Map of the situation in 1088
01
In March of the third year of Zhezong Yuanyou of the Northern Song Dynasty (1088), the border town of the Northern Song Dynasty - Saimen Village was attacked by the Western Xia, and the guard Mi Yun was killed in battle.
In times of crisis, a man stepped forward.
Liu Fa.
No one knows where his house is, how old he is this year, and no one even knows where he came from (there is no record in the history of the Song Dynasty).
Liu Fa led a force to storm Hongzhou in Western Xia, killing more than 500 Tangut people, destroying more than 12,000 tents in Xixia, seizing livestock and more than 13,000 armor.
The most important thing is that Liu Fa's battle not only saved Saimen Village, but also changed the shape of the entire battle situation, and the Northern Song Dynasty became the active party.
In the following days, Liu Fa was called to come, he was able to fight, invincible, and the Xixia people who fought peed their pants as soon as they heard his name.
[(Western Xia) generals are afraid of Liu Fayong and dare not be his front. 】
Liu Fa also made it all the way to the Marquis of Yu, the commander of the pro-army Ma Junsi, which is equivalent to the second-in-command of the military region.
02
Liu Fa killed the Quartet, and the Western Xia people couldn't stand it, so they asked their eldest brother Liaoguo to mediate, hoping to take a break at halftime.
Who wants to fight if they can rest? So there was no war in the northwest.
We all know that the Northern Song Dynasty emphasized literature and suppressed martial arts, and since it was peaceful, the generals began to be provoked by all kinds of thorns.
In the third year of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty (1109), Liu Fa was sued because he did not personally greet him because of the imperial court's music.
Are you saying it's a big deal? It's just that he doesn't understand the rules.
But if it is used by people with ulterior motives, it is unorganized and undisciplined, and it does not give face to the big boss.
So Liu Fa's military position was removed and he went to the local mayor to become the mayor.
In the era of peace, Liu Fa seems to have this only way in his life.
Of course, we know that as the first general of [Famous Generals, Must be Headed by Liu Fa], how can he be stable until retirement?
His stage is the border pass, and his ideal is to get on the horse and kill the enemy.
03
In October of the fourth year of Zhenghe (1114), the Song-Xia War was rekindled.
The cause was because of a traitor.
When the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang of Western Xia was still alive, when Song Xia was pulling to the limit, she successfully rebelled against an officer named Li Yanyi.
Li Yan handed over a shocking secret: every spring, the Song army's food reserves were insufficient, and the combat effectiveness dropped sharply, and I stayed here for one or two decades and saved a lot of grain......
Xia Chongzong Li Qianshun got the news and was overjoyed: Why don't you beat him up quickly, what are you waiting for?
However, what Li Yanyi didn't know was that the Northern Song Dynasty had actually been staring at him.
Upon learning that he had sent a message to the Western Xia, the Northern Song Dynasty immediately took action and transferred the grain that Li had transferred to other places.
So when the Western Xia army trotted all the way over, where was there food? However, it was not in vain, and brought back Li Yanyi and more than 10,000 people under him.
Song Huizong was very abnormal this time and was very angry: Dig my corner? Hit you!
The main reason why Song Huizong dared to go to war was that the Jurchens led Wanyan Aguda and called the emperor the founding of the country.
The rising Jurchen clan beat the Liao State with a blue nose and swollen face.
Da Liao can't take care of himself anymore, how can he still be in the mood to care about the things of his younger brother Xixia.
Coupled with the instigation of the great eunuch Tong Guan, Song Huizong felt that he could support it.
The Great War is on the verge of breaking out.
04
Tong Guan relied on sycophancy to get to the top - to help Cai Jing enter the court again at the most appropriate time.
Therefore, Cai Jing strongly recommended Tong Guan to lead the troops this time.
Father-in-law's plan is as follows:
Xihe Jingluo made Liu Fa lead an army of 150,000 out of Huangzhou, and Qin Feng made Liu Zhongwu lead an army of 50,000 out of Huizhou.
The two armies marched on different routes, but the purpose was the same - to open the road to Lingzhou.
Father-in-law Tong himself is sitting in Lanzhou, ready for reinforcements at any time.
Liu Fa led his army to Gugulong (now north of Ledu County, Qinghai Province) and met the famous Western Xia general Cha Ge who came to meet him.
But Chago did not have time to mobilize more troops, and only tens of thousands of troops were under his command.
Liu Fa was originally a fierce general, and he had an absolute advantage in numbers, so there was basically no suspense in this battle - the Xia army was killed more than 3,000 people, and Brother Cha retreated.
Liu Fa did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but built a Zhenwu city here, sent troops to defend it, and led the main force to withdraw.
This is not the result that Father-in-law Tong wants.
So a few months later, Tong Guan began a second round of offensive: Liu Zhongwu and Wang Hou joined Jingyuan, Yan Yan, Huanqing, and Qin Feng to attack the Zangdihe City in Western Xia.
However, Wang Hou and Liu Zhongwu did not hand in an answer sheet that satisfied Tong's father-in-law - the Song army lost nearly half, and the Qinfeng Road was wiped out by 10,000 people. The Western Xia army took advantage of the aftermath of the victory, broke through the Xiao Pass, and returned by plundering.
Father-in-law Tong is very angry: a bunch of fools!
However, Father-in-law Tong didn't get angry for too long, because Wang Hou sent him a gift package for the first time: help, a few kind words.
As a result, Wang Hou really didn't have anything.
Of course, Tong Guan can't suffer this loss.
05
In February of the sixth year of Zhenghe (1116), Tong Guan once again divided his troops into two ways to attack Xia.
The eastern front is the Seed Master Dao (the boss of Master Lu in "Water Margin"), attacking Zangdi River City;
On the western front, Liu Fa and Liu Zhongwu attacked Renduoquan City (southeast of present-day Menyuan County, Qinghai Province).
Xia Chongzong and Li Qianshun hurriedly ordered Brother Cha to lead the army to reinforce.
After Brother Cha heard that his opponent was Liu Fa, he walked halfway and didn't leave: Hey, whether Renduoquan City can be held depends on the destiny of heaven.
As a result, the defenders of Renduoquan City held out for more than a month, but the reinforcements had not yet arrived, and they really couldn't hold on, so they opened the door and surrendered.
At this time, Liu Fa made a decision that stunned everyone: to slaughter the city.
More than 3,000 Tangut people were slaughtered.
This made Li Qianshun angry: Aren't you a state of etiquette? Why are you still doing such a bad thing?
Gather the strength of the whole country and launch a fierce attack on Jingxia City in the direction of Songjingyuan Road.
Jingxia City fell, and Western Xia resorted to the same means, slaughtering all the Song soldiers in the city.
took revenge and was angry, but the situation was still not optimistic for Western Xia......
06
Because the Tibetan River City was defeated by the Seed Master, the Song army built the city and built a walled city, and the territory of Western Xia shrank more and more.
Li Qianshun took a look: Isn't it just repairing a bunker? You will, and so will I!
At the boundary of the Xia and Song dynasties, a cattle cutting city was built in the Liuling Mountains (now Lenglongling, Gansu Province), hoping to rely on the cattle cutting city to protect the integrity of the southeastern region of Western Xia.
However, the heavily defended Cattle Cutting City was not beaten at all, and it was easily stolen by He Guan, and the Xia army retreated in embarrassment.
The news reached Jingshi, and Song Huizong renamed the city "Tong'an City".
The situation was very good, and Tong Guan felt that destroying the Western Xia was a matter of holding a handle, so he ordered Liu Fa to quickly send troops and enter the heart of the Western Xia - the Xing and Ling regions.
Liu Fa's mind is sober: Although Western Xia has not taken advantage, but the strength is still there, we may not be able to win, wait a minute, now is not the best time.
However, Tong Gonggong is very skilled, how can he listen to it: you bragged to the emperor at the beginning, and now you say this again, what do you mean?
After all, he is a superior, not to mention that he did tell the boss that he would do it, no way, go on!
07
Liu Fa led 20,000 troops to Tong'an City, and marched with the rest of the Song army.
It was Brother Cha who greeted Liu Fa.
Brother Cha had a headache when he heard Liu Fa, but he had no way out.
How can I say that Brother Cha is also the first brother of the Western Xia Army, and he still has basic military qualities.
He divided the main force into three, and took turns to go up and tear Liu Fa; Another elite was sent to make a detour behind the mountains to raid Liu Fa's rear army.
Under the front and back attacks, Liu Fa did not panic, and commanded the Song army to block Brother Cha's attack.
But the Western Xia army worked in three shifts, the front ones were tired and hungry, and on the top of the back, Liu Fa's troops didn't even have a place to pee.
From morning to evening, for seven hours in a row, the Song army could not resist after all.
Seeing that the general trend has gone, Liu Fa can only break through at night.
As a result, on the way, the Bixi Xia army found that he continued to run, and accidentally lost his horse and fell off the cliff......
Zhai Jin, the fierce general of Xihe, led his subordinates to rush into the Western Xia army formation several times to look for it, but he never found Liu Fa, so he had to lead his troops to break through.
In the end, Liu Fa, who broke his leg, was discovered by a Western Xia logistics staff, and he went up with a knife and cut off Liu Fa's head.
When Brother Cha saw Liu Fa's head, he couldn't believe it: [I tried to avoid his edge, I was born a god general, but I didn't expect that I would be the head of a small pawn today! 】
At this point, the battle of Tong'an City ended in a complete victory in Western Xia.
It was also the last large-scale battle between Song and Xia.
08
However, Gonggong Tong actually reported to the imperial court, saying that he had relieved the siege of Zhenwu City.
Song Huizong did not know the truth, and rewarded the "meritorious personnel" (most of whom were Tong Guan's cronies) reported by Tong Guan.
However, there were nearly 100,000 victims of the Song Dynasty's soldiers and civilians, and there were nearly 100,000 victims, so someone had to carry this pot, right?
Who?
couldn't be simpler, of course, it was Liu Fa, who had already died.
Dead people don't refute it.
Strap all the basins to his head.
Tong's reason is: Liu Fa does not listen to the command.
In fact, except for Song Huizong, who was concealed to death, everyone knows that Liu Fa is a strange injustice through the ages.
It is an unjust case, and there will always be a day of snow.
Liu Fa originally had a chance.
It's just that I didn't expect that there would be bigger storms behind -
09
After the Jingkang Change, Zhao Jiancheng established the Southern Song Dynasty, the same nest, he ran away from the beginning of his power, and he fished while running.
It's not okay to fish it yourself, and you also connive at the eunuchs in the chamberlain to loot the people.
What's more, Wang Yuan, the commander of the imperial camp and the privy envoy, colluded with the eunuchs to use warships to transport the treasures he had looted, causing tens of thousands of Song soldiers and war horses to fall into the enemy camp.
In the third year of Jianyan (1129), Liu Fa's son Liu Zhengyan was dissatisfied with Wang Yuan and the eunuchs' prestige, so he united with Miao Fu to launch the Miao Liu Mutiny, killed the ministers and eunuchs, and forced Zhao Gou to cede the throne to the two-year-old crown prince Zhao Yang.
However, Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan are too naïve-
What everyone hates is only those eunuchs who are in power, not really going to oppose Zhao Gou.
So they were quickly defeated by the kings of Qinqin from all over the country, and the two of them were inched (dismembered) in the downtown of Jiankang.
Liu Fa, as the first general in the late Northern Song Dynasty, was not established in the "History of the Song Dynasty", and was also implicated by his son.
became a man like a fan.
Age, place of origin, and family history are unknown.
His deeds exist only in fragmentary, fragmentary accounts.
It has been passed down by word of mouth for thousands of years.
PS：
The encroachment strategy of the Song Dynasty was destined to only accumulate small victories into big victories, advancing layer by layer.
But if you lose once, you'll have to start all over again!
There were indeed many brave generals like Liu Fa in the Song Dynasty, but as long as there was a Tong Guan, everything was equal to nothing......