Author丨Cangyang Rongruo
In the history of The Southern Song Dynasty 152, there was no shortage of generals with great military exploits and poets with great literary talent. Yue Fei is an outstanding national hero in the history of our country. Although he was killed by traitors, his noble character and spirit of loyalty to the country have inspired countless Chinese people to resist oppression and strive for self-improvement for thousands of years.
In the second year of Chongning (1103), Yue Fei was born in an ordinary peasant family in Tangyin. It is said that when he was born, a flying peng came and sang in the house. His father Yue and were overjoyed and hoped that their son would "risen with the wind in one day and soar up to 90,000 miles", so he named him Fei. Pengju.
As a boy, Yue Fei was calm and ambitious. He likes to read "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu", "Sun Wu Art of War" and other books. Under the instruction of his mother Yao, he established the ideal of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country since he was a child. In order to learn the skills of riding, archery and swords and guns, he became a disciple of Zhou Tong and Chen Guang.
In the first year of Jingkang (1124), the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao Dynasty. The Jin army broke its promise to return Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and began to attack the Song Dynasty on a large scale. Yue Fei witnessed the iron hoofs of 金人 trampling on the land of the Central Plains, and felt extremely sad and angry. Yue Fei wanted to join the army, but he was also afraid that his wife, children, and mother would not be safe in the war. In order to encourage Yue Fei to go to the battlefield and fight the enemy bravely, his mother stabbed "Serve the country with loyalty" on Yue Fei's back. With the support of his mother and wife, Yue Fei no longer had any worries. He traveled far and wide and began a magnificent life of fighting against the Jin army.
After that, Yue Fei joined the army of Marshal Zhao Gou in Xiangzhou and led troops to surprise the bandits, which was appreciated by Zhao Gou. Yue Fei defeated the Jin soldiers in Shiyulin and killed the Jin army's generals. Later, he defeated the Jin soldiers in Huazhou and made another military exploit.
In the second year of Jingkang (1127), in order to stop the Jin people's attack, the 25-year-old Yue Fei boldly made a bold statement to Kang Wang Zhao Gou, hoping to personally lead the Sixth Army to cross north to boost the morale of the soldiers and regain the Central Plains. Zhao Gou refused to give his advice, but Yue Fei was dismissed from the military and expelled from the military camp on the charge that "a minor minister has overstepped his duties and said something inappropriate." Suffering this blow, Yue Fei did not lose heart. He first defected to the appeasement envoy Zhang Suo. After Zhang Suo and other generals of the main war faction were persecuted to death by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei fell under the command of Zong Ze.
After the Song Dynasty moved south, the Jurchen nobles went south almost year after year in order to completely eliminate the remaining power of the Zhao Song dynasty, constantly pursuing the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty headed by Zhao Gou. Facing the menacing Jurchen cavalry, Song Gaozong was almost unable to organize effective resistance and could only hide in Tibet. At the same time, at the beginning of the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty regime, debates between war and peace emerged within the court.
In the second year of Jianyan (1128), Yue Fei left Xinxiang, , and transferred to the Zongze Department in Kaifeng, where he led his troops to fight against Sishui Pass. In World War II, during the Zhuludu war, he defeated the enemy one after another. Zongze placed great emphasis on Yue Fei, who used military tactics skillfully and skillfully. After Zongze's death, Du Chong took over Zongze's command of the army. Wang Shan, his subordinate, rebelled with tens of thousands of troops. Yue Fei used 2,000 troops to quell the rebellion at Nanxunmen. Later, Du Chong led his troops to Jiankang. In the third year of Jianyan (1129), Du Chong led three thousand soldiers to the north to surrender the Jin soldiers. In order to preserve the strength to fight against gold, Yue Fei led his remaining troops to the HTML in Maoshan, and achieved a record of six battles and six victories in the HTML in Guangde.
In the fourth year of Jianyan (1130), Yue Fei moved his camp to Yixing, pacified the Taihu bandits, blocked the Jin army in Changzhou, and achieved four battles and four victories. Later, Yue Fei captured hundreds of Jin soldiers in a battle at Qingshui Pavilion in Yixing, and set up an ambush at Niutoushan south of Jiankang to attack the Jin soldiers and recover Jiankang. In the first year of Shaoxing (1131), Yue Fei joined forces with Zhang Jun and marched into Hongzhou. Yue Fei defeated Ma Jin in Jiujiang and captured eight thousand enemies.
In the third year of Shaoxing (1133), Yue Fei was ordered to go to Qianji, Jiangxi Province to pacify the bandits. At this time, the Yue family's army numbered nearly 20,000, and they were stationed in Jiangzhou, Qianzhou, and Guangzhou.Later, Emperor Gaozong summoned Yue Fei and his son in Lin'an. Yue Fei stated the important strategic significance of Jiankang to Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty. Emperor Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty praised Yue Fei frequently and gave him gold belts, saddles and other objects. General Niugao and others were assigned to Yue Fei, and at this time the "Yue Family Army" began to take shape.
In the fourth year of Shaoxing (1134), the Kingdom of Jin invaded the Southern Song Dynasty. Wushu and Sali took advantage of the pseudo-Qi Liu Kui and led 100,000 cavalry to Xianrenguan, the gateway to Shuchuan. Yue Fei was ordered to lead the Northern Expedition to recapture the six counties of Xiangyang controlled by the puppet Qi Dynasty, and was named Jiedushi. The 32-year-old Yue Fei became the youngest and sole military commander among the generals of the Southern Song Dynasty. The "Yue Family Army" led by him was deeply loved by the people due to its strict discipline and outstanding military exploits, and became the mainstay of the Southern Song Dynasty's struggle against the Jin Dynasty.
At this moment, Yue Fei's depressed mood for many years showed some joy for the first time. When Yue Fei led his army to garrison in Chizhou, facing the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, Yue Fei wrote the poem "Chizhou Cuiwei Pavilion" in a proud and joyful style:
After years of being dusty and full of levies, I especially look for fragrance in Cuiwei.
The beautiful mountains and rivers are not enough, and the horse's hooves urge you to return by the bright moon.
However, Yue Fei's ambitions were either ignored or thwarted by Song Gaozong. In the fifth year of Shaoxing (1135), in order to extinguish the flames of the peasant uprising in the Huxiang area, the Southern Song Dynasty court transferred the most effective Yue family army to Hunan to suppress the Yang Mo uprising with all its strength. After Yue Fei arrived in the Dongting area, he intensified the blockade and siege of the rebels and exerted military pressure; on the other hand, he sent people to the rebels to carry out individual activities to induce surrender and buy off the traitors. Soon, many camps of the rebel army were breached, and eventually Yang Mo was captured and died heroically. At this point, the turbulent peasant uprising in Jiangnan temporarily turned to a low ebb. After the death of Jin Taizong, fierce internal strife broke out among the Jurchen nobles. Nianhan, who supported the Puppet Qi, lost power, and Liu Yu became the scapegoat for the Jin Dynasty 's defeat in the war with the Song Dynasty. The Jurchen aristocracy in power, headed by Ta Lan, decided to return Henan and Shaanxi, which were originally under the jurisdiction of the Puppet Qi, to the Song Dynasty , with the Song Dynasty. Negotiate peace.
In the sixth year of Shaoxing (1136), Yue Fei was once again ordered to conduct the Northern Expedition. He was invincible and prepared to go straight to the Central Plains. At this time, Yue Fei's mother died of illness in the Ezhou military camp. Yue Fei was appointed as Xuanfu in Hedong, and started the northern expedition from Xiangyang to the Central Plains. In less than a month, the Yue family army successively recovered Ruzhou , Yingzhou, Shangzhou, Blockbusters such as Guozhou lost ground. However, due to lack of support from Emperor Gaozong, he was forced to withdraw his troops.
In the seventh year of Shaoxing (1137), Yue Fei was ordered to go to the Hajj to see Gaozong. During this period, he wrote " Good Horses vs. " with Gaozong, and later followed Gaozong to Jiankang. At the same time, Gaozong was preparing to transfer Liu Guangshi's headquarters to Yue Fei and expand his military strength to restore the Central Plains. Yue Fei was very excited when he saw that his troops had been expanded and that there was hope of regaining the Central Plains, so he wrote a letter "Begging for Discipleship". However, due to the opposition of the Privy Council Qin Hui, Yue Fei was filled with anger, so he wrote a letter begging to be dismissed from his military post, left Jiankang, and returned to Jiankang. Go to the mother's tomb in Lushan to guard the system. But later, Liu Yu, who was formerly affiliated with Liu Guangshi, launched a rebellion and threatened more than 100,000 people to surrender to the Jin puppet puppet Qi Liu Yu. This was known as the "Huaixi Mutiny" in history. When Yue Fei learned of the mutiny, he immediately went to Shu and expressed his willingness to lead his army to station in Huaidian and defend Jiankang during the imperial court.
In the eighth year of Shaoxing (1138), after three Northern Expeditions, Yue Fei returned to Ezhou and trained his troops hard, training day and night, hoping to deal a heavy blow to the Jin army. However, the surrender faction headed by Zhao Gou began a new round of "humiliation" Seek peace". A few months later, the treacherous Prime Minister Qin Hui knelt at the feet of the Jin envoy and agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. The Southern Song Dynasty was willing to become a vassal state of the Jin State and pay tribute to the Jin State every year. Yue Fei was so disheartened that he asked his staff to write a "Form of Thanks and Pardon", stating that he did not support the peace treaty and was determined to "take revenge on Yan Yun and serve the country."
In late autumn, Yue Fei was walking alone in the military camp, listening to the chirping of crickets outside the military tent, and looking at the bright moon hanging in the night sky. He remembered that he had been fighting in the field for more than ten years. He was still young, his temples had grown old, his homeland was still lost, and he wanted to regain the lost land. Frustrated, no one understood what was going on, and I was extremely depressed. In anger, I wrote "小重山":
The cicadas couldn't stop singing in the cold last night. Shocked back from a thousand-mile dream, it’s been the third update. Get up and walk around the steps alone. People are quiet, and the moon is dimly bright outside the curtain.
white head for fame. Old mountains and old pines and bamboos block the return journey. I want to express my thoughts to Yao Qin. If you have few close friends, who will listen when your string is broken?
In the ninth year of Shaoxing (1139), just as Yue Fei expected, not long after the peace agreement was concluded, internal strife broke out again in the Jin Dynasty. Wu Shu used Ta Lan to return Henan and Shaanxi to the Song Dynasty, and reported that Ta Lan had a secret collusion with the Southern Song Dynasty. He was seized of military power and soon executed for treason. Wu Shu took control of the military and immediately tore up the previous peace agreement with the Southern Song Dynasty. In the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), Wu Shu led a large army to attack Huainan Province. At this time, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty was in a panic and hurriedly issued an edict to Yue Fei to attack from Xiangyang to contain the Jin soldiers attacking Huainan and Shaanxi.
As soon as they heard about the war, they were very excited. The soldiers of the Song Dynasty rushed into the anti-golden battlefield as quickly as possible. In less than half a month, the Yuejia Army made a triumphant advance, sweeping across the west of Beijing, and met with the Jin soldiers stationed in Zhuxian Town, . The morale of the Yue family's army was high, and they fought for themselves. The people ate pots of slurry to welcome the king's army. Yue Fei couldn't help but feel happy, he had great momentum to regain the Central Plains soon.
Jin Wushu sighed in despair: It is easy to shake the mountain, but it is difficult to shake the Yue family's army! Wu Shu once prepared to evacuate from Kaifeng to Hebei to avoid the attack of Yue's army. Just when the people of the Central Plains were eagerly anticipating that the Yue Family Army would be within easy reach of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, Yue Fei received twelve gold medals in a row, and Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty ordered him to quickly regroup. Looking at the twelve gold medals in his hand, Yue Fei remembered what he had said to the soldiers before: "Go straight to Huanglong Mansion and drink with you!" How passionate he was at that time. Faced with the current situation, Yue Fei couldn't help but burst into tears with anger, and his liver and gallbladder burst into tears: Ten years of strength was wasted in one day! After the Yuejia Army moved to Ezhou, the northern loyalist army was unable to fight alone. Jin Wushu led his army to invade and occupy the lost territory that had just been recovered by the Song army. When Yue Fei heard the bad news on his way to class, he couldn't help but raise his head to the sky and scream: All the 4 states and counties will be rested in one day; the country and the country will be difficult to revive; the world will never be restored again!
Yue Fei's inner anger surged, and he wrote the masterpiece "Manjianghong" generously and heroically:
He was so angry that the rain stopped by the railing. Lift our sight, the sky and shouts, grand, vehement. Thirty years of fame and dust, eight thousand miles of clouds and moon. Don't wait to see the young man's head grow white, and it will be empty and sad.
Jingkang’s shame is still not over. When will the hatred of the ministers be destroyed? Driving a long car to break through, Helan Mountain is missing. The ambition is to eat Hun meat when hungry, and to drink the blood of Hun when they are thirsty. Be from scratch, clean up the old mountains and rivers, overturned Que.
After forcing Yue Fei to revolt, Song Gaozong, Qin Hui and his group revoked the military power of generals such as Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and stepped up their activities to surrender to the Jin people. After years of war, the Jin State was unable to attack the Song Dynasty and was preparing to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty again. Jin Wushu said in a letter to Qin Hui: "Yue Fei must be killed, and then peace can be achieved."
January 27, 1142, was the darkest day in history. On this day, Yue Fei was killed in the prison of Dali Temple on "unfounded" charges. Before Yue Fei was executed, he wrote on the prison record "The sky is clear! The sky is clear!" eight characters, expressing his final protest against the capitulationists. When the news of Yue Fei's death spread, all the people shed tears and all ministers shared their sorrow.
Twenty years after Yue Fei was killed, the reason why the Southern Song Dynasty survived was not due to the "Shaoxing Collaboration", but to Yue Fei and other famous generals who fought against the Jin Dynasty, which had inflicted heavy losses on the Jin Dynasty over the years.Twenty years later, Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty issued an edict to rehabilitate Yue Fei. He posthumously named Yue Fei the King of Hubei and his posthumous title Wu Mu. He reburied Yue Fei's body according to the ceremony and later built the "Zhonglie Temple" for him.
Today, the story about Yue Fei is well-known to every household. When we explore Yue Fei’s true image and deeds from history books, we are fascinated by the difficult and dangerous situation, the treacherous human nature, and the cruel and bloody war in that turbulent special era. The tragic scene of the destruction of the country and the destruction of the family, as well as the unswerving fighting spirit and spirit of resistance of the people at that time, shocked them. We seem to see how the loyal ministers preserved half of the Southern Song Dynasty with their flesh and blood amidst the humiliation and disaster of the country's fall. Especially how Yue Fei, a peasant boy from a humble background, resolutely abandoned his family and went to the battlefield, used his wisdom and courage to create an invincible iron-blooded army, and how he persisted in his mission of restoring the Central Plains under attack from both the enemy and ourselves, without any hesitation. , regard death as home. Although Yue Fei's life was short, he was a noble character, patriotic and family-loving, strong and unyielding, and became a national hero admired by descendants of Yan and Huang for eternity.
As the wheel of history rolls forward, I gradually feel that heroes like Yue Fei who saved the nation are like dazzling stars. They not only illuminated and guided the hopes of people at that time, but also made us modern people use him as a mirror to remember our aspirations.
would like to use this article to rectify the name of Yue Wu Mu .
Author: Cang Yang Rongruo, formerly known as Xu Zhigang, Gansu Gulangren, special researcher of the China Academy of Management Sciences, webmaster of Gansu Station of China Guofeng.com, founder of Gansu Conscience Education, editorial board member of the school magazine "Morning Light", and amateur painter. He is the author of a collection of poems called "Lonely Lotus in the Northwest", and his works have been published in national publications such as "Chinese Teachers", "Chinese Collectors", and "Young Literary Writers".
