History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 495: Son Pretending to Be Grandson 2
No one has ever been willing to be a puppet, and Yelu Deguang is no exception.

Yelu Deguang "looks serious but is kind and benevolent", which means that he looks mature, mature at a young age, calm and experienced, reliable, and kind, just like a wise ruler. Like his brother Yelu Bei, he is highly valued by his father Yelu Abao. After being appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Army, he led the army to war and "achieved success wherever he went".

Yelu Deguang was young and energetic, with ideals and ambitions. Although he was respectful and obedient to his mother on the surface, deep down he still longed to monopolize power and realize his political ambitions.

Reading "History of Liao Dynasty: Chronicle of Emperor Taizong" always gives people a strange feeling, as if something is not right. After careful sorting, one will find the strangeness: as an emperor, Yelu Deguang rarely took any domestic affairs measures.

We can briefly summarize the contents of "Taizong Benji" before the Southern Expedition:

1. Long live mom;

2. Brother, I come to play with you again;
3. The third brother is so awesome;
4. Watching a play, fishing, catching geese

During a goose hunting trip, a storm suddenly hit, the boat capsized and more than sixty followers were drowned.

Compared with the chronicles of the emperors of the Central Plains dynasties, they are simply not doing their jobs properly. The emperors of the Central Plains were either busy meeting with ministers and discussing national policies, or appointing and dismissing high-ranking officials, or visiting the people to investigate their sufferings and inquire about the trials of cases...

Yelu Deguang was not deliberately "not doing his job", but he really had no job to do. The military and political power was controlled by Empress Dowager Shulü, and all he could do as an emperor was to carve a stone tablet and praise Empress Dowager Shulü.

Yelu Deguang was a man of great talent and vision. He was unwilling to be a puppet of his mother, and even more unwilling to pin his fate on the mercy of others. He wanted to get rid of the puppet state.

His escape must be subtle and silent, without being obvious.

For example, he promoted the nine disciples of the Yaonian clan. The Yaonian clan belonged to the "nobles of the previous dynasty", and it was from the Yaonian clan that Yelu Abaoji took over the throne of the Khitan Khan. Now, in order to show the emperor's great grace and the tolerance and kindness of the empire, Yelu Deguang took the initiative to promote the descendants of the Yaonian clan.

On the surface, Yelu Deguang was "lenient and benevolent", but in reality he was weakening the power of Empress Dowager Shulü.

These little tricks are really a drop in the bucket for consolidating imperial power. How can one quickly establish his own prestige and gain real power? The answer is war.

The reason why Empress Dowager Shulü possessed such formidable power was not just because she was Yelü Abaoji's woman, after all, Yelü Abaoji had been dead for many years. Empress Dowager Shulü's authority was mostly obtained through war. The nomadic peoples such as the Khitan were tough, and women could also go to the battlefield. In Yelü Abaoji's early campaigns, the enemy tribe took advantage of his absence to attack his base camp. Empress Dowager Shulü commanded the response, personally shot arrows, and is said to have captured three enemy generals alive.

War can quickly gain prestige, especially the support of the army. Therefore, Yelu Deguang focused on foreign wars.

Yelu Deguang looked around and saw that the north, west and east had all been conquered by Taizu, leaving only the Later Tang in the south. It happened that the King of Dingzhou had expressed his allegiance to the Khitan and asked for support. So Yelu Deguang sent his generals Tulei (Tuli Tiela) and Chala (Chala) to the south to provide assistance.

The Khitan reinforcements won at first but then lost, Tu Nei was killed, and Zhu La and others were captured, and the reinforcements were almost completely wiped out.

This battle was a huge blow to Yelu Deguang. Not only did he lose his best soldiers and generals, but more importantly, he had originally intended to divert domestic conflicts through a foreign war, consolidate his imperial power through a victory, and get rid of his mother's manipulation. However, the annihilation of his army made his domestic situation even more passive. He lost more than he gained.

The captured Zila was a senior Khitan general, at least at the level of a column commander (Dutong), so the Khitan sent envoys many times, with humble words, begging the Later Tang to release him.

In the records of the exchanges between the two envoys, a very interesting scene occurred:
The Later Tang said that the Khitans were humble and cowardly, begging for mercy, but our Emperor Mingzong was mighty and domineering, beheaded their envoys, refused to reply to the letter, and "beheaded the envoys without reporting";
However, Khitan historical records say that the Later Tang Dynasty kept sending envoys to request reconciliation and showed obvious fear of the Khitan, so the Khitan returned home...

In short, both sides are trying to flatter themselves. Big countries always want to save face. If we analyze it rationally, we can see that what both sides said is basically true, but both sides exaggerated the points that are in their favor and beautified to a certain extent. We combined historical materials from all sides and tried to restore the truth:

The Later Tang won a tragic victory, recovered Dingzhou, drove away the Khitan reinforcements, and achieved its strategic goal. There was no need to expand the war, and it was willing to reconcile with the Khitan; the Khitan suffered heavy losses, and because Dingzhou had been occupied by the Later Tang, it had no reason to continue fighting with the Later Tang. Both sides were willing to reconcile, but they were just bargaining over the terms of reconciliation.

Personally, I think it is true that Emperor Mingzong refused to return the captives, but "beheading the envoy without reporting" is neither in line with international norms nor logical. The historians of the Song Dynasty wrote this history. At that time, the Song Dynasty was at odds with the Khitan. The historians could only use words to fantasize about how great the emperor of the Central Plains was. "Beheading the envoy without reporting" is so awesome. I just want to ask him if this melon is ripe.

From Li Siyuan to Li Congke, while the Khitans sent envoys to seek peace, they never gave up their regular harassment of the Central Plains for the purpose of looting, and their activities were limited to the border areas, which was a daily task for the northern nomadic peoples.

There were many reasons why the Khitans did not invade deeply during this period. From the perspective of the Later Tang Dynasty, Zhao Dejun of Youzhou and Shi Jingtang of Hedong did make outstanding contributions in defending the northern border. If they had fought head-on, the Khitans might not have been able to gain an advantage.
From the Khitan's perspective, in the central court, Yelu Deguang was constrained by his mother, Empress Dowager Shulü, and could not fully exert his power. He was willing but unable to invade the south. In particular, the defeat in Dingzhou caused an anti-war wave in Khitan, and Yelu Deguang was unable to promote a full-scale war with the Later Tang. Another more practical reason was the lack of a guide.

Previously, Lu Wenjin acted as a qualified guide, but he chose to defect in the early Ming Dynasty and returned to the Central Plains. Zhang Xichong and others also chose to "cross the river to the south" and fled to the Later Tang with Han people and officials.

Empress Dowager Shulü's trust in the Han surrendered generals also dropped to freezing point. For example, the one who forced her to cut off her wrist was the Han surrendered general Zhao Siwen.

There was a Han Chinese who gained the trust of Empress Dowager Shulü and was given an important position. This person was Han Yanhui. However, Han Yanhui was opposed to the southward invasion of the Central Plains.

There was also a Han surrendered general who gained the trust of Empress Dowager Shulü and also supported the march south. Who was this person?

(End of this chapter)