Chapter 45 fourth quarter

Like a string that has been taut for too long, if it is not snapped suddenly, it will lose its elasticity and slowly relax.This is the psychological state of most of the ruling class in the remnant Liao regime.After ten years of bloody battles between Liao and Jin (it was a series of fierce battles that knocked them out of the water) and this year, two years of precarious and turbulent situation (it was several times that brought them to the brink of national subjugation and finally miraculously brought them The turbulent situation that has been preserved), especially after the decision to surrender to the Song Dynasty in the past few months, they launched another major war to defeat the Song Army, and after the victory, they retreated the army to shorten the defense line. During this time, I cultivated a kind of peace of mind, not so tense, fearful, and anxious all day long, nor was it consistent from top to bottom, working hard to turn the tide, but optimistic about my fate, and became quite stable and relaxed.They didn't regard Liu Yanqing's 100,000 troops pressing down the Lugou River, and the situation of the Beijing Division as a big deal, and they didn't realize that the Northern Song Army was already launching a battle that could be decided within a few days. The surprise attack on the fate of their country should be prevented and counterattacked.

All in all, most of them are in a state of insensitivity.This is the result of tension and fear that go on for too long. The current central figure in the Liao regime is Empress Xiao—her maiden name is Pu Xiannv. When she became an adult, she married Yeluchun, who had been named king, and she was conferred the title of Concubine De.As Yeluchun was promoted to emperor, she was also promoted to empress.After Yeluchun's death, she changed her title to Yuan and became the de facto female emperor, but she still kept the title of queen in terms of title.On the surface, on October 23rd, the eve of deciding her country's destiny, she handled government affairs as usual, and discussed with ministers how to defend against the enemy. The only difference is that in the evening of that day, she issued an order to go to the front line of the Lugou River in the morning to go to the front line of the imperial conquest.It is a Liao tradition for the empress dowager who is the regent to personally conquer.During the Battle of Chanyuan that year, Xiao Yan, the wise empress of Jingzong, took the little emperor Shengzong Yujia to fight in person, charged several times, and finally made a peace treaty, which was said to be a momentous event.Now Empress Xiao is taking her ancestors as the law, and she also wants to launch a personal conquest.For her, curiosity and showing off are more than tragic.Therefore, even after giving such an unusual order, her attitude was as dignified and dignified as usual, calm and confident, without any panic.

Could it be that Empress Xiao, known for being smart, capable, and sensible, didn't see that the crisis was imminent?Yes, she is indeed smart, capable, and sensible, otherwise, how could she jump from an ordinary noble woman to the position of queen?Her queen did not rely on her husband's strength, but her husband relied on her subtle and flexible wrists to make her husband sit on the throne of the emperor.She is indeed smart, capable, and sensible.But smart people sometimes do stupid things. They always believe that they can grasp and control the situation. Subjectively, they are confident that they can avoid crises. unconsciously.

In the history of mankind, there have been many examples that show that typical people who are characterized by intelligence and ability always get a lot and fail overnight.In addition to thought paralysis is an important reason for failure, there are various other reasons. Empress Xiao's complex life experience just shows that she belongs to the above-mentioned type. Empress Xiao was born in an upper-middle-class Xi noble family, and she became a good relative.Since the first day of her marriage with Yeluchun, she has naturally entered the highest ruling level of the Liao Dynasty, and has started a smooth political and social life.She consistently uses subtle and ingenious means to coordinate all aspects of personnel relations, and has won unanimous praise from the Khitan, Xi nobles, and Haner's senior Nanmian officials from Emperor Tianzuo onwards.Generally speaking, women who are generally well-received among men may not necessarily be able to gain the same reputation among men of the same sex.Opposites attract and same-sex repel, this law of physics also applies to human affairs, but she is uniquely able to make women of the same class feel good about her.This is because she used another physical law: reducing the friction surface can speed up the speed of the movement of things, and this physical law seems to be applicable to human affairs.The good reputation she received between the sexes brought her practical benefits.She made the old and incompetent husband stand out above all the clans, at the head of the nobility, and later made him emperor.In fact, judging by the criteria of "family", "respect", and "capability", he is not even the emperor's seat.Obviously, this is paving the way for him with the help of his wife.Later, she made her hot-tempered, courageous and foolhardy elder brother Xiao Qian surpass the powerful Yelu Dashi, and made her the king of the Fourth Army, commanding all the troops in the country.It also made Li Chuwen, an official from the south, who was relatively less qualified, stand out from the veteran Zuo Qigong and Yu Zhongwen, and occupy the top position.In both civil and military aspects, she can have both sides.When her husband was critically ill, she had in fact taken over her husband's daily affairs.After the death of her husband, she had no children to pass on. In name, she also obtained the status of regent and changed her title system.For her, this position is just as ripe and ripe, and it will come naturally. It doesn't take much effort to create any public opinion, and it will naturally fall on her.

Now she is facing the attack of the army of the Northern Song Dynasty; facing the armed resistance of Han'er in the territory, and even the Khitan, Xi, Shiwei, Bohai people, etc., and the contradiction between the two noble families of Xi and Khitan Wait for troublesome things.None of this troubled her.She sat on the throne with full confidence, and seemed to have set out to solve these problems with confidence, and believed that she would be able to solve them properly. If she didn't have this majestic spirit, she would not have the courage to sit on the throne. But after all, she encountered a problem that could not be solved by her intelligence and ability.She is not good at directing "The Harmony of Generals and Prime Ministers", a play performed on the stage of real politics.She couldn't think of a proper way to settle the conflict between Yelu Dashi and Li Chuwen.The situation forced her to choose between the two.

Yelu Dashi and Li Chuwen have no personal grievances. Li Chuwen understands very well that he wants to secure the position of prime minister as a Hanernan official. support.He also understands that although Xiao Qian is known as the king of the four armies, his actual soul is in the hands of Yelu Dashi, not to mention that Xiao Qian doesn't have a good impression of him.Therefore, his attitude towards Yelu Dashi was somewhat fawning and ingratiating.From Yelu Dashi's side, although he looked down on Li Chuwen, the southern official of Han'er, in the past, he did not look down on him more than Zuo Qigong and other Han'er.Li Chuwen was the head of the stage, and for the sake of the overall situation, he couldn't help nodding his head and saying a few perfunctory words when they met.Since the discovery of Zhao Liangsi's letter, and especially the discovery of his collusion with Ma Kuo, which endangered the Zongshe, a tendency of incompatibility has formed.He was determined to kill Li Chuwen, Li Shi and his son in order to secure the country.This determination was disclosed to Xiao Qian earlier, and Xiao Qian agreed.Unfortunately, Xiao Qian leaked the news in front of the Queen. When the Queen heard the news, she couldn't help but turn pale with fright. She resolutely stopped their actions and wanted to take measures to ease the matter and disappear into nothingness.

At first, the empress personally explained to Li Chuwen, saying that he was "loyal to the country, with one heart and one mind. I know it very well, and Lin Yaxiu fell into the counter-intrigue of the Song people."Later, Li Chuwen was simply named Marshal of the Fan and Han Horse Infantry, and let him join the army. In name, both Xiao Qian and Yelu Dashi were subject to his restraint, which made Yelu Dashi scruples and did not dare to act hastily.Neither of these two steps worked, and Yelu Dashi still threatened to punish the rebels, which forced her to take lightning-fast measures to put Yelu Dashi under house arrest in order to preserve the political status and property of Li Chuwen and his son.

Empress Xiao knew that Yejin Dashi was the pillar of the country and a truly important figure, so she put him under house arrest. The direct consequence was the disintegration of all Khitan nobles and Khitan army, and further the disintegration of the entire regime.With Empress Xiao's usual intelligence, ability, and understanding, it's not that she can't see these obvious consequences.What's more, taking such a drastic step is not in line with the life creed she has always pursued - don't increase the friction surface.Subjectively, she would never want such an accident to happen, but she couldn't do it because she had no other choice.

In the process of solving this difficult problem, she is really ingenious, full of ingenuity, and extremely clever and capable.It is simply unimaginable to detain and guard the Yelu Dashi, which is so magnificent and has an army of 100,000 in its hands.Apart from her, no one else dared to do this.She took advantage of this idea that everyone thought was impossible to move his hand and succeeded.This shows that the matter involves her vital interests, and she does not lack the courage to risk the world's evil and the fate of the country and the clan. She first provoked the jealousy of her elder brother Xiao Qian because he did not command the entire army, but obediently gave up the command to Yelu Dashi, thus allowing Yelu Dashi to get all the honors of the victor, and destroyed the friendship between the two .Then, intentionally or unintentionally, she amplified Xiao Qian's dislike for Yelu Dashi when dealing with the issue of the Ever Victorious Army.Her provocations were subtle and subtle.Sometimes during conversations, although she worried about Yelu Dashi's high achievements and aggression, she deliberately and severely criticized her brother's mishandling of the problem. Without their two partners, she would have a chance to warm Li Chu's cheeks.

Then she made full use of Yelu Dashi's overconfidence weakness - Yelu Dashi also believed that he had a pivotal position in the country like everyone else. Never dared to move his hand.Yelu Dashi was indeed too confident and neglected him too much. The queen took advantage of his weakness and ordered Xiao Qian's deputy, Xiao Wuli, to bring a group of people to detain Yelu Dashi and keep him in her private residence.Then he declared that Dashi Linya was on leave of absence due to illness and was not allowed to come out to deal with military affairs for the time being. After detaining Yelu Dashi, Empress Xiao unexpectedly drove to Yelu Dashi's private residence to "consolate" him.This Yuanrong mansion has become a temporary detention center for detaining prisoners, and the queen did not hesitate to condescend to go to the cell to express her comfort.She talked slightly about her—the widow's difficulties in having to resort to emergency measures in order to coordinate all aspects of the relationship and settle the court situation, hoping to get his understanding.

"Your Majesty's difficulties, I know very well," Yelu Dashi is like a beast in the fence, although it has lost the freedom of movement, it has not lost the freedom to roar.His response to the Queen's condolences was polite, but this deep and subtle sentence was like a sharp needle piercing into her heart.Later, he became more and more impolite, "Your Majesty has considered everything carefully, and has taken care of everyone's property and property, but he has not taken care of the land and land of Daliao." The sentence "Your Majesty doesn't love Jiangshan but loves noodles" on the edge of his mouth barely stopped him. "Qing is staying at home to recuperate for a few days." Empress Xiao is really an amazing woman, she not only dares to do what others dare not do, but also endures what others can't.Regarding Yelu Dashi's personal attack, she actually endured it, and still comforted her with kind words, "You are the pillar of the country, and if something happens ahead, it is necessary to ask you to come out and help the ministers, and go to the national calamity together. " What the queen meant was clear, as long as he agreed to work together, he could restore his freedom conditionally. Yelu Dashi would rather lose his freedom than lose his life, but also carry out his original intention.His answer was also unequivocal: "Your Majesty has learned from you," he made a violent gesture, indicating that there was no room for compromise. This is not only a prisoner, but even a court minister is very disrespectful. "Today, I am unable to help the country get rid of the confidant's troubles. When a disaster is imminent, even if I want to serve Your Majesty, I am afraid that the general situation is gone and I will not be able to do what I want." Empress Xiao used both soft and hard methods, but none of them could achieve her goal of taking care of both public and private interests.Now she knows that she has made a big mistake, even if she gathers iron from six prefectures and twenty-four counties all the way to Yanjing, she can't make such a big "mistake".The mistakes made by stupid people are often due to momentary recklessness, but the mistakes of wise people are often tempered and carefully cast, so the latter is more difficult to remedy than the former.After Empress Xiao made this big mistake, the rapid development of the situation was exactly as she expected.The front-line army retreated steadily, and the Song army followed suit, killing across the boundary river. The Changsheng army rebelled and attached Guozhou County, changing hands one after another.Li Chuwen, the marshal of the Fan Han horse and infantry, could neither command the Han soldiers, let alone intervene in the Fan army. The horse and infantry did not obey his command, but became a living target for domestic and foreign affairs.At this time, let alone Li Chuwen, even Xiao Qian could not control the disintegrated Khitan army, so he had to retreat the whole army to the north bank of the Lugou River and confront the Song army across the river.The army of the Northern Song Dynasty was only a hundred miles away from Yanjing. Empress Xiao remained calm on the surface, she was determined to stick to her mistake, determined not to change course, and re-appointed Yelu Dashi.Yelu Dashi may be able to save her country, but she is absolutely unwilling to save her personal life, which she sees very clearly.Just to silence the accusers, she ordered Li Chu Wendu to be dismissed from his position as Marshal, and then ordered the imperial conquest. She pinned her hopes on the personal campaign.On the evening of the 23rd, she sent a confidant to deliver an order to Xiao Qian on the front line, asking him to prepare for the decisive battle. In the early morning of tomorrow, the queen will lead all the palace guards to come to the Lugou River to supervise the battle in person.Bet the fate of the imperial court on this last trump card. The victory in Langoudian gave her an optimistic idea that the Song Army is not so terrible.What Yelu Dashi can do.She, Miss Xiao Pu, can do the same.Without the big Yelu stone, wouldn't it be true that the sky would have collapsed?