7. Khitan
Out of his own selfish interests, An Zhongjie planned to kill Kang Fu with a borrowed knife, but the Later Tang Empire won an unexpected gain and gained actual control over the northwest region, which made the countries in the Western Regions turn their hearts to China again and promoted the Later Tang Empire. international reputation.
Another unexpected gain for the Later Tang Empire came from the northeast, the Khitan, an old friend of the Shatuo people.
The story of the founding of the Khitan Kingdom and Yelu Abaoji's proclaimed emperor has been detailed in the previous article.
The disputes in the Central Plains at the end of the Tang Dynasty provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Khitan to rise. A large number of Han people "crossed the Guandong" to escape the war, bringing a large amount of productivity to the grasslands outside the Great Wall and talents like Han Yanhui, an outstanding minority leader in Chinese history. Comrade Yelu Abaoji came into being. With the vigorous assistance of Han Yanhui and others, he finally established a huge empire on the grasslands outside the Great Liao - Daliao.
Influenced by Mr. Jin Yong’s martial arts, many people preconceivedly despise and hate the Liao Dynasty established by the Khitans. They think that they are barbaric, backward, cruel, cunning... and are the villains of our Central Plains civilization.
In fact, this is a big misunderstanding. The level of civilization of the Liao Kingdom exceeds our imagination, and its impact on the historical process far exceeds our old prejudices. It can even be said that the Khitan people's role in promoting that period of history was far greater than that of the Central Plains people at the same time.
First of all, the Daliao Kingdom was an empire established by the nomadic people, the Khitans, and they established themselves as emperors on the grasslands instead of taking over the Central Plains. This was a unique feat.
Another feat of the Khitans was the creation of their own writing. Other nomadic peoples basically borrowed all the writings from other ethnic groups, and the consequence of doing so was that they were quickly assimilated by the foreign ethnic groups. The Khitan people, on the other hand, imitated Chinese characters and created their own written language, the Khitan script, which enabled the Khitan civilization to continue and be passed on, and to have strong vitality.
Secondly, there were nine emperors in the Liao Kingdom, who enjoyed the country for more than 200 years. In the long history of the Central Plains civilization, this achievement is considered excellent, and the politics are quite stable. We can make a horizontal comparison. During the same period, the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" were only the "Five Dynasties" in the Yellow River Basin. They had a total of 53 years of history, 5 dynasties, and a total of 8 surnames and 14 emperors. This does not include the separatist regime in the south. . Even in vertical comparison, it can be compared with the Tang and Song Dynasties.
The nine emperors who lasted for more than two hundred years only refer to the recognized subjects of the Liao Dynasty, and if you include the Western Liao Dynasty in the "Big Stone Expedition to the West", it would be even more extraordinary.
The influence of Daliao and Xiliao on Central Asia and West Asia is enough to subvert our old understanding. The pronunciation of "China" in Russian is the transliteration of "Khitan", which shows the strength of Khitan civilization. There is another unreliable saying that "China" in English does not mean porcelain, but the transliteration of "Khitan".
In short, the real Khitans in history were by no means barbarians who drank hair and blood. They played a positive role in promoting the process of Chinese history.
After Yelu Abaoji completed the integration of the grasslands outside the Great Wall, he set his sights on the Central Plains area in the south. He has been constantly harassed by guerrillas for a long time, and he is always looking for opportunities to go south and take advantage of the situation.
Under pressure from the Khitan, the Central Plains Dynasty attached great importance to the management of Hebei and sent generals to guard it. During Li Cunxu's reign, the military commander of the Lulong Army in Youzhou was Zhao Dejun. Although Zhao Dejun was a fierce general, his reputation was not enough, so he sent the distinguished veteran Li Siyuan to guard Zhenzhou to form the German Army. The two acted as each other's horns and guarded the northern territory for the empire.
At the same time, Yelu Abaoji was also making strategic plans for going south to invade the Central Plains.
At that time, the Khitan had conquered many tribes such as the Shiwei, Xi, Tatar, and Heichezi tribes. However, there were still the Jurchen tribe and the Bohai Kingdom established by the Mohe people to the east. Its geographical location was roughly equivalent to today's Northeastern region, the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, and the Russian Far East.
If the Khitans move south in a large scale, the rear will be empty, and the Jurchens and the Bohai Kingdom may take advantage of it. This was Yelu Abaoji's biggest concern and one of the main reasons why the Khitans did not dare to go deep south.
If you want to destroy the Central Plains, you must first destroy the Bohai Sea. Yelu Abaoji listed the conquest of Bohai as the primary strategic goal of Daliao.
When Li Cunxu tried his best to eliminate the Houliang Dynasty, the Khitan also started a period of glory under the rule of Yelu Abaoji. It defeated the Tuyuhun, Zubu, Uighur, Dangxiang and other tribes outside the Great Wall, and entered a prosperous age when all nations came to court.
"History of the Liao: The Benji of Taizu" records that in 924 and 925 alone, Dashi, Uighur, Japan, Goryeo, and Silla sent envoys to pay tribute. Japan, Goryeo, Silla (a small country on the Korean Peninsula) and Daliao are still neighbors, but the arrival of Dashi (Arab Empire) is enough for the Khitans to brag about.
Of course, according to the general behavior of historians, equal exchanges and exchanges of gifts between the two countries will also be recorded as "tribute from a certain country" by the historians of the country. Even if the Arab Empire did not come to pay tribute, but was an ordinary diplomatic activity, it also shows that in that distant place, the Arabs have at least heard of the reputation of the Khitans and are willing to contact them.
In 924 AD, Yelu Abaoji finally took action against the Bohai Kingdom. In order to conceal his true strategic intentions, Yelu Abaoji sent the traitor Lu Wen to invade and harass the borders of the Later Tang Dynasty and contain the spirit of the Later Tang Dynasty. And he himself went on a personal expedition and led the main force to attack the Bohai Kingdom.
Maybe it was the heroes of the politicians who had the same views, or maybe it was the tacit understanding between Li Cunxu and Yelu Abaoji. The Khitans pretended to attack Hebei and mainly attacked Bohai; Li Cunxu also used his spare time to deal with Hebei and transferred the main force to the southwest to attack Qianshu.
Both of them won, Li Cunxu destroyed Qian Shu, and Yelu Abaoji destroyed Bohai Kingdom.
In 926 AD, Yelu Abaoji finally destroyed the Bohai Kingdom, which had been established for more than 200 years, and unified the country outside the Great Wall. So he changed the Yuan Dynasty to amnesty, and sent envoys to the Later Tang Dynasty to announce the pacification of the Bohai Kingdom.
Yelu Abaoji announced the establishment of the Dongdan Kingdom (meaning "East Khitan") in Fuyu City, the capital of the Bohai Kingdom (today's Siping City, Jilin Province), and appointed his eldest son Yelu Bei as the king of Dongdan to guard this place; his second son Yelu Deguang became the king of Dongdan. "Prime Minister Zuo" followed the army squadron back to Beijing.
In the same year, the envoys of the Later Tang Dynasty reported that Li Cunxu died in a mutiny and the new emperor Li Siyuan ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
Yelu Abaoji had just destroyed the Bohai Kingdom, and his next target was the Central Plains. Seeing the chaos and weakness of the Central Plains, he took the opportunity to show off his force. The lion opened his mouth and directly proposed to draw the Yellow River as the boundary with the Later Tang Dynasty, and all the land north of the Yellow River belonged to the Khitan.
The envoys of the Later Tang Dynasty argued hard and refused to agree, so Yelu Abaoji made concessions and demanded the cession of three towns in Hebei (Youzhou Lulong Army, Zhenzhou Chengde Army, and Dingzhou Yiwu Army). Yao Kun still refused to agree.
If you don't give it to me, then I'll have to suffer the consequences and take it myself.
However, fate played a trick on people. Just when Yelu Abaoji was preparing to repatriate from Dongdan Kingdom, he suddenly fell ill. A few days later, due to ineffective treatment, he died of illness in Fuyu City, Dongdan Kingdom, at the age of 55.
Yelu Abaoji died between the two rivers southwest of Fuyu City. Later, a "Shengtian Hall" was built here, and Fuyu City was renamed "Huanglong Mansion".
After the death of Yelu Abaoji, his wife Shuluping came to the court to take the throne.
This woman is not simple.
