In the "Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon", I believe that countless people are deeply impressed by Dali in the southwest region of the Song Dynasty, and I believe that countless people have questions: Why did the Song Dynasty not include Dali in its territory? In fact, not only the Song Dynasty, but even during the Tang Dynasty, failed to include the southwest region in the territory. And what is even more regrettable is that the southwestern countries at that time also defeated the Tang Dynasty army many times!
This country is Nanzhao! At its peak, its geographical territory spanned what is now southwest China and had an outlet to the sea along the coast of Guangxi in the east, and part of the territory of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and other countries was also part of the former Nanzhao State. This country not only defeated the Tang Dynasty, but also defeated Tubo, Jiaotong, Biaoguo and Lion Kingdom many times, which is a force to be reckoned with in the southwest region.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, King Ge Luofeng of Nanzhao rebelled because his wife was bullied and humiliated by Tang dynasty magistrates. At that time, Yang Guozhong, the prime minister, was eager for merit, thinking that the conquest of the army should be easily defeated, so he did not allow Ge Luofeng to surrender and ask for peace, and prepared to brush his military merits for himself. However, he did not turn to Tubo to seek peace, and the two countries defeated the Tang army and beheaded 60,000! After that, the Tang Dynasty sent a large army to conquest, but it was still defeated. The two wars lost a total of more than 100,000 imperial elites.
This not only made the military power of the Tang Dynasty empty, but also allowed the frontier moderation to see the possibility of replacing it. An Lushan saw the Tang Dynasty's external strength and middle cadres, and twice dispatched a large army to even conquer a small Nanzhao, and lost a large army one after another! We all know the consequences, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the road to the rise of the Tang Dynasty was completely interrupted.
Why is it so difficult for a small Nanzhao state to conquer? In addition to the alliance between Tibet and Nanzhao, the advantages of Nanzhao itself cannot be ignored.
For Nanzhao, the biggest advantage is the terrain! We know that the southwest region has many high mountains and mountains, which is not conducive to large-scale cavalry mobile operations, but the Tang Dynasty army is not adapted to mountain warfare. The Nanzhao army's regular mountain movements not only adapted to the terrain, but also had more advantages in perseverance, physical strength and adaptability, and moreover, it was still a battle against the Tang Dynasty army, which was naturally more hostile to the enemy.
On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty faced a large number of enemies at the same time, Such as Tubo, Nanzhao, Korea, Jiaotong, etc., all needed to be garrisoned separately, and it was naturally impossible to concentrate superior forces to break through one by one, which gave Nanzhao the possibility of victory. However, this is also a drawback caused by the expansion of the Early Tang Dynasty, and the central government's control over the local areas has weakened!
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the southwest region had undergone a thousand years of foundation with the Central Dynasty, and under the offensive of huairou policies such as land reform and return, it eventually became an inseparable part of the territory of the Chinese nation.