Hello everyone, I'm Zhihua Shi. Let's take a history together, analyze the current situation, speak freely, and discuss major events in the world. Now, the Eastern Song Route Army was defeated at Qigou Pass in the Northern Expedition of Yongxi, and the Liao army's commander-in-chief, Yelu Huge, suggested that the Liao court take advantage of the victory to pursue and let the Liao army go south to plunder Hebei Prefecture and County until the Yellow River was the boundary.
This is the question we should be pondering: how can we learn from the long history and make the right decisions for the present and the future?
Empress Dowager Xiao refused to invade the south immediately, and ordered Yelu Hugo to reorganize his troops and horses and prepare for a large-scale southern expedition in the autumn. Song Taizong had anticipated her strategy and reactivated the general of Jiezhen in case the Khitan cavalry went south to retaliate.
Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty promoted Li Jilong to guard the horse army because of his outstanding performance in the soldiers who had dispersed from the front of Anji. He also appointed Tian Chongjin as the guard of Ma Bujun to boost morale.
Since Yang Ye of Zhidai Prefecture had died, Song Taizong appointed Zhang Qixian as Zhidai Prefecture and deployed Pan Mei to resist the southern invasion of the Liao army together with the capital deployment. Empress Dowager Xiao married Empress Xiao for her son Liao Shengzong and held a "rebirth ceremony".
She went south to Juyongguan and ordered soldiers and horses from all over the country to gather and prepare for the southern expedition. Empress Dowager Xiao set up a banquet in the Yanjing Palace, and inspected the heavy armor of the army in the narrow bottom pot.
She led the Liao Shengzong to lead a large army to the south, stationed in Tangxing County, and stopped the Song army from advancing. Yelu Hugo ordered the generals to shoot a volley of arrows with crossbowmen, forced the Song soldiers to retreat, and set fire to the river bridge, blocking the main road for the Song army.
Empress Dowager Xiao was demoted to one rank because Lu Bugu fled from the battle, and led his army on behalf of Lu Bugu and rectified military discipline. Yelu Xiuge defeated the Song army in Wangdu, and the Empress Dowager Xiao was stationed in the north of Hutuo River, and ordered Yelu Xiuge to lead the cavalry to prevent the Song army from entering Qizhou.
Liu Tingrang and Li Jilong joined forces and attempted to move north from eastern Hebei. After Empress Dowager Xiao got the news, she immediately ordered Yelu Hugo to return to the army, and asked Prime Minister An Ning to lead the army to respond.
Yelu Hugo led his troops to fight fiercely with the Song army in the Junzi Pavilion, the weather was cold, and the Song soldiers were frozen and unable to fight normally. Empress Dowager Xiao led the main force to arrive and surrounded the Song army, and the situation was critical.
In order to "save each other in an emergency", Liu Tinglong assigned part of the elite soldiers to Li Jilong, but Li Jilong retired to protect himself after receiving Liu Tingrang's distress message, which led to a great reduction in the morale of the Song army.
The Song army's fierce general Sangzan fought bloodily, but in the end he could not recover the defeat, and the whole army was annihilated, and tens of thousands of people were killed. Liu Tingrang escaped by taking advantage of the chaos, and Yang Chongjin was captured. After the Battle of Daizhou, the Song army in Hebei lost all morale, and the Liao army took advantage of the victory to capture many cities and kill all the defenders of Shenzhou.
The Liao army went south to break through the city and plunder the land, and the soldiers slaughtered innocent people, and the people everywhere they went were miserable. At the south gate of Daizhou City, the Song general Ma Zheng resisted the Liao army alone, but was outnumbered, fortunately Daizhou Zhang Qixian led 2000 Xiang troops to reinforce, and all the soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy and repel the Liao army.
At the same time, Zhang Qixian sent an envoy to ask Pan Mei, the commander of Hedong, to send troops to flank the enemy, but the envoy was captured by the enemy. Pan Mei received the secret edict and learned that the Song army in Hebei was defeated, so she ordered the army to retreat.
Zhang Qixian saw that the enemy army did not know the truth, so he hid the secret envoy and created a false appearance. At night, Zhang Qixian ordered 2,000 Xiang troops to ambush the Liao army in the stirrup, and then disguised 200 soldiers as Song army reinforcements, lit firewood, and lured the Liao army to retreat.
The Liao army suffered heavy losses, hundreds of soldiers were killed in battle, and horses and equipment were completely lost. Upon learning of Daizhou's defeat, Empress Dowager Xiao and Yelu Hugo led their army north to avoid being attacked. Song Taizong wanted to preemptively mobilize a large army for the Northern Expedition, but due to the fiasco of the Lian War, the soldiers lost too much, so they could only recruit strong men to serve as the righteous army.
The crown prince, Zhao Yuanxi, suggested that soldiers should only be recruited in the states on the edge of Hebei to guard the local cities, and that the states of Henan should be stopped.
Song Taizong claimed that the Northern Expedition was just a bluff, and now that the courtiers were opposed, he pushed the boat down the river and issued an edict, allowing Zhao Yuanxi, the king of Chen, to lead the army in Hebei alone.
In order to strengthen his control over the army, Song Taizong would formulate a formation plan and strategy before the war, emphasize discipline and remote command, and resolutely implement the principle of "the commander obeys it, and the noble ministers supervise it."
He summed up the art of war of the past dynasties and made the "Pingrong Wanquan Array", believing that this is a soldier and cannot be taken lightly. This formation is a huge phalanx 17 miles wide, with a small number of troops on the periphery, and mobile troops in the center, with a total of 140,930 soldiers, including infantry, cavalry, and chariots.
The core of this formation is "cavalry on foot", that is, infantry against cavalry, and the cavalry on the periphery is mainly responsible for reconnaissance and vigilance. However, due to the lack of cavalry, the Song army could only rely on this formation, which, despite its lack of mobility, could protect the infantry from the onslaught of the Khitan cavalry.
However, Song Taizong's invention was not adopted by the generals in actual combat, because this formation was difficult to apply on the battlefield thousands of miles away.
In this cold winter, the states along the border of Hebei panicked, claiming that "the enemy will invade the border and urgently prepare equipment." Rumors spread, and Song Taizong immediately prepared to personally lead the army to Hebei for defense.
However, Wang Sizong, the deputy envoy of Hebei, eagerly said that "the enemy will not come." Hearing this news, Song Taizong called off the proposal to conquer his relatives, and the border was really safe.
Empress Dowager Xiao personally conquered the Song Dynasty and adopted a different strategy from the past. She sent people to comfort the people and incorporated the surrendered Song soldiers into her own army, intending to change the Song people's impression of the Liao army and pave the way for the surrender of more Song soldiers and civilians defending the city in the future.
In addition, she forbade soldiers to pillage civilians and severely punished violators. During this period, the Liao army won many battles. In the end, Empress Dowager Xiao and Liao Shengzong came to the mouth of the Great Wall in person, commanded the siege on all sides, and the defenders of the Great Wall of Song were forced to abandon the city and break through, but were intercepted and surrendered by Yelu Xian, and finally the whole army was annihilated, and the soldiers who surrendered were divided into the Yanjing armies.
The Liao army invaded Hebei in the Northern Song Dynasty and captured many cities in succession. Within eight days of besieging the city, eleven days to break the city, the Song soldiers opened the north gate and fled, and the Empress Dowager Xiao sent an envoy to recruit the generals.
Fifteen days to capture Qizhou, the soldiers plundered. In 16 days, Xinle was captured, and in 17 days, the troops of the Liao army general Brother Xiu Ge went deep into the territory of Mozhou to plunder.
On the 24th, thousands of Song troops went out of Yijin Pass to meet the battle, and were attacked by the Liao State Uncle Lang Jun Taowei and the Ten Brothers of Shen Wen, and the Song Deputy General was killed, and the rest of the soldiers retreated to the pass.
In mid-December, the main force of the Liao army advanced to the area north of the Tang River, 30 miles west of Tang County, and encountered a strong resistance from Li Jilong, the commander of the Song Dynasty, and Yuan Jizhong, the supervising army. At that time, the generals of the Song army saw the large-scale southern invasion of the Liao army, and prepared to carry out "strong walls and clear the wilderness, do not fight" in accordance with the decree of the Son of Heaven.
However, Yuan Jizhong, the supervisor of Dingzhou, believed, "The Khitan soldiers and horses have been on the short road, and today the city is stationed with heavy troops and cannot destroy the enemy soldiers, so that it can drive deep and invade other states.
I will lead the way and die in the enemy. Yuan Jizhong's tone was generous, and all the generals were willing to lead the army to fight. But the eunuchs of the prison army held the edict of the Son of Heaven to stop it.
So Dingzhou deployed Li Jilong and said: "The matter of the border, the general has to be responsible." In the past, those who did not go to the Gentleman's Pavilion immediately went to the dead, but of course they have served the country today. ”
He and Yuan Jizhong led their troops out of the city to meet the battle. Li Jilong has an elite army called Jingsai cavalry, composed of Yizhou warriors, fighting bravely, so Li Jilong ordered this cavalry to serve under the tent, while their wives and children stayed in Yizhou City.
Yuan Jizhong admonished: "This elite army can only stay in the city, otherwise, if the enemy arrives, who will defend the enemy in the city?" ”
Under the circumstances of the fall of Zhuozhou and the lack of information in Yizhou, Yuan Jizhong put forward a proposal to increase the number of Li Jilong's cavalry and give him generous food and salary to encourage his effectiveness. Li Jilong adopted this suggestion and let Yuan Jizhong lead this brave army.
In the battle of Cao River, Yuan Jizhong led the Jingsai cavalry to charge and directly entered the Liao army's formation, the Liao army retreated in chaos, and the Song army pursued reluctantly and killed the Cao River. Although the history books of the Song Dynasty said that the Song army reported the victory in November Jichou (6th) to the Son of Heaven, and the ministers congratulated them, but this battle obviously also led to heavy losses for the Liao army, so the Empress Dowager Xiao decided to return to the north through the mouth of the Great Wall.
At the Xu River, the Song army set up the Weilu Army (i.e., Suicheng, northwest of present-day Xushui, Hebei), but the Liao cavalry often crossed the border to intercept the transportation of food and wages, so the Song army sent a large army of 10,000 people to escort the baggage to the frontline walled city.
In mid-July, Yelu Hugo obtained the information that the Song army had transported a large amount of baggage to the front-line Weilu army, so he personally led tens of thousands of elite cavalry to the south to sneak attack, but was attacked by the Song general Yin Jilun at Xuhe and returned with a heavy defeat.
When the Song army was short of food and grass, the Song army decided to send grain and grass to protect it, but it was known to the Liao army and tried to intercept it. When Yin Jilun led his troops to patrol the border, he discovered the Liao army heading south.
Although the Liao army despised the Song army, Yin Jilun decided to take action and followed the Liao army to the Tang River and the Xu River in a surprise attack, resulting in the death of the Liao general Pi Mulu Xianggong. This operation showed the resourcefulness and courage of the Song army, and also provided a guarantee for the border defense deployment of the Song court.
Jeruhhuge led his army south, and while he was enjoying breakfast, he received urgent information that the Song army had entered. He hurriedly put down the utensils in his hand and wanted to command the army to meet the battle, but he was slashed in the arm by the short knife of the Song army, and his injuries were serious, so he could only retreat on a fast horse.
The Liao army was defeated, and many soldiers died in the chaos due to trampling. Yin Jilun and Fan Tingzhao respectively led their troops across the Xu River, pursued and killed the enemy, and captured a large number of enemy troops. In this battle, the black-faced king Yelu Hugo was defeated because of the light enemy, and the Khitan soldiers talked about it differently, so they did not go south on a large scale for a few years.
And Yin Jilun was awarded the Luo Yuan envoy and the governor of Changzhou because of his heroic performance. Although Song Taizong only learned about this result a year later, he still made Yin Jilun an official.
Since then, Liao Yuyue Yelu Xiuge did not go south on a large scale until he died of illness, and there was no major war in the Hebei theater he was responsible for. This can be seen as Yin Jilun's great contribution in this campaign.
The Battle of Xuhe was the last battle of Jelu Huge, and after this battle, he advocated peace with Song. This change may have something to do with his experience in the Battle of Xuhe.
This change of Yelu Huge made some Khitan nobles realize that although the Song Dynasty suffered successive defeats, it did not eliminate the strength of the Song Dynasty, and the two sides should remain at a standstill and turn the conflict into a jade silk.
Therefore, when Empress Dowager Xiao later invaded the south again, she did not refuse the exchange of envoys between the two countries. It can be said that this battle laid the foundation for peaceful coexistence between the two sides.