Chapter 135 The Road to the Throne
Khitan, the second year of Tianzan.

Yelu Abaoji was in a very happy mood. Although he was not a person who would doubt himself when hearing doubts or criticisms, he would naturally be very happy to hear Tianmu's affirmation of his achievements.

"However, I have not really thought about these issues carefully before." Yelu Abaoji and Shulü Ping said that when he was gradually expanding his power to allow the Yelu clan to replace the Yaonian clan and replace the tribal alliance system with the hereditary monarchy, he was thinking about how to gain more power and how to suppress and eliminate the rebellious forces, and he really did not study these aspects.

Shulü Ping smiled: "Doesn't this just show that Your Majesty is following the will of Heaven?" Judging from the sky, the transformation of Khitan from a tribe to a country and an empire was an inevitable trend of the times, and it was Yelü Abaoji who ultimately achieved this outcome. If this doesn't count as following the will of Heaven, then what does?
Yelu Abaoji felt that her words were right, and that was why he used his wisdom and ability to successfully grasp the destiny this time.

After thinking for a while, he brought up the topic of succession that had been put aside before: "I am assured that my inheritance will be handed over to you. And Yao Gu... should also be a good successor."

According to Tianmu, he did achieve the transformation of the system. But he also knew that he had only basically built a framework, and many specific aspects were actually not enough, like a castle in the air, which could be destroyed at any time. And the stability and improvement of the system would need to be handed over to future successors.

Yelu Deguang was able to get a summary like the sky curtain, so I think he did a good job in this regard;

As for why the queen should be affirmed, it is of course because Shulü Ping will inevitably be involved. It is legitimate for the queen and the queen mother to participate in politics in the Liao Dynasty.

[In the fourth year of Tianyou, Emperor Ai of Tang, Li Yu, was assassinated and the Tang Dynasty was declared extinct. Some areas in the Central Plains continued to use the Tianyou era name, while others began to set their own era names.

In this year, which was also the first year of Taizu of the Liao Dynasty, Yelu Abaoji was officially elected as the great leader of the Khitan, that is, the Khan.

In the tenth year of Taizu, Yelu Abaoji, who had sorted out the internal opposition forces of Khitan and conquered a new world outside, declared himself emperor, named his country Khitan, changed the era name to Shen Ce, and made his wife Shulü Ping the Empress Di and his eldest son Yelu Bei the Crown Prince.

Afterwards, he fought wars in the south and the north, constantly expanding the Khitan territory and population, and at the same time quickly established the political system of the regime that had just transformed from a tribal alliance into a country. The throne was hereditary, prefectures and counties were established, the Han and the Hu were divided, the Khitan base was consolidated, and Han ministers and generals were appointed...

It was under such circumstances that Yelu Deguang gradually emerged.

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

As soon as he saw the dove-killing, Li Shimin was able to roughly guess the situation at the time: "So, this Emperor Ai is also a puppet?" If it was a local rebellion that broke into the central government, then Li Yu's cause of death would not be "being killed by dove". If he was killed by dove, he was most likely a puppet emperor with powerful ministers around him.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin also had some guesses about the cause of death of the previous emperor Zhaodi Li Ye. After all, Tianmu described it as "trying to save" - ​​this Li Ye did take action, probably not small. Then in such an environment of the Tang Dynasty, the cause of death... is just like that.

Yuchi Jingde was puzzled. Although the Khitans under the leadership of the Daha clan had now submitted to the Tang Dynasty, he really didn't know much about the political system of this nation: "So, weren't they hereditary before?" Even if it was not an emperor system, it was a Khan system. Wouldn't only the Daha clan be able to serve as Khan?

Fang Xuanling replied: "It is true that only the Dahe clan is qualified to be the leader, but it is not inherited from father to son. There is an election process, and it must be recognized by the resolution of the eight departments."

They didn't talk much about this topic, as they were more concerned about Yelu Abaoji's other actions.

"The Han and the Hu were divided, the Khitan base was consolidated, and Han ministers and generals were appointed," Zhangsun Wuji analyzed, "so the Han people were used to govern the Han people and Han areas, and the Khitan and other tribes were governed by the Khitan people and systems?"

This method is not new, and there have been many examples of its implementation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

"I remember," Du Ruhui said, "when Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty was on the Northern Expedition in Yongxi, wasn't there a man named Han Derang in the Liao Dynasty?" This name sounds like a Chinese name. And this man became an important figure in the Liao Dynasty.

In other words, was there a group of Han people who successfully entered the high-level decision-making circle of the Liao Dynasty?
The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang narrowed his eyes and said, "So, this Liao Taizu Yelu Abaoji is indeed outstanding."

If he were an ordinary outstanding leader, he might just keep launching wars, expanding his territory, and plundering livestock and people, and he might not be able to seize the opportunity of this institutional change.

Yelu Abaoji seized the opportunity and did a good job. He was able to introduce Han ministers and generals and appoint them to positions of power... The most important thing was that he was able to turn many things that did not exist originally into institutionalized and normalized existences. This was his greatest contribution to this newborn country.

"On the contrary, this Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang is both a legitimate son and a second-born son, which makes him very similar to Tang Taizong."

Lu Zhi rolled her eyes and retorted, "It's still a little different. For example, the queen is not dead." Li Shimin's mother had passed away before the issue of succession arose, while the queen Shulü Ping was still alive and well.

Queen of Earth... Although this title was meant to correspond to Yelü Abaoji's Emperor of Heaven, it still reflects that Shulü Ping was not a powerless queen who was completely dependent on her husband, but had actual power.

Liu Bang felt that Lu Zhi's point of view was very reasonable. A living queen or queen mother with actual power could have a significant influence on the succession to the throne, especially in the Khitan regime which had just been established not long ago.

"However, according to the Khitan tradition, the eldest son, Yelu Bei, should go to war. Unlike the people in the Central Plains, the prince would not easily go to the battlefield to avoid danger." Liu Bang said, recalling his understanding of nomadic peoples.

For nomadic people, if you can fight, then the best way to demonstrate your strength and win the hearts of the people is to lead your troops to victory. The role of internal affairs is usually smaller than that of leading troops into battle.

[Six years later, that is, in the first year of Khitan Tianzan, Yelu Deguang was appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World by Yelu Abaoji. At that time, he was only 20 years old.

Afterwards, Yelu Deguang followed his father in a series of foreign conquest wars of the Khitan, led six armies in a southern expedition to Pingzhou, Youzhou, Zhenzhou, Dingzhou and other Later Tang cities, captured Zhao Siwen, Zhang Chong and other Later Tang ministers and generals, and made considerable contributions.

Next, he continued to fight wars everywhere, defeated the Yujueli tribes, pacified the Dangxiang in Heye, conquered the towns in Shanxi, captured the city of the Uighur Chanyu, pacified Bohai in the east, and defeated the Dalugu tribe.

This series of military exploits made his prestige continue to grow, but Yelu Abaoji's focus has always been on consolidating his regime, developing the Liao Kingdom, and expanding outward, and he did not pay much attention to the problems between his sons.

It was not until four years later that Yelü Abaoji died of illness on his way back to the imperial capital, which would later become Shangjing, in a place called Fuyu after conquering Bohai. At that time, Yelü Deguang was stationed in the imperial capital, and Empress Shulü Ping was in charge of government affairs.

At this point, the key question arises: since the hereditary system of the throne has been established, who will inherit the throne? 】

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very dissatisfied with this question. Even though he knew that Yelu Deguang would inherit the throne, he was still angry and dissatisfied: "The crown prince has been appointed, so of course the crown prince should inherit the throne! If not the crown prince, who else could it be?"

As soon as the princes and ministers saw it, they knew that the emperor was associating Yelu Bei's incident with himself, otherwise he would not be so genuinely angry and dissatisfied.

Zhu Di whispered: "If you ask me, this problem arises because of the special conditions of Khitan itself."

What special conditions? Of course, as Tianmu said, the country had just been transformed from a tribe, and the systems were not stable, and people's thoughts had not yet changed. Naturally, it would not be like the Central Plains Dynasty, where only the prince could succeed to the throne, and anyone who prevented him was a traitor.

On the other hand, it was because of the unique power of the Khitan descendants. Shulü Ping was not a vase, or rather, the empress, princesses, and princesses of the Liao Dynasty were not vases. They had certain military power and were supported by their families. In addition, for various reasons, the Liao Dynasty did not exclude them from participating in politics and wars, so naturally the selection of the heir would also be one of the contents they participated in.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Yang Jian recalled: "Wait, this question... Although the Liao Taizu passed away, the crown prince Yelu Beike is still alive and well, and has not been deposed, right?"

It’s not like the crown prince was deposed, nor did the second son do anything great like Li Shimin while the emperor was still alive - how could such a legitimate and natural successor to the throne have such a problem?

If there is a similar famous event, it is Fusu and Hu Hai of Emperor Qin Shihuang, but Fusu was never officially named the crown prince.

Dugu Jialuo felt that it was impossible to rely solely on Yelu Deguang's power: if he had fought with the army and made contributions, that was for sure; but how could the prince not fight with the army in a place that had just been transformed from a tribe into a country like the Central Plains? If there was power in the army, everyone should have it.

The most likely scenario is that Yelu Deguang's achievements surpassed Yelu Bei's, and his reputation also exceeded his.

So, she said, "I think the internal structure of Khitan is the most critical. The Yaonian clan had eight tribes, so does the Yelu clan have eight tribes now? Who controls the eight tribes? And how much power does the queen have? And what is her own ability?"

Yang Jian nodded. Neither of them mentioned the Han area. Not to mention how important the Han area would be in the future, at present, the power of the Khitan people would inevitably be the one that could influence the succession to the throne.

"All nomadic peoples are soldiers..." Yang Jian said slowly. He tried to speculate the adjustments made when the Khitan nation was first established. "So, although the Khitan nation has become a country, theoretically, this tradition will not change in a short period of time." Especially since it is still the founding period of the nation, Yelu Abaoji is still fighting everywhere and he cannot lack soldiers.

"Indeed, if Emperor Taizong of Liao wants to inherit the throne, he must have the support of the tribe or the army. Luo Yan, do you mean that the queen has a lot of troops?" Dugu Jialuo thought about it and felt that it was very likely. The queen is not just a decoration, but can actually mobilize a group of people. This is the foundation for being able to influence the government.

[Let me explain a situation here. After Yelü Abaoji died, Yelü Deguang did not succeed to the throne immediately, but ascended the throne a year later. ]

Song Dynasty, Tianbao period.

Zhao Kuangyin sighed, "Yes, that's right. Emperor Taizong of Liao ascended the throne a year later. During the intervening year, the Empress was in charge of military and national affairs."

This was the Liao Kingdom's own custom, and Zhao Kuangyin had no interest in interfering. Anyway, Empress Dowager Yingtian did a perfect job, and the Liao Kingdom was stable.

However, he couldn't help but think of the Empress Dowager Chengtian again: "So, what is Zhao Guangyi thinking? Has something confused his mind? With so many precedents in the Liao Kingdom, why does he think that the period of the Empress Dowager's regency is a perfect opportunity to attack?!"

Other dynasties may not have known much about the Liao Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty, which coexisted with the Liao Dynasty, was carefully collecting various intelligence data on the Liao Dynasty even in the early Song Dynasty, and naturally had some understanding of the Liao Dynasty's organizational structure, which was different from that of the Central Plains countries.

He might not be able to understand the profound things, but he did know a thing or two about the superficial things, such as the military power controlled by the royal family, the queen's family, and the queen.

[We all know the final result. It was the second son, Yelu Deguang, who replaced his eldest brother, Yelu Bei, who was also the crown prince, and ascended the throne.

So, what enabled Yelu Deguang to ascend to power successfully?
First of all, this is closely related to Yelu Deguang’s own strength and popularity.

Although the Khitan at that time was still nomadic in nature and would not let the crown prince go to the battlefield, on the contrary, they would let the crown prince demonstrate his strength through war. Yelu Bei "once participated in the expedition against the Ugu and Dangxiang, served as the vanguard commander, and managed the Yan area", and "participated in the expedition against Bohai."

But his younger brother, Yelu Deguang, had made even more outstanding military achievements and should not be underestimated. He was also given the title of Grand Marshal to lead the troops, and "he achieved success wherever he went, thousands of miles east and west."

Such a Yelu Deguang not only had a great reputation - in a country like Khitan that has not yet broken away from nomadism, military merit is the best proof of strength and the most respected achievement; he also gathered a group of people to support him - again, in today's Khitan, unlike the Central Plains, they do not value the crown prince, and once a crown prince is established, he must succeed to the throne.

After all, even the hereditary system has only been established for a dozen years, and before that it was still based on the hereditary system. 】

(The Song Dynasty was weak because it unified the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms; the Song Dynasty was strong because it paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty.)

(Can this guy shut up?)

(End of this chapter)