This literary map sketches the major battle routes described and mentioned in the prolific late Ming literatus-publisher Xiong Damu’s 熊大木 (ca. 1506-1579) Romance of the Northern Song (Beisong zhizhuan 北宋志傳). The romance-novel itself is based upon the saga of Yang Family Generals (Yangjia jiang 楊家將)–the oral and literary family compound of pinghua 平話, plays, and vernacular fiction.
The saga tells of how the loyal marshal Yang Ye 楊業 (d.986) along with his sons and grandsons fights an ongoing series of campaigns to defeat the hostile states of Khitan Liao 遼 (916-1125) and Western Xia 夏 (1038-1227) in order for Northern Song 宋 (960-1127) to restore a unified Chinese empire.
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Yuanfei Wang 