The story of the Yang family general, presumably most people have heard, in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the country declined, coupled with the traitors, so at that time the imperial court was full of smoke and miasma, but even under such difficult conditions, the Yang family will still be loyal to the imperial court and fight the battlefield. Although the Yang family will do their best for the imperial court, they have become a thorn in the side of many traitors, and these traitors continue to frame the Yang family generals in the court, of which Pan Renmei and Wang Qin are the sworn enemies of the Yang family generals. As a citizen of the Great Song Dynasty, he enjoyed the imperial court, but for his own selfish interests, he actually did something to betray the country. The person we want to talk about today is also the sworn enemy of the Yang family general, he is Han Derang.
Han Derang was a minister of the Liao State, but his ancestors were Han Chinese, and his grandfather was taken captive by the Liao people when he was six years old and made a slave, so Han Derang was born in the Liao State. In the generation of Han Derang's father, because the Han family was deeply trusted by the founding emperor of the Liao State, Yelü Abaoji, so the Han family also became a famous and prestigious family at that time, and got rid of the identity of slaves, naturally the previous history of the Han family was rarely mentioned. In fact, Han Derang's original name was Han Yanshou, and the reason why he is now called Han Derang is because the Emperor of the Liao State personally gave him a name.
Because Han Derang was very capable militarily at that time, the Liao Saint Emperor loved Han Derang very much, and revoked his slave status, gave him a name, and also gave him a Liao identity called Yelü Longyun. Han Derang was militarily successful, and the most famous battle was the Battle of Sorghum River, where he had defeated the Song army and was therefore given the post of envoy. Han dejang's ability is not only reflected in the military, but also in the political means. In order to stabilize the political stability of the Liao state, Han Derang encouraged the common people to engage in agricultural production, and let the imperial court give a lot of support, so that the Liao state became strong. Within the imperial court, Han Derang selected talented people, not caring about their origins, as long as they had the ability, they had the opportunity to be reused. Under the efforts of Han Derang, many able people were recruited to the Liao state, contributing a lot to the future development of the Liao state. Under the leadership of Han Derang, the Liao state repeatedly provoked wars and invaded the Northern Song Dynasty. Because Han Derang has a very good set of troops, he has won victories in many wars. The Northern Song Dynasty, because of its weakening national strength, had no way to face the repeated intrusions of the Liao State.
Later, Emperor Jingzong of Liao died of illness, and the power of the Liao state fell to the twelve-year-old King of Liang, Yelü Longxu. Since Yelü Longxu was only ten years old and too young when he succeeded to the throne, in order to avoid the disobedience of the ministers of the court, Emperor Jingzong of Liao left a will at that time, asking Han Derang and Empress Xiao to assist Yelü Longxu in stabilizing the situation. At that time, Empress Xiao had no mother's family to rely on, and some ministers in the DPRK were looking at her, so she found Han Derang and cried tearfully about it, and Han Derang softly agreed. It turned out that Han Derang and Empress Xiao were old lovers, and at that time, Empress Xiao was originally going to give Han Derang a ration, but she was preemptively selected by the emperor, so she became the empress. At that time, Empress Xiao said that as long as Han Derang could assist Yelü Longxu, the two could continue the frontier, then the new emperor would be equivalent to Han Derang's son.
Han Derang finally agreed to Empress Xiao, because of the previous relationship, Han Derang often went in and out of Empress Xiao's tent, and did not shy away from it at all. Whether it was dealing with government affairs or going out hunting, the two were eating together, just like a normal couple. In order to make the relationship between the two justified, Empress Xiao even sent someone to assassinate Han Derang's wife, which shows the fierceness of the two. With the assistance of Han Derang, Long Xu gradually sat on the throne, and the strength of the Liao state gradually became stronger. It can be said that the relationship between Han Derang and Empress Xiao is the same as the relationship between Dorgon and Empress Xiaozhuang during the Qing Dynasty.
History of Han Derang's evaluation is not low, although he did some absurd things, but in terms of governing the country, Han Derang still has his own set, it is because of his assistance, Long Xu can sit firmly on the throne, during his supervision of the country, the power of the Liao state continues to expand, although from the perspective of the Northern Song Dynasty, this is not a good thing, but if you want to objectively evaluate a historical figure, his merits can not be ignored.