History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 526: A Shameful Minister

[One and a half shameful ministers]

When Yelu Deguang led his army back north, the highest official of Yunzhou, Sha Yanxun, the governor of Datong, went out of the city to greet him, expressing his acceptance of the organization's arrangements and recognizing the cession agreement of the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun".

Yelu Deguang warmly retained Sha Yanxun in the army and did not let him return to the city. At this time, the Khitans still did not have enough confidence. They were really worried that the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" would cut off their retreat and catch them in a jar. Therefore, they used the strategy of "capture the leader first" to control their leaders. In this way, even if they encountered resistance, it would be a small problem with dispersed forces and easy to split and disintegrate.

Sha Yanxun's aide, Jiedushi Judge Wu Luan, was filled with righteous indignation when he saw the Khitans detaining their superior. He summoned his men and made an impassioned speech, saying that how could we, a country of etiquette and the Celestial Empire, submit to the barbarians?
Everyone was outraged, so they nominated Wu Luan to temporarily take charge of the affairs of the prefecture. Wu Luan ordered the city gates to be closed and refused to hand over the city to the Khitans.

The Khitans then launched a strong attack on Yunzhou. Wu Luan led his men to resist tenaciously, and the Khitans could not take it down for a long time.

The resistance of Yunzhou set an example for other compatriots in the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun". Among them, Guo Chongwei, the commander-in-chief of the Yingzhou cavalry, abandoned his army and rode south alone. At that time, the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" were already Khitan territory at the legal level. Guo Chongwei's behavior was equivalent to "smuggling", which was comparable to crossing the Berlin Wall.

Wu Luan of Yunzhou held out for more than half a year, and the Khitans were unable to break through. Wu Luan sent people to contact Shi Jingtang through a shortcut, asking him to send troops to support and keep Yunzhou in the Central Plains.

Shi Jingtang personally pleaded with the Khitan father, and finally resolved the Yunzhou crisis peacefully. The solution was: Yunzhou was still ceded to the Khitan as agreed, and the Khitan had to allow Wu Luan to return to the Central Plains, and Shi Jingtang appointed Wu Luan as the deputy envoy of the Xuzhou Wuning Army.

When the Khitan passed through Xinzhou, he ordered Qu Zhang, the governor of Xinzhou Weisai Army, to extort money from the people and pay 100,000 strings of cash as "military labor expenses".

However, Qu Zhang's nightmare had just begun.

There were many ethnic minority tribes living in the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun". Among them, a "Western Xi" tribe lived in Guizhou (now Huailai County, Hebei Province).

When Yelü Abaoji unified the northern grasslands, the Shiwei, Xi and other tribes surrendered to the Khitan one after another, became second-class citizens of the Khitan and suffered exploitation and oppression. One of the Xi tribal chiefs named Quzhu could not bear the oppression, so he led his people to migrate westward and defected to Liu Rengong of Youzhou at that time. He was settled in Guizhou and this Xi tribe was called "Western Xi".

After Quzhu died, his son Saola succeeded him. After Li Cunxu destroyed Liu Shouguang of Youzhou, the "Western Xi" tribe, led by Saola, expressed their allegiance to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu gladly accepted the offer, adopted a policy of appeasement, comforted them, and gave Saola the name "Li Shaowei".

Saula married a Khitan chieftain, Zhubulu's sister. Later, Zhubulu committed a crime in Khitan and fled to his brother-in-law Saula in Guizhou. The Khitan launched a cross-border manhunt and attacked Saula, but failed.

Later, during the reign of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan, the Later Tang dynasty was strong and adopted a strong diplomatic policy towards the Khitan. The Khitan was in a weak position and was unable to deal with Zhubulu's defection to Guizhou.

After Sula died, his son Jala succeeded him.

Now, Zhubulu has also passed away. Zhela went out of the city to welcome the surrender, apologized and submitted to Yelu Deguang. Yelu Deguang comforted Zhela with kind words and said to him: "What crime have you committed? The guilty ones are Sula and Zhubulu." Then, he ordered people to dig up the graves, dig out the bones of the two, grind them and scatter the ashes.

Yelu Deguang did not punish Zhaela, but he opened the coffins of his father and uncle, mutilated their bodies, and scattered their bones and ashes. The cruelty of the Khitan was still horrifying.

The Xi tribes became more afraid of the Khitans and chose to defect. At this time, Yelu Deguang ordered Qu Zhang, the governor of Xinzhou Weisai Army, to lead his troops to attack the Xi tribes one by one and help the Khitans pacify the Xi tribes. He also promised Qu Zhang that he would find a general to replace him as soon as possible and then let him return to the Central Plains.

Qu Zhang was "brave and strong" and nicknamed "Tiger Crazy". He had been in Xinzhou since March of the third year of Emperor Mingzong's Tiancheng reign (928), which was nearly ten years ago. In the eyes of the Khitan, he was the best candidate to pacify the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun".

As expected, Qu Zhang quickly pacified the Xi tribes. Afterwards, he was transferred to the front line of Yunzhou to attack Yunzhou Wuluan.

With Shi Jingtang's intervention and the reconciliation in Yunzhou, Qu Zhang had already made many contributions to the Khitan, but the Khitan went back on their word and still refused to let Qu Zhang return to the Central Plains.

Qu Zhang finally saw through the true face of imperialism. His dreams were shattered, his spiritual world collapsed, and he became depressed from then on, and soon died of grief.

Wu Luan, Qu Zhang and others are the epitome of the vast majority of people in the Central Plains during that period. Although the Khitans were militarily superior, they were completely crushed by the Central Plains culturally.

A poem by Chen Liang of the Song Dynasty is a confession of the values ​​of the people of the Central Plains, "Song of Water Melody: Sending Off Grand Minister Zhang Demao to the Prisons":
"The capital of Yao, the land of Shun, the fief of Yu, there should be one or two of them who are ashamed of being a minister." (Excerpt)
The Three Sovereigns ruled the world, the Five Emperors were rulers, and China is a land with a long history and many outstanding people. Our national pride and sense of superiority do not allow us to bow down to foreign barbarians!
"Why ask about the destiny of the world? The bright sun is in the middle."

The Khitans exerted a strong influence on the Central Plains civilization. Not only did they establish a puppet regime, but they also directly took control of the Central Plains a few years later, wanting to incorporate the entire Central Plains into the Khitan territory and destroy the Han people in the Central Plains. The formation of the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" was closely related to the Khitan's foreign policy.

Usually, people have a misunderstanding that the chaos of the Five Dynasties was a concentrated outbreak of historical problems left over from the Tang Dynasty, and that the rapid change of dynasties was the inevitable result of the separatist rule of the Tang Dynasty. So when Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin "released military power with a cup of wine", this problem was solved, which also enabled the Song Dynasty to prosper for a long time.

There is nothing wrong with this statement, but it overemphasizes the subjective initiative of the people in the Central Plains and ignores another major factor - the Khitan.

To be precise, the historical problems left over from the Tang Dynasty - separatist regimes of local governors and external interference from the Khitan - combined to lead to the chaotic situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the Central Plains.

The unpopularity of the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" led to the unpopularity of the Khitan during this period. When talking about the Khitan, most people probably think of the Khitan during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Khitan in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, and believe that the Khitan's "Great Liao Kingdom" was a nomadic regime that existed during the Northern Song Dynasty.

In fact, the Khitans had already started their heyday during the Five Dynasties. They first interfered in the internal affairs of the Central Plains, indirectly overthrew the Later Tang and established the Later Jin. A few years later, they took action themselves, directly overthrew the Later Jin, and took control of Bianzhou. It was this time of taking control of Bianzhou that made the people of the Central Plains taste the taste of being slaves of a conquered country. Therefore, in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Han people of the Central Plains were extremely determined to resist the Khitans, and ethnic hatred was overflowing.

When we focus on the Five Dynasties period, we will really ask the question of "who ruled the Central Plains", the people of the Central Plains or the Khitans? I believe that at that time, this was not a ridiculous question as it seems today. Many people would be confused and bewildered.

The patriotic poet Chen Liang answered this historical question with his powerful voice:

"Why ask about the destiny of the world? The bright sun is in the middle."

(End of this chapter)