History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1024 Four Hobbies
【Four major hobbies】

Emperor Muzong of Liao had a nickname at the time - "Sleeping King". He liked to sleep, which was the literal meaning of sleeping, not the extended meaning. By the way, Emperor Muzong was really not interested in women. "Khitan State Records" records that Emperor Muzong "was weak and hated to see women". Earlier, his grandmother (Shulü Ping) wanted to marry him a concubine, but he "refused due to illness". After he ascended the throne, all kinds of beauties surrounded him, but he didn't even look at them. The court officials repeatedly persuaded him not to leave the harem empty, but they were rejected every time (refused to accept). Not only that, "the left and right attendants and the curtains were all eunuchs". He didn't even want palace maids, but only eunuchs.

So Muzong’s “sleep” was real sleep.

Why was he so sleepy? Because he was addicted to alcohol, and of course he had to sleep when he was drunk. If he just slept, it would be fine, but alcohol ignited the hormones that were suppressed in his pelvis and had nowhere to vent, causing him to often go crazy and kill people.

The only thing he considered worthy of showing off was his fourth hobby - hunting.

If you look through "The Chronicle of Emperor Muzong", you will be surprised to find that His Majesty was basically never awake, and in the extremely limited time he was awake, he didn't do much.

The Chronicle of an Emperor who reigned for 18 years only has words, while the History of the Khitan Kingdom only has words. Not only are the chapters short, but the events they contain also overlap greatly. For example, let's take a look at the most representative passage to appreciate the style of the original text and feel the helplessness of the historians:
"In the sixth year, on the 15th day of the summer, he visited Huai Mausoleum. On the 16th day of the sixth month, Han sent envoys to discuss military affairs. In the seventh month of the autumn, he did not attend the court. On the 9th day of the ninth month, he visited the ancestral mausoleum. In the 11th day of the winter, on the 15th day of the month, Bi Gude came to pay tribute. On the first day of the 12th month, he visited the temple of Taizu."

The above is the annual work report of Emperor Muzong of Liao in the sixth year of Yingli (956). In summary, he visited the tomb three times.

In his annals, there are many records of "not attending court" and "not attending government affairs". Except for the year 953 when he stopped attending court due to the death of "the broken-arm empress dowager" Shulü Ping, the rest were due to drinking or hunting, for example:

"In the eighth year (958) of the Yingli calendar... in the seventh month of autumn, I went hunting in the Dala Mountains. From the ninth month on, I shot deer in the mountains and did not attend court."

——Two months of concentrating on hunting.

"(963) In August...I luckily approached a mountain, called a deer and shot it, and returned after ten days and seven days."

——He spent 17 days hunting outside and ignored state affairs.

"(964) In May, I hunted sika deer in Baiying Mountain for ten days. On the first day of the sixth month, I hunted in Yushan Mountain and forgot to return for a whole month."

——Hunting for 5 days in May and hunting for the whole month of June.

Another example:
"In the eighteenth year (968), on the first day of the first month, I had a banquet in the palace, but did not accept congratulations...On the fifth day of the fifth month, I was covered with wine, but did not accept congratulations...On the eleventh month, I was covered with wine, but did not accept congratulations, on the winter solstice."

The three major traditional festivals in the same year, Spring Festival, Double Ninth Festival, and Winter Solstice, were all cancelled due to the emperor's drunkenness. Other major festivals in other years were also often cancelled due to Emperor Muzong's hangover, or other nobles took over.

Of course he would drink on major festivals; when visiting graves and paying homage to ancestors; when he had a major harvest while hunting, he would drink; when he discovered an auspicious sign, he would drink; when he visited ministers’ homes, he would drink... In short, Muzong had all kinds of reasons to drink.

If drinking alcohol could be included as a sport in the Olympics, then Emperor Muzong would definitely be the champion of the drinking marathon. When it comes to drinking alcohol, ordinary people talk about "tons"; drunkards talk about "days"; while Emperor Muzong talks about "ten days".

For example, in the first month of the 963th year of the Yingli calendar (11), "I drank day and night for nine days." There was really nothing to do during the Spring Festival holiday, so I drank day and night for nine days! In November of the same year, he went out hunting and drank for four consecutive days at the home of the game ranger (drank at the home of the hunter for four days);
In March of the 966th year of the Yingli calendar (3), "in Gengwu, ducks were caught, and in Jiashen, geese were caught, and both drank until dawn." Hunting ducks, they drank for a day, hunting geese, they drank for another day;
In May of the eighteenth year of the Yingli calendar (968), on the Dragon Boat Festival, he canceled the celebration ceremony due to drunkenness. The first thing he did after sobering up was to go hunting. As a result, he "caught a goose at Shugu River and drank all night in the wild." He caught a big goose and drank all night.

This is another characteristic of Muzong's drinking. He is not picky about the location. It does not necessarily have to be a five-star hotel. He can drink in the wilderness as long as there is wine.

He went to the homes of ministers such as Gao Xun to drink, "drinking day and night"; he went to the home of Yelu Yila Ge, the chief inspector of the palace, to drink, "feasting for days."

Busy with hunting, drinking and sleeping, who has time to deal with state affairs? The emperor was absent from work for 18 years.

Sometimes, Emperor Muzong also felt that it was time to deal with state affairs, but these "times" were often when he was drunk, so he "suddenly promoted officials to his left and right positions while drunk". No wonder the ministers were willing to accompany him to drink. As long as you make him happy, you will be transferred directly from the street office to the State Council. Only once did Emperor Muzong sober up for once and issued an edict: "I was drunk and acted inappropriately, and no one can follow my orders. I can report again after I sober up." When I am drunk, I don't keep my word. I will report again after I sober up.

But the problem is that Muzong was almost never sober. As soon as he sobered up from yesterday's wine, he would grab today's wine glass again. During the 18 years of Muzong's reign, the Liao Dynasty could basically be regarded as anarchic. However, these 18 years (951-969) were exactly the time when the Central Plains dynasty rose again, and experienced three outstanding wise and holy rulers, Guo Wei, Chai Rong, and Zhao Kuangyin. Or it can be said that it was precisely because of the Liao Dynasty's downtime that the three people achieved world-renowned achievements and became wise and holy rulers.

When Chai Rong "conquered the Three Passes in the North", the Liao army and civilians were terrified, and many surrendered and rebelled. However, Emperor Muzong of Liao was unusually calm. This was not because he had a plan to repel the enemy. When his ministers urgently appealed to him for help, Emperor Muzong actually said:
"The Three Passes were originally Han territory. Now that they have been returned to Han, what is the loss?"

If Chai Rong heard this, he would surely award him the First Class Patriotic Medal with tears streaming down his face. "Comrade Yelu Jianguo, it turns out that you are an agent of our army lurking inside the enemy!"

I have seen ministers and officials sell out their country, but I have never seen an emperor sell out his country. Emperor Muzong of Liao did not even "sell" it, but "give it away". The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun are no longer needed. If the Han people want them, they can take them. Anyway, they were not originally the territory of us Khitans.

Of course, there is another deeper meaning behind this sentence, which will be explained in detail later.

Hunting, drinking, and sleeping, these can only reflect Muzong's stupidity. In the evaluation of Muzong, there are often words like "brutal", which is because he often went crazy and killed people after getting drunk.

At first, Muzong was superstitious about an "expert" - the witch Xiaogu. She said she knew a recipe for a health product that could prolong life, one of the ingredients of which was "male courage". For this reason, Muzong killed many people. After drinking it for several years, he "realized that it was nonsense" and finally came to his senses. Then he shot the witch Xiaogu to death, "shooting her to death with whistling arrows and then trampling her to death on horseback". First, she was pierced by a volley of arrows and then trampled into a pulp by a volley of horses, which was very nomadic.

Previously, "many people were killed" in order to make medicine, but since the witch who was the culprit was killed, Muzong's killing became more and more wanton. The reasons for killing were varied, and the means of killing were also varied.

For example, on March 963, 3, a deer breeder was killed and his head was chopped off and shown to other deer breeders. In June, a servant accidentally injured a musk deer and was beaten to death with clubs.

In February 964, seven deer herders were dismembered;

In June 967, two chicken farmers were dismembered and 6 deer farmers were killed;

In March 968, he killed a falconer, a close attendant, and a jailer, and cut the jailer into pieces...

There were more people who raised deer, chickens, eagles, pigs... There were more than just these who were killed. The above are just excerpts. I think the ones with more serious natures were killed. The reason they were killed was probably that they did not do their job well or accidentally hurt the animals they raised.

In March 965, Emperor Muzong killed two people, which was simply absurd. First, a close attendant named "Dong'er" was slow to pass the chopsticks, so Emperor Muzong personally stabbed him to death on the spot, reportedly using a red-hot iron bar to stab him in the mouth; a few days later, the courier responsible for delivering geese to the palace failed to deliver the goods on time, and was "punished to death by burning with fire and iron combing". Emperor Muzong had an understanding of "all those who missed the deadline were beheaded" that was difficult for ordinary people to understand; in December, because the close attendant Xige missed his wife and secretly went home to visit her, Emperor Muzong killed his wife, cutting off the root of his troubles.

In December 967, Emperor Muzong personally killed a falconer and cut him into pieces.

In February 969, he chopped another follower into pieces...

In the records of Emperor Taizong of Song, who lived in almost the same period, there is a short story that says that poaching was prohibited at that time, and a guard violated the law and hunted a musk deer. According to the law, he should be sentenced to death, but Zhao Guangyi pardoned him and said to his attendants: "If I kill him, future generations will think that I value animals more than human lives."

There is no harm without comparison.

Muzong earned the reputation of being cruel and bloodthirsty, and he eventually died because of these bad habits.

(End of this chapter)