History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1012 Battle of Gaoliang River

Battle of Gaoliang River

Yelusha rushed to Youzhou to help, and Zhao Guangyi waited for the enemy to tire. As soon as the two sides met, Zhao Guangyi instructed to strike the enemy head-on while the enemy was still breathing.

The Song army once again took advantage of their numbers, attacking from multiple directions and besieging the Liao army. Yelusha was outnumbered and had to retreat slowly.

By this time, the Khitans, known as the "kings of field battles", had completely lost face for their ancestors. They fought with the Song army in the wilderness, and were repeatedly at a disadvantage and had to rely on dangerous terrain or cities. Both sides had turned themselves into the most annoying people they had ever been, and had chosen the wrong talent tree. Of course, the main reason was that the Song army had an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. The mainstream view was that the ratio of manpower between the two sides in this battle was always maintained at around 2:1, that is, the Song army had about 20 soldiers, and the Liao army had only about 10 soldiers. Moreover, almost all of these 10 Liao soldiers huddled in Youzhou City. The reinforcements that actually fought against the Song army in the field were only about 3. In other words, Zhao Guangyi's several "sieges and reinforcements" were all fought with nearly 20 soldiers against 1 to 3 soldiers of the Liao Kingdom.

Seeing Yelusha retreat, Zhao Guangyi, as expected, once again ordered a pursuit. The pursuit lasted from noon to dusk, and the Song army was exhausted.

When the last ray of sunlight was about to fade, a team of Khitan cavalry suddenly emerged from the flank of the Song army. They were led by the famous Liao general Yelu Xiu'ge.

Not long ago, when the Song army was advancing rapidly and the Liao army was losing ground, Yelu Xiuguo, a member of the Liao royal family, was extremely angry and asked to rush to the front line to help, thus replacing Yelu Xidi. Yelu Xiuguo's grandfather was the first "Yu Yue" of the Liao Dynasty and the third uncle of Yelu Abaoji, Yelu Shilu; his father, Yelu Wansi, was the Yilijin of the Southern Court. In terms of seniority, the current emperor of the Liao Dynasty, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelu Xian, had to call Yelu Xiuguo "grandfather".

A few years ago, Yelu Xiuguo was promoted to Tiyin for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion, and entered the core power circle of the Liao Kingdom. This battle was the real battle for Yelu Xiuguo to become famous, and he officially debuted as a famous general.

It was already evening, and Yelu Xiu'ge ordered his cavalry to hold a torch in each hand to bluff their troops.

At this time, the Song soldiers were at the end of their strength and exhausted. Suddenly, they saw a fire dragon rushing out from the flank. The morale of the army was immediately broken, and they retreated urgently. They barely managed to stabilize their position at Gaoliang River and confronted the Liao army.

Yelu Xiu'ge remained cool-headed. After scaring off the Song army, he did not take any further reckless actions. Instead, he gathered the remnants of the defeated troops who had fled back earlier, accumulated strength, and recovered.

That night, the Liao army launched a counterattack. Yelu Sha took the middle route to contain the Song army and attract their attention; Yelu Xiuguo and Yelu Xizhen led elite cavalry to attack the left and right wings to form a pincer attack on the Song army. The battle was extremely fierce, and Yelu Xiuguo fought hard despite his three wounds, which greatly boosted their morale.

At the same time, the defenders in the city opened the gates, lined up in battle array, and beat drums to cheer. The people in the city shouted loudly, shaking the earth and the sky, and echoed with the reinforcements from outside, attacking the Song army from both sides.

That night was an unforgettable nightmare for the Song army. They were horrified to find that they were surrounded! Yelu Xiuguo used the cover of darkness to violate the basic military principle of "surrounding with ten" and actually surrounded the majority with a minority.

The darkness would infinitely magnify fear. The Song army quickly collapsed, and the soldiers fled in all directions. The situation was out of control and eventually more than 10,000 people were killed. The army was completely dispersed, and even Zhao Guangyi was lost along with the generals... The emperor was lost!
The Liao army was overjoyed and didn't care about the spoils all over the ground. They chased south like crazy, chasing the biggest trophy - Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi.

The Song army was in a state of collapse. Soldiers could not find their generals, and generals could not find their soldiers. Zhao Guangyi could not find the accompanying civil and military officials, and he could not even find a horse to escape. In a hurry, the attendant got a donkey cart from somewhere to save the situation. "Don't worry about these details." Zhao Guangyi drove the donkey cart all the way south, and ran faster than the Khitan cavalry, and ran to Zhuozhou (now Baoding, Hebei) in one breath. We open the map and take a look at the distance from Beijing to Baoding, which is about 150 kilometers. The information found on the Internet is that a horse can run about 300 kilometers a day. Zhao Guangyi was not riding a horse-drawn carriage, but a donkey cart, and he traveled at night, but he actually ran 200 kilometers (another saying is miles, which is obviously more reliable), so he was given the glorious title of "Gaoliang River God of Carts" by netizens.

"On the 27th day of the 11th month, the emperor led the army to fight against the Khitan at Gaoliang River, but was defeated. On the 28th day of the 11th month, the emperor returned home."

——This is the record in "The History of Song Dynasty: The Chronicle of Emperor Taizong", which is described lightly and casually. Victory and defeat are common in the military. If we lose, we will retreat.

"On the Jiashen day, the emperor thought that the city of Youzhou had not been taken for more than ten days, the soldiers were tired, and the transportation was far away. He was also afraid that the Khitan would come to rescue, so he ordered the army to return. The emperor set out in the evening and ordered the generals to organize the army and return slowly. On the Yiyou day, he stopped at Zhuozhou."

——This is the record of "Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian", which overturned the conclusion of "defeat" and emphasized that there were three main reasons for our army's retreat: fatigue of soldiers, logistical difficulties, and the possibility of enemy reinforcements. Therefore, the emperor who loved his soldiers like his own sons, cherished the people's strength, had a unique strategic vision, and was decisive in killing, so he had the foresight to order a proactive retreat... and specifically emphasized that it was "the army should be organized and slowly retreated", with neatly arranged troops and orderly retreat.

Why does it feel like the Song army is triumphant? So let's take a look at the records of the Liao people:

"On the 25th day of the seventh month of autumn, Sha and his men fought with the Song army at Gaoliang River... and defeated them severely. The Song ruler barely escaped, and fled to Zhuozhou, secretly riding a donkey cart. On the 15th day of the 16th month, they attacked the remaining Song army, killing many..."

——"History of Liao Dynasty: Chronicle of Emperor Jingzong"

The Song army did not retreat on its own initiative, but was defeated by the Liao army and fled in disgrace. More importantly, the description of the time of Zhao Guangyi's escape and other details is that Zhao Guangyi fled on the night of Guiwei, leaving the main force behind, which led to the complete defeat of the Song army on the next day, Jiashen.

If Zhao Guangyi really fled the night before and changed to a donkey cart to continue fleeing south after arriving in Zhuozhou, many problems would be solved. In other words, it is possible that Zhao Guangyi rode a horse for one day and two nights to get from Youzhou to Zhuozhou, 300 kilometers away, which is more in line with objective logic.

It is a common practice to whitewash oneself and discredit the enemy. We cannot accept the records of the Song Dynasty in their entirety, nor can we accept the records of the Khitans in their entirety.

In addition, "Zizhi Tongjian Xubian" and other works have already contradicted themselves. For example, after "the army was reorganized and slowly returned", it immediately recorded that "the army was not in order and collapsed to the south."

According to the complete account of "Zizhi Tongjian Xubian", after Zhao Guangyi lost on the day of Guiwei, he arranged a withdrawal plan, "You guys cover the rear, I will withdraw first", and when he ran to Zhuozhou, he received a report from the front line saying that the troops were retreating to the south, so Zhao Guangyi sent Cui Han to lead more than a thousand guards to stop them. In order to save time, Cui Han went alone. After arriving at the front line, Cui Han explained the reason and moved the troops emotionally, and the troops were at peace. Cui Han was specially praised for this. Afterwards, Zhao Guangyi ordered Cui Han and others to station in Dingzhou, Zhenzhou and Guannan area respectively, and granted them the privilege of "acting at their own convenience" to stop the pursuit of the Liao army.

In short, it should be emphasized that the Song army retreated in an orderly manner and everything was under the control of Comrade Zhao Guangyi.

Is the truth really like this?
(End of this chapter)