In the early days of Song Taizong's accession to the throne, he adhered to Song Taizu's policy towards Liao in his later years, maintained friendly relations with strong neighbors in the north, and sent envoys to each other every year to celebrate the New Year and the birthday of the Son of Heaven on both sides.
Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty set up a field in Zhenzhou, Yizhou, Xiongzhou, Bazhou, and Cangzhou, and sent court officials and eunuchs to manage the ** activities against the Khitan. In 979, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty personally conquered Taiyuan, and the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty asked Liao for help.
Liao sent Yelu Sha as the capital commander and Yelu Enemy Lie as the supervisor to lead the army to rescue. But Liao underestimated Song Taizong's determination and military strength. At Baima Ridge, the Song army was ready and waiting for the arrival of the Liao army.
The Liao army's commander, Yelusha, originally planned to wait for the arrival of the rear army before launching an attack, but the self-esteemed Ji king's enemy Lie and Yeluma ignored the existence of the Song army and insisted on immediate action.
Jerusha tried to dissuade them, but the two remained unmoved. Enemy Lie and others led the vanguard soldiers and horses across the stream, and Yerusha had no choice but to follow into battle. When the Liao army had just crossed the halfway point, the Song general Guo Jin led an elite army to attack fiercely, and the battle was extremely fierce.
The Liao army could not resist and was defeated one after another, including Ji Wang Di Lie and his son Wage, Yelu Sha's son Delhi, Tulu Bubu Jiedu envoy Du Min, and Huang Pi Room Shen Wen Tang Xiao and other five generals were killed in the battle, and the soldiers were killed and wounded countless times.
Jerusha and Jeruman were also trapped in the formation, but fortunately, the rear army led by Yelu Xian arrived in time and forced the Song army to retreat with a salvo of 10,000 strong bows, and they were spared.
The Battle of Baimaling was the first crushing defeat of the Liao army in a battle against the Song army.
In the early morning of the 6th, Liu Jiyuan, the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty, led hundreds of officials out of the city to meet the emperor of the Song Dynasty and ask for guilt. According to the custom, Song Taizong gave forgiveness and rewards to the Northern Han monarchs and ministers who surrendered, and appointed Liu Jiyuan as the general of the right guard and made him the prince of Pengcheng County.
After four battles between the Song army and the Northern Han Dynasty, it was finally victorious. The elimination of the Northern Han Dynasty marked the official end of the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which was characterized by feudal wars and political turmoil.
This outcome was the inevitable result of the change in the balance of power in the Liao and Song dynasties. After the victory of the Song army, Yu Wei pacified the Northern Han Dynasty, and Song Taizong was very proud. He composed "Ping Jin Fu" and "Ping Jin Poems", and ordered his courtiers to sing harmony.
Originally, the Song Dynasty only focused on capturing Taiyuan City, but with the elimination of the Northern Han Dynasty, Song Taizong was full of spirit and decided to transfer his troops and use the residual power of conquering Taiyuan to recover the lost land in one fell swoop and establish the immortal merit of Brother Gonggai.
At the beginning of June 979 (the fourth year of the rejuvenation of the Song Taiping and the first year of the Liao Qianheng), Song Taizong ordered the privy envoy Cao Bin to transfer troops from all over the country, and sent envoys to supervise the military princes of Jingdong and Hebei Prefectures, and sent them to the north as soon as possible.
On the thirteenth, Song Taizong personally led a large army from the town to the north to conquer Liao. Although some of the military horses were left to garrison Taiyuan, Song Taizong sent troops from all over the country to camp in the north in Zhenzhou, so the Song army and horses that attacked Liao should have more than 100,000 people when they besieged Taiyuan.
When Song Taizong led the army to set off, some of the six armies failed to arrive at the assembly site in time, and Song Taizong was very angry and wanted to deal with them all by military law. But Zhao Yanpu, the head of the Ma Bu army, dissuaded him.
On the 19th, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty entered the Liao realm and arrived at Jintaidun (also known as Jintaiyi, in the east of present-day Qingyuan, Hebei).
The Song army successfully used a team of 100 local guides to directly reach Qigou Pass, which is located in the north of Juma River in the southwest of Zhuozhou, Hebei Province. The Liao Dynasty established the Eastern Yi Prefecture here.
On the night of the same day, the Song army used clever tactics to make the elite soldiers led by Kong Shouzheng cross the antlers and arrive under the city wall. Kong Shouzheng declared that the army was about to arrive, and successfully persuaded Liu Yu, the assassin of Yizhou in eastern Liaodong, to surrender.
Because the Northern Expedition of the Song Army was unexpected by the Liao Dynasty, the defenders of the Liao front did not have any preparations for war, so they could only open the door to surrender one after another. Under the persuasion of Kong Shouzheng, Liu Yu lowered the drawbridge, opened the city gate, and let the Song army enter the city.
In the early morning of the 20th, Song Taizong led the guards to the outside of Qigou Pass, and Kong Shouzheng immediately went to Xingying to report the news. Song Taizong left a thousand troops to guard Qigou Pass, and at the same time ordered Kong Shouzheng to lead an army to attack Zhuozhou.
Kong Shouzheng and Fu Qian, the commander of the East and West Bandu, led the forward to the front line of the Shahe River in the east of Zhuozhou City, and happened to meet Yelu Xidi, the king of the Liaobei Academy, Xiao Qigu, the commander of the army, and Sahe, the king of the second room, who hastily led their troops to intercept it.
Kong Shouzheng and Fu Qian respectively led the east and west trains of the imperial front to meet the battle, the Liao army was defeated and defeated, and the Song army took advantage of the victory to chase more than 20 miles, and successfully captured more than 500 Liao army Yulin soldiers.
The next day, Song Taizong passed by the battlefield and saw mountains of corpses and abandoned weapons, and expressed his appreciation for this victory. This can prove that the Liao army suffered heavy losses in this battle.
On the same day, Song Taizong entered Zhuozhou, and Liu Yuande, the assassin of Liaozhuozhou, surrendered to the Song army. In the end, the Song army succeeded in besieging Yanjing City. Four days later, Song Taizong arrived in the south of Yanjing City and settled in Baoguang Temple.
Since entering the Liao realm on the 19th, it took Song Taizong only four days to arrive at the city of Yanjing, and the speed of his action is amazing. The Liao army in Yanjing City, which was not well prepared, fell into a chaotic situation at the moment, and Han Kuangsi was not in the city in Nanjing, and his son Han Derang guarded the city day and night, waiting for reinforcements.
In the face of the Song army's close pursuit, more than 10,000 people from the Liao army's Yelu Xidi and Xiao Qiugu tribes did not dare to enter the city, and chose to retreat north of Yanjing City. Song Taizong personally supervised the battle, deployed the Song army to besiege the city, and commanded Ma Renyu to lead the elite troops of the forbidden army to assault.
Although the Liao army lost more than 1,000 men, it was still defeated by the Song army and began to rout. Yelu Xidi, Xiao Qigu and others did not dare to fight again, and led the remnants of the army to retreat to the north of the Qing River. At the same time, the vanguard of the Song army, Kong Shouwen and Li Jilong, defeated thousands of Khitan troops in the south of Huzhai River.
The Liao army, which knew that Yanjing was in an emergency, rushed east to rescue. The king of Liaonan Yuan, Yelu Xian, first arrived outside Yanjing City, and saw that Yelu Xi was defeated and retreated, and the situation was critical, so he asked his subordinates to fly the cyan flag of Yelu Xi and other defeated troops, feint to retreat to the victory pass, and lure the Song army to pursue the soldiers.
The Song army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and after Yelu led his troops out of the Song army's formation, he successfully defeated the Song army. However, in view of the sharp edge of the Song army, Yelu did not dare to enter the battle, so he led the army to garrison the victory pass to provide support for Yanjing City.
Soon, the Yelu Sha tribes also rushed to reinforce one after another, and joined forces with the Yelu Xidi and Xiao Qiu Gu tribes. Although the Song army suffered a small defeat at the victory pass, it successfully drove away the Liao army stationed in the north of Yanjing and realized the encirclement of Yanjing City.
During this period, Song Taizong personally dispatched generals to attack the city from all sides, and ordered the construction of stone cannons and other siege equipment, which was completed in only eight days and was praised by the emperor.
According to historical records, the Song army deployed more soldiers and horses in the key siege directions in the west and north of the city, and it is estimated that the total strength has reached.
Sixty or seventy thousand, plus reserves and alert troops, there are approximately.
80,000 or 90,000 people.
Song Taizong personally went to the north of the city to supervise the battle, and also had the intention of monitoring and stopping the Liao reinforcements. After three days of siege, Song Taizong came to the city again to supervise the battle, and in the process of supervising the battle, the Song army continued to send people to persuade them to surrender, trying to make the Liao army in Yanjing surrender.
Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty marched north to Yanjing, which surprised the Liao court and was able to capture it quickly. Liao Jingzong was out for the summer, and immediately returned to the city to discuss countermeasures when he heard the news. Due to the Song army's successive breaking of the southern regime and the crushing defeat in Baimaling, the Liao court suggested avoiding the Song army's edge, giving up Yanjing, and guarding the pass, but Yanjing is an important town in the south of Liao, once lost, the Yunzhou area will also be abandoned, so the Liao State is bound to defend.
Yelu Huge, who was in charge of imperial affairs in the Liao Dynasty, insisted on sending 100,000 troops to rescue Yanjing, but Liao Jingzong and Empress Xiao did not immediately agree. Although the Khitans were soldiers and civilians, it was not easy to gather 100,000 elite soldiers in a short period of time, and the Liao court still had doubts about whether they could defeat the Song army, so they needed to send troops and horses to guard the pass to prevent the Song army from driving straight in, and the defeat of Baimaling was serious, so only the 5,000 elite cavalry commanded by Yelu Xidi, the king of the Northern Courtyard, was transferred to Yelu Xiuge, and he led the southern reinforcement.
Under the personal supervision of Song Taizong, the Song army attacked the city for days, with guns and stones flying, digging tunnels through the city walls, sneak attacking late at night, and even Cao Hanbu, who was stationed in the southeast corner of the city, also entered the battle.
At the beginning of July, Yelu Huge's 5,000 cavalry moved south along the foothills of Xishan in the west of Yanjing City, and although they did not directly attack the Song army, they ordered their soldiers to hold two battle flags during the day and two torches at night to bluff and confuse the Song army.
The most fatal thing is that this Liao army has penetrated from the small road behind the main force of the Song army besieging Yanjing City, but the Song army has not been able to detect it, so it has not paid enough attention to the defense in the direction behind it, planting a bane.
Why didn't you find it? This is because Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty took an important measure to strengthen the centralization of power, that is, to prohibit the feudal towns from returning to the map to trade. Although this measure appeared to weaken the power of the feudal towns and promote the unity of the country, a closer analysis revealed that this was not the case.
By the early years of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, the envoys of the towns had almost no power except for the west and north. Those who could not stop returning to the map were mainly border guards, which was a privilege given by Taizu to the border guards so that they could guard the border as best they could.
Taizong strictly forbade the return of the map to trade, mainly aimed at the generals on the border. This not only dealt a blow to them, but also limited their power. As a result, during the Northern Expedition in the fourth year of Tianping Xingguo and the Khitan Southward Expedition in the middle of Taizong, the border generals did not perform well, in part because they did not have the financial resources to buy scouts, obtain information from long distances, and could not reward their soldiers to fight as hard as they could.
This led to a significant weakening of the defense capability of the border guards. In the Battle of the Gaoliang River, on July 4, Song Taizong came to the city for the third time to supervise the battle. On the 6th, Song Taizong visited the northwest corner of Yanjing City for the fourth time, and strictly urged the generals to attack the city with all their might, and the battle was very fierce.
However, on the same night, Song Taizong suddenly ordered the withdrawal of troops. Combined with the historical records of the Song and Liao sides, we can roughly understand the course of the battle of the Gaoliang River.
On July 6, the Liao army Yelusha and other troops marched south from the Qinghe Hebei garrison to reinforce Yanjing City, and met the Song army in the area of the Gaoliang River (outside the Xizhimen River in present-day Beijing). Song Taizong was supervising the battle in the northwest corner of Yanjing City, and he immediately commanded the elite to counterattack the Liao army.
The Liao army was unfavorable in the initial battle and retreated without support. Just when the Song army wanted to pursue, the Liao army's Yelu Xuanzhi Division suddenly killed from Hengxili, and the Yelu Xiuge Division, which had been outflanked to the south of the Song army, also suddenly appeared behind the Song army's battle array, and the two Liao armies attacked the Song army on the left and right flanks.
For the combat route of the Liao army led by Yelu Huge, the "Khitan National Chronicles" Yun Qi "merged with the West Mountain, Bo Youling", and "selected 30,000 elite horsemen, and swept north from the south of the Song army at night".
From the analysis of the relative geographical location of Gaoliang River, Xishan and Yanjing City, the Liao army should kill from the southwest to the back of the Song army, and attack on the left and right flanks.
Song Taizong hurriedly dispatched siege troops to meet the battle. Under the rapid attack of the Song army, the Liao army defending the city was clumsy and difficult to support, and the danger was instantaneous, and suddenly saw the Song army hurriedly withdrawing from the siege, and knew that the reinforcements had arrived, so they beat the drum and shouted to help, and opened the city gate, and sent the army to flank the Song formation.
So the elite of Song and Liao collided head-on and fought a bloody battle. Song Taizong was seriously injured by two arrows in the thigh during the fierce battle, and was escorted back to the camp to heal his wounds. Although the Liao army was defeated first and then won, it was not small, and the Liao army's main general, Yelu Huge, also suffered "three wounds" in the fierce battle.
The melee was approaching nightfall, seeing that the Song army had retreated, and the Liao army also withdrew its troops. Although the Song army lost the first battle of Gaolianghe, its losses were not too large, but what made the army uneasy was that the emperor was seriously injured.
According to historical records, when Song Taizong was young and vigorous, he personally led the Janissaries to fight in Taiyuan and Youji regions. In the battle of the Gaoliang River, he also took the lead and was unfortunately wounded by an arrow.
On the night of July 6, he ignored the Song army and fled quietly south with only a few people. This caused the morale of the army to fluctuate, rumors spread, and some people even believed that the enemy army was attacking.
In a hurry, Song Taizong fled with his cronies, leaving some ** and musicians in the imperial tent, playing "Yinlong Zhenle", trying to confuse the enemy. However, the Song soldiers soon discovered the disappearance of Song Taizong, causing a "military mutiny".
They suspected that Song Taizong had been injured or killed, so someone proposed to support Zhao Dezhao, the king of Wugong County. However, when they learned of the whereabouts of Song Taizong, the military mutiny ended.
After Song Taizong returned to Beijing, he punished three generals, Shi Shouxin, Liu Yu, and Shi Qi, for "irregularities", and it can be inferred that the "military mutiny" was caused by the subordinates of these three people.
Next, the Liao army went into battle again, and the Song army lost its fighting spirit due to the disappearance of the Son of Heaven and fled one after another. The Liao general Yelu Huge and others pursued for more than 30 miles, beheaded more than 10,000 people, and captured a large number of soldiers, armor, food, currency and other booty.
Even the imperial clothing treasures of Song Taizong, the palace maids of his entourage, and the concubines of the Northern Han emperor who were captured when he conquered the Northern Han Dynasty were all taken away by the Liao. Despite this, several Song armies managed to break through and move south, preserving the strength of the Song army.
This war was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Song Dynasty.
Yelu Xiuge, who learned of Song Tianzi's whereabouts that year, hurriedly led his troops in pursuit. Eight days later, Song Taizong fled south to Zhuozhou. Due to his serious injuries, Song Taizong was unable to ride a horse, so he could only change to a donkey cart and flee south from the small road.
And Jeruxiugo was also seriously injured and could not ride a horse, so he could only chase in a light chariot, which seriously affected his pursuit speed. When Yelu Hugo chased him to Zhuozhou, Song Taizong had already gone south.
On the 9th, Song Taizong fled to Jintaiyi. According to records, at that time, Gao Qiong led the soldiers of his headquarters to break through from the siege of Yanjing City and transferred to the camp. However, the sixth class of guards was nowhere to be found.
Song Taizong intended to punish them. Gao Qiong advised: "Your Majesty travels thousands of miles a day, and the order is not secret, which is the fault of the main general. Now the guards are all chosen for their bravery and strength, they have made meritorious contributions in the capture of Taiyuan, but they have not been rewarded, but they have to be killed all, is this okay? ”
It is implied that after the defeat of the Son of Heaven, if not handled properly, it is easy to trigger a mutiny. From this, it can be inferred that the sixth-class guards of the so-called "Guarding Expedition" who fled south this time may have fled south across Jintaiyi because they did not arrive at the camp in time to escort them, fearing that they would be punished.
Song Taizong continued to flee south, arriving in Dingzhou on the 11th, and learned that the Liao army had withdrawn to the north, so he stopped to rest. On the 13th, all Song roads will gather in Dingzhou.
Song Taizong knew that the failure of this northern expedition would have a great impact, and the Khitan soldiers and horses might invade the south to retaliate, so he sent troops to defend the northern state army to clean up the mess: ordered the palace to wait for Cui Han and Dingwu Jiedu to make Meng Xuanzhe and others garrison in Dingzhou, Zhangde Jiedu to make Li Hanqiong garrison Zhenzhou, and Heyang Jiedu to make Cui Yanjin and others garrison Guannan (now Gaoyangdong, Hebei), and allowed them to have the privilege of "acting cheaply".
On the same day, Song Taizong left Dingzhou and went south, and returned to the capital Kaifeng on the 28th.
The defeat in the Battle of Gaoliang River stemmed from the Song army's lack of defense against the Liao army's roundabout attack tactics, which led to the Song army's commander Song Taizong being wounded in the battle and leaving the army, leaving the Song army without a leader, and finally fleeing under the pursuit of the Liao army, with heavy losses.
This battle not only caused the Song army to lose the advantage in the early stage of the Northern Expedition, but also caused the elite main force that had been carefully trained for many years to suffer heavy losses, and lost a large number of utensils, food, etc.
What's more serious is that Song Taizong was injured by an arrow, and every year after that, he finally died due to the deterioration of the arrow wound, which became a pain in the hearts of the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, the Liao people attached great importance to the significance of this victory, and the hero Han Derang was named the envoy of the Liaoxing Army, and Yelu Xuegu Yao awarded the Baojing Army Festival Envoy, and other generals were also rewarded.
It can be said that the battle of the Gaoliang River was an important symbol of the "Zhongxing" of Liaojingzong, and also laid the general pattern of the confrontation between the north and south of Song and Liao.