The Khitan people are one of the most important ethnic minorities in ancient China, the end of the Tang Dynasty was constantly strife, Zhu Wen usurped power, Chinese history entered the five-generation period, the Khitan nobleman Yelü Abaoji in the north also took the opportunity to claim the emperor, established the Great Liao Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty has successively confronted the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms south of the Great Wall for a long time, later, Liao Taizong Yelü Deguang in 947 to aid Shi Jingyao, and to divide the "Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures", extending the power of the Liao Dynasty all the way to Zhuozhou in Hebei Province, south of the Great Wall.
Later, the Founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, successively unified East China, South China and Hedong and other places, Song Taizong once wanted to take advantage of the situation to recover Yanjing (present-day Beijing), but ended in failure, until 1004, Song and Liao signed the "Alliance of Yuanyuan", the two sides formed a "brotherly country", at the same time, the Khitan power as far as the Western Regions, Xizhou (present-day Turpan, Xinjiang) Uighurs and so on successively submitted to the Khitan, so that after the fall of the Tang, Central Asia, West Asia and even more distant regions mostly "Khitan" as the representative title of China, until today, In the languages and scripts of Russians and other ethnic groups, China is still referred to as "Khitan".
Later, the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchens rose, the Khitan nobleman Yelü Dashi moved westward, and established the Western Liao in Central Asia, at the same time, the Gunpowder and firearms in the Central Plains were spread to the Islamic world, even if the Western Liao was excluded, the Daliao Dynasty established by the Khitans lasted for more than 200 years, so that Wang Anshi, a famous scholar, writer and politician of the Northern Song Dynasty, commented, "Since the ages, the Yidi people have been large, and there is no Khitan today." ”
But how did the Khitan Dynasty, which was so invincible, collapse? Speaking of, unbelievable, in fact, the Liao Dynasty let the eagle play to death, do you believe it?
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As we all know, the Khitan people are nomadic people, and the Liao Dynasty royal family especially advocates hunting, at this time, a kind of falcon native to the Five Kingdoms of the Northeast, known as "Haidongqing", became the "pet" of the Liao Emperor, thus playing a crucial role in the historical process of the rise of the Jurchens and the fall of the Khitans.
In fact, at the beginning of the rise of the Khitan people, it was gradually realized through military conquest, as early as before the founding of the Khitan state, that is, in 903, tang Zhaozong Tianfu three years, Yelü Abaoji began to conquest the Jurchens, according to the "Liao Shi Taizu Benji" record, "(Tianfu three years) spring, cut down the Jurchens, down, get her household three hundred." "This is the earliest record of the Khitan conquest of jurchens.
Later, the Liao Dynasty destroyed the Bohai state in the northeast region, the Jurchens and the Bohai state were originally of the same ethnic origin, therefore, the Jurchens and the Bohai state had a close relationship, with the Bohai state was incorporated into the Liao Dynasty, the Jurchens originally attached to the Bohai state began to pay tribute to the Liao Dynasty, and the two sides gradually established a clan relationship, and this part of the Jurchen people was called "mature Jurchen".
Later, in order to avoid the secret of the LiaoxingZong Yelüzong, "Jurchen" was renamed "Jurchen", but in the northeast of the Jurchen area, there was also a Five Kingdoms Department, that is, the five tribes that are relatively backward in the lower reaches of the Songhua River and heilongjiang, and the Five Kingdoms Department had a specialty, that is, "Haidongqing", which was an excellent and valuable falcon.
According to the Khitan Chronicle, "The east of the Five Kingdoms is adjacent to the sea, famous eagles, those who come from Haidong, called 'Haidongqing', small and handsome, can catch geese, white claws are especially strange, and the Liao people love it." ”
Because Haidongqing was able to hunt swans and so on, it became the favorite of the Khitan people, especially the Emperor of the Liao State, and Emperor Daozong of Liao once issued an edict, "It is forbidden for the people to store the Sea Eastern Qinghu." ”
Later, the Khitan extended their power to the Five Kingdoms Department, and "Haidongqing" became a unique tribute to the "Five Kingdoms Department", for which an important communication line from the Five Kingdoms Department to the political center of the Liao Dynasty was born, known as the "Eagle Road", which started roughly in today's Yilan, Heilongjiang.
This famous "Eagle Road" just passed through the sphere of influence of the Jurchens, thus creating opportunities and conditions for the rise of the Jurchens later.
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Originally living in the Mudanjiang River Valley, the Guanyanbu was a very weak tribe, but its power continued to increase, and later, Jin Taizu's grandfather Ugunai was named by the Liao Dynasty as a daughter of zhijiedushi, and one of its important missions was to maintain and ensure the smooth flow of the "Eagle Road".
Because the Five Kingdoms Department was far away from the Liao Dynasty mainland, although the Five Kingdoms Department was forced to pay tribute to the Liao Dynasty "Hai Dongqing", after all, the Liao Dynasty forces were beyond the reach of the whip, and had to rely heavily on the powerful GuanyanBu to maintain the smooth flow of the "Eagle Road", and this "mission" gave the Wanyanbu an excuse to take advantage of the situation to attack dissident forces and gradually unify the Jurchen departments, and even became the "Shangfang Sword" for the Guanyanbu to secretly develop its forces.
For this reason, the Completed Yan Department even "shouted to catch the thief", thus creating an illusion for the Khitan people, "If you want to open the eagle road, you must not give birth to a daughter." Through the above series of operations, the Jurchens secretly developed their forces, and gradually integrated and unified the Jurchen tribes, and according to the situation, they became the spokesperson of the overall Jurchens from the agents of the Khitan "Eagle Road", thus making sufficient strength and public opinion preparations for the independence and self-reliance of the Jurchens.
Finish Yan A bone fight
Later, Guanyan Akuta became the leader of the tribe, at this time, the Liao Emperor was the Tianzuo Emperor, and his uncle Xiao Haili defected, but the Liao army was powerless and had to ask for help from Guanyan Aku, as a result, Guanyan Akuta killed Xiao Haili in one fell swoop, and thus obtained Xiao Haili and his subordinates five hundred pairs of weapons and armor, which was unprecedented in Jurchens.
In addition to obtaining five hundred pairs of armor, more importantly, Guanyan Ah Bone saw through the false reality of the Liao army, "since then, I have known the ease and also of the Liao army." "Thinking that the Liao army was vulnerable, thus fueling the political ambitions of Yan Akuta.
At this time, there were also people within the Liao Dynasty who were wary of the Jurchen Department, and for this reason, the traitors of the Jurchen Department were taken in, and the Completed Yan Ah Kuan Began to repeatedly send envoys to the Liao Dynasty to repay the traitors, but in fact they were further familiar with the mountains, rivers, geography and domestic hypocrisy within the Liao Dynasty, so as to do a good job of intelligence gathering for the next action.
According to the "Jin Shi Silver Art Biography", "When it was, the Liao lord was absurd to the government, and the upper and lower levels disintegrated. Silver magic can wait and return, with the Liao government affairs to inform Taizu, and said that the Liao state can be cut down. Taizu was determined to cut down the Liao. ”
The internal emptiness of the Liao Dynasty gave the Liao Dynasty the confidence to fight the Liao and build the country, but in order to succeed in one fell swoop, the completion of the Yan A bone also needed a righteous excuse and reason, the so-called "Shun Tian's Order", at this time, "Hai Dongqing" once again became the protagonist, borrowing the Liao people to forcibly demand the enslavement and harm brought by the "Hai Dongqing" to the Five Kingdoms And the Jurchens along the way, to call on the Jurchens to rebel.
Regarding the cruelty and absurdity of the Liao people, the Song Dynasty envoy Hong Hao recorded in the "Song Desert Chronicle", "When the Great Liao was in its heyday, the silver-plated angel to the Jurchen, every night will want to recommend the pillow, the old wheel of the country in the middle of the lower household as a place to stay, in order to not be a suitable woman to treat them, and then ask haidongqing envoys to flock, the mission of the great country is to choose a beautiful woman, do not ask her husband and the valve to read the high, the jurchen is angry, and then rebel." ”
This means that the so-called "silver angels" sent by the Liao State to the Jurchen region to demand "Hai Dongqing" after entering the area where the Jurchens lived, they asked for virgins every night for their sexual pleasure, and later, as long as they were good-looking women, regardless of whether the other party was on marriage leave, or even the Jurchen nobles, they all took it for themselves, which aroused the indignation of the Jurchens, and the completion of the Yan Ah Bone Was to make full use of these national sentiments, thus, for the Jurchens to rebel against the Liao, and eventually created a public opinion base for the Jurchens.
In this sense, it is the falcon "Hai Dongqing" that led to the destruction of the Khitan country, which seems to be worthy of the name, who can think that the Liao Dynasty, which has been established for more than two hundred years and cannot be immortalized, was actually killed by an eagle?
Author: Our special invited author Shen Jiuchuan