Chapter 18 Out of Ordos in the fourth quarter

Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi tried various methods to capture Li Jiqian and regain the party item for many years, but all ended in failure.In 997 AD, Song Taizong died full of regret, and Song Zhenzong came to the throne.So, how would Song Zhenzong treat Li Jiqian?Will he have a clever plan to regain the party and the nation? Emperor Taizong died, and Song Zhenzong succeeded him.Emperor Zhenzong is a Taiping emperor, he just wants to calm things down and be a good person.Therefore, as soon as he succeeded to the throne, in order to show the greatest sincerity in negotiating peace, he released Zhang Pu, Li Jiqian's number one adviser.The first emperor detained you, I'm sorry, but now I let you go back to find your old master.Not only that, but Zhenzong actually returned the five states where the Li family had lived for generations to the Li family.The imperial court felt that Li Jiqian was constantly harassing this place and had to send troops to guard it. The loss was too great and the gain outweighed the loss.Doesn't Li Jiqian just want the hometown of Wuzhou?When he first contacted Haoyi, he said, you have received great kindness from my Li family, and now our Li family is in trouble, would you like to return to your hometown with me and recover your homeland?Since you, Li Jiqian, used this as a call to gather people to rebel, now that I return the five states to you, what excuse do you have?Emperor Zhenzong is really stupid and naive. I put your people back, and I returned your territory to you. You should be content, right?

Li Jiqian's son is a Zhongshan wolf, and he will be rampant when he gains power. Emperor Zhenzong's retreat not only failed to make him repent, but also strengthened the belief that the Song Dynasty did not dare to do anything to Li Jiqian.He intensified his efforts, continued to plunder the borders of the Song Dynasty, and stepped up his siege of Lingzhou. Facing the predicament in Lingzhou, the ministers in the Great Song Dynasty were divided into two factions and started a fierce debate.One faction advocates abandoning Lingzhou. Lingzhou is far away from the hinterland of the Central Plains, and it is inconvenient to deploy troops. There are party members along the way.It is better to move all the people in the city to the mainland of the Central Plains, and let Li Jiqian get an empty city, otherwise, all the 60,000 to 70,000 people in the city will be buried with them.This faction is very powerful.Another faction believes that Lingzhou must be defended. One is because of its important geographical location. If Lingzhou is lost, the communication between the Central Plains and the Hexi Corridor will be completely cut off, that is, the Silk Road opened from the Han Dynasty will be completely cut off. The good horses and ironware from the Western Regions that the Central Plains needs in the future will not be able to be transported in, so Lingzhou must be guarded.Another unspeakable reason is that the court's face is also very important.

This debate has been protracted, the two sides refused to give in to each other, and there was no conclusion for a while.Rescuing soldiers is like fighting a fire. The poor Lingzhou defenders look forward to rescue soldiers like the stars and the moon, but the ministers here are arguing very happily.What should we do?Emperor Zhenzong thought about it, and felt that the dignity of the court was the most important thing. I lost Lingzhou as soon as I ascended the throne. I am sorry for my ancestors, so Lingzhou has to be guarded.Therefore, Song Zhenzong immediately sent a general with 60,000 troops to reinforce Lingzhou.

When the general sent troops, he also knew that there had been a heated debate in the imperial court, and the imperial court had no determination at all, so sending me 60,000 people was probably just pretending, and it is very likely that Lingzhou has not waited for my army to arrive. If it falls, the imperial court will order me to transfer back to Beijing.Therefore, the general ordered his 60,000 troops to walk slowly, wait and see, don't worry, and be ready to change from the rear team to the front team at any time.The imperial court hesitated, and the general procrastinated.Sure enough, before the imperial reinforcements arrived, Lingzhou fell, and the important military town in the northwest of the Song Dynasty was captured by Li Jiqian.

Li Jiqian captured Lingzhou, and the connection between the Song Dynasty and the Northwest was completely severed.During the Song and Song Dynasties, foreign trade mainly relied on the Maritime Silk Road. One of the important reasons for taking the sea route was that the land Silk Road was completely cut off.Li Jiqian changed Lingzhou to Xiping Prefecture, and the party forces rushed out of the Ordos Plateau and occupied the Hetao Plain.Lingzhou and Xingzhou (now Yinchuan, Ningxia) were successively occupied by Dangxiang.In the next step, party members plan to open up the Hexi Corridor. In the Hexi Corridor at that time, the area controlled by the Song Dynasty was in Liangzhou, and a powerful Uighur force controlled a part of Ganzhou, the Tubo people controlled the rest, and Shazhou (now Dunhuang) was controlled by the Cao regime of the Han nationality.Li Jiqian attacked Liangzhou first, and the prefect of Liangzhou was caught off guard. As soon as the city gate opened in the early morning, Dangxiang cavalry rushed in and went straight to the prefect's yamen. The prefect's head was chopped off, and Liangzhou was occupied.Dangxiang forces rushed into the Hexi Corridor.

The Hexi Corridor is a place where multi-ethnic forces live together. Once the Dangxiang people came in, it caused a chain reaction. The Uighurs and Tubo felt the threat of the Dangxiang. The Uyghurs were a very powerful nation during the Tang Dynasty. They established the Uyghur Khanate on the Mongolian plateau in the north, and later renamed it Uyghur.Later, due to natural disasters and foreign attacks, the Uighur Khanate disintegrated.The Uighurs were divided into several groups, some stayed in Ganzhou, Gansu, some moved to Xinjiang, and some moved to Central Asia. The original powerful khanate fell apart.The Tubo people also established a powerful kingdom in the Tang Dynasty. After several generations of Zanpu, they also split up. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau returned to the state before the unification of Songtsen Gampo, and there were many ministries.

The position of the party members determined that they could only expand westward.To the east is Taiyuan in Shanxi, an important town in the Song Dynasty. They couldn't even get out of Shaanxi, let alone Shanxi; to the south was Chang'an in Guanzhong, which was the strongest line of defense for the Song army;The east, north, and south cannot be expanded, and the party members can only go west for greater development.