One Piece of Song Dynasty

Liang Hongyu said: "Well, Liu Shuai should go back and study it carefully. After all, the Kingdom of Jin will be our biggest enemy in the future. The territory lost now will be taken back by officials in the future."

Liu Fa cupped his fists and said, "Yes, madam."

On December , Zongwang ordered Guo Yaoshi to lead thousands of cavalry as the vanguard. The army left Yanjing and advanced southward. At first, the Jin people did not trust Pharmacist Guo and were even suspicious of him, so they only ordered him to lead the way with a thousand riders as a rural guide. Pharmacist Guo "resigned because he had few troops, but refused to do it." Later, the Jin people added a thousand more cavalry to him and ordered him to "not kill without permission in the prefectures and counties he passed through." So Guo Yaoshi "secretly led hundreds of cavalry."

At this time, the northern border passes of the Song Dynasty, such as Songting Pass, Hancheng Town, Fujiakou, Shimen Town, Yehu Pass, Gubeikou, etc., were all lost, and the officers and soldiers guarding the passes had already collapsed. Yu Zhongzheng, the magistrate of Jingzhou, has been imprisoned by the Jin people; Wu Zhen, the magistrate of Jingzhou, has escaped from the sea; Gaogong O and Fang Zengping, the magistrates of Jizhou, have led their troops to escape south; Xu Jie, the magistrate of Tanzhou, has Wu and Huang Wen also fled one after another; Lin Lianghu, the Zhizhou governor of Shunzhou, and Tuolu expanded their way to Qiyan Mountain; Ge Feng, the Zhizhou governor of Zhuozhou, had already fled; Huang Lie, the Zhizhou governor of Yizhou, fell into the city and broke his left foot while escaping, and was unfortunately killed. He died after breaking his right foot.

What was Song Ting doing when the Jin army invaded on a large scale? In fact, starting in October of the seventh year of Xuanhe, Zhan Du, the prefect of Zhongshan Prefecture, reported to the police many times, saying that the Jin people showed signs of invading southward, and reminded the court to prepare early. It is a pity that Song Huizong and the court officials did not attach great importance to Zhan Du's reminder.

Cai Jing, the prefect of Yanshan Prefecture, also secretly reported the Jin people's movements many times. On November , he used his silver horse to report to the imperial court urgently and notified all the key passes, saying that the Jin people invaded Thanh Hoa County with large soldiers, robbed residents, burned down cottages, and destroyed salt fields. "If more than seventy chapters come in a day, if the court does not believe it, then beg for reorganization and management."

However, after receiving the emergency report, Cai You, the Privy Councilor, thought that this was just a local conflict on the border. He "hided the memorial and did not hear about it" and "never reported it" on the grounds that he was "fearful of hindering my thanks". He felt that it was not too late to make plans for the suburban rituals after they were completed, "but entrusting important matters to border ministers did not include paying attention to the temple." Because at this time, Song Huizong was holding a suburban ritual in Yuanqiu, the southern suburbs outside Tokyo. Not only did Cai You fail to report to Song Huizong in time, but even the prime ministers Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan did not know about it.

The suburban ceremony begins on November th. The so-called suburban ceremony is a great ceremony for the emperor to worship heaven and earth. It is a symbol of the emperor's status and a sign of the legitimacy of the political power. Worshiping the heavens on the winter solstice is an activity that rulers of all ages attach great importance to and is a national ceremony.

The ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven in the Song Dynasty was mainly manifested in the "three-year-old and one-office system", that is, once every three years, on the winter solstice in November, the emperor personally presided over the sacrifice of Haotian at the Temple of Heaven in the southern suburbs of Tokyo. This is different from the fact that the emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty personally held the ritual of worshiping heaven every year, and it is also different from the fact that later generations have ministers to worship heaven. The "three-year-old one-in-suburban system" is said to have started under Qin Shihuang, but it does not seem to have been actually implemented before the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty's "three-year-old and one-in-law system" was customized during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty and has been followed since then.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty paid special attention to holding grand ceremonies. During the twenty-five years of his reign, he personally presided over eighteen grand ceremonies, including the Southern Suburbs Ceremony and the Mingtang Ceremony. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven was very grand and complicated. The emperor only had to follow the guidance of the etiquette officer and complete the prescribed actions that he was already familiar with.

In the Song Dynasty, the winter solstice was also an important festival. Tokyo Menghualu says: "In the winter solstice in November, this festival is the most important in the capital. Even the poorest people will accumulate money in a year. On this day, they will wear new clothes, prepare food and drink, and enjoy sacrifices to their ancestors. Officials will be released to celebrate. Going back and forth is just like the New Year."

After the ceremony in the southern suburbs, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty slowly walked down from the altar to the Duancheng Hall of the Imperial Palace in the suburbs. At this time, the sky was still dark, and all the officials were gathered together. When they were congratulating, "Suddenly there was an owl singing in the palace room. If it matched the sound of praise and worship, everyone who heard it was horrified."

Song Huizong must have heard the owl's hoot, but I don't know if he realized that this was an ominous sign.

When a rural ceremony is held, the rural amnesty is generally performed at the same time. "Since our ancestors in the Song Dynasty, children were pardoned when they were in the suburbs at the age of three, which was unprecedented in ancient times."

According to the Records of Criminal Law in the History of the Song Dynasty: "In the twenty-fifth year of Huizong's reign, there were twenty-six amnesties, fourteen pardons for Qu, and thirty-seven Deyin." Deyin is also a type of pardon, and its scope of application is narrower than the amnesty. Pardon. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty had always been very lenient and kind in his administration, so many ministers believed that "the most benevolent sages can be attributed to the great intentions of Yao and Shun."

At the beginning of December, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty "wanted to express his gratitude", but the customs report of the Jin people's "invasion of soldiers" flew to the Privy Council like snowflakes. Cai You believed that giving thanks was an important part of the suburban ceremony. If these customs were presented at this time, it would destroy the festive atmosphere and have an adverse impact on the court's grand event. Therefore, he used the excuse of "fearing damage but giving thanks" as an excuse. Secret".

Cai You thought that if the Hedong Route was guarded by King Tong himself, it would be absolutely foolproof; and if the Yanshan Route was guarded by Guo Yaoshi, the ever-victorious army would be able to compete with the Jin people. Therefore, even if the Jin invaded, there would be "nothing to worry about", so the mainland was "slightly unprepared" and "ultimately unprepared".

Over the next five days, the customs reports became increasingly urgent. Prime Ministers Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan also knew about it. They were worried that if these reports were made public, it would cause chaos in people's hearts, so they went into hiding together with Cai You. In the past few days, people saw the three of them going to the capital hall every day to discuss matters and "returning at dusk", but they did not know what they discussed and "people were quite suspicious."

It was not until December th that Tong Guan suddenly returned from Taiyuan. Then, the news that the Jin people had invaded on a large scale spread in the society. "China and foreign countries were shocked and knew that something was going on in the north." Before Tong Guan returned to Beijing, the Jin invasion had been kept secret.

Tong Guan was originally ordered by Song Huizong to go to Hedong and Hebei to propagate peace. In other words, Song Huizong had given him full power over the security and defense of Hedong and Hebei, and placed great trust and high hopes in him. However, he has now left Hedong Taiyuan and returned to the capital without authorization. His behavior has constituted dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty. But "the prime minister and the governor cannot question him." Bai Shizhong, Li Bangyan and Cai You were all literati. Not only did they not dare to question Tong Guan, they also had to invite Tong Guan to the capital hall to discuss matters together.

The day after Tong Guan returned to Beijing, the Jin envoys Saluxun and Wang Jieru also came to Tokyo. They asked to meet the emperor, but "the ministers did not dare to introduce him." Song Huizong ordered Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan to receive them in Shangshu Province as envoys. Because they were sent by Zong Han, not the Emperor of Jin, they had to use the courtesy of envoys. l0ns3v3