Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

When Zhu Wen, the Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty, usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Later Liang regime in the Central Plains, Yelu Abaoji, a Khitan who was nominally a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, also established the Khitan Kingdom at the same time, and regarded himself as the successor of the Tang Dynasty.

After the establishment of the Khitan state, different partition policies were implemented for the Khitan and Han people in the country.On the grasslands in the north, the Khitan people maintained their nomadic traditions, and the royal court also moved around indefinitely. In the southern areas where the Han people lived together, the official system and management methods of the Tang Dynasty were inherited.

Therefore, Khitan has not been a barbaric nomadic country since its founding, but a civilized country that is also deeply influenced by the Han culture of the Central Plains, where nomadism and farming are compatible.Yelu Tuyu, the eldest son of Liao Taizu Yelu Abaoji, was also a prince proficient in Sinology.

Therefore, from the perspective of the Khitan and Liao Kingdom, they have always considered themselves the successors of the Tang Dynasty, and it is only natural to occupy the land where the Han people live together.

Judging from the diplomatic performance of the countries around the Liao and Song Dynasties, North Korea, Japan, and countries in the Western Regions all regarded the Khitan and Liao Kingdom as representatives of China, and North Korea has long regarded the Khitan and Liao Kingdom as its suzerain state.Even the name of China in the West in later generations is said to be related to the pronunciation of "Khitan".

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan people in the country established the Khitan Liao Kingdom, while another ethnic minority armed Shatuo people entrenched in the Hedong area established the Later Tang Dynasty.

The Later Tang regime launched a war against the Later Liang Zhu Wen regime in the name of revenge from the Tang Dynasty.The Khitan Kingdom also formed an alliance with Later Tang, and also helped Later Tang attack Zhu Wen's Back Liang under the banner of avenging Datang.

With the help of the Khitan, the Shatuo people regime later Tang destroyed the Hou Liang and took control of the Central Plains.

However, there was no rest within the Later Tang Dynasty. In the third year of Qingtai, Li Congke, the last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, decided to force an important minister, Shi Jingtang, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, to besiege Taiyuan.

Shi Jingtang made great contributions to Li Congke's accession to the throne, but now he is treated like this, he is very disappointed and determined to stand on his own.While resisting with all his strength, he wrote a memorial and sent someone to ask Khitan for help.The memorial was written by Sang Weihan. The content is to ask to be a minister of Khitan and take care of his father. After the matter is completed, he is willing to cut off Youzhou and the states north of Yanmenguan from Khitan.

Chapter 593 Losing Yanyun's Pot

Shi Jingtang, who was called "despicable, shameless and heinous" by the Han population in later generations, was finally going to betray the "Sixteen States of Youyun".

On November [-]th of the same year when Shi Jingtang asked Khitan for help, Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang canonized Shi Jingtang as the emperor of Jin, changed Yuan Tianfu, named the country Jin, and took off his clothes and crowned Shi Jingtang.

With the support of the Khitan, the Great Jin defeated the Later Tang and unified the Central Plains.Shi Jingtang established the friendly relationship between the Jin Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty according to the agreement, and ceded Youyun Sixteen Prefectures to Khitan.

For this period of history, later generations have always sneered at Shi Jingtang, and there are countless people who scolded him, and some even listed him as a big traitor as famous as Wu Sangui.

The reason is nothing more than three crimes.First of all, Shi Jingtang took the initiative to cede the sixteen prefectures of Yan (you) Yun; secondly, Shi Jingtang took the initiative to profess his vassalship to the foreign Khitan, and recognized Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang, who was younger than himself, as his father, which seriously violated the traditional ethics and ethics.In the end, Shi Jingtang also attracted the Khitan army to destroy the Later Tang Dynasty.

However, are these three charges really suitable for Shi Jingtang?

First of all, many people think that Shi Jingtang is a big traitor because he ceded Yanyun Sixteen States, but they ignore an embarrassing reality-Shi Jingtang is not Han at all, but Shatuo.

Shi Jingtang's ancestors were Xiyi people in Central Asia, who later moved to Taiyuan from Shatuo, and his epitaph records that he is a descendant of the Shile Jie tribe in the later Zhao Dynasty.In any case, Shi Jingtang was not a Han Chinese, so he did not have any special affection for the Han people, nor did he have the obligation to guard the land for the Han people.

Who should I give the land that the Shatuo people brought down?When will it be your Han people's turn to make irresponsible remarks?

The scum of the Shatuo people, when the mad dog Li Congke, the emperor of the later Tang Dynasty, bit me, a loyal minister, why couldn't the Han Chinese separatists in the south send troops to help me defeat the enemy?

If you Han people are capable and willing to defeat the Later Tang Dynasty, I, Shi Jingtang, can also promise to give the [-]th Yanyun Prefecture to you Han people to separatist regime!

When the Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the traitor Zhu Wen, you southern Han warlords did not avenge the Tang Dynasty, but only knew that you had your own concerns and supported your own troops, and established small regimes to be your own emperors.

Only we, the Shatuo people who were loyal to the Tang Dynasty, were not afraid of sacrifice, fought endlessly with the traitor Zhu Wen, overthrew Zhu Wen's leader with our own flesh and blood, and rebuilt the Tang Dynasty.

The land in Hebei and Hedong has long been abandoned by you Han officials and warlords. It was all won by our Shatuo people with blood and sweat, and the right to dispose of it is naturally in the hands of our Shatuo people.Now you Han people call me traitorously, you are really thick-skinned!Who is that brazen?

Therefore, for Shi Jingtang from Shatuo, the term "traitor" really does not stick to him.What Shi Jingtang ceded was the land of the Shatuo regime, which can be regarded as a "Shatuo traitor" at best.

Furthermore, Shi Jingtang lived in the turbulent Five Dynasties period.Five dynasties emerged in just 73 years, and the average lifespan of each dynasty was only more than ten years.

Moreover, among these five dynasties, except for the first dynasty, Houliang, which was established by the Han traitor Zhu Wen, the remaining four dynasties were mostly derived from the network of Jin Wang Li Keyong, the leader of the Shatuo people.Among them, the Later Tang, Later Jin and Later Han were all built by the Shatuo people, and the last Zhou Dynasty was also related to the Shatuo people.

The founder of the Later Tang Dynasty, Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxu was the eldest son of Li Keyong, a native of Shatuo.The emperor in the heyday of the later Tang Dynasty was Li Keyong's adopted son Li Siyuan.

The founder of the Later Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang, was Li Siyuan's son-in-law and a native of Shatuo.

The founder of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Zhiyuan, a native of Shatuo, was Shi Jingtang's capable general at first. After the Later Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitan and Liao Kingdom, he rebelled against the Liao Dynasty and established the Later Han Dynasty.

As for Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, he was just a soldier under Li Cunxu, Emperor Zhuangzong of Tang Dynasty, and gradually became Liu Zhiyuan's capable general.

From this point of view, the Five Dynasties were almost dominated by the Shatuo people. It is simply a difficult thing for them to think about the Han people of later generations.

Then, Shi Jingtang surrendered to Khitan and recognized Yelu Deguang, who was younger than himself, as his father, is it considered shameless?

In fact, from the point of view of seniority, it is not a big problem for Shi Jingtang to recognize Yelu Deguang as his father.

When the Liao and Jin alliances were formed, Li Keyong and Yelu Abaoji were brothers.And Shi Jingtang is Li Siyuan's son-in-law, Li Siyuan is Li Keyong's adopted son, that is, Shi Jingtang is Li Keyong's grandson-in-law.Looking at Yelu Deguang again, he is the son of Yelu Abaoji, the same generation as Li Siyuan.

Although the relationship is a bit far away, but based on seniority, Shi Jingtang has no problem recognizing Yelu Deguang as his adoptive father, and it has nothing to do with the so-called age of later generations.

Therefore, what really shamed the Han people should not be that Shi Jingtang from Shatuo claimed to be the "son emperor" and recognized Yelu Deguang, a Khitan man with a higher seniority, as "father emperor", but that when Zhu Wen killed the king, all the people in the Tang Dynasty The Fang princes had no one to help, and they watched coldly to preserve their strength, and some even took advantage of the fire to loot, so that Zhu Wen successfully usurped the Tang Dynasty and established himself as the backbone.

As for the issue of later population criticizing and attacking Shi Jingtang and leading Khitan troops to destroy the Later Tang Dynasty, it is not worth mentioning.

During the civil strife in the later Tang Dynasty, after Li Conghou, the third son of Li Siyuan, failed to attack Li Congke, he asked Shi Jingtang for help, but Shi Jingtang chose to help Li Congke.

But after Li Congke ascended the throne, he didn't trust Shi Jingtang, and had various suspicions about him. First, in the second year of Qingtai, he sent Wuning Jiedu envoy Zhang Jingda to garrison Daizhou to monitor Shi Jingtang.In the second year, Li Congke transferred Shi Jingtang as Tianping Jiedu envoy, with the intention of reducing his military power.

Shi Jingtang refused to be transferred, but was surrounded by the army of Later Tang. Unwilling, he had to declare his mutiny.

When he realized that he couldn't fight, Shi Jingtang asked Khitan for help.

In the final analysis, this is nothing more than the internal struggle and change of the regime of the Shatuo people. What does it have to do with the Han people?

As for the claim that Shi Jingtang ceded the Great Wall to the Liao Kingdom, this is even more nonsense.You must know that the Shanhaiguan-Huairou-Juyongguan-Datong Great Wall seen by later generations was not completed until after the Ming Dynasty.During the Five Dynasties, the Khitan cavalry traveled to and from the Youyan area many times. How can there be anything to stop their Great Wall!

In short, Shi Jingtang was a very unique and subtle figure in the Five Dynasties period.In the war-torn era of "All came to fifteen emperors, sowing chaos in the fifty autumns", his personal ability and moral integrity were at least at the upper-middle level, and he should not bear so much infamy.

As for why Shi Jingtang from Shatuo was constantly vilified and finally became a famous "traitor"?In fact, it is all related to the literati of the Song Dynasty.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the literati and bureaucrats enjoyed the affluent life brought about by a hundred years of peace on the one hand, and on the other hand opened up the map and dreamed of the unification of the world.

These literati and bureaucrats didn't care about the fact that their northern neighbor Khitan had already transformed from a grassland tribe to a civilized empire, and that the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun had never been the territory of the Song Dynasty, and they didn't want to explore the reasons why the Song Dynasty's martial arts were unfavorable.When they lost the battle with Khitan, they shirked their responsibilities, blaming the previous generation Shi Jingtan for ceding the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, which caused the Song Dynasty to lose its geographical advantage.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, half of the country and the clothes were traveling south, and the literati could not face up to their failures.Their national hatred and family hatred needed an outlet, so the second time Shenzhou Lu Chen's scapegoat was gradually pinned on a Shatuo person, and he could never break free.

When will you stop deceiving yourself and others!

Chapter 594 Where Are My Talents

There is a saying in Sichuan: "The foundation of the house is the fault of poor people, and the lack of rafters is the fault of the leaky house", which can be used to describe the shameless literati of the Song Dynasty.

I didn't work hard enough, the army's combat effectiveness was low, and I couldn't beat the Khitan of the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens of the Jin Kingdom in the north, but I only blamed the loss of the geographical advantage in the Yanyun area.However, does the so-called geographical advantage of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun really have such great strategic significance?

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Yanyun area was in the hands of the Central Plains Dynasty, but did it stop the Tuoba, Murong and other Hu people of the Xianbei tribe from going south?

After the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, did Shi Siming's regime occupy the Yanyun area, and blocked the attacks of the Shatuo people and Khitan people who stood on the side of the Tang Dynasty?

The Khitan Liao Kingdom owns the Yanyun area, did it stop the Jurchens from going south when the Jurchens of the Jin Kingdom rose?

Did the Northern Song Dynasty take back the Youyan area, blocking the attack of the Dajin Kingdom?

The Dajin Kingdom owns the Yanyun area. When the Mongols rose up, did they stop the Mongols' iron hooves?

The Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall to defend against the Mongols. However, after the Jurchens rose again, the Houjin army crossed the Great Wall several times and went south to fight grass valleys. How could the so-called reinforced terrain in the Yanyun area not stop the Houjin Jurchens?