As the second emperor of the Liao State, Emperor Taizong of Liao made indelible contributions to the development of the Liao State in various aspects such as politics, economy and culture.
However, such an emperor, who was very important in both the country and the people, was made into "cured meat" after his death, becoming the only "mummified" emperor in Chinese history, and the person who pickled his body was not punished in the slightest. What's going on here? Let's take a look.
It turned out that Yelü Deguang had launched an attack on Later Jin because he was unwilling to pay tribute to himself. However, he failed miserably, and not only that, but Yelü Deguang also died of illness on the way to evacuate from the Central Plains. When his mother, Empress Shulu, learned of her son's death, she was so distraught that everyone had to transport her son's body back to the capital and see her son with her own eyes.
But this time is summer, and the road is long, and the body is very easy to decompose. This is not for the sake of the courtiers. If the rotting body of Yelü Deguang was sent back, the grieving empress dowager would not be more angry, and she would not be able to escape punishment herself.
Therefore, a cook came up with a method: to make the body of Yelü Deguang into a "羓", so that when the body was transported back to the capital, it would not rot. What is this? In fact, this is equivalent to what we now call cured meat.
In summer, in order to avoid rotting beef and mutton, the nomads hollow out the offal of the animals and brine them with salt. The cook disposed of Yelü Deguang's body in the same way, dried it, and then transported it to the capital. As a result, Yelü Deguang became the first and only "mummified" emperor in Chinese history.
In this way, yelü de guang was made into "cured meat", which was actually a choice made by the officials to save their own lives under the power of the empress, and also relieved yelü de guang's mother's grief over the death of her son. It is also reasonable that the cook was not punished.
And if you want to talk about the contribution made by the emperor Yelü Deguang to the Liao kingdom, it is really worthy of people's respect.
During the reign of Yelü Deguang, he reformed the official system, dividing officials into north and south, and governing according to the common law. This is the perfection and systematization of the reform of the official system since the time of Apaoji. Not only that, but Yerushalayim took measures to vigorously develop production and to reward farming and weaving. Therefore, the economic situation of the Liao State, especially in agriculture, has developed rapidly, and the people's living standards have also been greatly improved. In addition, Yelü Deguang expanded the territory of the Khitan through military and other means, so that the Khitan moved towards a period of full prosperity, and later changed the name of the country to Khitan to Liao. Therefore, Yelü Deguang promoted the political, economic, cultural and other development of the Liao state.
From this, it is not difficult for us to see that Yelü Deguang not only has the ability to govern the country, but also cares very much for the people, and is indeed a good emperor who is benevolent and good at governance.