vrcanaries Chapter 95: The Western Xia's Unified Strategy
Chapter 95: The Western Xia's Unified Strategy
Lin Ke continued:
"To understand just how much the Liang siblings loved fighting the Song Dynasty, from the time they came to power in 1085 until Liang Qibu was killed in 1094, they fought the Song Dynasty almost every year, which seemed to have become a part of their lives."
The Liang siblings: Oh, it just doesn't feel right if we don't fight our way back to the Song Dynasty!
Song Dynasty: ...Damn it!
"And each of these was not a small-scale war; the number of troops involved ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands each time."
"However, these two, despite their formidable appearance, suffered defeats most of the time. It's a pity that they fought on despite repeated losses, yet they persisted in their 'love' for the Song Dynasty!"
"So, at the beginning of 1085 AD, Liang Qibu sent the Western Xia prince consort, Zhua Jueweiming, to lead the troops of the Youzhou Military Supervisory Office to attack the Song Dynasty. As a result, they encountered Zhao Xie, who was guarding Qingzhou. Although he supported the retreat of Western Xia, he did not support Western Xia invading and seizing territory. He was the kind of person who said, 'I can give it to you, but you can't take it. The initiative must be in my hands!'"
"So in this battle, Old Zhao defeated the Western Xia, not only capturing the Western Xia prince consort, Zhua Jueweiming, but also killing six leaders and seizing 700 warhorses, cattle, sheep, and more than 30,000 people, young and old!"
Song Dynasty: Hey bro, save some for me!
General Judy, the Northern Expeditionary Army: They've come to deliver heads and supplies!
A skilled pig farmer from the Song Dynasty: Hahaha, keep them all!
A scion of a prominent family in the Tang Dynasty: At this time, the military strength of the Song Dynasty was actually not weak!
……
"The Western Xia was heartbroken at the loss of so much, so Liang Qibu turned around and attacked the Song Dynasty's Fuyan Road and Hedong Road. However, he unfortunately ran into You Shixiong, a famous minister of the Song Dynasty."
"So this time they suffered another defeat, which led to the death of the Western Xia general Wei Mingli. Then, in order to take revenge on the Song Dynasty, he burned, killed and looted in the local villages, but was ambushed by Sun Zhao, who shot and wounded the general Liang Age."
"However, in 1086, the situation between the Song and Xia dynasties changed, and the Yuanyou ministers advocated for peace talks. This greatly moved the Liang siblings, and perhaps they were both grateful in their hearts to the Yuanyou ministers in the Northern Song court who advocated for peace talks."
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: ? ? ?
"While the Western Xia sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to discuss the specifics of the land transfer and peace negotiations, they also secretly contacted Aligu of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to discuss how to attack the Song Dynasty."
Minister Yuanyou:! ! !
A Ming Dynasty general: We all know about the Western Xia's wolfish ambitions! Why can't those ministers understand?!
A Tang Dynasty official: Is it merely to exclude other dissenting officials? To oppose for the sake of opposing?
……
"So in 1087, the Western Xia and Qing Tang launched a joint offensive, which, as mentioned earlier, resulted in a disastrous defeat. Liang Qibu was furious again, but he came up with another shameless plan."
"This method involved him expressing goodwill to the Song Dynasty on the one hand, and on the other hand, sending troops to launch surprise attacks on the Song Dynasty's border mountain strongholds."
"Although the Song Dynasty won every battle, the Liang siblings became completely shameless in the years that followed. They seized the opportunity when the Song Dynasty's Yuan You ministers were in power (advocating for peace) and mastered a tactic that I would call shamelessness."
"For example, the Liang siblings had just plundered a mountain stronghold of the Song Dynasty when they immediately released the prisoners, kowtowed to the Song Dynasty to admit their mistakes, and then launched another sneak attack once the Song Dynasty's attitude softened."
"For example, when the Western Xia wanted to force the Song Dynasty to return Lanzhou in Xihe Road, they targeted the mountain strongholds around Lanzhou. At that time, the Song Dynasty was uncertain whether to return the city, so Fan Yu, the border commander guarding Xihe Road, could not concentrate enough resources to resist the Western Xia's attack."
"Finally, Fan Yuxiu repaired the mountain stronghold's defenses, but every time he finished, it was attacked by the Western Xia people. This was really infuriating!"
An official in the Ming Dynasty: This is so annoying! This person has such a good temper!
A strong peasant girl from the Tang Dynasty: It all comes down to those damned ministers!
A renowned scholar of the Song Dynasty said: "How dare you speak like that, young lady! It's an insult to scholarship!"
The father of a strong peasant girl in the Tang Dynasty: Get out of here! My daughter can say whatever she wants!
A famous Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty: ...
……
"This situation continued until 1091, when Liang Qibu's plundering expanded to the prefectures of the Song Dynasty. Only then did the pro-war faction of the Yuanyou Dynasty suppress the pro-peace faction and send a man named Zhang Jie to resolve the matter."
"That year, Liang Qibu came to the Song Dynasty as usual to buy some local specialties to take back. However, when he attacked Hedong, the Tatar tribes of the Liao Dynasty took advantage of the situation and plundered the northern part of the Helan Mountains of Western Xia."
"Some later inscriptions believe that the Tatar attack was inextricably linked to the Song Dynasty. In reality, the Song Dynasty did indeed want to join forces with the tribes within the Khitan territory to cause trouble. After all, the Western Xia had done the same before. So why couldn't the Song Dynasty do the same?!"
“Especially around 1090 AD, a large-scale Zubu rebellion occurred in the western border of the Khitan. The Tatars and Basmu tribes mentioned earlier were closely related to the Zubu.”
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: The Tatar people appeared so quickly!
A young martial arts student from the Han Dynasty: Great teamwork!
General Judy, the Northern Expeditionary Army: !!!
……
"Therefore, in 1092 AD, Emperor Daozong of Liao, Yelü Hongji, deployed troops near the border between Song and Liao in order to support Liang Qibu's plunder of the Song Dynasty."
"While they were plundering the Song Dynasty without realizing it, Weizhou, the rear of Western Xia, was attacked by Song general Zhe Keshi and suffered heavy losses."
A soldier from the Song Dynasty: Hahaha, I'm happy to know they're in such a miserable state!
"This surprise attack was actually the result of Zhang Jie's plan mentioned earlier. The Western Xia were enraged and wanted to retaliate against the Song army here, but they were killed in the pursuit!"
"In June of the same year, Liang Qibu saw Fan Yu mending his West Market City again, and he couldn't resist the urge to do it again, so he immediately launched an attack."
"But this time, Zhang Jie and Zhe Keshi both joined in, and in the battle between the two armies, Liang Qibu was defeated yet again."
"After so many years of militarism, not only are there many complaints within Western Xia, but even their elder brother, Emperor Daozong of Liao, who had been supporting them, no longer wants to see these bastards!"
Liang Qibu: Brother, lend me some more troops, and I'm sure to win this time!
Emperor Daozong of Liao: Damn it, you always say the same thing! Get lost!
"At this time, Empress Dowager Liang appeared. In order to consolidate her increasingly unstable regime, she insisted on personally leading the troops to attack Huanqing Road of the Song Dynasty."
"It's just puzzling that the Western Xia's population and territory were far smaller than those of the Song Dynasty. How was it that under Liang Qibu's aggressive military campaigns, Empress Dowager Liang was still able to muster more than 100,000 troops?"
"The answer to this question may involve the issue of a country's mobilization capacity. The Western Xia was originally established by the Tangut people, and it retained a lot of characteristics of the late primitive society, namely tribal soldiers. Its mobilization was very easy, especially since the slaves in the tribes under its rule had never had any human rights."
"And our Song Dynasty, in terms of barbarity, can only be considered a junior compared to them."
"In particular, the Western Xia's tactics have always been very clear: mobilize a large number of cannon fodder to build up momentum and wear down the enemy, while using a small number of elite troops to decide the final victory."
A Ming Dynasty soldier: Good heavens, so many of them are cannon fodder!
A poor scholar from the Tang Dynasty: So those people were slaves, and their lives were not valued!
A young girl from the Song Dynasty who loves gossip: This is so tragic!
……
"Therefore, by the Yuanyou era, the Song Dynasty was already very familiar with the tactics of the Western Xia. Their hundreds of thousands of troops, who would often create billowing smoke, were just cannon fodder! Just decorations!"
"Zhang Jie's view on them was more accurate. He believed that since the Western Xia had come all this way with so many burdens, we should at least make them leave something behind!"
"Your parents went to visit someone's family without bringing a gift!"
"Therefore, Zhang Jie's side lightly harassed the enemy's rear and disrupted their logistics, while on the other hand, they searched for the main camp of the Western Xia troops. As long as they defeated a few elite troops, they could achieve a great victory. The other troops that had been brought in were not worth fearing at all."
"So these people from Western Xia really kicked a hornet's nest when they met your Brother Zhang! Especially the Liang siblings who were in such a sorry state."
Liang Qibu: I want to go home! I want to go home!
Empress Dowager Liang: I want to go home too! The Song Dynasty is inhuman!
Zhang Jie: Give it to me!
A young master from a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter! Leave something behind before you run!
A farming expert from the Ming Dynasty: Serves them right for sending troops so frequently! It's not easy for ordinary people to live a good life!