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[When Yue Fei enlisted for the second time, the rulers and ministers of the Northern Song court were, as always, magnificently oblivious.
Having obtained Youzhou and surrounding territories through so called "redemption payments," Emperor Huizong and his circle instantly forgot the bitter humiliation of their two failed campaigns to seize Yan from the Liao. They cast sidelong glances at one another in self admiration, as if they truly were sage sovereigns reborn upon the earth.
Tong Guan, who held command of military affairs, was ordered to Taiyuan Prefecture to inspect defenses. In his private calculations he was already considering how to recover Yunzhong. He even entertained the idea of welcoming the Liao emperor Tianzuo and using him as a bargaining chip in negotiations. The people of Hebei, squeezed until their bones nearly cracked and their grievances filled the air, did not enter his considerations.
In that same year, Ma Kuo, renowned diplomat of the late Northern Song, participant and architect of the Maritime Alliance, and later a legendary militia commander who resisted the Jin, submitted a warning to the court. He pointed out that the Jin state was very likely preparing to march south against Song.
As one might expect, no one paid the slightest heed.
Even in June of 1125, when Hedong and Hebei reported that Jin forces were massing in Yunzhong, Lingqiu, Feihu, and other locations, the court still indulged in dreams of celestial supremacy. Not until November did they finally remember to dispatch Ma Kuo as envoy to Jin, instructing him to determine whether the enemy harbored intentions of invading south.
In truth, by then nothing could be salvaged.
After sending Ma Kuo off, the famed Jin general Wanyan Zonghan formally launched the eastern and western armies to destroy Song.
The western army marched directly against Taiyuan. Lacking proper siege equipment, the Jin found themselves helpless before the strong walls and fell into stalemate.
The eastern army, seeing this, adopted a strategy that astonished everyone. Instead of grinding through the prefectures of Hebei, they bypassed them entirely and drove straight toward Bianliang. In less than a month, their troops stood beneath the capital's walls.
When news arrived that the Jin army had crossed the Yellow River, the chief ministers of the court proposed, with impressive consistency, that the capital be abandoned and the court retreat to Xiangyang. Had it not been for Li Gang, Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, a man with iron in his spine, who spat flecks of indignation straight into Emperor Qinzong's face and forcibly halted the southern flight, the Jin might well have taken Bianliang without unsheathing a blade.
Li Gang wept tears of blood as he knocked his head against the floor in fierce opposition. He argued that only a capable and eloquent envoy need be sent to engage the Jin in empty negotiations. If they could stall for three to five days, the relief armies would arrive, and the enemy could surely be defeated in battle.
Yet even so, Qinzong and his councillors could not restrain themselves from sending envoys to discuss ceding territory in exchange for peace.
The Jin conditions were presented with remarkable "sincerity."
Five million taels of gold. Fifty million taels of silver. Ten thousand head of cattle and horses. One million bolts of silk. Recognition of the Jin emperor as "Uncle." Cession of the three border prefectures of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian. A prime minister and an imperial prince to be sent to the Jin camp as hostages.
Fulfill these terms, and the Jin army would withdraw at once.
Qinzong was not entirely without moments of boldness. When more than two hundred thousand relief troops gathered near Kaifeng, he grew flushed with sudden confidence and devised a night assault on the Jin camp together with Yao Pingzhong.
Unfortunately, the Jin had obtained the detailed steps of this plan three days before the attack. The entire affair possessed a certain dark humor.
After the failed night raid, Qinzong surrendered again with astonishing speed. As promised, he dispatched imperial envoys to Hebei to proclaim the cession of the three border prefectures. The Jin, already having seized vast quantities of gold and silver from a thorough search conducted inside Kaifeng by the Song court itself, chose to withdraw for the time being.
Not long after Zhao Gou volunteered to travel to Jin as a hostage and set out on his journey, relief forces from various regions totaling more than two hundred thousand troops also arrived near Kaifeng. The sixty thousand Jin soldiers, having obtained both treasure and territory, withdrew in leisurely fashion.
Yet none of this prevented Qinzong and the chief ministers from continuing to send envoys to negotiate land cessions and plead for peace.
The crisis had barely passed, and already the Northern Song court, facing national disaster, displayed its most traditional talent. The scholar officials proved once more that they excelled at civil conflict and faltered in foreign war.
Some submitted memorials demanding a reckoning for Cai Jing and other senior ministers of Huizong's reign, denouncing them as the Six Villains. Others wrote at great length insisting that Wang Anshi's New Policies and New Learning were the root cause of the empire's calamity. One suggested that an imperial envoy's name was inauspicious and ought to be changed. Another passionately demanded severe punishment for the Imperial Academy students who had obstructed Qinzong's attempt to flee Bianliang.
Meanwhile, the people of Kaifeng, having just been "lawfully plundered" by their emperor and his ministers, displayed a strain of black humor in response to their times. They composed a satirical rhyme that quickly spread through the streets:
Ignore Taiyuan, but govern the Imperial Academy.
Ignore autumn defenses, but debate the Spring and Autumn Annals.
Ignore catapults and stones, but condemn Wang Anshi.
Ignore Prince Su, but fuss over Prince Shu.
Ignore Yanshan, but concern yourself with Nie Shan.
Ignore the Eastern Capital, but fixate on Cai Jing.
Ignore the lands of Hebei, but discuss examination exemptions.
Ignore Hedong, but denounce Chen Dong.
Ignore the Second Prince, but argue about establishing a Crown Prince.
The chant echoed even within palace halls. Its mockery and absurdity were impossible to conceal, and perhaps because a thousand years lay between singer and subject, a faint note of bitter reflection accompanied its recitation.
The deep advance of the Jin army tore away the last veil from the Northern Song elite. With strong city walls to rely upon and relief armies that could be awaited in patience, Emperor Huizong was frightened into unconsciousness at the news. Palace attendants forced medicinal broth between his lips to revive him. Upon awakening, he refused at all costs to remain emperor. He demanded brush and paper and immediately wrote an edict of abdication.
Thus the hesitant Qinzong ascended the throne and proclaimed the Jingkang era.]
"Promotions are not based on talent, demotions not on merit. Flatterers run rampant, sycophants fill the halls. Villainy grows in clusters, and even those with iron backs struggle to realize their ambitions and rescue the state in its hour of peril."
Zhao Pu found himself in agreement. Looking at it now, the Jin strategy was not necessarily brilliant, nor their troops invincible. Yet when faced with generals whose hands were bound and emperors and councillors who, at the slightest trouble, contemplated abandoning the capital, fleeing south, ceding land, and selling out the realm for temporary safety, the Jin appeared especially fierce.
Zhao Pu could see that the Emperor, hands clasped behind his back, had clenched them into tight fists. His heart was clearly far from calm.
For Zhao Kuangyin, all of this was excruciating.
Though he understood in his heart that Huizong, Qinzong, and Gaozong were not his own descendants, and repeatedly reminded himself not to take their crimes upon himself, it was still difficult to convince himself that the matter did not concern him.
Yesterday he had entered Bianliang in plain clothes and witnessed festival celebrations in full splendor. He had also seen the common people who, with righteous fervor, were willing to lend their strength and whose thoughts remained fixed upon Hebei.
"The original intention of reform was to eliminate the state's chronic ailments," he heard, at last, the emperor who was also his old friend say, his voice pressed low with effort. "Yet once factional strife began, those who clung to power became nothing more than partisans attacking their rivals."
He continued, the words heavy:
"For those who pursue practical governance rather than empty show, how difficult it is to serve as an official."
Zhao Kuangyin fell silent at that. In the end, he nodded.
Qinzong, for his part, was adept at shifting responsibility. Since Li Gang was so resolute in resisting the Jin, he declared that no one but Li Gang was fit to serve as Defender of the Eastern Capital. Yet in private, Qinzong displayed his vacillation and weakness to the fullest. Urged by his chief ministers, he twice attempted to flee Bianliang, forcing Li Gang, burdened with defensive duties, to chase after his own emperor and block his escape.
Zhao Kuangyin found it difficult to remain at ease.
After a moment's thought, Zhao Pu voiced his agreement openly.
His advice was sometimes starkly direct, but as later generations would say, it was the language of loyalty laid bare. It was not always pleasant to hear, yet compared with those Confucian scholars who seized one's sleeves and sprayed indignant spittle across one's face, blunt sincerity had its merits.
He did not avoid the matter and spoke plainly:
"Therefore, Your Majesty must have him strictly supervised. We must not allow another incident of candlelight and axe."
That remark referred to a shadow from history, and it hung heavily in the air.
As for Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Kuangyin had already begun to consider that once Southern Tang was destroyed, it would be time to remove the title Prince of Jin from him. There was no need to follow the later precedent recorded in history of Zhao Guangmei being demoted and sent to the desolate lands of Sichuan. That would only leave him more uneasy.
Then another thought surfaced in Zhao Kuangyin's mind.
His good brother had ample leisure. Since he was idle regardless, perhaps it would be best if he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the study of Buddhist doctrine.