Western Xia Court Strife in the 1180s

Timeline

1. 1181–1185Xingqing Prefecture · NingxiaThe Liang empress dowager's clan had long controlled court politics through the reigns of Chongzong and Renzong; in the 1180s their power peaked, installing cronies and excluding rivals, provoking dissatisfaction among the imperial Li clan and some Tangut and Chinese ministers.
2. 1183–1188Western Xia · NorthwestTangut nobles and sinicized officials grew increasingly divided over appointments, taxation, and frontier defense policy, impeaching and attacking one another. The court exhausted its energies on factional struggle, weakening its vigilance against the northern steppe tribes.
3. 1186–1190Northern edge of the Hexi Corridor · NorthwestThe internal strife led to military and administrative decay, reducing Western Xia's ability to defend against the northern steppe tribes. At this time Temüjin was unifying the tribes on the Mongolian Plateau, and Western Xia had not yet fully grasped the threat of this rising northern power.