History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 620: Crossing Agreement 2
The advantage of the "Empress Dowager Party" lies in the "hostage card" in the hands of Empress Dowager Shulü. Empress Dowager Shulü knew that she could not compete with Yelu Ruan in terms of physical strength, so she played a shady trick and held all the family members of the "Emperor Shizong Party" who stayed in Shangjing as hostages. The cruel and tyrannical Yelu Lihu gave a death order to the guards guarding the hostages: "If I can't win, I will kill these people first!"

People believe that this guy does what he says.

The cruelty of Empress Dowager Shulü was methodical. There was a careful political logic behind her butcher knife, which was a derivative of the distribution of interests. In other words, her behavior was predictable and controllable terror. However, the cruelty of Yelu Lihu was not that complicated. It could be said that it was unreasonable. He was simply King Zhou of Shang and King Jie of Xia resurrected. If there was any logic, it was that "interest is the first mentor of mankind." Yelu Lihu enjoyed killing and killed for the sake of killing. It was an uncontrollable terror.

Even if we leave aside the hostages, many soldiers were fathers, sons and brothers who were in the two camps respectively. So the soldiers on both sides were dejected and worried, and cried to each other: "Once the war starts, it will be us fathers, sons and brothers killing each other!" The soldiers on both sides had no fighting spirit and no one wanted to go to war.

The two sides were thus stuck in a strange stalemate on both sides of the Huangshui River.

At this time, an extremely important figure in Khitan history came into being, this person was Yelu Wuzhi.

Yelu Wuzhi was a descendant of Yelu Yanmu (Yellu Abaoji's second uncle) and a member of the Khitan royal family. He served as "Tiyin" at the time and was in charge of the royal family's politics and religion.

Yelu Wuzhi was well-read, intelligent, and highly respected, and was trusted by Empress Dowager Shulü. At this critical moment in history, Yelu Wuzhi gave advice to Empress Dowager Shulü, and was regarded as a thorn in the eye by Yelu Ruan. Yelu Ruan wanted to sow discord and kill someone with a borrowed knife.

Therefore, Yelu Ruan wrote many "secret letters" with ambiguous and evasive words to Yelu Wuzhi, and deliberately leaked them to Empress Dowager Shulü. For details, please refer to the story of Cao Cao alienating Ma Chao and Han Sui in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

At that time, both sides were full of "Infernal Affairs". The "Emperor Shizong's Party" secretly contacted Empress Dowager Shulü, saying that although they were in Yelu Ruan's camp, their hearts were on the Empress Dowager's side. They hoped that the Empress Dowager would understand and not kill their family members. The "Empress Dowager's Party" also secretly communicated with Yelu Ruan, saying that although they were around the Empress Dowager, they supported Yelu Ruan... This situation was very common, so Empress Dowager Shulü indeed became suspicious of Yelu Wuji.

Empress Dowager Shulü summoned Yelu Wuzhi, produced the "evidence" and confronted him face to face.

After reading the letters, Yelu Wuzhi said frankly, "This is obviously a frame-up and an attempt to sow discord. As the saying goes, trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people if you don't trust them. In the face of national crisis, I am willing to fight to the death for the Queen Mother, but if you doubt me, then I can't do anything. If you really want to doubt me, you can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you."

Seeing his frankness, Empress Dowager Shulü felt relieved and said, "If I really doubted you, why would I let you read these letters? You are a senior noble of the Liao Dynasty. I want to hear your opinion."

Yelu Wuzhi said that the solution to the problem is actually very simple, it is nothing more than peace or war. I personally support reconciliation, and Khitans should not fight against Khitans.

Empress Dowager Shulü certainly understood the dangers of civil war. Once it started, no matter what the final result was, it would severely damage the vitality of the Khitan, and Taizu's foundation would most likely be destroyed. Let's not talk about the distant past. Let's talk about the Central Plains Dynasty. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the civil war has continued to escalate, which gave the Khitan the opportunity to move south, first to the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and then to Bianzhou. Haven't you eaten pork, but haven't you seen pigs run?

Empress Dowager Shulü immediately agreed to the settlement and said, "Then in your opinion, who can take on this important task?"

"If the Queen Mother trusts me, I am willing to act as a lobbyist. If I am lucky enough to persuade Prince Yongkang, it will be a great blessing for the country!"

Therefore, Empress Dowager Shulü wrote a letter and asked Yelu Wuzhi to pass it to Yelu Ruan. In this letter, Empress Dowager Shulü took the initiative. Although it was a peaceful invitation, the tone and wording were still very harsh. As a parent, she angrily scolded Yelu Ruan for being disobedient and rude.

After reading the letter, Yelu Ruan was furious and immediately ordered someone to write a reply letter, which was "full of rude words."

Empress Dowager Shulü was a man of great wisdom and scheming. She clearly agreed to the settlement, but she accused Yelu Ruan in her letter. Behind this was her political maneuvering. She did this to increase her bargaining chips, similar to first raising the price and then giving a discount in marketing. In this way, in the subsequent negotiations, Empress Dowager Shulü's behavior of "maintaining the original price" could be regarded as a compromise, using her own fake concessions to exchange for the other party's real concessions.

Yelu Ruan was about to start a verbal exchange, but Yelu Wuzhi stopped him in time. Cursing back and forth would inevitably escalate the situation, and it is very likely that a gun would go off accidentally, leading to a more serious military conflict. For the sake of the country, I think it is better to sit down calmly and have a good talk.

Yelu Ruan was rich and powerful, and he was arrogant. He pointed at the generals around him and said, "The enemy is just a bunch of rabble. Look, even if we really fight, do you think I will lose? Let's fight, who is afraid of who?"

Yelu Wuzhi nodded in agreement. "I don't deny that you have an overwhelming advantage, but war is unpredictable and can change in many ways. How can you guarantee that you will win? Even if you win, have you ever thought about the aftermath? How to deal with your grandmother and uncle? Kill them? Besides, don't forget--"

Yelu Wuzhi paused and slowly looked around, "——Their wives, children and elders are all in the hands of Yelu Lihu. Who is Yelu Lihu? I don't need to tell you, right?"

As soon as these words came out, all the generals present turned pale and urged Yelu Ruan, "Your Majesty, let's reconcile and don't fight..."

In one sentence, he hit Yelu Ruan's soft spot.

It is not that grandma and third uncle cannot be killed. This question is a free point for an excellent politician. Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen was badly hurt by "Don't hurt my uncle". He did not learn the essence. Sima Zhao, Zhu Wen and others have said similar things, but their lackeys can understand. It is not that "my uncles" cannot be killed, but the crime of murder cannot be thrown to the master. The lackeys must take the blame at this critical moment. The action must be steady, accurate and ruthless. Afterwards, they will take the initiative to help the master to get rid of it publicly. The master will pounce on the body of "my uncle", grief-stricken, wailing and crying "these dogs have harmed me with injustice".

What Yelu Ruan was really afraid of was the hostage card in the hands of the "Queen Mother's Party", which was enough to disintegrate his own troops and defeat the enemy without fighting.

Seeing the reactions of the generals around him, Yelu Ruan fell into deep thought. After a long time, he asked Yelu Wuzhi, "So what do you think we should do?"

Yelu Wuzhi still used the same rhetoric: For the sake of the Liao Empire, please reconcile with the Queen Mother.

Yelu Ruan immediately agreed and expressed his willingness to accept mediation and reconciliation.

(End of this chapter)