In 987, Emperor Taizong of Song zhao Guangyi received a letter from Huazhou, and after reading the recital, Song Taizong also felt some guilt. It turned out that a senior Northern Song general committed suicide by hunger strike in Huazhou, and his death was directly related to Zhao Guangyi! This general is not an ordinary person, he is not only the founding hero of the Northern Song Dynasty, but also the brother of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty! So, what happened that made this Northern Song general commit suicide in anger?
This person's original name was Liu Guangyi, and his great-grandfather was Liu Rengong, the Yan king who had divided Youzhou at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Since childhood, Liu Guangyi followed his father Liu Yanjin to "take refuge in South Benz" and threw himself under Guo Wei's command. Liu Guangyi "had little courage", successively followed Guo Wei and Chai Rong in battle, repeatedly made military achievements, and was promoted to "Fuzhou regiment training envoy, leading the iron to ride the right van". During this period, some of the generals in the Later Zhou Forbidden Army became brothers, known in history as the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society", including Liu Guangyi and Zhao Kuangyin.
In 960, Zhao Kuangyin was proclaimed emperor, and Liu Guangyi was also reused, and his official position was continuously promoted, "the right wing of the Defense Envoy of Chuanjiang Prefecture and the Leader of longjie", and "the commander of the Guards Ma Jundu and the commander of the Jiangning Army". In November 964, Zhao Kuangyin sent troops to attack Hou Shu, and Liu Guangyi, as a deputy general, led a single force of men and horses from Hubei to the river. Since Liu Guangyi accepted Cao Bin's advice and made no mistakes along the way, the local officials of Later Shu surrendered one after another.
After the end of the war, Liu Tingrang "changed the zhen'an army with merit." In 973, Liu Guangyi left Kaifeng and served in the local government, "out of the Zhenning Army Festival". Three years later, Zhao Kuangyin died and Zhao Guangyi took the throne, so Liu Guangyi changed his name to Liu Tingrang and became the general of the Right Xiao Wei in the following year.
In 986, Emperor Taizong of Song northernly attacked the Liao state, but was defeated in the Battle of Qigou Pass. In order to prevent retaliation by the Liao army, Emperor Taizong of Song used a number of veteran generals, including Liu Tingrang, who "deployed soldiers and horses from Zhixiong Prefecture to Zhixiong Prefecture and Yingzhou to Yingzhou." As a result, in the winter of that year, the Liao army did make a large-scale attack, and Liu Ting asked the leading troops to engage in a fierce battle with the Liao army at the Junziguan. "Khitan siege court let several heavy", the situation is very critical, just at this time, Liu Tingrang's backup ran away.
It turned out that before the battle, Liu Tingrang "divided the elite troops into Li Jilong as the rear hall, and the emergency as the reinforcement", that is, the strategic reserve. However, Li Jilong, instead of rescuing Liu Tingrang, also led his army to retreat, which led to the defeat of the Song army at the Battle of Junziguan, "Ting Rang's army was lost, tens of thousands of dead, and only a few horses were spared." The consequences of this battle were very serious, and the Liao army drove straight in, "trapping in Shen, Qi, and Dezhou, killing officials and capturing soldiers and people", "the north of Bo and Wei, the people are particularly bitter".
Liu Ting asked him to "treat the crime", and Song Taizong believed that this battle was Li Jilong's responsibility, so he did not punish him. However, Emperor Taizong of Song did not punish Li Jilong, but only symbolically removed him from office, and was soon reinstated. In this regard, Liu Tingrang should be dissatisfied in his heart. In 987, Liu Tingrang resigned due to illness during the deployment of soldiers and horses in Zhixiong Prefecture, and he did not wait for Song Taizong's reply and left his post without authorization.
Emperor Taizong of Song was so angry that he actually stripped Liu Tingrang of his "official title and assigned him to Shangzhou". For this punishment, Liu Tingrang was very dissatisfied, and could not help but remind him of Li Jilong, who violated military orders but was not punished. It turned out that Li Jilong was the eldest brother-in-law of Emperor Taizong of Song and belonged to a foreign relative. In Liu Tingrang's view, Zhao Guangyi was obviously biased towards his brother-in-law. The more Liu Tingran thought about it, the more angry he became, and he refused to eat on the way to Shangzhou, committed suicide by hunger strike, and complained to Zhao Guangyi. After reading the huazhou officials' reports, Zhao Guangyi also felt that he had gone a little too far, so he ordered Liu Tingrang to be posthumously awarded as a taishi.
References: 1. "History of Song"; 2. "Continuation of Zizhi TongjianChang"