Chapter 50 third quarter

Although now in Russia and the entire Slavic language family, Khitan is an analog sound of the word "China" (Russian Китай, Portuguese Catai, Spanish Catay), the Khitan nation appears in the annals of Chinese characters It was relatively late, and it was not until the "Book of Wei" that they were basically recognized as an independent nation, and it was generally believed that their ancestors originated from the Yuwen Department of Xianbei. However, before the Tang Dynasty, they were still eight to ten weak and loose tribes. When the Central Plains entered the heyday of the Li and Tang Dynasties, the Khitan people had already formed a tribal alliance and included the Tang court.Tang Ting set up Songmo Dudu Mansion (now south of Bahrain Right Banner, Inner Mongolia) with its location, and its leader, Kuge, as the governor, and set up ten Jimi prefectures.After the control of the Tang Empire weakened in the later period, the Khitan people attached themselves to the Uyghur overlord in North Asia for more than a hundred years. After the disintegration of the Uyghur Khanate, they returned to the Tang court.In the 10th century AD, the last Khan Shendejin or Qinde of the Yaoren clan who had been monopolizing the leaders of the Khitan tribe for a long time was dismissed due to poor performance. Yelu Abaoji of the assassination department became the new leader of the Khitan people, bringing Khitan into a new era.

Under the leadership of A Baoji, the Khitan people became stronger and stronger, and successively conquered the ministries of Xi, Shiwei, Zub, and Bohai. In 916 AD, Yelu Abaoji proclaimed himself emperor and established the Khitan Empire. Abaoji's dream was to build an empire that stretched to Mobei in the north and the Yellow River in the south. During his lifetime of conquests, the expansion to the north went smoothly, but when he went south, he repeatedly encountered the most powerful Shatuo people in the Central Plains at that time. Blocked, repeatedly frustrated. During the tenure of Yelu Deguang, the second-generation leader of the Khitan Empire, it had always been the most insurmountable obstacle for them to invade the Central Plains—the Shatuo people were declining and infighting. In 938 AD, Yelu Deguang took advantage of the Shatuo people to fight civil strife Shi Jingtang, a native of Shatuo, took the Sixteen States of Youyun by chance, and took it as his own.

The occupation of Youyun Sixteen Prefectures gave the Qi Empire the best strategic pass to defend or attack the Central Plains. At the same time, it also changed the basic economic structure of the empire, from animal husbandry to semi-animal husbandry and semi-agriculture. The Khitan Empire, which owned Youyun, changed its country name to Liao in 948 AD. At this time, the Liao Empire was already a land bordering the North Sea in the east, Jinshan Mountain (now Altai Mountain) in the west, and the Kerulun River and Erkun River in the north. The huge empire stretching south to Youzhou. After the establishment of the Northern Song Empire, two wars were launched in an attempt to recover the Sixteen States of Youyun, both of which ended in failure.And in AD 1004, Xiao Yanyan, Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Kingdom who had been in power for more than 20 years, launched a large-scale raid on the Northern Song Empire, hitting the city of Chanzhou (now Puyang, Henan), forcing Emperor Zhenzong Zhao Heng to sign a peace treaty. Not only did the people of the Northern Song Dynasty recognize the Liao Empire's ownership of the Youyun area, but they also paid tribute and silk to the Liao Empire every year.

The Liao and Song Dynasties entered a period of peace that lasted for more than a hundred years. Nothing happened in the north and the south, each focused on "housework". The people of the Northern Song Dynasty were busy with the old and new reforms, while the Khitan people were engaged in fierce political struggles within the upper echelon of the royal family. , and in the later period, peasant uprisings in the territory were also surging, and the empire was in crisis. In 1101 AD, the last emperor of the Liao Empire, Tianzuo Emperor Yelu Yanxi, ascended the throne and jumped onto the stage of history, becoming emperor two years earlier than Zhao Ji.

Emperor Tianzuo Yelu Yanxi shared many of the same interests as Zhao Ji: ancient paintings, music, beauties, and famous teas.Of course, there are different obsessions. Zhao Ji prefers to sit at home and enjoy rocks, while Yelu Tingxi prefers hunting. A skinny camel is bigger than a horse. This sentence does not apply to the aging Liao Empire. The Liao people never imagined that it would only take two years for four-fifths of the territory to be lost. Emperor Tianzuo, the prodigal son, has fled to Mobei as a bereaved dog. The last savior of the Liao people can only be one—Youyun, the territory that was seized from the Shatuo people and the Han people.

The Khitan people who retreated to Youzhou also gave up on Emperor Tianzuo, the prodigal son, and they supported their new emperor Yeluchun in Youzhou. Yeluchun was the grandson of Liao Xingzong and the uncle of Emperor Tianzuo. He worshiped the king of Qin and Jin and stayed in Nanjing (Youzhou). His father and son guarded Youzhou for a long time, and they had more prestige in the empire.Before, Yeluzhangnu, the general of the empire, rebelled when Emperor Tianzuo was on an expedition to the Jurchen, and wanted to move out Uncle Yeluu to help the righteous, but Yeluchun refused that time; but this time Emperor Tianzuo fled to the desert, and the Liao people had only their own Under the support of Nanfu Prime Minister Zhang Lin, Shenzhi Zhengshi, Li Chuwen, Liao Xingjun Jiedushi Yelu Dashi and others, Yelu Chun became emperor (his regime was called Northern Liao Dynasty in history), and the world called it God bless the emperor.

This is a rotten mess, with the ferocious wolf teeth of the Jurchens in the front, and the whims of the Northern Song Dynasty later, it is a difficult task for the Khitan people to rely on the dark cloud to protect them. Yeluchun's only solution is to seek peace from Jurchen, and then to the Northern Song Dynasty, and extend a helping hand to his former younger brother Xixia Dangxiang. No matter what the purpose was, the Jurchens' war horses temporarily stopped roaring.The people of Xixia were also very loyal. They extended a helping hand to the old big brother and led 30,000 troops to attack the Jurchens.

Only the century-old friend, the Northern Song Empire, sent Northwest Wang Tongguan to lead an army of 100,000 troops to come quietly.