Mr. Jin Yong is a master of martial arts novels, and his wonderful works are still loved by the majority of readers, and they are a valuable spiritual wealth left to future generations. Among them, "Tianlong Babu" is Mr. Jin Yong's representative work. The book outlines the jianghu world at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and also depicts the political situation at that time. It involves the northern song dynasty, khitans, western Xia, Tubo, and Dali, which coexisted at the same time.
The protagonists in the book are Xiao Feng, Xuan Zhu, and Duan Yu, three brothers, but in fact, in the book, Xiao Feng also has a big brother, the Khitan Emperor Yelü Hongji. In the book, Yelü Hongji is a man of great talent, with the ambition to destroy the Western Xia and the Southern Song Dynasty and unify the world, just like a male lord. Xiao Feng did not hesitate to sacrifice his own life in exchange for Yelü Hongji's promise never to attack Song. Yelü Hongji did have his own person in history, he was the eighth emperor of the Liao Dynasty, Liao Daozong.
So what about the real Yerushalayim in history?
Yerushalayim
Yerushalayim was born in 1032 AD. Yelü Hongji was born with a golden key, and was raised from an early age by his father, Emperor Yelüzong of Liaoxingzong, as an heir. At the age of six, Yelü Hongji was made the King of Liang; at the age of eleven, he was made the King of Yan and the Commander-in-Chief; at the age of twenty-one, he served as the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army, in charge of imperial affairs, and participated in the imperial government. Looking at the resume of this road, Yelü Hongji can be said to be young and shouldering heavy responsibilities, and he was prepared for the future succession of the great unification.
In 1055 AD, Emperor Yelüzong of Liaoxing died of illness, and Yelü Hongji officially ascended the throne. Yelü Hongji, who had just ascended to the throne, worked hard and was diligent in the administration of the dynasty. However, the good times were short-lived, and the complicated government affairs soon consumed Yelü Hongji's patience, and he began to be lazy in the government, addicted to hunting and gambling, and became increasingly dim-witted. When there is a vacuum of power, there will be ambitious people who will be tempted.
The first careerist was Yelü Chongyuan, Yelü Hongji's uncle. During the reign of Emperor Yelü Zongzhen of Liaoxing, his biological mother, Empress Xiao Yunjin, favored his younger son Yelü Chongyuan and plotted to launch a rebellion and make Yelü Chongyuan emperor. Fortunately, Yelü Chongyuan himself revealed the truth to Yelü Zongzhen, and he did not succeed. After the matter was revealed, Yelü Zongzhen did not punish Yelü Chongyuan, but also made him the emperor's brother, but only put the empress dowager under house arrest in Qingling. Once, after Yelü Zong had drunk too much, he promised to pass the throne to him after the death of the emperor's brother Yelü Chongyuan. Unexpectedly, the drunken words made Yelü Chongyuan see his hope of sitting on the throne, and from then on, he released the power desire devil in Yelü Chongyuan's heart.
Jeroboam is true
After Yelü Hongji succeeded to the throne, in order to appease his uncle Yelü Zongzhen, he was made the emperor's uncle and the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army. Yelü Chongyuan's son Yelü Nerugu was crowned King of Chu and was in charge of imperial affairs. Father and son can be described as one person below, above ten thousand people, the scenery is not different for a while. Seeing that he was only one step away from the peak of his power, his nephew, who was not the image of the Lord, began to conspire with his son Yelü Nerugu to usurp power.
In 1063 A.D., Yelü Hongji went out hunting. Yelü Chongyuan lied that he was seriously ill, and in the honor of the emperor's uncle, he wanted Yelü Hongji to come to see him, and then waited with Yelü Nerugu to kill Yelü Hongji and usurp the throne. When the palace man Yelü Liang learned of this, he knew that the fainting Yelü Hongji would not listen to him, so he told the empress dowager about this matter and asked the empress dowager to relay it to Yelü Hongji.
When Yelü Hongji heard this, he did not believe it and asked Yelü Liang, "Do you want to alienate the flesh and blood affection between our uncles and nephews?" Yerushalayim replied, "If a subordinate lies, he is willing to die!" If His Majesty does not take precautions early, the terror will be caught in the treacherous schemes of the thieves. It is better to summon Jeremiah to come and summon him, for if he refuses to come, there will be something wrong. Yerushalayim followed his advice and sent his emissaries to Yelü Nerugu to summon him.
When Jeronelus saw that the messenger was indeed a thief, he wanted to kill the messenger and detain him in a tent. The messenger cut open the tent with his saber and fled, and hurried back to Yelü Hongji to report. Yelü Hongji finally believed that Yerushalayim's father and son were really opposed. Seeing that his plot was revealed, Yelü Chongyuan led two thousand rebels to besiege Yelü Hongji's camp, hoping to strike first. Fortunately, the courtiers and soldiers around Yelü Hongji resisted desperately and defeated the rebels. Of course, Xiao Feng was not in Yelü Hongji's army. Yelü Nerugu died in the rebellion, and after the defeat of Yelü Chongyuan's army, he committed suicide on the way to escape. History weighs the Yuan Rebellion.
"Legend of Lu Zhen" Xiao Guanyin
After experiencing the Chongyuan Rebellion, Yelü Hongji did not learn his lesson and reorganize the government, but instead became more addicted to hunting and gambling, coveting wine and pleasure. On one occasion, Yelü Hongji was even so ridiculous as to move the game above the court. He asked his courtiers to decide on the appointment of vacant official positions by rolling dice, and whoever rolled the number of points was higher. Once again, there is a vacuum of power, and the power traitors are once again emerging. This is Yelü Yixin, who was later written into the Biography of the Traitors of the Liao Dynasty.
Yelü Hongji panicked about political affairs, and Yelü Yixin, who had made a contribution to quelling the rebellion of the Heavy Yuan, seized the opportunity to control the government. The powerful Yerushalayim colluded with his henchmen and did whatever he wanted, and politics became increasingly corrupt. In 1075, crown prince YelüJun began to participate in the imperial government. Yelü Yixin's behavior was somewhat limited, so he began to plot to get rid of Yelü Jun's birth mother, Empress Xiao Guanyin. Yelü Yixin used very dirty means to order people to forge obscene poems to frame Empress Xiao Guanyin and the lingguan Zhao, who had only had an adulterous affair.
Xiao Guanyin is talented and beautiful, proficient in poetry and song, and is a famous talented woman in the Liao Kingdom. Since childhood, they have been promised to Yelü Hongji, and the original two were young and bamboo horses, and their love was deep. Unfortunately, Yelü Hongji later became absurd and gradually alienated Xiao Guanyin. He listened to yerushalayim's rumors and put Xiao Guanyin to death without knowing the truth.
Crown Prince Yelüjun was deeply saddened to learn of his mother's death, and wept bitterly and vowed to take revenge on Yelü Yixin and avenge his mother. Jeroboam was afraid that Yelü Jun was seeking revenge, and decided to start by falsely accusing Yelü Jun of rebellion. Yelü Jun was the only son of Yelü Hongji, and there was no one to compete with him for the throne, and there was no motive for rebellion. But Yelü Hongji was so confused that he believed Yerushalayim's lies and imprisoned Yerushalayim.
Yerushalayim took the opportunity to send someone to assassinate Yerushalayim in prison, falsely claiming that he had died of illness. Hearing the news of Yelü Jun's death, Yelü Hongji seemed to be aroused by some father-son affection, and was very sad and wanted to summon the crown princess. However, Yelü Yixin was afraid that in the process of summoning the crown princess, his own assassination of the prince was exposed. He also sent someone to assassinate the princess and completely extinguished her mouth.
His blood-stained hands turned his gaze to Yelü Yanxi, the only grandson of Yelü Hongji. In 1079 A.D., Yelü Hongji went out hunting again. Yelü Yixin seized the opportunity to request that Yelü Yanxi be left in the capital so that he could seek an opportunity to murder himself. The courtiers led by Xiao Wuna, the envoy of the Northern Yuan, did not want Yelü Yixin's plot to succeed, and urged Yelü Hongji to keep an eye on the safety of Yelü Yanxi and not to leave the Emperor's grandson alone. Yelü Hongji, who had been fainting for a long time, seemed to have suddenly opened his mind, found the clue in it, and took Yelü Yanxi with him. He also noticed that many officials were obedient to Yerushalayim's orders, and then he heard some of Yerushalayim's bad deeds, so he decided to get rid of him. Yelü Hongji first demoted Yerushalayim to other places, then gradually stripped Yerushalayim of his official titles, and finally executed Yerushalayim for adultery with foreign countries.
In 1101 A.D., Yelü Hongji died of illness, ending his life of fainting and absurdity. After Yelü Hongji's death, Yelü Yanxi, the last emperor of the Liao State, succeeded to the throne. He rehabilitated the unjust case for his grandmother Xiao Guanyin and his father Yelü Jun, and dug up the corpse of Yelü Yixin, finally taking revenge on Xue Hate.
During the reign of Yelü Hongji, the government was in ruins, and the power and treachery came to power, resulting in political corruption, intensification of social contradictions, the people's complaints, a large number of talented people either died or fled, and the national strength of the Liao state was greatly weakened. At the same time, the later gravedigger Privet tribe of the Liao State arose in the northeast. It can be said that what Yelü Hongji left to his grandson Yelü Yanxi was a complete mess.
Bronze statue of Liao Daozong Yelü Hongji
However, Yerushalayim is not useless. He devoted himself to sinology, believed in Buddhism, and made Song Renzong his idol, and when Song Renzong died, Yelü Hongji cried bitterly. When he was young, Yelü Hongji also mixed with the envoys of the Liao State to the Northern Song Dynasty, saw the material wealth and cultural prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty, and issued the feeling of being a great Song people in the next life. He did not advocate the use of troops against the Northern Song Dynasty, and even when the soldiers of the Northern Song Dynasty invaded the borders of the Liao State, he only wrote to the Song Emperor to ask them to exercise more control in the future. On his deathbed, Yelü Hongji also repeatedly advised Yelü Yanxi to maintain peace with the Song Dynasty and not to have a war, which can also be regarded as doing some good things for the people of the Liao and Song dynasties.
Author: Our special guest author Elevation
Reference: History of Liao