[The son pretending to be a grandson]
At the beginning of the Hedong War, Li Congke was in a strong advantageous position on paper, but he encountered a disadvantage at the beginning. Of course, these small episodes are not enough to reverse Shi Jingtang's weakness.
The first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and the third is to attack the city.
Li Congke made serious mistakes at the strategic level, seriously misjudged the situation, and lost in "strategy." Under the guidance of this wrong strategic thinking, Li Congke Group made another wrong step in "communication." The so-called wrong step led to the fact that Zhang Jingda, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and Yang Guangyuan, deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces responsible for counterinsurgency, focused their main energy on the lowest siege, but they have not yet achieved the desired results.
The ultimate failure of Li Congke Group was a multi-dimensional and all-round failure.
However, even with so many omissions, Li Congke can still achieve a strategic balance with Shi Jingtang.
The intervention of the Khitans caused a significant reversal in the balance of the war.
Why did the Khitans intervene in the internal affairs of the Central Plains at this time, and what role would they play in this civil strife in the Central Plains? What impact would this civil strife in the Central Plains have on the Khitans? Next, we will switch to the Khitan perspective and tell the ins and outs of the Khitans’ interference in the internal affairs of the Central Plains.
After the death of Yelu Abaoji, Taizu of the Liao Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Shulu wanted to have more power. She delayed letting Prince Yelubei inherit the throne. Instead, she took over the throne and monopolized the highest power in Khitan, which aroused unanimous opposition from the civil, military, ministers and nobles of the Manchu Dynasty. , and Queen Mother Shulu’s repressive measures were even more tough. In one word - bloody suppression, she did not hesitate to kill more than a hundred nobles at once, and sent all those who opposed her to "accompany the late emperor". She even cut off her wrists for this purpose. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Broken Arms".
The frightened Yelvbei had to take the initiative to give up the throne and withdraw from the power struggle.
Even with the bloody killings, there were still many meritorious ministers who opposed the Queen Mother Shulu.
Among them was a man named Yelu Duozhen, who enjoyed a high reputation among the Yelu clan. When the Yaonian clan (overthrown by Yelu Abaoji) was Khan, Yelu Duozhen's grandfather served as the generalissimo twice (Yili Jin). ), at that time someone wanted to assassinate Yelu Abaoji's grandfather, but Yelu Duozhen's grandfather foiled the plot in time and killed all the traitors. To put it simply, his grandfather saved Yelu Abaoji’s grandfather.
Yelu Duozhen is smart and resourceful. He is Yelu Abaoji's think tank and his right-hand man. It was he who set the national strategy for Yelu Abaoji of first west and then east. Under his guidance, Yelu Abaoji first conquered the Dangxiang people in the west and then conquered the Bohai Kingdom in the east.
Such a Zhuge Liang-like figure clearly opposed the Queen Mother Shulu.
Empress Dowager Shulu took him to prison and said to him: "The iron chain is rotten, I will release you!"
Soon, Queen Mother Shulu ordered him to be summoned. When the jailer opened the cell door, Yelu Duozhen slapped his neck and said, "Is the iron lock rotten? Are you going to let me go?"
When Queen Mother Shulu heard about it, she was both angry and happy, "Forget it, come out."
Through this interesting little story, we can intuitively understand the tremendous pressure faced by the cold-blooded and iron-fisted Queen Mother Shulu. In desperation, she could only let her second son Yelv Deguang inherit the throne.
In fact, Yelu Deguang was just a pawn in the power game of Queen Mother Shulu, the product of the compromise between Queen Mother Shulu and the opposition, and a puppet of Queen Mother Shulu.
Understanding this truth is crucial to understanding Khitan’s political and diplomatic actions.
Yelu Deguang, Taizong of the Liao Dynasty, also knew this truth very well. His throne as emperor was not secure, and he had to guard against his elder brother, his younger brother, and his own mother.
Yelu Deguang monitored Yelu Bei very closely. Yelu Bei was appointed by the late emperor as the King of Dongdan to guard the Dongdan Kingdom (formerly the Bohai Kingdom). When he came to the capital to attend the funeral, he was detained by Yelu Deguang. In the capital, this deduction lasted for nearly five years.
During this period, Yelu Deguang often visited Yelu Bei's residence. Generally speaking, there are two different explanations for the emperor's visit to the private residence of a certain minister: either he is very trusting, or he is very distrustful.
Yelu Bei obviously belonged to the latter, and Yelu Deguang carried out surveillance in the name of visiting and being a guest.
In the "History of Liao Dynasty: The Benji of Taizong", the time and number of "Xingren Huangdi" were intensively recorded, which was really like clocking in at work. In addition, Yelu Deguang often took his brother to play and have banquets together, or to visit Taizu Temple.
In short, he must not let Yelvbei leave his sight.
During the period of detaining Yelubei, Yelu Deguang ordered General Yelu Yu to move a large number of people from Dongdan Kingdom to Dongping, and promoted Dongping County to Nanjing. Many people from Dongdan Kingdom fled to Jurchen and Silla.
After nearly five years of house arrest, Yelvbei finally returned to the territory of Dongdan Kingdom. However, Yelu Deguang immediately sent him a personal bodyguard group to monitor him 24 hours a day.
It was impossible to survive this day. After a little more than half a year, Yelvbei finally abandoned the country and fled away, drifting into the sea and surrendering to the Tang Dynasty.
Yelu Deguang successfully forced all Yelu Bei away. But he also has a younger brother, Yelu Lihu.
In fact, if we look at the root cause, the threat from Yelu Lihu should still be attributed to the Empress Dowager Shulu. After Yelu Deguang ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Shulu asked Yelu Deguang to appoint his third brother Yelu Lihu as the crown prince - the crown prince and the general marshal of the world's troops. Yelu Lihu was designated as the successor to the throne in the form of national law.
This operation is incredible. Yelu Deguang was just in his thirties, strong and vigorous, so why rush to appoint a successor? At the same time, Li Siyuan was over sixty, and he was unwilling to designate Li Congrong as the crown prince.
In fact, Queen Mother Shulu's intention was to let her youngest son Yelu Lihu take the throne. Yelu Deguang was just a strategic buffer and a small transition. Later in the article we will describe in detail the character of Yelu Lihu and why Empress Dowager Shulu insisted on letting him take the throne.
Yelu Deguang could not afford to offend his mother, Queen Mother Shulu, and could not treat his younger brother the same way he treated his elder brother. Therefore, Yelv Deguang could only try his best to please his mother, hoping to change her attitude.
For example, as soon as Yelu Deguang came to the throne, he built the "Broken Wrist Tower" for his mother, carved stones and erected monuments, and made it look like her mother was so sad because of her husband's death that she cut off her wrists to express her grief. This is simply the best in the world. She was a chaste and fierce woman, so she built a building and a monument to be praised forever;
Another example is erecting a monument in the hometown where the mother was born, the "Birth Monument of the Empress Dowager Yingtian";
For another example, mother's birthday is designated as "Yongning Festival", and the whole country has a three-day holiday to celebrate it;
For another example, whenever his mother was sick and anorexic, Yelu Deguang would take the initiative to go on a hunger strike to accompany her. If her mother refused to eat, he would never dare to eat;
For another example, he will serve his mother respectfully, and all military and national affairs will be decided by her. Once his words make his mother unhappy, as long as her mother looks at him, he will be so scared that he will run away unless her mother He was summoned by word of mouth, otherwise he would never dare to go in and disturb his mother again...
In short, according to the traditional "filial piety", Yelu Deguang's son can be called a model of filial son, he can really pretend to be a grandson!
