History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 781 The one I love hurts me the most (Part )
[The one I love hurts me the most]

After Yelu Ruan officially came to power, he could not wait to start clearing up the "Empress Dowager Party". He moved the mother and son to Zuzhou and placed them under house arrest on the grounds that Empress Dowager Shulü (who should be called "Grand Empress Dowager" at this time) and Yelu Lihu intended to rebel. Zuzhou is the birthplace of the Yelu clan and the location of Yelu Abaoji's mausoleum. Yelu Ruan was kind enough to let the mother and son accompany the late emperor outside the tomb.

Four years later, Empress Dowager Shulü, the "broken-wrist empress", died of illness in Zuzhou and was buried with her late husband Yelü Abaoji. She was 75 years old and left us prematurely, ending her legendary and extraordinary life.

Situ Huashe and Chu Buli were also implicated in this incident and executed. Situ Huashe was a core member of the "Queen Dowager Party" and a close confidant of Empress Dowager Shulü. He once followed Empress Dowager Shulü's order to personally kill Yelu Yindish, a member of the "Prince Party".

At this point, the "Empress Dowager Party" that had dominated the Liao Dynasty's political arena for decades was finally completely eradicated by Emperor Shizong Yelu Ruan.

Next, of course, was to reward people according to their merits, promote them to higher positions, and reward the "Sejong Party."

For example, an official position was tailor-made for Yelu Anduan - the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court; Yelu Liuge was promoted to Tiyin; Yelu Anduan was given the title of Ming King, ruling the Dongdan Kingdom (formerly the Bohai Kingdom), and his son Yelu Chage was given the title of Taining King; Xiao Han was pleased to get the title of Princess Abuli, the sister of Emperor Shizong Yelu Ruan.

Emperor Shizong Yelu Ruan was not an outstanding politician. The History of Liao described him as a "mediocre leader", not outstanding, but not stupid either. He was well aware of the "Shizong Party"'s un-Shizong status, and he had no better way to solve it. The only thing he could do was to give them promotions.

However, the ruthless reality taught him a cruel lesson. During the more than three years that Sejong was on the throne, various rebellions emerged one after another. Just four months after he ascended the throne, two rebellions occurred in succession. What broke his heart the most was that the mastermind of the two rebellions turned out to be Xiao Han, the person he trusted the most and who was closest to him.

Xiao Han's grandmother was the sister of Yelu Ruan's great-grandfather. According to his father's family, Yelu Ruan should call Xiao Han uncle; Xiao Han's eldest aunt was Empress Dowager Shulü. According to his mother's family, Yelu Ruan should still call Xiao Han uncle. He was a real cousin, and after Yelu Ruan ascended the throne, he married his own sister to Xiao Han, so the uncle became the brother-in-law, and the relationship was strengthened.

But this Xiao Han, after marrying Princess Abuli, not only did not appreciate Yelu Ruan's kindness, but colluded with Yelu Tiande to rebel.

Yelu Tiande was the third son of Emperor Taizong, Yelu Deguang.

The rebellion was quickly quelled, and eventually, Yelu Tiande was sentenced to death, while Emperor Shizong showed leniency to Xiao Han, sentencing him only to caning.

Xiao Han burst into tears, saying that he was bewitched by a traitor and was confused for a moment...

Yelu Ruan agreed with this very much and asked Xiao Han to go home to recuperate and reflect on his actions.

Sure enough, after returning home, Xiao Han carefully summed up the painful lessons of the failed rebellion, then carefully improved the rebellion plan, and immediately launched a second rebellion.

This time, he contacted Yelu Liuge and Yelu Pendu. Liuge and Pendu were brothers, both sons of Yelu Yindish (Abaoji's younger brother).

However, the rebellion was accidentally leaked and reported. According to historical records, a man named Yelu Shila leaked the news to Yelu Wuzhi, who then reported it to Emperor Shizong Yelu Ruan.

However, Yelu Ruan believed that this was a malicious accusation by Yelu Wuzhi to take revenge on his personal grudge and he did not believe that Xiao Han would rebel again.

Yelu Wuzhi was the meritorious minister who facilitated the "Crossing Agreement" and prevented the Liao Kingdom from falling into civil war. In the turbulent waves of "grandfather and grandson fighting for power", Yelu Wuzhi was like a tide-rider. At that time, Empress Dowager Shulü believed that Yelu Wuzhi was biased towards Yelu Ruan, so she threw him into prison and threatened him with death.

Xiao Han and Yelu Wuzhi had a deep personal conflict. When he heard that Yelu Wuzhi was imprisoned, he clapped his hands excitedly and went to visit him in prison. With a gloating expression on his face, he said to Yelu Wuzhi behind the iron bars: "Don't you always say that I am not as good as you? Don't you always look down on me? How did you end up like this today?"

When a villain succeeds, it is evident in his words.

Yelu Wuzhi looked at him coldly and said, "Don't worry, you will come in sooner or later." So when Yelu Wuzhi accused Xiao Han of treason, Yelu Ruan thought it was a false accusation by Yelu Wuzhi.

At Yelu Wuzhi's insistence, Yelu Ruan reluctantly called Xiao Han over and asked him face to face, "I heard that you want to rebel again. Is that true?"

"no!"

"Look..." Yelu Ruan shrugged, "I said it was a misunderstanding, right?"

Yelu Wuzhi almost vomited blood. How could such a big matter of usurping the throne be treated so lightly? With his insistence, Yelu Ruan finally initiated a formal investigation procedure.

The results of the investigation once again hurt Yelu Ruan's heart: Xiao Han did collude with Yelu Liuge and Yelu Pendu and intended to rebel.

The facts were clear, the evidence was irrefutable, and the parties involved confessed. But Xiao Han wanted to refute, "Your Majesty, you may not believe me, and I was confused for a moment..."

"I believe."

Verdict: The two brothers Yelu Liuge were sentenced to exile, with Liuge being exiled to the border and Pendu being sent as an envoy to the Kingdom of Xiagas (now in Kyrgyzstan). Xiao Han pleaded guilty with a good attitude and was exempted from punishment, returning home to seriously reflect on his actions.

Later, Yelu Liuge was spared punishment because of his good attitude in admitting his guilt, and Yelu Pendu also returned to Khitan more than a year later.

As the saying goes, a virtuous wife will keep her husband from doing evil. When Xiao Han was seriously summing up his experience and lessons, his wife, Princess Abuli, gave him timely advice and corrected his wrong posture of rebellion.

Do you know why you always fail? Because you only find stupid teammates. Not all Yelu are worthy of rebellion. In addition to fame, you need someone with a revolutionary base!
This word woke Xiao Han up, and the best candidate immediately emerged in his mind - Ming Wang Yelu Anduan!

Yelu Tiande is of the same generation as Shizong, Yelu Liuge and Yelu Pen are Shizong's uncles, and Yelu Anduan is Shizong's grandfather!

Yelu Anduan is the younger brother of Yelu Abaoji, who has the same father and mother as Yelu Abaoji. He made military achievements in the Eastern Expedition to Bohai and the Southern Expedition to the Central Plains. He is currently the most senior and prestigious revolutionary veteran among the Yelu clan. At the same time, this veteran is born with a rebellious nature and has participated in all three "Brothers' Rebellions". Participating in rebellions is his greatest interest and hobby.

What's more important is that after Sejong ascended the throne, he let him manage the Dongdan Kingdom. He was now the local emperor of the Dongdan Kingdom (formerly the Bohai Kingdom), with territory, army, and money and food.

So Xiao Han hurriedly contacted Yelu Anduan and plotted a rebellion.

As expected, old comrade Yelu Anduan was still determined and determined to rise to the top. When he heard that someone was going to rebel, he immediately agreed and prepared to return to his old job.

Xiao Han and Yelu Anduan hit it off immediately and began to conspire to overthrow Emperor Shizong through internal and external collaboration.

Just when Xiao Han was confident that this time he would succeed, something went wrong again. The letters between the two were seized by Yelu Wuzhi and then sent to Emperor Shizong.

This time, the criminal was caught red-handed, and Xiao Han had no way to refute it.

(End of this chapter)