Chapter 9 4. Ten years of peace

The war-torn Central Plains and the newly established Khitan thought of the same problem at the same time, to recuperate and consolidate their national strength.Although this period is dull, it is by no means ordinary. After Shulu and Yelu Deguang seized the ruling power of the Khitan Empire, the first thing they did was to strengthen the imperial power and strengthen the functional construction of the state apparatus. Yelu Deguang became emperor, and Empress Shulu became Empress Dowager Shulu.Empress Dowager Shulu asked Yelu Deguang: "Son, you have become the emperor, what is the first priority now?"

Yelude replied without even thinking: "Fulfill the unfinished will of the father, send troops south, and sweep the Central Plains." Empress Dowager Shulu shook her head, Yelu Deguang looked at her in doubt, waiting for her clarification.The Empress Dowager Shulu said slowly: "There is nothing wrong with your answer. After all, you are the son of the late emperor, and it is common sense for a son to follow his father's career. But have you ever thought that the Khitan Empire is really so powerful that it is invincible and sweeping the world? The Khitan Empire is just an alliance of tribes and vassal states, which is far less stable than the ruling dynasty of the Central Plains. These tribes and alliances can win battles with the royal family, but they will complain when they lose battles; drinking and eating meat can be enjoyed, and risks are experienced. When it is difficult, they shrink their head and tail; when the royal family is strong, they are respectful, and once the royal family makes a mistake, these honest people will rebel."

Yelude opened his eyes wide and looked at his mother. He had never thought about these issues, and his omnipotent father had never taught these things.Hearing what his mother said today, Yelu Deguang felt enlightened and suddenly realized.He asked suspiciously: "Then why did the father decide to go south to the Central Plains?" Empress Dowager Shulu looked at the snow outside the palace gate, sighed, and said, "Your father has been fighting for thirty years. He has been invincible and invincible. He only has victory in his heart and rarely worries about danger. The Han people There is a saying called "Fortune and misfortune depend on each other". Now that Khitan seems to be at its peak and powerful, it is time to be prepared for danger. You have just become emperor, and the first priority is not to make achievements, but to be safe. Safety comes first, and it will never change."

"Mother, how can I be safe?" Yelu Deguang breathed a sigh of relief, quietly waiting for further instructions from his mother. The Empress Dowager Shulu subconsciously stroked the broken wrist of her left hand with her right hand, and said bitterly: "The handle of the knife is held tightly in your hand, so you can sit comfortably in your seat." "Army? Mother, you said to build an army?" Yelu Deguang suddenly understood. Empress Dowager Shulu nodded, and said, "The late emperor had already started to build the imperial guard army when he was alive, but it was not strong enough. You have to continue to expand this army and firmly control the army in your own hands."

As early as more than ten years ago, after Yelu Abaoji became emperor, he started to build an independent army, which was under the direct command of the emperor and only served and loyal to the emperor.This is a fundamental change for Khitan tradition.The Khitan tradition is that the tribes are relatively independent, and they are in an alliance relationship with each other, or in other words, they are dependent on each other.The leader tribe in the status of the Great Khan, apart from having the right to lead, has no exclusive troops above the tribes.The head tribe has its own army like other tribes, but the army of the head tribe is stronger.Therefore, the troops that the Great Khan can mobilize on his own are at best the troops of his own tribe.

After Yelu Abaoji became emperor, he strengthened the imperial power.He divided the army of the Diela tribe into two, and one of the troops was directly assigned to the emperor in the name of being in charge of the imperial palace guards.This army is well-equipped, strong, well-trained, well-equipped, valuable, and loyal. It is an out-and-out royal special force.Before Abaoji's lifetime, this army had reached 100,000, and it was mainly cavalry.The designation of this army is "Leather Army", which assumes the role of the emperor's guard in name, but in fact it is the main force when it goes out to fight and fight internal chaos.It became the backbone of the Khitan Empire's army.

After Shulu and Yelu Deguang took power, they continued to strengthen the construction of special forces.Yelu Deguang expanded the Pishi Army from 100,000 horses to 300,000 horses in the name of expanding the army's preparations for war, and tripled its size.Not only that, but in the name of strengthening the defense of the harem, Empress Shulu also built a new "Shushan Army" after the Pishi Army, with a force of 200,000 cavalry.The two special forces under the direct leadership of the mother and son have a total strength of 500,000 cavalry.In this way, the Royal Special Forces almost searched out all the excellent generals and schools of the various tribes in Khitan who could fight and fight, objectively weakening the own armies of each tribe.This is also a very ruthless move for Empress Shulu's mother and son to strengthen the imperial power.

The royal family not only used its power to directly recruit and select warriors from various tribes, but also made the mechanism of special forces very active, giving full play to its motivating role.Use the best weapons, wear the best armor, ride the best horses, eat the best food in the cafeteria, use the best bathrooms, earn the highest salary, give priority to official promotion, respect social status, and have meritorious service in war Opportunities are allocated first, and the empress dowager and the emperor also receive condolences from time to time, take a photo for a memory or something.It was so attractive, exciting, and promising that all the registered soldiers, militiamen, and civilians from all over the Khitan Empire rushed to join the Royal Special Forces.

This 500,000-strong elite cavalry became the national army of the Khitan Empire and the royal private army, which not only strengthened the overall military capabilities of the empire, but also deterred the overt or hidden ambitions of various tribes. How to arrange the original crown prince Yelubei?This is also a tricky question. Yelubei suffered from being dumb, so he was naturally unhappy, but he was not short-sighted and understood the stakes of the current situation.Yelvbei stayed away from Linhuang Mansion, the imperial capital, a place of right and wrong, and returned to Huhan City to be his king of Dongdan.While walking towards Dongdan, Yelubei thought about what had happened over the past year, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt useless.Isn't this being teased by them?It's unreasonable for me to foolishly accompany the campaign as the denominator.Yelubei was annoyed, and he didn't want to hang out in Khitan anymore, so he decided to find another job.There is no place to stay here, but there is a place to stay.One night, Yelubei secretly fled south to Houtang with hundreds of people.

However, Yelubei's operation to run away from home this time was very unsuccessful, and was discovered by the Khitan border patrol team, who intercepted him and sent him back to the imperial capital.Empress Dowager Shulu was secretly surprised, and asked Yelubei: "My son, didn't you go back to Dongdan? Why did you go to the south?" Yelubei lied and said, "Go all the way, relax all the way, don't want to get lost and go in the wrong direction. "The Empress Dowager Shulu was dubious, and felt that it was difficult for the eldest son, so she felt a little sorry, so she didn't ask any more questions.The Empress Dowager bought many gifts and sent people to escort Yelubei back to Dongdan.

Although Yelubei went to Dongdan, his wife and children are still in the imperial capital, and the palace is still in the imperial capital.Yelubei didn't always live in Dongdan. He lived in Dongdan for a while, and then lived in the imperial capital for a while.In fact, he is an unemployed prince who doesn't have much actual work, that is, travels between the imperial capital and Huhan City. Yelubei likes reading very much. He bought tens of thousands of volumes of books at home, which is more than the books collected by Han scholars.Yelvbei reads extensively, has a wide range of majors, and has dabbled in many studies, and his level is not low.Yelubei is well versed in yin and yang studies, is good at composing lyrics and music, is proficient in medicine, can see a doctor and dispense medicine, writes excellent articles in Liao and Han, and has also translated Yin Fu Jing. Painting is also his specialty. He is very good at figures, flowers, birds, insects and fish. deep.Yelubei faded out of the political arena, self-cultivation, and began a pastoral life. In December of the third year of Emperor Taizong's Yelv Deguang Tianxian, the emperor ordered that Dongdan Kingdom implement a large-scale immigration, move the capital to Dongping (between Ning'an and Yilan in Jilin today), and upgrade Dongping to the capital of Dongdan Kingdom, re-establish named Nanjing.This large-scale emigration is very traumatic for Bohai State, and it is the second step of Khitan's complete transformation of Bohai State.The original residents of Bohai State moved and fled. During the three, four, and five years of Tianxian, Yelubei went to the imperial capital many times, or worshiped the Taizu Mausoleum, or went to court, or visited the Empress Dowager. Be a guest at home.On the surface, between Empress Dowager Shulu and Yelubei, and between Emperor Yelu Deguang and Yelubei, the mother-child relationship and brotherhood are close and frequent.But in fact, Yelu Deguang's attitude towards this big brother is subtly changing. On the one hand, he has strengthened the collection of taxes on Dongdan to enrich the empire and weaken Dongdan's national strength.On the other hand, he sent his descendants to closely monitor Yelvbei in the name of enriching Yelubei's guard of honor.It is obvious that he is worried about Yelvbei. Yelubei also felt tremendous pressure, feeling the threat of the new emperor pressing on him step by step.In November 930 AD, Yelubei had no choice but to leave again.He planned this time out in a more detailed manner.First, I contacted Li Siyuan, the emperor of the later Tang Dynasty, several times. After taking over the leadership, I crossed the sea directly in Dongdan, landed in Penglai, arrived in Kaifeng, and then transferred to Luoyang. When Yelubei was about to leave, he set up a wooden board by the sea and carved a doggerel, which is as follows: The hills crush the mountains, and the mountains are powerless. Ashamed to see people from my hometown, I have since voted for foreign countries. From this poem, it can be seen that Yelubei's state of mind is really helpless. Forced by the political persecution of his younger brother Yelu Deguang, the current emperor, and himself unable to resist, unwilling to be used up, he had to go far away to find another way out. Yelubei's departure this time was a secret operation. In order to ensure success, he had to abandon his wife and son in the imperial capital, and only brought a concubine and ten thousand volumes of books with him.It can be seen from this that after being frustrated, Yelubei has indeed shifted his energy to reading and researching knowledge. Even if he risks his life and travels thousands of miles, he still has to bring books that are regarded as precious. After Yelubei arrived in the land of Houtang, Li Siyuan gave him a very high courtesy, which made Yelubei feel a little warm in the cold winter and lonely encounter.The court of the later Tang Dynasty welcomed the Khitan prince with the ceremony of receiving the emperor.After arriving in Bianliang, Kaifeng, Li Siyuan found another wife for Yelubei, and married a maid surnamed Xia in Li Cunxu's harem to Yelubei, allowing him to form a family in the Central Plains.In the later Tang Dynasty, Yelubei was granted the post of Jiedu Envoy of Qianzhou and enjoyed provincial and ministerial treatment.In order to praise Yelvbei for defecting to the Central Plains, Li Siyuan gave Yelubei the surname Li and gave Yelvbei a Han Chinese name, Li Zanhua.Yelvbei was thirty-two years old this year. When Yelu Bei surrendered to Tang, Shi Jingtang was attacking Shu. Yelubei, who defected to the Later Tang Dynasty, did not forget his hometown. He often sent people to the Khitan imperial capital to deliver letters and visit his family members, never forgetting his relatives.The Khitan side reacted cautiously to Yelubei's departure, neither exaggerating nor negatively characterizing it. Instead, they deliberately portrayed Yelubei's departure as a positive behavior, saying that Yelubei admired the ancient sages in order to give up the throne , Only then escaped from other places.Yelubei has always maintained a high status in the history of Khitan, and later generations respected him as the emperor of the kingdom.It should be said that in order to cover up the family ugliness, the political strategy adopted by Empress Dowager Shulu and Yelu Deguang in dealing with Yelubei's departure is very clever, and it is also a last resort.Only in this way can royal dignity be maintained. During the first ten years in power, Yelu Deguang deliberately maintained a friendly relationship with the court of the later Tang Dynasty, exchanging envoys.The Khitan Empire has a big event and a small love, and will send people to Luoyang as an envoy in time to make contact.In the later Tang Dynasty, Li Siyuan also frequently sent missions to Khitan to inquire about his health and express his friendship. In addition to maintaining interaction and mutual exchange with the court of the later Tang Dynasty in terms of diplomacy, Yelu Deguang took intensive actions in terms of internal affairs, constantly strengthening the emperor's centralized rule. In less than a month after assuming the throne, Yelu Deguang carried out extensive and in-depth research intensively, and went to various departments and fields to guide the work.After sending the princes from all walks of life who had come to participate in the Electoral Assembly back to their respective residences, Yelu Deguang began to inspect the guards and servants department, adjust the functional establishment and personnel, and strengthen the functions.Inspected the animal husbandry in the suburbs of the imperial capital, checked the feeding, grazing and growth of horses, cattle and sheep, and expressed his attitude of attaching importance to the development of animal husbandry and enhancing national strength.Then inspect the guard of honor of the Imperial Capital, and inspect the tribes, state capitals, vassal states, and foreign offices in Beijing.Immediately after that, he issued an order to select the outstanding children of the eight Khitan tribes and arrange them to be officials in various positions, so as to win over the hearts of the Khitan nobles. After the first month of the new year, Yelu Deguang began to inspect the army, inspecting the special forces directly under the royal family and the northern and southern Fan Han troops one by one.The emperor's review of the troops did not just take a look and wave his hands. It actually contained specific inspections and exercises, so the scene was grand and the procedure was serious.Although there was no war, Yelu Deguang used this ceremony to show the military circles that he was the commander in chief of the three armies and the boss. After inspecting the army, Yelu Deguang started hunting activities.The Khitan Empire was a nomadic military empire, and most of its emperors’ hunting was group riding and shooting sports, which not only had entertainment elements, but also meant martial arts training.Yelu Deguang organized hunting gatherings as many as five or six times in two months. Through hunting, he observed the support of civil and military officials and tested his organization and discipline.In fact, it is a special interview for civil and military officials and local officials.Yelu Deguang became emperor, and the position of Marshal of the World Army and Horse was handed over to Li Hu, the third brother. During Yelu Deguang's first nine years as emperor, his main job was to walk around, look around, worship heaven and earth, ancestors, Taizu Abaoji Mausoleum, celebrate the birthdays of the Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager, inspect Soldiers and horses, check household registration, accept envoys and tribute from all directions, and send envoys to visit various countries.The Khitan Empire lived in peace with its neighbors and established extensive friendly relations. The Khitan emperor was busy with internal revisions of state affairs, consolidating his rule, and stopping large-scale foreign military expansion, not without a little war. In April of the third year of Khitan Tianxian (AD 928), Khitan participated in the Battle of Dingzhou in the Later Tang Dynasty.There were three parties involved in the battle of Dingzhou. The one who initiated the war was the capital of Yiwu Jiedushi, and the ones who were dragged into the war were the court of the Later Tang Dynasty and the Khitan Empire.The court of the later Tang Dynasty decided to win this war because it had no other choice. Li Siyuan had just ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he had cleaned up a mess, it was almost impossible to make it worse, he couldn't patch it together.The emperor's seat is like being placed on a steel wire above the abyss. Li Siyuan has adopted a policy of rest and recuperation. He is abolishing the consumption of the palace on a large scale, sorting out and rectifying the bureaucracy, appeasing and stabilizing the army, encouraging the development of agriculture, industry and commerce, and quelling the rebellions that arise from time to time in various places. Very busy.After two years, the court situation has just begun to take shape. In April 928 AD, Li Siyuan believed that the people's hearts were slightly stable, the situation was basically under control, and the time was ripe, so he decided to make a large-scale adjustment of cadres.Li Congrong, the prince who stayed behind in Yedu, was transferred to Jinyang to serve as Jiedu envoy of Hedong and left behind in Beidu.Shi Jingtang, the envoy of Xuanwu Jiedu, was transferred to Weizhou to serve as the left-behind envoy of Yedu and the envoy of Tianxiong Jiedu. He was granted the title of Tongping Zhangshi and enjoyed ministerial treatment.The privy envoy Fan Yanguang was transferred to Zhenzhou to serve as Chengde Jiedu envoy.Let the privy envoy An Chonghui concurrently serve as Henan Yin.Li Conghou, Prince Yin of Henan, was transferred to Bianliang, Kaifeng, and served as the Xuanwu Jiedu envoy, and still presided over the work of various military services.In this big rotation of cadres, Li Siyuan assigned all the key officials of his confidants to the most important positions, so as to strengthen the middle-level foundation of his rule. When Li Siyuan adjusted the cadres, one person couldn't sit still.This person is the king's capital.Wang Du appeared in "Iron and Blood Central Plains". He usurped the position of Yiwu Jiedu envoy Wang Chuzhi, and took advantage of Li Cunxu's fierce battle against the Yellow River to force Li Cunxu to admit his position.In the past ten years, the capital has basically been in a semi-autonomous state.The officials in prefectures, prefectures and counties are all appointed by him, and taxes are collected by himself for his own use, and they are never handed over to the court. After Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor, Prime Minister An Chonghui decided to pull out the thorny household of Wangdu, began to ask for food and money from Wangdu, and planned to transfer Wangdu to other places.If a person has a ghost in his heart, he is afraid of trouble.Originally, Wang Du and Li Siyuan were not of the same mind, and they were at the forefront of the war between the Central Plains and Khitan. The soldiers and horses of the Central Plains came and went from Dingzhou every day. Wang Du looked at these soldiers and thought of An Chongjiao's attitude, and his heart became more and more serious. more and more imaginary.Finally, when Li Siyuan mobilized cadres on a large scale, Wang Du couldn't hold on any longer, and his spirit collapsed, and he began to secretly plan a rebellion. The king's rebellion was revealed, and the Later Tang court sent Wang Yanqiu's army to attack Dingzhou.Wang Yanqiu was the former deputy envoy of the Zhuliang Empire to recruit from the north, and surrendered to Li Cunxu together with the coach Duan Ning.Wang Yanqiu captured the outer city of Xiguan in Dingzhou in the first battle.The king was terrified, sent a pile of money to Khitan, and asked Yelu Deguang to send troops to rescue Dingzhou.Yelu Deguang sent the general of the Xi tribe, Tu Nie, to lead 10,000 cavalry to help Dingzhou. Khitan's sudden intervention in the war complicated the situation.Wang Yanqiu avoided the sharp edge of the enemy and temporarily retreated to Quyang.Seeing the arrival of the Khitan reinforcements, the king immediately came to his spirits and chased Wang Yanqiu with Tu Nie flamboyantly.Wang Yanqiu boosted morale and ordered a fight to the death.The two sides fought hand-to-hand, Wang Du and Tu Nie were defeated, more than half of them were killed and injured, and corpses littered the field.A few people from Wang Du and Tu Nie fled back to Dingzhou City.The Khitan soldiers and horses fleeing outside were ambushed by Zhao Dejun, Lulong's Jiedu envoy, and almost the entire army was wiped out. Yelu Deguang did not learn the lesson of this defeat. He increased his bargaining chips and sent fierce generals Tiyin Neligun and Dutong Chala to lead 7,000 elite troops to reinforce Dingzhou.Wang Yanqiu took the initiative to meet the Khitan, and fought to the north of the Tang River.Khitan was defeated again.Wang Yanqiu chased after him relentlessly and beat him fiercely.After chasing to Youzhou, Zhao Dejun ambushed the Khitan again, wiped out the Khitan elite, and captured Nerigun and Chala alive. The Khitan army was defeated, and the king's capital, Qian Donkey, was out of skills, so he had to hide in Dingzhou City to avoid fighting.After Wang Yanqiu besieged Dingzhou for ten months, in the spring of 929 AD, the food and grass in the city were cut off, and the soldiers split, and some people opened the city and surrendered.Wangdu was desperate and his family set themselves on fire.After being captured, Tuxi was taken to Kaifeng and beheaded. Wang Yanqiu's performance in this war was completely different. In the initial stage, he categorically rejected Wangdu's treason and lure. In the war, he was both wise and brave.During the ten-month war, in order to boost morale, Wang Yanqiu took out his own money, rewarded the soldiers, cared for his subordinates, and did not kill a single soldier.After the victory of the war, the emperor expressed condolences to the three armies. Wang Yanqiu did not show off his merits, but repeatedly said that he had caused a lot of trouble for the country's military supply.Wang Yanqiu shows the demeanor of a general, which is quite different from the image of Wangfeng surrendering a few years ago.It can be seen that people will change, or this is called knowing current affairs. The Khitan's defeat in Dingzhou taught young Yelu Deguang a vivid social practice lesson.He more and more agreed with the judgment of the Empress Dowager Shulu.It is estimated that Yelu Deguang could not restrain his youthful and restless heart this time, and made his own claim. Therefore, Yelu Deguang made a deep review and took the responsibility for this military decision-making mistake. He believed that this trip to Dingzhou was too hasty. , out of season, which led to the disastrous defeat of the two armies. Empress Dowager Shulu warned Yelu Deguang: "Son, to be an emperor, you must be calm and learn to wait." In the eyes of Empress Dowager Shulu and Yelu Deguang, the military strength of the Central Plains Dynasty was very strong, and it was not easy to deal with.After that, Khitan did not easily send troops south for many years. In fact, the main reason why Khitan and Later Tang maintained a ten-year peaceful period was that both sides wanted to recuperate, manage internal affairs, and seek a stable and peaceful external environment.This is the common idea of ​​both sides.In addition, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, the two sides have misjudged each other to a certain extent, and the motivation to make peace has arisen out of fear. Li Siyuan's court believed that the Khitan prince Yelubei and the fierce generals Nerigun and Chala were hostages in Luoyang. For the sake of these people, the Khitan did not dare to start a war rashly.On the other hand, Yelu Deguang believed that the army of the later Tang Dynasty was powerful and had repeatedly shown favor, so he didn't want to go to war. In fact, Li Siyuan's court was completely strong on the outside and strong on the inside, with a bright surface.After Li Siyuan took over the dilapidated family business left by Li Cunxu, he tried his best to recuperate and consolidate his rule, but he was forced to fight one after another, fighting against Gao Jixing in the south, fighting against the king's capital in the north, fighting against Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang in the west, and defending Khitan in the north. , Northwest to resist party items, consume a lot of money, exhausted.Fortunately, it is more appropriate to use soldiers and generals and plan strategies, and most wars have been won.In the end, the big battle of the invasion of Sichuan was really unstoppable, and many peacemakers in Li Siyuan's court were unwilling to continue fighting.I had to work hard and let it go. In the later Tang Dynasty, Li Siyuan's court fought wars while building for seven or eight years. Although the national strength had recovered, it was still weak.Under such circumstances, fortunately, the Khitans did not go south in a large scale. If the Khitans understood the true and false facts of the Later Tang Dynasty and sent troops to invade, they might destroy the Later Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop. There is no eternal friendship in the world, and eternal peace has always been the eternal expectation. Although both the Later Tang Dynasty and Khitan are committed to internal governance, although they both hope to trade peace for time.However, there is a fundamental difference between these two empires. The Khitan used the time they bought to become powerful, while the Later Tang used the time they bought to linger and decline. With the death of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan in the later Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains fell into chaos again.