The reincarnation of history always makes people think deeply, and the story of the Southern Song Dynasty Lianmeng destroying Jin shows us the importance of the alliance.
In the story, Yu Guo was finally destroyed by the Jin army because he did not follow Gong Zhiqi's advice, which is the allusion of "cold lips and cold teeth".
Similarly, the Southern Song Dynasty also suffered the fate of destruction after the destruction of Jin in Lianmeng. Some people believe that if the Southern Song Dynasty had formed an alliance with the Jin state, the outcome of history might have been different. But in fact, for the Southern Song Dynasty, the elimination of gold by Lianmeng was the way out.
The reasons are as follows: First, even if Lianjin, Jin Song could not resist the Mongols.
Genghis Khan's transformation from a poor Mongolian aristocratic boy to the establishment of the world-leading Mongol Empire is undoubtedly a miracle. What is even more amazing is that the profound influence of the Mongol Empire on the world is unparalleled.
But why was the Mongol Empire so powerful that it seemed to have no impenetrable cities, let alone an invincible army? It is not that the Mongol cavalry is powerful, and even in terms of combat effectiveness, the Mongol army may not be the most powerful, but Genghis Khan's tactical wisdom is far beyond ordinary people.
He is good at taking advantage of his own strengths, and he is also good at absorbing the advantages of others and using them for his own use. For the Mongols themselves, as a nomadic people, this is undoubtedly a big advantage.
Without a fixed place to live, life is difficult, but it can be turned into a natural advantage in times of war. During Genghis Khan's campaign, the Mongol army had little to do with logistical supply and no worries about being destroyed by the enemy.
They always stand in the position of "attackers", but the countries and cities they attack are different: even the strongest walls will be destroyed, and even the strongest armies need a steady stream of logistical supplies.
Other countries have cities, which is like exposing targets, but the Mongols have no fixed residence, and if they want to fight back, they need to spend time and energy going deep into the hinterland of the steppe to find their "nest", but also need to think about how to transport logistics and supplies.
In such a situation, it would be very difficult to wear down the strength of the Mongol army even if it was a "wheel war", or to annihilate them in one fell swoop.
In the course of the conquest, the Mongol army used a tactic of intimidation, that is, "slaughtering the city". It was a brutal and violent tactic, but the aim was to make the inhabitants of the city fear by destroying it, so that it would surrender without a fight.
Although the Mongol army was not invincible, this intimidation tactic often paid off, leading to the surrender of the city. When attacking a city that could not be attacked, the Mongol army would adopt a siege strategy by starving the inhabitants of the city so that they could not resist.
When the Southern Song Dynasty fought against the Jin State in Lianmeng, Jin Aizong fled to Caizhou, and the Mongol army adopted a siege strategy against it, which eventually led to the destruction of the Jin State. Therefore, even if the Southern Song Dynasty united with the Jin state, it could not withstand the offensive of the Mongol army.
Even though the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty were not straw bales, due to the invincible strength and intimidation tactics of the Mongol army, the Southern Song Dynasty was destined to be difficult to escape this catastrophe. The second point is that the Jin State could not become an ally of the Southern Song Dynasty because of its evil intentions.
Although it was possible that both the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin State would join forces to resist Mongolia, because the Jin State was afraid of the Mongols at that time, and was busy invading the Southern Song Dynasty in the south instead of recuperating and preparing for war, it eventually led to the failure of the plan to lose the north and make up for the south, and triggered a rebellion within the Jin State and a counterattack by the armed forces of the Han people in various places, and was finally wiped out by the Southern Song Dynasty in disgrace.
The Southern Song Dynasty would never agree to join forces with the Jin State, because the Jin State's calculations were shameful and the Southern Song Dynasty's national strength would be consumed because of it. The Jin Kingdom was embattled at this time, and joining forces with the Southern Song Dynasty might only bring greater danger.
In addition, the common people of the Southern Song Dynasty had a strong hatred of the Jin State and would not support such cooperation at all.
The Song Dynasty would not be unaware of the truth of "lips and teeth are cold". Genghis Khan knew that he wanted to avoid "being attacked on the belly and back", so he first united with Wang Khan in the middle of the steppe and swept away the eastern part of the steppe.
Then, he discovered the contradiction between the Naiban tribe in the western part of the steppe and the Kereh tribe, so he was relieved to sweep away the Kereh tribe again. Next, it's the western part of the steppe.
Genghis Khan, having unified the steppes, did not rest on his laurels, and he continued to expand, as the Mongol army had no pay and could only be fed by booty.
So, he aimed at the Kingdom of Jin and Western Xia. For the two countries, Genghis Khan made a comparison, he believed that Western Xia was weaker than Jin, and to attack Jin, he had to conquer Western Xia before he could rest assured.
Therefore, Genghis Khan chose to fight Western Xia first, and then attack the Jin State after being subdued. According to this logic, it is foreseeable that after the fall of the Jin State, the next one will inevitably be the turn of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The Southern Song Dynasty was very clear about this.
When the Mongols began to attack the Jin state, the Southern Song Dynasty had already begun to consider whether they should unite with it. When Jin Xuanzong invaded the Southern Song Dynasty, Genghis Khan also sent people to discuss the possibility of joining forces to destroy Jin.
Although the Southern Song Dynasty verbally agreed, they actually waited and watched and stopped paying New Year's coins to the Jin State.
In February, a minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, Qiao Xingjian, proposed that although the Jin State was our enemy, it was also our barrier, and we should continue to give New Year's coins to resist the Mongol threat.
However, Qiao Xingjian's proposal was met with strong opposition from a group of students, who accused him of ** and demanded his execution. After Jin Xuanzong invaded the Southern Song Dynasty, the people's hatred of Jin rose again, and even the soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty were unwilling to serve their enemies.
Not everyone can understand the meaning of "cold lips and cold teeth", which is one of the reasons why Song and Jin cannot unite. In this awkward position, the Southern Song Dynasty could only choose Lianjin or Lianmeng.
But in reality, Lianmeng was the only option. Because the Southern Song Dynasty wanted to find a way out of the predicament, and Lianmeng was the only feasible way.
The Southern Song Dynasty faced a dilemma, whether to pay the New Year's coin or unite with the Mongols to destroy the gold. Although the nomads did not adapt to the Central Plains historically, the Southern Song chose to believe that the Mongols might have been more friendly, after all, the Southern Song had similar experiences.
In the face of the ferocious and abnormal Jin State, the Southern Song Dynasty would rather offend them than let the Jin people continue to threaten the Southern Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty took a rational decision and chose to unite with the Mongols to destroy the Jin.
Although this decision was also criticized, the Southern Song Dynasty had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils. In the end, although the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed, it had at least one chance to take revenge.