Author: Our special guest author Nine Fish Pavilion
In the impression of later generations, the synonym of the Song Dynasty is weak in addition to being rich, and there is no doubt that the wealth of the Song Dynasty can surpass all the countries at that time, so why is it said that the Song Dynasty is weak?
This mainly lies in the external attitude of the Song court, as long as it can be peaceful, it will try not to fight, as long as it can be solved with money, it will never use swords and guns. In fact, the Song army was not as weak as we thought, and the Song army was by no means a greedy army that was afraid of death, for example, in the Battle of Sanchuankou, it played the tiger and wolf power of the Song army.
First, Fan Yong made mistakes, Kim Myung-joo was defeated, and the Yanzhou crisis
Dang xiang people have been surviving in the gap between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao state, in the eyes of the two eldest brothers, Western Xia has always been a small role, but after Li Yuanhao took over, the Dang Xiang people became more and more restless, for the sake of territory, for resources, Li Yuanhao frequently challenged the Song Dynasty.
In 1040, Li Yuanhao led a large army to attack Bao'an, and then attacked Jin Mingzhong, a border fortress of the Song army, with 100,000 troops, and a general Li Shibin, who had been stationed for generations. Li Yuanhao was extremely cunning, And Jin Mingzhao was heavily guarded, and if he wanted to attack from the front, he would have to pay a huge price, so Li Yuanhao began to play tricks.
First, Li Yuanhao sent people to see Li Shibin, and used gold and silver to lure Li Shibin to surrender, Li Shibin claimed to be an iron arm, he was furious, and directly killed Li Yuanhao's emissaries. Li Yuanhao failed to make a plan, and once again used a big move - deception, Li Yuanhao said that he wanted to submit to the Song Dynasty again, Li Shibin could not make up his mind, so he reported to his superior Zhenwu Junjie and Zhiyan Prefecture Fan Yong.
Historical records record that "it is a reward with gold, so that the subordinates are subordinate." On the day of the descending, there are many villages. ”
Fan Yong was originally a civilian official, not familiar with the military, and when he saw that the party members wanted to submit again, he didn't think much about it, and he agreed. Li Yuanhao sent a large number of spies and soldiers, dressed up and disguised, and mixed into the surrounding walls of Jin Mingzhu and the Song army. Not long after, Li Yuanhao led a large army to attack Jin Mingzhong, and the soldiers who mixed into the city came to meet the outside.
In this way, Jin Mingzhong was lost, the 100,000 Song army did not play a role, Jin Mingzhao was lost, and the city of Yanzhou was immediately exposed to the iron hooves of the Western Xia army, and Fan Yong finally woke up, but it was too late.
At this moment, the defenders of Yanzhou City were only a few hundred, and Fan Yong panicked and immediately issued an order, ordering Yan Yan and Huan Qing to deploy Liu Ping, and Yan Yan to deploy Shi Yuansun and others to quickly rescue them.
2. Emergency rescue by Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun
Liu Ping received the order, immediately led his three thousand soldiers to set off, walked for four days, reached the security guard, joined Shi Yuansun's troops, due to the urgency of the military situation, Liu Ping did not dare to stay, and reached the town of Wan'an at the speed of an urgent march. Liu Ping led the cavalry to continue to advance, the infantry was slow, followed in the rear, marched to the west of the Sanchuan Pass, set up a camp, the enemy was close at hand, and Liu Ping needed to repair the troops.
Liu Ping sent a small number of cavalry to engage the enemy, the cavalry just left, but Liu Ping hesitated, on the one hand, the soldiers under him were too tired and needed to be repaired; on the other hand, the headquarters was too few men and horses, and they rushed to meet the battle, and they were bound to fail. So Liu Ping stopped and waited for the infantry behind him, and the next day, the infantry did not follow, Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun retreated twenty miles, and finally joined the infantry.
In addition, Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun also joined the armies of Huang Dehe, Wan Qianzheng, and Guo Zun, and the total strength finally exceeded 10,000 people, and the Song army traveled five miles east and encountered the Western Xia army.
Third, there is a great disparity between the enemy and ourselves, and the Song army will not retreat from the battle
At that time, the weather was cold and frozen, the snow on the ground was several inches thick, the Xia army crossed the river to form a formation, the Song army took advantage of its crossing of the river, sent troops to attack, the general Guo Zun took the lead, led the army into the enemy position, but unfortunately the Song army was too small, the Xia army could not be dispersed.
Immediately, Liu Ping led his army to launch an attack together, killing hundreds of enemy people, and the Xia army temporarily retreated. At that time, Li Yuanhao's troops had 100,000 people, specifically we do not know how many people the Xia army had when fighting with Liu Ping, but at least it was several times more than the Song army, in the case of a huge disparity in strength, saving strength may be the best speculation, but the Yanzhou crisis, the Song army had to give up its life.
The Xia army was strong in strength, and once again crossed the river to launch an attack, this time they used shields to attack in front, the Song army faced the enemy head-on, the killing sound was tremendous, and under the fierce charge of the Song army, the Xia army killed and wounded thousands of people. The battle was fierce, and even the coach Liu Ping himself was shot by a stray arrow, and his clothes were stained red with blood.
In this battle, the Song army emerged a fierce general, his name is Guo Zun, holding an iron pestle, once rushed into the enemy position, almost invincible, can kill dozens of enemies at once. Some people in the Xia army were not convinced, and sent warriors to fight with Guo Zun, and in only one round, Guo Zun slapped the enemy's head to pieces, and the Song army cheered and shook the sky, and morale was greatly boosted.
As the sun set and the war temporarily stopped, several soldiers came to Liu Ping with the enemy's first rank to ask for merit, and Liu Ping replied: "The war side is urgent, and all of them should be rewarded with a heavy reward." In fact, from the beginning of the war, victory and defeat have been determined, even if the Song army is strong, but its own troops are too small, if you continue to fight, it is difficult to escape the total annihilation of the army.
As soon as Liu Ping's words were finished, the cavalry of the Xia Army attacked again, at this time, the Song Army had reached its limit, and the rapid march of several days, coupled with the fierce fighting, made everyone exhausted. Before the engagement, Huang Dehe and his men ran to the southwest, and the fear of war spread like a virus, and the Song army was in chaos.
Liu Ping was impatient, and immediately sent troops to pursue, which took a lot of effort, but only more than a thousand people were left, facing dozens of times the enemy army, there was no chance of victory, but the Song people did not yield, and fought with the enemy for three days, and even temporarily forced the enemy to retreat.
The Song army set up several fences and temporarily settled down, and in the evening, the Xia army laughed around the camp: "There are only so many remnants of soldiers left, when will we wait until we surrender?" Liu Ping replied, "Dog thief, when the reinforcements arrive tomorrow, they will kill you to a great defeat!" "In fact, where there were any reinforcements, the next day, the Xia army killed again, the ending was not suspenseful, the Song army was completely destroyed, and the lord would be captured."
Fourth, the deserters took a bite back, and Liu Ping's reputation was almost lost
In any dynasty, there was no shortage of traitors, Huang Dehe fled back to the imperial court, but bit Liu Ping back, saying that Liu Ping surrendered to Western Xia, song Renzong did not know the truth, and sent troops to surround Liu Ping's family.
Fortunately, Emperor Renzong was a Dao Ming Jun, and after careful consideration, he found that things were not right, and immediately sent his attendant Yu Shi Wenyanbo to the front line to investigate, and finally the truth was revealed to the world, and Liu Ping was posthumously given the title of Shuofang Jiedushi and Shi Zhong, with the title of Zhuangwu. Huang Dehe was beheaded to death and got the punishment he deserved.
Li Yuanhao won the war, and the result was that the Xia army retreated, and Yanzhou City was saved; some people said that it was because of the cold weather that the Xia army retreated, and some people said that it was a problem of supplies, and the Xia army retreated. With Li Yuanhao's disposition, will he put fat meat and not eat it? Moreover, he and the Song Dynasty had already torn their faces, what scruples did they have?
The reason for the weather must not be a problem, the reason why Li Yuanhao chose to retreat, or because in this battle at Sanchuankou, even if the Song army was weak, it was a dead battle, fighting to the death, fighting to the point of a soldier, which made Li Yuanhao feel very uneasy in his heart, the Xia army may have a strong army, but if it is forced to the point of the Song army, can it also be put to death and live again?
Through this battle, Li Yuanhao laid the foundation of Western Xia, and the city of Yanzhou was preserved, but the Song army also suffered heavy losses. The defeat of the Song Dynasty is an immutable fact, but we must not forget the bravery of the Song people and the great sacrifices they made for the country. (Text/Nine Fish Pavilion)
References: "Continuation of the Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 42", "Song Shi Liechuan 84"