History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 459: Battle of Xiazhou (Monthly Ticket Plus)
[Battle of Xiazhou]

In Li Siyuan's eyes, Li Yichao, who was "just a young man and had not experienced any hardships", was a talented young man and a young hero. Li Siyuan seriously underestimated the ability of the young Li Yichao, and he did not know how profound an impact this war would have.

Li Yichao knew that Li Siyuan would neither have mercy on the Tanguts in Xiazhou nor allow the Tuoba Li family to rule here. Li Yichao had no illusions about the Later Tang court, and he pragmatically formulated countermeasures to violently resist the law and obstruct public affairs.

The young Li Yichao possessed political wisdom and courage that were not in line with his age. Unfortunately, he died young two years later (935). If he could live a few more years, perhaps the establishment of the Western Xia regime would have been advanced. History does not give his exact age, only saying that this year (933) he was "just a young crown". A young crown means 20 years old, but considering the context, the "weak crown" here does not necessarily mean exactly 20 years old. It should be understood as around 20 years old. In short, he was very young. If he was only 20 years old this year, then he was only 22 years old when he died. It is really a pity.

Next, we will take a look at how this 20-year-old young leader of the Dangxiang tribe used the "poor and border" Xiazhou to fight against the Later Tang court.

Li Yichao first submitted a petition to the court, showing weakness to Li Siyuan, saying that he did not want to reject the imperial edict, but that the people's call was very strong and he was really forced to do so, and asked the court to understand the public opinion.

At the same time, he sent his brother King A Luo to lead troops to occupy the important pass - Qingling Gate; he gathered the various Dangxiang tribes and barbarian tribes in the country to prepare for the battle; he sent cavalry to carry out guerrilla harassment everywhere, specifically to rob the food routes of the Later Tang army and destroy engineering equipment.

If Li Yichao chose to fight head-on, he would be courting death. Regardless of the number of troops and their combat effectiveness, Yao Yanchou led a righteous army to attack the rebels in Xiazhou who refused to accept the imperial edict, which was justified, while Li Yichao was branded as a "traitor to the court", and his troops were inevitably divided, especially the barbarians in the territory. It was hard to say whether they would become enemies of the Later Tang central court for the sake of the Dangxiang Tuoba clan.

So Li Yichao developed a very safe resistance plan.

First, they relied on Xiazhou City and put up a stubborn resistance.

Xiazhou City has a long history. It was first built in the Sixteen Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty by the Xiongnu noble, King Helian Bobo. In 413 AD, Helian Bobo mobilized more than craftsmen to build a city here. The harshness and cruelty of his construction were simply inhumane and outrageous!
According to historical records, during the construction of the city, the supervisors used iron pickaxes to check the strength of the city wall, and "if the pickaxe penetrated even an inch, the worker would be killed and the rest of the wall would be built." If the pickaxe penetrated even an inch, the worker who built that section of the city wall would be killed and his body would be built into the wall.

So after the project was accepted, the city wall was as hard as iron, resistant to being cut by knives and axes, and indestructible.

The material for building the city was mud from the local riverbed mixed with lime. Modern chemical composition analysis revealed that it was similar to the composition of today's concrete.

After the city was built, Helian Bobo said with great satisfaction: "I have just unified the world and rule over all nations, so I can name it Tongwan." So he named this impregnable city "Tongwan City".

Helian Bobo believed that the Huns were descendants of Xia Qi, so when he established his own country in 407, he named it "Daxia". Later generations called it "Huxia", which was one of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In 427 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty conquered Tongwan City. In 431 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed the "Hu Xia"; in 433 AD, Xiazhou was established with Tongwan City as its seat of government.

Tongwan City is sturdy and durable, having withstood thousands of years of war, wind and sun, and its ruins still exist today.

As early as the early Northern Song Dynasty, in 994 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty captured Xiazhou and Emperor Taizong of Song ordered the destruction of the city. The army carried out systematic human destruction. But even so, more than a thousand years later, when we discovered its ruins, we were still amazed at its solidity.

At that time, this Tongwan City became Li Yichao's confidence. Unless Li Siyuan could get the second battalion commander to pull out the Italian cannon, there would be no way to enter the city. In addition, the wind and sand and desert in the northwest region are the natural walls of Xiazhou. There is no human habitation within a radius of 100 miles, not only no food and grass, but also no water.

Therefore, Li Yichao quickly figured out a magic weapon to win - "the strategy of tiring the enemy". The main force retreated into the city, and the more than 40,000 cavalry did not engage with the main army of the Later Tang Dynasty, but instead made a roundabout way to plunder its food supply.

On the surface, it seemed that Yao Yanchou surrounded Xiazhou City, but in reality, it was Li Yichao who surrounded Yao Yanchou in the vast desert.

The 50,000-man army had no food, no military pay, no fodder for the horses, and worse, no water. Due to the long distance and the harassment and looting by the Tanguts, the logistics supply line was overwhelmed. According to records, it cost several thousand coins to transport a bucket of food or a bundle of fodder.

A few days ago, there was a bumper harvest of grain in the Northwest region, and the price of grain was 4 wen per dou. Even if it doubled, it would still be less than 10 wen. However, to send a few wen of grain to the front line, it would cost several thousand wen, a thousand times the sky-high freight!

Yao Yanchou could not afford to waste time, so he launched a strong attack on Xiazhou.

At this time, Yao Yanchou was dumbfounded by the incredible solidity of Tongwan City. He chopped it with a sword and an axe, but it had no effect at all. Even with a pickaxe, it only left a white spot on the wall.

Yao Yanchou was caught in a dilemma.

Li Yichao and his brother personally climbed up the city wall and shouted to Yao Yanchou and An Congjin: "Xiazhou is poor and has no gold, silver or jewelry. To be honest, we don't want to stay in this poor place. It's just that our grandfathers and fathers have been guarding this land for the court for generations. Even if you capture this city, you won't get any benefits. Why bother mobilizing troops and spending money? Please also trouble me to report to the court on my behalf. If the court allows me to reform, I will serve the court wholeheartedly. If the court calls for troops in the future, I will also lead the tribe to serve as the vanguard for the court!"

This is Li Yichao's political wisdom. Even if he won the war against the imperial court, he should take the initiative to admit his mistakes, apologize, beg for mercy, give the imperial court face, and give the imperial court a way out so that the imperial court can back down and end the war. Otherwise, like Pang Xun, he would take advantage of the victory to make sarcastic remarks, ridicule, and even threaten the imperial court, disregarding the imperial court's reputation and the emperor's majesty, and would only get a temporary sense of pleasure and block his own way out.

Forgive others when you can. It is convenient for others and for yourself.

Li Yichao also sent spies to the court, posing as mysterious "insiders" who did not want to reveal their names, to "inform" the court, saying that Li Renfu had not colluded with the Khitans at all, and that he had deliberately spread such rumors to bluff, thinking that the court would not dare to touch him. However, he ended up making things worse, which led to today's misunderstanding.

Li Yichao was very sensible and gave Li Siyuan enough face.

Since the war originated from a "misunderstanding", Comrade Li Siyuan, the king who respected God and loved life, had sufficient and legitimate reasons to end the war.

On July 933, 7, Li Siyuan ordered Yao Yanchou, An Congjin and others to return to the capital. The Battle of Xiazhou ended.

(End of this chapter)