History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 600: The Fall of the Later Jin Dynasty 3
During the negotiation phase, Yelu Deguang repeatedly asked to see Sang Weihan. After learning that Sang Weihan had "committed suicide", Yelu Deguang was very shocked and said to the people around him, "I didn't mean to kill him, why did he do this?" Then he ordered a thorough investigation into Sang Weihan's death to find out the real culprit behind it.

So I prefer to believe that the murder of Sang Weihan was committed by Zhang Yanze alone, and then under pressure from the Khitan side, he fabricated a lie and put the blame on Shi Chonggui.

However, one of Zhang Yanze's enemies escaped the disaster. He was the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Li Tao. In the "Zhang Yanze Case", he urged Shi Jingtang to kill Zhang Yanze and even confronted Shi Jingtang in person, leaving Shi Jingtang speechless and swearing.

As the saying goes, a gentleman is open and honest. Li Tao not only did not escape, but instead fell into the trap and took the initiative to find Zhang Yanze, saying, "I once wrote a petition to strongly advocate killing you, and now I come to ask for death."

Zhang Yanze was both shocked and excited. He entertained Li Tao warmly, and smiled as he put aside all grudges. He asked Li Tao, "You finally feel scared today, right?"

Li Tao responded calmly and boldly, "Just like you did back then. If the late emperor had listened to my advice, we wouldn't be in this situation today."

Zhang Yanze did not feel offended at all. Instead, he respected Li Tao's integrity even more, so he ordered someone to pour him some wine.

Li Tao was not polite at all. He picked up the wine glass and drank it all. Then he said goodbye and left without showing any fear or losing his dignity.

Li Tao was Zhang Yanze's enemy, while Sang Weihan was Zhang Yanze's benefactor. Zhang Yanze spared Li Tao but killed Sang Weihan. The reason was naturally known only to him.

There is a saying that Li Tao was honest and upright, his family did not have much property, nor did they have any stunning beauties, so he was not worthy of being killed. But Sang Weihan was different. Some historical materials said that Sang Weihan was also greedy for money, so Zhang Yanze coveted his property.

According to "New Records of the Three Chus", when Li Cunxu had just overthrown the Later Liang Dynasty, Ma Yin of Hunan sent his son Ma Xifan to the capital to pay homage to the emperor. When passing by the Huai River, he met Sang Weihan who lived in Chuzhou and Sizhou. Sang Weihan flattered Ma Xifan and asked to borrow some money from him.

Sang Weihan was ugly, and extremely ugly, with a short body and a long face, very cute. Seeing his ugly appearance and abrupt words, Ma Xifan almost laughed, but he managed to hold it back, and then politely invited him to dinner, and gave him some money after the meal. However, the money was far from what Sang Weihan asked for, so Sang Weihan was furious and said, "Are you sending away a beggar?" Then he walked out in anger.

Later, Ma Xifan became the leader of Southern Chu, and Sang Weihan became the prime minister of the Central Plains Dynasty. Sang Weihan petitioned Shi Jingtang to reduce Ma Xifan's ceremonial guards in retaliation for the humiliation he suffered that year.

In fact, this is most likely a deliberate attempt by later generations to discredit Sang Weihan. Open the map and go from Changsha (Tanzhou) in Hunan to Henan. Why do we have to go through Jiangsu?
The "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" written in the Qing Dynasty retained this record in the "New Records of the Three Chus" written in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the historians of the Qing Dynasty had expressed serious doubts about this matter and specially marked under this record "It seems unreliable, recorded for reference."

Because Sang Weihan is a controversial figure, his historical evaluation is extremely polarized. Those who praise him say that he has the talent of a king's assistant and a capable minister in governing the country. Even Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, highly praised Sang Weihan's talent in governing the country; those who curse him say that he is a sinner through the ages, a traitor, and a national scum...

Among these two diametrically opposed views, those who curse him are the majority, and this is still the case today, because Sang Weihan is the soul of the "pro-Liao faction" and the initiator of the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun.

Therefore, the one who was criticized the most harshly was the Southern Song Dynasty.

Why did we stay in a corner and lose all our northern territory? Because the enemy was too powerful.

Why were the enemies so powerful? Because they occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Why did they occupy the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun? Because Shi Jingtang ceded them.

Why did Shi Jingtang cede it? Because of Sang Weihan's proposal.

History is written by the victors. The Later Jin was replaced by the Later Han, whose founding emperor was none other than Liu Zhiyuan. Liu Zhiyuan was also a participant in the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, so after Liu Zhiyuan became emperor, he systematically whitewashed the "Hedong War."

Liu Zhiyuan could not deny Shi Jingtang because he was Shi Jingtang's direct descendant and Shi Jingtang was the foundation of his rule. To deny Shi Jingtang was to deny himself. Therefore, Shi Jingtang must not have been the mastermind behind the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. He could only have been forced to accept the advice of his subordinates and staff.

Therefore, the following description appeared in the history books: Although Liu Zhiyuan advocated colluding with Khitan for assistance, he strongly opposed the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and suggested only giving the Khitan some money and hiring Khitan people as thugs, while Sang Weihan strongly advocated the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun...

In this way, the images of Shi Jingtang and Liu Zhiyuan were glorious, while Sang Weihan alone bore the infamy of being a traitor and a traitor to the country.

This book tells objective facts and does not deliberately seek to be different or sensational. Although it introduces Sang Weihan's ability to govern the country, I still want to say that Sang Weihan is a traitor. No matter what the original motive is, anyone who sells out the interests of the motherland is a traitor and must bear the eternal infamy of a traitor and be nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.

Zhang Yanze's crimes continued. In addition to robbing money and killing people, Zhang Yanze also set his sights on the concubines in the harem.

Shi Chonggui's favorite concubine, Lady Ding of Chu, the mother of the prince Shi Yanxu, was young and beautiful, and Zhang Yanze took a fancy to her and wanted to take her back to his home to take care of her. When the queen mother hesitated for a moment, Zhang Yanze cursed at her and then forcibly abducted her.

The most ironic thing is that when Zhang Yanze committed these atrocities, he would lead hundreds of cavalrymen to boost his morale, and the flags they held were all inscribed with the four big characters "Loyalty for the Lord". The common people were so angry at these four characters that they laughed.

Everyone was afraid of Zhang Yanze's brutality, but Feng Yu was like a fly seeing a fly. He leaned his shoulder to fawn on Zhang Yanze and asked him to be the courier of the imperial seal so that he could talk to Yelu Deguang and leave a good impression.

Feng Yu delivered the imperial seal and other tokens to Yelu Deguang. Yelu Deguang and his attendants carefully checked them and found that both the workmanship and the seals on them were different from those recorded in history books. He was furious and said, "How dare this grandson use fake goods to deceive me!"

I wouldn't be angry if I got a high-quality imitation, but look, even the seal is different. It's an insult to my IQ!

Shi Chonggui quickly wrote a memorial to explain, saying, "To be honest, this is indeed a high-quality imitation, but it is also the real thing. When Li Congke burned himself to death, the previous imperial seal disappeared. This one was remade by the late emperor Shi Jingtang. The whole court knew about this. If you don't believe me, just ask. Besides, now that things have come to this, how dare I, your grandson, deceive you!"

Only then did Yelu Deguang not pursue the matter.

(End of this chapter)