History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 567 Grandpa is here
Recall that whenever someone in Shandong Province caused trouble, such as Huang Chao and Wang Shifan, if their target was Bianzhou, Luoyang and Chang'an in the west, then Yunzhou, Yanzhou, Puzhou and Caozhou would be important strategic points of contention; and if they wanted to unite with the Huainan forces in the south, or the Huainan forces went north to support, then Suzhou, Xuzhou and Yizhou would become hot spots.

Yang Guangyuan's plan was to collude with the Khitan in the north, so the northwest line in and out of the Shandong Peninsula became Yang Guangyuan's lifeline. The first stop on this route was Dizhou, after Dizhou was Cangzhou, and after Cangzhou was Youzhou.

Huang Chao went west, Wang Shifan went south, and Yang Guangyuan went north.

Therefore, although Dizhou has a low presence, it firmly holds Qingzhou's neck to the north. Yang Guangyuan immediately contacted Li Qiong, the governor of Dizhou, but was flatly rejected by Li Qiong.

Li Qiong stood firmly on the side of the central court, which made Yang Guangyuan trapped before the war broke out.

Yang Guangyuan's second effort, of course, was to collude with the Khitan. Due to the dangerous land routes, Yang Guangyuan specially sent people with letters to cross the sea from the Shandong Peninsula across the Bohai Bay and land in today's Liaoning Province.

Shi Jingtang set a bad precedent for the world, refreshed people's cognition, and opened a new mode of seizing power, that is, "selling out the country for glory", selling out the interests of the motherland to the Khitan in exchange for the support of the Khitan people, and thus becoming the emperor of the Central Plains. Therefore, the rebels in the Later Jin Dynasty generally followed suit, not only Fan Yanguang and Yang Guangyuan, but also Zhao Yanshou who was trapped in the Khitan, and even An Zhongrong, a "patriot" who shouted "anti-Liao".

Yang Guangyuan not only expressed his willingness to be the second Shi Jingtang to the Khitan, but also leaked all the secrets of the Central Plains, saying that the Central Plains had suffered disasters for years, the treasury was empty, and the people were exhausted. The Later Jin regime was already a broken house with holes all over it and it would collapse if someone from outside kicked it. "Dad, come on."

In Khitan, Empress Dowager Shulü was very unfriendly to Han surrendered generals because she wanted to take the conservative "support Jin" route. For example, she was very venomous and angry at Zhao Dejun, causing Zhao Dejun to die of depression less than two years after being captured. On the contrary, Yelu Deguang made special use of Han surrendered generals, such as Zhao Dejun's adopted son Zhao Yanshou, and Zhao Siwen who forced Empress Dowager Shulü to cut off his wrist.

On the surface, Yelu Deguang's reason was to appease the Han groups in the country and implement the basic national policy of "separate governance of Han and Tibetans" (one country, two systems). In reality, he was secretly cultivating a group of "anti-Jin faction" because they were often the most active vanguards in destroying Jin. By promoting them, advancing the war against the Central Plains, and using the war to consolidate power, this was Yelu Deguang's big chess game.

Especially Zhao Yanshou. Since Shi Jingtang ascended the throne, he has been instigating in front of Yelu Deguang, seizing every opportunity to slander Shi Jingtang with all his might, such as killing the envoys of the Liao Dynasty (the real culprit behind the scenes was Xu Zhigao of Huainan, who blamed the Later Jin Dynasty), recruiting traitors (the Tuyuhun defection incident), harassing Nanjing (An Zhongrong's invasion of Youzhou incident), and all the hostile acts done by An Zhongrong, etc.

Now, Yang Guangyuan and other traitors of the Later Jin Dynasty were secretly colluding with the Khitan and revealing their true intentions. In addition, Jing Yanguang's various provocative actions made public opinion in the Liao Dynasty boil over, and calls for a southward campaign were rampant. Thanks to Jing Yanguang, Yelu Deguang didn't even need to create artificial chaos.

Under such circumstances, Empress Dowager Shulü's "supporting Jin" policy gradually became unstable. If she continued to obstruct the war, she would probably be called a "Liao traitor" by the Khitans.

Therefore, Yelu Deguang responded to the will of heaven and the will of the people and naturally launched the "Jin-Liao War".

In November of the eighth year of Tianfu (943), it is said that Yelu Di Nian, the governor of Shangjing of Khitan, captured a spy of the Later Jin Dynasty and learned that the Later Jin Dynasty was ready to take the initiative to attack the Khitan. Therefore, the next month (December), Yelu Deguang personally led a large army to Youzhou, set Youzhou as the headquarters, and "discussed the attack on Jin". In fact, this "spy case" was most likely directed and acted by the Khitan people themselves, because the place where the spy was captured was the capital of Khitan - Shangjing Linhuangfu, and through a lot of historical facts and reasoning analysis, Shi Chonggui had no intention of taking real action with the Khitan. When the war broke out, Shi Chonggui sent several waves of envoys to seek peace and explain because he heard that the Khitan was going to take action.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of Tianfu (944), the first day of the new year, Emperor Taizong of Liao, Yelü Deguang, divided his troops into two groups and marched south into the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty on the grounds that the Later Jin Dynasty had unilaterally breached the treaty.

One route was led by Zhao Yanshou and Zhao Yanzhao with 50,000 troops, which marched south from Youzhou as the main attack direction; the other route was led by the emperor's uncle Yelu Anduan (younger brother of Yelu Abaoji) and nephew Yelu Wan (second son of Yelu Lihu), who set out from Yunzhou, marched south to Yanmen Pass and attacked Taiyuan Prefecture in Hedong.

This was the first of the "three major battles" of the Jin-Liao War. It was divided into two battlefields, the main battlefield of Heshuo and the secondary battlefield of Hedong. Because they were separated by the Taihang Mountains, we use the Taihang Mountains as a reference and simply call them the "Shandong Battlefield" and the "Shanxi Battlefield."

It is also important to note that Zhao Yanzhao and Zhao Yanshou were not brothers. Zhao Yanzhao was the son of Zhao Siwen. Zhao Siwen forced Empress Dowager Shulü to cut off her wrist, and Yelu Deguang used his son as a vanguard officer. Without analysis, we would not know that the Liao Dynasty was also full of the flavor of line struggle. Yelu Deguang's efforts to resist the control of Empress Dowager Shulü can also be seen.

Before the army set out, Yelu Deguang lovingly and solemnly assured Zhao Yanshou that as long as the Later Jin Dynasty was overthrown, he would make him the ruler of the Central Plains, and he must take good care of the Central Plains for the Khitan, and be a good boy.

Yelu Deguang also pointed at Zhao Yanshou and said to the Han soldiers and generals who surrendered many times: "This man is your future new master. You must assist him well!" In this way, the doubts of the Han soldiers and generals who surrendered were dispelled. They knew that the Khitans had no intention of destroying the Central Plains people, but only helping the Central Plains people to replace a puppet emperor, so the hostility gradually disappeared.

In the ninth year of Tianfu (944), the happiest person in the world was Zhao Yanshou, who had received a promise from the Liao emperor that he would soon be enthroned as the emperor of the Central Plains. Of course, there was a prerequisite, which was to destroy the Later Jin first.

As a result, Zhao Yanshou became the most courageous and hard-working Khitan general in the Jin-Liao War. Through the following narration, we should realize that it was not Yelu Deguang who really defeated the Later Jin Dynasty, but Zhao Yanshou, the Han surrendered general.

So could Zhao Yanshou really fulfill his wish, successfully pay tribute to Shi Jingtang, and establish a "Later Yan" or "Later Wei"? How would Yelu Deguang face the promise he had made?

Let’s take a look at the Khitan’s conquest of the Jin Dynasty – the “Three Major Battles”.

(End of this chapter)