Although the princes of the feudal era, unlike their imperial fathers, can enter the annals of history as "Ming Jun" and "Tyrant", as the "Holy Son and Divine Grandson" of the feudal emperor, whether they have talent or not, they can be knighted by blood relatives, and the rich and noble who "honor and meritless, serve thick and have no labor" for life, and Yelü Alian, who lived in the middle and late Khitan Liao Kingdom, was such a prince who sat on honor.
Emperor Da Liao's brother Zizhong Baoyi (Zizhong Baoyi) was appointed as a meritorious servant, Kaifu Yi Tongsansi, Shou Taibao (守太保), Zhongshu Ling (中書令), Sentenced to stay in Tokyo, Yin Shi of Liaoyang, and given to King Yelü Hongshi of Qin and Wei (1042-1087), the Khitan name Alian ,also known as Shouqian (寿千), and the Han name Hongde( 洪德).
Yelü Hongshi, also known as King Alian, was the younger son of Emperor Yelü Hongji of Liaoxingzong, the younger brother of Emperor Yaohongji of Liao, his mother was Empress Renyi and Empress Dowager Xiao Taoli of Zongtian, and his second brother was King of Song Wei and Emperor's uncle Zu Yelü Hongben (also known as Hongdao, Khitan name: Helu Hui).
Born in the eleventh year of Chongxi (1042), Ah Lian was ten years younger than his eldest brother Daozong Hongji and one year younger than his second brother Hongben. Epitaph Kwa A-Lian has been very intelligent since childhood, and when he grows up, he is more calm and cautious, filial to his parents, respectful to his brothers, not exaggerated, and not stubborn.
In short, he was a good and down-to-earth boy, the imperial court valued his character, and his relatives praised his appearance, especially his father Xingzong, who "deeply used pity for him".
On November 23, 1048, the seventeenth year of Chongxi (1048), Emperor Xingzong was given the title of imperial family relative, and the 7-year-old young prince Ah Lian also left the cabinet in the same year, and was awarded the title of Envoy of the Wuning Army by his father.
According to the "Liao Shi Xingzong Benji" record, Ah Lian first sealed Xu Wang, the son of the emperor's brother Chongyuan Hongxiao sealed the King of Chu, but Ah Lian's epitaph records that he was first crowned as the King of Chu, not the King of Xu, and the knighthood here should perhaps be according to the epitaph, it is Ah Lian who sealed the King of Chu, and Hong Xiao sealed the King of Xu.
In the twenty-third year of Chongxi (1054), the 13-year-old Ah Lian migrated to the throne of Yue. In August of the twenty-fourth year of Chongxi (1055), Emperor Xingzong of Liao died, and the grand prince Hongji took the throne as Emperor Daozong, and the 14-year-old Ah Lian was promoted from crown prince to imperial brother.
In December of the same year, Ah Lian's grandmother, Empress Dowager Xiao Yunjin, on christmas, the new emperor's brother Emperor Daozong feasted on the courtiers and his wife, and at the same time named his wife Xiao Guanyin as empress, and also promoted all the imperial brothers, and Ah Lian was promoted to king of Chen.
In November of the second year of Qing Ning (1056), Emperor Daozong and his wife were honored, pardoned the world, and once again added en subjects, and King Ah Lian of Chen was promoted to the title of King of Qin. On the first day of December of the same year, the 15-year-old Ah Lian, like his second brother and Lu Hui, was granted a real post, and Ah Lian was appointed as the Zhizhong Cheng (知中丞司) in charge of supervising hundreds of officials.
In the fourth year of Qing Ning (1058), the 17-year-old King of Qin, Ah Lian, was again given the title of Tai Wei (太尉), Zhongshu Ling (中書令), and Zhongzhong (中丞司事). In the sixth year of Qing Ning (1060), Shangjing was appointed to stay behind and sentenced Ton Yin. In the eighth year of QingNing (1062), the sentence was changed to the Liaoxing army.
In July of the ninth year of Qingning (1063), the rebellion of Emperor Shengzong's younger son, Emperor Xingzong's maternal brother, and Emperor Daozong's uncle Uncle Chongyuan was suppressed, and Emperor Daozong's imperial power was secured. In the following year (1064), he also promoted his younger brother Ah Lian to the title of King of Qinyue, and Ah Lian was already a two-character king at the age of 23.
In the sixth year of Xianyong (1070, the Annals of Liaofang Town, 1065 of the first year of Xianyong, now from the epitaph), the 29-year-old Ah Lian was given the title of Xijing by his imperial brother and sentenced Datong Yinshi.
In July of the third year of Da'an (1087), Emperor Daozong hunted in the Black Ridge and accompanied emperor's brother Ah Lian to show his friendship. Because of the hot weather, Ah Lian's illness suddenly attacked and could only stay in place.
The next day, Emperor Daozong personally visited his younger brother at Ah Lian's tent and ordered a doctor to treat him, but he did not save Ah Lian's life, and delayed until the twenty-eighth death of the same month, at the age of 46.
When Emperor Daozong heard the news of his brother's death, he "mourned to the point of mourning", and for seven days he ordered the envoys of Changning Palace and the palaces in the south to deploy Yelühui to guard the coffin of King Alian; he made Pei WeiQingzhizhi (歹昔) with the Festival of the Heavenly City Army; Han Yiqing, the general of the Right Qianniu WeiWei, who was in charge of the Zhongzheng Army' Festival; and Cai Zhishun, the Marquis of Yu, who trained as an envoy to the Zhengzhou Regiment and accompanied the three armies.
He also made Han Wei the Governor of Qing dynasty with the security army, and specially ordered the appointment of The Grand Master of the Palace, the General Xiao Liuying of the Right Prison Guard, and the Wenban Taibao and the Jingjiang Army Jiedu to make Xiao Xian go together to deal with the funeral.
In October, Emperor Daozong posthumously honored his brother King Alian of Qinyue as the King of Qin and Wei, with the courtesy name "Gongzheng". The "List of Princes of Liao" says that the nickname "QinZheng" was the reason why the Jin people avoided the name of Emperor Zhangzong of Jin's father, Yan Jing, when they revised the history of Liao, and should be according to the epitaph.
The Khitan people have the custom of stopping funerals after death, especially for members of the imperial family, and the time of suspension after death is basically more than three months, so King Alian was also buried next to the xingling of his father Xingzong after three months and three days of suspension, on the first day of November.
Ah Lian's wife, Qin Yueguo's concubine Xiao Shi (1047-1096), also from the Hou clan, was the granddaughter of Empress Dowager Ying Tian's younger son Migu Ning, the younger son of her father's brother Agu, and was of the same ancestry as Empress Dowager Xiao Yunjin.
Her grandfather, Xiao Han (萧汉), the Khitan name LiuYin, was the younger brother of Xiao Pai and Xiao Hengde, the duke of Qima, and her grandmother was the daughter of Han Kuangsi and the sister of Han Derang.
Princess Qin Yue's father was Xiao Shanning, the chancellor of the Northern Province and the King of Zhao, and the Khitan name was Qu Lie, the daughter of The First Shang Shengzong, Princess Taige of jinguo, and after Princess Xue, Xiao Shanning married Beixu, the daughter of Yelü Qilis, who remained in Tokyo, and Biexu was the mother of Qin Yue's concubine.
Princess Guo's eldest uncle Xiao Hui, the Khitan name Guan Ning, and his stepwife was Princess Yanmu of Qin jinchang, the daughter of The Divine Princess; Xiao Zhong, the third uncle of the State Concubine, the Khitan name Temening, also married Princess Pingyuan, princess of the Sacred Sect.
At the beginning of Emperor Xingzong's reign, Empress Fatian carried out a purge in the imperial court in order to seize power, and xiao Pai and Xiao Hengde's two brothers were all destroyed because they sided with Empress Qi Tian, and Xiao Han, who was also Xiao Yunjin's own sect, was not implicated like the two brothers' families, but it was still somewhat affected.
It can be clearly seen from the marriage of his branch that there are very few marriages with the royal family, basically married to the Han family, only Xiao Zhong's second daughter married Zong Fan, the son of King Longyu of Qi; and then qin Yueguo concubine, married to Xingzong's youngest son Ah Lian.
Born in the sixteenth year of Chongxi (1047), Princess Guo was five years younger than her husband Ah Lian, she was good-looking, had a good personality, was quiet and virtuous, and was very in line with the criteria for Empress Xingzong to pick a daughter-in-law.
In the sixth year of QingNing (1060), when the King of Qin, Ah Lian, was 19 years old, Emperor Daozong asked his brother for a wife, so he issued an edict to select dozens of women from the Hou clan's good family to go to Xingzai, so that the old lady Zong Tian's empress dowager Xiao Taoli was a daughter-in-law, and the 14-year-old Qin Yueguo concubine was favored by the future mother-in-law at a glance.
In the spring of the following year (1061), the 15-year-old Xiao Shi was given the title of Concubine of the State of Qin. In the first year of Xianyong (1065), because Emperor Daozong changed the titles of Yuan and Shangzun, Xiao Shi, as a younger daughter-in-law, was also promoted to the title of Concubine of Qin Yue, along with the title of her husband A Lian.
Princess Qin Yue has a gentle personality, is Ah Lian's virtuous helper, the husband and wife have a very good relationship, and they also meet with the elderly, even if they do not have sons, it does not affect the love of husband and wife.
Ah Lian and Concubine Guo had only one daughter, and married Xiao Zhixing, the son of Xiao Zhixing, the fifth son of Xiao Xiaocheng of the Three Houses of the Fatian family, and Xiao Dechong, the assistant secretary of the Zhongzhong Dynasty, and a Khitan medicine master slave.
On July 28, 1087, the third year of Da'an (1087), King Alian fell ill and did not fulfill his vows of husband and wife to grow old, and the mournful Qin Yue concubine went to the Taoist Sect and requested to be married in front of her husband's tomb to guard the mausoleum, so that she could stay together.
Concubine Qin Yue guarded her husband A-Lian's mausoleum for nine years until she died at the age of 50 at the beginning of the first month of the second year of Shouchang (1096).
During the period of guarding the tomb for her husband, the concubine Xiao Shi lived a hard and self-disciplined life, never ate meat and fish, did not wear Chinese clothes, and all the ornaments and treasures were given to the Buddhist temple to pray for her husband's blessings, even before her death, she was still chanting the Buddha.
Emperor Daozong was originally very appreciative of his sister-in-law's observance of the festival, and when he heard the obituary, he specially gave him all kinds of graces, and on April 14 of that year, he opened the tomb of King Alian and buried him as a husband and wife.
As the emperor's young son and younger brother, as long as he is not too demon, most of the time will be the existence of a mascot, because he is an old son, and he is not an heir, he does not need to learn the art of governing the country assiduously, and lying flat as a happy young man who eats, drinks and has fun is the most ideal life.
Of course, even if you don't need to inherit the family business, as a prince, you always have to bear the responsibility of Zongzi Weicheng, you can't be too bad, you are only raised like a pig, and it is still necessary to learn.
As a young prince of the Khitan Empire, King Alian did not have a chaotic life, and his father Xingzong selected famous Confucians for him, taught learning, and chose Duanfang junzi to guide his virtue.
Under the influence of her mentors, Ah Lian liked and mastered the Jingshi Yichuan, which is known for its study of arithmetic, and also liked the Lu poems of the Western Han Dynasty Shen Gongpei. After all, as a young prince who is not an heir, it is still the safest to take the academic route.
King Alian himself was very intelligent and quick to read, not only could he not forget his sights, but he could also see ten lines at a glance, which was comparable to Liu Yiji, the king of Hengyang in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Gao Xiaoyu, the king of Henan in Northern Qi.
At the same time, he was also proficient in riding and shooting, with hundreds of shots, excellent strength, able to hand fierce beasts, and bravery comparable to Cao Zhang, the king of Wei Rencheng, and Xiao Xu, the king of Liang Luling. He was also good at music, idle words, and paintings, not only the kuan ren Hongya of Xiao Ling, the king of Qi Yuzhang, but also the light grace of Sima Yu, the king of Jinhui.
Such a scholarly prince who is both literate and martial, his personality is still very free, not ostentatious, not arrogant and impatient, and obedient and considerate, so that the Daoist Sect, who has a strong sense of jealousy, has to be satisfied, and his brother is "loving and generous, and his treatment can be called "two dynasties of glory, rare in the ages".
The period of Ah Lian's life was in the situation of peace between the north and the south, and the border defense was stable, and even the Northern and Southern Privy Councils had "nothing to do", and it was even more difficult for ah lian to make meritorious achievements as a prince and an imperial brother, so Ah Lian, who was both literate and martial, could only be a mediocre little imperial brother.
In fact, his eldest brother Liao Daozong was not a good master, but in the middle and late period of the Liao Kingdom, the people of the imperial family were not very exuberant, and Daozong only had two brothers, and in the face of the leafy descendants, he could only rely on his brothers, so he and Lu Hui could serve as the left-behind guard in Nanjing for a long time, and as the younger brother Ah Lian also served as the left-behind guard of Xijing, acting as the Great Wall of Daliao.
That's it.
The image comes from the internet intrusion and deletion.
References: "Epitaph of Yelü Hongshi", "Epitaph of Qin YueGuo concubine", "History of Liao", etc
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