History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1029: Jingzong's Restoration
【Jingzong's Restoration】

In fact, the outcome of the struggle between the "Emperor's Party" and the "Empress's Party" during the reign of Emperor Jingzong was not a foregone conclusion. After all, the "Empress's Party" was too powerful, and the diehards of the "Emperor's Party", represented by Nuli, who was born into a nouveau riche family, and Gao Xun, who was born into a Han Chinese surrendered general family, seemed insignificant in front of the "Empress's Party". The "Empress's Party" quickly won a comprehensive victory. For example, Gao Xun, who was stationed in Youzhou, had his cake divided up by Han Derang, the lover of Xiao Chuo, the leader of the "Empress's Party", and his family. Han Kuangsi first replaced Gao Xun as the governor of Nanjing, and within less than half a year, he used this as a springboard to enter the center of power and became a privy envoy, while Han Derang replaced him as the governor of Nanjing. From the local to the central government, the "Empress's Party" had fully penetrated.

Generally speaking, the struggle between the "Emperor's Party" and the "Empress's Party" during the reign of Emperor Jingzong was much less intense than during the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong. The "Empress's Party" easily completed the transition of power. As the leader of the "Empress's Party", Xiao Chuo also became the actual controller of the Liao Kingdom.

When Jingzong first ascended the throne, he faced a thorny problem: Song Taizu personally led an expedition to Northern Han. After the internal power of Liao was basically integrated, it immediately sent reinforcements to Northern Han.

At that time, Emperor Taizu of Song had surrounded Taiyuan and used water attacks on the city, and the situation in Taiyuan was precarious. As soon as the Liao reinforcements arrived near Dingzhou, they found that the Song army had already occupied the advantageous terrain, and the flags of Song general Han Chongyun were flying all over the mountains.

Before the Song army went north, they had predicted the enemy's intentions and had already deployed heavy troops on the route that the Liao army had to take to the south. The Liao army knew that they had lost the right time and place, and were dejected and about to retreat. At Han Chongyun's command, the Song army took the initiative to attack, and the Liao army, which had come from afar, was immediately defeated and returned.

The Liao Kingdom then sent reinforcements including Yelu Wuzhi and Yelu Xizhen, who successfully advanced to the city of Taiyuan. However, the Song army encountered logistical supply difficulties and a plague broke out in the army. After careful consideration, Zhao Kuangyin decisively issued an order to return to the capital.

The Northern Han Dynasty was able to save its life temporarily, and Jingzong also completed the first small test without any danger.

After returning to Liao, Han Zhifan, the envoy who helped the Northern Han Dynasty defend the Liao Kingdom, reported the strengths and weaknesses of the Northern Han Dynasty and suggested releasing Liu Jiwen and other Northern Han hostages. Gao Xun, then the Privy Councilor of the Southern Court, also strongly suggested releasing the hostages. These hostages were all envoys from the Northern Han Dynasty seeking help, and were detained because Liu Jiyuan's anti-Liao tendency angered Liao.

Jingzong followed the advice of Han Zhifan and Gao Xun and released 16 high-ranking officials of the Northern Han including Liu Jiwen. He also appointed Liu Jiwen as the prime minister of the Northern Han. The other 15 people also had clear job arrangements. We have already described in detail in the special topic on the Northern Han. This was an operation by the Liao Kingdom to deeply interfere in the internal affairs of the Northern Han and attempt to control the Northern Han.

Liu Jiyuan first accepted all of them, and then found reasons to send them all away in a very short period of time, which aroused strong dissatisfaction and criticism from the Liao Kingdom, but it was limited to criticism.

In the early years of Jingzong's reign, internal conflicts needed to be resolved, such as the rise of the "Hou Dang". A major difference between Jingzong and the previous Shizong and Muzong dynasties was the reduction of rebellion incidents. Perhaps it was because the royal family members who should have rebelled had already rebelled, and those who should have died had all died, or perhaps it was because the "Hou Dang" was too powerful. In short, the rebellion incidents of royal family members and nobles almost disappeared, and could no longer shake Xiao Chuo's ruling position.

The external situation of the Liao Kingdom was a little more complicated. First, the control over the Northern Han was weakened. The Northern Han was like a rebellious problem teenager, usually clamoring for independence and autonomy, and regarded the Liao Kingdom as an oppressor and exploiter. However, when attacked by the Central Plains, they cried and begged for help, regarding the Liao Kingdom as a savior. The Liao Kingdom was actually restrained by the Northern Han, losing both face and substance.

Secondly, the surrounding forces were ready to make moves. Since the reign of Emperor Muzong, the tribes within the Liao Kingdom had been alienated from the Liao Central Government, and many uprisings broke out, which made the Liao Kingdom exhausted. After Emperor Jingzong ascended the throne, the Liao Kingdom also had a large-scale conflict with the Dangxiang people, which was fought by the famous general Yelu Xiu'ge.

Finally, the relationship with the Central Plains. Relatively speaking, the old enemy, the Central Plains, looked so handsome at this time. At that time, the Song Dynasty was fully engaged in the south and did not want to cause trouble in the north. The Liao Dynasty, which was in trouble both internally and externally, was also eager to maintain a friendly and peaceful state with the great power in the south. The two old enemies actually reached a strategic consensus. Moreover, Chai Rong's "Three Passes in the North" and Taizu's "Three Expeditions to the Northern Han" gave the Liao Dynasty a great shock. They deeply experienced the unstoppable military strength of the Central Plains and were even more unwilling to engage in direct military confrontation with the Song Dynasty.

So in 974, the Song and Liao sides finally put on a grand show: the reconciliation between the Song and Liao. This event shocked the international community at that time no less than Kissinger's secret visit to China a thousand years later.

The most shocked person was of course Comrade Liu Jiyuan of Northern Han. In fact, when Song and Liao shook hands, the countdown to the death of Northern Han had already begun.

The mutual hostility and suspicion between big countries is the survival space of small countries. The normalization of diplomatic relations between Song and Liao made Northern Han lose the meaning of survival. Liao finally took Northern Han as a token of surrender, sold out Northern Han's interests in exchange for friendship with the great country of Central Plains.

Liu Jiyuan was filled with grief and indignation, and in a rage he shouted the ferocious words "first destroy the Liao Kingdom, then destroy the Song Dynasty."

"I, Liu Jiyuan, would rather starve to death, die outside, or jump off the Taihang Mountains than eat anything from you Liao people!" - Liu Jiyuan
“It smells so good!” - Liu Jiyuan
In 976, the Song army approached Taiyuan, and the iron-blooded Liu Jiyuan sent envoys to ask for help. Jingzong sent Yelu Sha and Yelu Dilie, who had made meritorious contributions to save his life, to help. Then the situation in the Song Dynasty changed. Taizu died and Taizong ascended the throne. Zhao Guangyi recalled the Northern Expedition Army. The Northern Han was lucky enough to survive.

Song sent envoys to express condolences, and Liao also sent envoys to offer condolences and congratulate the emperor on his accession to the throne. This little conflict was purely a misunderstanding. How could it possibly destroy the close relationship between Song and Liao? The overall situation should be the most important.

In the following years, Song and Liao would send envoys to greet each other during festivals and have close interactions. In the winter of 978, the Liao envoy Yelu Hutu returned to Liao after completing his visit to Song. When reporting to Emperor Jingzong, Yelu Hutu warned that the Song would definitely take over Northern Han and asked the emperor to be prepared to respond.

Han Kuangsi disagreed with this and asked, "How do you know? Did Zhao Guangyi tell you?"

Yelu Hutu replied, "Is there any need to ask this? The four usurping states have all been destroyed by the Song Dynasty, and now only the Northern Han remains. The Song Dynasty is preparing for war, so isn't it going to destroy the Northern Han?"

"Nonsense!"

Han Kuangsi believed that the close relationship between Song and Liao was hard-won, so how could we just believe it? Without any real evidence, rashly launching an arms race and taking Song as an imaginary enemy would not shock friendly countries? Hutu, you are not Hutu, you are confused!
Under Han Kuangsi's obstruction, the Liao Kingdom turned a blind eye to the Song Dynasty's preparations for war and "did not even prepare."

At the same time, Zhao Guangyi issued an order to send troops to Northern Han.

This time, it was the turn of the Liao Kingdom's allies to be surprised. Jingzong couldn't help but sigh and said that Hutu was not confused at all, his views were far superior to Han Kuangsi and me! Then he sent Ta Ma Changshou to visit the Song Dynasty urgently, "Why attack Han in the name of attacking Han?"

The humble attitude and full sincerity were met with Zhao Guangyi's rude provocation and intimidation: "Northern Han deserves a beating, so beat him up. Don't worry about it, our contract remains the same; if you want to worry about it, I will beat you too!"

The Northern Han called out to the Liao, "It's already this late, why haven't you faced reality yet and are still clinging to illusions? Send troops to support us as soon as possible."

Jingzong sent Yelu Sha and Yelu Dilie to support the Taiyuan front, and also sent Yelu Xizhen and Yelu Mazhi as support; at the same time, he sent Beiyuan King Yelu Xidi and Yishi King Saha to garrison in Youzhou to prevent the Song army from making a feint to the east and attacking in the west; later he sent Yelu Shanbu to continue supporting the Taiyuan front.

Yelu Sha, Yelu Dilie and others fought fiercely with the Song army at Baimaling. Yelu Dilie was killed in the battle, thus completing his self-redemption.

With the defeat of the Liao army, the Northern Han Dynasty finally fell and was incorporated into the Song Dynasty.

However, the complacent Zhao Guangyi did not stop his conquest. In the spirit of "since we are here, we have come", he fought to the east and launched an attack on Youzhou. Yelu Xidi, Yishi Wang Sahe and others stationed in Youzhou went to block the attack, but failed at Shahe. The Song army took advantage of the victory to surround Youzhou. Yelu Sha, Yelu Xizhen and others were also transferred from the Taiyuan battlefield to the Youzhou battlefield and immediately joined the battle, barely stabilizing the decline.

Zhao Guangyi was determined to take Youzhou and surrounded Youzhou. The Song army, with its reputation of "conquering the three passes in the north", took advantage of the new strength of annexing the Northern Han, and the soldiers and civilians of Youzhou were terrified. The Song army took a two-pronged approach, and under the huge threat of military force, it constantly used all kinds of methods to persuade the defenders to surrender and undermine the morale of the defenders. This move was very effective, and many Liao army generals secretly left the city and surrendered to the Song army.

In this situation, if we fail to get in touch with the outside world in time and boost morale, the consequences will be disastrous.

Han Derang, the Liao Nanjing garrison commander, and his general Liu Hong personally climbed up the city wall. On the one hand, they were to command the battle, but the more important task was to prevent their own personnel from defecting and surrendering. Han Derang stayed on the city wall for 24 hours, but still could not boost the declining morale.

Yelu Xue Gu, who came to help, was unable to break through the outer encirclement of the Song army. In his heart, he thought of a predecessor from Youzhou, Liu Rengong, and said, "Dig a tunnel!" In the end, Yelu Xue Gu entered the city by digging a tunnel, which strengthened the defenders' will to fight.

At night, the Song army organized a death squad of 300 people, who climbed up the city wall under the cover of night. Yelu Xue Gu led his troops to annihilate them.

Hearing that Youzhou was in danger, Yelu Xiuguo volunteered to lead his troops to the front line of Youzhou. It was dusk at that time, and Yelu Xiuguo ordered each soldier to hold two torches to confuse the enemy. He fought with Yelu Xizhen on both sides. Yelu Xiuguo was wounded three times but still fought hard. Yelu Xuegu in the city learned that the reinforcements had arrived, so he immediately went out of the city to form a battle line, beat drums and shouted to boost the morale of the army.

The Song army was defeated at Gaoliang River.

This is the "Battle of Gaoliang River". In fact, this battle gave birth to two "cart gods", one was Zhao Guangyi who rode a donkey cart, and the other was Yelu Xiu'ge who was seriously injured but refused to leave the front line. According to records, Yelu Xiu'ge was covered with three wounds in the fierce battle. After the Song army was defeated, Yelu Xiu'ge was "severely wounded and unable to ride", but he still "chased to Zhuozhou in a light cart" and seized a large amount of spoils.

Afterwards, the Liao people summed up their experience and lessons, one of which is very thought-provoking, that is, Zhao Guangyi may be eager to make achievements and did not "let the enemy have a break" when besieging Youzhou. The military strategy says: surround the enemy on three sides. In this way, the defenders who are not determined and afraid of death will escape from this way of survival, and then weaken the defense. So why didn't they surrender? Because once they surrendered, they would implicate their families, but if they escaped, the situation would be different.

At the beginning of the Song army's siege of Youzhou, there was a voice in the Liao court that "discussed abandoning You and Ji". The Youzhou defenders were not elite and most of them were old, weak and sick. Their will to resist was weak, and they were also influenced by the inertial cognition of "conquering the three passes in the north". When they heard that the Song army was coming, their first thought was to escape, "fleeing at the sight of the wind".

However, the Song army quickly surrounded Youzhou and "was contained by the Song army." They could neither escape nor surrender, so they were forced to resist stubbornly and "hold on."

Don't be too complacent when doing things. Leave the other party a way out and give them a break. Otherwise, a cornered beast will still fight and a cornered dog will jump over the wall.

Jingzong bestowed heavy titles and rewards on meritorious generals such as Han Derang, Yelu Xuegu, and Yelu Xiu'ge, and then organized a retaliatory military strike against the Song Dynasty (in retaliation for the siege of Yan), led by Han Kuangsi, Yelu Sha, and Yelu Xiu'ge.

The commander of the Song army was Liu Yanhan, who was responsible for leading the main force to confront the Liao army head-on. Cui Yanjin, Li Hanqiong, Cui Han and others led a secret force to quietly detour behind the Liao army.

Liu Yanhan originally followed Zhao Guangyi's "secret strategy" and divided his troops into eight square formations, posing as if he was seeking death. However, with the guarantee of the military supervisor Li Jilian and others, he temporarily violated the instructions of the superior and arranged the troops into two square formations, front and back.

Before the battle, the Song army sent people to express their willingness to surrender. The Liao army commander Han Kuangsi was overjoyed, but the experienced Yelu Xiuguo saw through the Song army's false surrender trick at a glance, saying that the Song army was ready to surrender, so how could it be a posture of surrender? We must be vigilant and not be fooled by the Central Plains people. The Central Plains Han people are cunning and cunning!
However, the arrogant Han Kuangsi did not follow Yelu Xiu'ge's advice. Before the Song Dynasty destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, Han Kuangsi misjudged the situation and was in urgent need of meritorious service to atone for his sins, so he perfectly misjudged the battlefield situation.

Han Kuangsi led his troops to the Song army position to accept surrender, but was suddenly attacked from both sides by the Song army. The defeat was unstoppable in an instant, and more than 10,000 people were killed. Three generals were captured alive by the Song army, and countless horses and supplies were lost. Only Yelu Xiu'ge's troops had already prepared for battle, persisted in resistance, and slowly retreated.

How passive was the Liao Dynasty because it listened to Han Kuangsi's analysis and fell into a passive position in the Song Dynasty's action to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty? It is said that Jingzong was hunting outside for fun at the time. After hearing that Youzhou was attacked, he hurried back to his tent and "discussed abandoning Youzhou and Jizhou". Everyone unexpectedly agreed to give up resistance. It was at this time that Yelu Xiu'ge took the initiative to volunteer to lead 100,000 elite troops to rescue Youzhou, which led to the future victory. It was not easy to win the "Battle of Gaoliang River", which made Zhao Guangyi flee in panic. It was appropriate to pursue the victory, but Han Kuangsi's blind confidence caused the loss of troops and generals.

Jingzong was furious and listed Han Kuangsi's "five major crimes": going deep into the enemy's territory without the support of the whole army, being in a disorderly manner, abandoning his master and fleeing, missing the opportunity to spy, and abandoning his flags and drums. Each of these crimes was a capital crime, and he deserved death. So Jingzong decided to punish Han Kuangsi for all the crimes and sentenced him to death.

Empress Xiao Chuo tried her best to plead for mercy, after all, this was her lover's father. After Xiao Chuo's operation, Han Kuangsi was exempted from the death penalty, but his military power was stripped away, and Yelu Xiuguo was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the front army (total southern garrison troops). Soon after, Han Kuangsi's title was downgraded from King of Yan to King of Qin, and Yelu Xiuguo was promoted to King of the Northern Courtyard.

On October 980 of the following year (10), Jingzong offered sacrifices to heaven and earth and the god of war, and also offered sacrifices to flags and drums, praying to heaven for good luck, because he was going to lead his troops south, and this time he would lead the army in person to let the people of the Central Plains know that the Khitans were not to be bullied.

As luck would have it, the Liao army wanted to avenge the defeat in Youzhou, and Zhao Guangyi was also eager to avenge the humiliation of the "Battle of Gaoliang River". When he heard that the Liao army was heading south, Zhao Guangyi immediately issued an edict to express his willingness to lead the army himself. The two emperors were about to face off.

In November, a fierce battle broke out between the vanguard troops of both sides at Waqiaoguan.

The Liao army surrounded Waqiao Pass with its numerical advantage, but the defending general Zhang Shi broke out. Jingzong personally supervised the battle and pointed with his hand, saying, "Who is willing to capture this thief?"

Before he finished speaking, Yelu Xiuguo jumped out on his horse, as if possessed by Guan Yu, and charged into the battle array. With a raised sword, he killed Zhang Shi on his horse. The morale of the Liao army was greatly boosted, and the cheers shook the sky. The Song army retreated into the city with countless casualties.

A few days later, the Song army lined up near the river. Yelu Xiuguo once again took on the important task of serving as the leader of the charge. Just before he set off, Emperor Jingzong urgently asked him to change horses, because Yelu Xiuguo had been riding a yellow horse before. Emperor Jingzong was worried that he would become the target of the Song army's concentrated fire, so he gave him a white horse with black armor.

Yelu Xiu'ge led the elite cavalry to cross the river and charge. The Song army's strategy of "strike the enemy halfway across the river" failed in the face of Yelu Xiu'ge's suicidal charge. They were quickly dispersed and fled in all directions, leaving corpses all over the ground. Yelu Xiu'ge captured several generals alive and returned safely.

Jingzong gave him the Imperial Horse Golden Cup and praised him, saying: "You are even more powerful than the legend says. If every soldier in the Liao army was like you, there would be no need to worry about the world not being pacified!"

Regarding the details of this battle, both sides still have different opinions:
The Song army said that Cui Yanjin defeated more than 10,000 Liao troops at Waqiao Pass and beheaded more than 3,000 people, so the Liao people fled in panic;
The Liao people said, "The Song soldiers will come again and be wiped out." We should stop while we are ahead.

Although the statements of both parties are very different, they lead to the same conclusion. They are all telling the truth, but they did not tell the whole truth. They each picked out the part that is beneficial to themselves. Therefore, by keeping the statements of both parties at the same time, the truth is obtained:
The Liao Kingdom was going to launch a retaliatory military action against the Song Dynasty, or a large-scale armed robbery. The traditional skill was to make a quick buck and leave. When the Song army arrived, the Liao army would retreat. They would never fight to the bitter end, only seeking money, not risking their lives. When the Liao army retreated, they were caught by the Song army and beaten up. The more than 10,000 Liao soldiers who were responsible for the rear guard or the slowest retreat were "destroyed" by the Song army.

(End of this chapter)