Han Khan

Chapter 147, Khitan "Election System"

Bu Chule's expression became serious, and he continued:
"As for the State of Yan, its master Liu Rengong was not a hero, but he was a cunning fox. He was good at taking advantage of the conflicts between various forces and reaping the benefits.

Ten years ago, in the first year of Qianning in the Tang Dynasty (894), this was the reign title of the emperor of the Central Plains. I knew it was a reign title, but I didn't know what it was used for.

In that year, Li Keyong, a Shatuo man, captured Youzhou near the Great Wall and appointed Liu Rengong as the governor of Lulong.

Liu Rengong then continued to expand his power, and in the autumn of each year, he led his army across the Great Wall to plunder the Khitans and burn grasslands to curb the Khitans' grazing and retaliate against the Khitans' attacks on Youzhou.

They even captured one of Abaoji's brothers-in-law. These counterattacks brought great difficulties to the Khitan, including loss of livestock and constant famine.

So at that time, the weak Khitan Khan Hendejin had to bribe Liu Rengong with a large number of horses and ask him to keep the Khitan pasture.

Liu Rengong gradually conquered the land near Youzhou and directly broke free from Li Keyong's control.

In order to punish Liu Rengong's betrayal, Li Keyong led his troops to attack Liu Rengong six years ago, but was ambushed by Liu Rengong and defeated.

From then on, Liu Rengong took advantage of the conflict between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen to expand his territory.

In the same year, Liu Rengong attacked the Yichang army and wanted to annex the Heshuo area next to Mo Nan, but was defeated by Zhu Wen.

Eight years ago, Zhu Wen personally led a large army to besiege Liu Rengong. Liu Rengong was defeated repeatedly and sent envoys to ask Li Keyong for help, sending more than a hundred people.

Under the advice of his son Li Cunxu, Li Keyong put aside his suspicion and made peace with Ren Gong, and they joined forces to defeat Zhu Wen.

I heard from the Tang people that Liu Rengong of Youzhou was very cruel to his subordinates, and his son Liu Shouguang was even more cruel than him.

Seven years ago, Zhu Wen usurped the power of the Tang emperor and established the Liang Kingdom (907 AD). That year, Liu Rengong was imprisoned by his son Liu Shouguang, who established himself as the Jiedushi of Lulong.

In the same year, the Khitan Khan Hendejin was deposed. The leaders of the Khitan tribes were ashamed of his compromise with Liu Rengong, so they deposed him and nominated Yelu Abaoji as the Khitan Khan.

Four years ago, Li Cunxu, Prince of Jin, defeated the army of the Emperor of Liang again, and in this year Liu Shouguang, the governor of Lulong, proclaimed himself the King of Yan.

At this time, Yelu Abaoji had served as the Khitan Khan for three years, and the Khitan Khan was elected every three years.

Because he led the Khitans, continuously conquered the Shiwei and Xi tribes, suppressed their rebellions, defeated Liu Shouguang, and plundered a large number of people and property, he was chosen as the Khitan Khan.

Three years ago, Liu Shouguang proclaimed himself the Emperor of Dayan.

Two years ago, the Khitans, led by their Khan Yelu Abaoji, marched north and west and attacked our Tatar and Shiwei tribes. We had no choice but to migrate westward to the area between the Langjuxu Mountain and the Yanran Mountain to graze and avoid the Khitan troops.

Last year, the Emperor of Great Yan, Liu Shouguang, was quickly defeated by the Prince of Jin, Li Cunxu. Liu Shouguang and his father, Liu Rengong, were captured. The State of Yan was thus destroyed and its territory was incorporated into the State of Jin.

Li Cunxu, the King of Jin who destroyed the State of Yan, thus became a powerful monarch facing the Khitans from north to south. Perhaps for the Khitans, Li Cunxu, the King of Jin, was a more powerful and threatening enemy than Liu Shouguang.

I heard that Li Cunxu's father, Li Keyong, once became an Anda (brother) with the Khitan Khan Yelu Abaoji and maintained peace, but later Abaoji broke his promise and betrayed the alliance, and attacked the Jin State together with the Liang State, thus breaking down the relationship between the two.

Therefore, today, Prince of Jin Li Cunxu and Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji are still in a state of hostility.

However, King Li Cunxu of Jin was not eager to clash with the Khitans, but instead turned his attention to the vast Central Plains region, trying to conquer this vast land.

As a result, in the past two years, a rare truce has temporarily emerged between Khitan and Jin.

Hearing this, Erke, who was not familiar with the situation in the Central Plains, asked in confusion:

"Then is the Khitan Khan willing to live in peace with the Jin people?" He frowned, a puzzled look on his face, obviously very confused by this situation.

The other people also nodded, expressing the same doubts.

Yes, Li Cunxu wanted peace, but that was just wishful thinking. The Khitans would not let go of the Central Plains. Then why did they stop attacking Hebei and Hedong?
Everyone in the tent was eager to receive useful information from this Tatar. They were also surprised at Bu Chule. How could this man know so much information? If he was presented to His Highness, His Highness would definitely be very happy!

Seeing everyone's confusion, Bu Chule did not hide anything and said quickly:
"I believe you all know that the Khitans and the Jin State are mortal enemies. They will never miss the opportunity to cross the Great Wall and plunder the wealth and population of the Central Plains, especially Yelu Abaoji who attaches great importance to the Tang people.

The reason why the Khitans did not conflict with the State of Jin was that the time had come for the Khitan Alliance to elect a Khan, and Abaoji, who had made great military achievements, did not want to lose the election and thus lose control of the Khitan tribes.

Since becoming the commander of the Khitan army, Yelu Abaoji led the Khitan people to continuously plunder a large number of people from the Central Plains as his personal subjects.

They also built many walled cities on the grassland to accommodate the Han, Jurchen, Shiwei, Tatar and Xi people and slaves captured by the Khitans.

The city is full of markets for exchanging livestock, salt, furs, silk and cloth from the Central Plains, workshops for making weapons, armor and arrows, Confucius Temples, Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. These are all very prosperous. These are what I saw when I went there to exchange salt. "

Hearing this, Koza and his companions thought of His Highness's deeds in Jinshan, where he used the power of the gods to build many blacksmith workshops, towering temples, and stone city walls, which served as the center for the Jinhan tribe and the Holy Religion to control the area around Jinshan and spread the will of Haotian.

"As his tribe grew in number, Yelu Abaoji built a strong and elite guard army and became the most powerful leader among the Khitan tribes.

I have heard from some Khitans in Longzhou Hancheng that Yelu Abaoji did not want to be the Khan of Khitan, because one could only serve as the Khan of Khitan for three years. If he was elected again after three years, he could continue to be the Khan. However, Yelu Abaoji wanted to become a monarch like the supreme emperor of Central Plains.

During the reign of Khan Hendejin, Abaoji served as Yilijin. After Hendejin was dismissed and died, Abaoji no longer chose Khan from the Yaonian family.

Instead, he took the flag and drums into his own hands, and with the support of his brothers and uncles, he became the Khan of the Khitan tribe. From then on, the election of the Khitan Khan was transferred to the Diela tribe and the Yelu clan headed by Yelu Abaoji.

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(End of this chapter)