The Battle of Gaoliang River () was fought in 979 between the

Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

and

Northern Song dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

in present-day

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The Liao victory ended a Song campaign to recapture the

Sixteen Prefectures The Sixteen Prefectures () comprise a historical region in northern China along the Great Wall in present-day Beijing, Tianjin, and northern Hebei and Shanxi. Name It is more specifically called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun or the Six ...

North China North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north ...

. 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, the Emperor Taizong of Song, personally led a military expedition that reached

Youzhou You Prefecture or You Province, also known by its Chinese name Youzhou, was a prefecture ('' zhou'') in northern China during its imperial era. "You Province" was cited in some ancient sources as one of the nine or twelve original provinces of ...

in 979, and laid siege to the city. The city's walls, some 16 km in circumference 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.

References

{{coord, 39.904214, 116.407413, display=title Gaoliang River Gaoliang River

Gaoliang Commercial sorghum is the cultivation and commercial exploitation of species of grasses within the genus ''Sorghum'' (often '' S. bicolor'', sometimes '' Sorghum arundinaceum''). These plants are used for grain, fibre and fodder. The plants are c ...

Gaoliang River 979 10th century in China

See also

References