To be honest, in the era when mountains and rivers were in decline in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the importance of Zhao Gou's identity was far greater than his ability.
In 1127 AD, Jin people went south to capture Song capital Bianjing, Song Dynasty royal family including Qin and Hui were all captured and plundered to the capital of the Jin Dynasty Five Kingdoms City (now Harbin).
Stills of the two emperors of Qin and Hui were captured
The destruction of the royal family of Zhao Song made Yellow River , Yangtze River Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the shore instantly lost their heads. If no one who is convincing in identity comes out and shouts, unites people's hearts. The iron hooves of the Jin people would break through the Yellow River and the Yangtze River in less than half a year.
At this time, Zhao Gou was holding troops as the Grand Marshal of the World, so he avoided the fate of being captured. As a banner that embodies the orthodox Han people, Zhao Gou's existence allowed the Han people to stabilize half of the country in Jiangnan. Although this flag has not floated inside and outside the Great Wall of , it has at least not fallen. Nanming is missing a person with such a status, and the Han people have been braided for nearly 300 years.
Zhao Gou's stills
After the Song Dynasty moved south to build the capital of Hangzhou, Zhao Gou changed Hangzhou to Lin'an. Meaning a temporary place to settle down. At this time, Zhao Gou still wanted to fight the Central Plains in the north and recover his homeland. However, after nearly ten years of fierce battle with Jin , Zhao Gou was really scared by the Jin Dynasty and could only survive in Jiangnan and barely protect himself.
To this day, people all think that Zhao Gou is weak and incompetent. Those who hold this idea do not consider reality. In the Jingkang Incident era, even if Qin Emperor and Han Wu were placed in Zhao Gou's position, they might not be able to do better than Zhao Gou. Because the Zhao Song Dynasty itself is a congenital deformed dynasty.
One, The emphasis on culture and over military in the Song Dynasty made Zhao Gou have no capital to fight against the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains.
Zhao Song was established by force to force the orphan and widowed mother to abdicate. Since I have done this, I must be afraid of being imitated by others. In order to kill the seeds of military generals usurping the throne in the cradle, the Song Dynasty established a national policy of emphasizing culture and neglecting military affairs at the beginning of its establishment. Because the status of the entire Song Dynasty warriors was too low, there was no soil for nurturing brave generals. Since the Song Dynasty's national policy of emphasizing culture over military affairs was destined to fail to have generals who could fight, it would be impossible for the Song Dynasty to have soldiers who could fight. After more than a hundred years of such a vicious cycle, the Northern Song Dynasty's foreign war has been defeated more than defeated less. Not only did the land not be developed at all, but instead raised powerful enemies such as Liao, Jin, Xixia , Tubo , Dali.
Many coexisting regimes around the Song Dynasty
When Zhao Legou came to Zhao Legou, the Jin people occupied the Central Plains again. Who did he rely on to go to the Northern Expedition of the Central Plains? The system that emphasizes culture and neglects military affairs is not something that Zhao Gou can change just by saying that it is changed. Don’t say that Yue Fei , Han Shizhong and other famous ZTE players can fight. To fight the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, a comprehensive war must be fought. What is needed to command such wars is a military commander who can fully compose the world and make perfect plans. And this ability is not available to the famous ZTE general Han Shizhong and Yue Fei. They all won in local war .
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong stills
The second: The geographical location determines Zhao Gou's passive position
The two Song combined for more than three hundred years, which may be the smallest territory in the unified dynasty in history, with less than 3 million square kilometers. Tang Dynasty Anshi Rebellion occurred in , An Lushan Rebels captured Chang'an . Tang Xuanzong Li Longji fled to Sichuan. And the Crown Prince Li Heng could run to Lingwu, which is today the Emperor of Wuwei, Gansu. And this situation is simply unimaginable in the Song Dynasty. If Zhao Gou wants to run to Wuwei , then he will run to the territory of Xixia. It can be seen that the strategic depth of the entire Song Dynasty was very small. And when it comes to , the Southern Song , the strategic depth is even smaller. If you are not careful, you will be taken to your home by someone and you will have nowhere to run.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, there were serious innate shortcomings. This was not the incompetence of the founding emperors of the Song Dynasty, but a problem left to them by history. This problem could not be solved until the demise of the Song Dynasty.
It can be said that the loss of Youyun Sixteen State is the beginning of the glory of the Han people towards decline. From then on, the glory of the Tang Dynasty no longer existed, and the great rejuvenation of the nation became a long way to go.
Youyun Sixteen Prefectures Map
Before the Northern Song Dynasty was established, Senior Emperor Shi Jingtang presented the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun (now northwestern Shanxi, Hebei and Beijing-Tianjin area). Khitan 's territory was extended to the Great Wall. From then on, North China Plain a flat horse, and nomadic cavalry could gallop across the land of the Han people and plunder everywhere; and the Dangxiang people later took advantage of the contradictions between the Song and Liao, and gradually became stronger in the cracks, until they finally broke away from the rule of the Song Dynasty and established the Western Xia Dynasty.
The Xixia range in its heyday covers the entire Ningxia area today, most areas of Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia. This location has been a must-fight for military strategists since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Emperor Wu of Han attacked Xiongnu , hundreds of thousands of soldiers buried their bones in the desert, thousands of warriors wrapped in horses and corpses, and fought with the Huns for many years. The recovered Hexi Corridor is here; and Zhang Qian took 11 years to penetrate the desert, cross the vast Gobi Desert, and traveled thousands of miles to the land Silk Road opened by the Western Regions must also pass through this; most importantly, the Hexi Corridor is a natural horse farm, and has been an important supply place for cavalry and horses in the Central Plains dynasty.
Xixia map
The loss of strategic areas in the northeast and northwest has allowed the entire Song Dynasty to maintain its military defensive force for more than 300 years, and in later historical books, it was always named "weak Song"!
The surrounding powerful enemies of the Song Dynasty, the blockade of the land Silk Road and the occupation of the Hexi Corridor basically cut off the possibility of the Song Dynasty purchasing and raising high-quality war horses and creating heavy cavalry . Therefore, for more than 300 years of the Song Dynasty, the fearless soldiers of the Song Dynasty could only resist the attacks of the nomadic cavalry on the thousand-mile plain with their own flesh and blood. It was never possible to launch a decisive cavalry battle with the surrounding nomadic peoples in military terms. Whenever I think of this, I feel that the world owe the Song Dynasty a fair evaluation. And this is not something Zhao Gou can change.
Third: Zhao Gou has no descendants
In June 1162 AD, the 56-year-old Song Gaozong Zhao Gou has been working hard in the harem for more than 30 years. He is not a stingy person. Since he ascended the throne, he has been working diligently to ensure that all the three thousand beauties in the harem can enjoy the noble work of rain and dew. However, over the years, no beauty who has been lucky enough to give birth to a child or a half daughter for him.
Thinking back to Zhao Gou back then, before the Jingkang Incident, he was an excellent prince who could pull a 800-pound bow; after the Jingkang Incident, he was an escaped general who could cross mountains and ridges, walk on ice and snow, and cruise the rivers and seas.
However, his excellent genes have made him lose his successor. At this time, we have reason to sigh, lament that the beauties in the deep palace are destined to wither in loneliness; we also have reason to sympathize with Zhao Gou's past, tears in his tears.
The elderly Zhao Gou may feel that everything he does is to make wedding clothes for others. There is no motivation to make progress.
The fourth: Zhao Gou has strong psychological stress resistance.
Although Zhao Gou is the emperor, facing the surrounding strong enemies, Zhao Gou's emperor for the past 30 years is really cowardly.
Since Jianyan crossed the south to , facing the fierce Jin Kingdom in the north, Zhao Gou has been cautious for half his life and dared not breathe. In 1141 AD, the Shaoxing peace agreement was signed between the Song and Jin , and the Southern Song Dynasty resigned to the Jin Dynasty.Facing the "Letter of State" from the Jin Kingdom, Zhao Gou wanted to bow his head and surrender; when the emperor of the Jin Kingdom celebrated his birthday, he would send someone to give gifts; when the emperor of the Jin Kingdom got married, he would send someone to congratulate him; when the emperor of the Jin Kingdom accepted a concubine, he would send someone to give him a big supplement; when the emperor of the Jin Kingdom usurped the throne, he would send someone to congratulate him; when the emperor of the Jin Kingdom died, he would send someone to pay his condolences. He was suppressed by the Jin Kingdom for the rest of his life.
Recalling half of his life, more than 30 years of golden swords and iron horses, the changing situation made Zhao Gou feel a splitting headache, and more than 5,000 frequent Wushan clouds and rains in Wushan day and night exhausted his vitality. In June 1162 AD, 56-year-old Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou, abdicated the throne to Song Xiaozong Zhao Ling . 25 years later, Zhao Gou was old in the deep palace and died at the age of 80.
