The advantage of the "Queen Mother Party" lies in the "hostage card" in the hands of the Queen Mother Shulu. Queen Mother Shulu knew that she could not compete with Yelu Ruan in terms of physical power, so she played a dirty trick and detained all the family members of the "Sejong Party" who stayed in Shangjing. hostage. The cruel and brutal Yelu Lihu gave a death order to the guards guarding the hostages: "If I can't win, I will kill these people first!"
People believe that this guy does what he says.
The cruelty of Queen Mother Shulu is still well-organized, and there is a careful political logic behind the butcher's knife, which is a derivative of the distribution of interests. In other words, her behavior can be predicted and is a controllable terror; while Yelu Lihu's cruelty is It's not that complicated anymore. It can be said to be unreasonable. This guy is simply the immortality of Shang Zhou and the resurrection of Xia Jie. If there is logic, it is that "interest is the first teacher of mankind". Yelu Lihu takes pleasure in killing people. For Killing to kill is an uncontrollable terror.
Even leaving aside the hostages, many of the soldiers were fathers and sons and brothers in two camps respectively. Therefore, the soldiers on both sides were dejected, full of sorrow, and cried to each other: "Once the war breaks out, we, fathers and sons, will kill each other!" The soldiers had no fighting spirit and no one wanted to start a war.
The two sides fell into a strange stalemate on both sides of the Huangshui River.
At this time, an extremely important figure in Khitan history emerged. This person was Yelu Wuzhi.
After the hostage of Yelu House was Yelu Yanmu (the second uncle of Yelu Abaoji), the Khitan royal family was then "Ti Yin" and was in charge of the royal family's politics and religion.
Yelvwuzhi was knowledgeable and wise. He had a very high reputation and was deeply relied on by the Queen Mother Shulu. At this critical historical moment, Yeluwuzhi gave advice to the Queen Mother Shulu and was therefore regarded by Yelu Ruan. A thorn in the flesh, a thorn in the flesh. Yelu Ruan then wanted to use a strategy to sow discord and kill people with a borrowed knife.
As a result, Yelu Ruan wrote many "secret letters" with flashing and ambiguous words to Yelu Wuzhi, and deliberately leaked them to the Queen Mother Shulu. For details, please refer to Cao Cao's drive against Ma Chao and Han Sui in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
At that time, both sides were filled with "Infernal Affairs". The "Sejong Party" secretly contacted the Queen Mother Shulu, saying that although she was in the Yelvruan camp, her heart was with the Queen Mother and hoped that the Queen Mother would learn from it and not kill her family; the "Queen Mother Party" Yi secretly communicated with Yelu Ruan, saying that although he was around the Queen Mother, he supported Yelu Ruan... This situation was very common, so Queen Mother Shulu was indeed suspicious of Yelu Wu.
The Empress Dowager Shulu called the hostage to Yelu's house, presented "evidence" and confronted him face to face.
After reading these letters, Yelu Wuzhi said calmly: "This is obviously a frame-up and sowing dissension. As the saying goes, don't trust the people you employ, and ignore the people you doubt. When the country is in crisis, I am willing to work to the death for the Queen Mother, but if you doubt me, then I There is nothing we can do. If you really want to doubt me, if you want to kill or behead me, please do as you please."
Seeing that he was so frank, Empress Dowager Shulu felt relieved and said, "If I really doubted you, why would I let you read these letters? You are a distinguished veteran of the Liao Dynasty, and I want to hear your opinions."
Yelvuzhi said that the solution to the matter is actually very simple, nothing more than peace or war. I personally support reconciliation and the Khitans will not fight the Khitans.
Of course Queen Mother Shulu understood the dangers of civil war. Once the war started, no matter what the final result was, the Khitan's vitality would be greatly damaged, and Taizu's foundation would most likely be destroyed. Let’s not talk about the distant country, let’s talk about the Central Plains Dynasty. The civil war has continued to heat up since the end of the Tang Dynasty. This gave the Khitan the opportunity to go south, first taking over the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and then taking over Bianzhou. Have you never eaten pork or seen a pig running?
Queen Mother Shulu immediately agreed to the settlement, "In my opinion, who can take on this important position?"
"If the Queen Mother trusts me, then I am willing to act as a lobbyist. If I am lucky enough to be able to persuade King Yongkang, it will be a great blessing for the country!"
So Queen Mother Shulu wrote a letter and asked Yelu House to be handed over to Yelu Ruan.
In this letter, Queen Mother Shulu took the lead. Although she said it was a peaceful invitation, her tone was still very harsh. As a parent, she angrily scolded Yelu Ruan for being rebellious and rude.
Yelu Ruan was furious when he read the letter, and immediately ordered someone to reply with a letter saying, "Too many words are inappropriate."
The Queen Mother Shulu was very resourceful and scheming. She clearly agreed to the settlement, but she criticized Yelu Ruan in her letter. Behind this was the political skill of the Queen Mother Shulu. She did this to increase her bargaining chips, which is similar to marketing. Raise prices first, then discount. In this way, in the subsequent negotiations, Queen Mother Shulu's behavior of "maintaining the original price" can be regarded as a compromise, using her own false concessions in exchange for the other party's real concessions.
Yelu Ruan planned to start the air-to-air scolding mode, but was stopped in time by Yelu's house hostage. The back and forth of scolding will inevitably escalate the incident, and it is very likely that the gun will go off, leading to a more serious military conflict. For the sake of the country, I think it is better to sit down calmly and have a good talk.
Yelu Ruan was wealthy and arrogant. He pointed at the generals around him and said, "The people on the other side are just a bunch of rabble. Look, even if we fight, do you think I will lose? Just fight, who is afraid of whom?"
Yelvuzhi nodded in approval, "I don't deny that you have an overwhelming advantage. However, the war is uncertain and can be unpredictable. How can you guarantee that you will win? Even if you win, have you considered the aftermath? , what to do with your grandma and third uncle, have you killed them? Besides, don’t forget—"
Yelu Wuzhi paused and slowly glanced around, "——Their wives, children, children, are all in Yelu Lihu's hands. Who is Yelu Lihu, you don't need me to tell you, right?"
As soon as these words came out, all the generals present turned pale and tried to persuade Yelu Ruan, "Your Majesty, let's reconcile, don't fight..."
One sentence directly poked Yelu Ruan's weakness.
It’s not that grandma and third uncle cannot be killed. For a good politician, this question is a scoring question. Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen suffered miserably from "Don't hurt my uncle". He didn't learn the essence. Sima Zhao, Zhu Wen and others all said similar words, but their eagles and dogs could understand it. It's not like "my uncles" couldn't Kill, but cannot throw the crime of murder on the lord. The eagles and dogs must take the blame at this critical moment, and their attacks must be steady, accurate, and ruthless. Afterwards, they will take the initiative to help the lord expose himself publicly. The lord will pounce on the body of "my uncle" and grieve. He was so distraught that he wailed and cried, "These dog slaves are doing me no justice."
What Yelu Ruan is really afraid of is the hostage card in the hands of the "Queen Mother's Party" that can destroy his tribe and defeat others without a fight.
Seeing the reactions of the generals around him, Yelu Ruan fell into deep thought. After a long time, he asked Yelu Wuzhi, "What do you think we should do?"
Yelu Wuzhi is still saying the same thing. For the sake of the country and the country of the Liao Empire, please reconcile with the Queen Mother.
Yelu Ruan immediately agreed and expressed his willingness to accept mediation and reconciliation.
