History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1006: The Han and the Traitors Cannot Coexist 2: Strategic Deception

However, even though my mouth said no, my body was very honest.

Interestingly, the History of Song Dynasty is almost silent about what happened next in the Song Dynasty. Even if it does, it is reluctant and vague. Fortunately, the Northern Han and Khitan people took the trouble to record it in their little notebooks for us:

Let’s first listen to the bloody and tearful accusation of the Northern Han Dynasty:
"In October (976)... the Song emperor died, and Jin Wang Guangyi ascended the throne... the Song army retreated and sent envoys to thank Liao. In December... the Song army returned and plundered military supplies, reported to Liao and begged for grain as a favor."

"In May (977), we sent an envoy to thank Liao (for the gift of bushels of millet) and report the situation in Song... In July, we reported the invasion of Song to Liao... In October, we sent another envoy to report the situation in Song to Liao..."

Let’s take a look at what the Khitans recorded with great concern:

"(976) December...Han reported that the Song army had returned and plundered its military stores, and begged for food as a favor."

"(977) In May... the Han sent an envoy to express gratitude (for the gift of food) and to report the situation in Song... In July, the Han reported the invasion of Song and sent an envoy to help the Han with war horses... In October, the Han sent an envoy again to report the situation in Song... In November, the Han sent an envoy again to report the situation in Song..."

During the one year since Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, there were four or five large-scale military conflicts. The word "war" is not used because these conflicts were most likely the personal actions of the Song Dynasty's border generals, not military invasions involving the whole country's strength. They were far smaller in scale than the "Three Expeditions to the Northern Han", but they were enough to make the Northern Han unable to cope and had to repeatedly beg for help from the Khitan father, asking for soldiers, food, and arms.

In the face of the Song Dynasty's "betrayal", the Khitan said not to care about these details, these small misunderstandings will not affect the friendship between Song and Liao. We should have a big picture view, look forward to everything, and defend our common values.

The Khitans uphold their values, while the Northern Han angrily curse cerebral thrombosis.

As mentioned above, the Song Dynasty's recovery of the Southern Tang provided us with a textbook template for ancient three-dimensional warfare, including public opinion warfare, financial warfare, intelligence warfare, and finally direct military strikes, which ultimately achieved amazing results. When facing a powerful enemy in the north, the Song Dynasty would certainly not give up this mature strategy.

For example, financial warfare.

During the reign of Taizu, in order to concentrate on recovering the south, he relaxed controls on trade with Liao, allowing merchants to trade across the border without government interference.

The mainstream view now is that opening border trade can effectively ease the conflicts between nomadic peoples and agricultural peoples. No one is born a robber. The reason why nomadic peoples go south to rob is because they lack the necessary supplies of life, especially when the grassland encounters bad weather, they will face a serious survival crisis due to lack of food, so they are forced to go south in groups to rob. After all, robbery is also life-threatening, especially after the Great Wall appeared.

If the people in the Central Plains were willing to exchange food, cloth, pots and pans for the furs and other things they could provide, the nomadic peoples would certainly choose to coexist peacefully.

Zhao Kuangyin allowed border trade to proceed freely, equally and safely, and the Khitans could exchange the daily necessities they needed for their daily necessities. The painful memory of "conquering the Three Passes in the North" had not yet faded, so which Khitan would clamor for an invasion to the south?

There is a constant stream of business and travel between the two countries, and the border area is thriving.

After Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, he quickly announced that border trade would be brought under supervision and could no longer be left unchecked. The specific approach was to set up customs (quash services) in border cities such as Zhenzhou, Yizhou, Xiongzhou, Bazhou, and Cangzhou.

The establishment of institutions such as the quaichang, huituwu, and zhebowu not only increased customs revenue for the court, but more importantly, effectively controlled bilateral trade. The Liao Kingdom was more economically dependent on the Song Dynasty, which allowed the Song Dynasty to strangle the Liao Kingdom through this measure and launch financial and trade wars against the Liao Kingdom. At the same time, it would create a bargaining chip out of nothing, and "relaxing trade controls" would become a diplomatic bargaining chip to force the Liao Kingdom to make concessions to the Song Dynasty on other issues.

Before deciding to formally launch military action, the Song Dynasty would not tighten the noose too much. In this trade control, the Song Dynasty opened up the trade of bulk commodities such as spices, tea, and luxury goods (rhinoceros horns and ivory), only touching the skin and fur, leaving room for the Khitans to imagine.

The Song Dynasty strengthened its control over alum and salt from the Liao Kingdom.

Salt, needless to say, has been an important strategic resource since ancient times, and it is also related to the court's fiscal revenue; alum can be used for printing and dyeing, smelting, and was also one of the main export products of the Liao Dynasty at that time. The profit of alum is quite high. During the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty, a law was enacted to prohibit private alum sales, making alum, like salt and iron, all state-owned. If there is a violation, all the illegal gains and stolen goods will be confiscated. Now Zhao Guangyi has increased the punishment for private alum sales, stipulating that anyone who smuggles three kilograms of Liao alum will be sentenced to death.

Tightening the Liao-alum trade can increase the fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty. The deeper meaning, of course, is a trade war against the Liao Kingdom, just like the Lighthouse Country's control over commodities such as cars and chips, and our countermeasures against some of their agricultural products.

While the Khitans were still bargaining with the Song Dynasty over trade issues at the negotiation table, the Song Dynasty set up three military fortresses in the north: a new city was built in the north of Luzhou and named "Weisheng Army"; Guangyangzhai in Zhenzhou was promoted to "Pingding Army"; and Yong'an Town in Yanzhou was promoted to "Bao'an Army".

In May 977, Zhao Guangyi sent his attendant Xin Zhongfu to visit Khitan. When he reached the border, he received a bombshell news: the imperial court planned to recapture Northern Han!

Khitan was the father of the Northern Han. Once the Central Plains took action, Khitan would certainly interfere. Xin Zhongfu sent a letter to the court, asking for instructions on the visit. The court replied: "Go! (There is an imperial edict to send you)"

The specific content of the official documents exchanged between the two parties is unknown, but judging from what happened later, it was not that Xin Zhongfu was afraid of death, but rather that he was seeking follow-up instructions on diplomatic rhetoric.

At that time, Zhao Guangyi had been on the throne for just over half a year. As mentioned above, there were as many as five large-scale military conflicts (forcing the Northern Han to urgently ask for help from the Khitan). Almost every month, the Northern Han would bleed a little. A trade war was also launched, and military bases were set up on the border... Xin Zhongfu had to fully exchange views with the Khitan on these issues, explain and communicate, or deceive and coax, in short, to appease the Khitan's emotions and try to ease the relationship between the two countries. If the Song Dynasty suddenly launched a war of annihilation against the Northern Han at this time, wouldn't the friendly countries be surprised? The court instructed: Everything remains the same. Just do as we agreed before, Xin Zhongfu had a plan in mind.

After arriving in Khitan, the Liao monarchs and ministers warmly entertained Xin Zhongfu, and the two sides had in-depth and friendly exchanges on issues of mutual concern. I personally imagined:
Liao: "Why do you keep bullying Northern Han recently?"

Xin: "You'll get used to it slowly."

Liao: "You set up the monopoly..." Xin: "You have no control over it."

Liao: "You have established three new armies..."

Xin: “We do.”

In a harmonious and friendly atmosphere, the then highest leader of the Liao Dynasty, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelu Xian, finally asked a question that he was particularly concerned about:
"I heard that you have a tough guy named Dang Jin. How many hard-core ruthless people are there like him?"

Dang Jin, the "Iron Fool" mentioned in the previous article "Three Expeditions to the Northern Han", galloped around the city of Taiyuan many times as if he was in an empty space, and even almost captured and killed the Northern Han's number one general - Yang Ye (the prototype of "The Yang Family Generals"), who was known as "Yang the Invincible". He was so powerful that even the people of Liao were in awe of this name, not to mention the Northern Han.

Xin Zhongfu was in a dramatic mood, "Who? Dang Jin? Dang-Jin... Oh, hi! Dang Jin? I almost forgot. Our place has many famous generals, and a fool like Dang Jin can't even be ranked. He is just an ordinary and unknown general. There are a lot of people like him, too many to count!"

The Liao rulers and their ministers felt a chill down their spines when they heard this.

After a period of contact, Emperor Jingzong of Liao became more and more impressed with Xin Zhongfu, so he offered very favorable conditions, intending to let Xin Zhongfu stay in Liao and contribute to its construction.

Xin Zhongfu flatly refused, saying that he would rather die than stay (trust is the basis of righteousness, righteousness cannot be kept, only death can be the only option).

Emperor Jingzong of Liao praised him for having the spirit of Su Wu and knew that he could not be forced to stay, so he sent him back with the highest respect and generous gifts.

After hearing this, Zhao Guangyi was even more impressed: "Xin Zhongfu bravely ventured into the dragon's den and the tiger's lair. He was experienced and adaptable, and lived up to the emperor's orders. If there were more Xin Zhongfu, there would be no need to worry about the unrest in the world!"

In September, Zhao Guangyi built a new military parade platform in the west of Bianzhou City and held a grand military parade there. According to historical records, the army stretched for 9 miles, with five-colored flags as command flags. The soldiers advanced and retreated according to the flag signals, and "thousands of chariots and horses moved in unison." Even the historians could not help but sigh, saying that "the splendor of the army is unparalleled in modern times."

When the Khitan envoys came to visit, Zhao Guangyi ordered his guards to compete with them in horseback archery, which was a traditional diplomatic etiquette. The horseback archery skills of the Song Dynasty soldiers left the Khitan envoys dumbfounded, because they were extremely shocked to find that the horseback archery skills of the Central Plains soldiers far exceeded those of their horseback people who were known for their ability to ride and shoot.

Not only that, Zhao Guangyi also personally participated in the horse riding and shooting competition. It is said that he shot a running beast with one arrow. The Liao envoys who attended the review shouted "Long live the emperor" on the spot, indicating that even the emperor was so skilled in horse riding and shooting, and the strength of the Central Plains was beyond their expectations.

At the end of this year, Shi Wen, the commander of Hutao Village of the Northern Han Dynasty, defected to the Song Dynasty. Zhao Guangyi was delighted and said to his brother Zhao Guangmei: "Taiyuan, I will take it!"

This sentence reached the ears of Liu Jiyuan of the Northern Han Dynasty. At the same time, another sentence was heard. According to the intelligence personnel of the Northern Han Dynasty, Jinzhou, Luzhou, Xingzhou, Mingzhou, Zhenzhou, Jizhou and other places have hurriedly produced a large number of weapons and equipment and siege equipment, and at the same time gathered a large amount of food and grass...

The actions of Jin and Lu were undoubtedly aimed at Northern Han; Xing and Ming were both east of Taihang Mountain, and they could use the "Eight Passes of Taihang" to attack Northern Han and block Liao reinforcements; Zhen and Ji were important towns on the Song-Liao border, and their main purpose was to contain Liao. From a military deployment perspective, this was very much in line with the preparations for a large-scale military operation against Northern Han.

As a result, "the ruler of Northern Han was very frightened" and after a brief thought, he sent his son Liu Xu to Khitan as a hostage in the first month of 978, and sent a large sum of money and generous gifts to ask for help from Khitan.

This made the Khitan very embarrassed, because the Song Dynasty was at best "preparing to fight", and they had not really started. If I stationed troops in Taiyuan at this time, wouldn't it be excessive defense? You are too... oversensitive. Don't be suspicious all day long and treat each other as imaginary enemies. You should strengthen high-level political mutual trust, promote the healthy development of the new international order, cooperate for win-win results, resolutely abandon the Cold War mentality, and insist on resolving differences through dialogue...

No matter how the Northern Han cried and begged, the Liao Kingdom always insisted on putting the overall situation first.

According to later records, there should have been a secret agreement between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom similar to the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty, so the Liao Kingdom, as a protectorate of the Northern Han Dynasty, took the initiative to play the role of peacemaker and rarely took sides on the issue of Song and Han. This is what we call the strategic deception of the Song Dynasty to the Khitan, which will be mentioned later.

There are not many records about Northern Han and Liao in 978, but there are relatively more records about Song. However, apart from daily work, there are only two major events: Chen Hongjin of Quanzhou surrendered his territory, and Qian Hongchu of Wuyue surrendered his territory. Song recovered the southern vassal states, leaving only Northern Han and the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun isolated overseas, so it is connected to the node in the previous article: Song will formally unify Northern Han by force.

On October 1 of that year, the Khitan sent senior officials to visit Bianzhou to wish Zhao Guangyi a happy birthday. After the visit, Zhao Guangyi specially sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs (official officer, cabinet door attendant) Wang Quan to escort the Khitan delegation to the border, thus creating a precedent of "sending an envoy", which was unprecedentedly high-standard, far exceeding "sending you to the outside of the village", and the Minister of Foreign Affairs directly sent you to the border.

Our friends from the Liao Kingdom were very happy. Look - this is the unbreakable friendship between Song and Liao!
The following month (November), the Song Dynasty sent a senior official to the Liao Kingdom as a national envoy to wish Emperor Jingzong of Liao a happy new year.

"Look, this is the unbreakable friendship between Song and Liao!" The Liao people were immersed in joy and peace, and no one believed that war would break out.

Just as the Liao people were decorating their houses to celebrate the New Year, Zhao Guangyi came to the Lecture Hall again. This time, he focused on inspecting the Song Dynasty's most powerful weapons - catapults and crossbows. "Before a general goes to attack the Northern Han, he must first practice martial arts." Before slaughtering pigs and sheep, he must first sharpen his knives.

A few days later, Khitan also sent a messenger to congratulate Zhengdan, "Happy New Year, my friend."

"Well said. I will definitely be very happy in the coming New Year."

(End of this chapter)