I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 329 Starvation, Burning the Village, Flattening the Wheels: The Threefold Annihilation in Liaodong

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As is well known, the Jin Dynasty was founded by the Jurchen people, and Liaodong was one of the birthplaces of the Jurchens and the core area of ​​their early activities. It was after Wanyan Aguda seized Liaodong that he laid the foundation for the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Liaodong was the birthplace of the Jin dynasty.

Losing Liaodong would weaken the sense of belonging of the Jurchen tribes to the Jin state, and might even trigger internal centrifugal forces, affecting the cohesion of the regime.

Liaodong, with its strategically important location bordering the Korean Peninsula to the east, the Mongolian steppes to the west, and the Central Plains to the south, served as a natural barrier for the Jin Dynasty against external threats. It blocked the southward incursions of Mongol tribes and other forces in Liaodong (such as Goryeo), thus ensuring the safety of the Jin Dynasty's core territory.

If Liaodong loses its geographical barrier, the Jin Dynasty may be directly exposed to threats from the Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty, Mongolian tribes, and Goryeo, and be forced into a passive situation of fighting on multiple fronts.

Liaodong also served as a springboard for the Jin dynasty's southward expansion. From Liaodong, the Jin dynasty could directly attack the heartland of the Liao dynasty (the Yan-Yun region), and then move south to attack the Song dynasty, making it a strategic fulcrum for achieving its rule over vast areas of the north.

The Jin dynasty had always used Liaodong as its base to advance southward, eventually destroying the Liao and forcing the Song dynasty to retreat. If Liaodong were lost, the Jin dynasty would lose its strategic rear and springboard for expansion, not only unable to continue its southward advance, but also potentially facing a counterattack from the remnants of the Liao dynasty, losing the territories it had already occupied, and becoming a small regional regime.

The Liaodong region had a well-developed agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing industry, and was rich in resources such as grain, horses, furs, and minerals (such as iron), which provided important material support for the military expansion and daily rule of the Jin Dynasty.

Horses and ironware, in particular, were crucial to the Jin army, which was primarily composed of cavalry. It can be said that the supply of resources in Liaodong was directly related to the Jin army's combat effectiveness.

Losing this region would leave the Jin state facing severe shortages of resources, making it difficult to maintain its ruling apparatus, and could even lead to internal turmoil due to economic collapse.

The area around Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo Road was a major distribution area for the Jurchen population. The four counties of Liaoyang, Heye, Yifeng, and Shicheng, as well as Changyi Town, had more than 40,000 households. If each household had five people, the population would be more than 200,000.

Including the Meng'an Mouke households of Tokyo Road and the population of Han, Khitan, Bohai and other ethnic groups in various prefectures and counties, the total number is roughly over 1.4 million.

This area was definitely one of the settlements of the Jin Dynasty. By controlling Liaodong, the Jin Dynasty was able to stabilize its population base and ensure the replenishment of its soldiers.

Without Liaodong, the Jin army would face the predicament of depleted manpower, interrupted equipment and logistical supplies, making it difficult to sustain a continuous war against Liao and Song.

Therefore, Liaodong was the fundamental territory of the Jin Dynasty. From the origin of its regime and military security to economic support, it played an irreplaceable role and was an important guarantee for the Jin Dynasty to maintain its rule. If Liaodong were lost, the Jin Dynasty's rise would be completely interrupted, and it might even decline rapidly in the confrontation with Liao and Song, making it difficult to become a powerful regime that ruled the north.

In short, Liaodong was a region that the Jin dynasty could not afford to lose under any circumstances.

The alliance between the Song Dynasty and the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to seize Liaodong was tantamount to a war of survival for the Jin Dynasty.

Even in a seemingly hopeless situation where they were at a disadvantage in terms of manpower and equipment, the Jin Dynasty would inevitably fight to the death, leaving Wanyan Aguda and his men with no other choice.

Guerrilla tactics were precisely their core strategy for offsetting the Song army's artillery advantage and wearing down the Song-Liao allied forces.

Having already suffered heavy losses, the Jin army was well aware of the power of the Song army's Li Lin cannon.

Through these battles with the Song army, outstanding Jin generals such as Wanyan Aguda had concluded that these heavy firearms, capable of breaching city walls, while able to exert pressure on the main battlefield, were limited by two fatal flaws: First, their enormous weight required dozens of people or even livestock to pull them, making them extremely difficult to traverse in the mountainous, forested, and swampy terrain of Liaodong. The hundreds of miles from the Liaoxi Corridor to the heart of Liaoyang involved traversing the mountains of the former Goguryeo territory and crossing the muddy wetlands of the lower Liao River, which was enough to limit the artillery units to no more than ten miles a day. Second, the logistical costs were enormous. Each cannon required a large amount of gunpowder and shells every day, and the transport teams also had to carry provisions and tools. Any delay would lead to the predicament of "cannons at the front lines, shells on the way."

In response to the weaknesses of Li Lin's artillery, the Jin army adopted a guerrilla strategy of "harassment as the main tactic, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak":

In other words, the Jurchen cavalry broke into smaller units, relying on their familiarity with the mountainous terrain, and attacked the Song army's supply lines by night and in hiding. They did not engage the artillery in direct combat, but instead targeted the auxiliary troops transporting gunpowder and provisions, setting traps in the forest, setting fire to the supply wagons with rockets, or launching surprise attacks on scattered guard units at night, leaving the Song army's Li Lin cannons in a constant predicament of "having cannons but no ammunition, or having ammunition but no cannons."

Once, when the Song army's artillery reached the Sarhu Valley, the Jin army first sent a small force to feign an attack, luring the guards to split up and pursue them. Then, the main force launched a surprise attack on the gunpowder carts in the rear. After a loud explosion, more than ten cannons were instantly rendered useless due to a lack of ammunition.

Furthermore, Liaodong has many old Liao Dynasty fortresses. Although these fortresses built against the mountains are not as sturdy as the city walls, they can block key passages. The Jin army can hide its main force in the fortresses and let the Song army's cannons bombard the outer earthen walls. In any case, the fortresses have sufficient food reserves and the soldiers are familiar with the tunnels and bunkers. When the Song army's Li Lin cannons are forced to retreat due to running out of ammunition or logistical disruptions, they can then attack from the fortresses and reclaim the lost territory.

Not long ago, in the Battle of Shichengzhai on the outskirts of Liaoyang, the Song army's cannons bombarded and collapsed half of the fortified wall, only to find that there were deep trenches and antlers behind the wall. The Jin army suppressed the attack from the hills on both sides with bows and arrows. When the Song soldiers were building ladders to attack the city, the Jin army also harassed the Song army from the rear through tunnels. The attack dragged on until the Song army ran out of ammunition and food and had to retreat. The Jin army was unable to capture Shichengzhai.

At the same time, the Jin dynasty used resources and women plundered from Goryeo to persuade the remaining Liao army to surrender.

The remnants of Liao are now extremely poor, unable to even pay their soldiers' salaries, and their food supplies come from the Song Dynasty. They are still unable to win battles and have no spoils of war.

In the short term, people are driven by patriotism, and they are willing to endure hardship without any reward in order to restore their country, avenge their country, and wipe away their shame and hatred.

But as time went on, the rumbling of his stomach drowned out the slogans of restoring the nation, his frostbitten fingers could no longer grip the weapons of revenge, and his patriotic feelings were worn down to a thin layer by the daily hunger and cold.

Then he saw that the Song soldiers around him received a heavy salary every month, wore cotton-padded coats that could withstand minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, slept in good tents and quilts, and could light coal and charcoal for heating in their tents. During festivals and after victories, they received canned wine and meat. If they were injured, they were treated by military doctors, and if they died in battle, their families could receive enough pensions to make a living.

The scales in the hearts of the Liao soldiers gradually tipped.

Both were fighting for their country, so why were the Song soldiers well-fed and warmly clothed, while we had to go hungry and eat frozen beans? And those beans were provided by the Song Dynasty to the Liao Dynasty.

Both Song soldiers and Song generals abandoned their families and homes, but the Song court had a safety net for them. The Song court took care of them from birth to death, and even provided them with houses, land, and women. In contrast, the Song generals who died in battle were nothing more than a handful of dust in the wilderness, forgotten by everyone.

Those once loudly proclaimed "restoration of the nation and wiping away of shame" gradually transformed into a simple longing for "a full meal" during nights of hunger and despair.

Liao soldiers often secretly borrowed grain from the Song army.

In response, the Song Dynasty was generous. No matter who came to borrow, there was a military supervisor to handle the matter. They would politely give the Liao soldiers more food, and they would also help the Liao soldiers when they needed assistance, such as treating the wounded.

In casual conversation, Song soldiers would say, "War is about national strength, not just individual bravery. Look at us, our cannons are lined up, bombarding the Jin dogs until they're stunned. We just go in and hack and slash, and our battle merits are practically free. Look at you, your armor and weapons aren't even complete, you can only fight to the death. And that's not all, you're not even well-fed or warmly dressed. How can you win battles? You're just sending yourselves to your deaths."

Hearing what the Song soldiers said, the Liao soldiers felt a deep sense of resentment and injustice.

A Liao soldier risked his life to kill two Jin soldiers, but his reward was only half a bag of moldy grain. If he had done the same in the Song army, he would have earned enough for two acres of fertile land, two strings of cash, a wife, and a celebratory feast with plenty of wine and canned meat.

A junior Liao soldier, looking at his boots where his toes were worn down to the point of being exposed and he could only stuff them with straw to keep them from freezing off, and then at the Song soldiers wearing thick felt boots, felt his former "Liao people should die in battle" spirit vanish like firewood soaked in snow water, no longer able to ignite. The Liao soldiers huddled together around the stove the Song army had lent them for warmth. No one mentioned "restoring their kingdom" anymore. They were all thinking that if they surrendered to the Song, they would have no worries about food and clothing, and everything would be taken care of; if they stayed in the Liao army, they might freeze or starve to death in the trenches tomorrow, with no one even to collect their bodies.

An old soldier spat and said, "The Liao Dynasty has come to this state because of the emperor's fault. Why must we be buried alive with them?!"

Another veteran said, "If we surrender to the Song Dynasty, we can still kill the Jurchens and avenge our grievances. Why should we stay in the Liao Kingdom and sacrifice ourselves in vain?!"

Even more extreme, some directly pointed out, "What kind of nation and country are we? We can't even fill our stomachs, how can we talk about avenging our humiliation?"
These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

A large number of Liao soldiers defected to the Song army.

The Song Dynasty had long ago given instructions that Liao people who were unwilling to surrender to the Song Dynasty should not be forced, and that their spirit of sacrifice for the Liao Dynasty should be praised and they should be helped if possible; while Liao people who were willing to surrender to the Song Dynasty would be accepted as long as they grew their hair long and changed their left-fastening to right-fastening.

The Song Dynasty even put forward a slogan: No matter who you were before, as long as you surrender to the Song Dynasty, you are a Song person.

Growing hair can bring warm cotton clothes, and altering clothes can bring a bowl full of hot porridge. These tangible benefits are more comforting to a hungry stomach than the vague idea of ​​"restoring the country".

This led to a large number of Liao soldiers voluntarily surrendering to the Song army.

Yelü Chun, Xiao Gan, Yelü Dashi, and others saw this and were anxious, but they could only pretend not to see it. The Liao Kingdom now relied on the Song Dynasty for supplies, military support, and everything else. How could they possibly have the confidence to accuse the Song Dynasty of undermining them?
Furthermore, the Song Dynasty never forced the Liao people to submit; whether or not they submitted to the Song Dynasty was entirely voluntary.

The Song Dynasty even encouraged and incentivized patriotic Liao people to fight against the Jin. The Song court issued a proclamation stating that even if a Liao person killed a Jin person, the Jin person's head could be exchanged for one string of cash in the Song-controlled area, which would then be used to reward these patriotic Liao people.

Of course, since the Liao Dynasty was already a mere shell of its former self, there were very few people left who still insisted on helping it to be restored.

Ultimately, sentimentality is like a fire in the dead of winter; it can warm you for a while, but not forever. When survival itself becomes a problem, the so-called righteousness of the nation and the deep-seated hatred of blood feuds ultimately cannot compare to a hot meal, a warm coat, or a guarantee that allows one's family to survive.

It is worth mentioning that some Liao people were biased and believed that the Song Dynasty was hypocritical, as it was allying with the Liao Dynasty to destroy the Jin Dynasty while undermining the Liao Dynasty. They preferred to surrender to the Jin Dynasty rather than the Song Dynasty.

People have different minds, and each person shows their own face.

In short, with the partitioning of the country by the Song and Jin dynasties, the number of Liao people decreased, and the Jin dynasty rapidly recovered its strength by absorbing Liao and Goryeo people, at least on the surface.

On the other hand, as the Jin army began to adapt to the Song dynasty's firearms, while the Song army's artillery could gain an advantage in local battles, it struggled to adapt to the complex terrain of Liaodong and the Jin army's guerrilla tactics. The Jin army, well-rested and ready, constantly harassed the Song army from their familiar mountains and villages, preventing the Song army from completely controlling the villages and key routes of Liaodong. Even when they occasionally captured major cities like Liaoyang, they could not hold them because surrounding strongholds remained in Jin hands and supply lines were constantly under attack. Ultimately, they could only remain trapped in a cycle of "attacking without success and defending without long-term effect," making no progress and helplessly watching as the Jin dynasty, through its tenacious defense of Liaodong, dragged this protracted war into a full-blown conflict.

For the Jin Dynasty, every inch of land in Liaodong was a foundation that could not be yielded. Although the guerrilla tactics seemed passive, they precisely hit the Song army's weak point, keeping the offensive of the Song-Liao allied forces at the level of "capturing one city or one stronghold" and unable to shake the Jin Dynasty's fundamental control over Liaodong.

Faced with this situation, Zhao Yu consulted with his officials and decided to "build strongholds and fight a protracted war".

In other words, after the Song Dynasty seized the Liaodong Peninsula, it began to build ports and roads, and wherever it went, it would first set up camp and build strong defensive fortifications. It would not launch a rash attack, but wait for the enemy to invade, and then steadily and surely nibble away at the Jin Dynasty.

This strategy was proposed by Zhang Chun, and it was also a sure-win tactic put forward by a group of Song officials based on the shallow attack and fortification strategy used by the Song Dynasty to destroy the Western Xia.

Its core advantage lies in "using stability to control speed and using attrition to defeat the enemy".

Although the Jin dynasty's guerrilla tactics could harass the enemy by taking advantage of the terrain, they were ultimately just small, mobile forces that could not shake the foundation of the Song dynasty's steady advance.

Every time the Song Dynasty built a camp, it was like a nail driven into the land of Liaodong, firmly locking in the controlled area; every road it built was like a blood vessel extending there, allowing the grain and supplies to be transported continuously, eliminating the worry of the Jin army harassing the supply lines.

At the same time, the Song Dynasty imposed an economic blockade on the Jin Dynasty, forcing the Jin army to raid for supplies.

Once the Jin army attacked, the Song Dynasty would defend itself with its strong fortifications and use its superior firearms to wear down the Jin army's manpower; once the Jin army retreated, the Song Dynasty would continue to advance, nibbling away at every inch of territory.

This tactic does not aim for a quick victory, but it allows the balance of power to steadily tilt towards the Song Dynasty through day-to-day confrontations.

The most fatal weakness of the Jin Dynasty was its small population.

The Jin Dynasty, which was already sparsely populated, suffered heavy losses of its able-bodied men and soldiers after repeated attacks by the Song-Liao allied forces.

Even if the Jin dynasty could plunder populations from the Liao and Goryeo kingdoms to replenish its ranks, the number would be limited, and the plundered people would be mostly resentful, making it difficult to truly transform them into usable fighting and productive forces.

The Song Dynasty's war of attrition precisely targeted this point—every small-scale conflict, every siege of a stronghold, resulted in the Jin Dynasty losing a population that was difficult to replenish. Defending a city required consuming a batch of soldiers; raiding a Song army supply route would cost another batch of able-bodied men. The Song Dynasty had a large population base, and lost soldiers could be quickly replenished; the Jin Dynasty, however, could not withstand such attrition. Every lost soldier meant a further weakening of the defenses and a further decline in productivity.

As this continues, the population shortage in the Jin Kingdom will only grow larger.

At that time, with no one to cultivate the farmland, food supplies will become increasingly scarce; with no one to replenish the soldiers, the defenses will be leaky everywhere.

In the later stages, the Jin Dynasty might not even be able to muster enough soldiers to defend the city, and could only watch helplessly as the Song Dynasty's camps and roads gradually advanced into its heartland.

More importantly, the Song Dynasty's strategy had already laid the groundwork for a much longer-term future. As the construction of strongholds progressed, road and port projects continued to expand, paving the way for future transportation innovations.

If the Song Dynasty successfully developed its own trains, the railway tracks could be laid along the completed roads all the way to the northeast, connecting the northeast with the heartland of the Song Dynasty.

At that time, the efficiency of troop mobilization and material transportation will increase exponentially, and the Song Dynasty's control over the Northeast will be as solid as a rock.

Thus, even if the Jin dynasty had the will to resist, it was powerless to reverse its fate. Its population was dwindling, its territory was being gradually eroded, and ultimately it could only meet its demise amidst the steady advance of the Song dynasty. The vast lands of the northeast would be completely incorporated into the Song dynasty's territory, becoming an inseparable part of it.

To put it bluntly, the Song Dynasty was relying on its national strength to bully the Jin Dynasty, launching a war that was bound to be won against the Jin Dynasty's weakest point...

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(End of this chapter)