Chapter 17 Section 2 Three Sons Collecting Salaries

Emperor Taizu Abaoji unified the surrounding areas of Khitan and laid a good foundation for the establishment of the Khitan Dynasty, then left and went west.After his death, Prince Yelubei should have come to the throne, but Queen Shulu firmly opposed it.Why did Queen Shulu oppose the crown prince's accession to the throne?Who does she want to inherit the throne?Did Queen Shulu achieve her goal in the end? After Abaoji's death, it is natural that Prince Yelubei should inherit the Datong, but Empress Shulu was unwilling.Empress Shulu gave birth to three sons, the eldest son Yelubei (the Khitan name is Tuyu, which is translated as Tuyu in some books), the second son Yelu Deguang, and the third son Yelu Lihu.

In fact, when the three children were very young, Taizu Abaoji had inspected them several times.Once, Emperor Taizu observed the sleeping appearance of the three children. The eldest and the second child were normal people when sleeping, but the youngest son shrank behind the two elder brothers and huddled together. He asked the two elder brothers to shield him from the wind.So Taizu said, this child is no good, he is not good enough, he is afraid of the cold even when he sleeps, so he hides behind his two brothers.Another time, when there was a strong wind and heavy snowfall outside, Emperor Taizu asked his three sons to go out to collect firewood.After the second son Yelu Deguang went out, he was very fast, regardless of whether it was dry or wet, whether it was usable or not, he tied a large bundle and returned to his command. , carefully sorted the firewood he found, not wet firewood, only picked dry firewood, and it was about the same length, poked it, tied it, and carried it back; the third son, Yelu Lihu, walked a few steps timidly, picked up After a while, maybe I don’t know who dropped the firewood from the elder brother or the second brother. He bundled the firewood and came back. Maybe he picked up a dozen or twenty, but he didn’t tie it seriously. It was like a bear breaking a stick. Then there were only three or four left.At that time, Yelu Abaoji said to Shulu: the eldest son is Qiao, and the second son is Cheng.Yelubei is very clever, look at how clever he is, he sorted the firewood into different categories, and made them look very beautiful. Look, the speed is fast and the quantity is huge; as for the third son, there is no need to mention it, it doesn't look like I gave birth to it, this incompetent thing!But the empress doomed to see the youngest son.

The queen's favorite youngest son, Yelu Lihu, has no strengths recorded in the history books except for his strength and ability to wrestle with cows (there are not a few Khitan warriors who can wrestle cows to the ground on the grasslands).Unlike the prince of the Central Plains, he grew up in the deep palace since he was a child, with the hands of a woman, he was in the company of the eunuch, his hands were powerless, and he needed support even when he walked at a young age.The royal family in the grassland is not like this, he has energy.Another characteristic of him is that he is brutal and easy to kill. Yelu Lihu loves to kill, and killing is his pleasure. If he doesn't kill for a day, he will feel that his day is very boring, as if something is missing.His entourage was easily blamed, and they were often tattooed on the face, or their eyes were gouged out, and they were whipped a few times, which was considered the lightest.Even though he is cruel and easy to kill, even if he is very ineffective, but for some reason, Empress Shulu is particularly fond of this youngest son.

When Emperor Taizu died, the eldest son was twenty-eight, the second son was twenty-five, and the third son was sixteen years old.According to the idea of ​​​​the empress dowager, simply let the third son succeed.But firstly, the third son was too young, only sixteen years old, and secondly, his reputation was too bad. Once the Khitan ministers heard that he had ascended the throne, they would re-elect Khan, so the time for Li Hu to ascend the throne was not ripe.So between the eldest and the second, the Emperor Taizu had already chosen the eldest, but the queen didn't like the eldest.Why is this?