In Chinese history, in addition to the great unified dynasty of the Han and Tang Dynasties and the confrontational dynasties of the Song and Liaojin dynasties, there are countless small local regimes, and the most common occurrence of such regimes is a total of two periods, one is the Five Hu Sixteen Kingdoms, and the other is the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
These separatist regimes are generally weak at the end of the Great Unification Dynasty, and there is a power vacuum in the localities, according to the laws of history, most of them will be destroyed by subsequent dynasties, of course, there are exceptions, and later successfully resisted the subsequent attacks of the Great Unification Dynasty and evolved into independent countries, which is the only case in Chinese history, that is, Vietnam.
Among the "Ten Kingdoms" of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there is such a regime, its small strength is weak, but it is the last to be destroyed, this is the Northern Han Dynasty, it lasted until 979 AD before it was destroyed, and the Song Dynasty survived for 16 years after its establishment.
In addition, the Northern Han Dynasty also has a very special place, it is the only regime in the "Ten Kingdoms" located north of the "Five Dynasties". Because it was not a regime that evolved from the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns, but was produced by the infighting of the "five generations".
What is the history of the Northern Han Dynasty?
In 951, the Later Han Dynasty was usurped by Guo Wei, changed the name of the country to Zhou, and the Later Zhou Dynasty was established, of course, the previous imperial family could not stay, Guo Wei deposed and killed Liu Yun, the adopted son of Liu Zhiyuan, the Later Han Emperor who would be established as Emperor Of Han, and liu Yun, who was also the eldest son of Liu Chong(also known as Liu Yanchong, Liu Min), the Hedong Jiedu envoy of Gao Zu's brother Zhen Zhenjinyang.
Liu Chong, who originally thought that his son would be proclaimed emperor and remained immobile, suddenly knew that his son was dead, and immediately set up a portal for himself to inherit the Later Han, but the country's territory and status had undergone tremendous changes, and historians positioned it as a new regime or a remnant regime, different from the Later Han and the Southern Han in the south, known in history as the Northern Han. He was also known as Hedong in the ancient shanxi he ruled, and was called "Eastern Han" (such as Ouyang Xiu's "New Five Dynasties History of the Eastern Han Dynasty").
The regime of the Northern Han Dynasty is very embarrassing, you say that even if you are in the south, you can still divide the territory, and in the north it faces very heavy pressure, so why resist the Later Zhou, the Northern Han can only rely on the Liao Dynasty, and its support to the Disgraceful Story of the Jin Dynasty, calling itself the Nephew Emperor. Thus the Northern Han Dynasty became a very special, similar buffer zone between the Song and Liao.
Later Zhou and the subsequent Song Dynasty of course could not tolerate the existence of such a nail, before the alliance of The Yuanyuan, the Song Dynasty did not even recognize youyun Sixteen Prefectures as the Liao Dynasty, so the Later Zhou and Song Dynasty attacked the Northern Han Dynasty for many years, the Northern Han State was weak, in order to counter the powerful enemy, the Northern Han Was under great pressure, its military service was heavy, after many wars with the Later Zhou and northern Song Dynasties, the sharpness of the mouth was reduced to only one-eighth of the Tang Dynasty (the Twelve Prefectures of Hedong had more than 279,100 households in the Tang Dynasty, and only more than 35,200 households were registered at the time of the fall of the Northern Han Dynasty).
Moreover, the politics of the Northern Han Dynasty were not clear, the corruption was serious, and the tribute to the Liao Dynasty was required, so the people of the Northern Han Dynasty were very bitter.
In 979, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, the Song army besieged the Northern Han Dynasty, and after Yang Ye returned to the Song Dynasty, the hearts of the troops in the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty, Jinyang City (Taiyuan Province), were shaken, and Song Taizong lost his troops in the war, and in anger, he destroyed the city of Taiyuan and then destroyed the city of Jin'ershui (there was also a rumor that Jinyang had a "dragon vein" at that time, which would threaten the stability of the regime), and brought serious losses to the people in the north who had been repeatedly burned by war.
This is how the famous city of Jinyang in northern China was completely destroyed.
The Northern Han Dynasty is actually quite similar to the Zhao Kingdom, in the land of four wars, and the residents are fierce and belligerent
However, how did such a small country as the Northern Han Dynasty carry it for so long? This actually has a lot to do with geography, the lofty mountains of the Lüliang Mountains and the Taihang Mountains make the Northern Han Dynasty have a natural defense line.
However, there is another factor is the Liao Dynasty, just introduced, the Northern Han is the "little brother" of the Liao Dynasty, when the Song Dynasty fought the Northern Han, what was the reaction of the Liao Dynasty?
In fact, the Northern Han Dynasty has always been supported by the Liao Dynasty, which often supported the Northern Han Economically (the tribute of the Northern Han to the Liao Dynasty was still insignificant to the Liao Dynasty), and Emperor Taizong of Song ordered Pan Mei to recruit envoys for the Northern Road, and led Cui Yanjin and other troops to besiege Taiyuan. The Northern Han lord Liu Jiyuan heard that the Northern Song Dynasty's troops were pressing the border and urgently sent envoys to the Liao State to ask for help.
Did the Liao Dynasty send troops? The Song Dynasty was certainly not happy to fight the Northern Han Dynasty, and after learning that the Northern Song Dynasty was going to attack the Northern Han Dynasty, Emperor Jingzong of Liao sent emissaries to inquire about the reasons, and after receiving a strong reply from Zhao Guangyi.
The emperor said: "Hedong rebelled against his orders, and he should be questioned." If the Northern Dynasty does not come to its aid, the peace treaty will remain the same; otherwise, there will only be war ears! ——" Continued Zizhi Tongjian? Song Jijiu? Four Years of Taiping Revival
After the fall of the Northern Han Dynasty, the Song and Liao dynasties were directly bordered
Emperor Liao appointed Yelü Sha, the chancellor of Nanfu, as the governor of the capital, and The King of Ji as the overseer. Leading troops to rescue the Northern Han Dynasty, he met with the Song Dynasty Guo Jin's reinforcements, and the two armies faced each other across the river. The Liao army wanted to wait for the reinforcements to arrive and fight again, but the Song army suddenly attacked and broke the Liao army, and when the Song army pursued, it encountered liao reinforcements, and the Song army was defeated.
afterwards. The Northern Han again sent men to Liao for help, but the emissaries were captured by Guo Jinjun and killed under the city of Taiyuan. In fact, the Northern Han Dynasty was already surrounded, and this battle was fought beautifully by the Song Dynasty, and the preparation was very good in advance, which thwarted the Liao army.
The Northern Han Dynasty is over, and the next target is "Youyun Sixteen Prefectures"
After the fall of the Northern Han Dynasty, the Song and Liao dynasties fell into a situation of all-out confrontation, and the Liao Dynasty could only hold on to Youji with all its might. Of course, this made the Song Dynasty arrogant, Zhao Guangyi believed that the Liao state was vulnerable, and directly attacked the Youyun Sixteen Prefectures without waiting for the army to get a full rest, and as a result, the follow-up was not contentious, and when the Northern Expedition continued, it was unable to recover youyun Sixteen Prefectures, and was defeated by the Liao army in the Battle of gaoliang River, which was another matter.