【Battle of Xiazhou】
In Li Siyuan's eyes, Li Yichao, who was "young in talent and weak in talent, but had never experienced hardships", could be called a young talent and a young hero. Li Siyuan seriously underestimated the ability of young Li Yichao, and he did not know how profound the impact this war would have.
Li Yichao knew that Li Siyuan could not feel sympathy for the Xiazhou Party members, let alone allow the Tuoba Li family to rule the roost here. Li Yichao had no illusions about the post-Tang Dynasty. He pragmatically formulated countermeasures to violently resist the law and obstruct official duties.
The young Li Yichao possessed political wisdom and courage that were incompatible with his age. Unfortunately, he was jealous of talents and died young two years later (935). If he could have lived a few more years, perhaps the Xixia regime would have been established earlier. . History does not give his exact age. It only says that this year (933) he was "the weakest in the world." The weakest is 20 years old. However, given the context, the "weakest" here does not necessarily mean exactly 20 years old. It should be understood as around 20 years old. , in short, he is very young. If he is only 20 years old this year, then he will only be 22 years old when he dies. It is really a pity.
Next, we will take a look at how this 20-year-old young leader of the Dangxiang tribe used the "poor frontier" Xiazhou to fight against the Later Tang court.
Li Yichao first presented his case to the court and showed weakness to Li Siyuan, saying that he did not want to refuse the imperial edict, but that he had no choice but to ask the court to consider public opinion because of the loud voice of the masses.
At the same time, he sent his brother Alu Wang to lead his troops to occupy the important pass - Qingling Gate; he gathered all the party tribes and barbarian tribes in the territory to prepare for the battle; he sent rangers to guerrilla harassment everywhere, specifically to plunder the troops of the Later Tang Dynasty. Grain road, destroy engineering equipment.
If he chooses to be aggressive, Li Yichao is seeking death. Regardless of the size of the army and the strength of its combat effectiveness, Yao Yanchou led the righteous army to crusade the Xiazhou rebels who refused to accept the imperial edict. However, Li Yichao was burdened with the reputation of "rebellion from the imperial court". The troops were inevitably divided, especially They are the barbarian tribes within the territory. It is difficult to say that they will become enemies of the central court of the Later Tang Dynasty for the sake of the Tuoba clan.
Therefore, Li Yichao formulated a very stable resistance method.
First, rely on Xiazhou City to resist stubbornly.
Xiazhou City has a long history. It was first built in the Sixteen Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was built by the Xiongnu nobles and King Helianbobo. In 413 AD, Helianbobo mobilized more than 100,000 craftsmen to build a city here, and the harshness and cruelty he used in building the city were simply inhumane and outrageous!
According to historical records, during the city building project, the supervisor used an iron pickaxe to test the solidity of the city wall. "If the hammer was drilled into the wall even an inch, the builder would be killed and built together." If they could penetrate even a mere inch, the craftsmen who built this section of the wall would be killed and their bodies built into the wall.
Therefore, after the project was accepted, the city wall was as hard as iron and was indestructible without fear of being chopped by knives or axes.
The material used to build the city was mud from the local river bottom, mixed with lime. Modern chemical composition analysis revealed that the composition was similar to today's concrete.
After the city was built, Helian Bobo said with great joy: "I will unify the world and rule over all nations, so I can be named Tongwan City." So he named this impregnable city "Tongwan City".
Helian Bobo believed that the Xiongnu were descendants of Xia Qi, so when he established his own country in 407, the country was named "Daxia", which was later called "Huxia". It was one of the sixteen countries of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In 427 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty conquered Tongwan City. In 431 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed the "Hu Xia". In 433 AD, Xiazhou was established and Tongwan City was established as its administrative seat.
Tongwan City is strong and durable. It has withstood thousands of years of war, wind and sun, and its ruins still exist today.
As early as the early Northern Song Dynasty, in 994 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty captured Xiazhou. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ordered the city to be destroyed and the army carried out systematic man-made destruction. But even so, more than a thousand years later, when we discovered its ruins, we still Marvel at how sturdy it is.
At that time, this Tongwan City became Li Yichao's confidence. Unless Li Siyuan could get the second battalion commander to pull out the Italian cannon, there was no way he could enter the city.
In addition, the windy sand and desert in the northwest region are the natural city walls of Xiazhou. It is a deserted place with a radius of hundreds of miles. Not only is there no food and grass, but there is also no water source.
Therefore, Li Yichao quickly figured out a magic weapon to win - the "strategy of tiring the enemy". The main force retreated into the city, and the more than 40,000 rangers did not contact the main army of the Later Tang Dynasty, but took roundabout ways and plundered its food routes.
On the surface, it was Yao Yanchou who surrounded Xiazhou City, but in reality it was Li Yichao who surrounded Yao Yanchou in the boundless desert.
The 50,000-strong army had no food, no military pay, no fodder for their war horses, and what was even worse, there was no water. Due to the long distances and raids and looting by party members, the logistics supply line was overwhelmed. According to records, the average cost of transporting a bucket of grain or a bundle of fodder was several thousand dollars.
A few days ago, there was a great harvest of grain in the northwest region. The price of grain was 4 cents per dou, which would still be less than 10 cents even if doubled. However, it would cost several thousand cents or a thousand times to send a few cents of grain to the front line. The sky-high shipping costs!
Yao Yanchou couldn't afford it, so he launched a strong attack on Xiazhou.
At this time, Yao Yanchou was stunned by the incredible solidity of Tongwan City. Slashing it with a long knife had no effect at all. Even with a pickaxe, it only left a white spot on the wall.
Yao Yanchou fell into a dilemma.
Brother Li Yichao personally climbed up the city wall and shouted to Yao Yanchou and An Congjin: "Xiazhou is poor and poor, and there is no gold, silver or jewelry. To be honest, we don't want to stay in this poor place. It's just that it has been passed down from generation to generation by grandfather and father. It is only for the imperial court to guard this land. Even if you capture this city, you will not get any benefits. Why bother to mobilize troops and waste money? Please also ask you to file a report for me. If the imperial court allows me to change my ways, I will I will serve the imperial court wholeheartedly, and if the imperial court recruits me in the future, I will also lead my tribe to serve as a vanguard for the imperial court!"
This is Li Yichao's political wisdom. Even if you win the battle, you must take the initiative to admit your mistakes, apologize to the court, beg for mercy, give the court face, and give the court steps so that the court can get off the ground and end the war; on the contrary, just like Pang Xun, take advantage of the victory and say He made sarcastic remarks, sarcasm and even threatened the court, disregarding the face of the court and the emperor's sacred power, and blocked his own escape route by using his quick words.
If you have to be merciful to others, be merciful to others, and make things convenient for others and yourself.
Li Yichao also sent a spy to the court as a mysterious "insider" who did not want to be named, saying that Li Renfu did not collude with the Khitan people at all, but that he deliberately spread such rumors and bluffed, thinking that in this way, the court would not If you dare to touch him, who knows it will be self-defeating, which led to today's misunderstanding.
Li Yichao was so sensible and gave Li Siyuan enough face.
Since the war originated from a "misunderstanding", Comrade Li Siyuan, the appointed king who respected God and had a good life, had sufficient and legitimate reasons to end the war.
On July 8, the fourth year of Changxing's reign (933), Li Siyuan ordered Yao Yanchou, An Congjin and others to lead the army. The Battle of Xiazhou ended.
