Emperor Zhezong of the Great Song

After three generations of the Great Song dynasty, the only emperor to secure the Central Plains through war was Emperor Zhezong! Once he took personal control of the government, Song Zhezong changed the era name to Shaosheng. The first year of Shaosheng was 1094 AD. This young emperor, only twenty years old, boldly brought back the New Party officials his father, Emperor Shenzong, had dismissed. At home, he cracked down on corruption; abroad, he launched a western campaign against Western Xia! He recovered six prefectures in succession: Xizhou, Hezhou, Taozhou, Minzhou, Dangzhou, and Diezhou. He built a new city and named it Pingxia, meaning “Pacifying Western Xia”! In the Battle of Pingxia, this twenty-year-old emperor, Song Zhezong, washed away the name of the weak Song dynasty in the blood of the people of Western Xia! When Empress Dowager Liang of Western Xia heard the news, she flew into a rage and led an army to attack, claiming to command a million troops…