The Khitan rejected this request. In order to save some face for the later Jin Dynasty and appease the depressed mood, they sent an envoy to send a batch of gifts in June.
In the interactions between the Later Jin Dynasty and the Khitan, Shi Jingtang could be said to be groveling. In the memorials submitted, Shi Jingtang always called him "Chen" and "Emperor Son", and affectionately called Yelv Deguang "Emperor Father".
Later, Yelv Deguang told him that from now on he could just call himself "son". Our family seemed so close, so calling him "chen" would be out of touch.
Youdao is a minister of the superior state and the master of the current state. Whenever envoys from the Liao Kingdom arrived, Shi Jingtang would humble himself and accept the edict respectfully.
Whenever envoys were sent to visit the Khitan, they would bribe the Khitan dignitaries profusely. Empress Dowager Shulu, Yelu Lihu, King Nanyuan, King Beiyuan, Han Yanhui, etc. were bribed indiscriminately to all Khitan dignitaries, and even Send generous gifts to Zhao Yanshou.
Despite this, whenever Shi Jingtang made the slightest mistake, the Khitan would send envoys to scold him, but Shi Jingtang had to swallow his anger and accept the teachings of his father. The behavior of the Khitan envoys "reprimanding them according to the order" was also reported by the Later Jin Dynasty official as "the Khitan envoys were sent to hire them".
The envoys of the Liao Kingdom in the Later Jin Dynasty were like emperors, giving orders and yelling. When envoys from the Later Jin Dynasty arrived in Khitan, they were like Sun Tzu. The Liao officials responsible for receiving them were arrogant, either sarcastic or making harsh remarks.
The envoys of the Later Jin Dynasty suffered humiliation in the Liao Kingdom. After returning home, they reported to Shi Jingtang. Everyone in the country, from officials to the common people, thought this was a great shame and were aggrieved. And Shi Jingtang turned into pants and could carry anything.
1.4 Praise the virtues
After Shi Jingtang took control of Luoyang, he couldn't wait to order Sang Weihan to write an inscription to praise Yelu Deguang.
In the first month of the third year of Tianfu (938), He Ning, a bachelor of Duanming Palace, was ordered to write the "Stele of Holy Virtue and Divine Merits".
Yelu Deguang was very happy that his son was so good, so he sent an envoy to confer Shi Jingtang as the "Emperor Yingwu Mingyi" in June. Give him the honorable title of "Profound Understanding of Righteousness" as a mark of recognition.
Shi Jingtang was flattered, and in line with the principle of repaying a drop of water with a spring of spring, he bought one and got two free. In September, he sent Feng Dao, Liu Yu and others to lead a delegation to honor Yelu Deguang and Queen Mother Shulu.
The Queen Mother of Shulu was given the honorary title "Empress Dowager of Guangde Zhiren Zhaolie Chongjian Yingtian", and the honorary title of Yelu Deguang was "Ruiwen Shenwufa Tianqi Yun Mingde Zhangxin Zhidao Guangjing Zhaoxiao Sisheng Emperor".
It's a waste of money. I use all the words to praise the emperor. The price is fair and the price is fair.
Shi Jingtang's flattery was so exciting that Yelu Deguang was so excited that he directly ordered the change of the Yuan Dynasty, changing the "Thirteenth Year of Tianxian" to "The First Year of Huitong", and reduced a certain amount of tribute from the Later Jin Dynasty (coins from the four states along the border). Later Jin Dynasty also quickly sent envoys to thank him.
In short, the official reports of the Later Jin Dynasty were very reserved and omitted many facts that were detrimental to the image of the regime. In order to understand the later Jin regime more comprehensively, we need to look for clues from the "History of Liao".
2. Dad, Khitan
2.1 A son has only one father; a father can have many sons.
Although Shi Jingtang bent his knees to serve the Khitan, the Khitan never seriously considered Shi Jingtang's interests. The Khitan, of course, must put the interests of the Khitan people first.
Within the Later Jin Dynasty, there were people with ulterior motives who also wanted to imitate Shi Jingtang and betray the Central Plains to the Khitan in order to gain the support of the Khitan people, thereby overthrowing Shi Jingtang and becoming emperor themselves. This content will be expanded in detail later.
Within the Khitan, there were also people who coveted the master of the Central Plains, such as Zhao Yanshou. They actively instigated the relationship between the Later Jin Dynasty and the Khitan, and also wanted to use the power of the Khitan to overthrow Shi Jingtang and replace him.
At the same time, there are serious "third party interference", such as Huainan forces, Wu Yue, etc. Especially the Huainan forces, they are eager to see the Central Plains Dynasty and the Khitan dog-eat-dog in order to profit from it. In the Khitan's diplomatic activities, apart from the Later Jin Dynasty, the Huainan forces were the most active and active foreign friends.
In order to instigate the Khitans to fall out with the Later Jin Dynasty, the Huainan forces even came up with an extremely despicable and dirty trick: framing the situation.
In May of the second year of Tianfu (937), Huainan Xu Zhigao adopted the strategy of his chief adviser Song Qiqiu and sent envoys to visit Khitan by sea. He presented a large number of beauties, gold and silver treasures, and established friendship with Khitan. Subsequently, the two countries launched close and friendly international exchanges.
In August of the third year of Tianfu (938), the Khitan sent Gao Ba from Youzhou to lead a delegation to Huainan. One of Gao Pian's former subordinates, also named Gao Ba, was tricked into using the same name by Yang Xingmi's "Hongmen Banquet".
Xu Zhigao warmly entertained the Khitan delegation and gave them extremely generous rewards. Gao Ba and others smiled brightly and said frankly that Huainan is an old friend of the Khitan people. He believed that the two countries have long-term friendship and the friendship will last forever, blah blah blah.
Xu Zhigao sent them out of the country as gifts and asked them to help bring back his cordial greetings to Yelu Deguang.
Compared to the sea route, which has a fatality rate of 50%, the Khitan mission chose the safer land route. Anyway, all the way was the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty and friendly countries.
What they didn't know was that Xu Zhigao adopted Song Qiqiu's vicious plan and ambushed a team of special forces in the Hou Jin controlled area north of the Huaihe River, intercepting Gao Ba and others halfway. Take back all the gold and silver treasures given.
The Khitan immediately set up a task force and went to the Huaihe River for on-site investigation.
Gao Ba’s son Gao Gan survived and hid in Haozhou. As a survivor, he told the investigation team the complete story in detail: We received high standards of courtesy in Huainan. Huainan treated us so well and rewarded us so much. What a generous gift, expressing our good wishes and blessings for the friendship between the two countries... On the way back, we were eating hot pot and singing, but suddenly we were robbed by bandits!
The incident took place in an area controlled by the Later Jin Dynasty, so the Khitan special investigation team quickly concluded: The Later Jin Dynasty did it!
This incident seriously affected the diplomatic relations between the Later Jin Dynasty and the Khitan. Shi Jingtang had no choice but to pay a huge amount of compensation and apologize humbly and sincerely to the Khitan.
On the south bank of the Huaihe River, Xu Zhigao and Song Qiqiu looked at each other and smiled, and proudly wrote down something in the history books:
"The Khitans and the Jin people had a rift."
2.2 Listen to dad
2.2.1 Join the center
By supporting Shi Jingtang, the Khitan received 300,000 yuan in money and silk every year, as well as the sixteen states of Youyun. On this basis, the Khitan did not give up interfering in the internal affairs of the later Jin Dynasty.
For example, he helped Shi Jingtang designate his successor—Shi Chonggui.
Strictly speaking, Yelu Deguang did not designate Shi Chonggui as the crown prince, but only asked him to serve as a stay-at-home officer in Taiyuan. However, according to convention, anyone who serves as a "left-behind" in the capital or an important town is generally the heir to the throne, just like the "Generalissimo of the World's Soldiers and Horses" "It's the same as "sentencing the guards of the six armies". Although he is not the crown prince in the legal sense, everyone tacitly understands each other.
