Based on the key points of basin-range coupling summarized from previous studies, we established a geometric model of mountain erosion and basin filling sequence. We also conducted a logical analysis of the method popular over the past two decades—using detrital zircon age peak correlation to determine the provenance of clastic rocks—and pointed out its source-sink mismatch problems. Taking Mount Langshan and the Early Cretaceous clastic rocks on both sides as examples, we discussed the related basin-range coupling issues: First, Google Earth images identified antecedent rivers in Mount Langshan, with incised meanders as typical representatives. This reveals that Mount Langshan was uplifted later, negating the previous view that it served as the source area for the Early Cretaceous sedimentation. Subsequently, detailed field investigations were carried out in the Celaomiao Depression, an eastern marginal depression of the Bayingebi Basins. Paleocurrents of the Lower Cretaceous clastic rocks were restored using directional sedimentary structures such as foreset laminae, showing a dominant north-to-south direction. This indicates that the provenance of the Celaomiao Depression during the Early Cretaceous was to its north, while Mount Langshan had not yet uplifted. Outcrops of the Bayingebi Formation clastic rocks and the overlying Suhongtu Formation basalts discovered at the southern foot of Mount Langshan further confirm that the Bayingebi Basins extended far southeastward across Mount Langshan. Q-F-L ternary diagrams of sandstones from the Bayingebi Formation show that the provenance on the northwest side of the basin was a volcanic arc, and the Bayingebi Basins were forearc basins. Early planar X-shear joints in the outcropping rocks of the Bayingebi Formation were used to restore the paleostress field, indicating a NW—SE direction for the maximum principal stress. The authors also found ophiolitic mélanges in a series of imbricated thrust sheets at the southern foot of Mount Langshan. Among these, the minimum age of basalts and metamorphic diabases (representing oceanic crust components) is 88.2Ma, proving that Mount Langshan are the collision boundary between the North China Craton and the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, with the collision time constrained to the end of the Cretaceous. Detailed field investigations were conducted on outcrops of red conglomerates and sandstones of the Lower Cretaceous Lisangou Formation at the southern foot of Mount Langshan. Paleocurrents restored from foreset laminations show a dominant southeastward direction. The presence of abundant laminated quartzite pebbles in the red conglomerates indicates that the provenance of this red bed sequence was the uplift zone to its northwest, where the main outcrops were characterized by quartzite, consistent with the lithology of quartzite thrust sheets at the southern foot of Mount Langshan. The red conglomerate layer should have been deposited to the southeast of the forebulge during its formation. Planar X-shear joints and spaced cleavage structures developed in the conglomerates of the Lisangou Formation were used to restore the paleostress field, revealing a NW—SE direction for the maximum principal stress. Later section X-conjugate shear fractures and small thrust faults in the conglomerates of the Bayingebi Formation at the southern foot of Mount Langshan were also used for paleostress restoration, with the maximum principal stress still in the NW—SE direction. This indicates that the stress direction of the rock layers remained basically unchanged during the progressive deformation from early to late stages. The subsequent deformation structures of the Early Cretaceous sedimentary layers on both sides of Mount Langshan occurred under a unified stress regime, reflecting the deformation history of the Ordos Block subducting and colliding northwestward. This study provides new data and ideas for research on the tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and the North China Craton. Basin-range coupling is a comprehensive research strategy based on various practical materials, but each analytical step must comply with basic geological principles without logical errors. It is hopeful that this attempt will serve as a good exploration example for basin-range coupling research.