Study On The Defence Zone Of Huaixi In The Early Southern Song Dynasty (1127—1161)

In ancient China,as a typical continental country,rivers were more likely to become the focus of military defense than oceans.Whenever the northern regime moved southward,the Huaihe River basin naturally became the military front for the southern regime to resist the north.After the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty,due to the significant contraction of its territory southward,its military defense front gradually moved southward from the Yellow River basin to the Huaihe River basin.The Huaixi and Huaidong regions naturally became the main points of military defense,and the establishment of the Jianghuai War Zone in the Southern Song Dynasty was the intention.In the early Southern Song Dynasty,the Huaixi region was not included in the military defense plan of the Southern Song Dynasty,and the Jiangfang officials also led the Huaixi defense for a long time.During this period,there were frequent debates about the priority of the Yangtze River defense and the Huaihe River defense.Due to the influence of the state policy of "passive defense" in the Southern Song Dynasty,the Yangtze River defense always occupied an important position in the national defense of the Southern Song Dynasty.Huai River defense was independent,and the position of Huai West was also lower than that of Huai East.Due to many mountains and hills,as well as developed water systems such as Feishui and Chaohu,the Huaixi region has formed a military defense pattern in which military towns and mountains rely on each other.The establishment of military officers in the Huaixi region experienced a process from chaos to clear ranks,subordination to the Yangtze River defense to the independence of the defense zone.In the military defense of Huaixi,Shanshui Strongholds(mainly mountain strongholds due to the terrain in Huaixi)also played an important role.During the four years from the early years of Jianyan to Shaoxing,the Jin army marched into Huaixi,but most of the results were the surrender and escape of Huaixi officials,which was a manifestation of the unformed defense of Huaixi.In the fifth year of Shaoxing,the Southern Song Dynasty established the Xuanfu envoys of the two Huai regions,and Liu Guangshi took over the defense of the Huaixi region.The defense of the Huaixi region was on track.With the continuous southward movement of the Jin army,the military importance of the Huaixi region became increasingly apparent.When Liu Guangshi took over the defense of Huaixi in the fifth year of Shaoxing(later handed over to Zhang Jun),the military strength in the Huaixi area reached over 50000,and the Jin soldiers in Huaixi were also actively resisted by the Song army.In general,when the Zhongxing argument prevailed or the Jin army moved southward,the Southern Song court would also pay sufficient attention to the military defense of Huaixi.Regardless of the unique natural geography of Huaixi,or its relationship with Huaidong and even the other two war zones,Huaixi played an important role in the national defense of the Southern Song Dynasty.This article intends to discuss the military importance of Huaixi by discussing the composition of Huaixi’s military defense system and the battles that took place in Huaixi.