History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 631: The Guest Takes Over the Host and Conquers Weizhou 2
Yelu Ma'an attached great importance to the situation in Xingzhou and hurriedly sent Yang An and Li Yin to lead a thousand elite Khitan cavalry to rush to Xingzhou for assistance.

Liu Zhiyuan's "Liao phobia" has always been a joke among people, who privately complained that he was a coward, shouting slogans in vain and only daring to be a keyboard warrior. Until Guo Congyi and Xue Huairang engaged in battle with the Khitan reinforcements.

Guo Congyi brought 1 men, and joined Xue Huairang's Mingzhou troops, which was a force of more than 1, while the two waves of Khitan reinforcements totaled less than 2. Faced with a force difference of more than to , the Later Han army was still badly defeated and had to retreat into Mingzhou City, closing the city and defending it. One wave beat the turtle, and the other wave beat the enemy to kneel.

Liu Zhiyuan is right, the Khitan should not be underestimated!
The Khitan reinforcements burned, killed and looted in Mingzhou and Xingzhou. Even the people of Xingzhou who were "their own people" were not treated differently. In the eyes of the Khitans, no matter whether you surrendered to the Khitan or not, you were still the Han people, the slaves of a conquered country, and some would die.

As a result, although the Khitans won the military victory, the resentment and hatred of the Heshuo people towards the Khitans further increased, and their admiration and favorable impression of the Later Han Dynasty also further increased.

Yelu Malu, who stayed in Zhenzhou, was an eternal nightmare for the people of Zhenzhou. He was extremely cruel, tyrannical, greedy and cunning. He would take away any gold and silver treasures from the people and any beautiful women from the people. He took pleasure in killing people and the death penalty was the starting price for anyone who committed a crime.

The people of Zhenzhou were terrified, so who would dare to break the law? No one committed a crime, which did not stop Yelu Ma from killing people for fun. He often "went incognito" to arrest innocent people in the fields, fabricated a crime at will, and then tore their faces, dug out their eyes, chopped off their hands and feet, burned them to death... His methods of torture were varied and creative.

When Yelu Malu traveled, his attendants carried all kinds of torture instruments with him, which was his special briefcase. In his office and even in his bedroom, human organs and body parts were hung everywhere... He ate, slept, talked and laughed among these "trophies" at ease. A typical personality defect and mental abnormality.

Every day he wore yellow clothes that only the emperor could wear, rode in the royal sedan chair, and all his behavioral standards were based on the etiquette of the emperor.

Someone kindly reminded him that this was called "usurpation" and was punishable by death!
Yelu Malu sneered at this, saying that this was a trick made up by the Han people, and we Khitans don’t care about this!

Yelu Ma'an was the second emperor in Zhenzhou. He used official red-headed documents to appoint Feng Dao, Li Song, He Ning, and Liu Xu as prime ministers and in charge of the Secretariat. His presumptuousness had reached such a point that it laid the groundwork for his tragic end in the future.

What bothered Yelu Ma'ao the most was the constant escape of the Han people, so he issued an order to the city gate officials: Any Han people who dare to peek into the city gate will be executed immediately!
Not to mention trying to approach the city gate, anyone who dares to look at the city gate will be beheaded in the street.

Before this, the Khitan garrison in Zhenzhou had been less than 2,000 people. However, Yelu Malu still asked the relevant departments to provide food for 14,000 people. In addition to the food for 2,000 people, the remaining food for 12,000 people all fell into Yelu Malu's private pocket, eating six times the salary for nothing. Yelu Malu was so bold.

Yelu Malu also adhered to the value of "those who are not of my race must have different hearts". He did not trust the Han surrendered soldiers and believed that the Han soldiers had low combat effectiveness and were useless. Therefore, Yelu Malu constantly withheld the military rations and military pay of the Han surrendered soldiers and subsidized the Khitan soldiers instead. This made the Han soldiers very angry, so the Han surrendered soldiers and generals began to think about joining Liu Zhiyuan.

He Fujin, the former defense envoy of Yingzhou, and Li Rong, the general of the imperial army, secretly gathered dozens of people and conspired to mutiny. However, they were weak, with only dozens of people, and did not dare to act rashly, so they had to wait quietly for the opportunity.

Now, with the sudden change in the situation in Weizhou, Mingzhou, and Xingzhou, Yelu Ma'ao sent Yang Gun and Yang An to lead the Khitan elite to the southern front. At this time, there were only 800 Khitan soldiers left in Zhenzhou. He Fujin and Li Rong thought the time was right, so they agreed to use the bell of the Buddhist temple as a signal. On this day, Yelu Ruan sent people to Zhenzhou to summon Feng Dao, Li Song, He Ning and others to go north to attend the funeral of the late emperor Yelu Deguang.

As they had plenty of time, Feng Dao and his companions did not rush to leave. Instead, they packed their bedding and ate before leaving. The Khitan envoy did not rush them, saying, "Okay, eat well before you go."

This is the creation of Feng Dao and others.

Just as they were eating, the sound of a Buddhist temple bell suddenly rang out from the sky above Zhenzhou City, "DUANG-DUANG--" Several people were still wondering what festival today was and why the bell was ringing at this time?
This is not the bell of a Buddhist temple, it is the clarion call of the October Revolution, it is the charge of slaves to stand up and rush towards freedom.

The Han soldiers shouted loudly and rushed to the city gate, killing more than a dozen Khitan soldiers, opening the city gate and gathering all the resistance forces; Li Rong led his men to occupy the armory, distributed weapons and armor to the soldiers, and at the same time summoned the indignant people on the street and distributed weapons to them, "Vent out your anger. With guns in hand, follow me, rob the blockhouse, and kill the Khitan dogs!"

Led by He Fujin and Li Rong, angry Han soldiers and civilians attacked the headquarters building and set fire to the government gate in an attempt to capture and kill the Khitan leader Yelu Malu.

As the revolutionary fervor grew stronger and stronger, the imperial guard general Bai Zairong went into hiding because he was worried that the mutiny would fail and he would be implicated.

He Fujin and Li Rong found him and forced him to join the group at knifepoint, because Bai Zairong held a higher position and more prestige than He Fujin and Li Rong.

At this time, the sound of killing was deafening in Zhenzhou City, and the gate of the headquarters was ablaze. Yelu Malu was terrified and hurriedly protected his family and gold and silver treasures and hid in the inner city for self-protection.

The people who participated in this uprising and mutiny were a mixed bunch. Some truly resisted the Khitan tyranny, while many took advantage of the situation to rob. Many people not only did not attack the Khitans, but broke into private homes and robbed them. Even when they attacked the Khitans, there was a lack of unified deployment and command, and they fought in groups of three or five on their own.

This is why Bai Zairong was unwilling to join them. Mutinies and uprisings are often loud but difficult to control. They are disorganized and undisciplined. They rush in when they see an advantage, but scatter when they are frustrated. They may even tie up the leader and sell him to the enemy. Therefore, Bai Zairong was very reluctant to take the lead.

Although Yelu Malu was panicked, he did not panic. After all, he was a veteran who had fought in many battles. He immediately organized the remaining Khitan soldiers to defend. After a short rest, he was able to counterattack. He took the initiative to open the gates of the inner city and attack the rebels outside, killing more than 2,000 Han soldiers in one day.

(End of this chapter)