Emperor Taizong of Liao

Emperor Taizong of Liao (25 November 902 – 18 May 947), personal name Yaogu, sinicised name Yelü Deguang, courtesy name Dejin, was the second emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China.

Background Yelü Deguang was born in 902, before the founding of the Liao dynasty. His father was the Yelü clan chieftain Yelü Abaoji, and his mother was Yelü Abaoji's wife Shulü Ping; he was their second son. As a young adult, he was described by the History of Liao as serious in his appearance and kind in his disposition, and often participating in his parents' governance of the state.

In 922, by which time Yelü Abaoji was the emperor of the Liao dynasty, Yelü Deguang was given the title of Generalissimo of All Forces (天下兵馬大元帥, Tianxia Bingma Da Yuanshuai), and he was put in charge of commanding incursions into the territory of Khitan's southern neighbor Former Jin. In 923, under him, Liao forces captured Jin's Ping Prefecture (平州, in modern Qinhuangdao, Hebei), and also defeated the Huxun Tribe (胡遜) of the Xi. It was said that he later followed Emperor Taizu in defeating the Khitan Jueli Tribes (厥里), forcing the submission of the Dangxiang tribes in the Ordos Loop region, conquering the garrisons of the Hexi Corridor region, capturing the capital of the Gansu Uyghur Kingdom, defeating Balhae, and destroying the Dalugu Tribes (達盧骨). (This appeared to have ended the Balhae state, even though Emperor Taizu did not at this time capture Balhae's capital Longquan.) Emperor Taizu set up a Dongdan Kingdom over the old Balhae territory, with its capital at Fuyu, and made Yelü Deguang's older brother Yelü Bei its king, with the title of "Imperial King of Man" (人皇王, Ren Huangwang), echoing the titles used by himself ("Imperial Emperor of Heaven," 天皇帝, Tian Huangdi) and his wife (Yelü Bei's mother) Empress Shulü ("Imperial Empress of Earth," 地皇后, Di Huanghou). He gave Yelü Deguang the title of "Generalissimo Crown Prince" and made Yelü Deguang in charge of the Liao capital Linhuang (臨潢), which Yelü Bei had previously been in charge of.

Initial years of reign Emperor Taizong honored his mother Empress Shulü as empress dowager, and created his wife Lady Xiao Wen, who was a niece of Empress Shulü's, empress.

In 935, Empress Xiao, after giving birth to her and Emperor Taizong's second son Yelü Yansage (耶律罨撒葛), fell ill and died.

Overlordship over Later Jin

During Later Jin's establishment As of 936, Later Tang was embroiled in internal strife, as then-emperor Li Congke was suspicious that his brother-in-law Shi Jingtang the military governor (Jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), would rebel against him. At the advice of the imperial scholars Li Song and Lü Qi (呂琦), Li Congke considered entering an alliance with the Khitan to ward off the possibility that Shi would seek aid from Khitan. However, when another imperial scholar, Xue Wenyu (薛文遇), argued against it by predicting that Emperor Taizong would demand a marriage alliance, Li Congke changed his mind and never made the alliance proposal.

Not long after, in summer 936, Li Congke, under Xue's suggestion, issued an edict moving Shi from Hedong to Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong). This caused Shi to fear that he would be executed if he left Hedong, and so he rebelled. With Li Congke then sending an army, commanded by Zhang Jingda, to attack Hedong, Shi sent emissaries to Khitan to request aid, promising that, if Emperor Taizong would support him as the emperor of China, to serve Emperor Taizong as a father and to cede Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) and Hedong's prefectures north of the Yanmen Pass to Khitan. When Shi's emissaries arrived at the Khitan court, Emperor Taizong was pleased, and he stated to Empress Dowager Shulü, "Your son had dreamt that Master Shi would be sending messengers here. Now it has happened. This was the will of heaven." He sent a reply that he would lead his entire empire's forces to aid Shi in the fall.

In 937, Xu Gao, the regent of Later Jin's southeastern neighbor Wu sent an emissary to Khitan to try to establish friendly relations. Emperor Taizong also sent an emissary to Wu in return. Later in the year, Emperor Taizong changed the name of his state from Khitan to Liao. He modeled his government after Chinese states', and made Zhao Dejun's son Zhao Yanshou a chief of staff (Shumishi) and chancellor. Later, after Xu seized the Wu throne and established Southern Tang as its emperor, he continued friendly relations with Liao, but on one occasion decided to assassinate the Liao emissary once the Liao emissary crossed into Later Jin territory, hoping to blame Later Jin for the assassination and disrupt Liao and Later Jin relations.

An Chongrong, in addition to considering a rebellion against Later Jin, was particularly hostile to Liao. Whenever Liao emissaries passed through Chengde, he would curse them and sometimes even kill them. In 940, he seized a Liao emissary, and then submitted an arrogantly-worded petition to Shi, demanding that he terminate his submissiveness to Liao and turn against Liao for its mistreatment of the Chinese people. Sang secretly pointed out to Shi that turning against Liao could not yield any benefit — and, in his evaluation of Emperor Taizong, referred to Emperor Taizong as being "more intelligent and brave than other people." Shi listened to Sang, and instead tried to persuade An against provocative behaviors against Liao. He also sent Yang Yanxun (楊彥詢) the military governor of Anguo Circuit (安國, headquartered in modern Xingtai, Hebei) as an emissary to Liao, to explain to Emperor Taizong, who was angry over An's killing of Liao emissaries, to explain that An's provocative behavior did not reflect a chance in Later Jin's overall submission.

Despite An Chongrong's defeat, Emperor Taizong continued to send emissaries to Later Jin, rebuking Shi for the fact that Tuyuhun tribesmen, whose grazing lands were part of the territory ceded by Later Jin to Liao, were often defecting from Liao back to Later Jin. It was said that this caused Shi much fear and caused him to fall ill. In summer 942, he died. After a discussion between Feng Dao and the Later Jin imperial guard general Jing Yanguang, they decided that the state needed an older emperor, so instead of supporting Shi's youngest and only surviving son Shi Chongrui (石重睿) as Later Jin's emperor, they supported his adoptive son and biological nephew Shi Chonggui, who was an adult, as Later Jin's emperor.

In winter 944, Emperor Taizong again made a major incursion into Later Jin territory, using Zhao Yanshou as his forward commander. Shi was initially going to lead the Later Jin army himself, but fell ill at that time. He sent a number of generals to try to cut off the Liao army movement, but then, in fear of the Liao army's strengths, pulled back to the Yedu region, allowing the Liao army to advance unimpeded to Yedu, pillaging the Later Jin territory as it went along. However, the Liao army then withdrew in spring 945. As the Liao army withdrew, Shi sent Du Wei (i.e., Du Chongwei, who changed his name to observe naming taboo for Shi) and Li in command of an army to give chase. They crossed into Liao territory and captured Qi (祁州) and Tai (泰州) (both in modern Baoding), but soon received news that the Liao army had turned around and was heading for them. They tried to withdraw, but became surrounded near Yangcheng (陽城, in modern Baoding). Du panicked and was reluctant to engage the Liao army, but at Fu Yanqing's advocacy, Fu, Zhang Yanze, Yao Yuanfu (藥元福), and Huangfu Yu (皇甫遇), attacked the Liao army fiercely, causing the Liao army to panic and flee. After Emperor Taizong was able to regroup at You, he caned each of the chieftains who were part of the operation several hundred times, with only Zhao Yanshou escaping punishment.

Liao's destruction of Later Jin In 946, there were rumors that Zhao Yanshou was planning on defecting to Later Jin. This rumor was believed by the Later Jin chiefs of staff Li Song and Feng Yu. They had Du Wei write a letter to Zhao, encouraging him to do so, with the officer Zhao Xingshi (趙行實), who had previously served under Zhao Yanshou, delivering the letter. Zhao Yanshou wrote back (to try to lead Later Jin forces into a trap), stating, "I have long been in a foreign land, and I want to return to China. Please launch a major army to support me, so that I can pull myself out and return with it." Subsequently, under Emperor Taizong's orders, Liao's prefect of Ying Prefecture (瀛州, in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), Liu Yanzuo (劉延祚), also offered to defect to Later Jin. Shi thus put Du and Li Shouzhen in command of an army to attack north, with the stated objectives being to first recapture the prefectures previously ceded to Liao, and then to destroy Liao. When Du and Li advanced, though, they were met by a large army that Emperor Taizong personally commanded. The Liao army eventually surrounded the Later Jin army at Zhongdu Bridge (中度橋, in modern Baoding). After Emperor Taizong made the promise to Du to make him emperor if he surrendered, Du and Li surrendered their army. Emperor Taizong had Zhao comfort the Later Jin soldiers and told him that the Later Jin army was now his, and then prepared to advance south. With virtually the entire Later Jin army having been given to Du and Li for this northern campaign, then-Later Jin capital Daliang was left essentially defenseless, and Shi Chonggui felt compelled to surrender, ending Later Jin. Emperor Taizong subsequently entered Daliang.

However, in this jubilation, Emperor Taizong then carried out acts that alienated the people of the land that he just conquered. When Zhao pointed out that tax revenues needed to be collected to supply the Liao soldiers that came with Emperor Taizong, Emperor Taizong responded, "Our land has no such customs." Rather, he sent out the Liao soldiers into the countryside to pillage it, referring to it as "threshing the grass seeds" (打草穀). This caused many deaths of Han adults, and the Han young and old were forced to hide themselves in trenches to avoid the same fate. It was said that all civilian wealth and animals in a region that included Daliang and Luoyang, and Zheng (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan), Hua (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan), Cao (曹州, in modern Heze, Shandong), and Pu (濮州, in modern Puyang, Henan) were all destroyed. He also ordered that all in the capital, as well as in prefectures that he sent emissaries to, force the populace to turn over their wealths so that they could be (ostensibly) rewarded to the Liao soldiers, but in reality he planned to transport back to Liao proper. This led to resentment among the Han, and growing sentiment to expel the Liao forces.

Family Consort and issue(s): Empress Jing'an, of the Xiao clan (靖安皇后 蕭氏, d. 18 February 953), personal name Wen (溫), Taizong's first cousin Yelü Jing, Emperor Muzong (遼穆宗 耶律璟; 19 September 931 – 12 March 969), 1st son Yelü Yansage, Imperial Uncle Qinjing (欽靖皇太叔 耶律罨撒葛, 935 – 969), 2nd son Palace lady, of the Xiao clan (宮人 蕭氏) Yelü Tiande (耶律天德, d. 948), 3rd son Yelü Dilie, Prince of Ji (冀王 耶律敵烈, d. 978), 4th son Yelü Bishe, Prince of Yue (越王 耶律必攝, d. 973), 5th son Unknown Princess of Yan (燕國公主), personal name Lübugu (呂不古), 1 st daughter Married Xiao Siwen (蕭思溫) and had issue (3 daughters including Empress Ruizhi) Yelü Chaogui (耶律嘲瑰), 2nd daughter

Ancestry