The battle of Xia Pingcheng was a decisive battle between the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia. The Song Dynasty defeated 400,000 Xia Jun with tens of thousands of Song soldiers, which reversed the military structure of the two countries in one fell swoop. Song Jun defeated the 300,000 troops of Xixia with fewer victories, which almost became the most brilliant battle in foreign wars, but it was little known. It is said that during the reign of Song Shenzong, he fought against Xixia many times, but all failed. After Song Shenzong's death, young Song Zhezong acceded to the throne, and the Empress Dowager was in charge of state affairs. She pursued the policy of "abandoning land and stopping soldiers", so there was no major war between Song and Xia Dynasties.
After the death of Empress Dowager Gao, Song Zhezong was in charge. In the face of the constant intrusion of Xixia, he had the intention of "reviving Xining and Yuanfeng", so he agreed to Zhang Xun's suggestion to build Xiaping City on the border. "It is better to force summer than to follow the shape." Song Zhezong's intentions can be seen from the name of the castle. He wants to wipe out Xixia completely. In April, four years ago, Zhang Yun took it by surprise, led his troops into the territory of Xixia in four ways 100 Li, which lasted for 22 days, and built two cities, Xiaping City and Heping Village.
After hearing the news, Xixia quickly sent troops to destroy it, "dumping the power of the whole country to commit crimes." Song Jun lost the battle in Smokeless Canyon, so he retreated to Xiaping City. A few days later, the armies of the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia launched a fierce battle near Xia Pingcheng, and finally Song Jun won, "beheading 3,000 people and taking tens of thousands of prisoners". Although the Xixia army was forced to retreat, Xia Pingcheng, like a sharp knife, went straight into the center of Xixia and was a threat to Xixia. A larger war between the two sides is about to break out! After Sharpin gained a firm foothold, Song Jun successively built military villages such as Zhenqiang, Jiuyang, Xia Tong and Dangqiang, and sent more troops to defend them. Xixia has not been idle, and Queen Liang, who holds supreme sovereignty, has assembled troops and is ready to attack the city.
In the year of Fu Yuanyuan, Empress Liang and Emperor Li Ganshun of Xixia led 400,000 troops, devoting all their efforts to capture Xia Pingcheng. Xixia has a strong force. "It starts from Hulu Estuary in the east, reaches Jiuyang Village in Shimen Gorge in the west, and reaches Guhaomen in Xining Village in the south, all of which are Xixia camps", while there are only tens of thousands of defenders in Song Jun, and Xixia Army launches siege warfare. "Building high-rise cars into the city, carrying hundreds of people to fill the trenches, flying stones to ignite the fire, day and night." Guo Cheng, the commander-in-chief, defended the city and sent cavalry to harass him. Xixia troops besieged the city for thirteen days and nights, killing tens of thousands of people and causing heavy losses. Chariots were also blown down by strong winds.
Empress Liang saw that there was no hope of winning, so she cut her face with a knife and began to cry in shame. Song Jun took the opportunity to chase out of the city, and captured the leader of Xixia, the famous soldier A Buried, the sister of Xi Shou's army supervisor Le Du Ti and others alive. "I took all my captives, captured more than 3,000 people, and captured hundreds of cattle and sheep" and "Summer earthquake". The battle of Xia Pingcheng is of great significance, which reversed the military structure of the two countries in one fell swoop. The history books say that "Xia Ziping was defeated by Xia, so he can no longer join the army and beg for peace". At this time, Liao also stepped in. In this case, "Zhezong also laid an army for it." But after a hundred years of war, the Northern Song Dynasty finally gained the upper hand in the war with Xixia and took the initiative in the war. Since then, the Song Dynasty has successively occupied the Hengshan area of Xixia with soldiers. If it hadn't been for the Jin Dynasty's invasion, Xixia would have been destroyed by the Song Dynasty a few years later. A.D. 1096 is a very important year. From this year on, the strategic confrontation between the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia changed fundamentally.
First, it all started with a series of northwest personnel appointments. Song Zhezong Zhao Xu learned the lesson of the failure of the confrontation between Song Shenzong and Xixia, and began to adjust the overall personnel arrangement of the army in northwest China. Among them, Lv Huiqing served as the special envoy of Yan Yandao. This person belongs to Wang Anshi's new party and has always maintained a firm attitude towards Xixia. The famous Zhang Kun served as the general envoy of Jingyuan Road. This man fought with Xixia for many years and made outstanding achievements, so he was promoted by Zhezong. In addition, Sun Lu served as the envoy of crossing the river, Wang Wenyu served as the envoy of Xihe River, and so on. But the most important ones are Lv Huiqing and Zhang Yun, who will shine brilliantly in the next Song and Xia wars, and will also create the last military glory of the Northern Song Dynasty.
2. A series of strategic changes and personnel changes will naturally lead to a series of strategic changes, and the effects of these changes will gradually appear in the confrontation between the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia: First, passive defense will turn into active attack. After Lv Huiqing took charge of Yanyan Road, he immediately launched a series of military actions against Xixia. In less than two months, he organized 14 small-scale attacks on Xia. Such frequent provocations angered Empress Liang, the actual ruler of Xixia. Queen Liang mobilized nearly 400,000 troops from Xixia to attack the Northern Song Dynasty.
The second is to change from blindness to short-term assault. Facing the aggressive Xixia army, relying on the camp and fortress on the front line of Yanyan Road, we resisted one Xixia army after another. At the same time, under the command of Lv Huiqing, Song Jun changed the failure situation of blindly mobilizing troops and being led by the Tangut cavalry in the past, and adopted the practice of relying on strongholds for short-term assault, which caused great consumption to the Xixia army. However, due to Xixia's absolute superiority in military strength, it still breached a stronghold in Jinming Village, and Song Jun lost nearly 3,000 people.
Third, the fortress tactics compress the space. However, it was this war of attrition that made Song Jun realize that dealing with enemy cavalry in a defensive network composed of fortified cities, strongholds and forts would be of great benefit to his own operations. Next, relying on its strong economic strength, Song Jun began to build castles, camps and even cities along the Song and Xia borders. Such a repair, Song Jun generals found surprisingly good results. The more forts are built, the smaller the space for the Tangut cavalry in Xixia, so this "fortress push" tactic is out of control.
Three: With the passage of time, the fortress group in Song Jun began to gradually extend to Xixia. This practice of "building blockhouses for others" has gradually touched the bottom line of Xixia people, but I don't know that Lv Huiqing is brewing a bigger "blockhouse feast". One is to attack from all sides and attract the Xixia army.
As Lv Huiqing commanded, Song Jun began to attack in all directions! Hongzhou, Lanzhou and Yanzhou were filled with smoke, and the army of the Northern Song Dynasty began to blossom in all directions, either attacking the city or looting nearby. This rogue play was originally a patent of Xixia people, but now it is used more skillfully by Lv Huiqing. At this time, the troops commanded by the famous Melody in Xixia Army had to be led by Song Jun and followed by Song Jun.
The second is to build a plank road in the Ming Dynasty and build a new city in 22 days. As my sister Ledu's Tangut cavalry was entangled with Lv Huiqing's troops, the famous Zhang Xun pushed! He is the most critical part of the whole plan! Before the battle began, he had secretly prepared a lot of bricks, tiles, wood and other things, and Zhang Kun's goal was to build a city at Shimenkou and Haoshui River! Lv Huiqing's random beating won Zhang Yun 22 precious days.
When the Xixia people reminisced, these two places already had ideal cities: Xiaping City and Lingping Village. Third, the fortress system expanded rapidly and the strategic space of Xixia was gradually compressed. The establishment of Xiaping City and Ping Ling Village actually represented the beginning of a series of fortress blockades, and the Northern Song Dynasty finally found an effective way to deal with Xixia. Soon fortresses and cities began to extend further to the hinterland of Xixia with Xiaping City and Heping Village as the core. After losing their living space, one Tangut tribe after another was forced to surrender to the Song Dynasty, and these surrendered Tangut people had to help the Song Dynasty continue to build bunkers.
Four: The doomed war Xixia couldn't sit still after all, because the fortress tactics of the Song Dynasty had made them see the coming end of Xixia Kingdom. Instead of waiting for death, it is better to fight hard! This time, Xixia mobilized 400,000 troops, known as1500,000. The target of their attack is Xia Pingcheng, the core of the fortress group in the Song Dynasty.
First, it is difficult for Xixia people to push their luck under the strong city. In the face of the menacing Xixia people, Song generals Guo Cheng and Zhejiang led 20,000 soldiers to effectively attack the enemy's siege troops by using bows and arrows, but Xixia people failed to break through the city after suffering heavy casualties.
Second, the northern part of Saibei is bitter and cold, and Xixia people are exhausted. With the passage of time, the weather gradually turned cold, and the Xixia people lacked clothes and food, which made the situation worse. Facing the towering wall of Xiaping City, Queen Liang of Xixia Kingdom could only cry in despair. When the morale of the Xixia army dropped to a certain extent, the troops began to panic and flee in a large area.
Eventually the Xixia people had to retreat. At this time, Yao Xiong and Yao Gu of the Song Dynasty led reinforcements to arrive ... Third, they continued to attack and the Xixia people were completely defeated. Yao Xiong and Yao Gu cleverly ambushed the Xixia people on the way back, and then ... gave this demoralized army a heavy blow and beheaded nearly 10 thousand people. Next, Zhang Xun divided the troops into six teams and went straight to the front line of Xixia Tiandu Mountain, raided the Xixia army, beheaded more than 3,000 people and seized more than 100,000 cattle and sheep. Under such successive blows, the whole Xixia army fell into a comprehensive panic and despair.
Finally, in the face of such a desperate situation, Xixia could only ask Liao for mediation to stop its March. However, after this war, the battlefield situation in Song and Xia Dynasties has undergone earth-shaking changes. At present, the Song Dynasty has completely occupied Hengshan and Tiandu Mountain, and there is no barrier in Xixia Lingzhou. At this rate, Xixia's national subjugation is irreversible. Unfortunately, the next step is the pain of Jingkang's shame ... The Northern Song Dynasty first plunged Xixia into a hundred-year catastrophe.