Ly Thuong Kiet Launches Preemptive Invasion of Song China

1076

Learning that Song chancellor Wang Anshi advocated annexing Vietnam, the Dai Viet general Ly Thuong Kiet struck first - crossing the border with a large army that captured Qinzhou and Lianzhou and besieged Yongzhou. The audacity was breathtaking: a small Southeast Asian kingdom attacking the world's most populous empire. The campaign was calculated less to conquer than to shatter Song illusions about easy annexation, and in that it succeeded spectacularly.