Overview
Song Taizong became known as a hardworking and diligent emperor, notable for the reunification of China by conquering the powerful Northern Han. He personally led the campaign in 979 against the North, ordered to flood the cities by releasing the Fen River. In the end, Liu Jiyuan had to surrender.
He paid much attention to the wellbeing of his people and the Song dynasty became stronger. After becoming an emperor, he resumed many of the works left by Zhou Sizong including increasing agricultural production, enlarging the examination system, organizing encyclopedias/volumes of books, expanding the court system, and further limiting the military power of the jiedushi.
The two campaigns against the Liao Empire
Having just conquered the Northern Han Dynasty in 979, Song Taizong wanted to carry the momentum into the campaign against the .
During the May of 979, Taizong started his first campaign from Taiyuan. At first, he easily took down Chuo Prefecture and Yi Prefecture. Inspired by the success, he also besieged Yanjing ; however, the siege was bogged down when the protector-Yelu Xuegu did everything to defend the fortress. At the same time, Yelu Xiuge came from the Gaoliang River . Taizong would order his army to combat the back ups. At first, he was told that the Liao army was suffering heavy casualties. Thinking that he has the whole battle under control, he ordered a full out assault, but Yelu Xiuge and Yelu Xiezhen came from two roads to attack. Xiuge would directly concentrate all his attack on Taizong and the base. Frightened, Taizong started to evacuate from the battle ground. During the evacuation, the Song army was split, and was obliterated by the cavalry of the Liao army. During the massacre, Taizong rode his horse toward the Yi Prefecture. Eventually, he returned safely under the protection of his generals. Because Taizong suffered an arrow injury, he was not able to ride the horse and had to sit in a carriage back to Ding Prefecture.
Soon, after recollecting his mind, Taizong ordered a retreat. While Taizong and the army was separated, the army was without a leader. This time, people suggested to make Song Taizu's eldest son - Zhao Dezhao - emperor. After hearing this, Taizong's suspicions were raised, eventually causing Dezhao to commit suicide. In addition, Taizong also suffered an arrow injury that would bother the rest of his life.
The significance of the Battle of Gaoliang River is that it was one of the first major factors that started to make the Song Dynasty turn into a defensive country. This early strong Song army suffered its first major and suffocating loss. At the same time, the incidence of Dezhao's potential coup started to worry Taizong. After the battle, Taizong completely ignored the words of his officials and personally reviewed the military situation and training, rather than ruling the country itself. Taizong would especially limit the military control and power of the imperial family and army.
After Liao Jingzong died in 982, the 12 years old Liao Shenzong succeeded; however, due to the young age of the Shenzong, Xiao Empress was the ruler. It was around this time period in 986 that Song Taizong, backed by the officials, launched his second campaign. Still having nightmares of the first campaign, he decided to stay at Kaifeng, but still directed the generals in combat . He split the army into 3 columns - East, Central, and West. The East was led by Cao Bing. The Central was led by Tian Zhongjing. The West was led by Pang Mei and Yang Ye. All 3 of these armies were to cooperate and take down Yanjing. Because the year was Yongxi Year 3, the campaign became known as the Yongxi Northern Campaign. At first, there were some victories, but each of the 3 columns battled on their own and lacked cooperation. Cao Bing would riskily attack by himself, leaving the other 2 armies behind. Though Cao Bing quickly took back the Chuo Prefecture , the lack of food support forced him to retreat back to the Zhuo Prefecture. Later, because of miscommunication between the Central/West Army with the East Army, the East Army again attacked the Chuo Prefecture. This time, the attack wasn't so lucky. Empress Xiao and Yelu Xiuge each led an army to support the Chuo Prefecture. Suffering heavy defeat, the East Army of Song was almost completely destroyed. Knowing that the failure of the East Army would affect the whole plan, Taizong had no choice but to order a retreat. He ordered Cao Bing to return, Tian Zhongjing to guard the Ding Prefecture, and Yang Ye and Pan Mei to guard four prefectures near the border. Following the defeat of the East Army, the Liao Army led by Yelu Xiezhen continued the pursuit and attacked. The West Army led by Pan Mei met the Liao army led by Yelu Xiezhen at Dai Prefecture. Once again, the Song army was no match and had to retreat. At this time, the West Army led by Yang Ye and Pan Mei was in conflict. Yang Ye suggested that the West Army should retreat because the East and Central armies had already suffered defeats and lost the advantage, but most of the generals, particularly Wang Sen thought he was betraying the army since he used to be from Northern Han. Even though Yang Ye knew it wouldn't turn out well, Yang Ye still led the army due to the pressure of the other generals. Pan Mei was supposed back up Yang Ye when help was needed; however, when Yang Ye's army was trapped at the Chen Jia Gu , no help arrived. Eventually the whole army was trapped and destroyed. Once again suffering another defeat under Yelu Xiuke and Yelu Xiezhen, Song Taizong decided to withdraw the army once again in failure. This second campaign was mainly a failure because the three columns couldn't work together and lacked food. In addition, Song Taizong restricted the generals to a degree because the general game plan of how to combat the Liao was set by him. These failures prompted internal rebellions which were quickly suppressed. In 988, Empress Xiao again attacked the border, but this time around, Taizong merely ordered the generals to defend. From this point on, the Liao dynasty of the north would also continue to plague the Song dynasty in the ensuing centuries.
Later reign after 988
Seeing that he couldn't surpass his brother in the martial area, Song Taizong took a literary and cultural approach to try and build up his legacy. Song Taizong carried out many economic and literary reforms that were superior to that of Taizu's. Furthermore, Taizong also initiated many construction projects and created many important systems that were not included during Taizu's reign.
Song Taizong's accession to the throne have been shrouded in mystery, with claims that he murdered his elder brother, the Emperor Taizu and seized the throne. These allegations have not yet been proven as fact.
Taizong died in 997 after a reign of twenty-one years and was succeeded by his son. He was fifty-seven. His temple name means "Grand Ancestor".
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