Chapter 137: Broken Wrist Queen Mother
[Yelü Bei was a person who was relatively closer to the Han people and admired Confucianism.

When Yelü Abaoji wanted to choose an object to worship, Yelü Bei's answer was "Confucius is a great saint, respected by all generations, so he should be worshipped first." In the end, Yelü Abaoji still built the Confucius Temple and asked Crown Prince Yelü Bei to worship him in spring and autumn.

What about Yelu Deguang? He also valued the Han people and Han areas, but this was different from Yelu Bei. One manifestation was that he highly respected the traditional Khitan culture of conquest, horse riding and archery, and had outstanding military strategies and numerous military exploits.

What about Shulü Ping? She was actually a typical steppe-oriented ruler. For her, Han people and Han officials could be employed, and Han people's economy and culture could be used for reference, but everything had to be based on maintaining the original power and traditions of the Khitan.

Then, the traditional Khitan nobles had a lot of say in the succession of the throne. This group was also more willing to support the prince with traditional Khitan characteristics to inherit the throne.

Another point is that Yelu Deguang's marriage was also part of his bargaining chips - the Yelu family and the Xiao family had been married for generations, but Yelu Deguang was more than that. His wife, Xiao Wen, the future Queen Jing'an, was the daughter of Yelu Zhigu, the daughter of Shulü Ping and Yelu Abaoji, and the daughter of Shulü Ping's half-brother Xiao Shilu.

In other words, Yelu Deguang was both a cousin and an uncle, and Xiao Wen was both a cousin and a niece.

But no matter what, this obviously brought him closer to the Shulü Ping family. 】

(The Khitans are barbarians, and they are against human ethics and natural principles.)
(Humph! The barbarians still forced the Song Dynasty to sign the Treaty of Chanyuan, forced the Song Dynasty to call us brothers, and forced the Song Dynasty to pay tribute to us every year.)
(That is, the Liao Dynasty was a barbarian tribe, and the Song Dynasty was also a barbarian tribe that treated us as brothers.)
(This is totally unreasonable, huh!)

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Although the content currently being broadcast was all content that the Song Dynasty was familiar with, Zhao Kuangyin was watching it with great interest. Suddenly, he was so angry that he shook when he saw these comments.

"Zhao Guangyi, it's all because of you, a piece of trash, that the Song Dynasty is being mocked like this!"

He gnashed his teeth and mocked the Liao Dynasty: "The Khitans are just barbarians who eat raw meat and drink blood. They are not civilized at all. The royal family actually married like this, throwing etiquette and laws to the winds, and completely disregarding human ethics and principles. How is it different from beasts?!" After cursing, he also dragged down the Liao Dynasty, "My Song Dynasty is a country of etiquette, and such a thing will never happen..."

After talking about Yelu Deguang's marriage problem, he also mocked Yelu Bei: "This Yelu Bei advocates Confucianism, but I think it's just on the surface. If he really understood Confucian ethics and etiquette, how could he allow such a marriage to happen in his family? The Yelu and Xiao families have been intermarrying for generations, so is he no different from Yelu Deguang?"

Zhao Guangmei and others also looked down on such marriages. It was fine for a woman to remarry, and marriages between cousins ​​were also common, but it was too much between uncles and nephews.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che felt that he had found a big secret. Apart from the uncle-nephew issue, he was curious about another point: "Then given their in-law relationship, how should they address each other on a daily basis?"

Cousins ​​is not a problem, as this is a common combination and there is a precedent for calling each other relatives; but what about uncle and nephew? Should we just throw away this relationship and just call them cousins?
As for the fact that Yelu Bei did not have enough supporters among the traditional Khitan nobles because he was inclined towards Confucianism, this was a matter of course in Liu Che's view.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to get closer to the Central Plains, but you can't show it like this." Not to mention that this is a problem between two ethnic groups, even if the Khitan nobles are not doing it for the sake of profit, they will still have various concerns - even if they are within the same ethnic group, when their position is not stable enough, they want to express their attitude, and they need to think twice.

Wasn't the previous protagonist, Emperor Taizong of the Han Dynasty, exactly like this? He had endured the various groups for a long time.

Be it marriage relations or the issue of the crown prince, these are Khitan's own affairs, and in the final analysis have little to do with Liu Che. To put it inappropriately, even if they changed eight crown princes a day and there was any levirate marriage, it had nothing to do with Liu Che.

What he really cared about was one thing: what Yelu Bei said when answering Yelu Abaoji's question: "Confucius is a great sage, respected by all generations."

The worship of Confucius has indeed existed for a long time, but it cannot be said to be so revered. Even Yelu Bei, a prince of a foreign race, would praise him so much. The key point is that Yelu Abaoji actually adopted this suggestion!

"I chose to promote Confucianism and abolish all the schools of thought that were not included in the Six Arts and the teachings of Confucius in the official schools of the Doctoral School in order to unify thoughts and strengthen rule...but it has developed to such an extent in later generations..." Liu Che pondered. Unifying thoughts is a must and it is impossible to give up. However, if the status of Confucius is elevated to such a level, then the relationship between imperial power and Confucianism, a doctrine that was originally just a tool, is hard to say.

So, those seemingly good talent selection systems, such as the imperial examination system, all test Confucianism and Confucius's teachings? —— Previously, the sky screen showed mostly the implementation of the imperial examination, the system details and its development and changes, but there was really no discussion of the content of the test.

Although the stories of the Song Dynasty have shown some signs of the Confucianization of various doctrines, the establishment of the Confucius Temple by the Khitans truly demonstrated the development of Confucianism.

Liu Che glanced at Dong Zhongshu. The old man also realized the situation in later generations and sweat began to flow on his forehead.

What the emperor wanted was unified thought. Confucianism simply perceived the emperor's needs, modified itself appropriately and submitted it to him. However, what the emperor wanted was just a tool, not an inflated Confucianism!
[So, since she wanted to support Yelu Deguang's ascension to the throne while maintaining her own influence, Shulü Ping also began to take action.

The first and most important thing is to prevent the ministers from opposing him - kill those who stubbornly oppose him!
Shulü Ping summoned many Khitan nobles, and then asked them, crying, as a queen who had lost her husband, "Do you miss the late emperor?"

How to answer such a question? Of course, the answer is: "How can we not miss the late emperor when we have received his kindness?" The queen asked this question. The late emperor had just passed away. How could the ministers say they did not miss him?
But immediately, Shulü Ping responded: "If you really think about it, you should go and see him." She killed all these people and buried them with Yelü Abaoji. She killed hundreds of people in total.

Such a decisive approach immediately shocked a group of people and gradually calmed the unstable hearts of the Khitan people.

But apparently, some people do not want to follow in this kind of physical annihilation.

A man named Zhao Siwen raised an objection to this: "The person closest to the late emperor should be the empress. Who could be closer to the late emperor than you? You should go first and I should follow behind you." Does this make sense? It makes a lot of sense. Shulü Ping was the empress, the wife who helped Yelü Abaoji start his career and hold power together. No matter how close a minister was, he could not be closer to the late emperor than Shulü Ping.

But Shulü Ping once again demonstrated her extraordinary mind and sharp judgment: "It's not that I don't want to follow the late emperor to the underworld, but my sons are young and weak, and the country has no leader, so I can't go." Then she cut off her right wrist and put it in the coffin as a sacrifice.

This approach once again demonstrated her personal level, reaction, ability, and character... and after a round of purges, the Khitan internal affairs were completely under the control of Shulü Ping. 】

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Everyone was stunned, and someone blurted out: "Isn't this Empress Lü's business..."

After Li Shimin got over the shock, he said, "That's not the case. Empress Shulü was able to purge a hundred people because her control and strength far exceeded that of Empress Lu." In other words, Shulü Ping was not able to control the situation because she killed more than a hundred people, but because she controlled enough power to kill more than a hundred people.

If she didn't have enough power and prestige, she wouldn't be able to launch a purge and kill those who opposed her. Didn't those opponents want to live? Wouldn't they resist if they had the chance? But they were all purged anyway.

Perhaps the final act of Zhao Siwen and Shulü Ping's amputation represented an agreement to some extent, but in the final analysis, the situation was in Shulü Ping's hands.

Khitan, the second year of Tianzan.

Yelu Abaoji was not surprised at all, as he knew his queen's abilities and character very well. Therefore, it was not surprising that she would do such a thing.

He had not thought about what Shulü Ping would do after his death - the purge was inevitable, and he knew it without thinking too much. As for the reasons and methods of the purge, there was no need to dwell on it too much.

He simply said to Shulü Ping: "Yueliduo, my requirement is that Khitan must be stable. Even if there is turmoil, it must not affect its development and growth." He knew that after his death, Shulü Ping would definitely use various means to maintain her influence. He was also very clear that the core of Yelu Bei's failure lay in the difference in attitude towards Han culture.

He himself was willing to accept Han culture, and Shulü Ping was also willing to accept it, but she was not willing to completely sinicize and abandon Khitan traditions. Yelü Abaoji felt that perhaps Tuyu had indeed gone a little too far in this regard.

Shulü Ping smiled: "Qiolizhi, how could I let Khitan fall into such a situation? This is my Khitan!" She attached great importance to Khitan traditions. In the final analysis, it was because she wanted to make Khitan more powerful. How could she let Khitan fall into such a situation?
Yelu Abaoji said nothing. He still trusted the queen and her methods. He sighed again, "Some people are my confidants after all. I still hope they can be kept safe as much as possible."

[After stabilizing the internal situation, Shulü Ping further pushed Yelü Deguang to the throne.

In front of the tent in the imperial capital, which would later become the capital of the Liao Dynasty, she had Yelu Deguang and Yelu Bei stand on horseback, and let the Khitan chiefs choose the one they would support and hold the reins for them.

Everyone knew who Shulü Ping's heart was with, so they all rushed to hold the reins for Yelu Deguang.

Faced with such a situation, Yelü Bei knew that the situation was hopeless and could not be changed. So, in the second year after Yelü Abaoji's death, that is, the second year of Tianxian, he brought his ministers to ask Shulü Ping to give up the throne to Yelü Deguang.

At this point, the overall situation was settled. On November 15, Yelu Deguang ascended the throne; on the 16th, he paid homage to the Taizu Temple; on the 19th, the unique Khitan enthronement ceremony, the Chaice Ceremony, was held; on the 25th, he was given the title of Sisheng Emperor, a general amnesty was granted, and it was decided to continue using the Tianxian era name; on the 3rd of December, the empress dowager was honored as the Grand Empress Dowager, Shulü Ping as the Yingtian Empress Dowager, and his wife Xiao Wen was enthroned as the empress. 】

Qing Dynasty, the 28th year of Kangxi's reign.

As for Shulü Ping's actions, regardless of other things, Kangxi, the princes, and many Manchu ministers strongly agreed with her efforts to protect Khitan traditions.

"We, the Manchus of the Eight Banners, are primarily responsible for speaking Mandarin and riding and shooting... The emperors of our dynasty have instructed our descendants not to change their attire and to focus on speaking Mandarin and riding and shooting." Kangxi said slowly. These words were directed to all the princes and Manchu ministers present. "Don't be contaminated by Han habits and abandon the old Manchu traditions."

Manchu, or the national language or Qing language, is the foundation of the Manchu people of the Qing Dynasty. How could they abandon Manchu and learn the languages ​​of other ethnic groups? As early as after Kangxi ascended the throne, he clearly stipulated that children of the Eight Banners must be familiar with Manchu and that bannermen must use Manchu when writing memorials.

The importance of horseback archery is not to be underestimated. The Qing dynasty gained power on horseback. Although firearms were widely used, horseback archery was the core, the tradition, and the key to the Manchus' independence. In addition to the political factors at the time, he also wanted to inspect and supervise the Eight Banners' children to practice horseback archery.

Kangxi thought to himself that he didn't need to worry too much about horse riding and archery for the time being, but as for the Manchu language...it would be better to let the commanders of the eight banners conduct an assessment of the bannermen they are responsible for to see how well they have mastered the language, so as to understand the current situation of the Qing Dynasty.

As he was thinking, the ministers over there also began to think: The emperor's statement would definitely not be a one-shot deal. With today's style, there might be an inspection at any time... It's time to let the right person know.

As for the messy relationships among relatives and generations...there are actually quite a few Manchus nowadays, so there is naturally no need to mention them.

After considering it, Kangxi turned his attention back to the contents of the skylight.

He did not deny Empress Shulü's achievements, but Kangxi did not like the fact that Shulü Ping held great power and interfered with the succession of the throne. Although Emperor Taizong of Liao was indeed a capable monarch, this should not be decided by Shulü Ping, a female relative. She only needed to assist the emperor, how could she interfere in the power?
This is one of the reasons why Kangxi did not agree with the marriage rules of the Yelu and Xiao families of the Liao Dynasty. Isn't this equivalent to dividing part of the emperor's power? But, how can the emperor share power with others? Those who want to test it are evil-minded and should be executed.

(End of this chapter)