Huizong Forms an Alliance
Today, our wise Emperor Huizong has made the right choice: he has sided with the Jurchens!
This is a tried-and-true path. It has worked before and it will work again. However, critics are crying about this supposed “great mistake”. They say that His Majesty should pay more attention to historical events. Why not?! It will only solidify the Emperor’s reasons for such a move.
Knowing your weakness is better than knowing your enemy’s. This Empire, although it has been great and mighty, has never had an outstanding military. Zhenzong, one of the first emperors of this dynasty, paid off the Khitan, a group of nomads living to the north. We had the wealth! Why shouldn’t we?! If we do attack and defeat the Khitan, we would only be paying a small tribute to the Jurchens, a group of horsemen to the north. Critics might argue that any more spending would be 可怕 (horrendous), especially at this price. “Why climb into a wine bottle?” Asks Lo Yun, a top court official, “We are already in ruins because of this Huizong's spending on art. This tribute would destroy our economy, and leave US to the mercy of the Jurchens. Even more so if the Jurchens want more and more." Others are more radical- they want to rally our forces and withstand an attack from the Jurchens. However, this tribute is paying for our immunity. If you cannot beat them, join them.
Second, since the Jurchens are already being paid a small tribute in silk and gold (and will be paid more), why would they benefit form attacking us? We alone can make silk, and our coffers are not yet empty. On the other hand, if we work together and defeat the Liao, Huizong promises not to expand our borders. The Jurchens could then settle and populate the conquered land. Unless the Jurchens are stupid (which they are not), they would not turn around and attack us.
This is an excellent move, one worthy of much praise. It will be mutually helpful to both the Jurchens and to us.
This is a good start for your editorial. You have a strong argument in the beginning that your build throughout the article. You do, however, need to slow down and explain things a bit in the body. Use some appositives to describe who these people are that are mentioned in your article. You have to assume that your reader is not completely informed and needs this information in order to understand. Taking the time to explain the details will only make your argument stronger.
ReplyDeleteYou have some typos and errors with spelling/conventions here, so reread slowly and carefully to catch these.
I edited it... However, I am not sure that it is "fully" complete.
ReplyDelete