The Western Xia confronted the Northern Song Dynasty, and the influence of the Liao State was signif

Mondo History Updated on 2024-01-29

Although "Dragon Babu" is a fictional martial arts**, its story background is consistent with real history. Qiao Feng and other characters lived in the turbulent times of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia Dynasty. Those who know history understand that the Northern Song Dynasty faced the Liao State established by the Khitan and the Western Xia established by the Party, and the situation was complicated. The Liao State was the strongest, followed by the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Western Xia was at a relative disadvantage. Some people may question why the Western Xia, whose strength is not as strong as the Northern Song Dynasty, dares to confront the Northern Song Dynasty?This is related to the way of survival of the Western Xia.

In 1038 AD, Li Yuanhao, the leader of the Dangxiang clan, adopted the national policy of promoting peace by war, profiting from peace, and raising troops with profit in the face of internal troubles in Western Xia and external troubles in Song and Liao. In other words, the war that the Western Xia took the initiative to provoke was not intended to kill the other party, but hoped to obtain benefits from the other party. Considering the situation at that time, it was the Northern Song Dynasty that could benefit Western Xia. Since the Northern Song Dynasty was established in 960 A.D. by Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, in view of the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it formulated a ruling strategy of "emphasizing literature and suppressing military force, and guarding the internal and external affairs". However, with the repeated defeats of the Northern Song Dynasty's military operations to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun, Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong aggravated the concern that "external troubles are not just scabies, and internal strife can destroy the country", and devoted his main energy to preventing internal strife, taking a defensive position in an all-round way, and spending financial resources to seek peace.

In 1004 A.D., the Liao army of 100,000 troops marched south to attack the Northern Song Dynasty, and once approached the city of Lanzhou on the north bank of the Yellow River. Song Zhenzong personally conquered under the advice of the courtiers, and the morale of the 400,000 Northern Song Dynasty defenders was high, and he successfully shot and killed Xiao Tzulin, the commander of the Liao army, which reduced the momentum of the Liao army. However, Song Zhenzong, who could have taken advantage of the victory to pursue, chose peace talks, so the Song and Liao reached an alliance and became a brotherly country. The Northern Song Dynasty paid 300,000 years of silk to the Liao State every year. It can be said that although its strength was lower than that of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Liao State easily took advantage of the Northern Song Dynasty. When the Western Xia was down, they naturally saw it in their eyes, so they followed the way of the Liao State and frequently caused incidents on the border of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Although the Western Xia and the Northern Song Dynasty had different victories and defeats in the war, due to the limited national strength of the Western Xia, it was difficult to withstand a long war, so they took the initiative to sue for peace with the Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty was willing to settle things and keep the face of the Central Plains. Every year, the Northern Song Dynasty rewarded 250,000 years of silk and tea from the Western Xia. Therefore, whenever the Western Xia lacked funds, they provoked a war with the Northern Song Dynasty, and then asked the Northern Song Dynasty for funds through peace talks.

This historical background provides a deep historical origin for the story of "Dragon Babu".

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