In Mr. Jin Yong's "Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon", the Liao Daozong Yelü Hongji was a Liao emperor who spared no effort to invade the Song Dynasty, and finally had to be forced to agree only when he was coerced
In my lifetime, I will not allow the Liao state to invade the borders of the Great Song Dynasty with every soldier and pawn.
(In the Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon, Yelü Hongji and Xiao Feng are brothers)
Some historical writers have pointed out that the historical Yelü Hongji was a very pro-Song Emperor of the Liao State, with a very high degree of Sinicization, and throughout his life, he never had the slightest idea of invading the Great Song, let alone put it into action. "The Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon" made Yelü Hongji carry a big black cauldron.
It is said that in 1063, when Emperor Renzong of Song died and the envoys passed on the bad news to the Liao State, Yelü Hongji took the hand of the Song envoys and cried bitterly: "Forty-two years without knowing the soldiers!"
The specific historical materials on this matter can be found in Chen Shidao's "Houshan Tancong", Volume III:
Emperor Renzong reigned for forty years and could not enter the imperial cabinet. Every major event is given to the two houses, and the collegiality is heard. Renzong Collapsed, obituary to the Khitans, and wept over. Obituary, its main trumpet mourning messenger hand said: "Forty-two years do not know the soldiers!" "Buried and sacrificed, with Huang Bailuo as money, he also called it." Renzong collapsed, the world was lost like a relative, Yu Shi was a child, and he wept with his colleagues, not knowing that he was mourning. Emperor Renzong was ill, and the children of the Jingshi would be left behind, but the first arm was to pray for blessings, and there were hundreds of people every day, and there was no prohibition. Will be buried, no old or young men and women, weeping and mourning to mourn.
One is found in Shao Bo's "After-the-Record of Shao's Smell and Seeing", Volume 1:
Emperor Ren collapsed and sent envoys to the Khitans, and the people of yan were all weeping near and far. The messenger of the Lord of The Raiders mourned: "Forty-two years I have not known the soldiers. "Later, the Imperial Robes given by Emperor Ren of the Northern Dynasty were as strict as the tomb clouds of his ancestors.
(Zhao Zhen, Emperor Renzong of Song, 12 May 1010 – 30 April 1063, fourth emperor of the Song Dynasty)
Although the above records come from the Song people, the larger one may not be a fiction of Xiangbi, between the Song and Liao, since the alliance between the Liaoyuan, maintained peace for a long time, the relations between the two countries are relatively friendly, the obituary of the Song Emperor spread to the Liao State, yelü Hongji half courtesy and half out of true feelings to express sorrow, it can be said that it is quite reasonable.
However, the records of the Song people are naturally biased, and the following records in the "Shao's After-hearing Record" are not necessarily accurate:
In the autumn of the second year of Jiayou, Beiyu asked Emperor Ren for imperial honor, and the deliberators were worried about the art of victory, and the emperor said: "I will not be able to treat you thickly." "Sending Yu Shi zhong to Zhang Fu's legacy." The lord Sheng Yiwei personally greeted him, and when he saw it, he was shocked and prayed again. The following words are: "True Lord, if I am born in China, but with him I will hold the lid, for all of them will be Yu Hou'er." "Its fear is so.
In 1057, when Emperor Renzong of Song sent his envoys to present his portrait to the Liao state, the Liao Daozong Yelü Hongji held a solemn ceremony to personally welcome the portrait of Zhao Zhen, and when he saw the portrait, he "was shocked at first sight, and then prayed, and said: 'True Lord, if I am born in China, but with it, I will hold it, and gai yi du Yu Hou'er!' ’”
Yelü Hongji said that if he had been born in China (in this case, the Song Dynasty), he would have been giving Song Renzong a high-ranking officer in the Imperial Forest Army with a horse whip, and the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was very dismissive of this record:
At that time, Song Fang was afraid of the Khitan and increased the age of the coin, and his political strategy and military might, what made the Khitan fearful? And the Khitan lord saw that it was like a shock, and there was a sigh of The Duke of Yu? This is nothing more than Song Chen's self-proclaimed words, which are not trustworthy, and can be despised.
This view of the Kangxi Emperor is naturally related to his own identity as a minority monarch, but it is not unreasonable, before the Song Renzong Qing calendar two years (1042) between the Liao and Song dynasties, the Northern Song Made a major concession, every year to the Liao State to increase the annual coin silver 100,000 taels, silk 100,000 horses, and in the title of self-deprecating called "Na" year coin, it can be said that in diplomacy is quite passive to achieve compromise, the prevailing Yelü Hongji such "self-depreciation", the greater possibility is the Song people's yy.
(After Su Rui went out on the mission, he said: Since the Emperor of the Northern Dynasty saw Yan Yan in his sixties, he had a light demeanor, drank and drank, reigned for a long time, and knew the stakes)
Yelü Hongji generally maintained peace between the Liao and Song dynasties, but that does not mean that he did not have other ideas, as recorded in the History of Liao:
The emperor intended to cut down the Song Dynasty, and Summoning Jingxing asked, "How about the Song people are good at having a good life?" "Since Emperor Shengzong was far away from Wei Dehuaiyuan and Song Xiugong, it has been sixty years since now." If you use the army in detail, you may violate the agreement of the previous emperor. "It just goes without saying a word.
This was when the Song and Liao sides were at odds over Hedong, and judging from the meaning of Yelü Hongji's words, he had the idea of going to war with the Song Dynasty, but was dissuaded by the chancellor.
The minister who dissuaded Yelü Hongji was Yao Jingxing, who was then the Privy Counsellor of the Southern Yuan, and it can also be seen from his words that the peaceful relations between song and Liao after the alliance of Liaoyuan were, in the official language of the Liao State, the Song Dynasty's "repair tribute", that is, as a vassal or foreign country to the court on time, in this discourse system, the Liao was the central dynasty.
(Tang Yanli's own tribute map depicts the time of Emperor Taizong of Tang, when Po Li, Luocha, and Lin Yiguo of Nanyang came to China to pay tribute)
This brings us to what Yelü Hongji said, "May china be born in the hereafter." Regarding this, the first record comes from the Songshan Anthology of the Northern Song Dynasty Chao:
The Khitan has been in the past eight years since the alliance of the Liaoyuan Dynasty to the present ninety! It's been a long time! Ancient unheard also. The Jongmyo Shrine Sheji's Spirit was there. However, now the Lord's Great Foundation and the Powerful One know it, and everyone who smears the road knows it. Although the lord was born in the land of the karmic dogs, he was kind and gentle, and he was a soldier who kept his words and did not like to be tortured and killed. Mu Renzong's virtue and learning, every word and Renzong, will be increased with the hand, for Renzong taboo. Rizhai did not forget, tasted hundreds of platinum, cast two Buddha statues, and inscribed on his back: "May future generations be born in China." "Its intentions cover can also be known.
This was only seen in the literature for a long time, until 1934, when Zhang Jiang's book "The Ancient Records of Yanjing's Visit" came out, with two circumstantial evidences:
One mile northwest of the Xibian Gate, behind the vegetable garden well platform, there are three ruined Buddhist halls, there is one inside, a Buddha on the upper seat, three feet and eight inches high, the evil image is vicious, the beard is fierce, the earrings are drooping, such as the statue of Kongo, half shirt and half armor, flower cloud combat boots, both hands holding bowls, left hip plates, right hips, blind teeth, mighty and mighty, behind the engraving of the seal book Silver Buddha inscription: "Silver thousand two, cast two Buddha statues." Mighty and solemn, compassionate and lawlike. Protect our Liao country, and enjoy it forever. Kaitai Temple casts silver Buddha, may future generations be born in China. Yerushalayim, pious heart cast in silver. "A total of forty-seven words, examined here, when it is the Great Liao Kaitai Temple also."
That is to say, what Yelü Hongji said about "may China be born in the hereafter" is true.
(Liao Dynasty Buddha Statue)
Later generations have several understandings of the "China" in which Yelü Hongji prayed that future generations would be born: one refers to the Northern Song Dynasty, the second refers to the Liao State itself, and the third refers to the place where Shakyamuni Buddha came from in the Buddhist language system, "Zhongtianzhu".
Let's look at it one by one, at that time, China could indeed be used to call the Northern Song Dynasty, but this was often the title of the Northern Song people themselves, and the Liao State, which thought that it had inherited the tang Dynasty's canonical culture, would not identify with the Song Dynasty as China and was a barbarian; Yelü Hongji flaunted "I cultivate cultural relics, and I am not different from China", at that time, the Liao State also called itself China, and the Understanding of China here as the Liao State seems to be more reasonable than the understanding of the Song Dynasty, but from the perspective of religious language, it is illogical to pray for the future life to be born in its current country.
The earliest Chinese translation of the Buddhist scriptures, the Forty-two Chapters of the Buddha's Sayings, records:
The Buddha said, "If a person departs from the path of evil, he will have to be difficult for man." It is difficult to be a man, and it is difficult to go to a woman or a man. Having to be a man, six roots are difficult. Six roots are both, and it is difficult to be born in China. Having been born in China, it is difficult for the Buddha to live in the world. Since they are in the Buddha's world, it is difficult for those who meet the Tao. It is difficult to meet the Tao, but it is difficult to rejoice in faith. It is difficult to develop bodhichitta in faith. Having developed bodhichitta, it is difficult to cultivate without cultivation or evidence. ”
(Luyeyuan, a sacred place of Indian Buddhism, where the Buddha first spoke)
In the literature written by the monks such as Faxian and Xuanzang who traveled west to seek the Dharma, and Wang Xuance and others, China also refers to the place where Shakyamuni Buddha came- "Zhongtianzhu", which is geographically equivalent to most of the present-day States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal, but the concept of "China" is mainly in the religious sense, referring to the place where the Buddha came and the Dharma prevailed. As for the fact that Indian Buddhism had actually declined at that time, it was not within the consideration of Yelü Hongji.