Chapter 3 3. Liao Shizong Reform

Liao Shizong did not reign for a long time in the 200-year history of the Liao Kingdom, but he was in a period of deep communication between the Liao Kingdom and the Central Plains society. He borrowed from the bureaucratic politics of the Han people and strengthened the centralization of the Liao Kingdom from the perspective of pragmatism. , Completed the key transition in the political history of Liao. Yeluruan became the emperor of the Liao Kingdom. In September 947 AD, the Liao Kingdom changed the Yuan to the first year of Tianlu.Yeluruan is known as Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty in history.

Although the empress dowager Shulu made a huge concession, giving up her youngest son Li Hu and agreeing to Yeluruan as the emperor of the Liao Kingdom, the beneficiaries did not let the empress dowager Shulu go. Twenty-two years ago, under the leadership of Empress Dowager Shulu, Yelu Deguang succeeded to the throne, and the Daliao Kingdom maintained a situation of stability, unity and recuperation for more than ten years, and its national strength was greatly enhanced.Empress Dowager Shulu is now very old, and her plan to lead the Liao Kingdom to change hands again failed.Although she is a loser, she is a decent and dignified person who saved the face of the royal family and the overall situation of the country.

What kind of treatment should such a strong woman with great influence and historical contributions deserve at this time? Empress Dowager Shulu agreed with Yeluruan to become emperor, but it did not mean that Empress Dowager Shulu and Yeluruan stood together and became one heart.The hostility between them was only temporarily eliminated, and mutual trust was not established.It seems that the best way is for Liao Shizong Yeluruan to honor his grandmother and give her an honorary status, while depriving her of political power and making her the spiritual leader or symbol of Khitan.Doing so seems to save face and face for anyone.

Yeluruan didn't do this, he didn't have such a mind and ability to control. Although Yeluruan has become the emperor of the Daliao Kingdom, he still feels extremely insecure. Although Yelu Ruan has become the king of a country, he still fears the authority of the Empress Dowager Shulu. Less than a month after the reconciliation between the empress and empress, someone reported that the empress dowager Shulu and Li Hu were still plotting a rebellion. Using this as an excuse, they ordered the empress dowager Shulu and Li Hu to be imprisoned in the mausoleum of Emperor Taizu Yelu Abaoji. This woman who had a deep affection for Emperor Taizu went to accompany her wife's soul full-time.

After imprisoning the empress dowager Shulu and Li Hu, Liao Shizong killed the empress dowager and several core members of Li Hu's party, beheading several people. There are profound reasons for the gradual prosperity of Khitan.Analyzed from a modern perspective, its politics, economy, military, and culture all maintained a process of continuous reform. Through the reform of production relations, the Liao Kingdom released huge productivity and deduced a trajectory from primitive to powerful.Among them, the reform of the political system is the most representative, and it has experienced the continuous efforts of several generations of monarchs.

Khitan's political system is basically a practical philosophy.Starting from the characteristics of Khitan's management, the system of borrowing was implemented, which imitated some political systems of the Han people.As a result, Khitan's bureaucracy and politics were highly efficient.This is also an important reason for the rapid rise of Khitan. Things can be traced back to the era of Taizu Yelu Abaoji. With the advice and help of Han Yanhui, the newly-built Khitan Empire began to establish a national bureaucracy based on the Han system.Han Yanhui served as a senior official in the Yelu Abaoji, Yelu Deguang and Yelu Ruan dynasties consecutively, and played a major role in the political construction of the Liao Kingdom.

In order to divide and rule the various tribes, Taizu Liao first divided the authority of Yi Lijin, the supreme leader of his Diela tribe, into two, and regrouped the royal family from his grandfather down into two piles, forming the five courtyards. Ministry and the Sixth Academy.Then, a leader was appointed from each of the two piles, and a new title was given to them, namely, the King of the Fifth Academy and the King of the Sixth Academy. This measure, combined with the housing account system, battalion and guard system, and central military system mentioned in the previous document, consolidated the ruling foundation with the emperor as the highest core.

After Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty entered the Central Plains, Yelu Deguang went a step further and divided the bureaucracy of the Liao Kingdom into the North and the South.The King of the Fifth Academy became the King of the North Academy, and the King of the Sixth Academy became the King of the South Academy. However, the kings of the North and South Houses are not the highest officials of the North and South Houses, they are just one of the officials in the government of the North and South Houses.The northern and southern courts also have their own official positions such as prime minister, privy secretary, Xuan Hui, Lin Ya, lord, and guard.The purpose of Liao's division of the northern and southern courts was not to establish two parallel institutions.Although the names of the institutions of the two chambers are basically the same, in fact their responsibilities are different, and the combination of the two chambers is a complete set of governance institutions.The two houses complement each other and play a role together, and the government affairs governed are all the affairs of the Khitan tribe.

Later, the proportion of Han people's land and population in the Liao Kingdom increased significantly, and how to effectively manage the affairs of the Han people became a major political event in the Liao Kingdom.In the bureaucratic system of the Northern and Southern Courts, Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty specially added the task of managing Han affairs.The two systems in Liao were parallel, the Khitan people were governed by the Khitan system, and the Han people were governed by the Han people's system, and the "one country, two systems" was implemented in parallel.In terms of the division of labor in the bureaucracy, it was not that the North Court governed the affairs of the northern ethnic groups and the South Court governed the affairs of the Han people in the south.The government of the North Court mainly manages the affairs of palace accounts, Khitan tribes, and vassal states.

After the Khitan destroyed the Jin Dynasty, it fully studied and borrowed from the central bureaucracy of the Han people, the most important of which was the Privy Council system.Yeluruan, Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty, adjusted the functions of Khitan's northern and southern courts, and established a system of privy envoys, prime ministers and six departments.The Ministry of War under the Khitan North Privy Council is in charge of military affairs such as marching and fighting, military equipment construction, military officer examination and selection, animal husbandry and other government affairs.The Ministry of Officials under the Khitan South Privy Council was in charge of civil service examination and selection, Khitan tribal affairs, household registration and taxation and other affairs.This is the so-called "the northern government ignores the people, and the southern government does not control the soldiers."The establishment of the Privy Council system further weakened the powers of the Kings of the North and South Courts, and the direct administrative powers of the Kings of the North and South Courts were only to manage the household department.In addition, under the system of the Privy Council, Yilibi managed the Ministry of Punishment, Xuanhuishi managed the Ministry of Industry, and Di Liemadu managed the Ministry of Rites.The prime ministers of the North and South Courts were in charge of the affairs of the North and South Courts respectively, and the power of the prime ministers rose and became the actual leaders of the North and South Courts.Ti Yin of each tribe is in charge of the clan affairs of the clan, and Lin Ya is in charge of culture and education.The power of Yu Yue's official position was completely emptied, and only the power to participate in and discuss state affairs was retained. It was basically equivalent to the Han people's Taishi and Taifu, which were honorary positions.

Yeluruan admired the rules and regulations of the Han people very much, which is very similar to his father Yelubei.In order to establish and operate the official positions imitating the Han people, Yeluruan entrusted the officials of the Jin Dynasty who were hijacked by the Liao Kingdom and moved to the north one by one.The imitation of the official positions of the Han people and the reuse of the Han people weakened and squeezed the political space of the Khitan nobility, which deprived the Khitan nobility of their interests.Yeluruan's reuse of the Han people encountered great resistance among the nobles of the Liao Kingdom and was questioned by many parties.One of the more typical examples is hemp. Ma Po is a high-ranking Khitan nobleman. He has his own army and accompanied Emperor Taizong of Liao to the south in the war against Jin.After Liao Taizong's death, Liao Shizong returned from Hengzhou to the north, leaving Ma Mo to guard Hengzhou and other Central Plains territories.From this we can see the importance of hemp, and the trust of the emperor of Liao.But Ma Mo was really not expected to be a prince, so he lost the Central Plains within a few days.Ma Mo, who fled back to Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing after the defeat, was severely reprimanded by Liao Shizong.But this guy Ma Mo not only refused to admit his fault, he also pushed the responsibility for losing the Central Plains to Liao Shizong, saying that he blindly used the Hanchens to cause the Han people in the Central Plains to rebel.The mad dog's biting behavior of Ma Qu strongly angered Yeluruan.Liao Shizong was so cruel that he killed Ma Mo. In the initial reform of the political system, An Tuan, a confidant of Emperor Shizong of Liao, served as the newly established privy envoy of the North Court, and Gao Xun, a Hanchen, served as the privy envoy of the South Court. Liao Shizong used a newcomer as his right-hand man. An Tuan's father, Yelu Dieli, once strongly opposed Shulu's abolition of Yelubei's inheritance rights, and was a staunch supporter of Yelu Ruan's father.An Tuan is also a staunch supporter of Yeluruan and is deeply trusted by Yeluruan.Yelu Ruan's newly established post of Privy Envoy of the North Court was to pave the way for taking over the government. An Tuan became the first confidant of Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty and had an important influence on the decision-making of Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty. Gao Xun's qualifications in the Khitan Kingdom are not deep, he surrendered to Yelu Deguang along with Du Chongwei not long ago.He is neither the emperor's confidant, nor the Khitan veteran, nor does he have much credit. Gao Xun's fortune is a mystery. "History of the Liao Dynasty" said that he was "sensitized in nature. He was good at making friends with dignitaries, and he was able to serve ministers diligently, so he was highly praised."It may be mainly because Gao Xun has no connection with the Khitan nobles, and he is good at getting along with people and has made extensive friends with Khitan nobles. These are probably the main reasons why Liao Shizong reused Gao Xun. Within two years, Emperor Shizong of the Liao Dynasty once again strengthened the centralization of power, abolished the titles of King of the South Court and King of the North Court, and replaced them with the Han system, entrusting many kings.The number of princes has increased, which seems to have improved the status of many people, but in fact it has broken the situation where the two peaks of the northern and southern kings stand side by side, and weakened the status and power of the northern and southern kings. While abolishing the northern and southern king system, Liao Shizong merged the northern and southern privy envoys into the political department, which is equivalent to the Chongzhengyuan in the Zhuliang period. This institution of the prime minister's office became a centralized institution under the leadership of the emperor.So far, a highly centralized feudal country has been formed, ending the history of the caste system of the Khitan tribe.The governance efficiency of the Daliao Kingdom has been greatly improved, and its national strength has been greatly enhanced. In the process of reforming the political system, the original interests of the Khitan nobles were weakened, which caused huge conflicts between the emperor and ministers.Emperor Shizong of Liao adopted a strategy of both hard and soft tactics. He promoted and reused the nobles and heroes who once supported him. Except for An Tuan and Gao Xun, An Duan was named King Ming, and he was in charge of Dongdan, the most important vassal state of Khitan.Fengcha was cut off as the king of Taining.Feng Liuge is Tiyin, replacing Wuzhi as the patriarch of the royal family.The quality of the closed house is greater than that of Yue, and the status is extremely honorable and favored.A large number of household registrations and land were granted to the northern and southern kings. For the hostile factions who were dissatisfied with the emperor's reforms, Liao Shizong adopted tough measures to suppress them.In the spring of the second year of Tianlu, Tiande, Xiao Han, Liu Ge, and Pendu conspired against each other, and were discovered by Yeluwuqian, who reported to Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty.Liao Shizong put out the rebellion in time, beheaded Tiande, and punished others.In the spring of the third year of Tianlu, the uncle Xiao Han and the princess Abuli rebelled again.This time Liao Shizong showed no mercy and chopped off Xiao Han's head. Princess Abuli died in prison. After less than a year in the Central Plains, he retreated. Emperor Taizong of Liao died on the way to retreat. The land occupied by several years of conquest was lost. This is the eternal pain of the Daliao Kingdom. Liao Shizong Yeluruan couldn't swallow the bad breath of failure, and vowed to go south to the Central Plains again. After wars and wars, the Central Plains was exhausted and weak. In fact, the Daliao Kingdom was already overwhelmed. Coincidentally, Liao Shizong met a newly rising strongman-Guo Wei during his Southern Expedition.