For Dahan, the past three years have been the most favorable external environment since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The biggest change is that the military pressure from the north has been greatly reduced. It can even be said that after the new border defense system was formed, the Khitan was no longer able to pose much of a threat to the Han Dynasty.
The most important thing is that the situation in Liao Kingdom itself is not optimistic. The trauma caused by the Han-Liao War is unforgettable, and to this day, the Liao Kingdom has not yet recovered from it.
Although with the efforts of the Liao monarchs and ministers, they also pursued the policy of recuperation and development of production, the loss of a large number of able-bodied people could not be recovered in a short time.
Externally, the Liao State adopted the approach of shrinking its power. Especially in areas bordering the Han Dynasty, it strictly prohibited herdsmen from traveling southward and tried to keep a safe distance from the Han Dynasty.
The garrison in Shanyang of the Han Dynasty sent their light cavalry northward from time to time to inspect the inside and outside of the Great Wall, showing off their military power with high spirits. However, among the people, with the acquiescence of the upper echelons of both sides, the trade between Han and Hu was redeveloped and became increasingly prosperous. In the fourteenth year of Qianyou, it returned to the scale of the year before the war.
For the Han Dynasty, this was to kill two birds with one stone, with both political significance and economic benefits. The cattle, sheep, horses and camels from the grassland provided enough livestock power for the rebuilt Shanyang, and also benefited the finances. The Liao Kingdom also obtained salt, tea, wine, grain, cloth, ceramics and other materials from the Han Dynasty through transactions, which were also very scarce in the Liao Kingdom, which was affected by the war.
Of course, during trade, the living conditions of ordinary people in the Liao Kingdom have not been fundamentally improved, and their livelihoods are still difficult. Although it is a nomadic country, the livestock is not unlimited, and its husbandry also takes time and requires good nomadic practices. environment.
But no matter what, with both sides adhering to harmonious development, the situation in the north is relatively peaceful. Although there are occasional conflicts, it does not affect the overall situation.
However, after the war, the relationship between Han and Liao was still in a state of hostile tension, although it was only superficial. The Han had no intention of the Northern Expedition, but the Khitan was unable to fight. It just suffered such a big loss at the hands of the Han. In order to appease domestic sentiment, it was necessary to establish such a strong enemy to unite people and ease domestic conflicts.
But in the hearts of Dayelujing and the knowledgeable Liao officials, they had no intention of starting another war with the Han in the short term. The national policy they pursue is to rest their troops and raise their people, accumulate strength, and silently wait for opportunities and opportunities for revenge.
Of course, a Han-Liao war also gave the Khitans a more intuitive understanding of the strength of the Han Dynasty. Regarding the future confrontation between Han and Liao, Liao generals such as Yelu Xianshi and Yelu Xiezhen put forward new ideas. .
Yelv Xianshi had guerrilla experience with Shi Shouxin and Guo Chongwei in the south of Yinshan Mountain, while Yelv Xiezhen had personally experienced the head-on confrontation between Han and Liao and had a lot of experience.
The two opinions are that in the future war between Han and Liao, we should try our best to avoid a decisive battle with them, and use the vast grassland as the battlefield, relying on the depth advantage of its home field, giving full play to the mobility of the Liao army, harassing, delaying, delaying, and exhausting it, and then Look for opportunities to defeat the enemy.
This kind of change was a change that had to be made after a painful defeat. However, this also means that the Liao army's strategies and tactics tend to be conservative and automatically put themselves on the defensive side.
On the other hand, although in the relationship between Han and Liao, the Khitan adopted the strategy of avoiding its sharp edges and shrinking its power, Yelvuzhi proposed a strategy to the Liao emperor, which was to conquer the west and expand its sphere of influence to the west.
The core area of Liao's rule has always been in the northeast. Unlike the past grassland overlords, it has not further explored the western regions.
According to Yelu Wuzhi's suggestion, the Liao Kingdom developed westward, which could not only seize land and pastures and enrich the population, but also plunder the western tribes to enrich themselves. More importantly, if it can invade the Western Region and even cut off the Hexi Corridor, the Liao Kingdom will have more options to choose from in the future Han-Liao war. Yelu Wuzhi is indeed one of the few knowledgeable people among the upper class of the Liao Kingdom. He is focusing on the future. The Han Dynasty's development in the west in recent years cannot be hidden from the discerning people.
Yelujing agreed with this. The Han Dynasty in the south was in great power and could not compete with them. However, the power in the west was nothing to the Daliao cavalry.
Although the national policy of advancing westward was set, it was regarded as top secret and only a few civil and military officials trusted by the Liao Emperor knew about it. First, given the situation of the Liao State, it was impossible to organize a strong enough force to march westward in a short period of time; secondly, if the Liao State advanced westward, the Han army would also respond.
Therefore, before the official launch, the Liao Kingdom needs to be more prepared. This has to be said about Liu Chengyou's decision to send Li Wanchao to recover the Hetao and rebuild Jiuyuan. This not only consolidated the border defense and defended Hexi, but also affected the westward advance of the Liao Kingdom.
However, these would hardly affect Liao's strategic decision-making. In the past three years, Emperor Yelujing of the Liao Dynasty made many patrols, including three hunting activities to the west.
As for Yelu Wuzhi, after he proposed the last suggestion to Yelu Jing, his injuries worsened and died in the spring of the thirteenth year of Qianyou's reign, which added another glory to Yang Ye's achievements. From Gao Mohan, Yelu Cong, Yelu Talie to Yelu Wuzhi, a great battle resulted in the death of four of the famous ministers and generals of the Liao Kingdom in the early years of the year.
The death of Yelu Wuzhi was a huge loss to the Liao Kingdom. With his high prestige and great achievements, he was the number one official in the Liao Dynasty. Yelujing was very sad about the passing of this good minister who had supported him and supported him, and finally gave him extremely high posthumous honors.
On the whole, the external environment of the Liao Kingdom can be said to be good, and the poor internal situation has also been improved and gradually stabilized. However, there are still hidden worries within it, and the conflict over the succession of the throne that has lasted for thirty years cannot be resolved by a bloody purge.
Although the rebellion three years ago eliminated a large number of political opponents and greatly increased Yelujing's personal authority, the conflicts within the royal family have not been eliminated, and the bloody killings have alienated many people from Yelujing. The most important thing is that the power of the four inner tribes as the core ruling group has been greatly weakened, which is a big hidden danger.
At the same time, in these years, several turmoils occurred among the many tribes in Mobei controlled by the Liao Kingdom. Although they were quickly suppressed, it also proved that its control over the subordinate servant tribes had declined. Even the Jurchen tribe in the Northeast sent envoys through many obstacles to pay homage to Liu Chengyou in Tokyo. Although it did not represent the entire Jurchen tribe, it was a good sign for the Han Dynasty.
What makes Yelv Jing even more distressed is his brothers. Yelu Deguang has five sons in total. Except for the younger brother Yelu Bishe, who is more down-to-earth and respectful, they are not very peaceful.
The third brother Yelu Tiande was killed in his early years for participating in the rebellion against Yelu Ruan. The second brother Taiping King Yelu Sage was exiled to the Northwest Recruitment Department for treason when he took the throne. When Yelu Xiyin rebelled, he contacted Yelu Sage hoped to unite with him to plan major events, and promised to grant him the Moxi area.
But he was decisively rejected, and at the same time he wrote back a letter to denounce him. One thing Yelu Sage knew very well. The fight between brothers was limited to Yelu Deguang's lineage, and the throne could not be allowed to be stolen by collateral lines.
However, taking advantage of the opportunity of Yelu Xiyin's rebellion, Yelu Sage did control a certain amount of power in the northwest. When the chaos was settled, for Yelujing, this younger brother would give Yelujing another headache.
Another one was King Yelu Dilie of Anping. He was somewhat deeply involved with Yelu Xiyin and others. Although he was not actually involved in the end, Yelu Jing was quite dissatisfied. For several brothers, Yelujing actually valued them very much and had high expectations. However, all of them were thinking about the throne.
In addition, during the post-war recovery, the Liao State increased its plunder of the Bohai region, which also aroused dissatisfaction among the former Bohai nobles. Since the destruction of the country, the Liao Kingdom has been adopting a gentle and appeasing policy towards the Bohai survivors, gradually digesting and assimilating them, retaining the power status of its aristocrats, and almost all of its people.
Therefore, this sudden squeeze inevitably aroused public resentment. In the winter of the thirteenth year of Emperor Qianyou's reign, a rebellion broke out in the old land of Bohai. At its peak, the rebels numbered 20,000. However, the Liao Kingdom has been in operation for many years, and even if the foundation of its rule cannot be described as solid, it cannot be shaken by a mob composed of Bohai survivors. Within two months, it was pacified by Gao Xun, who was left in Tokyo in the Liao Kingdom.
Speaking of which, after such an extremely intense war with the Han Dynasty, in which he was beaten to death, Yelujing adopted an attitude of giving high priority to some Han ministers. For example, Gao Xun was promoted by Yelujing to stay in Tokyo after the war because he defeated Guo Tingwei's troops who landed in Liaodong and drove them back to the other side of the Bohai Sea, ensuring the tranquility of Liaodong. In terms of employing people, Emperor Liao was sometimes quite courageous.
After such a rebellion, the Liao Kingdom no longer dared to carry out an oppressive policy towards its hometown of Bohai and took advantage of the situation to appease it. However, through this chaos, many hostile elements who jumped out were also eliminated, and through plundering them in the early stage, the financial aspect was also relieved to a certain extent. However, fundamentally speaking, this had a great negative impact on the rule of the Liao Kingdom.
In this way, after three years of turmoil, it was not until this year that the Liao Kingdom truly settled down. However, because the wound was too deep, the wound still had to be licked...
