Shi Hongzhao took advantage of the victory to pursue and defeated Cui Tingxun and Geng Chongmei. Geng Chongmei withdrew to defend Huaizhou, while Cui Tingxun returned to attack his hometown in Heyang, defeated Wu Xingde and regained Heyang.
The Khitan side was already in disarray. After killing Fang Shilang by mistake, he also killed Pan Huan by mistake.
Liu Xi abandoned Luoyang and fled. The commander-in-chief Xiao Han, who was staying in Bianzhou, sent General Gao Mouhan to lead his troops to escort Liu Xi back to Luoyang. After Gao Mouhan arrived in Luoyang, he suspected that Pan Huan was colluding with the rebels inside and outside, so he also found no evidence. , and killed Pan Huan just based on speculation.
The chaos in the Central Plains has spread to the Saibei grassland, and the Queen Mother Shulu wrote in the name of her younger brother Yelu Lihu to inquire about the current situation in the Central Plains.
This is not the polite greetings and polite greetings of ordinary people, but an important political questionnaire. Taking advantage of the loss of the Central Plains, Empress Dowager Shulu had great intentions of taking back the imperial power.
Yelu Deguang was mentally prepared. When he accepted the congratulatory wine from Queen Mother Shulu, he no longer dared to sit down and drink it. He showed off to his surrounding officials to show that he had always respected the Queen Mother and had always been closely surrounded by Queen Mother Shulu as the core. In the Khitan's highest power system.
When Yelu Deguang left Bianzhou, he publicly told people around him that he did not want to stay in the Central Plains. It would be more interesting to hunt on the grasslands. The Central Plains was too dull and boring.
Listen to the sound of speaking, and listen to the sound of gongs and drums. Yelu Deguang also said this to Empress Dowager Shulu, which meant that he had never thought of using the Central Plains to escape her supervision..."
In his reply, Yelu Deguang truthfully reported on his work in recent months:
——(Applause credit first) The initial progress was very smooth. I recruited the main force of the Central Plains led by Du Chongwei and Zhang Yanze to surrender, took Zhenzhou and entered Bianzhou. Then I selected talented people from the surrendered civil and military officials to continue to serve our great cause. Liao effectiveness;
——(Complaining again) But the Central Plains has been in chaos for a long time, and the situation is a mess; there are so many bandits and civilians everywhere, the people are complaining, and everyone hates the Khitan; and Liu Zhiyuan from Hedong has taken the lead and is against us, and the world has gathered to respond...
——(Applying credit again) This time we went south and occupied a total of 76 states with a population of 1,091,118 households;
——(Wen Guo as Fei) It was only because of the hot weather in Bianzhou that the Khitan people were not accustomed to the acclimatization and climate, so they returned to the imperial court with their troops;
——(Give me another chance) If you give me another year, I guarantee that I can restore peace to you!
——(Self-criticism) My mistakes mainly lie in the following three aspects: plundering people's money; harvesting grass and grain; placing military envoys from various places under house arrest;
——(PPT) By summarizing experience and lessons, I came up with three magic weapons for governing the Central Plains: encouraging the officials; harmonizing with the military; and adhering to the common people. I want to change Zhenzhou to Zhongjing as the frontline headquarters for the crusade against Liu Zhiyuan in Hedong.
This is a standard example for subordinates who have made mistakes to check in with their leaders. Yelu Deguang didn't want to admit defeat and be sentenced to political death. He had to work hard to convince his mother to give him another chance, "I think I can save it again!"
Maybe Queen Mother Shulu can give him a chance, but God won't.
When Yelu Deguang arrived in Lincheng (now Lincheng County, Hebei Province), he suddenly fell ill and developed a high fever. When he arrived at Luancheng (now Luancheng County, Hebei Province), his condition worsened sharply and the high fever refused to go away.
The attendants piled ice cubes all over Yelu Deguang's body, including his limbs, abdomen, chest... and stuffed ice cubes into his mouth. But all to no avail.
On April 21, Yelu Deguang died of illness in a forest in the north of Luancheng at the age of 46.
People in the Central Plains celebrated enthusiastically like the New Year, and God finally opened his eyes! In order to express their hatred for this foreign leader, the Central Plains people gave this forest a mighty and domineering name - Killing Hulin.
The evaluation of Yelv Deguang in "History of Liao" cannot be said to be a partial generalization, or at least it would be unsound. It basically has no reference value. It praises his great achievements to the extreme, while downplaying and even beautifying his war crimes.
I try my best to give my personal evaluation of him in an objective and fair manner:
First of all, his merits and abilities are beyond doubt.
Internally, Yelu Deguang got rid of his role as a puppet through political means and gradually broke away from the strong control of Queen Mother Shulu;
Externally, it is even more worthy of special mention. He overthrew the Central Plains regime twice, installed the puppet emperor Shi Jingtang, and "used the Han to control the Han". For the first time, he allowed the Central Plains dynasty to surrender and pay tribute to the nomadic regime, and Khitan became the "Celestial Kingdom." ; In the end, he directly took control of the Central Plains and ascended the throne in Bianzhou and proclaimed himself emperor, setting up an insurmountable monument for nomadic civilization.
Secondly, his fault is also obvious.
He is a good player in the world, but he is a rookie in the world. Even he himself gave the answer accurately, which is the "Three Loss Lessons" highly praised by "History of Liao". Yelu Deguang was not stupid. He knew very well that plundering the people would greatly disappoint the people and significantly increase the management costs of the Central Plains, but he still did so without hesitation.
Again, politicians only care about politics. The reason why Yelu Deguang knew that tyranny was unpopular with the people and still allowed his soldiers to "strike grass and grain" and collect money was his best choice after careful consideration, and it was also his only correct choice.
The purpose of Yelu Deguang's invasion to the south was not to liberate the people of the Central Plains or to plant the red flag all over the world. His purpose, as we have mentioned many times, was to get rid of the control of the Queen Mother Shulu and seize the supreme power of the Khitan. Through this war, he will accumulate military merit and reputation, cultivate his direct lineage, and make his wings stronger.
The army that followed him south, whether they were Khitans or other servant tribes, had a very simple purpose, which was to rob money, food, and women. They don't care about politics, they only care about interests. We will support whoever can lead us to snatch the spoils.
In order to win their support, Yelu Deguang had to meet their needs and allow them to plunder. The principle is the same as when Li Keyong allowed Shatuo cavalry to plunder. At that time, the young Li Cunxu proposed to restrain these traitors to win over the people. Li Keyong told his son the truth with sincerity.
Yelu Deguang was the emperor of the Liao Dynasty and the leader of the alliance of the grassland tribes. He represented the interests of the tribal chiefs and ministers, rather than the interests of the people - especially the people of the Central Plains.
In the end, Yelu Deguang said that "a man's words are good even when he is about to die", and he really summed up the twelve-character motto of "using the Han to control the Han". Three methods were used to deal with his "three mistakes". To sum up, it is nothing more than Do a good job in public relations, create a people-friendly persona for Khitan, and let the people of the Central Plains turn from hating Khitan to loving them.
