Historically, there have been many outstanding famous generals in every dynasty and every generation. Although the Song Dynasty is known as the "weak Song Dynasty", in its more than three hundred years of history, there have also been several outstanding generals. They are all ranked among the most famous players in history. Here, we will take a look at the top four players and see who they are.
TOP, 4 Liu Qi
Liu Qi was born as a general, the son of Liu Zhongwu, the governor of the Luchuan Army. He was handsome, good at archery, and sounded like a bell. He followed his father Liu Zhongwu to fight since childhood. After the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, Liu Qi was promoted to the governor of Longyou. In the battles with Xixia, he won many times and was quite feared by the soldiers and people of Xixia. Later, he was promoted by the famous minister Zhang to participate in the Battle of Fuping. Liu Qi took the lead and fought against the Jin soldiers. The battle lasted for half a day, but the outcome was still undecided. However, due to the Huanqing Economic Strategy, Zhao Zhe abandoned his army and fled first, resulting in the complete defeat of the Song Army.
After that, Liu Qi was ordered to rush to the aid of Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu Division to control Wu Jie and participate in the Battle of Xianren Pass. In 1137 AD, Liu Qi took charge of the rebuilt Sanya Army and the Eight-Character Army under Wang Yan. ?, reorganized them into the Sixth Army and twelve generals. In 1140 AD, Liu Qi led an "eight-character army" of about 20,000 people and the entire city's army and civilians to fight the main force of more than 100,000 Jin troops led by Jin Wushu himself, and won the Battle of Shunchang; in this battle, the Jin Kingdom The main forces, Tiefutu and Guaizima, lost more than half.
The Battle of Shunchang had a major impact on the Song Army's war against the Jin Dynasty. It is known in history as "The Battle of Shunchang. The enemy was frightened and devastated. They took all the treasures from Yan to the north and abandoned them to the south with the intention of donating them to Yan." Soon after, Liu Qi sent troops to Zhegao, met with 100,000 Jin troops, and won the battle of Zhegao. In his later years, Liu Qi also won the battle of Zhegao. Among the 13 military exploits of Zhongxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, Liu Qi personally commanded three times and participated several times. He was well-deserved as a famous general. He was posthumously given the posthumous title of "Wu Mu" and was posthumously named King of Wu, with the title of Crown Prince and Taibao.
TOP, 3 Meng Gong
Meng Gong was born as a general. His great-grandfather Meng An and grandfather Meng Lin were both generals of Yue Fei. In his early years, he followed his father to fight against the Jin Dynasty in Zaoyang. After the death of his father Meng Zongzheng, he took over the Zhongshun Army and was under the jurisdiction of the army and horses in the west of Beijing. In 1233 AD, he defeated the invading army of Hengshan Gongwuxian of the Jin Kingdom. Then in 1234 AD, he participated in the Battle of Caizhou and united with Mongolia to destroy the Jin Kingdom. After the Song-Mongolian War broke out, Meng Gong commanded the two major battlefields of Sichuan, Shu and Jinghu in the Southern Song Dynasty, and controlled the war on two-thirds of the front lines in the Southern Song Dynasty with one person.
The greatest thing about Meng Gong was the establishment of an integrated defense system to resist the Mongol invasion and ensure that the Southern Song Dynasty survived the first ten years of the Song-Mongolian War. He pointed out that the defense line of the Yangtze River was long from Zigui in the upper reaches to Shouchang in the middle reaches. It had both ferries and passes. It would be worrying to defend everywhere. Therefore, the entire country must be devoted to guarding the Jingxiang area. Later, the fall of Xiangfan directly led to the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, proving the importance of Jinghu to the southern regime.
Meng Gong’s greatest contribution was the three-layer theory of barriers. The "three-layer barrier" theory was far-sighted, especially the third line of defense, which was not taken seriously at the time. Meng Gong has already pointed out the possibility of the Mongolian army attacking Hunan in a roundabout way from Yunnan and Guangxi. Unfortunately, six years after Meng Gong's death, Kublai Khan, Wu Liang Hetai and others passed through Tubo, destroyed Dali, and entered Hunan, which was fulfilled. Due to his outstanding performance in resisting the Mongolian army, he is known as the "Master of Mobile Defense".
TOP, 2 Yue Fei
Yue Fei joined the army four times since he was twenty years old. From 1128 AD to 1141 AD, Yue Fei participated in and commanded hundreds of battles, large and small. , without any defeat. When the Jin army attacked Jiangnan, he stood out and advocated resisting the Jin army and regaining Jiankang. Then in 1134 AD, Yue Fei led his army to regain the six counties of Xiangyang. In 1136 AD, Yue Fei led the Northern Expedition and successfully captured Shangzhou, Guozhou and other places.
In 1140 AD, Wanyan Zongbi destroyed his alliance and attacked the Song Dynasty. Yue Fei sent his troops to the Northern Expedition. The people of the two rivers rushed to tell each other, and rebels from all over the country responded one after another and attacked the Jin army. The Yuejia Army successively regained Zhengzhou, Luoyang and other places, defeated the Jin Army in Yancheng and Yingchang, and marched into Zhuxian Town. However, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou and Prime Minister Qin Hui insisted on seeking peace and urged their teachers with twelve "gold-character plaques". During the peace negotiations between the Song and Jin Dynasties, Yue Fei was falsely accused by Qin Hui, Zhang Jun and others and imprisoned. He was later killed on trumped-up charges.
Yue Fei attached great importance to the people's strength to resist the Jin Dynasty, and concluded the "Union Heshuo" plan, advocating that the civilian anti-Jin Dynasty rebels north of the Yellow River and the Song army cooperate with each other to regain lost ground; the army was governed with clear rewards and punishments, and strict discipline. He was also able to sympathize with his subordinates and lead by example. The "Yue Family Army" he led was said to be "freezing to death without demolishing the house, starving to death without fighting". The Jin army had a comment: "It is easy to shake the mountains, but it is difficult to shake the Yue family army" to show their sincere admiration for the Yue family army.
TOP, 1 Li Jilong
Li Jilong was a famous general and relative in the early Northern Song Dynasty, the eldest son of Li Chuyun, deputy privy envoy, and the eldest brother of Queen Mingde. In his early years, he was appointed as a worship official with his kindness. During the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, he participated in the attacks on the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Northern Han Dynasty. He also made great achievements in the first battle of Youzhou and was awarded the title of Zhenzhou Governor for his merits. Later, he accompanied the generals Cui Han and Pan Mei to defeat the Liao army twice in Mancheng and Yanmen. In 985 AD, he led his army to defeat the party leader Li Jiqian who was harassing the border. The following year, he followed General Cao Bin to conquer Youzhou northward and returned with the entire army.
Later, he was assigned the title of Cangzhou Capital Deployment. After the Song army was defeated in Junziguan, he retreated to Baoleshou, and was punished by Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi.
From 988 AD to 989 AD, Li Jilong defeated the Liao army in the Battle of Tanghe and the Battle of Xuhe, which greatly improved the situation of the Song-Liao War. In 994 AD, Li Jilong deployed the Hexi camp capital to break Li Jiqian westward and capture Zhao Baozhong (Li Jipeng). The next year, Ren Ling and Huan Shizhou were deployed, but unfortunately the western expedition was in vain.
After Song Zhenzong came to the throne, he was relieved of his military power and was given the rank of envoy to guard the Zhenan Army. During the Battle of Chanyuan, he was appointed as the commander of the east-west formation and led the army with General Shi Baoji to resist the Liao army. After Li Jilong's death, he was awarded Zhongshu Ling and his posthumous title "Zhongwu". Some people believe that Li Jilong was the number one general in the Song Dynasty, because he was facing Xixia during the peak period of the Liao Kingdom.
In fact, in the history of the Song Dynasty, military generals have been suppressed by civil servants, but there are still many famous generals born. In addition to the above four, there are also Gao Huaide, Pan Mei, Yang Ye, Zhong Shiheng, Niu Gao, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, etc.; but compared with the above four famous generals, there is still a slight gap between these famous generals. In fact, Liu Qi is a famous general who has been buried. His abilities and achievements are not weaker than Yue Fei's, especially in the Battle of Shunchang, where he annihilated more than half of the Jin Kingdom's elite in one fell swoop. Such achievements and abilities have been buried.