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[Earlier we mentioned that after Emperor Xuanzong of Jin fled south, and the Southern Song cut off tribute payments, he and a group of complacent civil officials came up with the wildly unrealistic idea of "making up northern losses in the south."
The plan was to "use war to force peace" and compel the Southern Song to submit.
But as the saying goes, dragons find dragons, tigers find tigers, and toads only pick fights with crickets. If Jin were truly so invincible, why not go show their strength against the Mongols instead?
Even though Jin seized the initiative with a surprise attack, the Southern Song's scorched-earth defenses and strict fortifications held firm. In the end Jin gained nothing, and was even defeated when Song forces counterattacked in coordination with suddenly rising local militias.
Within two years Emperor Xuanzong of Jin died, and Emperor Aizong inherited a realm surrounded by enemies. He had no choice but to begin reforming the military.
The most famous result was a brutal unit:
From the various circuits of Hebei they recruited Uyghurs, Naimans, Qiang, Hun, and fierce men from the Central Plains who had fled punishment or sought refuge. It did not matter whether they owned horses or understood the language. They were paid triple the normal soldier's salary, granted official ranks, given horses, and rewarded yearly with feasts. This force was called the Loyal and Filial Army.
Such troops were certainly fierce. The real problem was how to make them obey orders.
At that time Chen Heshang had been imprisoned for refusing to show favoritism while handling military matters, falsely accused of killing out of resentment, and had already spent a year and a half in jail.
Emperor Aizong knew Chen Heshang was loyal and brave. After Chen's elder brother Wanyan Ding died, the emperor pulled him out of prison under the pretext of redeeming his crimes through service, let him inherit his brother's privilege, and appointed him commander of the Loyal and Filial Army.
Thus was born Jin's version of a suicide squad, an army made entirely of criminals. And the chance to earn glory came quickly.
The following year, the Mongols honored Temujin's dying wish and launched a campaign against Jin, attacking Dachangyuan. Chen Heshang led the Loyal and Filial Army as vanguard and smashed eight thousand Mongol troops head-on, winning the battle. The Jin people said, "After twenty years, at last we have such a victory."
Two years later, Chen Heshang again served as vanguard. He defeated Mongol cavalry in open battle and relieved the siege of Weizhou.
The next year Subutai attacked in the Sichuan-Shaanxi region, broke Xiaoguan, and pressed toward Lushi and Zhuyang. Chen Heshang once more led troops in a bloody clash at Daohuigu, winning another major victory that frustrated Subutai's plan to advance on Tong Pass. Ogedei himself rebuked Subutai for the failure.
After that battle, Chen Heshang was promoted to General Who Pacifies the Distant. Even the Mongols knew his name, and people of the time said:
"For over a hundred years Jin cultivated talent. In the end they produced only one Chen Heshang."
And this was only the fourth year since he had been pulled from prison.
These victories by elite troops boosted Jin's confidence. Facing Mongol attacks on three fronts, they planned to gather massive forces and annihilate one army completely.
In 1231 the Mongols borrowed passage through Song territory and advanced in three columns to destroy Jin. Emperor Aizong responded by pulling defenders from along the Yellow River and concentrating them at Dengzhou, claiming two hundred thousand men, hoping for a decisive annihilation battle.
But Tolui, commanding the western army, first feinted east, then struck west, then baited reinforcements, throwing the Jin army into confusion. With only forty thousand men he set an ambush at the strategic pass of Mount Sanfeng and crushed the Jin army completely.
Weather played a role in that battle, but Tolui's deployment was equally decisive. Chen Heshang's several thousand Loyal and Filial troops, even with their supplies cut off, still forced their way up Mount Sanfeng in attack, but it could not change the larger situation.
The surviving Jin forces retreated into Junzhou. Mongol troops followed close behind. Seeing that all was lost, Chen Heshang publicly declared his identity in the street, seeking an honorable death.
When Ogedei asked his name, he answered without hesitation:
"I am Chen Heshang, commander of the Loyal and Filial Army.
The victory at Dachangyuan was mine.
The victory at Weizhou was mine.
The victory at Daohuigu was mine.
If I die among fleeing troops, people will say I betrayed my state.
Today I die in full clarity. Somewhere in the world, there will be those who understand me."
Afterward, because he refused to surrender or kneel before Ogedei and continued cursing loudly, the Mongols cut his knees and split his face. He spat blood and shouted until death, his voice unbroken. He was forty-one.
When the Mongol generals saw how he died, they poured mare's milk onto the ground in tribute and said, "A true man. If he is reborn one day, may I have him in my service."
With this, Jin swallowed the final breath of its last resurgence.]
"Somewhere in the world, there will be those who understand me…"
Though the man was not Han, he had never led troops to invade Song, and he died with loyalty to his state. That alone made him worthy of respect.
Reading it, Zhao Kuangyin felt a surge of martial spirit rushing toward him.
Chen Heshang may have failed to save his country, but in another sense, he had succeeded.
Though neither his achievements nor his injustices matched Yue Fei's, he had at least done the same thing Yue Fei did. He made sure later generations would know he had not betrayed his country, and that he died with honor.
But thinking of Yue Fei again, Zhao Kuangyin still could not let go.
"That Zhao Gou would be better off called Aizong instead."
Zhao Guangyi answered cautiously, but he understood what his brother meant.
Since the mid-Tang, temple names had largely replaced posthumous titles in importance, yet the rules of posthumous naming still revealed a ruler's life.
Failure in virtue, suffering misfortune, a short reign despite good intentions. All of these could earn the title Ai.
And if those meanings were applied to Zhao Gou…
Well. That might actually count as a good thing.
Seeing his brother glance at him again, Zhao Guangyi wiped sweat from his brow and tried to steer the topic elsewhere.
"But at least the idea behind the Loyal and Filial Army seems workable."
"Why not imitate it, Your Majesty? That way good families need not fall into criminal habits."
Zhao Kuangyin nodded, unusually approving.
"Good. Then you can command it."
Master Kongjiong froze and dared not answer.
A man knows his own limits. Even the attendants in his own princely household had obeyed only because of money and power. Discipline had never been part of the equation.
If he were handed a force made of steppe warriors and criminals, such arrogant troops would be impossible to control.
Zhao Kuangyin's expression shifted into open contempt.
"You understand warfare so poorly. No wonder there was defeat at Gaoliang River, and disaster in the northern campaigns."
Hearing this, Zhao Guangyi's blood surged. In anger, he managed only to be slightly angry.
"Your Majesty's lesson is correct."
Zhao Kuangyin immediately looked bored. He turned away and went to discuss Song-Mongol strategy with Chancellor Zhao Pu.
"That Temujin calculated things clearly. He knew Song and Jin could never reach peace."
"There was still room for peace," Zhao Pu analyzed.
"But the situation was the reverse of what it had been before the Jingkang catastrophe."
"Emperor Xuanzong of Jin was foolish. He needed the Southern Song, yet after the defeat at Yehuling he still tried extortion. If Jin had been strong, 'war to force peace' might have worked."
"But after losing to the Mongols for twenty straight years…"
Zhao Pu shook his head. The rest needed no explanation.
He also remembered how Jin once failed to understand the logic of shared survival and rejected Western Xia's plea for help, allowing the Mongols to rise.
And the Southern Song, though they surely understood that same logic, still preferred to see Jin destroyed first, driven by the memory of Jingkang.
For over a century, history had simply repeated itself.
Inside Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin also studied the Jin general seriously and gave his judgment.
"He was not a hero, but he was certainly a fierce general."
In his view, Emperor Aizong's decision to form the Loyal and Filial Army showed real resolve.
But such elite troops came too late. It was repairing the fence after the sheep were gone.
If they had existed ten or fifteen years earlier, if such forces had stood at Yehuling, the fate of the dynasty might have been different.
But once Emperor Xuanzong fled south and handed Youzhou away, Jin had already stepped onto Northern Song's old path.
They abandoned the Youzhou defenses. They abandoned Hebei. That was practically the same as abandoning the state itself.
Yet once the Mongols arrived and retreat south was no longer possible, only then did they suddenly refuse to yield.
Elite troops may win victories, but with Hebei open to Mongol movement, no number of small triumphs mattered as much as one true annihilation of Mongol forces.
From this, Li Shimin felt he understood later generations' phrase "destroying the enemy's living strength" far more deeply.
But soon his attention drifted to the mention of Yuan and Ming dramas.
"'Beloved by audiences'? Could it be that those romantic tales of Emperor Yang of Sui were also written in that era?"
Perhaps his expression lacked proper dignity, because Wei Zheng shook his sleeves and immediately prepared to rise.
Li Shimin hurried to recover.
"I was merely wondering about the origins of those later stories claiming we were star-spirits descended to earth. If one wishes to promote literary culture, one must follow what the people enjoy and shape history into stories accordingly."
At that moment he felt a soft pair of hands reach the hidden spot at his lower back.
"Your Majesty seems quite interested in Emperor Yang's harem."
The ruler of Great Tang suddenly felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead.