History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 422 Dongdan Prisoner
[Dongdan Prisoner]

The people of the Central Plains often proudly say that "the barbarians will not last a hundred years", which means that the barbaric nomadic peoples with low civilization will inevitably undergo sinicization after conquering the Central Plains by force, such as the Northern Wei Dynasty of the Xianbei Tuoba clan. Once they undergo sinicization, they lose their "self" and thus integrate into the vast Han culture and become a part of Han civilization. Militarily, the nomadic peoples conquered the Central Plains, but culturally, they were completely absorbed and digested by the Han people of the Central Plains.

Another example is the Qing Dynasty, which gradually became more Sinicized after entering the Central Plains, to the point that even Puyi did not understand Manchu.

If they refuse to be sinicized, they will not be able to integrate into the Central Plains, and will be hostile and hostile to each other for a long time, and will eventually be overthrown, like the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols.

The Liao Dynasty had just been established not long ago and had not yet taken control of the Central Plains. If it had begun to assimilate into the Han culture at this time and lost the nomadic spirit, the Liao Dynasty would probably have been short-lived.

This is the far-sighted political wisdom of Empress Dowager Shulü. Therefore, she firmly opposed Yelü Bei's accession to the throne.

Empress Dowager Shulü was a veritable "Iron Lady". Her iron fist made even the men who fought on the battlefield feel inferior. Her fatal question "Do you miss the late emperor?" was almost unanswerable, and her courage to cut off her own wrist also shocked everyone. Now, even if she let a dog become the emperor of the Liao Dynasty, no one would dare to object.

After the death of the previous emperor, the obituary was sent to Dongdan State, and Yelu Bei rushed to Linhuang Prefecture in Shangjing to attend the funeral. After the previous emperor was buried, Yelu Bei was placed under house arrest and could not return to Dongdan State.

During his stay in Shangjing, he felt the pressure from Empress Dowager Shulü and witnessed his mother's cruelty. Yelu Bei felt an unprecedented fear.

He understood that keeping him in custody was the greatest kindness of Empress Dowager Shulü as a mother. But his mother also had another identity, that is, a politician, and a politician had no concept of family affection. If he still "obstinately refused to repent", he would experience the cruelty of his mother as a politician.

He is sensible.

After many sleepless nights, Yelu Bei tossed and turned, repeatedly pondered, and finally said to the civil and military officials one day: "The great marshal's merits are as great as the heavens, and the Chinese and foreign countries are loyal to him. He is the right person to rule the country. I am willing to abdicate and let the wise man take over."

Afterwards, Yelu Bei led civil and military officials to meet with Empress Dowager Shulü, requesting his mother to appoint the most capable person rather than the eldest son as the heir and transfer the throne to Yelu Deguang, who was the will of heaven and the popular choice.

Empress Dowager Shulü looked at her sensible eldest son with satisfaction, glanced at the civil and military officials, and said with difficulty: "Hey, how did things turn out like this? I didn't let you ascend the throne because you are young and ignorant, lacking experience. The water here is very deep, and I am afraid you can't grasp it... Look, how did the misunderstanding come to this point?"

Yelu Bei was really sensible. He insisted that his merits and virtues were limited, his talents and knowledge were insufficient, and he was unable to handle such a heavy responsibility, and he was willing to give it to his younger brother.

Empress Dowager Shulü said to the ministers with a pleasant expression, "Look, we are all made of flesh and blood. The eldest son and the second son, aren't they both my own flesh and blood? What difference does it make who inherits the throne? Aren't they both the blood of Taizu? Although the eldest son has the virtue of yielding to others, I dare not be called a usurper. How about this, let's take a vote, and I will follow your opinions."

After that, he asked Yelu Bei and Yelu Deguang to ride on horses and stand in the courtyard with reins. He announced the voting rules: whoever you want to support, hold his horse's head, and whoever gets the most votes will be the heir.

Empress Dowager Shulü made it very clear that she could not be called "autocratic".

How could the surviving officials not understand the Queen Mother's intention? They scrambled to grab Yelu Deguang's horse reins, but there was no one in front of Yelu Bei. The voting results: Yelu Bei received 0 votes, and Yelu Deguang was elected unanimously.

At this time, Empress Dowager Shulü spread her hands and showed a helpless expression, "Look, you can't blame me for being arbitrary, right? This is the voice of the masses. Then I have no choice but to follow the public opinion."

With the strong support of Empress Dowager Shulü, Yelu Deguang finally ascended the throne, known in history as Emperor Taizong of Liao.

After becoming emperor, the person Yelu Deguang was most worried about was his elder brother Yelu Bei, whom he regarded as a thorn in his side. He designated Dongping County (now north of Liaoyang, Liaoning Province) of Dongdan State as the capital of Liao, moved Yelu Bei there, and moved all the people of Dongping out. He also assigned guards to Yelu Bei to monitor him closely.

The entire Liaonan capital became Yelu Bei’s private prison.

Afterwards, Yelu Deguang constantly revised the administrative divisions, reduced the territory of Dongdan, reduced the population within the country, and tried his best to weaken the power of Dongdan.

Yelu Bei also tried his best to show his obedience. He ordered Wang Jiyuan, a Hanlin scholar of the Dongdan Kingdom, to write "Monument to the Founding of Nanjing by the Great Dongdan Kingdom" to sing praises for the current emperor Comrade Yelu Deguang and express his loyalty to the Great Khitan. He also built a library on the top of Yiwulü Mountain, which housed tens of thousands of books.

In order to show that he had no desire for the throne, Yelu Bei devoted himself to reading books of sages and ignored the outside world. He spent a lot of money and sent people to the Central Plains to buy books at high prices. It was because of Yelu Bei's painstaking collection and preservation that a large number of precious books were preserved, making an outstanding contribution to the inheritance of Chinese culture.

In addition to reading and writing, Yelü Bei also used painting for entertainment, and his painting skills reached the pinnacle of art. Song Huizong, a famous "artist emperor" in later generations, loved calligraphy and painting. During his reign, he compiled the "Xuanhe Painting Album", which clearly recorded that 15 of Yelü Bei's paintings were collected in the secret palace of the Song Dynasty. The fact that he was recognized by Song Huizong shows that Yelü Bei had a profound foundation in painting!

To this day, the original paintings of Yelu Bei are also collected by major museums, such as "Riding and Shooting" in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, "Shooting a Deer" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and "Travel of the King of Dongdan" and "Foreign Cavalry" in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

But even so, Yelu Deguang still missed him and sent people to visit him from time to time. They were called visits, but in fact they were surveillance, just like his personal guards.

Perhaps, only the dead can make people feel most at ease.

Yelu Abaoji was a kind-hearted man. After three "Brothers Rebellions", he could not bear to kill his younger brothers; Yelu Deguang also could not bear to kill his elder brother Yelu Bei.

I am not afraid of thieves stealing, I am afraid of thieves thinking about it. Yelu Deguang's suspicion made Yelu Bei feel like he was sitting on pins and needles, and his life was worse than death.

When Li Siyuan of the Later Tang learned of this, he was very happy and sent an envoy with a letter across the sea to secretly contact Yelü Bei. He first expressed regret and sympathy for his unfortunate experience, and in view of the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries, he solemnly invited him to visit the Later Tang and guide the work.

The long-standing "friendly relations" between the two countries are obvious to all. We will not comment on the fact that they are so close that they get along well. So why did Li Siyuan take the initiative to provide political asylum to Yelu Bei? This certainly contains Li Siyuan's political wisdom.

(End of this chapter)