851. The Battle of Tongwancheng

Tongwancheng, a cross-regional military fortress, an important defensive town in the north, has been a battleground for soldiers of all dynasties.

Speaking of this Tongwan City, it is located on the north bank of the Wuding River in the south of the Mu Us Desert, about 50 kilometers away from Jingbian County (i.e., Zhangjiapan) in the south and 120 kilometers away from Yulin in the east. In the first year of Xia Fengxiang (413 AD), the Xiongnu Helian Bo sent 100,000 people to build the city as the capital of Great Xia, and named it Tongwan City, which means "unify the world and rule over all countries".

In the fourth year of Shiguang of the Northern Wei Dynasty (427 AD), Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao conquered and set up Wantong Town here. The ruins of the castle are pale gray and stand in the middle of the endless desert. Looking at it from afar, it looks like a group of buildings, and there is a mirage scene. The name of the south gate is the Song Dynasty, the name of the west gate is Liang, the name of the east gate is Zhao Wei, and the name of the north gate is Pingshuo. The city wall has two inner and outer cities, the inner city is intact, 492 meters from east to west, 527 meters from north to south, the city is 10 meters high, there are piers at each of the four corners, the highest is more than 30 meters. The four city walls have defensive horse face facilities, the east, west and north three sides, each has seven horse faces, the south city eight, and the four gates are equipped with urn cities. The remains of the four city walls and the bell tower and drum tower in the city, its rammed layer can be counted, extremely solid, it is one of the most complete ancient city ruins in China.

During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Chinese history, there was a famous battle between the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Great Xia Dynasty. At that time, southern China was ruled by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, while in the north there were many independent separatist regimes established by the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xia, Di, Qiang and other ethnic minorities, as well as the Han Chinese. The Northern Wei Dynasty and the Great Xia were two of these many secessionist regimes.

In these separatist regimes, the Northern Wei Dynasty gradually became powerful because it was able to inherit the advanced technology and culture of the Han people and attach importance to the development of agricultural production. While the Northern Wei Dynasty developed and advanced its power to the south, it also began to unify the north.

The battle between the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Great Xia State to unify Wancheng, which took place in the fourth year of the Shiguang of the Northern Wei Dynasty (427 AD), was a campaign launched by the Northern Wei Dynasty to unify the north. In this war, Tuoba Tao, the lord of the Northern Wei Dynasty of the Xianbei tribe, had a deeper understanding of Sun Tzu's operational thinking of 'soldiers are noble to win, not expensive for a long time', and in the face of the Tongwan City to be attacked, the operational command was decisive and flexible, avoiding falling into a protracted and dilemma, and successfully completed the battle of the fortified battle, promoting the process of the north moving from division to reunification. As a result, Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao, the lord of the Northern Wei Dynasty, lured the enemy out of the city in Tongwan City, seized the opportunity, fought a quick battle, defeated Helianchang, the lord of the Xia State, and dealt a devastating blow to the Great Xia Kingdom. Captured the city of Tongwan and set up the town of Wantong here.

The kingdom of Bactria was founded in 407 AD. At that time, there were already independent separatist regimes in the north, such as Southern Yan, Later Yan, Northern Yan, Northern Liang, Northern Wei, and Later Qin. The Xia lord Helian Bobo is a member of the Xiongnu tribe, before the establishment of Xia, Gaoping Gongpo Duoluo did not play in the Later Qin (Xianbei tribe), sought the official position of the general of the Later Qin Xiaocai, and was recruited as a son-in-law by the Wu Yi.

Later, Helian Bobo plotted to attack and kill his father-in-law on the pretext of hunting in Gaoping, and turned his territory and subordinates into his own forces, and established the Great Xia Kingdom on this basis. After the founding of the country, Helian Bobo did not use Gaoping as his base, but used mobile raids to encroach on the territory of Later Qin, and constantly expanded the scope of his rule. Soon, Liu Yu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty destroyed the Later Qin, and Helian Bobo took advantage of the situation to occupy the North Zhenshu County of the Later Qin Mountains, and seized Chang'an, with the support of a stronger military force, its ruling power was consolidated and developed, becoming a fierce enemy of the Northern Wei Dynasty, hindering the unification of the Northwest Region of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

On the basis of the consolidation of his rule and the gradual expansion of his territory, Helian Bobo decided to set his capital at Tongwancheng (in present-day Baichengzi, south of Wushen Banner, Inner Mongolia). In 413 A.D., Helian Bobo conscripted 100,000 people of all ethnic groups in Lingbei Hu and Han to build a capital and ten thousand cities. He drove the people to build the city with steamed earth, and when it was finished, he pierced the earth with an iron cone, and if he pierced an inch, he killed the builders. Under his violence and high pressure, the city of Tongwan was very strong after it was built, and its "city height is ten thousand, the foundation is thirty steps thick, the upper width is ten steps, the palace wall is five thousand, and its strength can sharpen (sharpen) the knife and axe." Helian tried in vain to defend the city against foreign invasion and continue his brutal rule.

The Northern Wei regime was established in 386 A.D. by the Xianbei Tuoba clan and ended in 534 A.D., with a history of 148 years, and the capital was initially in Pingcheng, which is now Datong, Shanxi, and then moved to Luoyang. The Northern Wei Dynasty was founded in the first month of Bingxu (386), initially called the Dai State, and changed its name to Wei in April of the same year, and destroyed the Northern Liang in 439 to unify the north. It was initially ruled by the Tuoba clan, later changed to the Yuan clan, and was divided into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei dynasties in 534, both of which were ruled by the Yuan clan.

In the early years of the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Houyan was the most powerful country in the Yellow River Valley at that time, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was surrounded by the Houyan forces. The rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty paid attention to both military and production, stabilized the agricultural economy within their rule, absorbed the advanced culture and production knowledge of the Central Plains, and reused the intellectuals of the Han landlord class, thus developing into a relatively powerful regime. In 396 AD, the Northern Wei army marched south and captured the important towns of Houyan, Jinyang, Changshan, Xindu, and Zhongshan, and dealt a near-devastating blow to Houyan. Since then, Houyan has been cut off into two parts, the north and the south, that is, the southern swallow and the northern swallow. Soon, the Northern Wei Dynasty began to further implement its grand plan to unify the north.

In August 428 AD, the Xia lord Helian Bobo fell ill and died, and the sons competed for the throne and attacked each other. The following year, Helian Chang won the right to inherit the throne, but the internal contradictions in Great Xia were more acute, and the Northern Wei Dynasty took this opportunity to launch a war to destroy Xia.

In September 426 AD, the Northern Wei lord Tuoba Tao ordered the general Xi Jin to lead 50,000 troops to attack Puban in Xia (now Yongjixi, Shanxi) and attack Guanzhong and Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi); He personally led 20,000 cavalry out of Pingcheng (Wei Capital, now Datong City, Shanxi), crossed the Yellow River and attacked Tongwancheng. Helian Chang, the lord of Xia, led his army to meet the attack, and was defeated and retreated into the city to hold on. The Wei army divided its troops and plundered in all directions, drove more than 100,000 cattle and horses, and captured more than 10,000 Xia residents, making a tentative strategic attack.

In December of this year, Xi Jin of the Wei Army South Road led his army to capture Chang'an. In the first month of the following year, Helianchang sent his younger brother Helianding to lead 20,000 troops south, in an attempt to recapture Chang'an and restore Guanzhong. The two armies held each other near Chang'an. Taking advantage of the favorable opportunity when the Xia army's forces were pinned down in Guanzhong, the Wei lord Tuoba Tao decided to use nearly 100,000 troops to attack Tongwan City again.

In May, Tuoba Tao led his army westward, with 30,000 cavalry as the front, 30,000 infantry as the follow-up, and 30,000 infantry to transport siege equipment. The Northern Wei army crossed the Yellow River from Junzijin and built a city to repair the city at Balin Mountain (now in the territory of Hangjin Banner in Inner Mongolia). The leaders of the nomadic tribes of various ethnic groups in the southern part of present-day Inner Mongolia and northern Shaanxi, which were originally attached to Xia, surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty one after another.

At this time, Tuoba Tao, the lord of the Northern Wei Dynasty, changed the original plan of marching with infantry and cavalry, and decided to lead 30,000 light cavalry to reach Tongwan City as quickly as possible, and then lure the enemy into battle to eliminate the enemy. Tuoba Tao's subordinates were puzzled by this decision, believing that the city of Tongwan was strong, and the enemy army must hold on to the city, and the arrival of 30,000 cavalry pioneers was not enough to break through the fortified city, so it was better to wait for the infantry to arrive, bring siege equipment, and then march to attack. Tuoba Tao explained: "Attacking a city with troops is a military strategy, and it is only used as a last resort. Now, if we wait for the infantry and attack equipment to be ready, and then go to attack the city, the enemy army will see that we are outnumbered, and will inevitably hold on to the city and dare not go to battle, and our army will not be able to attack the city, and it will be protracted, exhausted and exhausted, and there will be nothing to plunder, but it will form a dilemma. Therefore, it is better to reach the city with light cavalry now, and the enemy will be slack when he sees that our infantry has not arrived, and I will show him weakness and induce him to go into battle, and I will surely be able to destroy the enemy in one fell swoop. In addition, the reason why our army is suitable for a decisive battle with light cavalry in order to win a quick victory is that our army is more than 2,000 miles away from home and separated by the Yellow River, so it is difficult to move grain and grass. Although it is not enough to attack the city with the existing 30,000 cavalry, it is more than enough to fight a decisive battle. Tuoba Tao persuaded the troops to advance.

In June, the Wei army reached Tongwancheng. Tuoba Tao hid a large army in the deep valley of the hills north of the city, and challenged the city with a small number of troops. The Xia army insisted on not fighting a decisive battle with the Northern Wei army. At this time, Di Ziyu, a general of the Xia army, came to surrender to the Wei army, and revealed the combat intentions of the Xia army: Helianchang, the lord of Xia, had sent someone to send Helianding back to help, Helianding thought that Tongwancheng was very strong, and Wei could not conquer it at once, so he planned to defeat Xi Jin in Chang'an, and then return to aid Tongwancheng, and then attack the Northern Wei army inside and outside, and annihilate the Wei army in one fell swoop. Therefore, Helianchang, the lord of Xia, adopted the policy of sticking to and waiting for help.

Coincidentally, at this time, a criminal soldier in the Wei army fled to the Xia army and told the Xia army: "The Wei army has run out of food, the baggage is behind, and the infantry has not yet arrived, so it is better to attack it quickly." Helian Chang heard this and was convinced. So he personally led 30,000 horsemen out of the city to meet the battle. Tuoba Tao couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw the enemy army coming out to greet him. In order to lure the Xia army deeper and boost its arrogance, the Wei army made a feint retreat to the northwest. The Xia army went out of the city to pursue the Northern Wei army.

At this time, the weather suddenly changed, suddenly a southeast wind blew, the sky was full of flying sand, the rain came with the wind, Helian Chang's army was conducive to the pursuit of the wind, so he took advantage of the situation to attack the Wei army, and the situation was extremely unfavorable to the Wei army. But Tuoba Tao firmly commanded the battle. In addition to sending troops to meet the enemy head-on, he also divided the cavalry into two teams, left and right, made a detour to cut off the rear road of the Xia army, and counterattacked the Xia army from behind, turning the disadvantage into an advantage. In the fierce battle, Tuoba Tao took the lead, although he was hit by an arrow, he still killed the enemy bravely with wounds, under the front and rear of the Wei army, under the desperate battle, the Xia army was killed more than 10,000 people, Helian Chang did not have time to return to the city, and led the remnants to flee to Shanggui (now Tianshui City, Gansu). The Northern Wei army took advantage of the victory to capture the city of Tongwan. Helian Ding failed to capture Chang'an, and when he heard that Tongwancheng had been lost, he also retreated to Shanggui. The Northern Wei army won the final victory in the Battle of Tongwancheng.

Soon, the Northern Wei army marched into Shanggui, and the Xia Kingdom was destroyed.

From the battle of Tongwancheng, it is not difficult for us to see that Sun Tzu's military strategy and tactical thinking was not only used by the military commanders of the Han nationality as a guide for commanding operations and defeating the enemy in ancient times, but also highly respected by ethnic minority generals in ethnic minority areas influenced by Han culture. It is not difficult to see this situation from our understanding of the drawbacks of attacking fortified cities in the Battle of Tongwancheng and from the decisions made in this war -- Tuoba Tao, the lord of the Northern Wei Dynasty of the Xianbei tribe, had a deeper understanding of Sun Tzu's operational thinking of 'soldiers are noble and victorious, but not expensive for a long time', and in the face of the Tongwancheng to be attacked, the operational command was decisive and flexible, and he avoided his army from holding troops in fortified cities until it fell into a protracted and dilemma, and completed the battle of this battle relatively well, and promoted the process of moving from division to reunification in the north. It is precisely because Tuoba Tao has an understanding of the disadvantages of long-distance raids on the enemy's country, so in the battle of Tongwan City, the Northern Wei Lord Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao adopted the strategy of luring the enemy out of the city in Tongwan City, seized the opportunity, quickly decided, seized the favorable opportunity when the enemy's reinforcements did not arrive, and won the victory of this battle with a quick battle, defeated Helianchang, the lord of Xia, and dealt a devastating blow to the Great Xia State. Captured the city of Tongwan and set up the town of Wantong here. This great battle not only avoided attacking the fortified positions, but also avoided being attacked by the enemy's internal and external forces, and it can be said that this was a successful example of using the guiding ideology of "The Art of War: Combat" to defeat the enemy.

On the other hand, the main reason for the defeat of the Xia army was of course due to the unpopularity of its own slave regime and its reign of terror, and its military and economic strength was weaker than that of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After the Northern Wei army crossed the Yellow River for the first time to attack Tongwancheng, the Xia army still did not pay attention to strengthening the strategic defense of the Yellow River, but instead dispersed its troops to fortify the city to capture Chang'an, so that the Northern Wei Dynasty had a gap to attack Tongwancheng; When the Northern Wei army forced into Tongwancheng, Helian Chang did not seriously analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the quick battle out of the city for both the enemy and us, and temporarily changed the battle plan of waiting for work and waiting for reinforcements, and went out of the city to meet the battle rashly, resulting in the defeat of the army and the destruction of the city, and the resentment of losing the army and destroying the country.

Today, that is, in the middle and late April of Mengxia in the fourth year of Kaiping (910), the Khitan invaded the Central Plains in a big way. On the 18th, the troops arrived at Tongwan City, sent troops to elevated ladders, and desperately attacked the city. Just imagine, this small city of ten thousand cities, far away on the northern border of the Sai, the guard general Zhao Gaoyun led his troops to defend the city with only 3,000 men and horses, how can a small projectile land stop the Khitan thousands of troops and horses? Although the officers and soldiers defending the city held their positions and resisted bravely, how long could they hold out? Soon, the city of Tongwan City was destroyed, and the high protective wall had been torn open by the Khitan thieves. From this gap, the Khitan soldiers bravely climbed and began to fight into the city from the city wall. Subsequently, I saw that the north gate of Tongwan City was wide open, and the Khitan army shouted and drove straight in, killing people when they saw them, and cutting them when they met people, and the flesh and blood flew in the city in an instant, and the wolf was a piece of wolf.

Zhao Gaoyun, a generation of "double-hook generals", fought on the streets, was extremely brave, and the Khitan soldiers who entered the city were defeated and retreated. However, no matter how hard he tried his best to kill the enemy, he saw that the officers and soldiers defending the city around him fell one by one, while the Khitan thieves were surging and killing more and more, which really pitied this general Zhao who was fighting alone. What is the fate of this unified city? What is the fate of this "double-hook general" who is a powerful opponent of thousands of troops? Please break it down below.

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