During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jingdong region (including the eastern part of present-day Henan, northern Jiangsu and Shandong) was frequently affected by natural disasters due to the bursting and diversion of the Yellow River, and peasant revolts occurred repeatedly, and it has always been regarded as a "multi-thief" zone by the Northern Song Dynasty.
In this area, because the Yellow River often bursts, Liangshanluo has also become a water country with a circumference of 800 miles. Farmers in the nearby prefectures of Ji (now Juye, Shandong) and Yun (Dongping, Shandong) all relied on aquatic products such as fish and pu in Liangshanluo.
During the period of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the eunuch Yang Jian was asked to set up the "Xicheng Office" (* control agency) in this area, and from then on, even the water surface of Liangshanluo had to be rented according to the boat. Those who went to Liangshanluo to fish and pick pu without permission were punished as "thieves". In addition, the ** of this "Xicheng Station" has been expropriated violently, forcing many peasants who could not survive due to floods to have no way out and find it difficult to survive.
The peasant uprising led by Song Jiang also broke out against such a background.
Because the activity is "rampant", it comes and goes, and there is a wide range of activities. In the first year of Xuanhe (1119), the activities of the Songjiang rebel army also began to attract great attention from the Northern Song Dynasty.
In December of this year, the Song Dynasty issued an edict to "appease" the Songjiang rebel army for the first time, but it was unsuccessful. The Song Dynasty ordered Jingdong and Jingxi to raise some prisons and supervise the arrest of Song Jiang and his gang (the number of Song Jiang uprisings was not very large at this time), but it also did not work.
At this time, the scope of activities of Song Jiang's team quickly reached the width of ten counties.
Of course, because their key activity area is in Liangshanluo, later generations will seconded it and say that Liangshanbo is the place where Song Jiang and them gathered.
But at the same time that the Northern Song Dynasty was helpless against the Songjiang rebel army, the huge Fangla uprising soon broke out. Song Huizong was so anxious that he hurriedly sent Tong Guan to lead an army of 150,000 to suppress it. And in the face of the uncertain Song Jiang rebel army, it was still helpless.
And in the court, there was also a minister named Hou Meng, who began to give Song Huizong an idea, and proposed a poisonous plan to surrender Song Jiang and let Song Jiang help fight Fang La's self-redemption. It was also quickly adopted by Huizong of the Ning Song Dynasty.
At this time, that is, at the beginning of the third year of Xuanhe (1121), it happened that the Songjiang rebel army moved from Jingdong to Huainan. In Yizhou (now Linyi, Shandong) and Shuyang, Haizhou, they were intercepted by the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty and suffered heavy setbacks.
When he was traveling through Haizhou (now Lianyungang, Jiangsu), he was ambushed by the superior forces of Zhang Shuye of Zhizhou, and all the boats he was riding were burned. Some members of the Song Jiang rebel army were also captured by the Song army. In this case, Song Jiang, who already had the heart to recruit peace, accepted Zhang Shuye's recruitment in Haizhou.
After Song Jiang was recruited, the records of the Song people say that Song Jiang was sent to participate in the fight against Fangla. After the failure of the Fangla uprising, Song Huizong also used the "imperial pen" to secretly order the generals who had just been arrested from the two Zhejiang divisions, and then secretly executed.