History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 613 Liu Zhiyuan Becomes Emperor 4
When Fu Yanqing arrived at Suzhou, he encountered an uprising army of tens of thousands of people attacking Xuzhou. Fu Yanqing, escorted by dozens of Khitan cavalry, arrived at the city and planned to communicate with the leader of the uprising army.

The leader of the rebel army, Li Renshu, directly sent people to surround Fu Yanqing, pulled his mount, and said, "We are willing to follow the commander into the city!"

At this time, the person guarding Xuzhou City was Fu Zhaoxu, the son of Fu Yanqing. Fu Zhaoxu made his position clear to the rebels: Don't even think about holding my father hostage to threaten me, I won't take it!
Xuzhou City is also a star city. It has experienced wars and has a complete defense system. The rebels have been unable to capture it for a long time and cannot threaten Fu Yanqing, so they kneel down and kowtow to Fu Yanqing, asking for forgiveness.

Fu Yanqing reached an agreement with them not to hold them accountable, which restored peace in Xuzhou.

Liu Zhiyuan sent envoys with imperial edicts to various places to recruit refugees who had fled to the deep mountains and forests, and persuade them to return to their hometowns and resume work and production.

The anti-Liao movement spread rapidly from a spark to a prairie fire, and Yelu Deguang finally made up his mind to return to his hometown in the north. He summoned his ministers and said that the weather was getting hotter and the Khitans could not stand it, so he planned to return to the north temporarily to visit the queen mother. I plan to leave one of my most trusted people here to preside over the work.

Civil and military officials suggested that he take Empress Dowager Shulü over.

Yelu Deguang smiled bitterly and waved his hands, saying that the empress dowager's family was huge, its power was intertwined and extremely complicated, how could it be possible to completely transfer it to Bianzhou?
According to Yelu Deguang's plan, all the civil and military officials in the court were packed up and taken away. Although these people were "not of my kind" and were not trusted by Yelu Deguang, after they arrived in the grassland, they became Yelu Deguang's "direct descendants", just like Zhao Siwen and Zhao Yanshou, and were his political capital to counter Empress Dowager Shulü.

Of course, these Han officials were unwilling to follow him north, so they said that doing so would only cause people's morale to waver, which would be detrimental to the country, so it would be better to take them away in batches.

Therefore, Yelu Deguang ordered that officials with actual administrative tasks should follow him north, while others (who were honorarily retired and had idle jobs) could stay in Bianzhou temporarily.

Yelu Deguang chose Xiao Han to stay in Bianzhou, announced the restoration of the Xuanwu Army, and appointed Xiao Han as the Jiedushi of the Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou.

There is still controversy in the historical community about Xiao Han's life experience. Some say he was the son of Shilu, while others say he was adopted by Shilu by Aguzhi. Shilu and Aguzhi were both heroes in the founding of the Khitan. In short, Xiao Han was the son of a founding hero of the Liao Dynasty and the nephew of Empress Dowager Shulü.

At the same time, Xiao Han was Yelu Deguang's elder brother-in-law, and his sister was Yelu Deguang's queen.

In other words, Xiao Han was both a member of the "Empress Dowager's Party" and the "Emperor's Party", and both sides regarded him as "one of their own".

Then it is very interesting that Yelu Deguang left Xiao Han in charge of Bianzhou. Because Xiao Han's position in Bianzhou could only have two results: one is to resist Liu Zhiyuan's pressure and consolidate Khitan's interests in the Central Plains; the other is to flee after being defeated and abandon the Central Plains.

If it is the former, then Xiao Han will support Yelu Deguang as the emperor's uncle, and Yelu Deguang will continue to stand at the top of Khitan politics with his merits of annexing the Central Plains;

If it is the latter, then Xiao Han, as the nephew of Empress Dowager Shulü, will share the blame for the defeat with Yelu Deguang. Once Empress Dowager Shulü investigates the guilt of Yelu Deguang's march south, Xiao Han will inevitably be implicated.

Of course, the latter possibility is the most likely, so Yelu Deguang mainly wanted to use Xiao Han as a scapegoat.

On March 3, Yelu Deguang officially left Bianzhou, taking with him thousands of civil and military officials, thousands of imperial guards, hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs, and others. He took away all the gold, silver and jewelry in the palace, leaving only some worthless items such as musical instruments and ceremonial objects.

On his way back north, Yelu Deguang was surprised to find that the villages near Bianzhou were deserted and empty, so he ordered the relevant departments to post a notice to pacify the people and asked the grassroots government to recruit refugees. But he did not stop the Khitan soldiers from burning, killing and looting. On March 3, Yelu Deguang crossed the Yellow River at Baimajin in Huazhou. To his north was Xiangzhou, which was occupied by the leader of the uprising, Liang Hui.

Yelu Deguang sent people to persuade him to surrender, promising to pardon all his sins and to appoint him as a defense envoy.

Liang Hui initially agreed to surrender, but after thinking it over, he always felt that the Khitans were not trustworthy. So when Yelu Deguang was preparing to pass through safely, he suddenly changed his mind and climbed the city to refuse defense.

Yelu Deguang was almost mad with anger and immediately ordered: All troops to attack!

On April 4, the Khitan army launched a total attack in the darkness before dawn, and when the sun rose, it illuminated a purgatory on earth.

The Khitans committed the horrific "Xiangzhou Massacre" in Xiangzhou, and their methods were so cruel that they were outrageous. According to historical records, after the Khitan army captured Xiangzhou, they slaughtered all the men in the city, and all the women followed the army to serve as comfort women. The most cruel thing was the treatment of babies. The Khitan soldiers threw Han babies into the air and then caught them with sharp knives for fun.

Only the Japanese could pull off such a brutal and inhumane scene.

Later, Gao Tangying, the governor of Xiangzhou appointed by the Khitans, took office in glory amid a sea of ​​blood and corpses. During his inspection of the city, Gao Tangying found that there were only about 700 people left in the huge city of Xiangzhou. Later, officials collected the remains in the city and found more than 100,000 corpses.

The Xiangzhou Massacre was another heinous crime committed by the Khitans.

Immediately to the north of Xiangzhou is Cizhou. The governor of Cizhou, Li Gu, had already secretly defected to Liu Zhiyuan, and it was this Li Gu who suggested that Liang Hui attack Xiangzhou.

Then someone informed Yelu Deguang that Li Gu of Cizhou had betrayed him. Yelu Deguang immediately arrested Li Gu and interrogated him strictly. Li Gu gritted his teeth and refused to admit it.

Yelu Deguang slowly reached his hand into the car, acting as if he was going to take out evidence from the car.

Perhaps Li Gu and Liang Hui had communicated verbally face to face and were confident that no evidence was left. Li Gu was certain that Yelu Deguang was deliberately deceiving him, so he remained calm and said frankly: "Since Your Majesty has sufficient evidence, you should make it public immediately." He turned the tables.

After six harsh interrogations, Li Gu behaved like a revolutionary in Zhazidong, always answering the enemy with only three words: "I don't know."

Only then did Yelu Deguang believe Li Gu and released him.

Continuing northward from Xiangzhou, all the towns and villages along the way were almost completely in ruins, and there was no one living anywhere. The accompanying staff had mixed feelings, frowned, and could not bear to look directly. At this time, Yelu Deguang pointed to this vast uninhabited area and said to his left and right: "It is Zhao Yanshou who destroyed the Central Plains into this state!" Then he turned around and said to the chief strategist Zhang Li: "It is also your efforts."

(End of this chapter)