Comrade Guevara
After the Battle of Chuhedian (1114), the Liao Empire was repeatedly defeated by the Jin Kingdom, which arose between the white mountains and black waters, so that its territory was crumbling, and it was destroyed after only 11 years. However, in this humiliating period of repeated defeats, the Liao State, which was beaten badly by the Jin soldiers, also had a moment of pride and pride, and defeated the elite troops of the Song Dynasty twice in the southern border area, which can be called the big winner of the "rookie peck" type battle. So, how did this war start? How could the remnants of Liao crush the morale-boosting Song Dynasty army?
01 Loot while the fire is on
During the reign of Song Huizong for 25 years, although he was addicted to wine and artistic creation, he paid little attention to national politics, but he only followed the teachings of his father Song Shenzong, and never forgot the Northern Expedition to Liao and the recovery of Yanyun's hometown. In order to achieve this glorious and arduous goal, Song Huizong sent an envoy to cross the sea to contact Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguta, and reached an agreement with the latter to jointly attack the Liao State, known as the "Maritime Covenant" in history. According to the covenant, once the Liao State was conquered, the Song Dynasty would offer the Jin State a "year coin", and Jin Taizu promised to give up the sovereignty of Yanyun's hometown.
Portrait of Huizong of the Song Dynasty
According to the battle plan agreed by the two sides, the Song and Jin forces were to simultaneously attack Liao in the second year of Xuanhe (1220), in which the Jin army was responsible for capturing the Liao state's Zhongjing Dading Province (present-day Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia), and the Song army attacked Nanjing Xijin Province (present-day Beijing) and Xijing Datong Province. However, just as the battle plan was about to be implemented, a great peasant uprising led by Fang La broke out in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, forcing Song Huizong to postpone the Northern Expedition and make every effort to encircle and suppress the peasant army. It was not until two years later that the Song Dynasty, which had eliminated civil strife, officially freed up its hands to go on the Northern Expedition.
In the fourth year of Xuanhe (1222), the Jin State invited the Song Dynasty to attack the Liao State in the north and south. At this time, under the extremely fierce offensive of the Jin State, the Liao State was defeated in successive battles, not only did the capital Shangjing fall and the main force was almost completely annihilated, but even the Tianzuo Emperor had fled to Jiashan (present-day Daqing Mountain, northwest of Salazi Town, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia), and his whereabouts were unknown to the outside world for a long time. In order to stabilize the morale of the army and the people, Yelu Chun, who stayed in Nanjing, was officially enthroned as the emperor under the support of the generals Xiao Han, Yelu Dashi and others, and was known as the Northern Liao in history.
Map of the situation before the Song-Liao War
Although Ye Luchun claimed to be the legitimate emperor of the Liao State, his ruling area was limited to the area of Nanjing Xijin Mansion and the nearby Pingzhou area, and all the soldiers under his command were defeated generals who were disabled by the Jin army, and their combat effectiveness can be imagined. On the other hand, the Song army of the Northern Expedition was an elite division that had just quelled the Fangla uprising and had a morale like a rainbow, and was led by Tong Guan, a famous eunuch who could fight well. In the eyes of Song Huizong, the situation of our strong enemy and weak is so obvious that it seems that as soon as the army of the Song Dynasty arrives, Northern Liao will immediately show a situation of collapse.
02 Defeated Xiongzhou
In May of that year, with Tong Guan as the commander, and Chongshi Dao and Xin Xingzong as generals, 100,000 elite troops of the Song Dynasty set off from Xiongzhou, and the troops were divided into two northern expeditions. However, what Song Huizong never expected was that under the command of Yelu Dashi and Xiao Han, the seemingly weak Liao army broke out with incredible super combat effectiveness when there was no way to retreat.
Tong Guan embroidered portrait painting
Seed Master Dao and Xin Xingzong could not resist the offensive of the Liao army and were forced to retreat overnight, but when the Song Dynasty rout had just arrived at the city of Xiongzhou, the pursuers of the Northern Liao had already arrived. Tong Guan was worried that the Liao army would take advantage of the chaos to invade Xiongzhou, so he ordered the city gate to be closed. Seed Master Dao and Xin Xingzong could not enter the city, so they could only sacrifice their lives to fight with the Liao army, and as a result, there were countless casualties in the first battle, and the history records that "from the south of Xiongzhou, the north of Mozhou, between Tangbo and the west of Xiongzhou, Baozhou, Zhending, the dead corpses are incomprehensible" (see "Three Dynasties and Northern Alliances· Volume 8).
03 Defeat Yanshan Mansion again
When the news of the defeat of the Song army on the front line reached Bianliang, Song Huizong was both shocked and ashamed, eager to tear the two defeated generals to pieces. In order to restore the face of the Celestial Empire, Song Huizong did not stop the Northern Expedition, but brewed a new military action plan. At this time, Guo Yaoshi, the commander of the Northern Liao Han General and Changsheng Army, surrendered to the Song Dynasty and presented a plan to the imperial court to attack Xijin Mansion, which was fully accepted by Song Huizong.
Song Dynasty soldier attire
In October of that year, Song Huizong sent Tong Guan to the Northern Expedition again, and renamed Xijin Mansion as Yanshan Mansion in advance. This time, Tong Guan changed to the famous general Liu Yanqing as the main general, and supervised 100,000 troops in the south of Lugou. According to the battle plan, Liu Yanqing fought with Xiao Han and Yelu Dashi on the frontal battlefield, while Guo Yaoshi and Song generals Yang Keshi and Gao Shixuan led thousands of troops to sneak attack and enter Yanshan Mansion. In order to successfully achieve the goal, Liu Yanqing should send his son Liu Guangshi to lead a division to receive Guo Yaoshi and others, so as to occupy Yanshan Mansion as soon as possible, and then attack Xiao Han and Yelu Dashi back and forth.
However, after Guo Yaoshi and others invaded Yanshan Mansion, Liu Guangshi did not lead the army to help, and Xiao Han immediately sent troops back to help after learning that there was an accident in the rear. As a result, the Song army fought hard in the city for three days and nights, and was finally killed because they were outnumbered, and only Guo Yaoshi, Yang Keshi and hundreds of soldiers escaped from the city. After annihilating the Song army in the city, Xiao Han sent troops to cut off the Song army's food routes, and carried out psychological warfare against Liu Yanqing, declaring that he would lead the Liao army, which was three times the enemy, to attack the Song army.
Portrait of a Khitan soldier
After the Song army's grain route was cut off, Liu Yanqing had no fighting spirit, but now he mistakenly believed the false news released by Xiao Han, so he burned the camp in a panic and fled. When the soldiers saw the commander fleeing, they scattered and fled, and as a result, they "trampled on the dead for more than 100 miles." Since Xi and Feng, the army has been exhausted. (Ibid. for citation), it can be described as miserable. Xiao Han took advantage of the victory to pursue, and did not garrison until the river of Zhuozhou City. The next day, the demoralized Song army was once again defeated, and the remnants of the defeated army fled to Xiongzhou in a hurry, refusing to fight against the Liao soldiers.
04 Follow-up
After two major defeats, the Song Dynasty not only lost 200,000 elite troops, but also exhausted the military supplies accumulated for decades since Shenzong Xining and Yuanfeng, which can be said to be tragic and humiliating to the extreme. After the war, the Han people of Northern Liao and Yandi despised the Song Dynasty's performance of foreign powerhouses and cadres, and wrote poems and poems to make fun of Song Huizong, which made the latter ashamed.
"Jingkang's Change" Situation Map
What's even worse is that after seeing the scumbag-like combat effectiveness of the Northern Song Dynasty, in addition to ridiculing and ridiculing in his heart, the Jin State naturally bred the ambition of invading the Central Plains and destroying the Song Dynasty. Sure enough, just 3 years after the Song-Liao War (1225), the Jin State, which had completely destroyed the Liao State, officially raised troops to the south, and it took only 2 years to capture Bianliang and capture the second emperor of Huiqin, which is known as the "Jingkang Change" in history.
bibliography
Xu Mengxin (Southern Song Dynasty): "Three Dynasties and Northern Alliance", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2008 edition.
Totoku (Yuan): History of the Song Dynasty, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985 edition.
Tuotuo (Yuan): History of Liao, Zhonghua Book Company, 1974 edition.
Tuotuo (Yuan): "Jin History", Zhonghua Book Company, 1975 edition.
Bi Yuan (Qing): "Renewal of Capital and Governance Tongjian", Zhonghua Book Company, 1999 edition.