Foreign biographies
Foreign country refers to a country other than the country. Mainland historians have always attached great importance to exchanges with neighboring countries, and the "Historical Records" includes special biographies such as "The Biography of Nanyue" and "The Biography of Dawan (Yuān)". Since then, the official history of the past dynasties has either listed special biographies, or listed joint biographies such as "Four Yi" and "Barbarians", recording the surrounding neighboring countries. For the first time, the History of the Song Dynasty set up a "Foreign Biography" to record the tributary relations of neighboring countries to distinguish them from the minority regimes that submitted to the Song dynasty. The largest neighbors of the Song Dynasty were Liao and Jin, respectively, because there were "History of Liao" and "History of Jin", so they were not included. "History of the Song Dynasty · Foreign Biography" consists of eight volumes, and this book selects the Western Xia Kingdom as the representative.
The northwest power of Western Xia
Western Xia (1038-1227), the country name Xia, is called Western Xia because it is located in the northwest. Western Xia was a state founded by the Dangxiang tribe, which enjoyed the country for 189 years, and successively stood side by side with the Northern Song Dynasty, Liao, Southern Song Dynasty, and Jin, and was later destroyed by Mongolia. In its heyday, it was bordered by the Yellow River in the east, Yumen Pass (in present-day Dunhuang City, Gansu Province) in the west, Xiaoguan Pass (in present-day Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) in the south, and Dadesert (in the northern edge of present-day Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) in the north.
The Dangxiang people were a branch of the Qiang ethnic group, who lived on the Songpan Plateau in present-day Sichuan Province in the early days and were vassals to the Tang Dynasty. Because of their proximity to Tibet and their frequent conflicts with each other, the Tang Dynasty Dynasty moved them to the homeland of the Great Xia Kingdom during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, so they were called the Pingxia Division.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Tuoba Sigong, the leader of the Dangxiang clan, served as the envoy of Xiazhou (now Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province), participated in the pacification of the Huangchao Uprising, and was given the surname Li, named the Duke of Xia, and managed the surrounding five states. Since then, Li Sigong and his descendants have occupied the local area and become a separatist force.
At that time, it was the period of the Five Dynasties, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and the Dangxiang clan maintained a good relationship with the Central Plains regime, accepted a large number of rewards, and gradually increased its strength. Nominally subordinate, de facto independence.
After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the party members called the Song Dynasty vassals, accepted the official positions of the Song Dynasty, assisted the Song army in battles, and had frequent trade exchanges and very close relations. At this time, after more than 200 years of development and construction, the Pingxia area has considerable strength. Although Song Taizu was committed to reducing the military power of the feudal towns, he still allowed the Li family to inherit the position of Xiazhou Jiedu.
Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ascended the throne, and the Xiazhou Festival made Li Jitou Natu a vassal, but his younger brother Li Jiqian openly opposed it, and the relationship between the Dangxiang clan and the Song Dynasty gradually deteriorated. At that time, the west of the Dangxiang clan was Tubo, the east was the Song Dynasty, and the northeast was Liao.
Li Jiqian skillfully took advantage of factors such as the cowardice of the Song Dynasty, the contradictions between Song and Liao, and the weakening of Tibet, to conquer the east and the west, sometimes to confront the Song Dynasty with the Liao Dynasty, and sometimes to the Song Dynasty to confront the Liao, and further expand the territory. After nearly 50 years of hard work by Li Jiqian's father and son, both the Song and Liao countries recognized the fact that the Western Xia Kingdom was independent, and they only needed to be vassals.
In 1032, after Li Jiqian's grandson Li Yuanhao succeeded to the throne, he first restored the name of the Dangxiang clan, and then used his own era name to create the script of the Dangxiang people, which was used in the territory, and completed the military reform, established a bureaucratic system, issued baldness orders, forced the Dangxiang people to maintain the national hairstyle, restored the national costume, and distinguished the rank by color, laying a solid foundation for the emperor.
With the strength of the Dangxiang people at that time, they could not shake the Song Dynasty, Li Yuanhao continued to expand his territory to the west, and the war lasted for two years, defeating the Tubo and Uighur people entrenched in the northern part of Qinghai Province and the Hexi Corridor, completely controlling the Hexi Corridor, and greatly increasing his strength.
In 1038, Li Yuanhao was officially proclaimed emperor, and the country was named "Great Xia", which was known as Western Xia in history. Because his wife was a princess of the Liao Dynasty, Li Yuanhao maintained friendly relations with the Liao State and sent an envoy to inform the Song Dynasty, demanding that Song Renzong recognize his title of emperor and the legitimacy of the founding of the state.
Song Renzong was furious, cut off all Li Yuanhao's official positions, and mobilized heavy troops to attack Western Xia. Li Yuanhao commanded the army, took the initiative to attack, and successively defeated the Song army. Although the battlefield was repeatedly victorious, the Song Dynasty suspended all rewards, closed the field, cut off trade and trade, the rapid decline of the domestic economy of Western Xia, the difficulties of the people's livelihood, and the war caused a large number of casualties, Li Yuanhao had no choice but to sign a peace treaty with the Song Dynasty. In the same year, after Li Yuanhao defeated Liao, he made peace with Liao and was able to survive between the two great powers.
In the later period of Li Yuanhao's reign, he became tyrannical, suspicious, and extravagant, and was killed by his son Li Ninglingge.
After Li Yuanhao's death, his successors were very young, his relatives were in power for half a century, and the country was on the verge of collapse. Later, Xia Chongzong and Xia Renzong ruled Western Xia for more than 100 years, which was the most glorious period of Western Xia.
In the last two decades, Western Xia was attached to Mongolia, attacked the Jin Dynasty many times, and its national power gradually declined. In 1226, Genghis Khan attacked Western Xia on the grounds that Western Xia did not attack the Jin Dynasty as promised, and the following year, Western Xia perished.
Some of the people of Western Xia fled abroad, and in the territory of present-day Kangding City, Sichuan Province, established a small regime that lasted until the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty. The Western Xia established by the Dangxiang people, due to the lack of clear written records, disappeared in the long river of history, leaving endless mysteries for future generations.
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - Volume 10 "History of the Song Dynasty", which is officially authorized to be published, welcome to continue to pay attention.