When Liao ascended the throne, the Central Plains had entered the Northern Song Dynasty. From July 979 AD, when the Northern Song Dynasty launched its first aggression against Liao, to 1004, the Song Dynasty mostly appeared as an aggressor, rather than a defeated sympathizer as later historians said from the standpoint of the Han nationality. In these wars of aggression in the Song Dynasty, there appeared the legendary entanglements and feuds between Yang Jiajiang and Xiao Taihou.

The founder of Yang Jiajiang is Yang Ye. In 928, Yang Ye was born in Shenmu, which is now northern Shaanxi. At that time, it was ruled by the Tangut who migrated from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Therefore, it is not excluded that the warrior Yang Ye has the lineage of the Tangut. According to many scholars' opinions and local folklore, his wife, She Taijun, the leader of the popular female general in Yangmen, is entirely descended from the Tangut. "A General History of Xixia" records: "Fu Lin is the Tangut. Since the Tang Dynasty, the world has been the ambassador of Fu Lin and spread to the country. " At the age of 0/8, Yang Ye/Kloc-was a courtier of the Northern Han regime. Today, the Fugu area at the junction of northeast Shaanxi and northwest Shanxi was occupied by the Tangut Ruan Hezhe. Facing the increasingly powerful offensive of Liao country, Yang Ye formed an alliance with Shi Zhe and his son to jointly resist the Liao army, and married Zhede's daughter Zhetaijun. Later, the Han History Museum called Zhetaijun She Taijun, because he was homophonic with She in the Han surname. This is She Taijun, the coach of "Yangmen Female General", who has been circulated in China folk and various operas. She Taijun was born into a military family. He often hears the neighing of horses and sees bloody battles on the battlefield. After marriage, he appeared in historical stories as "good at riding and shooting" and "good at fighting".

As a professional soldier, Yang Ye had two opponents in his life: first, he was a courtier of the Northern Han regime in the early stage and fought against the army of the Northern Song Dynasty; Second, after surrendering to the Northern Song Dynasty, fighting against the Liao army was mostly for "striving for merit".

In the summer of 979 AD, the northern land was extremely hot, and the first large-scale attack on Liao was launched. Yang Ye and his wife She Taijun, who surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty, took part in this battle for the first time as general Song. Besiege Nanjing (now Beijing) painstakingly managed by Liao with superior forces. In the face of a powerful siege, Liao intends to give up the rescue. However, Xiao Taihou opposed Song Jun and mobilized powerful forces to defend Nanjing, the southern gate of Liao. The end of the war was that Song Taizong was shot by several arrows, disguised himself, and fled on a donkey cart. The Liao army chased Fanyang (now southwest of Beijing) before returning. Xiao Taihou is no longer the "queen" who can simply put the country in the middle, but a female strategist who can quickly and accurately judge and deploy the army when facing the enemy.

On the mountainside of Yanmen Mountain, 20 kilometers northwest of Daixian County, Shanxi Province, there is a pass, namely Yanmenguan, which is called "the first pass of respecting nine passes", and it is also called the three passes with Ning Wuguan and Pianguan. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the wild goose gate won the world and the wild goose gate lost the Central Plains". Historically, there have been more than 1500 wars around Yanmenguan: Li Mu, a general in the Spring and Autumn Period, carved his name in the history of Yanmenguan for the first time; Qin Shihuang sent Meng Tian to lead 300,000 troops to fight against the Huns, and the fortress was built here. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Li Guang, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing also led troops to break the Xiongnu from here; Wang Zhaojun also went to the Great Wall from here to kiss ... During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yanmenguan war reached its highest point in history. The warring parties were Song Jun and Liao Army, and Song Taizong appointed Yang Ye, who was known as the "invincible country" at that time, to be stationed at Yanmenguan.

In the early spring of 980 A.D., the whole fortress was surrounded by huge cold, and Xiao Taihou issued a written pledge in Liaodu: he and Liao led 65,438+10,000 Liao troops to attack the Song Dynasty. The war pushed the women who played soul roles on both sides to the forefront: Xiao Taihou was determined to win, by going up one flight of stairs; She Taijun offered Yang Ye an idea-every night, he splashed water on the wall to form a huge ice city, which could not be broken from the outside. At the same time, personally guarding Yanmenguan, let Yang Ye and his son lead the troops out of the city and outflank the Liao army from the side. The Battle of Yanmenguan ended with Song Jun's victory, which not only defended the border security of the Song Dynasty, but also reversed the war situation. In the following nearly 10 years, Liao army never invaded Yanmenguan again.

After the Yanmenguan War, there was a turning point in the comparison of military strength between the Song Dynasty and the Liao State: the Song Dynasty began to "build a city in Hebei to gather grain", and the Liao State also "advised farmers to plant mulberry trees and repair military equipment". Beneath the surface of the rest, it is the beginning of a secret contest.

In 986, Song Taizong led 300,000 troops to launch a large-scale attack on Liao in three ways. Song Taizong personally commanded, and Yang Ye served as deputy commander in the West Route Army. Xiao Taihou led the young new emperor Liao Shengzong to today's Beijing to resist the East and Middle Route Army of the Song Dynasty, and successively repelled Song Jun's attack in an all-round way. Yelv, the general of Liao, was ordered to resist the marked army of Song Dynasty. Xiao Taihou ordered that Yang Ye must be taken alive, and he should not be injured. In Shuozhou area, Yelv's oblique shot almost wiped out Yang Ye's troops. Sergeant Liao wounded Yang Ye with an arrow and captured him alive. Yelvxiezhen personally persuaded Yang Ye to surrender, but Yang Ye refused to surrender and died after a three-day hunger strike. Yang Jiajiang became one of the forces that continued to fight Liao in Song Dynasty. Yang Ye's eldest son, Yang Zhaoyan, defended the border for more than 20 years because of his bravery and good fighting skills, and became a barrier for Liao to attack the Song Dynasty. Please observe the astronomical phenomena and think that the sixth star of the Big Dipper in the sky is dedicated to Liao, and Yang was reincarnated from this star, so it is called.