How did Li Deming achieve his foresight?
In the first month of 1004 AD, Li Jiqian, the leader of the Dangxiang clan, died, and his son Li Deming succeeded to the throne. When Li Jiqian was in power, he unyieldingly united with the Liao Dynasty to fight against the Song Dynasty. Taking advantage of the fact that the Song Dynasty was tired of dealing with the continuous southern invasion of the Liao Kingdom, he galloped across the northwest land, plundering the borders of the Song Dynasty from time to time, and finally conquered the important military town of Lingzhou and founded the The three kingdoms of Xia, Liao and Song were at odds. Li Deming inherited his father's ambition and took advantage of this good situation. He was prepared to further develop the party's strength and attack the Song Dynasty. Therefore, when he took the throne, he expressed his loyalty to the Liao Kingdom and expressed his consistent attitude of uniting with the Liao Dynasty to resist the Song Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty also immediately named Li Deming King of Xiping and recognized his leadership position in the Dangxiang clan. In this way, the situation of the Three Kingdoms' confrontation remained unchanged, and the friendly relations with the Liao Dynasty remained unchanged. However, because of the new vast and fertile land of Lingzhou, Dangxiang's attack power against the Song Dynasty was obviously greatly enhanced.
However, Li Deming did not take advantage of such a good situation and actively resort to force against the Song Dynasty like his father did. Instead, he made a 180-degree turn and specially sent the tooth general Wang Cang in 1005 AD to drive away the Song Dynasty. He went to the Song Dynasty to enter the court and expressed his willingness to submit to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.
For an orthodox Dangxiang tribesman who is brave, aggressive, and fiery, Li Deming's behavior is really shocking. However, "Manipulation can exceed expectations. What surprises ordinary people, heroes are surprised by." In other words, those who are wise and resourceful will often be surprised by their control and release. Most people are baffled by their actions, but real heroes understand them and smile knowingly.
Li Deming was not only a brave and aggressive Dangxiang tribesman, he was also a wise monarch with a strategic mind. He doesn't care about the confusion and confusion of ordinary party members. He only needs to implement his well-established long-term strategy of "forsighting high and following the enemy with practice."
It turns out that not long after Li Deming took the throne, that is, in the winter of 1004 AD, Song and Liao entered into the famous "Chanyuan Alliance". The war between Song and Liao came to an end, and the two countries began to live in peace. Resolved peacefully. Obviously, this major event will inevitably affect Dangxiang's relationship with Liao and Song. Dangxiang and the Liao Dynasty signed a peace treaty early, and their relationship was still superficial, while the relationship between Dangxiang and the Song Dynasty has always been based on swords and guns. In the past, the reason why Dangxiang was able to lose less and win more in battles with the Song Dynasty was not because the enemy was weak and we were strong, but entirely because the Song Dynasty could not take care of both the east and the west, and its main military strength was restrained by the Liao Kingdom. Now that Song and Liao have formed an alliance, if the Song Dynasty becomes ruthless and specially deals with Dangxiang, not to mention that the newly emerged confrontation between the Three Kingdoms may disappear immediately, even the survival of the Dangxiang clan may become a problem...
The Song Dynasty may not necessarily be ruthless and exterminate the Dangxiang tribe, but if the war continues, the war continues, and the country is poor, then who can guarantee that the Liao Dynasty in the east will not come to reap the benefits? The Liao State had the strength to compete with the Song State, and it was not difficult for it to gain some advantages from the Dangxiang people.
Also, his father Li Jiqian fought for 20 years and went through a lot of hardships to create a situation of confrontation between the Three Kingdoms. It was hard-won. The people are already miserable, and the newly acquired land of Lingzhou needs to be developed and cultivated. Therefore, what is most needed now is to take a breather to recuperate and take advantage of the favorable situation to rapidly expand national power and truly consolidate the situation of the Three Kingdoms' confrontation.
The most realistic problem is that the Song Dynasty has no choice but to behave in the years of war with Dangxiang. When Li Jiqian died and Li Deming was established, minister Cao Wei pointed out to the emperor: "Li Jiqian has been in Henan (now the Ordos area) for 20 years, but his troops have not been disarmed, which has caused China to worry about two things. Now his country is in danger." If he is weak (Li Deming is only 23 years old), he will become stronger and unstoppable if he is not captured and destroyed. Please lead your elite troops and carry Deming to the palace. "Because at that time, the Song Dynasty was fighting fiercely with the Liao Kingdom, and they were both defeated by the Liao Dynasty, and they had no time to save themselves. , was unable to divide his troops and go west, so he had to temporarily put aside Cao Wei's suggestion, and adopted another more subtle and difficult-to-prevent strategy: on the one hand, he ordered Deming to "review the plan and go ahead"; on the other hand, he issued an edict The powerful Dangxiang clan Wanshan, Wanyu, Pangluo, Shi'an, Wanzi, etc. led their troops to submit to the Song Dynasty, and each was given the post of regiment training envoy. They were given 10,000 taels of silver, 10,000 bolts of silk, 50,000 money, 5,000 catties of tea... and were given heavy rewards. The generous gift caused the party members to defeat themselves. Moreover, as early as 1001 AD, the Song Dynasty supported Pan Luozhi, the Tubo Minister of Jiugu, in ruling Xiliang.
Therefore, Pan Luozhi was very willing to echo the Song Dynasty and attack Dangxiang from afar. Li Jiqian was hit to death by a stray arrow during a fierce battle with Pan Luozhi. In this way, there are Pan Luozhi and the Uighur soldiers who are also supported by the Song Dynasty in the west, and the Song official army that has just ceased war with the Liao Kingdom in the south. There is also the possibility of self-inflicted defeat internally. If Li Deming does not take effective measures in time, then the fate of the party members may be Destruction is in his hands.
As a result, Li Deming decisively sent Wang Biao, the tooth general, to declare himself a minister to the Song Dynasty, in order to support the people, eliminate the crisis in the west, and gain the opportunity to expand national power. The Song Dynasty did not know what the plan was and fell for it. They immediately agreed to negotiate a peace truce and backed down step by step on the terms of the negotiation.
Soon, the Song and Liao Dynasties continued to give Li Deming additional titles and titles. The Song Dynasty also ordered the ethnic minority tribes in Hexi to defend their territories and not invade the Xia territory. And the silver, silk and tea coins originally used to dismantle the nobility within the party were doubled as "gifts".
Li Deming received these large amounts of "gifts", which were enough to win over and unite the nobles of various ministries. He also got a good opportunity for peace building, which rapidly strengthened the party's strength. Therefore, on the one hand, they built cities and ponds in the south to strengthen the defense against the Song Dynasty. On the other hand, they expanded their territory to the west and conquered a large amount of land in the Uighurs and Tubos, becoming a great power. In 1020, the capital was also built in Huaiyuan Town, Lingzhou, and moved from Xiping to Xincheng, named Xingzhou (now Ningxia). Xiping is to the east of the Yellow River, close to the border of the Song Dynasty, and Xingzhou is to the west of the Yihe River. The Song army could not reach it because of the Yellow River, and with the Helan Mountain as a barrier, it was actually a geomantic treasure land for establishing the capital and the country. As a result, the foundation of the Daxia Empire has been completely laid, and the Dangxiang clan is completely independent from the control of the Song Dynasty and has a solid foundation.