Song Dynasty The strategy of "Easy first and then difficult. First south and then north" has always been criticized by future generations. In fact, if such a strategy can be implemented to the end, the Song Dynasty also has hope of achieving great unification.
The Song Dynasty followed its own strategy in the war to unify the south. Using this strategy, the early Song Dynasty often won battles, and morale grew higher and higher, and accumulating small victories into big victories. The south was soon unified.
However, after unifying the south, the Song Dynasty began to float. It began to prepare to annex Northern Han and seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Unfortunately, the Liao Kingdom at this time was different from all the nomadic regimes in the past. He is a composite civilization with multiple attributes: nomadic civilization, fishing and hunting civilization, and farming civilization. The Han people had it, but it had it (for example, the Liao Kingdom had the ability to govern the country and ensure national stability and farm fields), and the Han people did not have it, but it had it (the Han people did not have good horses, but the Liao Kingdom had it). At this time, the Song Dynasty did not have an advantage when facing the Liao Kingdom.
What's more, the Song Dynasty did not occupy a good area. Unless there is no mistake in every link in the Song Dynasty, it will be difficult for it to achieve its achievements in one battle. Once the Song army was defeated and the Liao soldiers came to support it, the tired Song Dynasty army would not have the upper hand. In addition, the Song army was limited by the perverted military system, and the army had poor mobility and weak field combat capabilities, and the food outlet was often cut off. So failure is inevitable.
In fact, at this time, the Song Dynasty should continue to follow the policy of being easy first and then difficult. The Liao Kingdom should not be provoked. Although the Northern Han Dynasty was weak, it was backed by the Liao Kingdom. When the Song Dynasty attacked the Northern Han Dynasty, it was equivalent to alerting the enemy, and the gain was not worth the loss.
If the Song Dynasty continued to maintain good relations with the Liao Kingdom at this time, continue to paralyze the Liao Kingdom. Then go westward. Control Hexi Corridor and occupy such a strategic highland. It can not only suppress the development of the Dangxiang people, but also lay a solid foundation for defeating the Liao Kingdom in the future. Because the Hexi Corridor is an excellent horse breeding farm. By taking this place, the Song Dynasty could form excellent cavalry and surpass the Khitan cavalry. More importantly, the strategic position of the Hexi Corridor is extremely important. The Song Dynasty could attack the relatively weak right wing of the Liao Kingdom through the Hexi Corridor, just like the Han Dynasty, and gain the initiative in the war. Use the combat thinking of nomadic cavalry to deal with the Khitans, and use their own ways to cure them, and avoid attacking the city of Youzhou, and use their own ways to avoid attacking the toughest under the city of Youzhou.
At this time, the Hexi Corridor was controlled by four regimes. That is: the Xixia regime established by the Dangxiang people, the Tubo people Liugu tribe regime established by the Uighurs, the Ganzhou Uighurs regime established by the Han people, and the severance regime of the Guiyi Army Jiedushi. Among these four regimes, the Dangxiang people were not the strongest, but the Dangxiang people unified the Hexi Corridor and established the Xixia regime, which shows that the Hexi Corridor is not difficult to fight. If the Song Dynasty focused on operating the Hexi Corridor, it would be very likely that it would be able to completely control the Hexi Corridor.
After owning the Hexi Corridor, the Song Dynasty could also take over the Xixia regime of the Dangxiang people. Facts have proved that if the Song Dynasty had full force to attack Xixia, it would have been possible to take over Xixia. In addition to its own bravery, the most important thing for Xixia to exist for a long time is to rely on flexible diplomacy to play a balanced diplomacy among major powers. After the Western Xia was beaten by the Song Dynasty, it surrendered to the Liao Kingdom and used the Liao Kingdom to restrain the Song Dynasty. After Xixia was attacked by the Liao Kingdom, it surrendered to the Song Dynasty and used the Song Dynasty to restrain the Liao Kingdom. The Western Xia was too small, and even if the whole people were soldiers, they could barely maintain the situation of submitting to the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty. If the Song Dynasty pursued Xixia from the beginning and did not give Xixia a chance to breathe, it would be possible to take Xixia. Xixia simply cannot have the opportunity to use diplomatic means. Unfortunately, the Song Dynasty fought against Xixia, which gave Xixia a chance to breathe and kept the tiger's troubles.
After the Song Dynasty took over the Western Xia, it could occupy the Hetao area. The Hetao area is also an excellent horse farm. After the Song Dynasty occupied the Hetao area, the Liao Dynasty's defense line was no longer complete. The Song Dynasty could detour the Hetao area and attack the back of the Youyun Sixteen Prefectures. Just like the German army detours through the Arden forest and attacks the Maginot defense line, they achieve strategic deception and raid from the side and back, and achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Overall, when the Song Dynasty unified the north, it did not follow its own strategy of "easy first and harder", with a hammer in the east and a hammer in the west. First swallow the Northern Han Dynasty and anger the Liao Kingdom. Then the attack on Youyun Sixteen Prefectures was repeatedly frustrated and defeated by the Liao Kingdom. Yongxi Northern Expedition After the failure of again, the Song Dynasty began to attack the relatively weak Xixia again (at this time the Dangxiang people had not yet established the country, and their name was still the Dingnan Jiedushi). As a result, he did not completely defeat Xixia. This operation completely deviates from its "easy first and then difficult" strategy.
The failure of the northern war resulted in the lack of a complete defense line on the northern border of the Song Dynasty. Advance cannot achieve the goal of unified development, and retreat cannot maintain the inherent territory of the Song Dynasty. Later, the Northern Song Dynasty countries were destroyed and the emperor was captured.
