In 951, Guo Wei established Hou Zhou, and Later Han perished. As the younger brother of Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of Later Han Gaozu, Liu Chong, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu and Taiyuan, had a vendetta against Guo Wei for killing his son, and naturally would not compromise with Hou Zhou. Therefore, he established himself as emperor in Taiyuan, still taking "Han" as the national name, and the history was called northern Han.
Although Liu Chong, who became the Ninth Five-Year Emperor, did not have the grandeur of a country's son of heaven. After Liu Chong's ascension to the throne, he sighed to the chancellor: "I only became emperor because No one inherited Gaozu's inheritance, and I had no choice but to be called emperor." "Therefore, the Northern Han Dynasty did not establish a temple like other dynasties, and the sacrifices were only used by family gifts, and the officials' salaries were not high, and they were indeed very shabby."
But this is also no way to do things, after all, when the Northern Han Dynasty was founded, it was only twelve prefectures, less than half the area of Shanxi Province, the land was small and the people were poor, and they had to fight with the Later Zhou, military expenditure was a problem, and there was spare money to pay attention to those imaginary pomp and circumstance. However, such a small country actually became the last separatist regime in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to be destroyed, and it was really unbelievable that the two generations of male lords of Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu had been eaten under Taiyuan City.
The blue outline is the range of Shanxi Province, and the black solid line is the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty
So what did the Northern Han Rely on to resist the hardcore attacks of Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu? Let's first review the course of the war in which Emperor Shizong and Song Taizu personally conquered Taiyuan next week.
<h1>Zhou Shizong personally conquered Taiyuan</h1>
After the Battle of Gaoping, the Northern Han lord Liu Chong fled back to Taiyuan, and Zhou Shizong decided to take advantage of the high morale to conquer Taiyuan and end the Northern Han regime. Liu Chong, knowing that Emperor Shizong of Zhou would not give up, returned to Taiyuan and hurriedly repaired the city, packed up soldiers and horses, and sent emissaries to the Liao Dynasty to ask for help.
A brief map of the route of the Later Zhou Army to the north
In March 954, Emperor Shizong of Zhou appointed Fu Yanqing as the commander of the Hedong Xing camp and the governor of Taiyuan, Guo Chong as his deputy, Xiang Xun as the capital supervisor, Li Chongjin as the commander of MabuDu Yuhou, and Shi Yanchao as the commander of the vanguard capital, leading infantry and 20,000 horsemen from Luzhou. He also ordered Wang Yanchao and Han Tong to enter from Yindi Pass, to march with Fu Yanqing, and to appoint Liu Ci as his companion, and Touda Jiedu to make Bai Chongzan a deputy.
Soon, the Later Zhou army approached taiyuan city, and then Wang Yanchao led an army to attack Fenzhou, and the defense of Fenzhou made Dong Xiyan say nothing and surrender directly. At the same time, Zhou Shizong also sent the Laizhou defense to make Kang Yannuma attack Liaozhou, and the Mizhou defense to make Tian Qiong attack Qinzhou, but failed to capture the second city.
A brief map of the offensive route of the Later Zhou Army
After the siege failed, the Later Zhou side sent people to persuade them to surrender, and the Liaozhou Assassins were persuaded by the lobbyists to surrender the city. Soon after, Zhou Shizong led an army into the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty and besieged the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty, Taiyuan City. After all, the strategic depth of the Northern Han Dynasty is indeed too small, and it is not surprising that people are under the capital.
On the other hand, the Liao general Yang Gun, who had previously led an army to aid the Northern Han Dynasty, clashed with zheng Chuqian in the defense of the Northern Han Dynasty, causing Zheng Chuqian to surrender, and Yang Gong could only flee back to the Liao Dynasty. When Emperor Muzong of Liao saw that Yang Gong had lost face in Daliao, he imprisoned him and commissioned someone else to lead the troops to rescue the Northern Han Dynasty.
The Khitan cavalry marched south again, and Zhou Shizong asked Fu Yanqing to lead an army to block the attack, and after winning the victory, entered the city of Xinzhou, while the Liao army retreated to Xinkou. At this time, most of the prefectures and counties in the Northern Han Dynasty were forced by the momentum of the Later Zhou army to consciously raise the white flag and surrender, so Taiyuan became an isolated city. All Liu Chong could hope for was the Liao Dynasty's father.
Zhou Shizong personally visited Taiyuan, and Fu Yanqing failed to successfully block the Liao army in the north of Xinzhou
Thanks to the strength of the Liao army, the Later Zhou army was defeated in the north of Xinzhou, and the Later Zhou general Shi Yanchao was killed, and Fu Yanqing, in view of the large strength of the Liao army, first withdrew to Xinzhou and then to Taiyuan City. Fu Yanqing's withdrawal meant that Later Zhou's battle plan to block the Liao army's southward movement was frustrated, and Taiyuan would no longer be an isolated city.
Just as the so-called "misfortune is not a one-way street", before the defeat of the Later Zhou army in Xinzhou, heavy rains were pouring down near Taiyuan, causing the river to swell, the epidemic in the army, and the morale of the Later Zhou army was greatly damaged, and many generals believed that they should retreat. After the defeat of the Xinzhou army, Zhou Shizong could only order the withdrawal of the army when he lamented that the sky was not helping Zhou.
Zhou Shizong withdrew his army and returned to the south
Due to the hasty withdrawal of troops, hundreds of thousands of military grain and grass could only be burned under Taiyuan City, and other materials were also discarded. Moreover, after the Later Zhou army withdrew to the south, the areas in the Northern Han Territory that were originally annexed to the Later Zhou saw the wind and immediately returned to the Northern Han. Zhou Shizong's first personal conquest of Taiyuan ended in vain.
<h1>Song Taizu personally conquered the Northern Han Dynasty</h1>
After 15 years, the Central Plains have changed dynasties, replacing the Later Zhou by the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Tianzi has also changed from Zhou Shizong to Song Taizu. But the Northern Han Dynasty remained strong, but the kings also changed a wave. Compared with the situation when Zhou Shizong attacked the Northern Han Dynasty, Song Taizu had already captured the Jinghu and Sichuan-Shu regions at this time, and the national strength was stronger.
According to the original plan with Zhao Pu's "Snow Night Decision", Song Taizu should first conquer the Southern Han at this time, but there was civil unrest in the Northern Han, and Song Taizu, who knew how to be flexible, did not want to miss the opportunity, so he decided to "take advantage of his illness and ask him for his life." ”
Li Jixun and others led the Song army to advance the Taiyuan route
In August 968, Taizu of Song appointed Li Jixun, Cao Bin, and others to lead a large army, divided into two routes, and marched north to Taiyuan. In September, Li Jixun led his army to defeat the Northern Han army that came to block the attack near Dongchuanshui. The Song army then seized the bridge, crossed the Fenshui River, and marched into Taiyuan City. Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, sent a forbidden army out of the city to block the attack, and was defeated again.
Seeing that the Song army was approaching Taiyuan City, Liu Jiyuan urgently sent emissaries to the Liao Dynasty for help, after all, only the Liao army could compete with the Song army. After receiving the Northern Han's request for help, Emperor Muzong of Liao sent Yelü Tal, the Great King of the Southern Courtyard, to lead an army south to rescue him. In November, Li Jixun and others, who had been attacking Taiyuan for a long time, learned that the Liao army was moving south, and they were worried about being attacked by the enemy on their stomachs and backs, so they withdrew their troops and returned to China. The Northern Han army took the opportunity to unite with the Liao army and plunder Jinzhou and Daizhou.
Liao reinforcements arrived, and the Song army retreated a brief map
For this northern expedition to return without success, Song Taizu was very unwilling, after all, Nanping, Wuping, and Houshu were all calm and calm, and they could not make an exception here in the Northern Han. So in February 969, he issued an edict to pacify the Northern Han Dynasty.
In order to prevent the Liao army from encircling Wei to save Zhao, Song Taizu did not go directly north to Hedong, but detoured through Hebei and then entered Hedong. When Song Taizu was passing through Hebei, he appointed Han Zhongyun to deploy to the north to prevent the Liao army from breaking through from Zhenzhou and Dingzhou in Hebei to the south. At the same time, Song Taizu also asked the army that entered the Northern Han Dynasty first to deploy troops around Shilingguan to block the Liao reinforcements.
When Song Taizu entered Luzhou from Hebei, the weather went wrong again, and it rained for a while, forcing Song Taizu's main force to stay in Luzhou for 18 days to avoid the rain, which greatly delayed the fighter. Moreover, during these 18 days, Song Taizu also captured a Northern Han spy and personally interrogated him, who said that the people in Taiyuan City had been suffering for a long time and were waiting for the Great Song to rescue them.
Song Taizu stills
Extrapolating from the latter result, the spy should have deliberately lied to survive. However, Song Taizu believed it to be true, and immediately led his army to advance, arriving at Taiyuan City on March 21. Two days later, after inspecting the terrain around Taiyuan, Song Taizu ordered the digging of trenches and fences outside the city, and the city was surrounded by a long line.
With the siege of Taiyuan, many officials in the Northern Han Dynasty took up the grass on the wall and asked the Song army to surrender, similar to the previous Zhou Shizong's personal conquest of Taiyuan.
In view of the fortified city of Taiyuan City, Song Taizu followed the advice of his subordinates and decided to flood with water. However, flooding the city with water requires a certain amount of preparation time. Before that, the Song army also needed to prevent the Breakthrough of the Northern Han Army and prevent the Liao Army from going south to rescue. Of course, the next counterattack of the Northern Han Army was a failure.
In April, the Song general He Jijun defeated the Liao army at Shiling Pass and successfully prevented the Liao army from moving south. In May, the Song army defeated the Liao army north of Dingzhou. The Taiyuan defenders learned that foreign aid had been cut off, and their morale fell slightly, but they still chose to hold the city, and Liu Jiyuan did not intend to surrender, and decided to fight to the death.
Soon after, Song Taizu flooded the city, and taiyuan and the city suddenly became a ze country. Immediately afterward, Song Taizu ordered the water army to launch a strong attack on Taiyuan, but the Northern Han army fought back desperately, causing the Song army to repeatedly fail to attack the city and lose several generals.
After four months of bitter fighting, the Song army outside the city had become the end of the crossbow, and the humid and hot weather also made the Song army stationed outside the city epidemic epidemic and low morale. Song Taizu felt a dilemma about this, if he returned to the dynasty on this basis, it would definitely damage the prestige of the Heavenly Son, and it would be a disgrace, but he could continue to attack strongly, except to send the soldiers to life in vain, which would not help at all.
Coincidentally, at this time, the news came that the Liao Dynasty had once again increased its troops to the south, and the development of the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to the Song army. Dr. Taichang Li Guangzan wasted no time in writing to discuss things, and after finding a lot of objective reasons, he suggested that Tianzi retire from the army. After consulting with Zhao Pu, the chancellor, Song Taizu decided to withdraw his troops in order to avoid being attacked by the enemy.
After the Song army retreated, Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, immediately sent people to remove the accumulated water inside and outside the city. The taiyuan city wall was soaked for too long, and after the water was accumulated, it collapsed in many places. The Khitan emissary Han Zhipan sighed greatly when he saw the situation, saying: "The Song army diverted water to flood the city, but only knew one and did not know the second, if it was first soaked and then dried up, then Taiyuan City had already fallen into the hands of the Song people." "If Song Taizu heard these words, he was afraid that he would have to vomit blood."
Due to the haste of the Song army's retreat, a large amount of armaments, grain, cloth, etc. were left along the way. After the Northern Han Dynasty obtained these materials, it was slightly relieved of its embarrassment. Although Song Taizu's personal conquest of the Northern Han Dynasty ended in failure, the Northern Han Dynasty was also seriously injured after this battle, because the war was fought in the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty, and the Song army also coerced more than 10,000 households outside Taiyuan City to return to the south (population is also a war resource) when it retreated.
<h1>epilogue</h1>
Judging from the process of Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu's two personal conquests of the Northern Han Dynasty, the military strength of the Northern Han Dynasty was indeed not impressive, basically they were all defeated battles, and in the face of the enemy's fierce offensive, they could only shrink the city. Therefore, the Northern Han Dynasty was able to carry the attacks of the Later Zhou and Northern Song Dynasties hard, and its own military strength could not be much linked.
From the analysis of the process of Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu eating, the reason why the Northern Han Dynasty survived was because it had three "magic weapons".
First, the time of day. Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu both encountered the most hated rainy days when they were on the march, Zhou Shizong was because the rainy days directly caused the appearance of diseases, and Song Taizu was because the rainy days delayed the marching date, which can be described as missing the warplane. Although it did not rain, the humid and hot weather also made the disease epidemic in the Song Army.
Second, the location. After Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu entered the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty, many cities and pools fell without a fight, and even those that did not surrender would be conquered by the Song army. However, Taiyuan City cannot be attacked for a long time, indicating that Taiyuan City is very strong and belongs to the series of persuasion. It is no wonder that later after Emperor Taizong of Song destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, he wanted to burn down the city of Taiyuan, after all, such an easy to defend and difficult to attack city was occupied by thieves, it would not take much effort to pacify it.
Third, foreign aid. On closer inspection, the Liao army will always appear in time, which can be described as responsive. At that time, when Liu Chongguo was founding, he was "a nephew and a subject" to the Liao Dynasty, similar to the Later Jin Dynasty's High Ancestor Shi Jingyao, who was willing to be a "junior" to the Liao Dynasty. Now that the nephew is in difficulty, how can The Great Liao, as an uncle, not come forward to help one or two? What's more, the Northern Han Dynasty was a pawn for the Liao Dynasty to contain the Central Plains regime.
In summary, although the Northern Han Dynasty was small in size, with these advantages, it became the last country of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
References: "Zizhi Tongjian", "Continuing Zizhi Tongjian", "History of the Old Five Dynasties"
Battle of Gaoping: A war concerning the fate of two generations of lords, Zhou Shizong and Song Taizu