Chapter 88 179 "Son Emperor" Shi Jingtang

When Tang Mingzong was in power, he had two generals under him, one was his son Li Congke, and the other was his son-in-law Shi Jingtang, the governor of Hedong.Both of them are brave and good at fighting, but they are not convinced by each other.After Li Congke became the emperor of the later Tang Dynasty (that is, the last emperor of Tang Dynasty), the two finally broke up publicly. Li Congke sent tens of thousands of troops to attack Jinyang City where Shi Jingtang was located.Shi Jingtang couldn't resist, Jinyang was in critical condition.A counselor, Sang Weihan, gave him an idea, asking him to ask the Khitan for help.

At that time, Yelu Abaoji had died, and his son Yelu Deguang took over the seat of Khitan king.Sang Weihan helped Shi Jingtang draft a distress letter to Yelu Deguang, expressing his willingness to worship the Lord of Khitan as his father, and promised that after repelling the Tang army, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures (also known as Youyun Sixteen) north of Yanmenguan Zhouzhou refers to 16 states including Youzhou and Yunzhou, all of which are in the northern part of today’s Hebei and Shanxi provinces) whose land was dedicated to Khitan. Shi Jingtang's surrender was opposed by his generals.General Liu Zhiyuan said: "You ask Khitan for help, it's reasonable to call yourself a minister, it's too much to ask him to be your father; besides, it doesn't matter if you promise to give them some gold and silver treasures, you shouldn't cede the land."

Shi Jingtang wanted to protect his own interests, so he would not listen to Liu Zhiyuan's dissuasion, and hastily sent Sang Weihan to meet Yelu Deguang with these traitorous conditions. Yelu Deguang originally wanted to expand his land to the south, but he was overjoyed when he heard Shi Jingtang proposed such a generous offer, and immediately sent 50,000 elite cavalry to rescue Jinyang. Shi Jingtang sent troops from Jinyang City to attack, and defeated the Tang army. When Yelu Deguang came to Jinyang, Shi Jingtang went out of the city to greet him personally. He humbly called Yelu Deguang, who was ten years younger than him, his father, and asked why the Khitan soldiers were able to defeat the Tang army so quickly.Yelu Deguang blew triumphantly, and Shi Jingtang immediately expressed his admiration, which filled Yelu Deguang with joy.

After some observation, Yelu Deguang felt that Shi Jingtang was indeed devoted to him, so he said to Shi Jingtang, "I have traveled three thousand miles to rescue you, and I finally got something. I think your appearance and bearing are worthy of being a hero." Master of the Central Plains, I will make you emperor!" Shi Jingtang also hypocritically declined, but after being persuaded by his subordinates, he happily accepted.The Khitan ruler officially declared Shi Jingtang the emperor.After Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor, he immediately ceded the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures to Khitan according to the original agreed conditions.

Relying on the support of Khitan, Shi Jingtang led his troops south to attack Luoyang.Li Congke, the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, lost several battles one after another. He was frightened by Khitan's momentum and became depressed. He drank and cried all day long, waiting for his death. How could he have the courage to resist.Before Shi Jingtang's soldiers entered Luoyang, the late Tang emperor had already lit a fire in the palace, took his family and threw them into the fire and committed suicide. Shi Jingtang captured Luoyang, destroyed Houliang, and officially became the emperor of the Central Plains. His country was called Jin and his capital was Bian.This is Gaozu of the Later Jin Dynasty.Shi Jingtang was grateful to Yelu Deguang, the ruler of Khitan, and wrote a memorial to Khitan, calling the ruler of Khitan "Father Emperor" and himself "Son Emperor".In addition to paying 300,000 horses of silk as tribute to Khitan every year, envoys were also sent to send gifts to the Khitan King, Empress Dowager, and noble ministers during festivals.As soon as those people were dissatisfied, they would send someone to blame Shi Jingtang. Shi Jingtang was always respectful and apologized.When the envoys of the Jin Dynasty arrived in Khitan, the Khitan officials were full of arrogance and said many insulting words.Enraged, the envoy returned to Bianjing and spread the word.Everyone in the court felt ashamed, only Shi Jingtang didn't care.

Relying on the protection of the Khitan, Shi Jingtang became a disgraceful son-emperor for seven years, and died of illness.His nephew, Shi Chonggui, came to the throne, the emperor of Jin Dynasty.When Emperor Chu of Jin gave a memorial to the Lord of Khitan, he called himself his grandson, not his minister.Yelude just thought he was disrespectful and led troops to attack. The Khitan invaded the Central Plains twice, and suffered disastrous defeats under the fierce resistance of the soldiers and civilians of the Jin Dynasty.But in the end, due to the betrayal of the traitors, the Khitan soldiers broke into Bianjing, and the Emperor Chu of Jin was taken prisoner and sent to Khitan.Later Jin died.

In 947 AD, Yelu Deguang entered Bianjing and proclaimed himself Emperor of Daliao (Khitan changed its name to Liao in this year).When the people in the capital heard that the Liao soldiers had entered the city, they fled one after another.Yelu Deguang, Lord of the Liao Dynasty, went up to the tower and sent someone to announce in Chinese: "Everyone, don't be afraid, I am also a human being. I didn't want to come. It was the Han people who led us in. I will definitely make your life better." .” That's what I said, but what I did was another way.He allowed the Liao soldiers to rob property everywhere in the name of herding horses, which was called "grass-grazing valley".He also ordered the officials of the state of Jin to search for money and silk, regardless of the officials and the common people, to donate money and silk to "work the army".

The people in the Central Plains couldn't stand the killing and looting of the Liao soldiers, and organized rebel armies one after another to resist the Liao soldiers.A few thousand less, tens of thousands more. They attacked prefectures and counties and killed the officials sent by Liao.The rebel army in the east was so powerful that it captured three states.Yelu Deguang was frightened, and said to his attendants, "I never thought that people from the Central Plains would be so difficult to deal with." After a period of time, he summoned the officials of the Jin Dynasty and announced, "The weather is hot, and I am not used to living here. Back to Shangguo (referring to Liaoguo) to visit the Empress Dowager."

Liao soldiers were forced to withdraw from the Central Plains.However, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, betrayed by Shi Jingtang, were still occupied by the Khitan nobles and became the base for their attack on the Central Plains.