This article is a series of 238 intensive readings of Chinese history, and the history of the Song Dynasty is serialized in 06 (click to view the previous part), welcome to watch.
When Emperor Taizong of Song continued the war of unification, although the Battle of Pingbei Han was successful, he was defeated one after another in the war with Liao for control of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyan.
Marching into Youzhou (崫州, in modern Beijing) (i.e., the Liao Dynasty's Nanjing Youdu Prefecture, later renamed Yanjing, in present-day Beijing), and placing the Youyun area that the Later Jin Dynasty had ceded to the Liao Dynasty under the rule of the Song Dynasty, was also the wish of Song Taizu. Song Taizu specially set up a pile vault and stored the annual financial surplus in this vault, preparing to fill up with 300,000 and 500,000 yuan to redeem the Youyun area from the Khitans. If the Khitan did not agree, they would use the money to recruit warriors and use the means of war to seize Youyun. But Song Taizu died before he could implement this plan.
Emperor Taizong of Song also regarded the capture of the Youyun region as a goal of his struggle, and when he sent troops to the Northern Han Dynasty, he already had plans to go to war against the Liao. The Liao's army aiding the Northern Han Dynasty was defeated by the Song army, which made Song Taizong feel that the time was ripe to seize Youyun from Liao.
01. The siege of Youzhou failed, and Emperor Taizong was hit by an arrow
In late May of the fourth year of the Taiping Revival (979), as soon as the aftermath of the destruction of the Northern Han Dynasty was completed, Emperor Taizong of Song decided to march directly to Youzhou.
At this time, the Song army had been fighting against the Northern Han Dynasty for several months, and the generals and soldiers were exhausted. After the Song army entered the Youzhou area on June 19, because the Liao Dynasty had no defenses, only encountered a small group of Khitan resistance in Zhuozhou, liaoqigouguan (辽岐沟關, in present-day northern Xincheng, Hebei) and Zhuozhou garrison Kaicheng surrendered, Song Taizong did not take much effort to lead the army to the south of Youzhou in the early morning of June 23, defeated a small number of Khitan soldiers and horses north of Youzhou, and from June 25, launched a siege of Youzhou.
Youzhou was The Nanjing of Liaoning, but also a military town with a strong defense. Emperor Taizong of Song personally supervised the siege of the city by the Song generals, and manufactured 800 guns and other siege facilities that were new at that time, and from June 25 to the first five days of July, the attack failed to capture Youzhou City for 11 days.
On the sixth day of the first month of July, the Liao Dynasty sent reinforcements led by Yelü Hugo to Youzhou and fought a fierce battle with the Song army at the Gaoliang River west of the city, and the Song army was defeated.
The next day, Song Taizong retreated with his army overnight, and the Liao army then pursued it, and the Song army fell into chaos, abandoning its armor and fleeing in panic. Song Taizong was hit by an arrow in the foot and hurriedly took a donkey cart to escape.
The Battle of Youzhou, which was personally decided and commanded by Emperor Taizong of Song, ended in a crushing defeat for the Song army.
After the Battle of Youzhou, Liao soldiers often invaded the Northern Song Dynasty's border areas such as Zhenzhou, Waqiao Pass, and Yanmen Pass, while the Northern Song Dynasty waited in strict positions at the border, and the two sides won and lost each other in the border war.
At the same time as the border confrontation with the Liao, the Song Dynasty monarchs were also discussing whether to continue to seize Youzhou. An official named Zhang Qixian, Shangshu, said that it is better for a saint to fight in everything and win every battle than to win without a fight, and that Yan and Ji are not enough to win, so it is recommended that they build deep ditches, store up their strength and cultivate sharpness, and do not compete with the Khitan for the land of size and the strength of the weak.
After The defeat of Song Taizong from Youzhou City, although he had superficially made a gesture of personally conquering Youyan again, in fact, he did not have the sharp spirit he had when he first destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, and he listened to Zhang Qixian's opinion and admired it very much. The capture of Youyan was put on hold for the time being. After that, the Song and Liao sides continued to confront each other on the border.
02, attack Youyan again, still ended in a fiasco
In the seventh year of the Taiping Revival (982), the political situation of Liao changed, and Emperor Jingzong of Liao fell ill and died, and his 12-year-old young son Yelü Longxu was made emperor, and the name of the state was changed to Khitan the following year, and power fell into the hands of his mother Empress Xiao and her favorite minister Han Derang.
A general of the Song Dynasty who guarded the border reported to Emperor Taizong of Song: "The Khitan lord is few, the mother queen is dictatorial, and it is a privilege to use things, please take this opportunity to attack Yan and Ji." ”
When Song Taizong received this report, he also felt that it was a rare opportunity to attack Youyan, and decided to march into the Youyun area again.
In the first month of the third year of Yongxi (986), the Song Tai Sect sent Cao Bin, Tian Chongjin, and Pan Mei as the commanders of the three fronts and attacked in three ways.
The Eastern Route Army led by Cao Bin, Mi Xin and others, claiming to be 100,000, set out from Xiongzhou and attacked mainly at Youzhou, which was the main force in this war against the Khitans.
Tian Chongjin led his army from Dingzhou to Feihuguan (flying fox pass) (present-day laiyuan north of Hebei). Pan Mei and Yang Ye went out of the wild goose gate.
Song Taizong's deployment was: Cao Bin bluffed all the way and slowly marched towards Youzhou to attract the attention of the Khitans. Pan Mei and Yang Ye took advantage of the fact that the Khitan had focused their attention on Youzhou and had no time to look west, and attacked the prefectures of Yun (present-day Datong, Shanxi), Shuo (朔, Inso County, Shanxi), and Ying (Ying County, Shanxi), and then tongtian re-entered the east and launched a pincer offensive with Cao Bin all the way to Youzhou to capture Youzhou.
In March, the three Song armies all marched to the Liao Territory. Cao Bin first captured Gu'an and Xincheng Counties, then Zhuozhou, and defeated the Khitan army northeast of Xincheng.
The Khitan Nanjing garrison yelü Xiuge was a very good general, because of his small number of soldiers, he did not confront the Song army led by Cao Bin, but sent light horses to attack at night, and set up an ambush between Lin Mang to cut off the Song army's food route.
Cao Bin's Song army was forced to retire to Xiongzhou to replenish its supplies due to the shortage of military food.
Tian Chongjin and Pan Mei and Yang Ye made relatively smooth progress in the Song Army. Tian Chongjin defeated the Khitan soldiers at Flying Fox South and Flying Fox North successively, and occupied Flying Fox and Lingqiu. Pan Mei and Yang Ye also soon captured the prefectures of Huan (east of Shuo County, Shanxi), Shuo, Ying, and Yun.
Cao Bin's generals heard that the other two Song armies had reached Kejie, and felt that it was a shame that the army had heavy troops but failed to break the enemy, and clamored for troops. Cao Bin had no choice but to lead his army to Zhuozhou in May with grain.
Along the way, the Song army was attacked by light cavalry sent by Yelü Hugo, and fought and walked along the way. At that time, the weather was hot, the army had no water to drink, even the muddy water was drunk, and after four days of walking on the way, when it reached Zhuozhou, it was already sleepy, and the military food was almost finished. At this time, the Khitan lord Yelü Longxu and Empress Xiao's reinforcement army had approached Zhuozhou.
Cao Bin and Mi Xin saw that the situation was dangerous, and led the army to retreat, and were defeated by Yelü Hugo's pursuing troops at Qigou Pass in the south of Zhuozhou, and the Song army began to flee south, and many Song soldiers drowned in the river when crossing the Juma River at night.
Cao Bin and Mi Xin retreated all the way to Yi Prefecture (易州, in modern Yi County, Hebei), where they were preparing to cook and fill their hunger by the ShaHe River, when they heard that Yelü Hugo's pursuers had arrived again, the Song army immediately fled, many trampled on each other and died, and the Sha River was stuffed with the corpses of the Song army, and the river was cut off. The weapons and armor discarded by the Song army were piled up like hills.
Because the main song army led by Cao Bin was defeated miserably, the other two Song armies were also forced to retreat. This time, Emperor Taizong of Song sent troops three ways to cut down the Liao, and it ended in a fiasco.
Just as the Song army was retreating on the Western Road, there was an incident in which Yang Ye, a famous anti-Liao general, was framed, defeated and captured.
03, Yang Ye was ostracized and died in anger
Since Yang Ye returned to the Song Dynasty, he has been leading his troops on the anti-Liao battlefield in Hedong. Since March of the fifth year of the Taiping Revival, when the surprise army defeated the Liao army of 100,000 with hundreds of horses, the Khitan people were afraid of Yang Ye's prestige, and whenever they fought against the Song army, as soon as they saw Yang Ye's banner, they quietly led the troops to retreat. Because of his bravery and good fighting, Yang Ye has repeatedly made military achievements and won the title of "Yang Invincible".
Yang Ye's battle exploits were jealous of other Song generals. This time, he and Pan Mei were ordered to retreat and moved the officials of the four prefectures of Yun, Ying, Shuo, and Huan to song. The Liao general Yelü Chased and attacked, defeating the Song army at Wutai and Flying Fox.
In August, Pan Mei and Yang Ye retreated to the village of Wolf's Tooth south of Shuozhou, by which time the Liao army had captured Huanzhou. Yang Ye saw that the Liao army was very strong, and it was not appropriate to contend with the Liao soldiers, and advocated taking a detour to avoid the powerful enemy on the front, and on the way, the Shijie Valley was lined with three thousand strong crossbows, and then used knights to meet them in the middle of the road, so as to ensure that the retreating Song army and the relocated people could safely retreat to the territory of the Song Dynasty.
However, this correct opinion was opposed by Wang Nong, the overseer of the army, Liu Wenyu, and others. They advocate going straight to the Wild Goose Gate at all costs.
Yang Ye believes that this risky move will fail. Wang Nong actually accused him of having the title of "invincible", seeing that the enemy did not fight, slandering him for having other plans, and not being satisfied with the Song Dynasty.
Wang Nong's unreasonable accusations and slanders unleashed his usual jealousy and hostility towards Yang Ye.
As the commander of the whole army, Pan Mei originally had military common sense and should support Yang Ye's plan. However, when the two battle plans were disputed, he did not express an opinion, and actually supported Wang Nong's propositions and also supported Wang Nong's unreasonable slander of Yang Ye.
At this time, Yang Ye was in a dilemma, and if he went against his will to fight against the Khitan soldiers who were in full swing according to the ideas of Pan Mei, Wang You, and others, he would not be defeated and killed, but would also be held responsible and punished for the defeat. If you act according to your own plan, the guilt of disobeying the commander's military orders will not be escaped.
Yang Ye knew that these Song would want to kill people with a knife and force himself into a dead end, but he could not have other choices. As a general who had returned to the Song Dynasty from the Northern Han Dynasty, he could not bear to say that he had two hearts for the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, he said excitedly: "I Yang Ye am not afraid of death, but I just think that the times are unfavorable, and I can't let the soldiers die in vain and can't make meritorious deeds, today you accuse me of not dying, I died before you!" After saying that, he led his troops to Shuozhou.
When leading the army to pull out, Yang Yelao burst into tears and said to Pan Mei, "I will definitely lose when I go here." I Yang Ye was originally a general from Taiyuan, and I should have been executed a long time ago, but the emperor did not kill me, but let me lead the troops. I did not deliberately let the enemy troops not attack, but wanted to find fighters and strive to repay the favor of the country. Today, you accuse me of deliberately avoiding the enemy, and I Must Have Died at the hands of the enemy first! ”
Then, Yang Ye pointed at Chen Jiagukou and said, "Please arrange infantry crossbows here, and prepare for rescue on the left and right flanks." Wait for me to move here, and you will use the infantry to fight each other on both sides. Otherwise, the whole army will be wiped out. ”
Pan Mei agreed to Yang Ye's request in person and laid down a position at the mouth of Chen Jia Gu to prepare for rescue. However, only four hours after Yang Ye's departure, Wang Nong saw that Yang Ye had not returned, thinking that Yang Ye had defeated the Khitan soldiers, fearing that he would not be able to win the credit at the mouth of the Chen family valley, disregarding the original agreement, leading the troops out of the valley mouth, wanting to fight for a battle merit.
As the manager, Pan Mei not only allowed Wang Nong to act without permission, but also left with him. When Pan Mei and Wang Nong led their army to leave Chen Jia Gukou for 20 miles, they heard the news of Yang Ye's defeat, but instead of returning to the division to rescue Yang Ye, they led the army to quickly retreat.
Yang Ye led his troops to fight against the superior Khitan soldiers, and fought and retreated, fighting from noon until dark, and finally turned to Chenjiagukou. At this time, he saw that chen jiagukou was empty, and Pan Mei and others had already defaulted on the contract and drove away all the Song army, knowing that the fate of the entire army in front of him was already destroyed, and he couldn't help but cry with a headache.
When the Khitan pursuers swarmed again, Yang Ye looked at the remaining more than a hundred Song generals around him and said to them, "You all have parents and wives, and if you die in battle with me, it will not be beneficial." "Let these generals escape from each other, wait for the enemy to disperse, and go back to report the situation of this battle to Song Taizong."
However, because Yang Ye usually loves his subordinates and soldiers, and can share happiness and hardships with his soldiers, the soldiers have great feelings for him, and they are unwilling to leave Yang Ye to escape. Therefore, Yang Ye led these remnants of the army to continue to fight to the death.
Yang Ye suffered dozens of wounds, and when almost all the soldiers around him were killed in battle, he personally killed many Khitan pursuers. In the end, he was finally captured by the Khitan soldiers because his war horse was seriously injured and unable to move. All his subordinate officers and soldiers were martyred, and Yang Ye's son Yang Yanyu was also killed in this battle.
After Yang Ye himself was captured, he refused to bow to the Khitan and surrender. He thought of his loyalty to the Song Dynasty, but he was framed by traitors, so that the soldiers were defeated and captured, and he was infinitely sad and indignant, determined to confess his heart to death with hunger strikes.
This mighty veteran of the battlefield died on the way to Yanjing after three days of hunger strike. In the Liao Dynasty, there was a temple dedicated to Yang Ye at the Gubeikou of the Great Wall, and it is possible that Gubeikou was the place where Yang Ye was martyred.
After Yang Ye's death, his son Yang Yanzhao (formerly known as Yanlang, later renamed Yanzhao) continued to gallop on the battlefield of the Song Dynasty against the Liao.
Yang Yanzhao is the sixth son of Yang Ye, who has liked to play games of army deployment since he was a child, and every time Yang Ye goes out on a campaign, he lets him follow him out to receive combat training. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Yang Yanzhao led troops to guard the border cities of Baozhou (保州, in modern Baoding, Hebei) and other Border Cities in Hebei, defeating the invading Khitan soldiers many times, and Song Zhenzong praised him for "governing the army and protecting the fortress, with a fatherly style".
Yang Yanzhao was also as wise and brave as his father Yang Ye, loyal to state affairs, able to share happiness and hardships with soldiers, and able to lead the way in battle without taking credit, and was deeply loved by soldiers. He guarded the border for more than 20 years, and his prestige was also feared by the Khitans, and he was called "Yang Liulang" by the Khitans. After his death, many people in Hebei wept over it.
Yang Yanzhao's son, Yang Wenguang, was also a military general. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, he fought against the Western Xia in Shaanxi, and also accompanied Di Qing in his crusade against the barbarian Zhigao of Guangyuan Prefecture, and made many military achievements. Later, Yang Wenguang also served as a defender of Dingzhou and contributed to the struggle against the Liao.
Because yang ye's ancestors and grandsons galloped the battlefield for the Song Dynasty with their hearts, made outstanding achievements in the national struggle, and had a touching integrity, since the Southern Song Dynasty, folk artists have processed according to their deeds, and fabricated many characters and plots, and compiled into a "Yang family general" story to praise.
#pgc-card .pgc-card-href { text-decoration: none; outline: none; display: block; width: 100%; height: 100%; } #pgc-card .pgc-card-href:hover { text-decoration: none; } /*pc 样式*/ .pgc-card { box-sizing: border-box; height: 164px; border: 1px solid #e8e8e8; position: relative; padding: 20px 94px 12px 180px; overflow: hidden; } .pgc-card::after { content: " "; display: block; border-left: 1px solid #e8e8e8; height: 120px; position: absolute; right: 76px; top: 20px; } .pgc-cover { position: absolute; width: 162px; height: 162px; top: 0; left: 0; background-size: cover; } .pgc-content { overflow: hidden; position: relative; top: 50%; -webkit-transform: translateY(-50%); transform: translateY(-50%); } .pgc-content-title { font-size: 18px; color: #222; line-height: 1; font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; } .pgc-content-desc { font-size: 14px; color: #444; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; padding-top: 9px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 1.2em; display: -webkit-inline-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; } .pgc-content-price { font-size: 22px; color: #f85959; padding-top: 18px; line-height: 1em; } .pgc-card-buy { width: 75px; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 50px; color: #406599; font-size: 14px; text-align: center; } .pgc-buy-text { padding-top: 10px; } .pgc-icon-buy { height: 23px; width: 20px; display: inline-block; background: url(https://lf6-cdn-tos.bytescm.com/obj/cdn-static-resource/pgc/v2/pgc_tpl/static/image/commodity_buy_f2b4d1a.png); }
Classic General History of China (16 volumes) ¥168 purchase
The content of this article is compiled from the "History of the Song Dynasty" of the Chinese reading book "Classic Chinese General History" jointly created by China International Broadcasting Publishing House and "Reading History".
There are 16 books in the complete set of "Classic Chinese General History", namely: "Xia Shang History", "Western Zhou History", "Spring and Autumn History", "Warring States History", "Qin and Han History (Part I)", "Qin and Han History (Part 2)", "Three Kingdoms History", "Two Jin And Northern And Southern Dynasties History", "Sui and Tang History (Part 1)", "Sui and Tang History (Part 2)", "Five Dynasties History", "Song Dynasty History", "Yuan Dynasty History", "Ming Dynasty History", "Early Qing Dynasty History", "Late Qing History".
This set of books was carefully compiled by more than a dozen older historians born in the first half of the last century and took several years to compile. From the historical migration of xia and shang to the late Qing dynasty, the panoramic depiction of 5,000 years of Chinese history is professional and authoritative, and it is easy to understand, suitable for all ages, passing down classics, and it is worth learning and cherishing.