Some people say that without the Sixteen Counties, the Central Plains regime lost its traditional place to raise horses, so that the number of horses dropped sharply, and the Central Plains army, which is dominated by infantry, lacked offensive ability and had to take the defensive.
There is no right or wrong in this view. Without the protection of the sixteen States, the elite cavalry in the north could March straight into the North China Plain, and the Central Plains regime really lost the initiative and had to defend passively.
But the absence of sixteen counties does not mean that the Central Plains regime has no source of war horses. Sixteen States had few horses, and the source of war horses in Song Dynasty was mainly in the northwest. Before Xixia became independent, there were heavy cavalry units in Song Dynasty.
Compared with nearly 700,000 horses in the Tang Dynasty, there were only 200,000 horses in the Song Dynasty. This is mainly because after losing sixteen states, the Song Dynasty could not obtain horses from the Mongolian Plateau through the Great Wall trade.
However, in the early years, the Song Dynasty established a formidable elite cavalry by means of trade in the north, smuggling, herding horses and collecting horses in the northwest, although it could not be compared with the Han and Tang Dynasties in terms of quantitative strength.
Among them, there was a heavy cavalry in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was well-equipped and brave. This is the static Serbian army formed by Zhao Guangyi himself and known by the world as Liao Army, Xixia Fighter, Jin Tiefu Tu and Mongolian Heavily Armored Fighter.
The Jingsai Army, which is full of 3,000 people, each has five horses, which was very extravagant in the Song Dynasty when horses were scarce.
All members of the Jingsai Army came from Yizhou (now Yixian County, Hebei Province). Yizhou, adjacent to sixteen states, is one of the gateways of the Central Plains, and has always been a tough folk custom. Wang Yucheng, a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, once said:
"In modern times, the brave of the border county cavalry once learned to fight, not afraid of Confucianism. When they heard about Lu, their parents rode horses, their wives held bows and arrows, and even those who didn't like armor. ?
People in border counties and counties deal with nomadic people all the year round, are good at riding and shooting, and are familiar with war fighting routines. Parents, wives and children can take the initiative to help soldiers prepare for war when they hear the invasion of foreign enemies.
The Jingsai Army is also carefully selected. All members can open a hard bow of 200 Jin, and the horses are good foals. Soldiers of the static Serbian army wear heavy armor, and all weapons are equipped with hooks and spears except bows and arrows.
From the beginning of its establishment, the Jingsai Army faced the elite fighters of Liao, and never lost in all previous battles against Liao.
The battle of the Jingsai Army peaked in 988 AD (Song Duan AD, Liao Dynasty six years), and the battle of Xu He in the following year.
In the battle of Liao army going south to Junziguan (now Junziguan Village, hejian city, Hebei Province) (in 986, Liao was unified for four years and Song Yongxi for three years), Song Jun was defeated and its elite was lost.
According to "Long Bian Zi Zhi Tong Jian", there are thousands of people who are scarred and dissatisfied. They have no fighting spirit. They are afraid of earthquakes. ?
Only the Jingsai Army was deployed under Li Jilong, because it belonged to Cangzhou before the war. Li Jilong is Zhao Guangyi's brother-in-law. This battle is highly controversial. If he leads the army to support the front, the outcome of the war is still unknown. )
In June of the Song Dynasty (988 AD), in the sixth year of Liaotong, the Liao State, together with Yu Wei of Junziting, ordered all the military forces and horses to prepare for the siege equipment in the south, and prepared to transfer troops to the south, thus destroying the Song State in one fell swoop.
On September/0/4 of that year, Emperor Lu Ye Longxu of Liao Dynasty personally visited Nanjing (Youzhou). /Kloc-After the flag-raising ceremony on 0/9, Emperor Luye Longxu of the Liao Dynasty led the army, and the rest of the Liao army, led by Lu Ye Xiuge, Han Derang and Lu Ye Xiedi, officially went south to attack the Song Dynasty.
Yelvxiuge, the god of war in Liao history, the battle of Gaoliang River, the battle of the whole city, the battle of Waqiao Pass, the battle of Qigou Pass, and the battle of Gentleman's Pavilion, all children who were beaten to tears in Song Dynasty would say? Yu Yue is coming! ? (Yu Yue is the official name of Liao State, and Yelvxiuge also held this position. )
Ye, the minister of entrust an orphan to Liao, and Yang Ye, the famous old duke, were captured by Ye.
Judging from this configuration, Liao country can be said to be a national invasion to the south, and it is by no means the rhythm of robbing and leaving.
The defense in the Northern Song Dynasty was weak. To what extent did the Song Dynasty guard against military commanders? General led the troops to fight, how to arrange troops and how to deal with the enemy's situation, all need the approval of Zhao Guangyi.
Before the general goes to war, Zhao Guangyi will issue a battle plan, and the general must arrange his troops according to the battle plan, and shall not change it without authorization, otherwise it will be a felony. From this point, we can also understand why the Northern Expedition failed several times in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Sun Tzu's Art of War:? Water flows because of the ground, and soldiers win because of the enemy. Therefore, the soldiers have no constant potential and the water is impermanent; Being able to win because of the enemy's change is called God. ?
The battlefield military situation is complex and changeable, and the fighters are fleeting. How can we follow the routine of taking it for granted? Before the battle starts, limit your deployment to a certain period of time. Not to mention being analyzed by the enemy, that is, after the enemy changes the attack strategy for your deployment on the battlefield, will you change it or not?
Li Jilong also said:? The soldier is highly adaptable, and Encore can book it! ?
In the face of the massive invasion of Liao, he made the mistake of blind command again.
Before the war, Zhao Guangyi ordered Song Jun to stay on the battlefield and not to leave the city. In the face of the imperial edict, the defenders of all cities in the Song Dynasty were beggar-thy-neighbor passive self-protection.
Zhao er, where the Liao army is? Help? Concentrate your forces, March calmly, plunder calmly and surround every city you want to capture calmly.
In October of that year, the Liao army besieged Zhuozhou; 1 1 On June 6th, I went down to the mouth of the Great Wall; On the eighth day of 1 1 month, they began to attack the whole city; Then a few days later, the Liao army captured qi zhou (now Hebei Anguo), Xinle and Little Wolf Shanzhai.
Lost territory in the Song Dynasty, Liao army came to the north bank of Tanghe River in Jizhong Plain, only to sweat profusely.
On the eve of the battle of Tanghe, Tanghe was named after flowing through Tangxian County. The source or tributary of the upper reaches of Daqing River in Haihe River Basin originates from Cuiping Mountain in the south of Hunyuan, Shanxi Province, flows through Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province, leaves Taihang Mountain and enters Laiyuan County, Tangxian County, Shunping County, Dingzhou City, Wangdu County, Qingyuan County and Anxin County of Baoding City, Hebei Province, where it flows into Baiyangdian Lake and then into Daqing River.
Tanghe River is an important barrier between Zhengding (then called Zhou Zhen and Heping) and the Great Wall north of Hutuo River. After the northern army broke through the Tanghe River, it could directly attack Dingzhou and then threaten Zhengding, a major town in the north, which was of great strategic significance. Therefore, Song Jun deployed heavy troops along the Tanghe River.
After discovering the movement of the Liao army, he ordered Guo Shouwen, a general, to send troops to pacify the northern camp, Gao Yangguan, guards and Ma Jun to command, lead and protect our time, and to send troops to Dingzhou. Yuan Jizhong, the military and political supervisor of Dingzhou, judged the four-way pavilion, which was a gathering of famous soldiers.
As I said before, Zhao Er is the boss of pigs. When the Liao army went south, Zhao Guangyi actually asked all localities not to go out of the city for field operations, but to stick to clearing the field.
Therefore, when the Liao army arrived at the north bank of the Tanghe River, the frontline generals also faced a dilemma: of course, they would not stop the Liao army's attack, but it was the emperor's order, and they would not be severely punished if they failed; You may win if you take the initiative. Everyone will be happy if you win. If you lose, you will be responsible for it.
Fortunately, this front-line general is Zhao Guangyi's brother-in-law and Li Jilong, who has a tradition of resisting imperial edict.
Yuan Jizhong first proposed:
The enemy is riding close, and the city is heavily guarded. It cannot be destroyed, so it is useless to drive straight ahead and resist aggression! I will take the lead and die at the hands of the enemy ?
Heavily armed soldiers can only curl up in the city and watch the enemy plunder. People with a little flesh and blood can't stand this humiliation. The soldiers were also angry and sharpened their knives.
At that time, Zhao Guangyi sent the eunuch Lin Yanshou to the army, and quickly took out the imperial edict to stop the generals. At that time, people turned their attention to the supreme commander Li Jilong.
As mentioned earlier, Li Jilong has a tradition of resisting imperial edict. He is well versed in the art of war and is infected by soldiers' emotions. Li Jilong said:
The general will be an expert on things outside the city gate [kǔn]. In previous years, Hejian was not dead, but it was rewarded by the state. ?
Will be outside, your life will not be affected. The reason why I didn't die in the battle of the gentleman's pavilion was to serve my country!
Li Jilong made the final decision, the objection was invalid, and the soldiers were ready to charge.
The Jingsai Army immediately ushered in a highlight moment.
Static Serbian army is all Yizhou people, led by Tian Min. Yizhou fell, and all the families of Jingsai Army were captured by Liao Army. Li Jilong is afraid of the mutiny of the static Serbian army. He was going to disperse the static Serbian army to other troops, but Yuan Jizhong stopped him. At Yuan Jizhong's suggestion, Li Jilong paid a generous reward to the static Serbian army and won the morale of the official army, which gave the static Serbian army a chance to exert its maximum combat effectiveness.
As for the Liao army, Yelvxiuge specially selected 30,000 elite cavalry from the troops of Youzhou and Pi, the guards of Liao Emperor. The army and the army of Voludo, the guards of Han Derang and the heavily armored iron forest army of Liao. Subsequently, he commanded thirty thousand fine riders and fifty thousand light riders to attack Dingzhou where Li Jilong was stationed.
Before the battle of Tanghe, mobilization was done enough, and the rest was the formation of troops. Li Jilong recruited Guo Shouwen to reinforce Zhenzhou, and set up two thousand ambushes on the north bank of Tanghe River, ready to sneak attack behind the Liao army crossing the river.
Yelvxiuge, commander of Liao army, soon discovered Song Jun's ambush, and he first attacked Song Jun's ambush.
Li Jilong saw that the situation had changed and immediately ordered Jingsi to go to the rescue.
Jing Ke is also a valiant soldier, who once chased Yang's ass.
After Jingsi arranged the fortifications to defend Tanghe Bridge, he led the troops into the tight encirclement to meet the ambush. Jing Ke divided the army into three formations, with their backs to the water.
However, the Liao army was strong. After resisting several attacks by the Liao army, the Jingsi army could not resist the enemy and retreated to the south bank to meet Li Jilong's main force.
Liao army saw the situation and quickly killed the crossing bridge.
At this time, Li Jilong sent a static Serbian army ready to go.
Tian Min led the Jingsai fighters, and launched a hedge with Yelvxiuge's elite Tielinjun.
The result of hedging surprised Yelvxiuge that Tielinjun was running away!
Yelvxiuge was naughty again, and Dorudo's army began to attack the static Serbian army.
It is the first time in the history of Song-Liao War that three elite soldiers of Liao attacked the Beijing-Serbia army from three directions.
To Yelvxiuge's surprise, the stationary Serbian army led by Tian Min did not retreat but advanced, and it was a skin. The army and the Voludo army scattered like thorns!
Is this still the weak Song Jun? The Battle of Gentleman Pavilion has wiped out Song Jun's elite. Where did this army come from? Although there have been defeats before, there has never been such a completely cowardly defeat. Not to mention the superior number, these three troops are the ballast stones of Liao country, and an army is unstoppable at ordinary times. Yelvxiuge began to doubt life.
Yelvxiuge faced defeat and sent everyone to the battlefield.
On the south bank of the river, Li Jilong watched the Jingsai army running around in the encirclement of the Liao army and ordered the whole army to attack. Guo Shouwen, Yuan Jizhong, Jing Ke, and even Pei Ji, who had been at odds with Li Jilong, led the army to join the battle.
For a time, where the cavalry of the Song Dynasty passed by, the Liao army only had the ability to parry but did not have the strength to fight back; With a wave of Song Jun's sabre, the Liao army lost its limbs and arms; In the area covered by Song Jun's crossbows, the Liao army was either helpless or ran away.
Facing the corpses everywhere, Yelvxiuge asked himself, can the war continue? It's not Song Jun across the street. It's a heavenly soldier coming down to earth.
Yelvxiuge had to order a retreat.
The Liao army attacked quickly and retreated quickly. Unfortunately, this time they faced a static Serbian army with no shortage of horses.
Tian Min led the motionless Serbian army to cover and kill behind the Liao army until Yelvxiuge and the main force of Yelvxiuxu, the emperor of Liao Dynasty, joined together.
In this battle, Song Jun beheaded fifteen thousand people and won ten thousand horses. Liao army never went south again.
In this war, Tian Min became famous in World War I, and after the war, he was promoted to this unit. It was not until many years later that the Liao army heard that it was Tian Min who led the troops and dared not confront each other.
This war was the first defeat of Yelvxiuge, which completely broke the myth that Yelvxiuge was invincible.
After the war, Yelvxiuge still has a lingering fear. It was not until the beginning of the second year that Yelvxiuge led the troops to slowly withdraw to Nanjing (now Beijing) after confirming the safety of Song Jun's southward withdrawal and Liao Army.
Valerian surrendered to Kaifeng, and the ministers celebrated each other. Song Taizong Zhao Er did not punish the frontline soldiers for disobeying orders, but wrote a letter praising these generals and giving them generous rewards.
The battle of Tanghe followed the battle of Tanghe. Although Song Jun won a great victory, it only hindered the pace of the Liao army going south, and did not completely cut off the excitement of the Khitans, because the main force of the Liao army remained. In the second year of the Battle of Tanghe, the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the seventh year of the unification of Liao, in 989 AD, Liao assembled an army and went south again. But this is another story.
So what happened to such a strong static Serbian army? Wang Yucheng once explained: Will it open? Static plug? The horse accounted for self-defense.
Because of the strong fighting capacity of the army, generals like to deploy their soldiers to their barracks to protect themselves, so that this army has never appeared in an established system and disappeared in the long river of history, which is embarrassing.