Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The generals of the Bohai tribe who led their troops to surrender the city are very close to our Ming Dynasty.

This guy’s name is Da Mingzhen!

The royal family of the Bohai Kingdom has the surname Da. People with the Da family since the Sui and Tang Dynasties all have unique names: Da Wuyi, Da Xingguo, Da Mingjun, Da Changtai...

There once was a famous doctor in Bohai whose name was simply Daming.

During Zhao Guangyi's period, there was another Da Luanhe who led 300 Bohai cavalry to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

The Manchu and Qing Dynasties shouted the slogan "Manchu and Mongolian family", and Aguda also had the saying of "Jurchen Bohai family".

This is because the Jurchen and Bohai ethnic groups have the same origin, and both have been oppressed by the Liao Kingdom for a long time. Since the Jurchen tribe had a sparse population, Aguda naturally chose the Bohai tribe as an ally.

Therefore, in the first few decades of the Jin Kingdom, the political status of the Bohai people was second only to the Jurchens.

The Bohai clan had the privilege of intermarrying with Jurchen nobles. Among the nine emperors of the Jin Kingdom, four of their biological mothers were Bohai women.

When the Bohai Kingdom was destroyed by the Liao Kingdom, more than 100,000 Bohai people fled to Goryeo.

When the Liao Kingdom was destroyed, tens of thousands of Bohai people fled to Goryeo.

The Jin Kingdom agreed to cede Baozhou to Goryeo. In addition to Goryeo's surrender, there was also a condition that the tens of thousands of Bohai refugees would be returned.

The Bohai general Da Mingzhen who surrendered this time was Qu Shuai who was repatriated from Goryeo.

At that time, Gao Yongchang rebelled against Liao and proclaimed himself emperor, and the entire Liaodong was plunged into war.

Damingzhen was forced to submit to Gao Yongchang, and when he fought with the Liao Kingdom, his people suffered heavy losses. Soon he was stabbed in the back by Aguda, and Damingzhen was defeated in several battles. Seeing that Gao Yongchang could no longer hold on, he fled to the south of the Yalu River with the remaining tribesmen, gathering a large number of Bohai refugees during the migration.

In the past few years, Goryeo declared itself a vassal to the Jin Kingdom, repatriated about 10,000 Bohai people, and secretly hid 20,000 to 30,000 people.

Because Da Mingzhen was so famous, Goryeo did not dare to take him in.

He originally planned to take his people back to his hometown, but as a result, most of the land in his hometown had been divided up by the Jurchens, and the rest was also occupied by the Han and Khitan people who moved in.

It happened that Zhang Jue rebelled in the Western Liaoning Corridor. Except for Jinzhou and Zongzhou, the rest of the prefectures and counties there were massacred by the Jin Kingdom.

As a result, Daming Zhen and more than 3,000 Bohai people were collectively resettled in Xingzhou Haibin County. (The coastal county seat at this time was dozens of miles west of Xingcheng in later generations).

In terms of language and customs, these Bohai people are no different from the Han people in the North.

Most of them were thrown away to farm, while the craftsmen stayed in the city. Several hundred young men were recruited and organized into an army and handed over to the commander of Da Mingzhen.

Li Bao had just returned from being sealed in Tokyo. Only half a month later, someone approached Juehua Island in a small boat.

The navy patrol ship found out and immediately kidnapped the person.

"The Coast Guard intends to surrender the entire city?" Li Bao felt outrageous upon hearing this.

The liaison envoy said: "My name is Da Mingyi, and my brother is Da Mingzhen. He is the deputy general of Xingzhou, and I have been ordered to station in Haibin County, Zhoucheng."

Li Bao thought he heard wrongly: "What did you say your name was?"

The messenger repeated: "My name is Da Mingyi, and my elder brother is Da Mingzhen."

Li Bao clapped his hands and praised: "This is a good name. If you don't surrender, your parents will name you in vain. Tell me, why do you want to surrender?"

Damingyi told in detail: "Because Haibin County has the largest salt fields in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning along the coast, many ethnic groups have migrated there. The population of Haibin County is second only to Jinzhou. The salt workers are placed along the coast, and the rest of the craftsmen live in the prefecture." In the city, farmers settled along the Liuzhou River.”

"Last year, the general crossed the sea and robbed salt fields many times. The salt workers were killed and captured 30 to 40%. Later, he followed the Liuzhou River mouth and robbed farmers in the lower reaches of the Liuzhou River. This made it impossible to collect salt in Haibin County. , less than half of the county’s land tax has been lost.”

"There was a period of time last year when military rations passed through here. At that time, everyone still had something to eat."

"But later we didn't dare to use the seaside road to transport military rations. There was no food shipped to the county. The salt workers and farmers were moved away from the sea. The most fertile land was the Liuzhou River Estuary. They didn't dare to grow food. The salt workers couldn't boil the salt anymore. On that day, the Jurchen nobles initially recruited them as soldiers, but later they were demobilized due to lack of food, and they were all driven to the mountains north of the county to open up wasteland."

"A group of salt workers have starved to death and froze to death in winter, and the life of farmers is not easy. After spring, everyone thought that grain would be shipped from western Liaoning. Unexpectedly, not only did the grain not be shipped, but the Jurchen nobles also ordered a grain requisition, saying that grain would be shipped from western Liaoning. There is a shortage of food, and the Haibin County garrison can only collect food locally."

"We moved more than 3,000 tribesmen at that time (actually they were refugees from the Bohai Sea, these people put money on their own family), and now hundreds of them have died, and some have been kidnapped by the generals. If this continues, there will definitely be more Our people are going to starve to death, so we discuss surrendering to the Celestial Empire."

"only……"

Li Bao already believed this and asked, "Just what?"

Da Mingyi said: "I just asked the general to bring some food. After taking the city, we can save the people here!"

Li Bao asked: "How many defenders are there in the city?"

Da Mingyi said: "In the beginning there were two hundred Jurchen soldiers and five hundred Bohai soldiers. There is also a Jiangnan navy to protect the safety of the salt field."

"When the military rations came through last year, we added 500 Jurchen soldiers, 1,000 Liaodong Han soldiers, and recruited 1,000 salt workers to form an army to prevent the generals from robbing food and seizing the city."

"Later, the army rations stopped coming here, and the newly recruited Jurchen and Han soldiers left, taking the excess army rations with them."

"Later, there was insufficient military rations, and all the salt troops recruited were dispersed, and all the Jiangnan naval forces defected to the general."

"Now there are only 200 Jurchen soldiers and 500 Bohai soldiers left in the city. However, if the general leads troops to attack, the city can recruit thousands of people to defend the city. If the general comes slowly, one or two thousand more militiamen can be issued."

Li Bao asked: "How do you plan to surrender the city?"

Da Mingyi said: "On the fourth day of next month, it will be my mother's sixtieth birthday. My brother plans to entertain Jurchen nobles at a banquet. By then, all the Jurchen generals will be killed, and the remaining Jurchen soldiers will not be afraid. But there must be some Jurchen soldiers who escaped to report the news. With the hundreds of soldiers in my brother's hands, there is no way he can stop the Jurchen army from counterattacking. The general will lead troops into the city to defend the city by the sixth day of next month at the latest."

Li Bao thought about it carefully: "When I lead the troops there, you open all the city gates and plant three flags on the south tower."

Da Mingyi said: "Don't go to such trouble. If the trap fails, my whole family will definitely die. If the trap succeeds, my brother will personally lead troops out of the city to meet the general. If the general suspects that we will rebel again, he can place my whole family there." Shandong, please grant me a piece of land from the Ming Dynasty."

"You are a loyal and righteous man!" Li Bao was delighted.

These Bohai people really don’t want to live in the north anymore.

At first, they were violently conquered by the Liao Kingdom, and then there were successive wars. The Liao soldiers came, burned, killed, and looted, and the Jin soldiers came, and they also looted, burned, and killed. Tens of thousands of Bohai refugees preferred to flee to Goryeo to open up wasteland, but they were sent back by Goryeo.

Moreover, they were not allowed to return to their hometown, so they were scattered and placed in Haibin County. They were soon burned, killed, and looted across the sea by Li Bao, Zhao Li, and others.

I never had a peaceful day!

They no longer care about the hatred of the country and the family, they just want a place to live.

Da Mingyi said he was willing to take the whole family as hostages, but in fact he just wanted to pick a place to survive? My family went to Shandong not to be hostages, but to "enjoy happiness".

Li Bao sent a boat at night to send Da Mingyi back and landed more than ten miles away from the city.

Da Mingyi was sent to the city to collect grain. He followed the Liuzhou River mouth and returned to the Bohai village at night. He forcibly collected a small amount of military grain and marched into the city.

Officials at the Xingzhou and Haibin County levels are all from the Bohai family in Liaoyang. These guys must be killed too, there is no way they will surrender.

There were only two hundred Jurchen soldiers in total, and there were not many Jurchen generals. Even junior officers were invited to a birthday banquet by brothers Da Mingzhen and Da Mingyi.

"We don't have enough food, wine, and meat, so I'd like to ask you to forgive me," Da Mingzhen raised his glass and apologized, "I have brought out all the fine wines in my family's collection today. You nobles will be drunk before you stop!"

There were only two tables in the inner courtyard, all of them were people from the big clans, Bohai civil servants and Jurchen generals.

Five tables were set up in the outer courtyard, including state and county officials, Jurchen grassroots officers and Bohai officers.

Sixtieth birthday, only seven tables, which is really shabby.

This did not arouse suspicion. Now the entire Jin Kingdom is short of food, and the prefectures and counties in the Western Liaoning Corridor are even poorer.

As long as you have wine, the civil servants and military generals are all greedy, and they won't refuse anyone who comes with a glass of wine.

When everyone was almost done drinking, Da Mingzhen put down the wine glasses and said in a strange tone: "I miss my Da family, a descendant of the Bohai royal family, wandering around and being slaughtered by others. It's really a disgrace to our ancestors!"

The governor of the state was concurrently held by a Jurchen general, but he was too drunk to understand.

The county magistrate was the Bohai Li family from Liaoyang. Under the anesthesia of alcohol, he didn't think much and said with a big smile: "There is also a Da family in Liaoyang. If you have time, the general can go to Liaoyang to visit relatives."

The Liaoyang clan is really awesome and can marry Jurchen nobles.

Da Mingzhen sneered: "The big clan there has a big family and a big business, and they won't pay attention to a small sect like ours."

"What are you talking about, General? We are both from the Bohai tribe and we are one family." Magistrate Li has not yet come to his senses.

Da Mingzhen pretended to toast and walked behind the Jurchen general with a wine glass. His brother Da Mingyi was also toasting at another table.

The two brothers suddenly took out short blades from their sleeves, held down the heads of the two Jurchen generals and wiped their necks.

Da Mingzhen shouted: "Kill!"

The Bohai admirals, who were drinking with officials and officers in the outer courtyard, heard the shouts and took out the weapons hidden on their bodies.

Bloody birthday party.

Even the brothers' mother didn't know their plan and was so frightened that she backed away. But the old lady quickly regained her composure because she had seen scarier scenes than this.

The Jurchen generals and officers were all killed in a drunken state.

The two brothers rode out to gather their troops and attacked the unsuspecting Jurchen soldiers. Not only were the Jurchen soldiers not under the command of an officer, they were not even all together. At least a quarter were so frightened that they fled to Zongzhou.

The next day, Li Bao arrived in a boat with troops.

As expected, Da Mingzhen and Da Mingyi personally led their troops out of the city and brought the whole family with them.

At the same time, the four gates of the city opened wide.

Although Li Bao loves to take risks, he is cautious at critical moments. First, several small teams were sent out to enter from different city gates, and they searched the city carefully, and then climbed up the city wall and waved flags to indicate safety.

Seeing the flags waving on the city wall, Li Bao took Daming Zhen's hand and said: "Your Excellency has returned to his rightful ways, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely reuse him. Your family members don't have to go to Shandong, they can all go to Tokyo to enjoy their happiness."

Da Mingzhen and Da Mingyi both knelt down, probably rehearsed: "I am willing to die for Da Ming!"

The Liaoxi Corridor was cut off by Li Bao.

Next, I am afraid that the Jin State will make a crazy counterattack, and losing this city will simply put the Jin State in a chokehold.