18. A Pretty Raw Deal For A Savior of His Country
After the Jurchen overran northern China, Yue Fei accompanied the Gaozong Emperor in his flight to the south, and assumed military command of the remnants of the Song forces. He defeated the pursuing Jurchens, and kept them from further advances into China. However, his efforts to recover the northern territories were foiled by a powerful peace faction that balked at the expense of continuing the war. He was poised with his armies to recapture the lost Song capital of Kaifeng, when courtiers advised the Gaozong Emperor to recall him and open peace negotiations with the Jurchens.
The Gaozong Emperor worried that a final victory over the Jurchen would end with the release of his captive brother, the previous Song emperor, who had been taken prisoner. As that would threaten his own claim to the throne, the emperor accepted his courtiers’ advice, and recalled Yue Fei to the capital in 1141. There, one of China’s most brilliant generals was imprisoned and eventually executed on trumped-up charges in 1142. Ironically, Yue Fei had tattooed on his back the phrase “serve the country with the utmost loyalty“.
