Author: Xu Yunhui
Khitan Yelü Ruan Shuangxi Linmen: After narrowly winning the battle for the throne and transforming into Liao Shizong, Liu Chong's request for help from Liu Chong, the king of the Northern Han Dynasty, flew in front of him. Liu Chong, begging the Khitan to help the Northern Han Dynasty eliminate Hou Zhou, was willing to use the strength of the whole country to meet all the Khitan demands.
When he was sleepy and encountered a pillow, Emperor Liao shizong put forward extremely harsh conditions: the Northern Han Dynasty must refer to the old practice of Shi Jingyao and Khitan and continue to be "about the kingdom of father and son" with the Khitan and must pay the protection fee of "100,000 taels of money lost in the year". Liu Chong, who wanted to be both a bitch and a zhenjie archway, bargained and shyly proposed to Liao Shizong "to do things as an uncle" and call himself "emperor nephew".
Liu Chong, who was 34 years older than Emperor Shizong of Liao, was still willing to be the Khitan "nephew emperor"?
(1) Rogues in a troubled world
Liu Chong (also known as Liu Min) has a good skin bag of "beautiful beard and heavy pupils", but he is an embroidered pillow of "less rogues, good Lu Boyi money drama". He spent his days hanging out in casinos and was once "deposed" for committing a crime. During his imprisonment, he glanced at a loophole and "slipped ---- the soles of his feet" and defected to his brother Liu Zhiyuan, who was under the account of Shi Jingyao in Hedong Jiedu. With his brother covered, Liu Chong's "rabbit followed the moon---- dipped in light", and quickly mixed into a low-level officer.
After Shi Jingyao was established, he was proclaimed emperor of Jin, Liu Zhiyuan was succeeded by the hedong jiedushi envoy, and Liu Chong, who was also put on the hat of the commander of the Hedong infantry, became a mid-level officer in the form of a dog. After Liu Zhiyuan was destroyed by the Khitan in the Later Jin Dynasty, he was persuaded by the Later Jin dynasty officials to proclaim himself Emperor Jianhou of the Later Han Dynasty in Taiyuan. Liu Chong took over the baton from Shi Jingyao and his brother and was promoted to envoy of Hedong Jiedushi. Liu Chengyou succeeded him as Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty, and his uncle Liu Chong ,劉崇) served concurrently as a servant and a zhongshu ling. Liu Chong, like a Pillar of The Later Han Dynasty, supported half of the stormy and shaky country.
(2) Taiyuan was proclaimed emperor
"Emperor Yin of Shihan reigned at an early age, and the government was in the minister." Emperor Yin of Han, who was only 17 years old, was regarded as a modern version of Liu Chan by his privy councillor Guo Wei and his chancellor Yang Ying (bīn). Liu Chong, who had a bad relationship with Guo Wei, decided to support the army and respect himself for self-preservation. After obtaining the permission of the imperial court, he made a big show of "in the name of preparing for the Khitans" and "recruited warriors, recruited outlaws, armored soldiers, and real treasury" in Taiyuan, not only refused to "provide wealth to the imperial court", but even "the imperial court decreed that more than one did not inherit", and ran Taiyuan into an independent kingdom.
The political situation of the imperial court pushed Liu Chong onto the stage of history. Yang Ying first reprimanded the little emperor as a fool in public, and rejected the empress dowager's request to ask the little emperor for an official for a foreign relative. He then explicitly refused the little emperor's request to "set up his beloved Lady Geng as the queen", and even disagreed that the little emperor would "bury Lady Geng after her death." Emperor Yin of Han became angry and embarrassed, and under the instigation of ulterior motives on the left and right, he finally launched a large-scale killing ring, killing Yang Ying and the famous general Shi Hongzhao and others on the same day, and secretly ordered his henchmen to go to Wei Prefecture (魏州, in modern Damingxi, Hebei) to kill Guo Wei. Guo Wei was forced to rebel and "raised an army to cross the river" to kill the capital. The Han Yin Emperor beastly Hair, "The Xi Wei family belongs to the JingShi. Guo Wei's whole family was killed, and the scene was "extremely vicious, and there were no children and children." ”
Guo Wei entered the capital after the "Assassination of Emperor Yin", and because of the inconvenience of changing the dynasty immediately, he had to tell the empress dowager, support the Xuzhou Festival to make Liu Yun emperor, and send people to Xuzhou to welcome Liu Yun into the capital to succeed to the throne.
When Liu Chong learned that Guo Wei had raised an army, he once "raised an army" to help his nephew. Under the advice of his confidants, he sat on the mountain to watch the tiger fight in order to reap the benefits of fishing, and on the other hand, he was ready to go to Beijing to pick peaches at any time. When he learned that his adopted son Liu Yun had been proclaimed empress dowager by Guo Wei, he "rebelled against the soldiers" and shouted excitedly: "Wu'er is the emperor, what trouble!" ”
Liu Chong sent people into Beijing to inquire about the truth, and the emissaries were cordially received by Guo Wei. Guo Weixin swore that liu yun was completely out of public conscience, and when he saw that the messenger would be suspicious, he simply revealed the bird tattoo embroidered on his neck in the early years to show the messenger: "You see, since ancient times, there has been a tattooed son of heaven? Please tell Mr. Liu, don't doubt my sincerity! Liu Chong's plan was indeed in the middle, "Hi, Yixin thinks so." ”
His confidant Li Jun advised him: "If Duke Guo raises an army to rebel, he will not be willing to be a Han subject again, let alone set up Liu's descendants as emperors." The minister suggested that you immediately raise an army to the south of Taihang and control the Mengjin key area to watch the situation. As long as Liu Yun truly ascends to the throne, you will withdraw your army back to Taiyuan. Liu Chong's mouth broke and scolded: "Li Jun, you are a stinky and rotten Confucian, and you clearly want to separate my father-son relationship!" "He" ordered him to pull it out left and right. Li Jun sighed, "I am advising a fool, I deserve to be killed!" It's just that my wife is terminally ill, and she can't live if I die, and I hope to fulfill our husband and wife and go to Yin Cao together! "Liu Chong" heard about it, that is, he killed his wife in the city. In order to show his heart, Liu Chong reported the execution of Li Jun and his wife to the imperial court in detail.
Yellow sorghum dreams are fragile. When Guo Wei led his troops north to Liaozhou on the pretext of defending against the Khitans, he was put back in a yellow robe by the general and returned to Kaifeng. He forced the empress dowager to make herself a "prisoner of state", seized supreme power, deposed Liu Yun in the name of the empress dowager, and sent her troops to imprison Liu Yun. In the first month of 951, Guo Wei "took the throne as emperor, pardoned, changed the Yuan, and the name of the country was Zhou." Liu Chong's tit-for-tat confrontation, "The name is Yu Hedong, called Han, changed his name to Min, and still uses Qianyou as the era name." In order to eradicate the aftermath, Guo Wei sent someone to secretly poison Liu Yun. Liu Chong's envoy "Sent a letter to Zhou Taizu and asked Yun to return to Taiyuan, but Yun was already dead." Liu Chong, remembering Li Jun's advice against his ears, was full of remorse, "Erect a shrine for Li Jun, and worship it at any time." ”
Since then, the Northern Han Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty have become enemy countries with national hatred and hatred.
(3) Collusion with the Khitans
In revenge for killing his son, Liu Chong ordered his second son to "lead an army to attack the Jin and Yi prefectures." After the Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Han army "retreated without restraint." Liu Chong, because of the small size of the Northern Han Dynasty, only had "the lands of the twelve prefectures of He, Fen, Xin, Dai, Lan, Xian, Long, Wei, Qin, Liao, Lin, and Shi", and the national strength was weak, and it was difficult to compete with the Later Zhou, so he desperately stumped against the Khitan and "gave the cat as the three companions---- desperately" to the Khitans. From the beginning of his title as emperor, he "asked for help from the Khitan with heavy coins", bowed to the Khitan and "still called his nephew a nephew", and was finally "pseudonymized as the Emperor of Yingwu" by Emperor Shizong of Liao. ”
After embracing the thick thighs of the Khitans, Liu Chong," or sent envoys to "make the Khitan and beg for aid", or sent people to "thank the Khitan with generous bribes, calling themselves 'The Nephew Emperor sent a letter to the Emperor of Shutian'", or "sent the Hanlin scholar Boxing Wei Rong and other Khitans to thank the book and invite soldiers." After Yelü Shulu killed Emperor Muzong of Liao, Liu Chong, who was only 21 years old, sent a special envoy to congratulate Emperor Muzong of Liao, who was only 21 years old, "return to his uncle's affairs and ask the army to attack Jinzhou." ”
The Khitan finally threw a meat bone to Liu Chong, and when Liu Chong," when Liu Chong, "led his troops from Yindi Guankou Jinzhou and begged for troops in Khitans," he generously "assisted him with five thousand horses and joined forces to attack Pingyang." "Liu Chong besieged Jinzhou for more than two months and found nothing," Wen Zhou said, "so he burned the camp and fled. It was the middle of winter, "the Jin and Dai were snowing heavily", the local border people were in danger, and the Han army ran out of grain, "the soldiers did not plunder, the soldiers were hungry, compared to Taiyuan, ten deaths, three or four." ”
Liu Chong's heart was not dead, and in the spring of the following year, he "sent more than 3,000 troops to the prefecture of Kou province." "Unexpectedly, stealing chicken did not become a corrosive rice, but was taken advantage of by Hou Zhou to dig up a piece of fat." After two encounters, Liu Chong finally adjusted his strategy, changed the offensive to a defensive position, and painstakingly managed the Northern Han Dynasty. However, "the northern Han Dynasty was barren and the people were poor", and the poor fiscal revenue had to support a huge number of troops, and it was even more necessary to wag their tails and beg for mercy on the "foreign Khitans", so they could only adopt the policy of "giving heavy labor to the chickens and taking eggs", resulting in "the people not having a good life", causing many people to flee into the later zhou.
(4) Gao Ping's army was defeated
Although Liu Chong could not defeat Guo Wei, he stubbornly killed Guo Wei. When Guo Wei died, Liu Chong, "heard the joy of hearing the news", and once again "sent beggars to the Khitans" in an attempt to take advantage of the new establishment of Emperor Shizong of Zhou to wipe out Later Zhou in one fell swoop. The Khitan "sent Yang Gong to send the Iron Horse Wanqi and the Xi troops to claim 50,000 or 60,000 troops as 100,000", forming an alliance with the Northern Han Dynasty, and killing Hou Zhou with great momentum. Liu Chongzhi appointed Zhang Yuanhui as the vanguard, and he himself went into battle shirtless, "attacking Luzhou with 30,000 cavalry." Zhou Shizong turned grief into strength, defied public opinion, and resolutely fought a strategic decisive battle with the combined forces of the Northern Han and Khitan at Gaoping (高平, in present-day Jincheng, Shanxi).
Liu Chong,took a three-way offensive posture, with Zhang Yuanhui in the east and the Liao general Yang Gong on the right, placing himself in the middle of the army. Yang Gong kindly reminded Liu Chong: "The opponent is a strong enemy, and our army must not act rashly!" Liu Chong, arrogantly holding his beard, reprimanded him: "The time must not be lost, and there is no nonsense!" Yang Gong saw that his kindness was treated as a donkey's liver and lungs, and "went away in anger", making the Western Army not move. When Liu Chong ordered Zhang Yuanhui to lead the Eastern Army to attack the Later Zhou Right Army with all its might, the south wind rose steeply, flying sand and stones, and the soldiers could not open their eyes. His henchmen hurriedly grabbed Liu Chong's horse reins and advised: "The south wind is very urgent, and it is not the benefit of the Northern Army, so it is advisable to treat it less!" Liu Chong, annoyed and ashamed, scolded angrily: "Old poor and sour, Hugh has to talk nonsense and shake the fighting spirit of our army!" ”
Later Zhou generals saw the Northern Han army's fierce and deathly headwind attack, and was frightened and frightened, and took the lead in withdrawing from the position. The cavalry scrambled to turn the horse's head and quickly beat the horse to flee for their lives, and the infantry was forced to surrender, "Thousands of abandoned armor defected to the Yuan Emblem, and shouted long live the Zhenchuan Valley." Zhou Shizong was "horrified" and braved his own troops to supervise the battle. Later Zhou shizong saw Zhou Shizong charging forward as a soldier, and his courage increased sharply, "all of them fought for the first" to block the tidal charge of the Northern Han army.
At this time, "the wind is getting stronger", and "Zhang Yuanhui, who led the troops to attack wildly", was killed in battle, and the Northern Han army was defeated without a leader. Liu Chong, seeing that the situation was not good, personally waved the military flag to signal the withdrawal of the army. The Northern Han army was defeated like a mountain, and the Later Zhou army was unstoppable and beat the falling water dogs. Liu Chong ran wildly all the way, "collecting tens of thousands of soldiers" along the way. Later Zhou's army "took advantage of the victory to pursue, Min was again defeated, and the heavy armor and the imperial relics were all obtained by the Zhou division." "Liu Chong became a truly lonely man," he said, riding alone on the Khitan Yellow Dragon, and galloping away from the Dao dao between the carved ridges. Late at night, Liu Chong, disoriented in the valley, used his sword to force the villagers to lead the way north back to Taiyuan. The villagers hated him to the bone and deliberately took him all the way west to Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi). Liu Chong, "traveling more than a hundred miles, is juezhi", kills the guide in anger, and rides alone to identify the direction and flees in a hurry. Along the way, Liu Chongfeng ate and slept open, and sometimes "when he arrived, he did not raise the food, or passed on the Zhou soldiers, and left in the yellow." After many twists and turns, he finally escaped from the shortcut back to Taiyuan.
Zhou Shizong repaired the army, "Feasting on the generals, beheading the defeated generals Fan Aineng, He Hui and more than seventy other people, the army is mighty." He ordered an attack on Taiyuan and sent two generals to "control Xinkou in the north to cut off the Khitan aid road." The Later Zhou army besieged taiyuan city within a radius of forty miles and besieged it for three months. In the meantime, one of the generals responsible for blocking the Khitan army was "defeated by the Khitans" and one was killed on the battlefield. Zhou Shizong judged the situation, saw that Taiyuan City was "invincible", worried about the enemy on his belly and back, and ordered the entire army to retreat. Liu Chongxian "defeated himself at Gaoping", and then was besieged for a long time, ashamed and indignant, "with anxiety", he could not afford to be ill, and shortly after appointing his son Liu Chengjun as the "overseer of the country", the 59-year-old Liu Chongyi cried out for his life.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, in the chaotic era, the swarms of males rose up, divided the four sides, conquered each other, and chased deer from the Central Plains, which would certainly bring deep disasters to the people of the Central Plains. However, "brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted from the outside." "The Zhongyuan Qunxiong fights you to the death, after all, it is a dispute between the brothers." Since Shi Jingyao recognized the thief as his father Gandang Khitan "Child Emperor", Liu Chong, once again broke through the psychological bottom line of the sons and daughters of China, betrayed the interests of the state and the nation, and was willing to be a "nephew emperor" of a foreign nationality. Facts have proved that if the powerful are obsessed with their own selfishness, they will do what a brazen thing! The same is true of ancient and modern times!
【About the author】Xu Yunhui, male, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Yunnan Normal University in 1984 and is now a senior lecturer at Baoshan No.1 Middle School Education Group in Yunnan Province. He has published two monographs and published more than 600,000 words in literary journals at or above the provincial level.
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