Chapter 141 Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Although they did not have much good feelings towards the Song Dynasty, Li Shimin and others were also dissatisfied when they saw the Yanyun area being ceded.

"Emperor Taizong of Liao was indeed of great significance to the Liao Dynasty." They admitted this, after all, the Liao Dynasty had obtained Yanyun at this time, "but he said that Shi Jingtang was 'a man of profound knowledge and a true ruler', but it was only because Shi Jingtang allowed them to obtain Yanyun."

What is Shi Jingtang? Even if he did have meritorious service in the war, his actions have wiped out all his previous merits!

Moreover, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be an emperor, but your emperor was indeed "enthroned" by Yelu Deguang - except for the vassal states, which orthodox emperor was enthroned by the emperor of another country?

Not to mention the difference between the Hu and Han peoples, the fact that Shi Jingtang did not establish himself as emperor but was conferred the title by the emperor of another country is enough to make his title of "emperor" lower than that of other emperors!

[During the more than 80 days that Zhang Jingda was besieged, Li Congke was not indifferent. On the contrary, as someone who had actually fought in battles, he had a good understanding of the impact of the war situation.

After receiving Zhang Jingda's request for help before he was besieged, Li Congke immediately mobilized troops and ordered Zhangshengdu Commander Fu Yanrao to lead his troops to station in Heyang (Mengxian County, Henan), Tianxiong Army Jiedushi Fan Yanguang to lead his troops to Yuci (Yuci, Shanxi), Lulong Jiedushi Zhao Dejun to lead his troops out of Daizhou (Daixian County, Shanxi), and Yaozhou Defense Envoy Pan Huan to lead his troops out of Cizhou (Jixian County, Shanxi) and Xizhou (Xixian County, Shanxi).

But he also knew that not all of these people would come to the rescue with all their strength, so he personally led 30,000 troops out of Luoyang and headed for Heyang.

After arriving in Heyang, Li Congke ordered the Privy Councilor Zhao Yanshou to lead 20,000 troops to Luzhou (Shangdang, Shanxi) to supervise the battle. He also ordered Zhao Dejun to be the commander-in-chief of all the camps, and Zhao Yanshou and Fan Yanguang to be the recruiting envoys of the southern and southeastern camps of Hedong Road, in an attempt to form a pincer attack to break the siege of Jin'an Village.

It was a good idea, but his generals didn't think so.

The most obvious example is Zhao Dejun and his adopted son Zhao Yanshou.

(Why couldn't people have children during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period? Why did they have so many adopted sons?)
Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che was filled with doubts and confusion: "So, this is another adopted son? How many adopted fathers and adopted sons were there in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms?"

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Yang Jian was also numb to this series of adopted sons, and just casually started to talk about the thoughts of the father and son: "Why, Zhao Dejun and the other two also want to seek support from Emperor Taizong of Liao and ascend the throne to become emperor?"

Well, it is possible. After all, the Later Tang Dynasty looked like a mess.

However, if this is true, it is unlikely that Yelu Deguang will agree to the Zhao family father and son in the end. After all, can the Zhao family father and son give a better reward than Shi Jingtang's Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun? Can they be more willing than Shi Jingtang to serve Yelu Deguang as a father?
"However, if there are still people who choose to borrow troops from the Liao Dynasty, it also means that the Liao Dynasty at this time is not a completely irresistible threat in the eyes of the Central Plains." At the very least, in the eyes of these people, compared with the threat posed by the Khitan Liao Dynasty to themselves, the threat posed by the power of the Central Plains dynasty is greater.

Doesn’t this further prove how much progress the Liao Dynasty made in its subsequent development?
Seeing that this topic was over, Dugu Jialuo turned to another one: "Li Congke died by self-immolation. Did he burn himself to death after the battle in Heyang, because he saw that he was powerless to save the situation?"

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

When Zhao Guangmei saw these paragraphs, she was shocked.

His fifth son was born recently. According to the order of seniority, the first character of his name should be "德". His previous sons were named Zhao Degong, Zhao Delong, Zhao Deyi, and Zhao Deyong. He thought about the name of this son for a long time and originally wanted to give him "君" as the second character of his name...

Now it seems that I'd better forget it. The other characters are also good. There is no need to use the "Jun".

[Zhao Dejun did not contact Yelu Deguang at the beginning.

When Li Congke ordered him to rush to Zhang Jingda's aid, he wanted to annihilate Fan Yanguang's 20,000 troops in Liaozhou. How could Li Congke agree? He flatly refused, and raised his vigilance to the highest level against Zhao Dejun, and then urged Zhao Dejun to send troops.

Afterwards, Zhao Dejun and his son did send troops, but due to their ambition and fear that Li Congke would attack them, Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou decided to send envoys to the Khitan, offering them a large amount of money and property, requesting Yelu Deguang to send troops to help them ascend the throne and become emperor, and promising that Shi Jingtang could still guard Taiyuan.

Was Yelu Deguang tempted? Yes.

However, Shi Jingtang was deeply panicked when he heard the news. He hurriedly sent Sang Weihan to Yelu Deguang to cry and explain the agreement between the two parties and the generous gifts promised by Shi Jingtang. In addition, the conditions offered by Zhao Dejun were indeed not tempting enough, so Yelu Deguang finally rejected the request.

At this time, the Later Tang army in Jin'an Village finally reached its limit.

With the food and grass aid cut off, the army's morale was shaken, and the deputy commander Yang Guangyuan killed Zhang Jingda and led the generals to surrender.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Lü Zhi couldn't help but say, "The timing of Zhao Dejun and his son contacting the Khitan was just right."

The contact took place at a time when Shi Jingtang had just been enthroned as emperor and had confirmed with Yelu Deguang the reward for Yelu Deguang's troops.

At this time, news came that Zhao Dejun and his son requested Khitan to send troops. This would neither sever the alliance between Yelu Deguang and Shi Jingtang, but would also make Shi Jingtang feel more urgent - you are not the only one who wants to take the opportunity to become emperor, and you are not the only one who wants Khitan to send troops to help.

Khitan, at this time, is a very popular and useful helper!

As a result, Shi Jingtang dared not think about the generous gift he had promised. He was afraid that his offer was not good enough and Yelu Deguang would abandon him.

"So, did Zhao Dejun and his foster father finally surrender to Khitan?" Liu Bang was quite interested in Zhao Dejun's final outcome, especially since Yelu Deguang was clearly in control, and Khitan had a precedent of accepting surrendered ministers from the Central Plains regime and continuing to employ them - Han Yanhui was an example. Moreover, the Central Plains region was in constant war, while Khitan was relatively stable. The Yanyun region was close to Khitan and was the focus of the war between various forces. If Yelu Abaoji and Yelu Deguang's policies were similar, wouldn't ordinary people in the Yanyun region think about moving to Khitan?
[Jin'an Village was thus broken, and Yelu Deguang and Shi Jingtang naturally had to continue moving south to completely eliminate Li Congke.

The next target was Zhao Dejun and his son, who were stationed in Tuanbai Valley (southeast of Qi County, Shanxi), waiting and watching the situation, and not staying any further.

Upon receiving the news that the Khitan and Shi Jingtang were heading south, Zhao Dejun and his son had no intention of fighting, but decided to flee directly - but they did run away without reorganizing the army, and for a while, the soldiers were in a panic, trampling on each other in their attempt to escape, abandoning their weapons and armor, and tens of thousands of people were killed or injured.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Dejun and his son naturally could not run far. On the 15th day of the intercalary eleventh month, the Khitan discovered that Zhao Dejun and his son had escaped, and then pursued them overnight; on the 16th day, the main force of the Khitan passed through Tuanbai Valley to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth; then, Zhao Dejun and his son were caught up and finally surrendered to the Khitan.

Afterwards, Yelu Deguang's army stayed in Luzhou and sent 5,000 people to accompany Shi Jingtang to continue south to Luoyang.

Seeing this, Li Congke retreated to Luoyang, killed Yelu Bei, and then burned himself and his family to death. The Later Tang Dynasty fell.

Since then, the reward that Yelu Deguang wanted was finally fulfilled. In early December, after distributing the spoils, Yelu Deguang sent an envoy to pass the news to Empress Dowager Shulü, and then on the sixth day of the first lunar month, he began to return to the court.

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Kuangyin was dissatisfied with Zhao Dejun and his son: "They are a prominent family in Yantai and are related to the lord, but they cannot be loyal to one side, nor can they make themselves clear. They are really not fit for anything." If Zhao Dejun had the idea of ​​establishing his own regime and surrendered to the Khitan because of defeat, which was still the norm among the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, then Zhao Yanshou's words of deceiving Shi Chonggui and others of the Later Jin Dynasty were purely harbouring evil intentions.

Although strictly speaking, Zhao Yanshou was only trying to complete the tasks issued by the then monarch Yelu Deguang and wanted to use this to qualify as the emperor of Central Plains, but Zhao Kuangyin was biased!

Although Shi Jingtang was a nobody in his eyes, it was a good thing that Shi Chonggui and the Liao Kingdom broke up later. However, the situation was soon disrupted by Zhao Yanshou - and Zhao Yanshou was naturally not a good person either!
After thinking for a while, Zhao Kuangyin added: "Although Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou are not good, Yuanfu is still very good. He guards Yanzhou (Yan'an, Shaanxi), suppresses the Qiang and Hun ethnic groups, is kind and simple, and loves the people. He is indispensable for the stability of border defense."

Zhao Defang and others nodded. They knew that Zhao Kuangyin was talking about Zhao Zan, who was now guarding Yanzhou, and was the son of Zhao Yanshou and grandson of Zhao Dejun.

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

The princes basically regarded the content of this skylight performance as a high-end drama. After all, the content was detailed, there were performances by characters, and it had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty - where could they find such a good entertainment?

If Zhu Yuanzhang had not been present, they would probably have found a comfortable position, either lying or sitting, and started to enjoy themselves with some fruit plates, snacks, and drinks.

However, although this cannot be done now, they can still relax - as long as they stay away from Zhu Yuanzhang. So, unknowingly, the princes' group has quietly and slowly moved away from their original position, getting farther and farther away from their old father.

"Hey, this is just the beginning. How to govern the Yanyun area in the future is the key. Taking over the land in theory alone does not count." Zhu Chong said skillfully in a low voice.

Zhu Gang felt that the first thing was not how to govern: "Governance is something that will come later. Now it is said to be ceded, and it is indeed ceded, but will the local officials obey orders?"

Although the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period often saw changes of countries, this time it was given to the Liao Dynasty after all. There would always be a few local officials who did not want to obey, or it was not impossible that some people wanted to establish independence.

[Let’s talk about the territory that Shi Jingtang gave to Yelu Deguang, which is the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun: You (Beijing), Ji (Jizhou District, Tianjin), Ying (Hejian, Hebei), Mo (Renqiu, Hebei), Zhuo (Zhuo County, Hebei), Tan (Miyun, Beijing), Shun (Shunyi, Beijing), Xin (Zhuolu, Hebei), Gui (formerly Huailai, Beijing, now flooded by Guanting Reservoir), Ru (Yanqing, Beijing), Wu (Xuanhua, Hebei), Wei (Lingqiu, Shanxi), Yun (Datong, Shanxi), Ying (Ying County, Shanxi), Huan (Dongmayi Town, Shuo County, Shanxi), Shuo (Shuo County, Shanxi).

In the ninth year of Tianxian, Yelu Deguang personally led his troops to garrison in Yunzhou, and captured Lingqiu, Yangcheng and Wazhicheng in Wuzhou.

In addition, Pingzhou (Luolong, Hebei) was also in the hands of Yelu Deguang.

On December 26, Yelu Deguang arrived in Yingzhou. On the 29th, the military governors of Datong (Zhenyunzhou), Zhenwu (Zhenshuozhou), and Zhanguo (Zhenyingzhou), which originally belonged to the Later Tang Dynasty, came to greet and pay homage to Yelu Deguang, but they were all detained by Yelu Deguang.

On the third day of the first lunar month in the twelfth year of Tianxian, Yelu Deguang, who was still in Yanyun area, received news that although the Jiedushi of Datong was detained, the Jiedushi judge of Datong, who was still in Yunzhou, refused to obey orders and closed the city to defend himself. Yelu Deguang first sent people to surround the city, and then on the seventh day of the first lunar month, he personally led an expedition to the city and read the imperial edict, which solved the problem of the Jiedushi judge of Datong refusing to obey the imperial edict.

On the ninth day, after offering sacrifices to heaven and earth again, Yelu Deguang returned to the Liao Dynasty and began to deal with the newly acquired Yanyun area.

Of course, this was preliminary preparation. Shi Jingtang, or the Later Jin, officially presented the map and household register of the Sixteen States at the end of this year.

(My Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun!!!)

(The eternal pain of our Song Dynasty!)
The entire Song Dynasty was furious as they watched helplessly as the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were taken away by the puppet emperor Shi Jingtang.

Khitan, the second year of Tianzan.

Yelu Abaoji and Shulu Ping both raised their lips and smiled. If it weren't for the fact that the sky screen was playing, they would have wanted to hold a banquet to celebrate the Khitan's easy acquisition of such an important area, and also to offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth, and ancestors...

"Yes, Yao Gu does need to go through all the places he can pass through first, which will also facilitate the acceptance and management in the future." Yelu Abaoji agreed. Although he spent most of his time expanding the Khitan territory in the north instead of going south, it didn't mean that he didn't want the territory in the south!

In the north, no matter how much the territory expands, it is still a traditional grassland area. Everyone is mainly nomadic and needs to migrate seasons. Once a natural disaster occurs, survival will be difficult to sustain. Although the Central Plains will also be affected by natural disasters, overall it is still better than the grassland.

In this case, some territory in the Central Plains is very important.

Moreover, the Central Plains territory is not only territory, but also population, and among these people, there are likely to be some talented people who can help the development of the Khitan - otherwise, why would he be willing to use those Han officials and be more tolerant of them, and at the same time not govern those Han people who farm according to the requirements and methods of the Khitan people? Isn't it just to attract more people from the Central Plains to join the Khitan!

Anyway, the Central Plains is now in flames of war, and there are always some monarchs who do not meet expectations...

(End of this chapter)