about your Great Ming Dynasty...?!
Big-Handed Liu Zhuzhu (utterly bewildered): How can they even argue about this?!
First Emperor (looking puzzled): We're not talking about the Song Dynasty, how did we get onto the Ming and Qing Dynasties?!
……
During the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty
Zhao Kuangyin was speechless at the comments on the small screen. How could the Ming and Qing dynasties be causing such a commotion about their Song Dynasty? He was nearly driven mad with worry. Was there any chance to save the Northern Song Dynasty?
If he had known that the Song Dynasty would one day weaken due to this policy of downplaying military strength, he would never have made this ridiculous decision!
Alas, the Battle of Taiyuan will eventually be defeated. With ammunition and food exhausted and no one to support them, they will end up like Zhang Xun of the Tang Dynasty!
But what surprised him most was how incompetent the army was at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Not only were they terrified of anyone, but they didn't even have anyone willing to fight to the death!
.........
The live broadcast continues.
Lin Ke sighed again, "The Song Dynasty was undoubtedly excellent in terms of economy and culture, but its military strength ranked last among all dynasties."
"Of course, besides the fact that this is the national policy, there are many other reasons related to those in power or the emperor."
"Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin implemented the separation of military power. As mentioned before, the military deployment of the Tang Dynasty was such that the power of the military governors was considerable, leading to regional separatism and a weak central government."
"Therefore, the Song Dynasty's principle of troop deployment was to draw elite troops from local militias and garrison troops to form the nation's elite forces."
"This might not be clear, so let me explain. There are records of this in the 'Military Affairs' section of the History of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty's army was roughly composed of three parts: the Imperial Guards, the Local Guards, and the Village Soldiers."
"Among them, the Imperial Guards were the main fighting force of the Song army, responsible for guarding the capital and being ready to wage war against foreign enemies at any time. As for the local militia, they were mostly used for corvée labor, such as building city walls, transporting grain, and reclaiming wasteland."
"The last militia were selected from those registered in the household register or recruited. They trained together and were mainly responsible for building city walls, guarding the border, and so on."
"Although the local militia and local soldiers also train regularly, they do a lot of different tasks, so their training intensity is definitely not as high as that of the Imperial Guards. In the long run, if they encounter any trouble from the political higher-ups, they will eventually have little combat effectiveness."
"Let's talk about the Imperial Guards again. They are also composed of two parts: the Palace Guards, responsible for guarding the capital, and the Imperial Guards stationed in various places. These two departments are respectively led by the Palace Guard Command and the Imperial Guard Command."
"However, the officials in these two places are not like other official positions, so they have long been nominal positions. However, as time went by, the Imperial Guard Command was divided into two departments, which is what was later referred to as the Two Commands and Three Departments."
"Perhaps the lessons of the Tang Dynasty were too profound, so to prevent military generals from wielding too much power, the Zhao family dismantled this military authority."
"The two departments and three offices mentioned earlier only had the power to command troops. The power to mobilize troops was given to the Privy Council they established, and the final commander was usually appointed by the emperor himself."
"In this way, if a rebellion breaks out in the local areas, troops can be quickly dispatched to suppress it. If things go even worse and there is a change in the capital, the local areas can unite and return to defend the emperor. It is a system of checks and balances, which sounds good, but the reality is very harsh."
"This divided military power among three factions, preventing the regional separatism of the Tang Dynasty, but it still had a significant impact on the military strength of the Song Dynasty."
"For example, let's go back to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Don't you all know how strong the Song Dynasty's military was?"
The Northern Song emperor who had been stabbed: ………
A spoiled young master from the Song Dynasty: Is the problem here really that big?!
A Tang Dynasty official: It seems like he absorbed it, but then again, he didn't!
A farming expert from the Ming Dynasty: When this was first established, the Song army was incredibly powerful! Who could have imagined what would happen later!
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