History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 426 All nations come to court
【All Nations Come to Pay Homage】

During the reign of Li Siyuan, the southern vassal states gradually drifted away from the central government, forming a situation of "five states coexisting", but this was a historical problem and had long been the "accounts receivable" of the Central Plains dynasty. Li Siyuan wisely classified it as "bad debt" and directly removed it from the government's balance sheet. Only the angry young people, the young and the hot-blooded young people, and the powerful official Comrade An Zhonghui were desperate to play the role of debt collection company and force the debt collection.

An Zhonghui's reckless and impractical approach brought serious adverse consequences to the country and himself, which we will discuss later. First, let's talk about the head of the Later Tang Dynasty - Li Siyuan.

The diplomatic success of the Later Tang Dynasty was inseparable from the support of its comprehensive strength, and even more so from Li Siyuan's wise and pragmatic strategic guiding ideology. Li Siyuan's diplomatic strategy can be summarized in ten words: "A great country should show its tolerance, and a small vassal should extend its favor."

This is an extremely pragmatic diplomatic cross code, which echoes the saying "a big country has no ideology, a small country has no credibility". The national self-confidence of the "Celestial Empire" is deeply imprinted in the marrow of Central Plains culture, "ruling all nations" is our national responsibility, and "all nations coming to pay tribute" is our national pride.

The reason why Li Siyuan created the "Mingzong Prosperous Era" was closely related to his pragmatic diplomatic strategy. He used both kindness and severity to create a relatively peaceful external environment for the Central Plains dynasty.

Unlike the Western powers with robber genes, the Chinese nation has a strong self-healing ability and an indomitable self-improvement gene. The development of Chinese civilization has never relied on plunder, but on fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of the working people for production and labor, the so-called hard work and self-reliance. The Central Plains has a vast resource base and a huge market demand, which also has a strong self-evolution ability. Therefore, the Chinese have never needed to invade foreign countries since ancient times.

A relatively stable external environment is more in line with the interests of the Chinese nation.

Don't think that the Central Plains dynasty closed itself off from the outside world. On the contrary, the Chinese attached great importance to the development of their neighbors. Peace is not achieved by praying or avoiding, but by striving with wisdom and strength.

The history books of every dynasty would carefully compile the history of their neighbors. We know many of the surrounding ethnic groups better than they know themselves. At that time, many of the surrounding ethnic groups did not have their own writing systems, and it was difficult to record the origins and development of their own ethnic groups. However, the historians of the Central Plains dynasties carefully visited and investigated, and recorded their history in our history books using our writing systems.

The so-called knowing oneself and the enemy will never end in a hundred battles.

What makes us most proud is the prosperous scene of "all nations coming to pay tribute" recorded in history books.

After the turmoil and strife at the end of the Tang Dynasty, during the reign of Li Siyuan, the Central Plains region experienced a period of calm and a new order emerged from the chaos. Although there were "five states coexisting" in the south, the Chinese nation as a whole tended to be dynamic and stable. Thus, in the Chronicle of Emperor Mingzong, the long-lost grand occasion finally appeared (excerpt from the 4 and a half years after Li Siyuan ascended the throne):
The first year of Tiancheng (926):
In April (the month when Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor), Bohai sent envoys to pay tribute;

In July, Khitan and Bohai sent envoys to pay tribute.
In October, the great demon leader of the southern barbarians in Yunnan came to pay tribute;

The second year of Tiancheng (927):
In the first month, the Tuolazhi of the Xi tribe submitted.

In February, Silla sent envoys to pay tribute;

In April, Silla sent envoys to offer tribute.
In August, the nine tribes of Kunming Great Ghost Lord and King Pulujing sent envoys, a total of 8 people, to pay tribute (to purchase goods);
The third year of Tiancheng (928):
In the first month, Khitan sent envoys to pay tribute; granted official positions to six Tibetans and four Uighurs, and released them back to the Tibetans;

In February, the Uighurs sent envoys to pay tribute;

In March, the Uighur Khan Renyu was enthroned as the Khan of Shunhua;
In April, the Tatars sent envoys to pay tribute;

In August, the Khitan sent envoys to offer tribute (requesting the release of prisoners of war);

In September, Tubo and Uighur sent envoys to pay tribute;
In October, the Turkic leader Zhang Mu came to pay tribute;

In November, Tubo sent envoys to pay tribute; in the fourth year of Tiancheng (11)

In April, the Khitan sent envoys to pay tribute (requesting the return of the remains of the Khitan martyrs);

In August, the Heishui Kingdom sent envoys to pay tribute; the Tuyuhun leader Nian Gongshan came to pay tribute; the Goryeo king Wang Jian sent envoys to pay tribute; the Dangxiang leader came to pay tribute; the Tatars came to pay tribute;

The first year of Changxing (930)

In February, the Black Water Kingdom sent envoys to pay tribute;
In February, the Uighurs sent envoys to pay tribute;

In August, Sheng Tuhun surrendered.
In December, the Uighurs sent envoys to pay tribute.

It should be noted that: in November of the first year of Tiancheng (926), the Bohai Kingdom was destroyed by the Khitan, so there is no record of "Bohai Kingdom paying tribute" from then on; in April of the fourth year of Tiancheng (11), an imperial decree was issued to prohibit the Tangut vassals from paying tribute to Beijing, and instead the tributes were received by the border customs, so the records of international friends in the west also decreased significantly; the important neighbor, the Khitan, suffered repeated defeats, and their two most urgent demands when paying tribute were: opening ports for trade and returning prisoners of war (living and dead).

In the first year of Changxing (930), Liu Xu, a Hanlin scholar, submitted an important memorial: requesting the abolition of "poetry and prose" in the imperial examination, and only testing hemp writing, answering foreign books, and commenting on answers. The five major questions were reduced to three major questions to reduce the burden on candidates.

It was this memorial that prevented the "300 Tang Poems" from being continued as "500 Tang Poems" or "300 Five Dynasties Poems". As mentioned earlier, the reason why Tang poetry flourished and achieved both quality and quantity was due to the imperial examination at that time. "Poems" and "Fu" played a considerable role, just as important as our "English". Therefore, all officials in the Tang Dynasty, whether they passed the imperial examination or failed, could recite poems.

A memorial submitted by Liu Xu made a small reform to the imperial examination system. "Poetry" and "Fu" were no longer compulsory subjects, so students no longer had to recite the same rhyme scheme every day.

As a result, the weight of "Reply to the Barbarians" became heavier, and it also indirectly reflected that the diplomatic affairs of the Mingzong Dynasty were becoming increasingly heavy. What the country really needed was not talents in writing poetry and prose, but diplomatic talents.

Another thing I would like to mention is that Comrade Liu Xu is the honorary editor-in-chief of Old Book of Tang.

In terms of diplomatic relations with the Khitan, the Central Plains during Li Siyuan's reign temporarily had the upper hand. Not only did Lu Wenjin and Zhang Xichong abandon the dark and join the light, but even Liao Taizu's eldest son and former crown prince Yelu Bei abandoned his country and joined the Khitan, allowing the Later Tang to gain short-term publicity and long-term opportunities. More importantly, Yelu Bei also became a "traitor".

This "Dongdan prisoner" received unprecedented courtesy (imperial courtesy) from Li Siyuan. The shock of both ice and fire made Yelu Bei lose his composure. In his excitement, he first presented three seals of the Liao Dynasty and then presented a map of Khitan.

Offering seals is just a theoretical expression of attitude and gesture, while offering maps is actually selling out the country.

Yelü Bei's map donation is clearly recorded in the Records of Emperor Mingzong, but not in the History of Liao. Perhaps the Khitans were unaware of Yelü Bei's treasonous behavior, or they deliberately avoided or beautified it, because after Yelü Deguang's death, Yelü Bei's eldest son, Yelü Ruan, ascended the throne and was known as Emperor Shizong of Liao. He must have packaged his father in a certain way.

Facing the grand occasion of "the four barbarians coming to pay tribute to the king", Li Siyuan remained quite calm in his heart. The "small vassal states" only sought small favors, which was not the focus and difficulty of diplomatic work; the big vassal states (Khitan) were temporarily at a disadvantage, but the imperialists were still determined to destroy us, which was the focus and difficulty of the Later Tang Dynasty's diplomatic work.

Li Siyuan's biggest difficulty was within the imperial court - the powerful official An Zhonghui. This honest and passionate young man not only caused chaos among the domestic vassal states, but he even dared to intervene in the most sensitive topic - the establishment of a crown prince.

An Zhonghui will pay a heavy price for his recklessness and ignorance.

(End of this chapter)