History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 494: Son Pretending to Be Grandson
[Son pretending to be a grandson]

At the beginning of the Hedong War, Li Congke was in a strong advantage on paper, but he encountered disadvantages at the beginning. Of course, these minor episodes were not enough to reverse Shi Jingtang's weakness.

The upper troops attacked the plot, the second attacked the Jiaotong, the second attacked the soldiers, and the lower attacked the city.

Li Congke made serious mistakes at the strategic level and misjudged the situation. He lost in "strategy". Under the guidance of this wrong strategic thinking, Li Congke's group took another wrong step in "transaction". As the saying goes, one wrong step leads to another. Zhang Jingda, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces responsible for suppressing the rebellion, and Yang Guangyuan, the deputy commander-in-chief, focused their main energy on the lowest level of siege, but did not achieve the desired results.

The ultimate failure of Li Congke Group was a multi-dimensional and all-round failure.

However, even with so many omissions, as the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, Li Congke was still able to achieve a strategic balance with Shi Jingtang.

The intervention of the Khitans led to a significant reversal of the balance of the war.

Why did the Khitans intervene in the internal affairs of the Central Plains at this time? What role did they play in this civil strife in the Central Plains? What impact would this civil strife have on the Khitans? Next, we will switch to the Khitan perspective and tell the ins and outs of the Khitans' interference in the internal affairs of the Central Plains.

After the death of Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, Empress Dowager Shulü was extremely power-hungry. She delayed letting Crown Prince Yelü Bei inherit the throne, and instead took power as regent, monopolizing the highest power in Khitan. This aroused unanimous opposition from all the civil and military officials, ministers and nobles in the court. Empress Dowager Shulü's repressive measures were extremely tough. In one word - bloody suppression. She did not hesitate to kill more than a hundred nobles at one time and sent all those who opposed her to "accompany the late emperor". She even cut off her own wrist for this, earning her the nickname "Empress Dowager with the Broken Wrist".

The frightened Yelu Bei had to take the initiative to give up the throne and withdraw from the power struggle.

Even though there was bloody slaughter, there were still many meritorious veteran officials who opposed Empress Dowager Shulü.

Among them was a man named Yelu Duozhen, who enjoyed a high reputation in the Yelu clan. When the Yaonian clan (overthrown by Yelu Abaoji) was Khan, Yelu Duozhen's grandfather served as the Grand Marshal (Yilijin) twice. At that time, someone wanted to assassinate Yelu Abaoji's grandfather, but Yelu Duozhen's grandfather thwarted the plot in time and killed all the traitors. In short, his grandfather saved Yelu Abaoji's grandfather.

Yelu Duozhen was intelligent and resourceful, and was Yelu Abaoji's think tank and his right-hand man. It was he who set the national strategy of conquering the west first and then the east for Yelu Abaoji. Under his guidance, Yelu Abaoji first conquered the Dangxiang people in the west and then conquered the Bohai Kingdom in the east.

Such a Zhuge Liang-like figure clearly opposed Empress Dowager Shulü.

Empress Dowager Shulü took him to prison and said to him: "The iron chains are rotten, I will release you now!"

Soon, Empress Dowager Shulü ordered him to be summoned. When the jailer opened the cell door, Yelu Duozhen stiffened his neck and said, "Is the iron lock rotten? Are you going to let me go?"

When Empress Dowager Shulü heard this, she was both angry and happy, "Forget it, forget it, come out."

Through this interesting little story, we can intuitively understand the tremendous pressure faced by the cold-blooded and iron-fisted Empress Dowager Shulü. In desperation, she could only let her second son Yelü Deguang inherit the throne.

In fact, Yelu Deguang was just a pawn in the power game of Empress Dowager Shulü, the product of the compromise between Empress Dowager Shulü and the opposition, and a puppet of Empress Dowager Shulü. Understanding this truth is crucial to understanding the political and diplomatic actions of the Khitan.

Emperor Taizong of Liao, Yelü Deguang, was also very clear about this truth. His throne as emperor was not secure, so he had to be on guard against his elder brother, his younger brother, and his own mother.

Yelu Deguang kept a very close watch on Yelu Bei. Yelu Bei was appointed King of Dongdan by the previous emperor to guard the Kingdom of Dongdan (formerly the Kingdom of Bohai). When he came to the capital to attend the funeral, he was detained in the capital by Yelu Deguang for nearly five years.

During this period, Yelu Deguang often visited Yelu Bei's residence. Generally speaking, when the emperor visited a minister's private residence, there were two different interpretations: either he trusted him very much, or he did not trust him very much.

Yelu Bei obviously belonged to the latter, and Yelu Deguang carried out surveillance on him under the guise of visiting and being a guest.

In the "History of Liao Dynasty: Chronicle of Emperor Taizong", the time and frequency of "visiting the emperor's house" were densely recorded, just like clocking in at work. In addition, Yelu Deguang often took his brother to play and feast together, or to pay homage to the Taizu Temple.

In short, Yelu Bei must not be allowed to leave his sight.

During the detention of Yelu Bei, Yelu Deguang ordered General Yelu Yu to relocate a large number of Dongdan people to Dongping and promoted Dongping County to Nanjing. As a result, many Dongdan people fled to Jurchen and Silla.

After nearly five years of house arrest, Yelu Bei finally returned to his fiefdom in Dongdan. However, Yelu Deguang immediately sent him a personal bodyguard group (ceremonial guards) to monitor him 24 hours a day.

This life was unbearable. After a little more than half a year, Yelu Bei finally abandoned his country and fled to the Tang Dynasty by sea.

Yelu Deguang successfully forced out the Yelu Beis, but he still had a younger brother, Yelu Lihu.

In fact, if we look into the root of the problem, the threat posed by Yelu Lihu should be attributed to Empress Dowager Shulü. After Yelu Deguang ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Shulü asked Yelu Deguang to make his third brother Yelu Lihu the crown prince, the crown prince, and the generalissimo of the army. Yelu Lihu was designated as the heir to the throne in the form of national law.

This operation is incredible. Yelu Deguang was only in his thirties, strong and vigorous, so why was he in a hurry to designate a successor? Li Siyuan, who was in his sixties at the same time, was also unwilling to designate Li Congrong as the crown prince.

In fact, Empress Dowager Shulü wanted her youngest son, Yelü Lihu, to ascend the throne. Yelü Deguang was just a strategic buffer, a small transition. Later, we will elaborate on Yelü Lihu's character and why Empress Dowager Shulü insisted on letting him ascend the throne.

Yelu Deguang couldn't afford to offend his mother, Empress Dowager Shulü, and couldn't treat his younger brother the same way he treated his older brother. So, Yelu Deguang could only try his best to please his mother, hoping to change her attitude.

For example, as soon as Yelu Deguang ascended the throne, he built a "Broken Wrist Tower" for his mother, carved a stone and erected a monument, portraying his mother as someone who was so sad because her husband had died that she cut off her wrist to express her grief. She was simply the most chaste and heroic woman in the world, so he built a tower and erected a monument to praise her forever.
For example, a monument was erected in the hometown where the mother was born, "Monument to the Birth of Empress Dowager Yingtian";
For example, the mother's birthday is designated as "Yongning Day", and the whole country has a three-day holiday to celebrate;
For example, whenever his mother was sick and had anorexia, Yelu Deguang would take the initiative to fast to keep her company. If his mother didn't eat, he would never dare to eat.
For example, he would serve his mother respectfully, and her mother would make all the decisions on military and national affairs. But once something he said displeased his mother, as long as she looked at him, he would be so scared that he would back away and roll out. Unless his mother sent a verbal order to summon him, he would never dare to go in and bother her again...

In short, according to the traditional "filial piety", Yelu Deguang's son can be regarded as a model of filial piety and he really knows how to act like a grandson!
(End of this chapter)