No one is willing to be a puppet, and Yelu Deguang is no exception.
Yelu Deguang was "serious in appearance but tolerant in nature", which means that he was relatively mature in appearance, mature in youth, calm and experienced in doing things, relatively reliable, and generous and kind, just like the model of a wise king. Like his elder brother Yelu Bei, he is very respected by his father Yelu Abao. After being appointed as the general marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, he led the army and went out to fight, "thousands of miles from east to west, and made achievements wherever he went."
Yelu Deguang was young and vigorous, with ideals and ambitions. Although he was respectful and obedient to his mother on the surface, deep down he still longed to monopolize power and display his political ambitions.
Reading "History of Liao Dynasty: The Chronicles of Emperor Taizong" always gives people a strange feeling, as if something is not quite right. After combing through it carefully, you will find the strangeness: as an emperor, Yelv Deguang rarely took any internal affairs measures.
We can briefly summarize the contents of "Taizong Benji" before the Southern Expedition:
1. Long live mom;
2. Brother, I’m here to play with you again;
3. The third brother is so awesome;
4. Watch a show, fish, goose hunting
Among them, during a recreational activity of hunting geese, there was a sudden storm, the boat capsized, and more than 60 of his followers were drowned.
Compared with the emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty, he was simply not doing his job properly. Our emperors in the Central Plains are either busy meeting with ministers to discuss major national policies, or they are appointing and removing high-ranking officials, or they are visiting the sufferings of the people, and intervening in the trial of cases...
Yelu Deguang didn't mean to "not do his job properly", but he really had no real job to do. All military and political power was controlled by the Queen Mother Shulu. What he, the emperor, could really do was carve stones and erect monuments for Queen Mother Shulu and sing her praises.
Yelu Deguang is a master of great talent and strategy. He is not willing to be his mother's puppet, and he is even less willing to place his destiny on the mercy of others. He wants to get rid of the puppet state.
This kind of escape must be gentle and silent, or it must not be obvious or dew.
For example, he promoted the nine disciples of the Yaonan clan. The Yaonan clan belonged to the "nobles of the previous dynasty", and it was from the Yaonan clan that Yelu Abaoji took over the position of Khitan Khan. Now, in order to show the emperor's great kindness and to show the empire's tolerance and kindness, Yelu Deguang took the initiative to promote the descendants of the Yaonan clan.
On the surface, Yelu Deguang was "forgiving", but in reality, he was weakening the power of Queen Mother Shulu.
These little tricks are really of no avail in consolidating imperial power. How can you quickly establish your own prestige and gain real power? The answer is war.
The reason why Queen Mother Shulu has formidable power is not just because she is the woman of Yelu Abaoji. After all, Yelu Abaoji has been dead for many years. Most of the authority of Queen Mother Shulu was obtained through war. The Khitan and other nomadic peoples have strong folk customs, and women can also go to the battlefield. In the early campaigns of Yelu Abaoji, hostile tribes took advantage of her to go out to fight and attacked her base camp. Queen Mother Shulu He commanded the response, drew his bow and fired arrows himself, and is said to have captured three enemy generals alive.
War can quickly gain reputation, especially the support of the army. Therefore, Yelv Deguang also focused on foreign conquests.
Yelu Deguang looked around and saw that the north, west and east had all been wiped out by Taizu, leaving only Hou Tang in the south.
By chance, the king of Dingzhou expressed his allegiance to the Khitan and asked for support. Therefore, Yelu Deguang sent his generals Tunai (Tulitiela) and Zila (Zhala) south to help.
The Khitan reinforcements were victorious first and then defeated. Toutai was killed, Zila and others were captured, and the reinforcements were almost completely wiped out. The matter lies in the foregoing.
This battle was a huge blow to Yelu Deguang. Not only did he lose elite soldiers, but more importantly, he originally wanted to divert domestic conflicts through a foreign war, consolidate imperial power through a victory, and get rid of his mother. manipulation. However, the outcome of the annihilation of the entire army made his domestic situation even more passive. Stealing the chicken will lose the rice.
The captured Zila was a senior Khitan general, at least a column commander (capital commander), so the Khitan sent envoys many times with humble words, begging the Later Tang Dynasty to release him.
In the records of the envoys from both sides, a very interesting scene happened:
Later Tang Dynasty said that the Khitan was humble and resigned, and begged grandpa to tell grandma. Our Emperor Mingzong was so powerful and domineering that he beheaded his envoys and refused to reply to his credentials. "Beheading envoys without repaying them";
However, the Khitan historical materials say that the Later Tang Dynasty kept sending envoys to ask for reconciliation, and showed obvious fear of the Khitan, so the Khitan rebelled...
In short, they are all putting gold on their own faces. Big countries always want to save face. After a reasonable analysis, we found that what both sides said was basically true, but they both exaggerated the points that were beneficial to themselves and embellished them to a certain extent. We combine historical data from all parties and try to restore the truth:
The Later Tang Dynasty won a tragic victory, regained Dingzhou, drove away the Khitan reinforcements, and achieved the strategic goal. There was no need to expand the war, and they were willing to reconcile with the Khitan. The Khitan suffered heavy losses, because Dingzhou had been occupied by the Later Tang Dynasty, and therefore lost its ability to continue. The reason for fighting against the Later Tang Dynasty. Both parties are willing to reconcile, but they are bargaining on the terms of reconciliation.
Personally, I think it is true that Emperor Mingzong refused to return the prisoners, but "killing envoys without retribution" is neither in line with international norms nor very logical. The people who wrote this period of history were the historians of the Song Dynasty. At that time, the Song Dynasty was at war with the Khitan. The historians had no choice but to write about it through words, imagining that the emperor of the Central Plains had been so naughty, "killing his envoys without retribution", and asked him if he was too powerful. Will this melon stay ripe?
From Li Siyuan to Li Congke, while the Khitan sent envoys to seek peace, they never gave up their regular harassment of the Central Plains for the purpose of plunder, and the scope of their activities was only limited to the border areas, which was the daily task of the northern nomads.
There are many reasons why the Khitans did not go deep into trouble during this period. From the perspective of the Later Tang Dynasty, Zhao Dejun of Youzhou and Shi Jingtang of Hedong did make outstanding contributions in defending northern Xinjiang. If they were to confront each other head-on, the Khitans might not be able to take advantage. ;
From the Khitan perspective, in the central court, Yelu Deguang was constrained by his mother, the Queen Mother Shulu, and could not fully display his fists. He was more than prepared to invade the south, especially the defeat of Dingzhou, which filled the Khitan country with Due to the anti-war wave, Yelu Deguang was unable to promote a full-scale war with the Later Tang Dynasty; another more practical reason was the lack of a leading party.
Previously, Lu Wenjin served as a qualified leader, but he chose to defect and return to the Central Plains and Han Dynasty in the early days of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Xichong and others also chose to "cross south in clothes" and fled into the Later Tang Dynasty with Han people and officials.
The Empress Dowager Shulu also had her trust in the Han generals dropped to a freezing point. For example, the person who forced her to break her wrist was the Han general Zhao Siwen.
There was a Han who gained the trust of Empress Dowager Shulu and was reused. This person was Han Yanhui, but Han Yanhui opposed going south to invade the Central Plains.
There was also a Han who surrendered, who gained the trust of Empress Dowager Shulu and supported the march south. Who is this person?
