History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1044: The North Wind is Strong
[The north wind is strong]

While the Song Dynasty was busy suppressing the rebellion in Shu, the Liao Dynasty was also not idle. Let's take a look at what the Khitan people were busy with:
He defeated the Dangxiang people and won a great victory; he defeated the Tuyuhun people and won a great victory; he instigated Xiazhou to launch a proxy war against the Song Dynasty and won a great victory.

Li Jiqian of Xiazhou jumped back and forth between Song and Liao. After the "Yongxi Northern Expedition", Li Jiqian, who was a man of few words, temporarily clung to the Liao Kingdom, became its vassal, and won a Liao princess through "marriage". Invading Song territory became Li Jiqian's token of submission to the Liao Kingdom.

On November 1000, 11, the Liao Dynasty appointed Li Jiqian's son Li Dezhao as the governor of Shuofang. In response, Li Jiqian successively captured the three states of Heng, Huan and Qing under the control of the Song Dynasty. The victory report was sent to the Liao capital, and the Liao ruler specially issued an imperial edict to praise him.

Obviously, the national strength of the Song Dynasty declined slightly due to the rebellion in Shu, while that of the Liao Dynasty increased. The Liao Dynasty's younger brother Li Jiqian of Xiazhou took advantage of the situation and occupied the three northwestern states of the Song Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Xiao was unwilling to be lonely again.

On September 1001, 9, the Empress Dowager Xiao and her son arrived in Youzhou. After some reorganization, they issued an edict in October to march south. They ordered the emperor's younger brother Yelu Longyou to stay in the capital, and the emperor's younger brother Yelu Longqing to be the vanguard, and to perform the highest standard of etiquette - sacrificing the flag with a blue ox and a white horse.

The Khitans are coming again.

The Song Dynasty was well prepared for this, because as early as July, intelligence agencies warned that the Liao Kingdom was "plotting to invade the border." Zhenzong immediately sent additional troops to the border area and made corresponding personnel adjustments. It can be said that he was ready for battle.

Zhenzong also showed a map to his ministers, and said to them with great sorrow: "Look, the territory occupied by the Khitan is only 1,500 miles from north to south and 900 miles from east to west. The territory is not vast, but they have occupied our Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. I feel very uncomfortable!"

Since they are here again, let’s teach them a lesson!
The Song army's vanguard Zhang Bin met the Liao army's vanguard at the Great Wall and immediately started fighting. It was drizzling at the time, and the Liao army's bows and arrows were damp, making it difficult to shoot. The muddy wilderness also limited the cavalry's advantage in charging, so the Song army won a great victory and chased them all the way to the border between the two countries. When they were about to annihilate the enemy, they unexpectedly found ambushes from the Liao army, and the main force of the Song army had not yet followed up, so Zhang Bin had to retreat to preserve his strength.

Zhenzong sent an additional 20,000 cavalry to Waqiaoguan to contain the main force of the Liao army; he sent 10,000 reinforcements to Mozhou to use as a surprise force to outflank the Liao army's rear; and he sent the fierce general Jing Si to lead 10,000 elite troops to cut off the Liao army's retreat in the direction of Xishan.

Empress Dowager Xiao learned her lesson and thought that the current weather was not favorable for the Liao army, so she decided to return home.

Come as you please, leave as you please? The Song army went out to pursue.

As for the results of the pursuit, the two sides still have very different accounts. The Song people said that "they defeated them greatly, killed 20,000 people, and captured their general Tielin", not only killed 20,000 people, but also captured a senior officer alive; the Khitan people said that "the Song army... came to invade, and the scouts Mouwa and Yu people Zhaogu defeated them", what a guy, a scout and a forest ranger led the people to repel the Song army...

The defeat by the scouts and guards was a ruthless act. Obviously, the statements of both sides, especially those of the Liao Kingdom, were highly exaggerated.

Judging from the subsequent stories, the Song army should not have achieved too brilliant results. Because the Song army did not continue to advance after the "great defeat", but quietly ended the battle; while Empress Xiao still had the leisure to "watch fishing", and Goryeo even sent envoys to "congratulate the victory of the Song Dynasty".

Afterwards, Zhenzong transferred the main force from Hebei to the northwest to attack Li Jiqian of Xiazhou and recover the lost territory.

The Song Dynasty made plans in the temple, and its elite soldiers and generals fought on the front lines. In March of the following year (the fifth year of Xianping, 1002), the strategic location - Lingzhou was finally captured by Li Jiqian, who then changed the name of Lingzhou to "Xiping Prefecture."

Lingzhou, which is located in Wuzhong City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region today, has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is located in the west of Helan Mountain, the east of the Yellow River, the north of Hetao, and the south of Qingliang. Whenever there is trouble in the northwest, Lingzhou must be a hot spot. Lingzhou is to the northwest what Youzhou is to the northeast and Jianmen is to Sichuan. Lingzhou is an important throat of the Hexi Corridor, controlling the Silk Road. From Li Jiqian's renaming it "Xiping Prefecture", we can get a glimpse of his next strategic ambition: the Western Regions. The Xiazhou forces have bordered Tubo in the southwest, forming a thick wall together, firmly blocking the Central Plains forces in Guandong.

This was fatal to the Song Dynasty. Zhenzong did not dare to neglect it and immediately sent three armies, including Shi Pu and Qin Han, who had just pacified the rebellion in Shu, to the northwest to resist the invasion of Li Jiqian of Xiazhou.

Misfortunes never come singly. In the same month (March 1002), the Liao people came again. This time, the leader who led the army south was Xiao Jiyuan, the prime minister of the Liao Dynasty and an old friend of the people of the Central Plains.

On April 4, the Liao Kingdom won its first battle, with the Wenban Taibao Daridi defeating the Song army at Liangmen. Then the Youzhou commander-in-chief and the king's uncle Xiao Talina defeated the Song army in Taizhou.

After two victories in two battles, Empress Dowager Xiao decided to quit while she was ahead and returned triumphantly with the spoils.

As before, the Liao Dynasty's military operations basically continued the glorious traditions of nomadic peoples, mainly plundering, not greedy for land and killing, robbing money, food, and women, but not territory.

The Song Dynasty was in trouble, but the Liao Dynasty was overjoyed. Just as the triumphant Liao soldiers were singing and feasting, enjoying the joy of victory, the Xiazhou sent envoys to report the good news of the capture of the Song Dynasty's Lingzhou; Tieli sent envoys to pay tribute; Goryeo sent envoys to pay tribute, and presented a map of the country with mountains and rivers accurately marked; the Jurchens sent envoys to pay tribute; Bohai, Yueliji and five other tribes paid tribute...

In the northwest of the empire, after occupying Lingzhou, Li Jiqian led 20,000 troops to besiege Linzhou. If Linzhou fell, it would greatly reduce the strategic space of Fuzhou, which was a firm frontier position against Liao and an important salient in the Central Plains to contain the power of Liao and Xiazhou. Its strategic position was not trivial.

Zhenzong attached great importance to the war in the northwest and dispatched troops from Hedong to support the front line; at the same time, he also dispatched troops to Huanzhou and Qingzhou to prevent Li Jiqian from infiltrating into the interior.

Li Jiqian surrounded the city from all sides and attacked it fiercely for five days. Wei Jushi, the governor of Linzhou, recruited a death squad, escaped from the city walls, launched a surprise attack, and defeated the Xixia troops. Li Jiqian was forced to lift the siege and leave.

Linzhou was saved.

Years of internal and external wars left the Song Dynasty short of troops, so Emperor Zhenzong issued an edict to recruit young men from Henan. The ministers suggested that Hebei should also recruit some men, as every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country.

Zhenzong pretended to be reserved and said that when he was recruiting soldiers in Hebei before, he had promised in advance that he would never conscript soldiers again (never use them as soldiers for conscription). It has only been a few years, and this is just a slap in his own face.

Although he said no, his body was honest. Less than two months later, Emperor Zhenzong, for the sake of the overall situation, had to slap his face and "recruit men from Hebei."

At this point, just five years after Zhenzong took the throne, he encountered the Liao Kingdom's southern herdsmen, the encroachment of Xiazhou, and the civil strife in Sichuan and Shu... At this time when the mountains and rivers were broken and the people were in dire straits, if the emperor and his ministers were united and shared the same hatred of the enemy, perhaps they could slowly recover. However, the actual situation was that the intrigues in the temple were no less fierce than the swordplay on the battlefield.

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(End of this chapter)