In 1066 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, which had not been in war for a long time, once again clashed due to force majeure. However, unlike the past decisive victory in the wilderness, this battle of Dashun City was completely a fortress battle, allowing the Song army, which was good at defending the city, to take advantage. The Tangut suffered from a weak point** and gradually fell into passivity in the subsequent competition.
Li Liangzuo, who succeeded to the throne at the age of 1, was also the second emperor in the history of Western Xia
As early as 1048, Li Yuanhao's son Li Liangzuo succeeded to the throne and became the second emperor in the history of Western Xia. Because he was only 1 year old, he was in charge of the house by his mother, and then he was under the remote control of the entire group of relatives. As a result, he was busy cleaning up the court throughout the early part of his reigning career, and lacked the necessary interest in continuing the attack on the Northern Song Dynasty. On the other hand, the Tangut people were able to reap a lot of benefits through the New Year's coin reward every year, so they had no incentive to blatantly upset the balance.
Most of the territory of Western Xia has been deteriorated by climate change
However, the Western Xia of Li Liangzuo's time was still full of crises and was prone to fierce battles with its powerful neighbors. This is mainly due to the very poor living environment of the party members, and they can barely make ends meet by relying on their hard work in peacetime. However, the military mobilization system left over from the founding period required everyone to be fully prepared for a full-scale war that could come at any time. Therefore, not only the emperor of Xingqing Province needed to support a professional standing army, but even the tribal nobles scattered all over the country had to do the same. Even the lowly vassal population was not exempt from vulgarity, and spent most of the fruits of daily production on preparing for war.
The equilibrium between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom made the Western Xia caught in it very uncomfortable
As a result, after Li Liangzuo initially realized his desire to cut the domain, he was busy opening the continuous use of troops to the outside world. First, there were two large-scale wars with the Liao State, followed by a large-scale invasion and occupation of the Hehuang Tubo people. The result is naturally a huge cost but little gain, but a lot of resource reserves are consumed. Especially in the confrontation with the Khitans, regardless of the final outcome or defeat, the main battlefield is located within the territory of the country. Even the later attempt to subdue the weaker Qingtang City was also difficult to succeed due to the obstruction of the border army of the Song Dynasty.
Tomb frescoes depicting images of Tangut heavily armed warriors and women
At this critical moment, the bad weather came unexpectedly, which became the last straw that crushed the psychological defense line of the party members. In the autumn of 1066 AD, the entire Western Xia suffered from agricultural failures, which further stretched the already insufficient reserves. Li Langzuo made a decision on this and used a diplomatic turmoil a few years ago as an excuse to resume the war against the Northern Song Dynasty. The ultimate goal is nothing more than to extort more coins, or to embezzle part of the Shaanxi border land under these conditions.
Huachi is located between the Hetao and Guanzhong
In September of this year, the Western Xia Emperor personally led tens of thousands of cavalry troops to the south and laid siege to Dashun City, which was attacking and blocking. Considering that the most elite Iron Harrier heavy cavalry had been annihilated by the Liao State many years ago, the main force of this southward march should be the backbone of the rebuilding forbidden army, supplemented by a large number of tribal soldiers from the local aristocracy. Among them were Han Chinese infantry recruited and captured from the territory of the Song Dynasty, as well as many mountain barbarians who were originally scattered near the agricultural oases of the Hetao. Although they had not encountered the main force of the Song army for a long time, they still relied on the glorious achievements left by their predecessors, and they were sure that they would be able to win a big victory in a certain duel.
At least before the war, the Western Xia side had full confidence in victory
However, the coping strategy of the Northern Song Dynasty has also changed significantly after the last peace. In view of the bitter lessons of several large-scale field defeats, the concept of fortress group defense originally proposed by Fan Zhongyan was gradually accepted. One of the manifestations of this is the mass construction of new towns with military functions over economic value. In addition to the indispensable functions of garrisoning and storing food, it also shoulders the pivotal function of commanding the surrounding small fortresses. It is even possible to accommodate more reinforcements in an engagement, acting as an artificial ground for decisive battles, in case troops are too far away from the permanent fortifications due to deployment needs. Coincidentally, the city of Dashun, which the Tanguts were preparing to take with heavy troops, was an outstanding product of this kind of thinking.
The reality of weak field warfare made the Song Dynasty dependent on urban defensive warfare
Of course, this change in defensive strategy is not significant, at least on the surface. Therefore, Li Liangzuo ordered the main force to drive directly to the city of Dashun, hoping to attract more Song Dynasty reinforcements while preparing for the siege. However, at that time, Qinglu Jingluo was slightly appeased, so Cai Ting was unmoved, and strictly ordered everyone to stay where they were, and only sent a small number of reinforcements to Huachi, which was in the most critical situation. As a result, the Tanguts' idea of encirclement and reinforcement quickly collapsed, forcing them to concentrate their forces on the most inefficient assault, exposing more structural flaws.
In terms of structure alone, the urban defense deployment of the Song Dynasty was significantly improved compared with that of the previous dynasties
At first, the Western Xia soldiers only started to build a fence to enclose the surrounding area of Dashun City. However, the arid climate of the Hetao region and the strong walls and wilderness preparations of the Song defenders made it impossible for the attackers to find more usable timber. In this way, it is not possible to build a rushing cart that covers the attack of the ants, nor can it assemble a trebuchet that can directly bombard the city. In addition, the surrounding walled cities were in the hands of the Song army, and the window of opportunity set aside was very limited, so it was impossible to take complex means such as digging tunnels. Li Liangzuo had no choice but to constantly urge his subordinates to attack, trying to force the defenders of the city to obediently attack him with partial crowd tactics. I didn't want this move to play into the hands of the Song people, and after a few days of fierce fighting, I didn't even touch the city wall.
The ruins of today's Dashun City
It turned out that since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the weakness of the army's lack of ability to win decisive battles in field battles has repeatedly appeared. As a result, policymakers have gradually turned their attention to urban defense, hoping to place the battlefield on the periphery of the city as much as possible. In addition to efforts to build the city wall, a taller and stronger location of the Urn City Auxiliary Defense Gate will also be designed. Then, between the wall and the moat, a fortification called the sheep and horse wall was arranged, so that the defenders could weaken the enemy offensive. Sometimes there are even two breastworks in the front and back, combined with the trenches in front of them, to form a number of infantry lines. In the past, it was only because the Song army was more willing to engage in decisive battles that the technical upgrade at the city defense level did not show results. Now that you know how to put down your body and hold on to it with peace of mind, you can naturally reap the corresponding rewards.
The Song infantry, which used a lot of crossbow machines, was very suitable for static defense behind fortifications
Because of this, the Western Xia army felt very awkward when besieging Dashun City. It was very difficult to climb over the moat, and it was constantly subjected to continuous fire from the defenders on the inside of the sheep and horse walls, as well as a second round of arrows from the head of the city. It is true that the soldiers of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time were not yet equipped with powerful divine arm crossbows. However, relying on the combination of ordinary bow + bed crossbow + light trebuchet, it can still unleash considerable power in a static defensive environment. Although the party members are good at archery, they cannot gain an advantage in such unequal conditions. Although he was able to obtain armor of superior quality to the Song army from his own workshop, he could not withstand the close attack of superior firepower. As a result, the assault was carried out for several days, and it could not have any impact on the direction of the situation, except for the depletion of armament stocks and the increase in armaments.
High-end full-body scale armor from the Song Dynasty
During this period, the young and vigorous Li Liangzuo personally went into battle to supervise the battle. However, a seat of silver-plated armor was too dazzling in the chaotic army, and it was soon noticed by the defenders at the head of Dashun City. As a result, the dignified Western Xia Emperor fell to the ground with an arrow in front of the battle, and Xin had to be protected by people to quickly get out of danger. However, the strong attack on Dashun City could no longer be sustained, so he could only retreat hastily in unwillingness. Afterwards, Li Liangzuo did not want to end the military operation with defeat, and ordered his subordinates to try to attack Huachi on the side. I don't want the Song army to arrange for reinforcements to arrive in advance, and once again keep the attackers out tightly. When the two sides were at a standoff, the guard general Zhang Yu led 3,000 dead soldiers out of the city overnight, and the exhausted party members were caught off guard. At this point, the Western Xia side was no longer able to hold on, and retreated to the other side of the border to stand by.
The defeat at the Battle of Dashun turned the Western Xia from offensive to defensive
On the surface, the process of this battle of Dashun City was very uneventful. But it was the first time since the era of Li Yuanhao that the party members completely lost to the Song Dynasty. If we take into account the drought that had broken out in the Western Xia at that time, it is inevitable that it will no longer be able to maintain a tough stance on the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, Li Liangzuo could only attribute the mistake of lightly opening up the border troubles to his subordinate officials, and returned some of the looted property along the way. This time it was barely possible to ensure that the coin bounty remained the same, and that the border market was equally important, opened. Both sides were satisfied with the status quo and maintained peace for another five years.
Li Liangzuo's death was nothing but the rise of a new round of the Empress Dowager Party in Western Xia
The following year, in order to regain the image of defeat, Li Liangzuo began to send troops to attack Qingtang City on the southwest side. But the other party surrendered slightly, and he suddenly died of illness due to overwork. The Western Xia throne passed into the hands of Huizong Li Bingchang, and the real power fell under the personal group of the Empress Dowager Liang. In addition, the throne of the Northern Song Dynasty was also inherited by the ambitious Shenzong, and the third war, which was even larger, was inevitable. The experience and inspiration from the Battle of Dashun City will become the latest standard for both sides to formulate strategies and tactics.
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