History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 216: The Eight Tribes Unify the Khitan
After the "Bull and Wine Meeting" incident, the prestige of Khitan Khan Yaonian Qinde plummeted, making the already precarious Yaonian rule even more precarious, and the Grand Marshal who held military power increasingly threatened the Khanship of the Yaonian clan. Not long after, Yaonian Qinde Khan died, and Yelu Abaoji, the leader of the Yelu clan of the Diela tribe, who was also the Grand Marshal (Yilijin) and Yuyue (equivalent to the prime minister), was elected as the Khitan Khan.

According to Khitan tradition, the Khan should be jointly elected by the "adults" of the eight tribes and serve a term of three years. However, after Yelu Abaoji ascended to the position of Khan, he served three terms in a row without a new election for nine years.

This caused dissatisfaction among the Khitan nobles, who demanded that Yelu Abaoji follow the old system so that everyone could have a chance to experience the life of a Khan.

What is surprising is that among these "oppositions" there were not only the "adults" and nobles of the seven tribes, but also the Yelu clan of Abaoji's Dila tribe. Even Abaoji's brothers conspired to overthrow him.

Abaoji's younger brothers launched a total of three rebellions, known in history as the "Rebellion of the Brothers", which dealt a heavy blow to the Khitan nation.

In the process of suppressing the "Brothers' Rebellion", Abaoji showed amazing generosity and mercy, and did not kill his brothers who had repeatedly rebelled. We can certainly say that Abaoji was kind-hearted and cared about the feelings of his brothers, but it also reflects from the side that Abaoji had not established absolute authority at this time, and his political power was not enough to support him to kill and eliminate dissidents.

As expected, the leaders of the other seven tribes also launched a rebellion, kidnapped Abaoji, and forced him to give up the position of Khan. Abaoji had no choice but to hand over the flags and drums that symbolized the Khan's authority (conferred by the Tang Dynasty), and at the same time demanded to establish a separate tribe from the Han refugees he had managed for many years and build a city to live in.

Abaoji was asking for exile, which the seven tribes leaders welcomed. They thought this was an opportunity to marginalize Abaoji, so they readily agreed.

During the long war, Abaoji absorbed many Han people from the Central Plains, including many well-read people. Unlike other tribal leaders, Abaoji did not discriminate against the Han people, but was very happy to make friends with them and actively learn the culture of the Central Plains. Han advisers also often offered suggestions and advice. In the process of Abaoji seizing the Khitan Khanate and even becoming an emperor and founding a country in the future, Han advisers played a crucial role.

The place chosen by Abaoji had fertile land and salt ponds. Abaoji actively developed the economy and handed over the produced salt to the seven tribes leaders. The seven tribes leaders were short-sighted and thought that this was protection money voluntarily paid by Abaoji, so they happily accepted it all with a smile.

Not long after, A Baoji said: "When you drink water, you should remember the well digger. You seven tribes only know the benefits of salt, but you don't know that salt has an owner. Do you think this is appropriate? Do you think it's okay if you don't give me some money?"

The seven leaders felt embarrassed, so they brought beef and fine wine to Yanchi for a party (beef and wine party in Yanchi). As a result, Abaoji was not kind enough, and ambushed troops everywhere, killed all the seven leaders, and unified the eight Khitan tribes.

This is the Khitan version of the "Bull and Wine Party", which was learned from Liu Shouguang and surpassed his teacher. According to records, this was the strategy of Abaoji's wife, Shulü Ping.

With the help of their supporters, Yelu Abaoji and his virtuous wife Shulü Ping spent more than ten years gradually achieving the substantive unification of the eight Khitan tribes.

From this perspective, the fact that the Khitans had “not violated the border for more than ten years” had little to do with Liu Rengong’s surprise attack on Zhaixing Ridge, the burning of pasture, and the cattle and wine party. At least it was not a decisive factor. It was just that Yelu Abaoji was busy with domestic affairs and completing the Khitan’s transition to a centralized system and had no time to look south.

Yaonian Qinde Khan died at the end of the third year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (906). The following year, in the fourth year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (907), Abaoji took the position of Khan. In the same year, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty.

Here is the continuation of the previous article. Abaoji sent an envoy to visit Zhu Wen of Later Liang and recognized the legitimacy of Later Liang. Prior to this, Li Keyong of Hedong had contacted Abaoji first. The two met in Yunzhou and swore an oath to each other, becoming brothers. This was the second time they became sworn brothers. The first time was after Liu Rengong betrayed Li Keyong and Li Keyong was defeated in the "Muguajian" expedition to Youzhou.

The two sworn brothers drank and talked happily, and agreed to jointly raise an army to attack Zhu Wen when winter came.

Li Keyong entertained Abaoji warmly for more than half a month, and gave him a lot of gold, silver and jewelry when he left; Abaoji also thanked him in return with three thousand war horses and tens of thousands of livestock.

However, after Abaoji and Li Keyong parted ways, he immediately established diplomatic relations with Zhu Wen's Later Liang, betraying the covenant with Li Keyong. Li Keyong hated this, and the Khitan's betrayal became one of the three major hatreds in Li Keyong's life.

Most opinions about Yelü Abaoji's betrayal only stay on the surface of historical records and are biased against "barbarians", believing that betrayal is the consistent face of the ugly and barbaric peoples.

Just like the analysis of Nanzhao's invasion of the Tang Dynasty's Annan Prefecture in the previous article, we should examine Nanzhao from the perspective of Nanzhao and understand Khitan from the perspective of Khitan. In fact, Abaoji's betrayal had its own inherent political logic.

This logic has been reflected in the above. When Abaoji first ascended the Khanate, he was faced with many internal crises and he was in urgent need of recognition from both internal and external forces. This was very similar to Zhu Wen, who was looking for political allies.

How can they gain the recognition of the eight Khitan tribes? According to convention, of course, they must obtain the title and appointment from the suzerain state, the Celestial Empire, the Tang Dynasty, which is the legitimacy of the Khitan Khan. Now that the Tang Dynasty has perished and was replaced by Zhu Wen's Later Liang Dynasty, the focus of the Khitan people is to examine the legitimacy of the Later Liang Dynasty.

From a legal perspective, the Later Liang Dynasty was succeeded by the Tang Dynasty in accordance with laws and regulations and relevant procedures. Regardless of whether there was coercion, in short, there was an official edict from the Tang emperor and a complete set of solemn ceremonies. From a legal perspective, the Later Liang Dynasty legally inherited the Tang Dynasty.

From the actual situation, the vast majority of political forces in the Central Plains generally recognized the legitimacy of Later Liang, and they all followed Later Liang's rule, changed their reign titles to Later Liang, and accepted Later Liang's enthronement and appointment.

Therefore, from the perspective of the Khitans outside the Great Wall, the Later Liang Dynasty was the legitimate Central Plains dynasty after the Tang Dynasty, the Celestial Empire. The canonization of the Later Liang Dynasty was the "orthodoxy" generally recognized by the Khitans.

Therefore, Abaoji urgently needed to gain recognition and support from Houliang in order to gain supreme authority among the eight Khitan tribes. Whether it was Zhu Wen, Li Keyong, or other vassal states, whoever could represent the Central Plains would be Abaoji's friend.

Taking the approval of the Central Plains dynasty as the ruling legal basis for the grassland peoples was the real motive behind Abaoji's "betrayal".

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(End of this chapter)