Chapter 154

[Afterwards, Yelu Deguang began to issue a series of official appointments and dismissals, personnel disposals, to stabilize the regime and reassure people's hearts.

Liu Min, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, temporarily took charge of Kaifeng Prefecture and killed Qin Jimin and Li Yanshen, who were the people Li Congke sent to kill Yelü Bei. He also killed Yang Chengxun, the defense envoy of Zhengzhou, and appointed his brother Yang Chengxin as the governor of Pinglu Army, inheriting the title of his father Yang Guangyuan. At that time, Yang Chengxun killed Judge Qiu Tao and his brother Yang Chengzuo and others and returned to the Later Jin Dynasty.

On the third day of the first lunar month, Zhang Yanze was beheaded in the market for committing unrighteous crimes by moving Shi Chonggui to Kaifeng without authorization, killing Sang Weihan, and allowing his soldiers to plunder. The people in the capital were greatly delighted.

On the 15th, Shi Chonggui was demoted to the rank of Chonglu Dafu and Jianxiu Taiwei, and was granted the title of Fuyi Hou.

On the 17th, Zhang Li was appointed as Prime Minister, Li Song as Privy Councilor, Feng Dao as Grand Tutor, He Ning as Hanlin Academician, Zhao Ying as Prince Grand Guardian, Liu Rixun as Guardian Grand Guardian, and Feng Yu as Prince Junior Guardian.

On the 27th, Zhao Ying, Feng Yu and Li Yantao were sent with 300 cavalrymen to escort the Unfaithful Marquis and his mother Li, Concubine An, wife Feng, brother Shi Chongrui, sons Shi Yanxu and Shi Yanbao and others to Huanglongfu for resettlement.

On the first day of February, Yelu Deguang established the Liao dynasty, issued a general amnesty, and changed the era name to Datong. Therefore, this year is the first year of Datong.

Zhenzhou was promoted to Zhongjing, although this Zhongjing did not exist for a long time.

Zhao Yanshou was appointed as the Grand Prime Minister and concurrently the Minister of State Affairs, Privy Councilor, and Governor of Zhongjing. Officials and generals both inside and outside the capital were given titles and gifts of different levels.

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

"Huanglongfu?" Zhu Bai smacked his lips and discovered a key point. "This is really a famous place."

In the past, didn’t Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty stay in Huanglongfu for a period of time? It turned out that this place was not the first time to accommodate the kings of a fallen country, and Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong were not the first visitors.

"Yes, I believe Jin probably got the reference from Emperor Taizong of Liao." Zhu Su said. So, having Shi Chonggui was not enough. Zhao Ji and his son felt that this place was not famous enough, so they had to personally add some legendary colors to Huanglongfu and the surrounding areas.

To be honest, it's hard to understand.

The atmosphere suddenly became depressing.

Zhu Chong took a look at the situation and felt that this was not right. Their circle had been lively since the appearance of the sky curtain. He hurriedly said, "Don't mention those two. Let's talk about something happy. Huanglongfu. Yue Pengju also mentioned this place back then, 'Go straight to Huanglongfu and drink with the soldiers'!"

What ambitious and heroic words!

Zhu Gang said quietly: "Although Yue Pengju said so, he was unable to fulfill his wish in the end."

"..." Zhu Chong suddenly became depressed. The atmosphere became even more depressing.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che was incredulous: "Qin Jimin and Li Yanshen, since these two were ordered by Li Congke to kill Yelü Bei, why were they killed by Yelü Deguang only now? When Shi Jingtang entered Luoyang before, he didn't even deal with these two people?"

This is simply incredible, okay?

Logically speaking, these two people killed Yelü Bei, so even if Yelü Deguang and Yelü Bei were competing for the throne, Yelü Deguang should have dealt with these two people, just like he killed them now. Revenge for his brother and the former crown prince is also part of winning people's hearts, showing his magnanimity, and establishing orthodoxy.

-- Moreover, judging from the fact that Yelu Bei had frequent contacts with the Khitan after he fled to the Later Tang, the relationship between the two was not so bad as to become mortal enemies, a life-and-death struggle in which only one of them could survive.

So, how did these two people survive until now?
Could it be that Shi Jingtang did something to allow these two to remain at large?

Liu Che thought about it and put aside the question. There were only a few possibilities. He looked at Yelu Deguang's other actions and smiled: "Sure enough, Du Chongwei and others didn't have a good result."

I won't talk about Zhang Yanze. Even if we don't talk about his surrender, it seems that he looted a lot of people's property, so he was naturally dealt with to appease the public anger. As for Du Chongwei and his people, they obviously didn't get the benefits they wanted. In the final analysis, these are not our own people.

On the contrary, the important ministers of the Later Jin Dynasty were still valued by Yelu Deguang.

And Yelu Deguang...it seemed that he was ultimately unable to take root in the Central Plains.

[Of course, in terms of system and clothing, Yelu Deguang still used the original two-sided official system of the Liao Dynasty, and the ceremonial official uniforms of the Later Jin Dynasty were all the same as the old system.

As for Zhao Yanshou's positions as prime minister, chief minister, privy councilor, and governor of Zhongjing, there is another story.

Yelu Deguang had initially promised Zhao Yanshou the throne of the Central Plains.

After conquering the capital, Zhao Yanshou realized that Yelu Deguang had no intention of really making him emperor, so he proposed his idea to Yelu Deguang through Li Song: Why not make me the crown prince?

This is, after all, a roundabout and subtle temptation.

Yelu Deguang was also very firm in his attitude: Establishing an emperor? Impossible. So Yelu Deguang rejected the request to establish a crown prince and said: "I heard that the crown prince must be the son of the emperor, how can the prince of Yan be allowed to be?"

But Zhao Yanshou did make a great contribution. Not only did he fight hard in the three expeditions to the south, he also dissuaded Yelu Deguang from the idea of ​​killing all the surrendered soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty to eliminate future troubles. He was also a very suitable banner for the Han people, so Yelu Deguang decided to promote him to a higher position to appease him.

Zhang Li, the Imperial Academy of the Liao Dynasty, drafted an imperial edict, which left Zhao Yanshou as the governor of Zhongjing, the prime minister, the recorder of the Secretariat, the commander-in-chief of all military forces at home and abroad, the privy councilor, and the prince of Yan. After reading it, Yelu Deguang crossed out "recorder of the Secretariat, the commander-in-chief of all military forces at home and abroad", leaving only the last position Zhao Yanshou was given.

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Kuangyin generally disliked Zhao Yanshou. He and his adoptive father Zhao Dejun first contacted Yelu Deguang to claim the throne of the Central Plains when the Later Tang Dynasty was still in existence, and later surrendered to the Liao Kingdom. It would have been fine if Zhao Yanshou did not return to the Later Jin Dynasty, but he actually served as Yelu Deguang's pioneer in the south.

However, after Yelu Deguang successfully destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty, in dealing with the surrendered soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty, no matter what Zhao Yanshou's reasons were, judging from the results, he did make contributions to the Central Plains.

If Yelu Deguang really killed all the tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers as he thought at the beginning, because he was worried about the threat they might cause, what a tragedy it would be! If he really did that, it would take a hundred years for the Later Jin Dynasty to recover. How different would this be from the disaster of Changping?
Zhao Kuangyin then said: "Although Zhao Yanshou is a man with evil ambitions... he did a good thing after all." He wanted to curse him a few more times, but he was not interested. Besides, Zhao Zan had made contributions to the Song Dynasty, so he just nodded calmly.

Moreover, Zhao Yanshou did not get the results of his lifelong efforts in the end, and was also involved in the internal struggle for the throne in the Liao Kingdom, which could be considered as some retribution.

"Zhang Li is also a talented person," Zhao Guangmei said. When Yelu Deguang first entered the capital, Zhang Li reminded him that since he had acquired China, he should rule it as a Chinese and not continue to use the original people and customs of the Liao Khitan. Unfortunately, Yelu Deguang did not listen, but fortunately, Yelu Deguang did not listen.

After Zhao Guangmei said this, everyone present sighed. The initial development of the Liao Dynasty, apart from the fact that the Central Plains was unable to look north due to the civil strife, and the quality of several generations of Liao monarchs and a relatively stable internal political structure, was also inseparable from the assistance of a group of talented people - it was all the fault of those dynasties in the north. How could they cause the continuous loss of talent?
[But it is obvious that Yelu Deguang's rule over the Later Jin region was unstable.

Although he accepted the court in the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty and most of the military governors surrendered, he was still a foreigner. The Liao army plundered and robbed the people after the surrender of the Later Jin Dynasty, causing public resentment.

Moreover, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, each Jiedushi has had the tradition of raising troops to establish their own regime. Now, considering Yelu Deguang's ethnic minority status and the Liao army's massacre of the people, how could any ambitious Jiedushi miss this opportunity?

So, on February 15th, Hedong Jiedushi Liu Zhiyuan proclaimed himself emperor and named his country Han. He abandoned Shi Chonggui's Kaiyun reign title, but did not choose a new reign title for himself. Instead, he dug up Shi Jingtang's Tianfu reign title from history and continued to use it.

Yelu Deguang appointed Geng Chongmei as the Jiedushi of Zhaoyi Army, Gao Tangying as the Jiedushi of Zhaode Army, and Cui Yanxun as the Jiedushi of Heyang Army, to guard various important places and prevent Liu Zhiyuan's attack.

On the first day of March, Yelu Deguang appointed Xiao Han as the governor of Xuanwu Army, which meant guarding Bianzhou.

Liao Dynasty, the first year of Huihe.

Yelu Deguang had a gloomy look on his face. No one would be in a good mood if they just knew that they could crack the Central Plains, but in a few days they would have to prepare to go north - yes, go north.

Without Tianmu's explanation, Yelu Deguang could guess the situation at that time: public resentment was rising, and the governors and military governors of each state must be harboring rebellious intentions. Even if he sent a fellow countryman to serve as a military governor in each key area at the same time, he would not be able to stop those who wanted to rebel.

Even if they don't raise the banner of rebellion themselves, or their own military strength is insufficient, don't they already have a Liu Zhiyuan?

The inertia of rebellion in this region has become unstoppable, and the Liao's alien identity will only intensify the rebellion.

The habit of looting and raiding by his own generals and soldiers... that is not easy to change. In other words, although the emperor had been implementing a certain degree of sinicization since then, the time was short, and even his close and respected ministers could not be said to be able to govern the Central Plains well, let alone those low-level generals and soldiers?
Of course, this problem can be said to be due to his own mistakes and insufficient attention, or it may be that after the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty, he became proud and complacent and forgot the importance of appeasing the people.

After thinking about it, Yelu Deguang came to a conclusion: "The Liao Dynasty is still not strong enough to occupy the Central Plains."

Although the tendency among the people is difficult to control for the time being, judging from the Yanyun area, the Central Plains is not necessarily unacceptable to foreigners - but stability must be guaranteed at the beginning. After all, the later governance is one thing, and whether it can be occupied at the beginning is the premise of everything.

The key to stability lies in the Han Chinese clans and generals who hold power.

In the future, he obviously did not intend to erase the original systems in the Later Jin region and the power of the Han ethnic groups, nor did he intend to cancel their promotion steps. Then the problem lies in the national strength of the Liao Dynasty, which is reflected in its military strength, and cannot suppress those local warlords.

Yelu Deguang sighed helplessly. The growth of national strength could not be achieved overnight. Even though he could see all kinds of things that might happen from the sky, he could not say that he could make the Liao Dynasty's national strength advance by leaps and bounds and completely suppress the areas belonging to the Later Jin Dynasty during his lifetime.

Forget it... Even if we can't occupy the Central Plains, can we at least gain more benefits from it, and it would be best if we can gain more territory...

On March 17, Yelu Deguang ordered his people to send all the officials, concubines, eunuchs, medical skills, craftsmen, maps, calendars, stone scriptures, bronze figures, Mingtang clepsydra, Taichang music scores, palaces and counties, processions, sacred objects and armor to Shangjing.

At this time, the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty was already in turmoil, with several prefectures either in uprising or surrendering to Liu Zhiyuan. Yelu Deguang had no intention of staying in Henan any longer.

On the first day of April, Yelu Deguang officially returned to the north, starting from Bianzhou, accompanied by Feng Dao, Li Song, He Ning, Li Xun, Xu Taifu, Zhang Li and others.

On the tenth day, Yelu Deguang crossed the Liyang Ferry. After reviewing the past few days, he finally concluded the mistakes he made in taking over the Later Jin Dynasty. He turned around and said to his courtiers: "I made three mistakes on this trip: I allowed my soldiers to plunder fodder, which is the first; I plundered the private property of the people, which is the second; and I did not immediately send the military governors back to their garrisons, which is the third."

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang was not surprised at all that Yelu Deguang allowed the Liao soldiers and generals to plunder food and fodder and extort the people's private property. This was an obvious thing.

He was somewhat surprised by the third point summarized by Yelu Deguang himself: he did not immediately send the military governors back to their towns.

Although Yelu Deguang should indeed be suspicious and wary of the Jiedushi in the Central Plains who were not submissive in appearance but actually rebelled, he did not release them - who would be the highest decision-maker in the local governance?

Rely on the generals of the Liao Dynasty? That's a joke. As mentioned earlier, these people are the ones who looted the most. Moreover, the Liao Dynasty is a foreign race after all, and its customs and habits are different from those of the Central Plains. Its policies and methods of governance are also different. Even if those generals don't plunder much and really want to govern, can they really govern well?

Won't you be fooled and sidelined by those Han officials in the government offices?

But in terms of time, Yelu Deguang did not actually keep these people in the capital for too long - the Liao Dynasty was still not strong enough to form an overwhelming advantage over the Later Jin Dynasty, and it also had a lot of problems of its own.

Zhang Liang said: "The Liao Dynasty was not at a disadvantage. They took away all kinds of craftsmen, medical skills, maps, calendars... these are the key."

Apart from other things, the Liao Dynasty was definitely lacking in various craftsmen, and the calendar was even more important. Medical skills, maps and books... Each of these things was of great help to the development of the Liao Dynasty and was an important boost to the Liao Dynasty's further development into an empire.

"Alas," Liu Bang felt a little unhappy when he saw this, but he still gave his affirmation, "Yelü Deguang is indeed worthy of being the Taizong of the Liao Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)