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Among the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty, there was also Xia Prefecture (present-day western Hengshan County, Shaanxi) divided by the Tuoba clan of the Dangxiang people, which had jurisdiction over the four prefectures of Xia, Sui (Shaanxi Suide), Yin (Shaanxi Mizhi), and Yu (west of Jingbian County, Shaanxi).
The Dangxiang people were a qiang tribe that originally lived in the southeastern part of the Qinghai Plateau, and during the Li Tang Dynasty gradually migrated eastward to present-day Gansu and northwestern Shaanxi, where they came under the jurisdiction of the Tang government, and their leaders were granted official positions.
In the late Tang Dynasty, Tuoba Sigong, the leader of the Tuoba clan, took advantage of the weakening of the central power of the Tang Dynasty and the division of local warlords to occupy Yuzhou, calling himself the Assassin History, and became a divided force in northern Shaanxi. Later, Tuoba Sigong led an army composed of ethnic minorities and Han Chinese to help the Tang Dynasty suppress the Huangchao Rebellion, and was appointed by Emperor Tang as an envoy to the Dingnan Army, giving him the surname Of Li and the Duke of Xia. The Tang Dynasty asked him to guard Xia Prefecture and rule over the four prefectures of Xia, Sui, Yin, and Yu. Since then, the Dangxiang Qiang Li clan has become a feudal town that divides the Xia prefecture.
During the Five Dynasties period, the Li clan of Xia Prefecture maintained a subordinate relationship with Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou, while always maintaining a separate position.
After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, li yiyin, Li Guangrui, and Li Jijun's ancestors and grandsons maintained close relations with the central court of the Northern Song Dynasty, and although the Xiazhou area was still in a state of division, it was formally an integral part of the Song Dynasty.
In the fifth year of Emperor Taizong's reign (980), Li Jijun died after the Dingnan army was left behind, and his brother Li Jifeng succeeded to the throne. At this time, infighting broke out among the Li family, and some of Li Jipeng's fathers and clans led troops to attack Xia Prefecture, and some expressed their opposition to Li Jipeng's succession to the Song Dynasty.
Li Jipeng knew that he would not be able to continue to divide Xia Prefecture, so in the seventh year of the Taiping Revival (982), he led his relatives to Kaifeng to meet with him, and offered Song Taizong the land of eight counties in Xia, Yin, Sui, and Yu Prefectures, expressing his willingness to keep the capital.
Emperor Taizong of Song thought that this was an opportunity to eliminate this divided force in one fell swoop, so he renamed Li Jizhong as the emissary of the Zhangde Army. At the same time, using the old method of leveling the two separatist regimes of Wuyue and Fujian, officials were sent to directly administer these four prefectures, and they were prepared to relocate all the close relatives of the Li clan to the capital city of Kaifeng, so that the Li clan would leave the territory that had been divided for a long time and lose the base for the division.
Li Jipeng's action to automatically end the state of separation was in line with the direction of moving from division to reunification at that time. Song Taizong's efforts to eradicate this separatist force was part of the unification cause that began with Song Taizu, and it was also beyond reproach.
However, Emperor Taizong of Song did not take into account the complexity of the ethnic problems in the Xia prefecture and did not take any sympathetic measures to make the people of all ethnic groups there realize the benefits of reunification, so that these ethnic minorities would support the rule of the Song Dynasty, but instead implemented the harsh system of the Song Dynasty in these areas.
The Song Dynasty also returned to their original owners the raw mouths (slaves), cattle, and sheep that had been plundered by ethnic minorities over the past ten years.
At that time, the implementation of such measures under the precarious rule of the Song Dynasty was also too hasty. All this made the ethnic minorities in the Xiazhou area have no good feelings for the rule of the Song Dynasty, and the central dynasty's rule over these areas was difficult to consolidate.
At this time, the Originally conflicted Li family also split in its attitude towards the Song Dynasty. Except for Li Jipeng, who took the initiative to accept the land from the Song Dynasty, most of the clans were moved to the capital by the Song Dynasty without resistance and accepted the new official positions of the Song Dynasty.
However, Li Jiqian's brother Li Jiqian, who lived in Yinzhou, pretended to send his nursing mother to the funeral, hid his weapons in a coffin, and together with dozens of his cronies left Yinzhou and fled to Dijinze (present-day Bayannaoer, Inner Mongolia), 300 miles northeast of Xiazhou, to gather crowds to resist and unveil the prelude to the Song and Western Xia wars that lasted for more than a century.
Li Jiqian was an ambitious figure among the Party aristocrats of Xia Prefecture. When he knew that the Song Dynasty would move the Li clan to the interior, he said to his cronies: "Our ancestors have been running this place for more than 300 years, father and son brothers, living in the prefectures and counties, looking at one side." Now the Song Dynasty decreed that the clan would enter the capital division, and all the dead and alive would be bound, and the Li clan would be cut off. “
His brother Li Jichong also said: "The tiger must not leave the mountain, and the fish must not leave the yuan", opposing the entry into Beijing with the envoys of the Song Dynasty. With dozens of people in favor of continuing to divide the side, they took advantage of the long-term influence of the Li family in the Fangbu, and also took advantage of the fact that the Song Dynasty rule had failed to gain support from the ethnic minorities here, holding a portrait of their grandfather Li Yiyin, and inciting the people of the Dangxiang clan to follow them against the Song and restore the ancestral inheritance of the Li clan.
Some of the Dangxiang tribes were gradually instigated. Relying on the support of these tribes, Li Jiqian began to carry out armed separatist activities against the Song.
From the eighth year of the Taiping Revival (983), Li Jiqian continued to attack Yuzhou and other places that had been garrisoned by Song troops. The following year, the Song Dynasty's Yin Xian of Xia Prefecture and the inspector Cao Guangshi heard that Li Jiqian was active in Dijinze, and sent elite cavalry to attack overnight, killing 500 of his followers, burning more than 400 tents, and capturing Li Jiqian's mother, wife, sheep, horses, and various equipment.
Li Jiqian escaped alone.
After Li Jiqian escaped from Jijinze, he continued to instigate among the Dangxiang clans, and established an anti-Song alliance with the various departments of the Yeli clan, and his power gradually became stronger. In the second year of Yongxi (985), he paralyzed Cao Guangshi by deception, booby-trapped Cao Guangshi at Yeluchuan, and then attacked Yinzhou and Huizhou.
After Li Jiqian claimed to be the Dingnan Army, he began to rebuild the separatist regime.
When Emperor Taizong of Song heard Li Jiqian's report of the capture of Yinzhou, he immediately sent troops to fight it. The Song army led by Wang Nong defeated Li Jiqian in a row, and some of the troops turned to the Song Dynasty, saying that they wanted to stand with the Song and help the Song Dynasty eliminate Li Jiqian.
Seeing that it was difficult for Li Jiqian to defeat the Song army and re-establish a divided regime by relying on his own strength, Li Jiqian took advantage of the contradictions between the Liao and the Song and adopted the strategy of uniting the Liao against the Song and declared himself a vassal of the Liao Dynasty in the third year of Yongxi (986). In this year, Emperor Taizong of Song divided his troops into three ways to attack Liao, and the Song and Liao wars were raging. Of course, the Liao Dynasty was very willing to support an anti-Song force on the side of the Song Dynasty in order to strengthen its position in the war with the Song Dynasty, so it granted Li Jiqian the title of envoy of the Dingnan Army, and married the daughter of the clan to Li Jiqian as a princess, and in the seventh year of Yongxi (990), the Khitan also crowned Li Jiqian as the King of Xia.
The support of the Liao Dynasty strengthened Li Jiqian's struggle against the Song Dynasty. The Song Tai sect sent troops to fight and repeatedly lost.
In the third year of Dao (997), Emperor Taizong of Song died and his son Zhao Heng (Emperor Zhenzong of Song) took the throne. At this time, Li Jiqian sent emissaries to make peace with the Song Dynasty and demanded that the Song Dynasty recognize his divided position.
At that time, as soon as Emperor Zhenzong of Song ascended the throne, he accepted Li Jiqian's request and granted him the envoy of the Dingnan Army, and placed the prefectures of Xia, Yin, Sui, and Yu, which had long been incorporated into the territory of the Song Dynasty, under Li Jiqian's jurisdiction. Later, even Lingzhou (present-day Lingwu, Ningxia) was abandoned to Li Jiqian.
After Li Jiqian's death, Emperor Zhenzong of Song granted Li Jiqian's son Li Deming the title of Envoy of the Dingnan Army in the third year of Jingde (1006), the Prince of Xiping, and gave him a salary of the inland festival, giving him 40,000 yuan each in gold, money, and 20,000 catties of tea each year.
The Song Dynasty officially recognized the divisional status of Western Xia.
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The content of this article is compiled from the "History of the Song Dynasty" of the Chinese reading book "Classic Chinese General History" jointly created by China International Broadcasting Publishing House and "Reading History".
There are 16 books in the complete set of "Classic Chinese General History", namely: "Xia Shang History", "Western Zhou History", "Spring and Autumn History", "Warring States History", "Qin and Han History (Part I)", "Qin and Han History (Part 2)", "Three Kingdoms History", "Two Jin And Northern And Southern Dynasties History", "Sui and Tang History (Part 1)", "Sui and Tang History (Part 2)", "Five Dynasties History", "Song Dynasty History", "Yuan Dynasty History", "Ming Dynasty History", "Early Qing Dynasty History", "Late Qing History".
This set of books was carefully compiled by more than a dozen older historians born in the first half of the last century and took several years to compile. From the historical migration of xia and shang to the late Qing dynasty, the panoramic depiction of 5,000 years of Chinese history is professional and authoritative, and it is easy to understand, suitable for all ages, passing down classics, and it is worth learning and cherishing.