Wang Yan and Xu's Translation of the Eight-character Army

From the first year of Jianyan in the Southern Song Dynasty to the third year of Shaoxing (from the fifth to eleventh year of Jintianhui,1127-133), during the Anti-Jin War in the Southern Song Dynasty, Hebei Zhaofu Division controlled Wang Yan and led the rebels in Taihang Mountain area to fight against the Jin Army in Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi. After the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, the insurgents fought against the Jin Army in the areas occupied by the Jin Army. In September of the first year of Jianyan, Wang Yan led eleven men, including Yue Fei, to cross the Yellow River to the north, and after recovering Xinxiang (now Henan), he was besieged by tens of thousands of Jin Jun. Because he was outnumbered, he led the army to break through Gongcheng (now Huixian County, Henan Province), and joined the rebels in Taihang Mountain area (namely Hedong, Hebei Province, now south-central Shanxi Province) to resist the gold. In order to show their determination, the officers and men of the Ministry tattooed the word "serve the country wholeheartedly and swear to kill the gold thief", so they were called "eight-character army". Not long after, Fu Xuan, Meng De, Jiao, the leaders of the loyalty militia in Liangjiang, also led his village of 19 with more than 65,438+ten thousand people, and repeatedly defeated the 8 Jin Army, with great momentum. In two years, Wang Yan wanted to lead the eight-character army north to take Taiyuan. Because Song Ting made peace with Jin and was not allowed to send troops, Wang Yan and more than 10,000 elite people of the Eight-character Army were called to defend Tokyo (now Kaifeng, Henan). In the past three years, the Eight-character Army cooperated with Fu Xuan in Sichuan and Shaanxi, so that Zhang Jun went to Sichuan and Shaanxi with the 8 Jin Army, and won many battles (see the Battle of Sichuan and Shaanxi). In the first year of Shaoxing (1 13 1), in the battle with the rebels and the pseudo-Qi army in the Southern Song Dynasty (see the battle of attacking Li Cheng in the Song Dynasty), the Eight-character Army defeated Sang Zhong and Jong Li, captured Guo Zhen alive and recovered Qin Zhou (now Tianshui, Gansu) and other places. In February of three years, 8 Jin Army attacked Raofengguan (now Shiquan West, Shaanxi Province), and Wang Yan led the Eight-character Army to cooperate with Wu Jun to guard the pass. Nomads from the army put on heavy armor and climbed the mountain by force. The eight-character army is in command. Rely on the dangerous terrain, stubbornly guard for 6 days and nights, and hit the Jin Army hard (see the Battle of Raofengguan). Take Jin Jun's withdrawal to the north as a cycle to recover Jinzhou (governing Xicheng, now Ankang, Shaanxi). The Eight-character Army started from the Rebel Army and later transferred to the loyalist army, defeating the 8 Jin Army many times. It was an outstanding anti-gold army in the early Southern Song Dynasty.