Chapter 138 Yelu Bei

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

"I remember that Yelu Bei was still alive and well until he was killed by that guy from Later Tang... Li Congke?" Zhu Bai said. After Emperor Taizong of Liao ascended the throne, neither Empress Dowager Yingtian nor Emperor Taizong of Liao killed the former crown prince. This was very different.

Frankly speaking, even if Yelu Bei did not threaten the abilities of Shulü Ping and Yelu Deguang, for the sake of stability, they would at least keep him under surveillance or even let him die quietly.

Zhu Su said: "Emperor Taizong of Liao did monitor this brother for a long time. At that time, he was still the ruler of Dongdan State."

Han Dynasty, during the first year of the reign of Emperor Jingdi.

Liu Che complained: "Yelu Bei has also discovered that he has no chance... He is quite self-aware." This is different from his brother. However, perhaps it is also because Yelu Bei is older than Liu Rong and has more experience and knowledge than Liu Rong.

Liu Qi nodded, full of admiration for Shulü Ping's skills - after the emperor's death, she quickly took control of the situation and was able to cut the Gordian knot without hesitation, killing those who should be killed and making decisions when necessary. What an excellent mind and heart!
He used this incident as a positive example to teach Liu Che: "Che'er, do you remember this? If you want to do something, you should be like the Queen Mother Yingtian. When it's time to act, act immediately without hesitation or doubt. If you have a goal, as long as it is feasible, act resolutely for the goal. Don't look back and miss the opportunity."

What he talked about was not only about daily court affairs, but also about the formulation of general directions and the selection of successors.

Wasn't it partly because Li Ji was unable to appear kind and magnanimous, and yet did not have the decisive and wise vision and means to do so, that Liu Qi himself deposed Li Ji and her son?

It would be fine if she was unwilling to take care of other princes, but she had to have enough means and brains to ensure that she could control the world! Wang Zhi was smarter than her.

Liu Che nodded and said, "My son understands that when it is time to make a decision, you must make it. Killing ministers like in the sky is a means of making a decision." Shulü Ping used this method, plus her original authority, to control the Khitan and pushed Yelu Deguang to the throne. Yelu Deguang was a promising prince and a good candidate for the throne at the time, and later he was also a wise ruler.

As for Yelü Bei being miserable and unlucky? No one cared. They didn't care much about Liu Rong's misery, let alone Yelü Bei who had nothing to do with them.

For a ruler, a desired and suitable successor is of course much more important than the misery of others, including his own son.

Qin Dynasty.

One minister sighed: "So, this is another emperor who ascended the throne abnormally!"

Tianmu said that up to now, there has not been an emperor who has ascended the throne in an absolutely normal way. There are always problems of one kind or another.

[After Yelu Deguang ascended the throne, he naturally wanted to consolidate his position.

If you want to achieve this, of course you have to create your own achievements, enhance your prestige, and make sure that no one else can threaten you.

In addition, how to deal with previous competitors is also crucial.

Yelu Bei was once the legitimate crown prince and the first heir to the throne, so Yelu Deguang had to consider him.

What about Yelu Bei? Does he have nothing except his status and power as the crown prince?
This was not the case. Before Yelü Abaoji died, he finally conquered Bohai State, changed the name of the country to Dongdan, and appointed Yelü Bei as the emperor and the ruler of Dongdan State. He also gave him the crown and clothing of the emperor, established the reign of Ganlu, set up left and right prime ministers, deputy prime ministers and hundreds of officials, and let Yelü Bei ascend the throne and govern Dongdan State. 】

(You’ve all discovered that most of the emperors shown on the sky screen ascended the throne in an irregular way.)
(The imperial family has always been ruthless!)
The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang was indeed somewhat surprised and curious about seeing something different: "Since the crown prince has been appointed, why should he be allowed to ascend the throne and rule in a frontier area? How is this different from enfeoffment?"

Although the Bohai Kingdom did need a person of status and ability to slowly govern it, so as to eliminate the local resistance and allow them to obediently submit to the rule of the court - but why would it be the crown prince?

If we look at this from the perspective of the common thinking in the Central Plains, it is clear that the emperor has other plans for the prince.

Afterwards, Liu Bang looked a little strange: Why did he mention the identity of the King of Bohai? Could it be that Yelu Bei would continue to be the King of Bohai? Or did he return to Bohai? Did Yelu Deguang just let him go?
Nomadic peoples would not have such an attitude towards those who might be their political enemies. Their struggles were equally fierce. Take the Xiongnu to the north for example. Maodun had killed all the threatening Xiongnu.

[Yelü Deguang did not deprive Yelü Bei of this identity.

However, he used another method to strike the power of the Dongdan Kingdom: migration.

He promoted Dongping County of Dongdan State to Nanjing of Liao Dynasty (Liaoyang, Liaoning) and forcibly relocated the people of Dongdan State there. This was at the end of the third year of Tianxian. By the beginning of the fifth year of Tianxian, the relocation was basically completed, and it was time to relocate Yelu Bei there. Before he actually went there, Yelu Bei also paid homage to the ancestral mausoleum and Taizu Temple.

Of course, Yelu Bei's actions were by no means pleasant, and Yelu Deguang set up a large number of guards to monitor his behavior at all times.

When Yelu Bei arrived in the new Dongdan Kingdom, he ordered his official Wang Jiyuan to write the "Stele for the Construction of Nanjing", build a library in the West Palace, and compose the "Poem of Enjoying Pastoral Life".

At this point, Yelu Deguang's treatment of Yelu Bei came to an end. Apart from depriving him of his authority, his daily life was not restricted and he could still enjoy the support as the "Human Emperor".

(Yelü Bei was a newly created country since ancient times, and it was not easy for the crown prince to give up the throne after one generation? The Yizong of Liao was a great emperor! However, he was suspected for giving up the throne. Wasn't it a sign of the time when Jianyuan was established? This was the fault of the ruler and his ministers who were ignorant of the etiquette at that time. He packed up his books and sailed across the sea, living in a foreign country, thinking of his relatives and asking about their well-being. His heart was very understandable. Looking at how he admired Taibo's virtue at first and planned to go far away, and how he hated Chen Heng's evil and asked to punish him, his outstanding ambitions and interests were probably seen in the words of Confucius who worshipped him at an early age. It is difficult to question the way of heaven if a good person does not live to the end. It is not because of his bloodthirsty nature! However, at the end of the Liao Dynasty, the wise and sages succeeded to the throne, all of which were his descendants. The reward for the utmost virtue is clearly here.)
Khitan, the second year of Tianzan.

Yelu Abaoji still agreed with the move of relocating the Dongdan Kingdom.

Regardless of the conflict between the two sons, just talking about the Dongdan Kingdom itself, if it wanted to eliminate the influence of the original Bohai Kingdom on the Bohai survivors, migrating them from their homeland to Khitan's own territory would be a good way.

Not to mention that as an aftermath of the struggle for the throne, the Dongdan Kingdom, the former fiefdom of the crown prince, had to be weakened and control had to be transferred to the hands of the emperor at this time - only in this way could the Khitan have a more stable internal environment to develop itself and face the chaos and disputes in the Central Plains.

Shulü Ping also nodded. Yao Gu was not only talented in fighting, but also good at political affairs. For example, before his brother returned to Dongdan, he also asked him to pay homage to the ancestral mausoleum and Taizu Temple. In this way, with the premise of announcing the ancestors to heaven and earth, plus the status of the Human King and the Lord of Dongdan, the migration to Dongdan was more legitimate and there was nothing to criticize.

In their hearts, the couple both adjusted their evaluation of Yelu Deguang upwards. Song Dynasty, Kaibao Period.

Regarding this period of history, although the Song Dynasty has grasped the situation of various major events, it has been some time since then, and it was a turbulent time and a foreign country, so some details are still unclear.

The Liao Dynasty was established much earlier than the Song Dynasty. The year Yelü Deguang ascended the throne was also the year Zhao Kuangyin was born. Now the Song Dynasty is in the Kaibao period, and the monarchs of the Liao Dynasty have been from Liao Taizong, Shizong, Muzong, to the current Tianzan Emperor Yelü Xian.

Thinking of this, Zhao Kuangyin felt a little headache.

From the information in the sky curtains several times before, it can be concluded that the current emperor of Liao will die early due to poor health; but his queen is capable of handling military and national affairs, and will not fall into disadvantage because of this; after the queen, their son will have the temple name of "Shengzong"...

As for sending troops while the Liao Dynasty was in civil strife and the succession process was in chaos - the main period of chaos had already passed, and the Liao Dynasty's current systems in all aspects have basically taken shape.

The Yanyun area is very, very, very important to the Song Dynasty; but for the Liao Kingdom, it is not a place that will be given up.

[But the story does not end here.

You have to know that this period was not a time of unification and stability of the dynasty, but the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period when there were wars on all sides and a piece of land could change its owner every day.

The northern region was indeed relatively stable under the rule of the Liao Dynasty, and the war in the Central Plains did not spread here; but the fact that the war did not spread did not mean that information would not be spread and communication would not occur.

After Zhu Wen poisoned Emperor Aizong of Tang and established Later Liang, Li Cunmao of the Shatuo tribe in the north proclaimed himself emperor, named his country "Tang" and established Later Tang. The current emperor of Later Tang is Li Siyuan, Li Cunmao's younger brother and the adopted son of Emperor Taizu Li Keyong.

Overall, Li Siyuan was a relatively good emperor. Facing the situation of the Liao Dynasty in the north, he would not miss this opportunity to do something. So he sent someone to contact Yelu Bei.

The result was that in the fifth year of Tianxian, Yelu Bei fled to the Later Tang Dynasty from the sea with his favorite concubine and a large number of books.

Before he left, he placed a piece of wood by the sea and carved a poem on it: "The small mountain presses down the big mountain, and the big mountain is powerless. I am ashamed to see my hometown people, so I will go to a foreign country from now on."

(General Manager Li Siyuan is a minister of Your Majesty. Since he started the business, he has fought many battles and conquered every city and defeated every enemy. His reputation for power and strategy has spread among the barbarians and the Chinese.)
(Li Siyuan was a rare enlightened emperor during the Five Dynasties period. Unfortunately, he became too suspicious in his later years and killed ministers at will, which led to alienation between the emperor and his ministers, suspicion between father and son, and great damage to the vitality of the country.)

The ministers of the Later Tang Dynasty slowly played a big (?)

Later Tang, Tiancheng period.

In the court, Li Siyuan and the ministers looked at each other silently, as if to say, "Your Majesty, please spare my life."

Li Siyuan turned his head silently and said, "Don't worry, I won't be so careless in the future."

"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!"

Liao Dynasty, the first year of Huihe.

Yelu Deguang didn't care about Yelu Bei's affairs. It had already happened, so what could he do? Moreover, Yelu Bei's escape to Li Siyuan did not cause him any big trouble. Later, when Li Congke caused civil strife in the Later Tang Dynasty, he wrote to himself saying that it was a good time to attack, which was considered not forgetting the Liao Dynasty.

He was still thinking about Sejong's problem.

Setting up a separate department for the emperor's uncle is something that Yelu Lihu, the current legitimate heir and crown prince, would not do. In other words, it is most likely that Shizong was not the crown prince he appointed.

This was not surprising. After all, according to the current situation of the Liao Dynasty, it was not normal for the emperor to come to the throne - it was very normal for a non-crown prince or a crown prince's younger brother to come to the throne. Many Khitan nobles were still thinking of conducting a popular selection and restoring the old Khitan system.

Who was the one who took the throne? His eldest son Shulü? Or his second son Yansa Ge?
While he was thinking, Tianmu mentioned Yelu Bei's escape from the sea... Yelu Deguang was shocked. Yes, there are also his eldest brother's sons. They are indeed likely to set up their own uncles, and the nephew he is more familiar with is Wu Yu. Could it be him?
Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che didn't care about anything else. He was only attracted by the content of the Later Tang Dynasty: "Adopted son?!"

What Later Tang Dynasty, what Shatuo tribe, they are all secondary. Even the fact that it was a younger brother who succeeded to the throne instead of a son is not a problem. The key point is that this younger brother is an adopted son.

Such a thing left Liu Che, who had desperately wanted to have a son before Liu Ju was born, stunned and unable to understand.

Although an adopted son can indeed inherit the family business, the prerequisite is that it cannot be a family business like the throne!
Is it that the dynasties of later generations are too advanced? Am I too obsessed with one family and one surname?

[Yelü Bei who fled to the Later Tang Dynasty did quite well. He served as the Jiedushi of Huaihua Army (Gao'an, Jiangxi), the Inspector of Ruishen and other states, and also remotely served as the Jiedushi of Qianzhou (Ganzhou, Jiangxi).

His ties with the Liao Dynasty were not severed because of this, and he often sent envoys to pay his respects.

Although Yelu Bei fled without his wife, other concubines and son, Yelu Deguang did not take action against them. On the contrary, his wife Xiao, as the princess of the emperor, followed the tradition of the Liao Dynasty: she served as regent of the Dongdan Kingdom until she died of illness ten years later.

Yelu Bei's eldest son, Yelu Ruan, later came to Yelu Deguang and received education, and "Emperor Taizong loved him like his own son."

Later, during the Tianxian period, Li Siyuan's eldest son had been on the throne for only half a year when Li Siyuan's adopted son Li Congke killed the king and established himself as the emperor. Yelu Bei even wrote a secret letter to Yelu Deguang, believing that this was a good time to attack the Later Tang Dynasty.

Until the fall of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Congke sent people to kill Yelü Bei before he burned himself to death. He was finally buried in Yiwulü Mountain and was posthumously named Wenwu Yuanhuang Wang.

(Li Congke was brave in battle, but his governance was difficult to describe.)
(The imperial seal was also lost at this time.)
(End of this chapter)