Author: Our special guest author Nine Fish Pavilion
In the 1970s, in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xiji County, Xinglong Town generation, farmers farmed, found a lot of white bones, due to the age, human bones and horse bones superimposed together, the thickest place is more than two meters.
In the subsequent inspection work, the inspectors also found many helmets and arrows, and after careful screening and investigation, it was determined that these weapons coincided with the historical materials of the Western Xia, and this ancient battlefield was the location of the Battle of Haoshuichuan in Songxia.
First, the Song army sent troops, and Ren Fu lightly attacked the enemy
After the defeat at Sanchuankou, Emperor Renzong of Song increased his garrison in the northwest, and also sent Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, and others to the front, appointing them as Shaanxi Jingluo's deputy envoys, and their leading superior was Jingluo Shaanxi's pacification and solicitation of Envoy Xia.
Han Qi was in charge of Jingyuan Road, fan Zhongyan was in charge of Yanyan Road, and after a period of rectification, the border defense system was completely renewed, but on the issue of facing the enemy, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, and the imperial court were all different. After the Alliance of The Yuanyuan, the Song Dynasty had not fought a decent battle for a long time, and not only was its combat effectiveness stretched, but even suitable commanders were rare.
Under the constraints of the system of emphasizing literature over force, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and other civilian officials took to the battlefield, Han Qi was the main battle, wanting to complete his contribution to the battle, and Fan Zhongyan was the main defender, because he did not have the certainty of victory.
Song Renzong also did not understand the military, even if he hated Western Xia to the bone, he once had no idea, after the court discussion, temporarily agreed to Han Qi's proposal and sent troops to attack Western Xia. On the one hand, Han Qi had not fought a battle, was a civilian official, obviously inexperienced, and also crossed the river by feeling the stones; on the other hand, the commander was in disagreement and the imperial court was ambiguous, which made the battle fall into a more embarrassing situation.
Just when the Song army was about to send troops and had not yet sent troops, the border alarmed. In February of the first year of the Qing calendar (1041 AD), Li Yuanhao led a large army to Weizhou. In order to boost morale, Han Qi personally went to the front line of the Zhenrong Army to direct the battle, and under Han Qi's deployment, he recruited and transferred a total of 18,000 people to the original army, under the command of Ren Fu, the commander of the camp.
Historical records record that "Qi Xi soldiers paid the general Ren Fu, so that after the thieves from Huaiyuan City were victorious, if there was no war, they would ambush them according to danger and want them to return." And do it, abstain from it again. He also moved the covenant, violated the degree of moderation, and although he had merit, he also cut it. ”
Forward Sang Duo, who also included Zhu Guan (朱觀), Du Jian Wu Ying (都監武英), and JingZhou Governor Wang Jue (王珪) were all under the control of Fu Fu. Han Qi was bent on winning the battle, but he was also worried, so Ren Fu received the order not to have a position battle with the enemy army, but to march from Huaiyuan City to Desheng, until Yangmulong City, around the enemy's back to raid, if there is no engagement with the enemy, then occupy the dangerous terrain to ambush and intercept the enemy's retreat.
Perhaps Han Qi's strategy was not the best, but if Ren Fu could follow this step, at least it would not be completely destroyed, but unfortunately, Ren Fu was too proud and did not take the Western Xia people in his eyes.
When the Song army set out, Ren Fuxian led thousands of cavalry to go out first, and soon encountered the enemy south of Zhangjiabao, seeing that the number of enemies was not large, Ren Fu immediately fell and killed hundreds of enemies.
Second, the white dove flies, and the god of death comes
Just after starting the army, he achieved a small victory, and Ren Fu was extremely excited, so he left Han Qi's instructions behind and killed the Western Xia people with his ass. However, at this time, the Western Xia soldiers were not fond of fighting, and they retreated while fighting, and after the report of the tanma, the number of enemy troops in the front was not much, so Ren Fu accelerated his pace and wanted to further expand the results of the battle.
Although Ren Fu achieved partial victories, the situation of the Song army became more and more dangerous, Ren Fu only brought thousands of cavalry, the rear large troops had not yet arrived, and although Ren Fu was the commander, the other Song troops were scattered, did not gather in one place, and their strength was relatively weak.
Leaving aside the combat effectiveness of the Song army, at this time, all the small units were fighting for each other, and Ren Fu was very happy and had also divided the troops to continue to advance, and Li Yuanhao had already opened his pockets and waited for the Song army to drill inside.
Li Yuanhao led an army of 100,000 and was already preparing for the attack in Haoshuichuan, and ren Fu and others were unaware of this, and in addition, the author was very suspicious that the so-called scout was not a traitor of the Western Xia people.
If Li Yuanhao had led so many troops, how could there be no intelligence at all, while the scouts reported again and again that there were very few enemies in the front.
At a distance of 5 miles from Yangmulong City, the Song army encountered the Western Xia army, until this time, Sang Yi and Ren Fu still knew nothing about the Western Xia forces, and the front and rear troops continued to move forward, until Feng Sang saw several silver mud boxes on the side of the road.
There must be demons when things go wrong, the great war is coming, and several large boxes appear in a conspicuous place, which makes Sang Yi unaware. To be on the safe side, Sang Yi ordered the march to be stopped and awaited Ren Fu's troops in the rear.
Historical records record that "Yi is the vanguard, seeing that the Road is placed in a number of silver clay, the sealing is meticulous, there is a sound of movement, doubts do not dare to send, blessing to hair, is more than a hundred hanging whistle pigeons, from the middle of the union, the flying army." ”
Ren Fu was also confused when he saw the box, but even if there was danger, he had to open it to take a look at it, and then ordered someone to open the box, hundreds of sentry pigeons, flying out of the box, this time Ren Fu finally understood, hit the enemy's ambush, and regret it at this time.
Third, the Song army was completely destroyed, and the generals were killed on the battlefield
Historical records record that "Jue, Ying, Jin, Geng Fu, the general Li Jian, the capital supervisor Li Yuxiang, and Liu All died in battle. Guan yi more than a thousand people to protect the people's wall, firing arrows, will twilight, xia army led away. Three hundred people died as a general, and guan right shook. ”
The history books record that Li Yuanhao led 100,000 troops, which is not impossible, but why did the Song army not know about such a large-scale military operation? We speculate that the strength of the Western Xia army may be much higher than that of the Song army, but there are definitely no hundred thousand people, and the reason why Li Yuanhao was able to win in the end was to attack it unprepared and lure the enemy deeper.
In the face of dozens of times the enemy army, Sang Yi took the lead in rushing up, trying to buy a little time for the commander, but it was not long before he was drowned in the Western Xia army, useless. Ren Fu could only swear to resist to the death, from morning to noon, the Song army suffered heavy losses, the defeat was obvious, and it was impossible to continue to support, Ren Fu personally went into battle to kill the enemy, more than a dozen arrows in his body, and blood stained his robe.
A small colonel came forward to persuade Ren Fu to run first, and Ren Fu shouted: "I am a general, the army is defeated, and I will repay the country with my death." Ren Fu knew that it was because of himself that he had fallen into a heavy siege, and now he could only repay the country with death.
Armed with a four-edged iron sword, Ren Fu entered the enemy position, and was soon stabbed in the cheek by a gun and martyred. Although Ren Fu is at fault, we have to admit that he is also a true warrior, and he will never yield even if he is deeply trapped in death, which is the reason why China has stood for thousands of years.
There were still many soldiers around the Song army, and the soldiers in the surrounding cities heard the news and rushed to the rescue, but unfortunately, unfortunately, the Song army did not assemble uniformly, and the strength was too weak, and Li Yuanhao concentrated the superior forces to swallow it up one by one. In this way, Geng Fu, Wu Ying, Zhao Jin, Wang Jue, Li Jian, Li Yuheng, Liu Jun and other generals were all killed in battle, and 13,000 Song troops were buried here, and the Battle of Haoshuichuan ended in the complete defeat of the Song army.
In this war, the Song army is still tenacious, even if the enemy army is far more than its own, but the Song army is not afraid of death, it can be seen that the Song army is not weak, but this battle also makes Li Yuanhao's military talent revealed. From design to implementation, a drama that wants to capture the old is played by Li Yuanhao, which shows that the rise of Western Xia is not accidental.
References: Song Shi Liechuan 71, Song Shi Liechuan 244