The Battle of Gaoliang River (
Chinese Simplified: 高梁河之战;
Chinese Traditional: 高梁河之戰) was fought in 979 between the
Liao dynasty and
Northern Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...
in present-day
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. The Liao decisively victory ended a Song campaign to recapture the
Sixteen Prefectures in
North China
North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities ...
.
After founding the Song dynasty in 960, the
Emperor Taizu of Song sought to capture the Sixteen Prefectures, which the Liao dynasty acquired in 936 from the
Later Jin dynasty. His successor and younger brother, the
Emperor Taizong of Song, personally led a military expedition that reached
Youzhou in 979, and laid siege to the city. The city's walls, some 16 km in length, withstood the siege for three months. Defenders were bolstered by Liao reinforcements who were able burrow under the Song siege and into the city itself. A large Liao reinforcement arrived and defeated the Song Army north of Youzhou, just west of
Xizhimen, in present-day Beijing.
[(Chinese]
北京的辽代古城遗迹：辽宋大战的高粱河(图)
Accessed 2010-10-18
More than 160 years after this defeat, the Song briefly took control of modern-day Beijing in 1123 when the
Song–Jin alliance defeated the Liao and the city was ceded by the
Jin dynasty to the Song. However, two years later, the Jin invaded the Song and retook Yanshan.
See also
*
History of Beijing
References
{{coord, 39.904214, 116.407413, display=title
Gaoliang River
Gaoliang
Gaoliang River
979
10th century in China