Chapter 290 Chapter 289 Taizong Yelu Deguang

Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty, whose surname was Yelu, was given the name Deguang, and his small character was Yaogu.He is the second son of Taizu, and his mother is Empress Xiao of Chunqin.Born in the second year of Tang Tianfu (AD 902) and died in the first year of Liao Datong (AD 1008).He reigned from 927 to 947 AD. In July of the first year of Liao Tianxian (926 A.D.), Taizu of the Liao Dynasty died of sudden illness in Fuyu (now Siping City, Jilin).On the second day after Taizu's death, Empress Shuluping made a decision and took over Khitan's military and political power in one hand.

Abaoji and Shulushi have 3 sons (Abaoji has 4 sons in total).The eldest son, Yelubei, is intelligent and eager to learn, with a generous temperament and a sincere personality. He is especially fond of reading and dislikes shooting and hunting.Can compose articles and poems; know music rhythm, be good at painting; also proficient in medicine and acupuncture.In the first year of Taizu Shenchu ​​(916 AD), he was established as the crown prince.After Taizu destroyed the Bohai Sea, he established the Dongdan Kingdom (that is, the meaning of East Khitan), and Yelubei was named the King of Dongdan, known as the Prince of Man.The second son, Yelu Deguang, looks brave and mighty, and is good at riding and shooting. He has been going out with his father for a long time. He has made many achievements and participated in military and state affairs.The third son, Yelu Lihu, was only 15 years old at this time.

A Baoji and his two sons, Bei and Deguang, have extensive interests in Central Plains culture and are familiar with Chinese characters and Chinese characters.A Baoji spoke very good Chinese, but he didn't speak it among the Khitan people.He wanted to offer sacrifices to an influential figure among the Han people, so he built a Confucius Temple and ordered Bei Qinqiu to pay homage.However, Empress Shulu's Khitan traditional thinking is relatively strong, and it is with this thinking tendency that she chooses the heir to the throne from among her sons. Because Yelubei was not interested in traditional Khitan horseback riding and archery, etc., and the atmosphere of Han intellectuals was too heavy, after he was established as the crown prince, he participated in the military and state affairs, especially showing his admiration for the culture of the Central Plains and his love for Han law, which was in line with the wishes of the empress Shulu. Violation.Although Yelu Deguang, like his father and brother, was familiar with Han culture and could write Chinese characters well, he was even more adept at riding and shooting. He won many battles, won the admiration of the Khitan generals, and won the special treatment of his mother.Yelu Deguang has been respectful to his mother since he was a child.Empress Shulu was sick and didn't eat, so he served around day and night.Whenever he did something wrong, the Empress Shulu would stare at him, and he would show a very frightened look, but obeyed his mother's orders, so he was especially loved by the Empress Shulu.

After Abaoji's death, when the Shulu family and other generals returned to the imperial capital under Abaoji's Ziguan, Yelude was ordered by his mother to suppress the rebellion in Bohai and rush back to the capital.At this time, Yelubei had only been named King of Dongdan for only a few months, and he asked his son to supervise the country, and hurried back to the imperial capital.The two brothers began a struggle for the throne. After the Shulu family returned to the imperial capital, they hurriedly summoned the ministers of the court to discuss the matter of the heir. The noble minister, Yili Jin Yeludieli of Nanyuan, first clearly stated: "The emperor should be established as a heir!" and everyone agreed.Seeing this, Empress Shulu knew that if Yelu Deguang was forced to be the emperor, it would inevitably arouse resistance and opposition from all the officials, so she decided to eliminate the opposing forces first and clear the way for Deguang to succeed to the throne.

In November of the first year of Tianxian (AD 926), Empress Shulu first arrested Yelvdieli and others and put them in prison on the charge of conspiracy, and then tortured them severely to make them admit the crime of "conspiracy".Hundreds of people were killed before and after.Yelv Tulu, who created the Khitan script, was also suspected of being attached to Yelubei by the suspected party and was punished. Tulu had to flee the capital as soon as possible.All the ministers in the court are in danger, and no one dares to discuss the matter of establishing an heir. Yelubei knew clearly that he had no hope of succeeding to the throne, and even threatened to kill himself, so he said to his ministers: "My brother Deguang has great merit and virtue, and his heart belongs to him, so he should be in charge of the country." He is willing to abdicate.

On November 15th of the second year of Daxian, Yelu Deguang ascended to the throne, paid homage to the Taizu Temple, and performed firewood ceremony (a traditional ceremony held by the Khitan for the new monarch's enthronement). The honorific title is Emperor Sisheng, the empress of Shulu is the Empress Dowager Yingtian, and the imperial concubine Xiao is the empress.So far, with the support of his mother Shulu, Yelu Deguang replaced Yelubei and established his own rule. After the death of Taizu Abaoji, Empress Shulu cut off her right hand and placed it in the Mausoleum of Abaoji as a substitute for her death. A stone and tree stele was engraved, and the birthday of the Empress Dowager was designated as Yongning Festival, and the "Empress Dowager's Birthday Monument" was erected in Yikun Prefecture (now the south bank of the Salamulun River in Inner Mongolia) where the Empress Dowager was born.However, Yelubei was deprived of the power to inherit the throne, and he was resentful, so he took more than 40 courtiers alone, and went to the Later Tang Dynasty via Dengzhou (now Penglai, Shandong) across the sea, changing his name to Dongdan Muhua, and then to Li Zanhua. Died in a foreign country.

When Yelu Deguang came to the throne, most of the minority tribes west, north, and east of Khitan surrendered and belonged to Khitan’s rule after the large-scale conquests in the early years of Taizu Tianxian. The main enemy of Khitan was the Later Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. regime.Yelu Deguang decided to continue to implement the foreign expansion policy, not only determined to realize Taizu's last wish, but also to be the emperor of the whole of China. In the third year of Tianxian (928 A.D.), Tang Yiwu Jiedushi (ruling today's Dingxian County, Hebei) Wangdu attempted to separate himself from the kingdom, and Tang Dynasty Zong sent troops to conquer, and Wangdu sent people to ask for help from Khitan with heavy bribes.Taking this opportunity, Yelu Deguang sent Tuli Tieba, a general of the Xi clan, to lead an army into the pass, and meet the king's capital army under Jiashan Mountain in Quyang to fight against Tang general and Beimianzhao envoy Wang Yanqiu.However, Yelu Deguang's army was wiped out.

Hearing the news of the defeat, Yelu Deguang was furious, and wanted to conquer the country himself.At this time, the Later Tang Dynasty sent envoys to Khitan and proposed to stop the soldiers to repair it.The ministers of the DPRK and China also advised Deguang to act in response to the provocation, not to act lightly.Yelu Deguang also realized that he had just ascended the throne, and if he failed in the army, it would not be beneficial to his rule, so he stopped sending troops, sent envoys back to thank Tang Mingzong, and returned Nerigun, Chala and others.Concentrate on rectifying internal affairs and consolidating domestic rule.

Not long after Yelu Deguang came to the throne, he first built the imperial capital, the exhibition city outline, and the building room.In December of the third year of Tianxian (AD 928), Dongping County was promoted to Nanjing, the city was expanded, and people from Bohai moved here to resettle Yelubei and prevent the people from Bohai from rebelling.In the following year, following the ceremony of the Chai Book, the Khitan elders and ministers of the court were gathered to perform the Resurrection Ceremony (the important ceremony held when the Khitan reserved monarch ascended the throne is also an integral part of the Chai Book Ceremony).In the sixth year of Tianxian, he ordered the expansion of the capital.And successively sent troops to suppress the rebellion of the Wugu tribe (the ethnic minorities active in the Ergun River Basin at the junction of China and the Soviet Union) and the Dangxiang tribe. , ready to invade the south at any time.

In the eighth year of Tianxian, internal strife broke out in the Later Tang regime.At this time, Yelubei in the Later Tang Dynasty sent someone to send a letter to Yelu Deguang, asking Deguang to send troops to crusade.So Yelu Deguang personally led the army to invade the south.Just as Yelu Deguang was marching smoothly, his wife Xiao Shi fell ill after giving birth and died soon after.Then there was the incident that Nerigun, the Prime Minister of the Northern Mansion, conspired to rebel against the south, forcing Yelu Deguang to suspend the use of troops against the Later Tang Dynasty. retreat.

Two years later, there was another incident in the Later Tang Dynasty.The Jiedu envoy Shi Jingtang openly rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and asked Sang Weihan to draft a surrender form and send it to Yelu Deguang overnight. On the condition that Shi Jingtang proclaimed his vassal to Khitan and ceded the land of Lulong Yiyi and the states north of Yanmen Pass, he begged Yelu Deguang The Light Soldier came to the rescue.Yelude was overjoyed when he saw his expression, so he sent troops south.On November 12th, Yeludeguang ordered an altar to be built in Jinyang City, prepared a book of ceremonies and ordered Shi Jingtang to be the "Emperor of the Jin Dynasty", took off his own robe, and put it on for Shi Jingtang with his own hands. "The Khitan costume is the emperor's throne.He promised to donate 300,000 pieces of silk to Yelu Deguang every year, and ceded the land of 16 states of Yanyun (now the northern part of Hebei and Shanxi provinces) to Khitan.Shi Jingtang settled in Luoyang and moved his capital to Bianzhou (now Kaifeng, Henan, later promoted to Kaifeng Prefecture, Tokyo). Under the order of Yelu Deguang, he worshiped Sang Weihan as his prime minister, and his nephew Shi Chonggui guarded Hedong. So far, Yelu Deguang's grand plan to seize Hebei and advance to the Central Plains has achieved preliminary results. After the destruction of the Tang Dynasty and the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, Yelu Deguang returned to Linhuang, the imperial capital.Under the support of Yelu Deguang, Shi Jingtang became the emperor of the Central Plains, showing respect to the Khitan to show the difference between the monarch and his subjects.Even so, Yelu Deguang was still worried about Shi Jingtang, and still made friends with the Huainan Nantang and Jiangnan Wuyue regimes to contain Shi Jingtang, buy time for himself to recuperate his soldiers, rectify internal affairs, and prepare for a larger-scale southward invasion. In November of the thirteenth year of Tianxian (938 A.D.), Yelu Deguang and Empress Dowager Shulu accepted the honorary titles given by Shi Jingtang's prime ministers Feng Dao and Zuo Pushe Liu Yu in Xuanzheng Hall and Kaihuang Hall respectively in the imperial capital. After receiving the atlases of 16 prefectures, including You and Ji, sent by Shi Jingtang, the rebirth ceremony and firewood ceremony were resumed, the world was amnesty, and the Yuan Huitong was changed.The edict set the imperial capital as Shangjing, called Linhuang Mansion; promoted Youzhou to Nanjing, called Youdu Mansion; changed Nanjing Dongping County to Tokyo, called Liaoyang Mansion; changed Xinzhou (now Zhuolu, Hebei) to Fengsheng Prefecture, Wuzhou (now Xuanhua, Hebei) is Guihua Prefecture. Yelude only reformed the official system, and gradually established two sets of political systems of "governing Khitan with the national system and treating Han people with the Han system", the northern official and the southern official.The prime ministers of the northern and southern prefectures are still under the jurisdiction of the eight old Khitan ministries.The Diela tribe of the royal family was divided into two called the Fifth Academy and the Sixth Academy during Taizu's time. At this time, the two ministers, Yi Lijin, were changed to be the king, and the rest were called Jiedushi.The internal affairs of the royal family are still managed by Tiyin, and a large inner Tiyin Division is set up.There is also a Daguo Shusi, who is in charge of the affairs of the second family and the Li family of the Shenmi Department (Xiao) of the Hou Clan, and the Da Changgun of the Nine Accounts of Yao Nian, who is in charge of the affairs of the palace accounts of the Nine Khans of Yao Nian.In addition, Yili Bi is in charge of the prison, Dalin Yayuan is in charge of Wenhan, and Di Liema is in charge of etiquette.Xuanhui, Gemen, Konghe, Hakka province and other envoys were also set up, with officials such as Yushi doctor, Zhongcheng, Shiyu, and judge as the open history.The prime ministers and Jiedu envoys accounted for Sikong, and the bureau chiefs of Yingfang and Jianye were detailed and stable.Officials in the south use Han scholars, and the promotion of their titles basically follows the Tang system.The Han prefectures and counties generally follow the old system.In addition, the master book was changed to order, the order was the governor, and the governor was Jiedushi, etc. At the same time, Yelu Deguang paid attention to courtesy and corporals, used Han scholars to assist him, and added officials and ranks to the Han scholars who relied on the Taizu Dynasty.He made Han Yanhui the Duke of Lu, worshiped the Privy Envoy Tongping Zhangshi, and moved Han Zhigu as Zhongshuling.Zhao Yanshou, who was newly descended to Khitan, was granted the title of King of Yan, served as Jiedu envoy of Youzhou, and moved to the privy envoy and political order.In order to develop production, Yelu Deguang changed some private cities of the nobles to the imperial court, set up officials to manage them, and improved the situation of slaves.The land along the Xieli River and Luxiong River was given to the royal family as farmland to develop agricultural production.Order Yousi to persuade farming and weaving, and reform old customs. After Shi Jingtang's death, the Jin Dynasty's attitude towards Khitan changed.After Shi Chonggui became emperor, based on Jing Yanguang's support, he was appointed as the commander of Tongping Zhangshi and guard Ma Budu, combining generals and ministers.Jing Yanguang disapproved of submitting too much to the Khitan, and persuaded the Emperor Chu of Jin to only call his grandson and not his minister to the Khitan, and the Emperor obeyed his words.Yelu Deguang took this as an excuse to send troops to attack Jin in order to realize his wish of becoming emperor in the Central Plains. In December of the sixth year of Huitong (AD 943), Yelu Deguang traveled from Shangjing to Nanjing, and gathered about 50,000 soldiers from the prefectures behind the mountain (now the northern end of Taihang Mountain, Jundu Mountain, and the north of Yanshan Mountain) and Youzhou. Cangzhou, Hengzhou, Yizhou, and Dingzhou divided their routes to invade the south, and he personally led more than 100,000 Khitan elite cavalry troops to follow.After three major military operations, Yelu Deguang entered Kaifeng, and Emperor Jin Chu was forced to surrender. Yelu Deguang.All the officials of the Jin court also wore gauze hats and knelt down to plead guilty.Yelu Deguang still allowed them to take up their duties as before to show tolerance. In the first lunar month of the tenth year, Yelude Guang prepared a guard of honor and entered Kaifeng City.Xun held the enthronement ceremony and accepted the congratulations of all officials in full manner of Han emperors, saying that he was the emperor of all China.The name of the country was changed to Daliao, Yuan Datong was changed (meaning great unification), the world was amnesty, all officials were rewarded with honors, Zhang Li was appointed as the right servant and the servant of the door, Tongping Zhangshi, the left servant and Ning and the servant of Zhongshu , Tongping Zhangshi, Feng Dao, Liu Yan, Li Song and other old officials of the Jin court were also appointed officials and promoted to nobles, and they were appointed respectively.Promote Hengzhou to Zhongjing, take Zhao Yanshou as the prime minister, political order, privy envoy, and stay in Zhongjing, and the rest of the generals will be rewarded.But after Zhang Yanze entered the city, he plundered and killed Sang Weihan without authorization, and ordered him to be killed in the city.Yang Guangyuan's son, Yang Chengxun, etc. first rebelled and returned to Jin, and they were all executed.In the later Jin Dynasty, officials from various places were also called to Kaifeng, and Yelu Deguang sent another Khitan general and his own children and cronies as local officials.Shi Chonggui, the emperor who came out of the Jin Dynasty, was abolished, and he was escorted to the Khitan mainland together with his family, and then moved to Jianzhou (now Chaoyang, Liaoning), where he stayed until the end of the year. After Yelu Deguang ascended the throne in Tokyo, he believed that his desire to seize Hebei, advance into the Central Plains, and become the emperor of the whole of China had been fulfilled, and the country was settled. Not only did he not continue to take active measures to appease the people, but on the contrary, he did some things that intensified ethnic conflicts and were not conducive to the stability of the rule. thing.In the name of herding horses, he ordered Khitan to go out and plunder everywhere and raise their own supplies, calling it "threshing grass valley", making hundreds of miles around Kaifeng mansion into white land.In the name of rewarding the army, he also ordered to "borrow" money and silk in Kaifeng and other prefectures for transportation to the north.He didn't trust the descendants of the later Jin Dynasty, so he appointed his own children and cronies as the governors of various places. Yelu Deguang's actions aroused dissatisfaction among later Jin officials, and their hostility became more and more serious.In particular, people from all over the country were not reconciled to the Khitan's plunder, and together with the late Jin rebels who had gathered in the mountains and forests, they revolted against the rule of the Liao Dynasty, attacked prefectures and counties, and killed the officials of the Liao Dynasty.After Yelude Guang ordered Zhao Hui to stay in Shanzhou (now Shanxian County, Henan Province), Zhao Hui killed the envoy and resumed the uprising.The Khitan local officials sent by Yelu Deguang to various places were either killed or expelled.At this time, Liu Zhiyuan, the envoy of Dongdong Jiedu of Jin Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor in Jinyang and established the Han (Later Han) regime.Some post-Jin officials from various places also successively sent troops to the Han to attack the Liao army.Seeing that it was difficult to establish a foothold in the Central Plains, Yelude decided to return to the north. In March of that year, Yelu Deguang summoned all his ministers and said: "The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and it is difficult for me to stay here for a long time. I want to go back to Shangjing to visit the Queen Mother of the Province." Make.On the first day of April, with all the treasures in the treasury of the Jin Dynasty, he led the army to leave Fengbei.On the 13th day of the fourth month, while traveling to Gaoyi, Yelu Deguang suddenly fell ill, suffering from fever in the chest and abdomen, and reluctantly traveled northward.Arrived in Luancheng on April 22, died of a serious illness at the age of 46.In September of that year, he was buried in Huailing in Fengshan (located in the northwest of Bahrain Zuoqi, Inner Mongolia today). In the 26th year of Tonghe (AD 1008), he was given the posthumous title of "Emperor Xiaowu", and the posthumous title "Emperor Xiaowu Huiwen".The temple name is "Taizong".