Frogs often forget that they were once a small tadpole.

- Korean proverb

When the feudal kingdoms of Central Asia, such as the Seljuks, Khorezm, Qarakhanid, Western Liao, Ghazni and Ghur, fought each other, the land of northern China was also full of war drums and gunsmoke. Following the emergence of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu in the 3rd century, there have been several historical phenomena of the three kingdoms standing and killing each other.

The first was the great war between the Liao, Song, and Western Xia kingdoms.

The Great Song Dynasty was a regime established by the Han people in 960, divided into two stages, the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, with a total of 18 emperors and 319 years of reign.

The ancestral legend of the Han people is that they originated from the Chinese people in the Yellow River Valley. In 202 BC, the Han king Liu Bang overthrew the Qin Empire, which unified the small princely states, and established the powerful Han Empire. The Han Dynasty continued to develop and expand its territory, and soon became a world power.

The people of the Han Dynasty called themselves Han Chinese. As a result, despite the subsequent absorption and integration of many ethnic minorities, the title of Han Chinese and the main body of the ethnic group have been maintained to this day, becoming the most populous ethnic group in the world.

Later, various parts of China experienced the Three Kingdoms era of Wei, Shu, and Wu, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In 960, the generals of the Northern Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty launched the Chenqiao Mutiny, supported the Song Prefecture to return to the German army, and made the Han Zhao Kuangyin the emperor, established the Song Dynasty, and set the capital Kaifeng (now Kaifeng, Henan Province), named Tokyo.

The Liao State was a state established by the Khitans in Northeast Asia, which lasted 210 years and went through 9 emperors.

The Khitan people originated from the Xianbei of Donghu, and are of the same race as the Mongolian speakers of the same language. Khitan means iron and is the title of the nation. Liao is the name of the country, named after the Liaoshui in the territory. Today's Liaoning means peace and tranquility in Liaoning.

On March 17, 916, Yelu Abaoji, the leader of the Khitan tribal alliance, announced the establishment of the Khitan State, with the capital at Linhuangfu in Shangjing (now Nanboluo City, Balinzuoqi, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region).

In its heyday, the territory of the Khitan stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east, to the Altai Mountains in the west, to the Erguna River and the Great Khing'an Mountains in the north, and to the Baigou River in the south of Hebei Province in the south.

The Khitan's military power and influence spanned Northeast and Central Asia. Therefore, regions such as Central Asia, West Asia, and Eastern Europe regarded the Khitan as a representative title for China after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. To this day, China is still called Khitan in the languages of some ethnic groups in Russia and Central Asia.

Soon after the founding of the Khitan, the Khitan army marched south, invaded the Central Plains, captured the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, Tokyo, and changed the name of the country to Liao. Perhaps the Khitan leaders were very entangled in their hearts, and later, the name of the country was changed repeatedly between the Khitan and Liao.

The war between the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State was like the name of the Khitan country, and it became almost the entire history of the two countries.

In 979, the Song dynasty eliminated the Northern Han regime with Jinyang (Taiyuan) as its capital, and finally unified the whole country. The emperor of the Song Dynasty was very angry with the stubborn resistance of the Jinyang army and civilians, and feared the reputation it enjoyed as a dragon city, and angrily ordered the burning of Jinyang City. He was still puzzled by the hatred in his heart, and attracted the water of the Fen River and the Jin River, and razed Jinyang, which had a long history of 1476, to ruins.

Three years later, the Song Dynasty built a new city in Tangming Town, more than 40 miles north of Yangcheng in Kuching, and set up Taiyuan Fuzhi.

There was a man named Wang Chen in Taiyuan City, who had been a merchant for generations. Wang Chen ran a cloth shop that specialized in selling fabrics for making clothes.

Wang Chen was a descendant of the fusion of Han and Hu people, and had previously lived in Jinzhong. Whether it was the Qin and Han dynasties ruled by the Han people, or the Huyi kingdoms established by the Xianbei people, the Qian people, and the Di people, the Wang family was concentrating on business and making money, and did not participate in political disputes.

Wang Chen was pondering how to find business opportunities and achieve a breakthrough in the family business, and when he saw that the imperial court had built a new Taiyuan City, he felt that the opportunity to make a lot of money had come, so he immediately mobilized the whole family to move to Taiyuan New Town to seize business opportunities.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, first, the remnants of domestic resistance needed to be eliminated, and second, there were strong enemies in the west and north, so a large number of soldiers were recruited from the people.

After receiving the edict of conscription, Wang Chen called his three sons for a family meeting.

Wang Chen asked: "The imperial court conscription, which of the three of you will go?" ”

The eldest son, Wang Yanshou, said: "Yangui and Yanwen are still young, so I'd better go." ”

Wang Yangui and Wang Yanwen are cowardly by nature, inherit the business genes of the Wang family, and don't like civil and military affairs.

Wang Chen said solemnly: "When people go to the battlefield, life and death are unpredictable. To prolong life, you must kill the enemy bravely and glorify your family. One-third of the profits of each person doing business in Yangui and Yanwen go to Yanshou. ”

Yangui and Yanwen agreed again and again.

In this way, Wang Yanshou was conscripted by the imperial court to enlist in the army and served as a soldier under Yang Ye, a general of the Song Dynasty. Wang Yangui and Wang Yanwen followed their father in business.

At the same time, there lived a family surnamed Gong in Toshijo, Tokyo.

When it comes to the Gong family, we have to start from ancient times. In ancient times, the main ethnic group in the eastern part of China was the Huaxia people, and the main ethnic group in the west was the Qiang people, and they were divided into the Eastern Qiang and the Western Qiang. The appearance and lifestyle of Dongqiang are similar to those of the yellow Chinese people. Xiqiang is fair-skinned and blonde, similar to the Indo-European peoples. Later, the East and West Qiang achieved a great alliance, and more than 3,000 cavalry including the Gong clan invaded Longxi, leaving the notoriety of the Gong Qiang people in the Chinese history books.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a minister named Jian Gong in the Zhou Dynasty who was divided into Gong (now Gongyi, Henan Province) by the King of Zhou, as an earl. People united his fiefdom, name, and title as Gong Jianbo. Later, Jian Gong's clansmen lived in the fief and multiplied, and finally took the name of the fief as their surname and began to have the surname Gong.

This Gong Jianbo is very individual, and he likes to recruit people from other clans who have both ability and political integrity to be officials, but he doesn't trust the children of his own clan, which leads to strong dissatisfaction among the children of his clan. Gong Jianbo can be regarded as a model of selflessness and virtuousness.

The Gong family developed in the fiefdom, and later migrated to some other places, and formed a wang clan in Shanyang and other places, known as the Gong surname Shanyang Wang.

In the Tang Dynasty, when the Anshi Rebellion occurred in which the Hu people were chaotic, a branch of the Gong family moved to Kaifeng, which was more east and safer, in order to escape the war, and bought a house at the east end of the city, and settled down with the family business.

Gong Shi found that Bian embroidery is a must in Tokyo, landscape figures, buildings and flowers and birds, fine needles and threads, no exposed seams, abundant spirits, rich colors, clear layers, strong three-dimensional sense. So, Gong took out the silver taels under the box and opened a Bian embroidery workshop, living by embroidering for the powerful people of the imperial court and their families.

Kaifeng is an ancient city with a long history. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guo built a city and named it Kaifeng, hoping that the country would be able to open the territory and expand its territory. In the Western Han Dynasty, in order to avoid Emperor Jing, Liu Qi replaced the word Kai with Kai and changed its name to Kaifeng.

After the Great Song Dynasty set the capital in Kaifeng, Tokyo Kaifeng was economically prosperous, rich in the world, with a population of more than one million, and the city was magnificent, not only the political, economic and cultural center of the Song Dynasty, but also one of the most prosperous metropolises in the world at that time. The history books describe Kaifeng with "eight faminerals contending, all countries are salty". "Qingming Riverside Map" depicts the prosperous and lively scene and beautiful natural scenery on both sides of the Bianhe River in Kaifeng.

The head of the Gong family in the early years of the Song Dynasty was called Gong Huaizhou, and he had two sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Gong Yan, is burly, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and likes to practice martial arts very much, and plays with a group of young people all day long. The youngest son, Gong Yuan, is elegant by nature, good at reading poetry and books, and teaches literacy to children from large families.

One day in 979, Gong Huaizhou sat cross-legged on the kang and was reciting Tang poems.

Gong Yan, who went to Daxiangguo Temple to deliver sesame oil money, ran home excitedly and told his father: "The imperial court wants to recruit troops to the north to guard the border and defend against the Khitan invasion." Father, I am a five-foot man, and I should wear armor and helmet to defend the country. ”

Gong Huaizhou put down the poetry book in his hand and asked slowly, "Do you know the danger of joining the army?" ”

Gong Yan replied: "A soldier must serve the country by life and death. If I encounter an accident on the field, there is still a younger brother to support my parents and inherit the Gong family. Please rest assured, father. ”

Gong Huaizhou saw that the rough Gong speech was reasonable, so he agreed to his son's request.

Gong Yan then joined the Song army and was sent to the northern border to garrison the border passes.

The northern neighbor of the Song Dynasty, the Liao State, relied on its own strong soldiers and horses, and often broke into the border of the Great Song Dynasty to cause trouble, rob, kill and plunder, and make the people miserable and miserable.

After the Song Dynasty eliminated the Northern Han regime, it immediately ordered to transfer troops to the north, waiting for an opportunity to teach the Khitans a lesson.

In July 979, Gong Yan and other 100,000 troops, under the leadership of the Song Dynasty emperor, brandished swords and roared all day long, riding their horses north from Zhenzhou (present-day Zhengding, Hebei Province), breaking through the Liao army's interception at Shahe (present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei Province). The morale of the Song army was greatly increased, and they soon arrived near Youzhou (present-day Beijing) in victory, surrounded Youzhou, and prepared to catch turtles in the urn.

The defenders of the Liao State closed the gates of the city and fought the city walls while waiting for reinforcements.

The Khitan people are strong and brave, but they are not like the Han people who think that barbarians are superior in strength and simple-minded, brave and unscrupulous.

Yelu Xian, the king of the southern court of Liao, pretended to show weakness in the north of Youzhou City, luring the Song army to march north, so as to weaken the main offensive of the Song army, and soon, he attacked the reinforcements of Yelu Xiuge, the king of the northern court, and defeated the Song army at the Gaoliang River (near the Xizhimen of present-day Beijing).

Gong Yan, who went to the battlefield for the first time to kill the enemy, had to retreat with the Song army to Dingzhou (now Dingzhou, Hebei Province), Guannan (now Gaoyangdong, Hebei Province), and Zhenzhou to defend against the counterattack of the Liao army.

In this moment of respite, Gong Yan couldn't help but wonder in his heart: My emperor is the true son of heaven, and there are 100,000 troops, it should be the time, place, and people mentioned in the military book, why did it collapse in the blink of an eye?

However, Gong Yan didn't dare to ask others, because it was disrespectful to the Son of Heaven and he would be beheaded.

In October, the Liao Emperor sent an army to attack Mancheng (present-day northern Mancheng, Hebei Province).

Eat a trench, grow a wisdom. The army of the Song Dynasty had long been prepared for this time, and adapted measures to local conditions, flexibly used troops, changed the formation deployed by the emperor in the face of battle, combined eight formations into two formations before and after, concentrated forces to defeat the invading enemy, and annihilated more than 10,000 Liao troops in one fell swoop.

Seeing that the frontal attack had failed, the Liao army had no choice but to change its strategy.

In April 980, the Liao army attacked Yanmen (present-day Daixian, Shanxi Province) from the northwest.

Wang Yanshou followed the generals Yang Ye and Pan Mei to attack in the north and south, and once again defeated the Liao army, which boosted the morale of the whole country in the Song Dynasty.

From May to June 982, the Liao army was unwilling to be defeated, and sent troops on all three routes to attack Mancheng, Yanmen, and Fuzhou (now Fugu, Shaanxi Province).

The Song army was also divided into three ways to meet it head-on.

Wang Yanshou was in Yanmen, and Gong Yan was in Mancheng, following their respective generals to charge into battle, bravely killing the enemy, receiving a reward, and being named a petty official.

In 986, the emperor of the Song Dynasty adopted the advice of a subordinate official, believing that the young emperor of Liao, the regent of the Empress Dowager Xiao Xuan, and internal instability were opportunities to take advantage of it, and his troops attacked the Liao in three ways.

In fact, at this time, the ruling group of the Liao State was in harmony with the monarchs and ministers, and the politics were wise, and there was no opportunity to take advantage of it.

However, the emperor of the Song Dynasty believed it to be true, and despite the strong opposition of other officials, the actual situation of lack of food, grass and ordnance, insufficient preparation for the Northern Expedition, and the fact that the victory was not much, and did not seriously discuss with the prime minister, he arbitrarily decided to use troops against the Liao State, and the troops were divided into three routes to carry out the Northern Expedition.

The East Road was led by Cao Bin as the main commander, leading the main force of 100,000 out of Xiongzhou (now Xiongxian County, Hebei Province), and Gong Yan was among them.

In the middle of the road, Tian Chongjin was the main commander and led the army out of Feihu (now Laiyuan, Hebei Province).

West Road Pan Mei, Yang Ye and others led the army out of Yanmen. Wang Yanshou is in the team.

At the beginning, the Song Dynasty army carried out blitzkrieg, played triumphant songs, and defeated the unprepared Liao army. The Western Route Army Lian Kehuan (now Northeast Mayi, Shuo County, Shanxi Province), Shuo, Ying (now Ying County, Shanxi Province), Yun (now Datong, Shanxi Province) Prefectures; the Middle Route Army Kefeihu, Lingqiu (now Lingqiu, Shanxi Province), Ulzhou (now Wei County, Hebei Province); The Eastern Route Army captured Gu'an (present-day Gu'an, Hebei Province) and occupied Zhuozhou (present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei Province).

In the face of the large-scale attack of the Song Dynasty army, Empress Dowager Xiao, the regent of the Liao State, came to Youzhou in person and led the little emperor to command the battle together. The Liao State adopted the strategy of concentrating its forces to first defeat the main force of the Song army on the eastern route and then besiege the other routes, taking advantage of the opportunity of Cao Bin's troops to advance alone and lack of food and grass, they continued to attack and harass, forcing Cao Bin to retreat due to exhaustion.

The Liao army pursued the victory and routed Cao Bin's army at Qigou Pass (southwest of present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei Province).

The Liao State then sent 100,000 troops to counterattack the Song troops on the Middle and West Routes, recovering Ulzhou, Feihu, Huanzhou, Shuozhou and other places, and also capturing Yang Ye, a famous general of the Great Song Dynasty.

The Song and Liao armies fought fiercely for nearly a day twenty miles north of Yijin Pass, and blood flowed like a river. The Song army suffered heavy casualties, with thousands of casualties.

When the Song army went north to Yongqing City, it was seen that the city was in disrepair, the city walls had collapsed, and most of the people moved south, with ten rooms and nine empty, almost empty.

The Song army relied on civilian houses to block the Liao army. Gong Yan was surrounded by the Liao army of the brigade and led a small detachment to break through. He wielded a broadsword, slashed several enemies in succession, and finally was outnumbered and martyred

The two sides fought fiercely for nearly two hours, most of the Song army was annihilated, and the Liao army also suffered heavy casualties.

The Song Dynasty lost tens of thousands of troops after the Battle of Qigou Pass, and its national strength was embarrassed, and in the face of inevitable defeat, it had to abandon Yun and Ying and withdraw to Daizhou.

The Song Dynasty's strategic offensive against the Liao State was a complete failure, and from then on it entered the strategic defense stage.

The Liao State continued to go on the offensive, often encroaching on the Song borders to prevent the Song people from having a chance to breathe.

In the autumn of 1004, the Liao army approached Lanzhou (present-day Puyang, Henan Province) in a fierce manner, preparing for a decisive battle with the Song army.

The emperor of the Song Dynasty was worried that the Liao army would break through to Lanzhou and endanger Kaifeng in Tokyo, so he made a peace treaty with the Liao state on the condition of paying currency and silk to the Liao state. History is known as the Alliance of the Abyss.

The war between Song and Liao came to an end. Since then, the two countries have been reconciled for 120 years.

Gong Huaizhou was 60 years old at this time. When he saw that the years of war were finally over, he thought of his son Gong Yan who died on the battlefield, and he was so excited that he burst into tears.

The youngest son, Gong Yuan, has reached middle age, gave birth to three boys and one girl, and lives in Tokyo in fear.