What contacts did the Song dynasty have that efffected the dynasty?
After initial successes, the Song army was defeated near Beijing by the Liao auxiliary forces under Yelü Xiuge . A few years later, in 986, a second campaign to liberate Yanyun was undertaken when a young boy occupied the throne of the Liao empire (Emperor Liao Shengzong ), but as before, the Song troops under Pan Mei, Cao Bin , and Yang Ye were defeated. The Liao troops had been commanded by Empress Dowager Chengtian herself. The defeat was heavy as Yang Ye was captured and starved to death in prison. Minister Song Qi proposed to erect a stable border line to the strong northern neighbors, but not in the shape of a fortified wall like the Great Wall, but instead along the course of the Baiyangdian pond and river line. The Song emperor accepted the Liao emperor as his elder brother and presented him an annual tribute of silk and silver. Both states were prohibited entering or even raiding the other side’s territory, and both were not allowed to erect fortifications along a fixed border
