On Song Zhenzong’s Early Policy Towards Liao

The Song and Liao Dynasties did not reach the alliance of Chanyuan overnight.After Song Zhenzong ascended the throne,the relationship between song and Liao experienced three stages: confrontation,war,easing in the war and finally reaching peace negotiation.In these three different stages,Song Zhenzong adopted different policies towards Liao.Song Zhenzong,who had just ascended the throne,refused to accept the proposal of the minister to send the Liao side to repair it,adopted a tough foreign policy towards Liao and actively prepared for war.In the second year of Xianping(999),the Liao army invaded the territory of Song Dynasty.Song and Liao entered the war,ending the ten-year confrontation.After the withdrawal of the Liao army,the internal social contradictions in the Song Dynasty were intensified due to the Song Liao war,resulting in turmoil in prefectures and counties.In particular,Wang Jun’s rebellion occurred in Shu,which once occupied Chengdu Prefecture,posing a serious threat to the rule of the Song Dynasty.In this case,Song Zhenzong had to temporarily ease the relationship with Liao and issued the imperial edict banning the border between song and Liao.It can be seen from the contents of the imperial edict that he regained the political slogan of "Youyan originally belongs to our " in the period of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty,and took the recovery of "Yanyun" as his political goal.Since the third year of Xianping(1000),Li Jiqian’s regime in the northwest,on the one hand,in order to expand its own power,on the other hand,was wooed by the Liao Dynasty and frequently harassed the northwest border of the Song Dynasty.After that,the Song Dynasty faced the pressure of fighting with the Liao and Li Jiqian regimes.In the fourth year of Xianping(1001),the Song Dynasty won two great victories in the battle against Liao,and the song army tried to enter the Liao territory to seek fighters.In the Song Liao war,the invasion of the Liao army,coupled with natural disasters such as floods,displaced the people of Hebei and made them miserable.After Lu Mengzheng served as prime minister in the Song Dynasty,he repeatedly advised Song Zhenzong not to be militaristic,and Song Zhenzong also took measures to gradually ease relations with Liao.In the sixth year of Xianping(1003),the Liao army suddenly invaded south,defeated the song army in Wangdu,and took away Wang Jizhong.This move of the Liao side angered Song Zhenzong.He personally deployed the battle plan against Liao and even made arrangements for personal enlistment.Under the advice of the minister,Song Zhenzong’s personal expedition was finally stopped.In the first year of Jingde(1004),the Liao army collected 200000 troops and invaded the territory of Song Dynasty on a large scale.After the Liao army failed to attack Dingzhou camp in Song Dynasty,they joined forces to attack Yingzhou in Song Dynasty.Under Yingzhou City,the Liao army stormed for more than ten days and finally failed to capture Yingzhou,but the strength of the Liao army was weakened.Subsequently,the Liao army conquered the Tongli army of the Song Dynasty,pointing directly at Chenyuan and even directly at Bianjing.However,Wang Chao,who led the army in Dingzhou camp,did not stand still and did not return aid,which posed a great threat to the safety of Song Zhenzong in Bianjing.Persuaded by Prime Minister Kou Zhun and others,Song Zhenzong still went to the front line of Chanyuan.When the song and Liao dynasties refused to send envoys,Wang Jizhong,the surrender General of the Song Dynasty,conveyed the will of peace to the Song Dynasty at the instigation of the Liao side.Song Zhenzong immediately sent messenger Cao Liyong to Liao camp to discuss peace,and finally Song Liao reached the alliance of Chanyuan.