Just as the Liao army invaded the Northern Song and the two sides signed the "Chanyuan Treaty," a baby boy was born—he would later become Yuan Hao, the founder of Western Xia.
Yuanhao was a descendant of the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei people from the Northern Wei Dynasty. His grandfather, Li Jiqian, was granted the surname Li by the emperor of the time for his great contributions in suppressing the Huang Chao Rebellion during the late Tang Dynasty. Li Jiqian spent his life constantly on military campaigns, establishing the Xiping regime and laying a solid foundation for the future founding of the Western Xia Dynasty. Shortly before his grandson Yuanhao was born, Li Jiqian was struck by an arrow while attacking the Xiliang Prefecture of the Tubo Kingdom and soon passed away.
Li Deming, the twenty-four-year-old son of Li Jiqian, carried on his father's legacy, worked diligently to strengthen the state, and further laid the foundation for the establishment of the Western Xia Dynasty. He restored agricultural production within his territory, ensured stability, and allowed the people to live and work in peace. Externally, he submitted to the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty; the Liao Dynasty granted him the title of King of Xiping, and the Northern Song Dynasty also conferred upon him the title of king, appointed him as a military commissioner, and bestowed generous rewards upon him. During his reign, Li Deming focused on expanding westward, annexing Xiliang Prefecture, the Uighurs, and eventually the entire Hexi Corridor.
After Li Deming died, his son Yuanhao succeeded him. Yuanhao had a strikingly heroic appearance; although he was not tall, he looked extremely imposing. Cao Wei, a Northern Song general stationed on the Shaanxi border, immediately foresaw that Yuanhao would become a major threat to the Northern Song after seeing his portrait.
Yuanhao was exceptionally intelligent and highly studious; from a young age, he had a strong interest in military strategy and was well-versed in various military classics. He was proficient in both Chinese and Tibetan, and also had a thorough understanding of Buddhism and legal studies.
From a young age, Yuanhao harbored great ambitions, repeatedly urging his father Li Deming to declare independence and claim the title of emperor, rather than humbly continuing to pay tribute to the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty. This aligned with Li Deming's own aspirations, but the time was not yet right for such a move.
By the time Yuanhao ascended to the throne, the moment was ripe for him to declare himself emperor. At that time, the Western Xia Dynasty enjoyed a prosperous economy, which provided strong material support for military campaigns. Yuanhao dispatched troops to capture Guazhou, Shazhou, and Suzhou from the Tubo (Tibetan) regime—all three were strategically important military strongholds. As a result, he occupied what is now all of Ningxia, most of Gansu, northern Shaanxi, eastern Qinghai, and part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. While waging wars abroad, Yuanhao also carried out a series of domestic reforms: he issued various laws and regulations, created the Western Xia script, and built the Western Xia imperial palace.
Six years after ascending to the throne, Yuanhao formally proclaimed himself emperor. This act enraged the Northern Song government, and over the following years, four large-scale wars broke out between the Northern Song and Western Xia. Relying on his exceptional military talent, Yuanhao led the Western Xia army to defeat the Song forces, inflicting heavy losses. Under these circumstances, the Liao Dynasty could not stand idly by; the reigning Liao Emperor Xingzong personally led a hundred thousand troops to attack Western Xia but ended in failure. From then on, the Song, Liao, and Western Xia entered a tripartite standoff.
Seeing that the internal and external situation of Western Xia had stabilized, Yuanhao became arrogant and complacent, indulging in pleasure and rarely attending to state affairs. In fact, Yuanhao had been extremely cruel even in his early years; even those ministers who had made great contributions to Western Xia could not gain his trust, and once they angered him, they would inevitably be dismissed or even directly executed. By the later period of Yuanhao's reign, this situation became even more severe. To prevent his tomb from being robbed after his death, Yuanhao began constructing a large number of decoy tombs on a massive scale to confuse grave robbers. He gathered a large group of workers, building one decoy tomb each day, until the total number reached as high as three hundred and sixty. After the work was completed, he had all the workers executed.
Yuanhao was extremely fond of beautiful women, especially in his later years. When he saw that his second son Ninglingge's fiancée was exceptionally lovely, he seized her for himself. He then deposed Empress Yeli and installed this would-be daughter-in-law as the new empress. The resentment over this stolen wife, combined with instigation from others, finally drove Ninglingge to explode. He took up a weapon, entered the palace to assassinate his father, and ended up slicing off Yuanhao's nose. Shocked and in agony, Yuanhao fell gravely ill and soon passed away. Such was the tragic and lamentable end of the founding emperor of the Western Xia dynasty!