History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 785: The Rebellion of Vulcan Pond 3
Regarding the "Huoshendian Rebellion", the record in "Zizhi Tongjian" is the briefest and is quite different from that in "History of Liao" and other records:
"Yan Wang Shuzha and Wei Wang's son Taining Wang Fuseng rebelled, murdered the Khitan leader and established Shuzha. Khitan leader Deguang's son Shulü fled to the Nanshan Mountains. The various tribes followed Shulü to attack Shuzha, Fuseng, and their clansmen..."

Let's put aside the statement in Zizhi Tongjian for now, as it will be useful later. Let's first question the above historical facts:

1. Why did Yelu Chage go to Yelu Jing before he rebelled, and why did Yelu Jing avoid him? Or to put it another way, why did Yelu Jing avoid Yelu Chage but not Yelu Wuzhi?

2. Was Yelu Jing "invited" by Yelu Wuzhi, or was he forced to come?
3. Why did the key figure Yelu Wuzhi repeatedly uncover the nobles' rebellion plots? Why was he the only one who could detect the rebellion plot in advance? What role did he play in the "Huoshendian Rebellion"?
4. Why did Yelu Wuzhi "invite" Yelu Jing as soon as possible? How did he know that Yelu Jing was not an accomplice of Yelu Chage?
5. The process of regicide was too easy. Where were the emperor’s guards?
The emperor was assassinated, such an earth-shattering event, but unsurprisingly the official history records only a few hundred words. As the saying goes, the shorter the words, the greater the amount of information.

More interesting than Yelu Wuzhi is Yelu Jing.

In the History of Liao Dynasty, there is only one sentence about this incident: "On the day of Guihai in the ninth month of the fifth year of Tianlu (951), Emperor Shizong was killed. The traitor Cha Ge and others were executed."

Now, let's look back at this record in the Zizhi Tongjian, which says that Yan Wang Shuzha and "Taining Wang Fuseng, son of Wei Wang" were the masterminds of the rebellion. Some sources also write it as "Ouli Seng". This is one of the most annoying parts of studying Liao history. Let's first verify the identities of these two people:
"Yan Wang Shuzha" is Yan Wang Yelü Diela. "History of Liao" records: "Yelü Diela, courtesy name Shulan... was given the title of Yan Wang." This person is relatively easy to identify, and "Shuzha" should be a mispronunciation of "Shulan";

During the "Great Battle between Jin and Liao", Emperor Taizong Yelu Deguang ordered his uncle Yelu Anduan to march west through Yanmen Pass to threaten the northern part of Hedong as a feint to tie down the troops, and "returned home first due to illness". The "Zizhi Tongjian" also recorded that in the same year (944), "Khitan Wei Wang" was defeated by the Central Plains army south of Yanmen Pass. This is consistent with the record. The "Zizhi Tongjian" uniformly recorded Ming Wang Yelu Anduan as "Wei Wang";
Yelu Chage was the son of Yelu Anduan. After the "Crossing Agreement", he was given the title of "King of Taining" for his merits. "King of Taining" should be a misrepresentation of "King of Taining".

Yelu Cha Ge, courtesy name Ouxin. "Fu Seng" or "Ouliseng" should be different transliterations of "Ouxin".

In addition, if we must be concerned about "沤僧" or "哦利僧", there are several people with similar names in "History of Liao", such as Yelu Oulisi, but he was not born at this time; and there was another one named Yelu 沤利斯, who had already died at this time.

Obviously, "King Wei's son, King Taining, Fu Seng" should be King Taining, Yelu Chagebeng, the son of King Ming.

The mystery of the "Vulcan Pond Rebellion" is three layers deep and three layers deep, with each layer wrapped up in a mystery. Here, we will not analyze it further, but directly give my personal speculation:

The Khitan nobles generally opposed Emperor Shizong's decision to go south, and then they came up with a conspiracy to overthrow Emperor Shizong and establish a new emperor. The nobles reached a consensus on overthrowing Emperor Shizong, but there were more serious differences on the selection of the new emperor. For example, Yelu Chage, Yelu Pendu, and Yelu Lang were all nephews of Taizu Abaoji in terms of seniority, and in theory they were all qualified to compete for the throne.

This is also the reason for the strange scene - Yelu Wuzhi uncovered the conspiracy of the counter-revolutionary group of Xiao Han and Yelu Liuge several times, and only Yelu Wuzhi could discover it in time and resolutely insist on investigating it to the end. Because almost everyone has the intention to overthrow Shizong, but there is no further consensus, so even if they hear news that is unfavorable to Shizong, they will not take the initiative to expose it, and only the pure and innocent Yelu Wuzhi dares to report it. Because there is no consensus on the selection of the new monarch, the conspiracy to overthrow Shizong has not been carried out for a long time. During this period, the Khitan army was also undercurrent, and everyone was busy. Among them, Yelu Chage and Yelu Diela were the most active elements.

Among the many candidates for the new emperor, the one who was placed with high hopes was Yelü Jing (Yelu Shulü). His identity as "Taizong's eldest son" was just a cover to deceive people. The most crucial reason was that he was weak and easy to control.

Yelu Jing is just 20 years old this year. He is young, ignorant, timid and cowardly. Generally speaking, when there is a stalemate among multiple political forces, a puppet who is easy to control is often needed as a chess piece to balance the forces of all parties. For example, many of the young emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the emperors after the middle of the Tang Dynasty were the result of this kind of political game, chess piece-type and weight-type monarchs. Yelu Jing just meets this characteristic.

However, Yelu Jing had witnessed too much blood and cruelty in the political arena since he was a child, and he did not want to be involved in it.

The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop. It was not Yelu Chage who dragged him into this muddy water, but Yelu Wuzhi.

On Yelu Chage's death list, Yelu Wuzhi, not Yelu Jing, topped the list. Yelu Wuzhi was selfless and loyal to the Liao Kingdom. He repeatedly exposed Yelu Chage's conspiracy to Emperor Shizong and was a thorn in Yelu Chage's side. So after Yelu Chage killed the king, the first order he issued to his minions was not to kill Yelu Jing, but to kill Yelu Wuzhi.

Therefore, Yelu Wuzhi stood against Yelu Chage both publicly and privately.

All the major nobles wanted to overthrow Emperor Shizong, but Yelu Chage took the initiative. So after Emperor Shizong was assassinated, other small groups faced a new problem: should they go with the flow and support Yelu Chage, or should they take advantage of the situation and overthrow Yelu Chage?

If they choose to overthrow Yelu Chage, then we will be back to the original point of the problem. After Emperor Shizong dies, who should they support?
Under the pressure of this problem, many nobles stood under Yelu Chage on the surface, but in fact, they had the same idea as Yelu Lang in their hearts, "We should hold both ends and help the winner", which was an expedient measure. So when Yelu Jing finally raised his arms and shouted as "the eldest son of Taizong", the nobles under Yelu Chage gathered to respond and revolted.

Historical records say that Yelu Wuzhi "sent his younger brother Chong to welcome him." The word "welcome" is very interesting, because Yelu Jing, who was invited, still had no intention of coming forward, so the word "welcome" is translated as "kidnap." Yelu Wuzhi kidnapped Yelu Jing and forced him to take charge and become emperor.

The essence of the "Huoshendian Rebellion" was a political event in which Yelu Chage forced a rebellion when the nobles failed to reach a consensus. Subsequently, Yelu Wuzhi made a prompt decision and chose the most cost-effective heir to the throne.

Thanks to my old friend "书友20180121110920727" for the monthly ticket support. It seems that I can't even slack off this week (#^.^#) Update one chapter, Sejong will soon conquer Huai
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(End of this chapter)