The earliest prototype of the Western Xia was the Dangxiang Qiang, which was active on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The so-called Dangxiang tribe is actually a branch of the Qiang tribe.

With the rise of Tubo, the various divisions of Dangxiang were gradually driven out of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and attached to the mainland by the Tubo Empire. The Tang Empire first placed it in Qingzhou. After the Anshi Rebellion, it was worried about the rebellion of the foreign race, so it moved it to the Yinzhou area.

Tuoba started from this. Once, after Huang Chao raised an army, he was named Duke of Xia for his military merits in regaining Chang'an. He was given the surname Li Tang, and later called the governor of Dingnan Army. He used the four prefectures of Yin, Xia, Sui and You as the territory of the Tuoba tribe.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Central Plains fought endlessly. In just half a century, five Central Plains dynasties were replaced.

But no matter which dynasty emerged, the Dingnan Army surrendered. In addition to consolidating the rule of the four prefectures, it also received a lot of rewards. Even the establishment of the Liao Kingdom and the Tuoba tribe expressed certain friendship.

Until Zhao Kuangyin and Chenqiao mutiny established the Song Dynasty, the Dingnan Army expressed surrender as usual. However, this surrender was just an attitude and nominal belonging, and actually maintained the separatist rule of the vassal states.

However, the Tuoba tribe had not had much ambition at this time, and he just wanted to always maintain the separatist state of the feudal state and be a shaman king.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, after nearly 200 years, the economy of Yinxia region has made great progress. Grain, cattle, horses, sheep, and green salt can not only ensure self-sufficiency, but also foreign transactions.

In the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo, in 982 AD, Zhao Guangyi took advantage of the disagreement of the top leaders of the Dingnan Army and officially launched an action to reduce the vassal states, and connected the then Dingnan Army governor Li Jipang's family to Tokyo City. Giving money or power was an opportunity to take back the four prefectures of Yinxia.

But I didn't expect that Li Jipang's clan brother Li Jiqian had never gone to Beijing, but fled to Qinze and began to prepare for war.

First, we used the power gradually formed by the Tuoba tribe over the past few hundred years to recruit soldiers, and at the same time, we successively used our in-laws to contact all local tyrants, and the power gradually became stronger.

Three years later, Li Jiqian took advantage of the situation to raise an army. He first used a trick to lure and kill the Yinzhou general Cao Guangshi and occupied Yinzhou. Later, he formally sent troops to break through Huizhou of the Song Dynasty and officially gained a foundation.

Taking advantage of the hostile relationship between Song and Liao, Li Jiqian expressed his surrender to the Liao Kingdom and was canonized as King of Xia.

During this period, Li Jipang, who was in Tokyo of the Song Dynasty, also secretly helped from all sides and continued to work hard to restore the Tuoba tribe's former status.

At that time, the powerful enemies of the Song Dynasty were always Khitan, and they did not take Li Jiqian too seriously, who had only separatisted the two states. Li Jiqian continued to pay tribute and paralyzed Zhao Guangyi in the name of restoring the land of his ancestors.

After all, Emperor Taizong of Song took away the four states and was only stolen Yinzhou and Huizhou. It is said that it was also to commemorate the ancestors and ensure that the ancestors’ tombs are in their hands.

But I didn't expect that this was Li Jiqian's delaying strategy, and he intended to restore his strength and expand his foundation.

Although Li Jiqian occupied the two states at this time, his actual strength could not pose any threat to the Song Dynasty in terms of economic and military terms.

But after another ten years of rest, Li Jiqian finally felt that he had enough capital and decided to use troops again. He first led his army to seize 400,000 grain and grass in the Song Dynasty, and then sent troops to besiege Lingzhou, an important town in the northwest.

Zhao Guangyi finally got angry and mobilized five armies to attack Li Jiqian. However, this time the troops were sent, but it ended in failure.

After Zhao Guangyi passed away, Emperor Zhenzong of Song succeeded to the throne, the timid Song Zhenzong of Song directly ceded all the silver, Xia, Sui and You, who had finally seized from Zhao Guangyi, and returned all the silver, Xia, Sui and You, to Li Jiqian, and also took extra Jingzhou.

Li Jiqian's "wish" to restore the land of his ancestors was finally officially fulfilled. Emperor Zhenzong of Song and a group of ministers believed that peace in the northwest border could finally be restored, and the Dingnan Army should not continue to make trouble.

But just a few years later, Li Jiqian launched a large army to attack, conquered Lingzhou, an important town in the northwest, and renamed it Xiping Prefecture.

Soon after, Liangzhou was captured, completely cutting off the transportation channels between the Song Dynasty and the Western Regions. As a result, the Song Dynasty lost the plains and horse farming land in the Hetao area, and cut off the channels for buying horses in the Western Regions.

On the surface, the Song Dynasty did not lose much land and population, but it suffered huge losses at the strategic level.

Originally, due to the loss of Yanyun Land, there was no important place to raise horses. As a result, the current loss of the Hetao region caused the Song Dynasty to lose the last place to raise horses and also lost the commercial channels for buying horses in the Western Regions.

Since then, the Song Dynasty has always been at an absolute disadvantage at the strategic level.

Without enough war horses, it was impossible to form a large-scale strategic armies and cavalry in the farming era. In the Song Dynasty, infantry could only be used as the main force in actual combat, and thus lost the strategic initiative.

Li Jiqian was later attacked when he was in alliance with Tubo and was killed by arrows at the age of 42. He basically established the foundation of the later establishment of the Western Xia Kingdom. After his son Li Deming succeeded to the throne, he attacked Tubo in the south and attacked the Uighurs in the west, and made every effort to stabilize the Hexi Corridor, and officially changed Huaiyuan Town to Xingzhou to build a capital.

Although he nominally praised the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty, he was already an imperial style inside.

By 1032 AD, Li Yuanhao succeeded to the throne and began to prepare for the establishment of a country. He changed the year name, changed his surname, built palaces, established civil and military affairs, established military systems, established military names, and created Western Xia literature. At the same time, he changed the etiquette and grammar to issue a bald order.

After conquering the three strategic locations of Tubo Guazhou, Shazhou and Suzhou, Li Yuanhao, who finally owned more than 20 prefectures, officially established the country in 1038 AD, and changed Xingzhou to Xingqing Prefecture and established it as the capital, with the country named Daxia. Because it is located in the northwest, it is known in history as Xixia.

When the founding of the Western Xia Kingdom, the territory ended in the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, and the desert in the north, with a land of more than 20,000 miles. The northeast was adjacent to the Xijing Road of the Liao Kingdom, the east and southeast were adjacent to the Song Dynasty, and the south and west were adjacent to the Tubo tribes, the Yellow-headed Uighurs and the Xizhou Uighurs. It can be said to be a place of four battles, with a very prominent strategic significance.

Although most of the territory in China is desert terrain, the Hetao Plain is in control. As the saying goes, the Yellow River has many harms and only profits. The Xingqingfu River in the center of the Hetao Plain is crisscrossing and thousands of lakes, and it is known as the Jiangnan River in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, in terms of grain output, it can basically meet domestic demand.

The Helan Mountain in the west is used as a barrier to block the invasion of Siberia's cold air and can also serve as a strategic location to resist external troubles; the Hetao Plain irrigated by the Yellow River, and grasslands for raising horses and grazing, as well as the output of green salt.

The founding of the Western Xia country was very well prepared. Li Yuanhao was good at military affairs and fought in the east and west since he was the prince. He was famous for his victory in every battle and was well-known both at home and abroad.

After the founding of the country, he fought against Song and Song for more than ten times, and won all four key strategic decisive battles, which cost more than 100,000 elite soldiers and generals of the Song Dynasty. Later, he became a feud with the Liao Kingdom, and the Khitan Emperor personally led 100,000 elite soldiers to the army.

As a result, Li Yuanhao won a great victory again, completely establishing the status of Western Xia, making neither Liao and Song dynasty dare to underestimate it.

However, the Xixia still lacks the foundation for the local people, and years of wars consumed a lot of national strength.

Although the Song Dynasty and Liao Kingdom forced to recognize the formal establishment of the Western Xia Kingdom, they had no capital to continue fighting.

After that, the Western Xia continued to submit to the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom, but this completely became a nominal false title.

It took about half a century to count from Zhao Guangyi's reduction of the vassal states to capture the Dingnan Army. The final result was not only that the Dingnan Army's vassal states were not reduced, but instead expanded the sphere of influence, causing the Song Dynasty to suffer heavy losses.

After the founding of the Western Xia Kingdom, it invaded year after year, resulting in the decay of the entire northwest of the Song Dynasty, and wars broke out almost every year.

The original heartland of the Han and Tang dynasties became a frontier, and years of war fire caused the Song Dynasty to continue to lose blood.

Ding Yang knew very well that if he wanted to change the Song Dynasty, he would first need to pacify the Western Xia and restore the entire northwest from the border to the mainland before he could continue the next move.

This time I left Liao Kingdom and went straight to Xixia, first of all, to see the domestic situation in Xixia with my own eyes, and to satisfy my own wishes.

Speaking of which, Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Xixia, is his hometown a thousand years later. I am really unwilling to go and see it without going there.

After leaving the Liao Kingdom, Ding Yang did not make a big fuss and even refused the official escort from the Liao Kingdom. The light car was simple and he took only a few guards and set off.

In addition to coach Lin as his personal bodyguard, Yelu Yixin sent Xiao Da to escort the Ba Miaoxian to travel west.

In fact, everyone knows that with Ding Yang's strength, there is no need for anyone to escort him. But no matter what, even if Yelu Yixin is unwilling to stay Ding Yang, he still has to give him one.

Anyway, Xiao Da and Ding Yang have also cooperated. Xiao Da was the one who escorted to Huanglong Mansion before.

This time, Xiao Da was overjoyed. After all, he was a close subordinate of Yelu Hongji, and it was inevitable that Yelu Yixin would not like him if he stayed in Shangjing. He simply took advantage of the opportunity of escorting him to leave the Liao Dynasty with Ding Yang.

Although there was no official notice given to Xixia, when Ding Yang entered Xixia from Liao Kingdom, he was still warmly welcomed.

All the generals guarding the border of Xixia have been famous for the Eight Miaoxians for a long time, and they are full of fear.

Not to mention that Ding Yang did not receive any bad treatment along the way, even Xiao Da enjoyed an unprecedented hospitality.

No matter who he was, everyone was in awe of Ding Yang and his party. Especially the people, their attitude towards Ding Yang was no different from seeing living gods - a lot of news came from the Liao Kingdom.

But when the group entered Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Xixia, the situation finally changed.

The original attitude was full of enthusiasm, but suddenly it cooled down and not talked about it, and there was a hint of hostility.

This situation immediately caused Ding Yang's dissatisfaction and made him even more confused.

Although he did not think that he gained a lot from this trip, there was a clear reason for the abnormal attitude in Xixia.

After Xiao Da's multiple inquiries, he finally got a piece of information that he didn't know whether it was true or false.

~
Chapter completed!