On the land of northwest my country, there once stood a minority kingdom that stood side by side with the Song and Liao Dynasties - the "Daxia" feudal dynasty, in Xixia is " Dabai Gaoguo ". Because it was located to the west of the Song and Liao countries at the same period, it was historically called "Western Xia". It "ends the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, controls the desert in the north, covers an area of more than 10,000 miles, and relies on the Helan Mountain for solidity." It occupies the fortress. It has been in power for 189 years and has successively passed the throne. 10 masters, who have made immortal contributions to the development of western China. The environment that "Xi Xia" was in at that time included the Northern Song Dynasty, which was at the peak of its feudal culture, in the east, the Liao, a military power established by the Khitan people, in the northeast, followed by the ambitious Jin regime established by the Jurchens, and the west The prosperous western region country Gaochang, the southwest is the powerful rival the Tubo regime on the plateau, and in the north there is a rising Mongolia that scares the entire Eurasian continent. Only the Duan Dali Kingdom in the south is slightly weaker. It can be said that the Xixia Empire survived, developed and grew in the cracks of a forest of powerful enemies.
It is generally believed that Xixia is a multi-ethnic regime dominated by the Dangxiang ethnic group. The Dangxiang ethnic group is a relatively recent branch of the Qiang ethnic group that was widely distributed in Western my country in ancient times. Historical documents record that they first emerged at the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Originally lived in the meander of the Yellow River. By the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the scope of activities gradually expanded, "to the east is Songzhou, to the west is Yehu, to the south is Chunsang, Misang, etc., and to the north is Tuyuhun". In the early Tang Dynasty, the Tubo tribe living to the west of the Dangxiang people became increasingly powerful and posed a great threat to the Dangxiang tribes. In order to survive and develop, the Dangxiang people began a century-long migration. They first went to Qingyang, Gansu Province, and then some of them moved again to settle in the Mizhi and Hengshan areas of northern Shaanxi. The Dangxiang tribes that migrated to northern Shaanxi include the Xifeng clan, the Feiting clan, the Quli clan, the Pochao clan, the Yeli clan, the Miqin clan and the Tuoba clan. Among them, the Tuoba clan is the most powerful.
However, some scholars believe that the Tuoba family among the Dangxiang people was originally from the Tuoba Xianbei people, who originally lived in the Daxianbei Mountains area in the northern section of the Daxinganling southeast of the Ergun River in the northeast. In the 1st century AD, Tuoba Xianbei took advantage of the Huns' split into northern and southern parts and the weakening of their power to move south to the present Hulunbuir Lake area in Inner Mongolia. By the early 2nd century, they migrated to the Hetao area and Yinshan area. In the middle of the 3rd century AD, one of the Tuoba Xianbei tribes moved to the Hexi region. The Nanliang regime was established. In 414, the Western Qin Dynasty destroyed Southern Liang. Tuoba Xianbei submitted to the Tuyuhun regime. At this time, Dangxiang already had his own name as a branch of the Qiang, but because the Qiang's power was weak and was conquered by Tuyuhun, Dangxiang was still just a tribe in the Tuyuhun regime. During the Sui Dynasty, Tuyuhun was attacked by the Sui army and was expelled from his base centered on Qinghai Lake. Tuoba Xianbei took the opportunity to unite the Dangxiang tribes and absorbed several other Qiang tribes to form an independent Dangxiang tribal alliance.
Xixia Royal City Scenic Area
At the end of the Tang Dynasty , social unrest eventually led to a peasant uprising. In order to suppress the uprising, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty recruited people from all walks of life. The leader of the party, Tuoba Sigong, led his troops to participate in the war. After meritorious service, he was promoted to the governor of Xiazhou, granted the title of Duke of Xia, and was given the surname Li. During the fifth generation of , the Central Plains was divided, and the party members took the opportunity to continuously expand their power. In 881, Tuoba Sigong established Xiazhou "although he did not claim a country but ruled the land". He appointed officials and collected taxes within the jurisdiction he ruled, forming a local force that cannot be ignored. At the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the party tribes and the Song court were in peace. Later, the Tuoba tribe rebelled and attached themselves to the Song Dynasty, and the war between the two sides lasted for more than ten years. When the Tuoba clan suffered the most severe defeat, they lost all their territory. Later, Li Jiqian, a member of the tribe, gathered his strength and after more than ten years of fighting, he reoccupied the five states of Yin, Xia, and Yan in northern Shaanxi. In 1001, Li Jiqian took five towns outside of Hebei including Huaiyuan (now Yinchuan City, Ningxia) in the Northern Song Dynasty. In 1002, he conquered Lingzhou in one fell swoop and established his capital here. In 1003, Li Jiqian led his army to fight against Tibet and was unfortunately killed by an arrow. His son Deming came to the throne.He implemented the policy of integrating the east with the west and forming a good relationship with the Song Dynasty in the east, creating a peaceful and tranquil environment for the development of Dangxiang society; he "plundered the Tibetan war horses" in the west; he "recovered the Falcon soldiers" in the north and transferred his own The sphere of influence advanced to the Hexi Corridor . In 1020, Deming moved the capital from Lingzhou to Huaiyuan Town, promoted it to Xingzhou, and carried out large-scale construction and palace construction. In 1032, Li Deming died, and his son Yuan Hao came to the throne, and Xingzhou was renamed Xingqing Prefecture. In 1036, Yuan Hao defeated the Hexi Uighurs and expanded his power to the Dunhuang area. At this time, Xixia's national power was strong and dominated the fortress. In 1038, Yuan Hao built an altar in the southern suburbs of Xingqing Mansion. With the support of all ministers, he officially ascended the throne of emperor and established the "Great Xia" kingdom.
Some scholars believe that although Li Yuanhao was the founding king of the "Great Xia" kingdom, the actual founders of the "Xixia" regime were his grandfather Li Jiqian and his father Li Deming. In the fifth year of Taiping and Xingguo's reign in the Song Dynasty (980), Li Jijun, the envoy of the Dingnan Army, died, and Li Jipeng succeeded him as his younger brother. Internal strife broke out within the party due to inheritance issues. Li Jipeng was forced to donate the land of Dingnan Five States that he had managed for three hundred years to the Song Dynasty , and led his people to move to the capital. Song Taizong was overjoyed and ordered the cancellation of "Xu's hereditary". In fact, Taizong made a mistake, which will make it difficult for the Li family to live up to Zhao Song in the long run. It is morally untenable to rashly provoke others, take advantage of others' danger, and cancel the "Xu Zhi hereditary" when it is beyond the reach of the police and the forces are far from fully controlling the difficult situation. What's more, Li Ji's donation of land was not a genuine donation. He could have "sympathized with his family and generously rewarded him", established the prestige of the Celestial Dynasty among the party members, and calmed the hearts of the barbarians in the northwest. However, Emperor Taizong did not check the authenticity and categorically charged five yuan. state, which resulted in intensifying conflicts with the northwest ethnic groups.
Soon, Li Jipeng's younger brother Li Jiqian gathered his tribe to rebel. Li Jiqian fought countless defeats from the seventh year of Taiping's rejuvenation of the country to the third year of Yongxi , losing consecutive battles, and finally even lost his old camp in Yinzhou. Except for his brother Jichong and his cronies Zhang Pu and others, almost all his troops were lost. Li Jiqian had no choice but to rely on the Liao people. He sent his confidant Zhang Pu to the Liao Dynasty to seek goodwill and ask for marriage. Longxu, Emperor Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty, married Princess Yicheng of his clan to him and appointed him as "the envoy of the Dingnan Army, Yinxia Suiyou and other states to observe and deal with the matter, and the special envoy to inspect the school, the Taishi Commander, and the commander-in-chief of all the military affairs in Xiazhou". With the help of Liao Kingdom , Li Jiqian once again fought back against Song Dynasty . The Song Dynasty conquered five states and disrupted six routes, and the northwest frontier defense never had peace. After Taizong's death, Zhenzong's Zhao Heng and his successor negotiated a peace agreement on the condition of "cutting Hexi Yin and Xia Wuzhou to it", overturning all Taizong's intentions. For Li Jiqian, his long-cherished wish to restore his ancestral foundation and revive the Five Prefectures has been fully realized. But now he has weighed Zhao Song's weight, and "defeating the five states" is no longer his ultimate goal. His ultimate goal was to expand his territory, dominate the northwest, establish the Xixia Kingdom, and compete with Song and Liao for hegemony.
Remains of the Western Xia Royal City
After Li Jiqian's death, his son Li Deming made a treaty with the Song Dynasty and obtained a lot of economic benefits through tribute trade and other channels; on the other hand, he continued to form an alliance with the Liao Dynasty, gained political support from the Liao Dynasty, and increased his The Song Dynasty was the bargaining weight, and it made false arrangements between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, reaping the benefits of the fishermen and stabilizing the regime. At the same time, he "plundered the strong Tibetan horses in the west and recovered the elite Falcon troops in the north", successively captured Ganzhou and Liangzhou, surrendered to Wang Xianshun of Guazhou, and initially conquered Hexi. His son Yuanhao further unified Hexi, proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, laying a good foundation for Foundation. Deming would later be given the posthumous title "Guangsheng Emperor" and the temple name "Taizong". Wu Guangcheng of the Qing Dynasty praised him, "The achievements of the Xia Kingdom are based on this. Although Yuan Hao was powerful, he could not borrow Deming Yanyi, but Sui Yelang was arrogant?"
The ruins of the Xixia royal city
Of course, Xixia truly became a country that stood side by side with the Song and Liao Dynasties. The country should still start with Li Yuanhao establishing the "Great Xia" kingdom. While absorbing and utilizing Han culture, he paid attention to maintaining the characteristics of his own nation. He finally established the principle of "promoting martial arts and respecting law" and embarked on a path of militarizing the country to expand externally to obtain resources.In order to meet the needs of establishing an independent country, Yuan Hao took a series of measures, such as establishing an official system following the Tang and Song Dynasties, setting up Zhongshu, Privy Council, three departments (Hubu, Duzhi, Yantie), Yushitai , Yiwei Department, Official Accounting Department, Acceptance Department, Farmland Department, Group Animal Husbandry Department, Feilong Academy, Mill Survey Department, Wensi Academy, Fan Academy and Chinese Academy and other institutions, each perform their own duties, the proportion of Fan and Han in Yuanhao's cabinet For Han Qifan and Wu. Improve military institutions, divide the country into two major war zones, east and west, with a total of 12 military regions (Military Supervision Department). Officials at the military region level, such as military commanders, deputy commanders and military supervisors, are all directly appointed by the central party. . In order to highlight the national characteristics of Dangxiang, Li Yuanhao abandoned the surname given by the Tang and Song Dynasties, restored the Dangxiang surname "Wei Ming", changed his name to Yuxiao, and called himself "Wuzi", which means Qingtianzi, corresponding to the Huangtianzi of the Song Dynasty. At the same time, it is stipulated that domestic party members must be bald. Within a three-day period, anyone who does not comply will be punished. The so-called baldness means shaving off the hair on the top of the head and retaining the surrounding hair. However, Yuan Hao's baldness order only applies to Dangxiang people and is not enforced on other ethnic groups. At the same time, he recruited talents from all ethnic groups and attracted a group of Han intellectuals to defect to Xixia. In addition, the Yuan and Wu Dynasties took measures such as establishing the capital of Xingqing Mansion, building palaces, compiling Xixia characters, regulating official and civilian clothing, and regulating rituals and music. He led the Xixia Iron Armored Army to fight against the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom, and gained the respect of both countries, eventually forming a situation of three kingdoms.
Ruins of Xixia Royal Tombs
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