History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1031 Before Dawn

Before Dawn

Yelu Longxu, the eldest son of Emperor Jingzong Yelu Xian, was well-behaved, sensible, smart and studious. It is said that he could write poems at the age of 10, was proficient in riding and shooting, and was fond of music and painting. He was a child of other families with all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor. With the support of Han Derang, Yelu Xizhen and others, the 12-year-old Yelu Longxu ascended the throne in front of Emperor Jingzong's coffin, namely "Emperor Shengzong of Liao". Obviously, Shengzong was only an emperor in name only, and the actual controller of the Liao Dynasty was Empress Dowager Xiao.

Empress Dowager Xiao won over the nobles and sought support from all parties. For example, in the name of "last will", Yelu Zhimo, who was involved in the "privately made poison" case, was pardoned and his title "Ning Wang" was restored; Yelu Wuzhi's descendants were enrolled in the national civil service system on the grounds that he had made great contributions; Sun Zhen, who was childless due to political affairs, was thoughtfully helped to give birth to a son for him... She recognized his son and adopted a young man named "Tao Kuma" from the uncle's account to Sun Zhen; Princess Shu Ge was married to the uncle of the emperor, Xiang Yin Zhaogu... Civil and military officials were rewarded and given gifts, etc. These were all routine operations and need not be elaborated.

There are a few small details worth mentioning:
"Accompanying the Late Emperor"

A "Ta Ma" (official title) named "Jie Li" from Bohai wrote a memorial to the court, saying that he had been deeply favored by the late emperor (Jingzong), and was shocked to hear the tragic news. He was overwhelmed with grief and begged to be buried with the late emperor, asking for permission. Empress Dowager Xiao highly praised his loyalty, but rejected his request for burial with the late emperor, and gave him a generous gift as a reward.

"Become sworn brothers with the emperor"

Empress Xiao found an opportunity to set up a game and let General Yelu Xizhen and Emperor Shengzong become sworn brothers. In front of Empress Xiao, the emperor and his minister exchanged bows, arrows, saddles and horses, which was equivalent to exchanging tokens of love. The exchange of bows, arrows, saddles and horses by nomadic peoples was like the ritual of kowtow and swearing brotherhood among the people of the Central Plains, which was sacred and inviolable.

Because Empress Xiao had already become the actual controller of Liao during the reign of Emperor Jingzong, and had the support of Yelu Xizhen, Yelu Xiuge, Han Derang and other powerful officials, the succession of the throne was generally smooth and there was no internal strife. The challenges faced by Empress Xiao were mostly from the outside.

The "outside" here refers to the outside of the court, that is, outside the central power system of the Liao Dynasty, or in other words, the external and local power system relative to the "own family" of the "Yelü clan". Strictly speaking, this part of the "external contradictions" still belongs to the internal affairs of the Liao Dynasty, that is, the alienation of the non-core tribes from the core power circle of the Liao Dynasty.

At the beginning of Emperor Shengzong's reign, Empress Dowager Xiao appointed the Southern Court Prince Boguzhe to be in charge of the affairs of the Shanxi states; and appointed the Northern Court Prince Yelu Xiu'ge to be in charge of the southern border affairs and stationed in Youzhou.

The Liao Kingdom had two important fronts, the Tanguts in the west and the Song Dynasty in the south. Therefore, veterans with rich experience and high moral character were needed to take charge. Empress Xiao was currently on the defensive against these two fronts, and focused her main efforts on the east and north, where the opponents were loosely organized and weak. Obviously, Empress Xiao also followed the strategy of "first the easy and then the difficult".

Empress Dowager Xiao sent Yelu Susa to conquer the Zubu (Tartar); the Southwest Recruiting Envoy Han Dewei (Han Derang's younger brother) continued to resist the invasion of the Dangxiang tribes; the Western Turks also received the care of the Liao Dynasty; and soon after, Goryeo and Jurchen in the east also felt a small shock from the Khitan.

This series of actions greatly maintained the internal unity of the Liao Dynasty, making it more calm in the subsequent "Yongxi Northern Expedition". As mentioned earlier, Song Taizong mobilized people everywhere to form a group to attack the Liao Dynasty. As a result, relatively strong international friends such as Bohai and Goryeo expressed their willingness to remain neutral, not to choose sides, and called on both sides to exercise calm and restraint to avoid escalation of regional situation. They suggested resolving differences through dialogue... The neutral attitude of Goryeo and other forces was closely related to the teachings of Empress Dowager Xiao. The Khitans, who were full of martial virtues, were very talented and spoke well.

Although the "Yongxi Northern Expedition" was initiated by the Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty's top leaders had long abandoned the fantasy of peace and were ready to fight a tough battle with the Song Dynasty.

If the recovery of Northern Han was a successful strategic deception by the Song Dynasty against the Liao Dynasty, then the subsequent "Yongxi Northern Expedition" was the Liao Dynasty's return strategic deception of the Song Dynasty, which was equally successful.

The Liao Dynasty was very good at spy warfare. The first thing they did was to build an intelligence firewall. The Liao Dynasty strengthened the blockade of border areas and achieved good results. They repeatedly captured Song Dynasty spies, and most of these captured spies were subjected to the death penalty.

The second is the perfect "counter-espionage plan". Since the Song Dynasty was eager to spy on the Liao Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty thoughtfully tailored a set of false intelligence for the Song Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty passed on information to the Song Dynasty through various channels - including but not limited to the use of "dead spies" - such as "the Liao Dynasty's ruler is young and the country is suspicious, the queen mother interferes in politics, powerful officials abuse power, the Liao Dynasty's military is in disrepair, everyone suffers from Song phobia, and is afraid of the Celestial Empire's Northern Expedition". Among them, the romantic scandal between Empress Xiao and Han Derang is even more popular among the people of the Central Plains. It is known to everyone, widely circulated, and is still being interpreted in various ways today. In fact, we can boldly speculate that the scandal between Empress Xiao and Han Derang may also be a deliberate act by the two of them to confuse the Song Dynasty in an extreme way of lowering their status. This can also be regarded as a self-torture plan.

Song Taizong believed this kind of information without a doubt. After all, he was one of the main actors of the "Chenqiao Mutiny". Now the Liao Kingdom not only had a young ruler ascend the throne like the Later Zhou Dynasty, but also added a restricted drama between the Queen Mother and the powerful ministers. Isn't this just a response to the "Ding Dynasty" in Jiaozhou to the south? The Khitan brothers have collected the DEBUFF of the fall of two dynasties at the same time, how can they not perish?
For example, the above-mentioned capture of He Lingtu by Yelu Xiuguo was one of the results of the Liao Dynasty's "counter-espionage plan". The history books only used a light sentence to describe Yelu Xiuguo's false surrender, saying that Yelu Xiuguo deceived He Lingtu and said that he was guilty in the Liao Dynasty and wanted to defect to the Song Dynasty, and He Lingtu believed it without a doubt.

He Lingtu was a senior military officer guarding the border of the Song Dynasty. Could he be fooled so easily? Obviously, Yelu Xiuguo must have used a strategy similar to the "bitter flesh strategy".

In addition, when He Lingtu was captured, Yelu Xiu'ge's words were also very intriguing. "You have been trying to sow discord between the two countries, but now you have fallen into a trap." If you think about it carefully, the Liao Kingdom had a very accurate grasp of the intelligence of the Song Dynasty, and at least knew clearly the role of He Lingtu in the "Yongxi Northern Expedition". The Liao Kingdom knew the intelligence of the Song Dynasty, at least the border, but the Song Dynasty knew nothing about the intelligence of the Liao Kingdom, and was even misled by false intelligence. As a result, Zhao Guangyi made a serious misjudgment, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent defeat.

The Liao Kingdom won a great victory in the intelligence war.

Since they wanted to show weakness to lure the enemy, they had to be prepared to welcome the Song Dynasty's embrace. Empress Xiao never let down her guard. Before her birthday, she sent a special order to the border guards, saying that they only needed to send their children to Beijing to celebrate her birthday, and not to come in person, "for fear of losing border defense."

During major festivals, such as the birthdays of the emperor and the empress dowager, the frontier officials would come to Beijing to celebrate. This was also a good opportunity for the emperor to "detain" them, demote them in name only, relocate them, or even assassinate them. Correspondingly, if a general came to Beijing, it meant that he was loyal to the court, and if he made excuses not to come, it meant that he had other intentions. Generally speaking, if the emperor specifically told someone not to come to Beijing, it meant that he had absolute trust in him, or that the border was tense and he could not get away.

Almost all the people guarding the border for the Liao Kingdom were "own people" promoted by Empress Xiao. Empress Xiao must have trusted them. She did not allow them to go to Beijing, mostly because she was "fearful of losing border defense." We must be prepared to respond to the threat of the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty at any time and not let them take advantage of the situation.

During this period, the Song Dynasty also faced more difficult internal conflicts. For example, Li Jiqian of Xiazhou gradually broke away from the control of the Song Dynasty and formed the embryonic form of "Western Xia". After the "Yongxi Northern Expedition", he openly rebelled against the Song Dynasty and joined the Liao Dynasty, forming a three-way confrontation between the Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty. Obviously, Zhao Guangyi failed to resolve the Xiazhou conflict before the "Yongxi Northern Expedition", and the investment in the Xiazhou project failed.

Correspondingly, during this period, the Liao Kingdom basically resolved the conflicts in the east, north and west, intimidated the forces of Goryeo, Jurchen, Bohai, Turks, and Dangxiang, and also achieved certain benefits. For example, when Yelu Xizhen conquered the Jurchen tribe, he seized a large number of high-quality war horses, which made the Liao Kingdom, a nomadic nation, "increasingly powerful."

To sum it up in one sentence, the strength of the Liao Kingdom increased rapidly and it was actively preparing for war, but the Song Dynasty made a serious misjudgment. As a result, in the "Yongxi Northern Expedition", the Liao people pretended to be pigs and eat the tiger, teaching the arrogant Song Dynasty a solid lesson and teaching the Central Plains to behave themselves again.

Thanks to my friend "只喝六瓶" for his monthly ticket support, and thanks to my old friends "杨奎" and "江湖留白" for their generous monthly ticket support! I wish you all a happy May Day!

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(End of this chapter)