The Allusion of Hu Ma Peeping into the River
Yangzhou, also known as Guangling, is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River and beside the Grand Canal. It was an important political, economic and military town in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in ancient times. It is located at the strategic point between the north and the south. It has a developed agricultural, mulberry and textile industry and a large number of merchants. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a saying of "promoting one and benefiting two", which shows its high economic status and great influence. Poets of the Tang Dynasty have poems describing the prosperity of Yangzhou at that time, which are breathtaking: "Ten miles long streets and markets" in Zhang Hu's "A Long Tour of Yangzhou", "Thousands of lights in the night market shine on the blue clouds" in Wang Jian's "Looking at Yangzhou City at Night", Du Mu "Ten Miles of Spring Breeze on Yangzhou Road" in "Farewell".
However, Yangzhou is a battleground for military strategists, especially during the period of national division. During the Six Dynasties, Yangzhou suffered from repeated wars and experienced several ups and downs. Bao Zhao, a poet of the Southern Dynasties, once wrote "Ode to Wucheng", which contains the following sentence, "The sunflowers are close to the well, and the wild Ge and mud are scattered. The altar is full of wild beasts, There are flying gliders fighting on the steps, wood ghosts, wild rats and city foxes... The lonely ponchos are vibrating and flying on the sand." It's a chilling and desolate scene.
However, for the people of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the third year of Jianyan (1129) and the thirty-first year of Shaoxing (1161), the Jin army went south twice, leaving Yangzhou with ruins and dense vegetation. It turned into a deserted city, which made them suffer from the "sorrow of separation" and left a heavy shadow on the national psychology that lingers.
After the Jingkang Incident, King Kang Zhao Gou ascended the throne in Yingtian Mansion (now Shangqiu, Henan), changed the Yuan Dynasty to Jianyan, and rebuilt the Song Dynasty, which became the Southern Song Dynasty. He established the Imperial Envoy Department to "general Qi Xing in the army", unified command of all armies, streamlined the organization, eliminated redundant personnel, and punished traitors. For a time, people saw the hope of recovery. But later, he dismissed Prime Minister Li Gang, who had only been in office for seventy-five days, and activated the capitulationists Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan. He abandoned the defense line along the Yellow River and retreated southward step by step, rushing to the Jianghuai area. The situation of the war of resistance took a turn for the worse.
In the winter of the first year of Jianyan, the Jin army went south in a large scale and occupied most of North China and Shandong. They tried to complete their achievements in one battle, capture Song Gaozong alive and destroy the small imperial court of the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhao Gou gave up the idea of ??returning the capital to Bianjing and moved south to Yangzhou in October of the first year of Jianyan. In the past two years, the enemy's pursuit did not relax for a moment. In the first month of the third year of Jianyan, Nianhan led his troops to capture Xuzhou. At the same time, he sent 5,000 light cavalry to raid Yangzhou in an attempt to capture Song Gaozong alive. Soon, the Jin soldiers approached Yangzhou. On February 3rd, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty fled in a panic, taking only a few guards with him. The army was leaderless and the city was in chaos. The soldiers and civilians abandoned by Song Gaozong fled to the Yangtze River. Tens of thousands of people died in the panic and crowding. The Jin soldiers entered the city, burned, killed and looted. The people's blood flowed into rivers and corpses were everywhere. Before retreating north, the Jin soldiers set fire to the city again. Only a few thousand people survived. Yangzhou was once again destroyed at the hands of the barbarians - this It was what Jiang Kui called "a wild horse peeping into the river". This time it happened before Jiang Kui was born.
In September of the 31st year of Shaoxing, the financier Wanyan Liang personally led his troops to invade the south. Later generations jokingly said that after reading Liu Yong's "Wang Haichao", he coveted the words "There are osmanthus seeds in Sanqiu, He decided to send troops because of the painting "Ten Miles of Lotus", but the rich product resources in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were what he really coveted, and of course the crown of unifying the world. This time, the enemy's attack was still successful. Although under the command of the famous general Liu Qi, the Song army was retreating steadily. The soldiers and civilians were forced to withdraw from Yangzhou. Yangzhou was once again destroyed by war. This time, what was destroyed was the fruits of more than 20 years of recovery, development and rest - this is what Jiang Kui said. The "Hu Ma Peeping into the River" incident happened after Jiang Kui was born.
These two "Hu Ma Peeping into the River" are a national disaster and a shameful historical memory.