Section 4: Battle of Xia Liao and Helan Mountains

If you cook green rice, you will have a good appearance, if you drink it, the blue tail will be the same.

Jinpinwen It rains on the apricot branches, and snow rolls in the wind under the Tangli tree.

I can't help but look back on He Landong.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xixia, that is, the two generations of Li Jiqian and Li Deming, had always accepted the canonization of the Liao Kingdom. Xixia had also always implemented the strategy of uniting with the Liao Kingdom to resist the Song Dynasty. When Li Yuanhao grew up, his father Li Deming also took the initiative to petition the Liao Kingdom for him.

Li Yuanhao proposed marriage to a sister of Liao Xingzong. At that time, Li Yuanhao was named Duke of Xia and King of Xixia by the Liao State.

But Li Yuanhao was also a romantic prodigal, and he later became emperor and had many wives and concubines. Originally, she was not interested in the Liao princess whom she married because of a political marriage, so Princess Xingping was left out in the cold for a long time. The two of them

Not long after the marriage, the princess became depressed and became ill. Logically speaking, Li Yuanhao was a husband, and his wife was a princess of the Liao Kingdom. Even if he didn't like him in his heart, at least he had to go and see her for the sake of face.

But he did not. Not only did he not visit Princess Xingping, but he also did not report the news of the princess's illness to the Liao State. These actions are obviously unreasonable in our opinion. It was not until the princess fell ill and died later that Li Yuanhao reported to the Liao State.

The Liao Kingdom reported this incident, and Liao Xingzong was furious after hearing about it. Liao Xingzong immediately sent people to Xixia to blame Li Yuanhao. At that time, Li Yuanhao was fighting fiercely with the Song Dynasty. In order to stabilize the Liao Kingdom, Li Yuanhao sent people to the Liao Kingdom

He sent a large number of tributes, which temporarily eased the relationship with the Liao Kingdom.

After the founding of Xixia, as Xixia's strength continued to increase, the conflict between Xixia and Liao became more and more profound. We all know that if the two sides have no conflict of interest, they are likely to become good friends and partners. Once the two sides are evenly matched,

Then sooner or later they will turn against each other. We can also find such examples everywhere in real life. We can observe a pair of good friends and confidants, and usually there will be one who is slightly stronger and the other who is slightly weaker. If both people are very strong

, I guess they won’t be good friends. In 1042 AD, Li Yuanhao felt that his strength was enough. He asked the Liao Kingdom to send troops to help him attack the Song Dynasty. However, because of the death of his sister, Liao Xingzong had not completely forgiven Li Yuanhao. It was only symbolic.

He sent an army to Youzhou, stopped at this place and went no further.

Li Yuanhao was very dissatisfied with this incident. In 1043 AD, a party of the Dangxiang tribe rebelled in the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom sent troops to attack for a long time but could not be wiped out, so he asked Xixia to send troops to assist. Xixia sent troops to help the Liao Kingdom suppress the local uprising.

, but all the captured spoils were kept by the Liao Kingdom. Although the Xixia army came from afar to help the Liao Kingdom suppress the rebellion, they did not get any benefits. This incident further intensified Li Yuanhao's hatred of the Liao Kingdom.

, the rift between Xixia and Liao Kingdom is getting bigger and bigger.

In November of this year, Li Yuanhao encouraged the Dangxiang tribes and Dai'er tribe in the southern Jiashan area of ​​the Liao Kingdom to betray the Liao Kingdom and join Xixia. At the same time, he also instigated the Dai'er tribe to continuously harass the borders of the Liao Kingdom. In 1044 AD, the Shanxi Wubu Festival of the Liao Kingdom

Du envoy Qu Lie led his men to surrender to Xixia. The Liao State asked Xixia to hand over the people, but Li Yuanhao refused. In May, another rebellion of the Dangxiang tribe broke out in the Liao State. Liao Xingzong sent troops to suppress it, and Li Yuanhao sent an army to help.

The rebels attacked the Liao Kingdom and killed Xiao Puda, the Liao's envoy. Liu Xingzong was very angry. The Liao Kingdom immediately mobilized 100,000 troops and gathered in the southwest border area to prepare for the overall crusade against Xixia. Li Yuanhao was in peace talks with the Song Dynasty at that time.

There was no result yet, so it was not convenient for him to break up with the Liao State directly, so he sent envoys many times to deliver tributes to the Liao State in order to ease the relationship with the Liao State. However, Liao Xingzong detained the Xixia envoys, and then

Continue to march and station at the border between Liao and Xixia, ready to march and conquer at any time. This incident makes us feel very strange. The relationship between Xixia and Liao has not stabilized yet, so why is Li Yuanhao eager to turn against Liao? I guess.

He wanted to disrupt the Liao Kingdom by aiding the rebellion in the Liao Kingdom, but the Liao Kingdom was still very strong at this time, and provoking him now was like provoking a lion. The relationship between the two parties has developed to this point, and a big war may be possible.

It is inevitable.

In October 1044 AD, Xingzong of the Liao Dynasty, who was fully prepared, led an army of 167,000 troops and divided it into three groups to attack Xixia. The Liao State planned to destroy Xixia in one fell swoop through this war and avoid future troubles forever. Since the Liao State and Xixia were only separated by

There is a Yellow River, so there is no barrier to defend in Xixia. The three armies of the Liao Kingdom crossed the Yellow River and drove straight into the territory of Xixia for more than 400 miles without encountering any resistance. The forward army of the Liao Kingdom met the Xia army at the northern foot of Helan Mountain. Li Yuanhao personally led the elite cavalry

Covering the attack, Liu Guo's vanguard troops were surrounded. The leader of this vanguard force was the famous general Xiao Dieli of the Liao State. He rushed from left to right amid the heavy siege. The formation of the Xixia army was disrupted by the Liao army.

The army took advantage of the situation to cover up the attack, and the Xia army was defeated. Li Yuanhao saw that the Liao army was in full strength, and there was a steady stream of reinforcements coming. So Li Yuanhao decided to adopt the strategy of avoiding the enemy's edge, retreating actively, and luring the enemy deep in to wait for opportunities to defeat them.

On the other hand, Li Yuanhao also took the initiative to send envoys to the Liao army camp to apologize and ask for peace, and also offered to retreat ten miles, hoping to paralyze the Liao army.

Later, Li Yuanhao personally led the party members to the Liao army camp to plead guilty to Liao Xingzong. In fact, he just wanted to delay the Liao Kingdom's advance. People under Liao Xingzong all advised Liao Xingzong to take this opportunity to kill Li Yuanhao, but

Liu Xingzong decided to give Li Yuanhao a chance. By stalling for time, Li Yuanhao caused the Liao army to consume almost all its food and grass. Moreover, Xixia retreated three times and had already retreated 30 miles. Each time they retreated, they used the method of strengthening the wall and clearing the field. The Liao army went deep into

In Xixia, the food and grass supplies simply could not keep up.

The Liao army that penetrated deep into Xixia territory was unable to supply food, grass, and war horses. Therefore, nearly half of the horses and soldiers starved to death. At this time, Liao Xingzong was forced to accept Xixia's peace offer. Li Yuanhao already knew that the Liao Kingdom's food and grass supplies were almost exhausted.

, he deliberately delayed it for a few days. Li Yuanhao ordered the Xixia army to sneak up on the Liao army, and then launched a sudden attack.

The Liao army repelled the Xia army's attack, and then divided into two groups to cover up the Xixia army. Li Yuanhao led more than 1,000 remaining soldiers to break out with great difficulty. Just as the Xixia army was fleeing in panic, a strong wind suddenly blew. The Khitan people were very superstitious. They believed that

During the battle, a vision suddenly appeared, which was an ominous sign. The Khitan soldiers were so frightened that they immediately became confused.

This is on the territory of Xixia, and the Xixia army has long been familiar with such weather. So when they saw the Liao army in chaos, they stopped running and turned their heads to kill the Liao army. The Liao army was immediately beaten.

The army was defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Li Yuanhao led the army to attack the main force of the Liao State again, and the main force of the Liao State also suffered a disastrous defeat. Dozens of Liao aristocratic ministers were captured by Xixia, and even Liao Xingzong's own military officials were also captured.

They were all captured by Li Yuanhao. Liao Xingzong only took a few dozen cavalry and fled in embarrassment. This battle was called the Battle of Hequ.

The failure of this war can be said to be a great shame in the history of the Liao Kingdom. Because it was once a vassal state of the Liao Kingdom, and the losses of this war to the Liao Kingdom were particularly huge. Therefore, in the history books of the Liao Kingdom,

There are very few records of this war.

Li Yuanhao used strategies and tactics properly in this war. It was a great thing to be able to win when the enemy was strong and we were weak. Although the Liao State was well prepared and had more troops than Xixia. However, due to the Liao Xing

Zong's indecisiveness caused him to miss favorable opportunities, so he suffered a disastrous defeat in the end. Moreover, the Xixia army had experienced seven years of bloody battles with the Song Dynasty, and had accumulated rich combat experience. In the war with the Song Dynasty, it had won three out of three battles, and its morale was high.

Since the Liao Kingdom signed the Chanyuan Alliance with the Song Dynasty, there has been no war for a long time. Among the troops sent this time, there are even many soldiers who have not been on the battlefield for a long time or are new soldiers. They lack

Battle experience.

Of course, there were accidental factors in the Xixia army's final victory. Li Yuanhao himself also knew that if he really relied on the strength of both sides, it would be difficult for him to win. If the Liao Kingdom calms down in the future, I am afraid that Xixia will have to face another battle.

An unprecedented war. After careful consideration, Li Yuanhao decided to take advantage of the favorable opportunity of victory to propose peace to the Liao Kingdom. In order to show his sincerity, Li Yuanhao released the captured Liao nobles back. But for ordinary Liao army prisoners,

It was used in exchange for the detained Xixia envoys. Li Yuanhao also gave some of the Liao prisoners to the Song Dynasty. On the one hand, he wanted to show the Song Dynasty that his military power was strong. Not only did he defeat the Song Dynasty many times, but now he also defeated the Song Dynasty's old enemy. Read

When I get here, I often think of a saying that makes people feel lucky when they fart. In fact, the Xixia Army won several times by chance. On the other hand, Li Yuanhao did this because he wanted the Song Dynasty to

Share some responsibility for yourself so that the Liao Kingdom can feel that the Song Dynasty also had a role in this. There were also experts in the Song Dynasty. They saw through Li Yuanhao's thoughts and refused to accept prisoners of war.

Liao Xingzong felt very angry about the failure of this war, but on the other hand, he also realized the strong military strength of Xixia through this war, and he did not want to know that it was impossible to do anything. So he went along with the flow and agreed to Li Yuanhao's love.

and. Up to now, the three-legged pattern of Song, Liao and Xixia has been officially formed.

The impact of this war on the Liao Kingdom was huge. What the Liao Kingdom lost was not just a war, but also people's hearts. At this time, the Liao Kingdom was already full of internal conflicts. After the failure of this war, the Liao Kingdom's internal conflicts were even more intensified.

There were internal conflicts within the country. Moreover, tribes such as the Bohai and Jurchens in the Liao Kingdom began to make trouble.

When Xixia was first founded, he acted as a weakling and took the initiative to show favor to the Liao Kingdom and to the Song Dynasty. By establishing good relations with these two countries, Xixia also became the object of competition for these two countries.

Received rewards from both sides, Xixia used these rewards to strengthen its own strength. Unwilling to surrender to others, Li Yuanhao first took the initiative to provoke a war with the Song Dynasty. After winning several wars, Li Yuanhao had the capital to negotiate with the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty and

A contract was signed between Xixia and the two parties entered a period of stable development. Then Li Yuanhao defeated the attack of the Liao army, completely reversing the strategic relationship with the Liao State, and the Liao State was forced to make peace with Xixia. Li Yuanhao went from being a weakling to

Relying on his own tenacious struggle, he finally formed the current three-legged situation. It must be said that Li Yuanhao is a talented and strategic monarch, and it is God's turn to help him.

A short story: A man went into the mountains and met a tiger. He ran away desperately and slipped and fell on a cliff. Fortunately, he grabbed a life-saving withered vine and hung it in the air.

Life was tied to this dangling withered vine. At this moment, two mice ran over and gnawed at the withered vine. In despair and panic, a bright red flashed across his eyes. Looking carefully,

It turned out to be a delicious red strawberry. He picked it and put it in his mouth. Ah, it was sweet and juicy. It tasted really good!

It's really a good attitude to still be in a good mood to taste the deliciousness of strawberries at such a critical moment. Think about it, the fear at that moment will not help. It is better to be intoxicated with the sweetness in front of him. In his eyes, the ferocious tiger
Chapter completed!