History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 621: Crossing Agreement 3
Both sides expressed their attitudes, agreeing to reconciliation and opposing civil war. After several days of diplomatic exchanges, the details of the talks were finalized, and then the leaders of the two sides held a formal meeting.

As soon as they met, the two sides were unsurprisingly on edge, accusing and arguing with each other, and it seemed that the peace talks were about to break down.

At the critical moment, Empress Dowager Shulü made a soft concession. She asked Yelu Wuzhi to mediate. Because in comparison, Empress Dowager Shulü was in a weak position after all. She really didn't want to fight. As for "killing the hostages", it was a desperate strategy that would only increase her infamy. Hostages were like nuclear weapons to Empress Dowager Shulü. They had to be there, but they didn't have to be used if they could.

The goal of Empress Dowager Shulü, a political veteran, was to defeat the opponent rather than to retaliate against him. She wanted to turn passivity into initiative, so whenever she was in a stalemate, she would take the initiative to seek a breakthrough and let Yelu Wuji mediate.

Yelu Wuzhi's actions can be described as a textbook example of mediation.

A successful mediator must have two essential elements: first, he must be highly respected and have the recognition and respect of both parties; second, he must be fair and impartial, not favoring any party.

Yelu Wuzhi's identity was also introduced. He met the first requirement; on the second requirement, he did even more impeccably.

He first spoke for Yelu Ruan what he wanted to say the most, "When Taizu passed away, why did the Queen Mother depose the eldest son and enthronize the youngest son?"

Empress Dowager Shulü's expression immediately changed, and she looked unhappy. She thought, "Who are you from? Aren't you going to help me?" "It's because of Taizu's will."

Yelu Wuzhi then turned to Yelu Ruan and asked what Queen Mother Shulü wanted to say, "Why did the king establish the throne without consulting the parents first?"

Whether he is a middleman or a matchmaker, his function is to act as a buffer between the conflicting parties. That is, to help the parties to say what they want to say but are not convenient to say directly, some words that are not so pleasant to hear, some words that seem small-minded and low-level, so that both parties can maintain their dignity in the conflict and leave each other a way to retreat. He cannot just be a mouthpiece or a carrier of conflicts.

With the buffering of Yelu Wuzhi, the sharp contradiction between the two sides was always within a controllable range.

Yelu Ruan was far inferior to Empress Dowager Shulü. When faced with this question, the correct answer should be something like "I didn't want to establish the throne, but the ministers supported me and forced me to be the emperor", "The army was away without its leader, and the army was demoralized. In order to gather the army's morale and prevent the country's elite from falling apart"... In short, they had to use "apology" to carry out a wave of marketing, whitewashing the mistake as a success, even if it was specious. Just like many corporate public relations now, shameless.

On the surface, Yelu Wuzhi was questioning both parties, but in reality, he was asking both parties to defend themselves. Look at Empress Dowager Shulü, she was so sensible, and with the phrase "Taizu's will", she made the principled mistake of deposing the eldest and enthroning the youngest seem reasonable even though it was impossible to verify.

However, Yelu Ruan cleverly avoided all the correct answers and actually answered: "When my grandfather died, the throne should have been passed on to my father. Now I am taking back what should belong to me. What's wrong with that?"

Yelu Ruan's words seemed to be an argument, but in fact he admitted that he had "usurped the throne", but he was just emphasizing that his usurpation of power was justifiable.

It's like a murder suspect defending himself in court: "I kill people not for fun, but to vent my hatred." The defense lawyer is helpless.

Everyone was shocked. They didn't expect that Yelu Ruan's level was only bronze.

Seeing everyone's shocked and speechless expressions, Yelu Ruan thought that they were at a loss for words and had been silenced by his refutation, so he became even more excited and continued, "Not only was my father deprived of the throne, he was also forced to abandon his country and flee to a foreign country..."

Yelu Wuzhi hurriedly stopped pushing the millstone with his bare bottom, turning in circles and looking humiliating. "Your father's behavior was called treason, and you are promoting it as a positive example? Let's put aside the old scores for now, and just talk about this time, you, as a grandson, were rude and disrespectful to your grandmother, and you talked back to her. Did you do the right thing?" Yelu Ruan's arrogance suddenly disappeared, and he was half a head shorter in an instant.

Empress Dowager Shulü looked proud, thinking that Yelu Wuji was her man after all, and would still help her take sides at the critical moment.

Yelu Wuzhi then turned his head and said to Empress Dowager Shulü: "Please listen to what I have to say first - when Taizu passed away, it was because you deposed the eldest son and enthroned the youngest son that the root of the disaster was sown, leading to today's disaster. Even now, you are still pretending to have Taizu's will and have no intention of repenting -"

So many people were killed and so many innocent souls died in the past in order to depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son. Only a few years have passed and an even greater round of blood and rain is about to be set off. It's all because of you, the old Empress Dowager!

After hearing this, Empress Dowager Shulü also fell silent.

One of the main responsibilities of a middleman is to suppress the arrogance of the parties involved. He should make the parties feel that they are also in the wrong, so that they will be willing to make concessions.

"Now, it's called reconciliation, but what's the reality? Each of you sticks to your own opinion and has no sincerity! If this continues, how can we reconcile? Since you all want to fight, then what's the point of talking? Fight now!"

Yelu Wuzhi became more and more excited as he spoke, and angrily threw the tablet in his hand to the ground. "Pa", "What are we talking about? Beat him!"

Throwing things in front of the Empress Dowager or the Emperor is considered disrespectful in front of the Emperor and is punishable by death.

Everyone was stunned by Yelu Wuzhi's actions.

At this time, it was Empress Dowager Shulü who first broke the deadlock. She took the initiative to bend down and pick up the tablet he had thrown to the ground. With tears streaming down her face, she said, "I assisted Taizu in establishing his foundation and encountered the 'Rebellion of the Brothers'. I have personally experienced it. I know too well the fatal harm of civil war to a nation. It has only been a few years. We Khitans must not fight a civil war again!"

Please pay attention to these three small details in this historical record: Every time things reached a deadlock and could not move forward, it was always Empress Dowager Shulü who sought a breakthrough; Empress Dowager Shulü used "self-blame" to convey an important message in a Versailles way - I am a founding father, and she put a tight curse on Yelu Ruan - whoever provokes a civil war today will be the eternal sinner of the Khitan.

Her original words were, "When Emperor Xiang was in chaos due to the rebellion of his brothers, the whole country was devastated and the wounds have not yet healed. How can we do it again?"

In less than twenty words, he had dug three huge pits for his opponent. Yelu Ruan was dwarfed by him, and the difference was like heaven and earth.

The old empress did not cry when she chopped off her wrist, nor did she shed tears when the elderly sent their children to their deaths. But now, after Yelu Wuzhi's words, the old empress actually "cried". Empress Shulü cried, the ninth man-made wonder of the world.

Empress Dowager Shulü showed a high profile, and Yelu Ruan certainly couldn't afford to lose, so he rushed forward, picked up the tablet, and cried, "Although my father defected to the enemy country, he did not do anything to harm the country, but today I did it (referring to calling the troops to invade the palace)."

(End of this chapter)