The Liao Dynasty was founded by the Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, initially named Khitan and renamed Liao during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Liao, and the shared state lasted for 9 emperors in 209. When the Liao Dynasty regime had not yet perished and was in danger, The Liao Emperor Yelü Chun established the Northern Liao and united with the Western Xia to jointly resist the Jin; after the fall, Yelü Dashi, Yelü Liuge, and Yelü Successively established the Western Liao, Northern Liao, and Houliao regimes, which were the continuation of the Liao Dynasty of the Khitan nation, of which the most influential was the Western Liao established by Yelü Dashi.
List of Liao Dynasty emperor lineages
Yelü Dashi was the eighth grandson of The Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, and was a distant cousin of the Liao Tianzuo Emperor Yelü Yanxi. According to the "History of Liao", Yelü Dashi passed the examination for the jinshi and ranked first in the temple examination, thus becoming a champion and entering the Hanlin Academy and holding the position of Hanlin Yingfeng.
However, scholars have studied that the Khitan nobles can be recommended through the "green channel", while the Liao Dynasty examination is actually set up for the Han people and is not allowed to participate in the Khitan people. During the liaoxingzong period, there was a Khitan nobleman Yale Pulu who was accused of participating in the Keju High School, and Liaoxingzong ordered that 200 whips of YelePulu's father be drawn as a punishment.
Although yelü Dashi's participation in the Keju High School was doubtful, he was both literate and martial, not only proficient in Liao and Han, but also maintained the Khitan nationality's "proficiency in riding and shooting", and successively served in the taizhou thorn history, xiangzhou thorn history and other positions.
After the founding of the Liao Dynasty, it has always retained the nomadic customs of the Khitan people, and with the migration of the four seasons, the Liao Dynasty formed a system of the emperor's four-hour bowl (xingying), and established the five-capital system of Shangjing Linhuangfu, Zhongjing Dadingfu, Tokyo Liaoyangfu, Nanjing Jingjinfu, and Xijing Datongfu. Political corruption at the end of the Liao Dynasty, internal and external contradictions intensified, the capital of Liaozhong was conquered by Jin soldiers in 1122 AD, and the Tianzuo Emperor Canghuang fled from the city of Nanjing, leaving a group of ministers behind to break it.
The Five Capitals of the Liao Dynasty
At this time, Yelü Dashi, who served as the emissary of the Liaoxing Army, was once captured, and after escaping from the Jin army, he collected the remnants and joined the Tianzuo Emperor. Emperor Tianzuo, supported by yelü Dashi and the support of the Muroe clan, believed that there was enough strength to counterattack.
Yelü Dashi thought it was too hasty, and he made a statement to Emperor Tianzuo:
Since the Jin people first fell to Changchun and Liaoyang, the car was unfortunate to drive Guangpingdian and the capital zhongjing, and the trapped Capital was Yanshan, and the trapped Zhongjing was all in the clouds, and the trapped clouds were rushing to the mountains. Xiang Yi did not seek war readiness for the whole division, so that the whole country and the Han land were owned by the Jin people, and the national strength was weak to this point, and Fang sought war, not to calculate it. When raising soldiers to move from time to time, do not move lightly.
The Khitan people originated in the two river basins (Xilamulun River and Laoha River), surrounded by strong enemies in the Central Plains, Northeast China, and Mobei regions, of which the Mobei region, after nearly two hundred years of repeated conquest and pacification, the Liao Empire has always maintained a strong military force in this area; and after the establishment of the Liao, the farming area centered on Wujing is the economic center of the Liao Empire and the foundation on which it depends for its survival.
Map of the territory of the Liao Dynasty
Emperor Tianzuo and Yelü Dashi had major differences in determining the final direction of the Liao Empire. Emperor Tianzuo insisted on sending troops to protect the Wujing area; Yelü Dashi believed that the Jin army was unstoppable, and should abandon the towns dominated by Wujing, shrink the troops, retreat to the northern desert area, "when the troops are raised and move", and make a comeback in time.
Emperor Tianzuo's move was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, and after the Jin soldiers conquered Zhongjing, when Emperor Tianzuo's life and death were uncertain, Yelü Dashi supported the establishment of the clan office Yelü Chun and established the Northern Liao, which made Emperor Tianzuo feel suspicious. Unable to twist his arms around his thighs, Yelü Dashi had no choice but to take advantage of the night and lead two hundred iron horses to flee to the northern desert region.
Jeroboam implemented his own "move when the soldiers are raised":
Reorganizing the army: In order to maintain military deterrence, in the important town of mobei, the northwest road to recruit the division stationed in Kedun City, the Liao Empire stationed a strong army, even if there was a war between Liao and Jin, it was not conscripted into the northeast, and at the same time, it was saved because it was not attacked by Jin. In the pastures of the north of the desert, there are hundreds of thousands of war horses;
With the help of zhufan: Yelü Dashi also actively contacted eighteen ministries such as Weiwu, Chongde, and Huifan, and established an anti-Jin alliance with the nomadic tribes that had a feud with Jin.
The Great Stone of Jerusalem
After five years of fierce fighting, Yelü Dashi's troops had gained a foothold in the north of the desert, but it was still not enough to defeat the Jin Kingdom. Even Genghis Khan, who later unified the desert, failed to destroy the Jin State in his lifetime, and before his death, he set a national policy of uniting the Southern Song Dynasty and attacking the Jin State from north to south, and finally pacified it. Instead, in 1124, the Jin Dynasty eliminated the Tianzuo Emperor, who did not heed dissuasion and insisted on sending troops, and looked at the remnants of Yelü Dashi's troops, which was the first reason why Yelü Dashi chose to move west.
Secondly, although the desert area is vast, it is at a high latitude, the climate is cold, and the production of local products is greatly limited, which also affects the development of nomadic peoples, while the western region has a low latitude and a higher yield of products. In addition, the desert through which the Great Stone of Jerusalem moved west has also become a natural barrier. In 1131 AD, the Jin army marshal MuHan led his troops to prepare to take advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy the Yelü Dashi, but because of the existence of this desert, it was declared a failure.
Third, since the founding of the Liao Dynasty, it has maintained good relations with countries in the Western Regions. Gaochangguo, Guiziguo, Khotan, and other states sent envoys to pay tribute to the Liao Dynasty every three years; the Liao rulers also returned a lot of rewards. In addition to paying tribute, Western Xia also married the Liao Dynasty, and when the Liao was in danger, the Western Xia sent the general Li Liangfu to lead 30,000 troops to come to the aid.
Western Xia
In 1132 AD, Yelü Dashi led his troops to move west, arriving at Yemili City to ascend the throne as emperor, known as the Western Liao; and then accepting the invitation of the Eastern Qarakhanid Ibrahim, Yelü Dashi led his troops to march into Central Asia, built the capital in Balasalai and renamed it Husi Hui'er, which is equivalent to "housewarming new houses", but "neighbors" are not friendly, after all, it involves a struggle for living space.
First, the Western Liao army of Yelü Dashi engaged the army of Muhammad, the Great Khan of the Western Qarakhanid Dynasty, and the result was a complete victory for the Western Liao army, and Muhammad fled back to Samarkand and called the "eldest brother" Seljuk Dynasty (a dynasty established by the Turks). Perhaps it was the "prestige" of Yelü Dashi, the Seljuk Dynasty did not come up to find the Western Liao, but instead chose to violently beat the "little brother" of the Western Liao, the Gelulu people, and the Gelu people, who could not resist, also called the "big brother".
The war between the two sides began in the Kawwain steppe in the north of Samarkand, and eventually the Western Liao army won more with less and occupied the capital of the Western Qarakhanids, Samarkand, and the Seljuks were forced to withdraw from the river region, thus establishing the position of the Western Liao in the western region and Central Asia.
Western Liao
The Western Liao, which has a firm foothold, continued the ruling mode of the Liao Dynasty, but after all, the ethnic groups in the region are more diverse, so there is a certain degree of innovation. For most of the vassal countries, the main supervision, regular collection of taxes, the general implementation of the "light and thin" policy, and do not interfere too much in their internal affairs, which is conducive to the centralization of power, but also to reduce friction with the vassal countries. At the same time, the Western Liao also respected the religious beliefs of the vassal states, so that Islam, Buddhism, shamanism, Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism and other religions were fully developed.
As a result, the Western Liao regime under the rule of Yelü Dashi, the government and the people, once stretched from the Tula River in the east to the Aral Sea in the west, becoming the hegemon of Central Asia, and also continued the history of the Liao Dynasty for nearly a hundred years. Therefore, in the history of Liao, the status of Yelü Dashi can be compared with that of Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji.