Xianping four years, October.
The Liao army once again went south to invade the borders of the Song Dynasty, and the war between the Song and Liao was still in full swing. At this time, the Song Dynasty has gone through three generations of emperors, but the three generations of emperors are still struggling in the war, and these years of endless conquest have caused the people in the border areas of the Song Dynasty to suffer from war.
The Liao army that went south this time was led by the vanguard army general Yelü Longqing, and the Liao army fought the first battle in the south, approaching the mouth of the Great Wall.
At that time, the Song general Zhang Bin was stationed at the mouth of the Great Wall, and Zhang Bin heard that the Liao army had taken it, so he took the lead in adding ambush troops on the west flank of the Great Wall mouth to prepare to ambush the Liao army. Because from the previous route of the Liao army's southward attack, the mouth of the Great Wall is the only way for the Liao army, and there will always be unexpected gains in fortification here.
Sure enough, after Zhang Bin arranged an ambush, the Liao army did indeed approach the mouth of the Great Wall, and the Song soldiers who were ambushed near the mouth of the Great Wall rushed out in an instant, when it happened to rain heavily, and the Liao army's leather strings and bows and arrows were all loose and lost their effect.
The Song army fought a bloody battle to the death, repelling the Liao army, and the Liao army retreated all the way in the direction of Zhuozhou.
How could these Song soldiers, who were ambushed at the mouth of the Great Wall, give up such a great opportunity and quickly send troops to pursue the Liao army, which had been defeated and retreated. They would not have imagined that they had just chased to the border of Zhuozhou, and a Liao army had sprung up, and the war situation was reversed in an instant, and these Song troops began to retreat south and fled back to the mouth of the Great Wall.
The sudden defeat and retreat of the Song army at the time of the great victory made Zhao Heng quite angry, and he quickly ordered the construction of defensive positions in Zhenzhou, Dingzhou, Gaoyangguan, and Mozhou, almost forming an arc-shaped strategic defense line to prevent the Liao army from successfully attacking south.
After the Song army made a good defense, the Liao army pursuing the army to the south actually withdrew, it turned out that most of these Liao troops were cavalry troops, after the heavy rain, the entire North China Plain was full of muddy land, the march was extremely difficult, they could only order the withdrawal of the army, ending the plan of the southern invasion.
Xianping five years, April.
The border lands of the Song Dynasty were full of wars, and the Borders of Shu and Northwest China were full of wars, and the Song Dynasty began to run exhausted and fight in various border areas.
After the Song Dynasty truly quelled the Shu rebellion and stabilized the occupation of the northwest, the Liao state began to attack the south on a large scale.
The Song and Liao dynasties fought endlessly for many years, and the war was poisoning the people in the war zone step by step.
At this time, many good fields on the border of the Song Dynasty had become wasteland, because the people there had hoped to cultivate the land for a living had become a dream of emptiness, and they could only choose to join the army and become a soldier on the border of Song and Liao.
In April of that year, the Liao army's southern chancellor Yelü Nuogun and the Nanjing unified army made Xiao Taorin lead the Liao army south to invade.
Unlike in the past, this time the Liao army did not entangle at the mouth of the Great Wall, but directly marched from the eastern flank, aiming the target of the southward attack at Dingzhou.
Wang Chao, the commander of the Song-Liao border in Dingzhou, quickly ordered the defenders of Zhenzhou and Gaoyangguan to lead the garrisons of Dingzhou to assemble in Dingzhou to prevent the Liao army from attacking Dingzhou.
However, at this critical moment, the Gaoyang Guanguan general Zhou Ying did not obey the command, and this Gaoyang Guanguan general Zhou Ying was not only the military commander of GaoyangGuan, he also had a special status:
Three roads are lined up in the town to make!
The area under the jurisdiction of these three roads is exactly dingzhou, zhenzhou, and Gaoyangguan, so why should I obey your dispatches?
After Wang Chao issued the order, only the Zhenzhou defender Sangzan led his troops to Dingzhou.
Wang Chao had no choice but to rearrange the deployment:
Vanguard Army: Wang Jizhong led the army to the defense of Wangdu
The main army: Wang Chao and Sanzan led the army to follow up
Wang Jizhong's vanguard army, who first fought fiercely with the Liao army outside Wangdu, at the same time, Wang Chao also led the main army to arrive quickly, and the Song and Liao armies quickly fought together, and the two sides fought for several days.
In the middle of the night, the fighting finally stopped.
Wang Chao advocated that the whole army retreat to the defense of Dingzhou late at night and wait for the opportunity to fight again. However, after the news of the withdrawal came out, Wang Chao's main army had successfully withdrawn to Dingzhou, and the commander of the vanguard army, Wang Jizhong, did not evacuate the battlefield safely, but was held back by the Liao army, and Wang Jizhong could only lead the army to wander.
When Wang Jizhong walked to the village of Kang, northeast of Wangdu, he accidentally encountered the Liao general Yelü Nuogun. The two forces are once again at war. In order to be able to completely encircle this lone army, the Liao army sent a part of the army from Wang Jizhong's east wing to quietly detour to the rear of the army, so that Wang Jizhong's rear road was not only forcibly cut off by the Liao army, but even the grain transportation route would be completely cut off, and this Song army completely became a lone army.
Wang Jizhong could only lead everyone to risk death to break through, and rushed to baicheng with difficulty, and was once again besieged by the Liao army. At this time, almost all of his men had been killed in battle, and only a few Song soldiers were left, and Wang Jizhong was eventually outnumbered and captured.
Zhao Heng, the Song Zhenzong who was far away in Beijing, heard the battle reports on the front line, quickly readjusted the operational deployment, and recruited 150,000 troops to gather in Dingzhou to guard Dingzhou and prevent the Liao army from further invading the south.
Not only that, this time Song Zhenzong also re-deployed in the border fortification:
The main army: stationed along the banks of the Tang River, defending the Liao army
Suicheng: The Song generals Wei Neng, Bai Shousu, and Zhang Rui commanded 6,000 troops to garrison
Baozhou: Yang Yanzhao, Zhang Yanxi, and Li Huaiba commanded 5,000 troops to garrison
Beipingzhai: Tian Min, Zhang Ning, and Shi Yanfu were stationed
For the Song army, the three forward strongholds of Suicheng, Baozhou, and Beipingzhai on the Tang River were not to confront the Liao army head-on, but to deliberately let the Liao army break through the defensive line and confront its main army. At this time, the defenders of these three forward strongholds were able to directly encircle the Liao army in the rear, hindering the Liao army, on the one hand, cutting off the Liao army's retreat, on the other hand, intervening in the Liao army's material transportation line.
Not only that, Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng also once again built a defensive line on the southern flank of these strongholds:
Ningbian Army: Sun Quanzhao, Wang Dejun, and Pei Zirong commanded 8,000 troops stationed
Xingzhou: Li Chonggui, Zhao Shoulun, and Zhang Jihao commanded 5,000 troops to garrison
Mozhou: Shi Pu commanded 10,000 troops stationed
The Song army's defense of the Hebei region this time far exceeded that of the previous two generations of emperors, and even in several large and small battles with the Liao army in the past, it had never created such a carefully laid out defensive line, and the importance that Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng attached to the battle situation was naturally self-evident.
This time, the attitude of the Liao army once again surprised Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong, this Liao army actually withdrew its troops again, the Liao army unexpectedly withdrew its troops this time, and all the civilian and military generals of the Song Dynasty were at a loss, and they could not imagine why the Liao army actually took the initiative to withdraw its troops at such a good time.
Perhaps, it is precisely because of the unprecedented defensive line of the Song army that the Liao army retreated without a fight, in short, the Liao army really withdrew.
The Song-Liao War has gone through three dynasties, countless wars and smoke have filled the Border of Song and Liao, no matter what kind of mentality and perspective people look at the war between Song and Liao, and no matter how much people despise the Song Dynasty, in short, the Song Dynasty was surrounded by strong enemies at the beginning of the founding of the country, and the feat of sweeping in all directions can still not be ignored by us.
After all, the former Song Emperor was also full of ideals and passion, hoping to establish a truly unified dynasty for the people of Li people under the whole world.
This article is mapped in "Discover China", a map to share knowledge