Han Shizu

Chapter 973
For Dahan, the past three years have been the three years with the best external environment since the founding of the People's Republic of China.The biggest change is that the military pressure from the north has been greatly reduced. It can even be said that after the formation of the new border defense system, the Khitan has been unable to pose too much threat to the Han Dynasty.

The most important thing is the situation of the Liao Kingdom itself, which is not optimistic.The trauma caused by the Han-Liao War is unforgettable, and until now, the Liao Kingdom has not recovered from it.

Although with the efforts of the monarchs and ministers of the Liao Kingdom, they also pursued the policy of recuperating and developing production, but the loss of a large number of able-bodied population cannot be recovered in a short period of time.

Externally, the Liao Kingdom adopted the method of shrinking its forces, especially in the areas bordering the Han Dynasty, it was strictly forbidden for herdsmen to travel south to herd, and try to keep a safe distance from the Han Dynasty.

The garrison of Han Shanyang sent Qingqi northward from time to time to inspect the inside and outside of the Great Wall, with their toes high and high, showing their military might.But among the people, with the acquiescence of the upper echelons of both sides, the trade between Han and Hu has been re-developed, and it has become more and more prosperous, and it has returned to the scale of the year before the war in the 14th year of Qianyou.

On the big man's side, it kills two birds with one stone, which has both political significance and economic benefits.The cattle, sheep, horses and camels from the grassland provided enough animal power for the reconstruction of Shanyang, and benefited the taxation greatly.On the Liao side, through transactions, they obtained materials such as salt, tea, wine, grain, cloth, ceramics and other materials from the Han Dynasty, which were also very scarce in the war-affected Liao Kingdom.

Of course, in the trade, the living conditions of ordinary tribesmen in the Liao Kingdom have not been fundamentally improved, and their livelihoods are still difficult. Although it is a nomadic country, the livestock are not unlimited, and their herding also takes time and good nomadic skills surroundings.

But no matter what, with both sides adhering to harmonious development, the situation in the north is fairly peaceful. Although there are occasional conflicts, it does not affect the overall situation.

However, the relationship between Han and Liao after the war was still in a state of hostile tension, although it was only a superficial phenomenon.The Great Han had no intention of the Northern Expedition, and the Khitans were powerless to fight. They just suffered such a big loss at the hands of the Great Han. In order to appease domestic sentiments, it was necessary to establish such a strong enemy to unite people's hearts and ease domestic conflicts.

But in the hearts of Yelujing and the knowledgeable Liao Chen, they did not plan to start a war with the big man again in a short time.The national policy they pursue is to rest their troops to support the people, accumulate strength, wait silently for an opportunity, and wait for an opportunity for revenge.

Of course, a Han-Liao war also gave the Khitan people a more intuitive understanding of the strength of the Han Dynasty. Regarding the future Han-Liao confrontation, Liao generals such as Yelu Xianshi and Yelu Xiezhen put forward new ideas .

Yelu Xianshi has guerrilla experience with Shi Shouxin and Guo Chongwei in the south of Yinshan Mountain, while Yelu Xiezhen has personally experienced the head-to-head confrontation between Han and Liao, and has a lot of experience.

According to the opinions of the two, in the future Han and Liao wars, we should try our best to avoid direct decisive battles with them, and use the vast grassland as the battlefield, relying on the depth of its home field, to give full play to the maneuverability of the Liao army, harassing, delaying, lagging, and exhausting them, and then Look for opportunities to defeat the enemy.

This kind of change is a change that has to be made after a big defeat.However, this also means that the strategies and tactics of the Liao army tend to be conservative, and they automatically substitute themselves into the defenders.

On the other hand, although Khitan avoided its edge and shrunk its influence in the relationship between Han and Liao, Yelu Wuzhi proposed a strategy to Emperor Liao, that is, the Western Expedition to expand the sphere of influence to the west.

For a long time, the core area of ​​the Liao Kingdom's rule has always been in the northeast. Unlike the past grassland overlords, there has been no further development of the Western Regions.

According to Yelu Wuzhi's suggestion, if the Liao Kingdom developed westward, it could not only seize land and pastures, enrich the population, but also plunder the tribes in the west to enrich itself.More importantly, if it can invade the Western Regions and even cut off the Hexi Corridor, then in the future Han-Liao War, the Liao Kingdom will have more choices.Yelu Wuzhi is indeed one of the few insightful people among the upper echelons of the Liao Kingdom. He is looking to the future. The development of the big man in the west over the years cannot be hidden from people with discerning eyes.

Yelujing agrees with this. The great Han in the south is in full swing and cannot compete with him, but the power in the west is nothing compared to the Daliao cavalry.

Although the national policy of advancing westward was established, it was regarded as a top secret, and only a few civil and military officials trusted by the Liao Emperor knew about it.First, given the situation of the Liao Kingdom, it was impossible to organize a strong enough westward force in a short period of time; two, if the Liao Kingdom moved westward, the Han army would certainly respond.

Therefore, before the official launch, the Liao Kingdom needs to make more adequate preparations.This has to be said that Liu Chengyou sent Li Wanchao to recover Hetao and rebuild Jiuyuan's decision. This not only consolidated the border defense and defended Hexi, but also affected the westward advance of the Liao Kingdom.

However, these are difficult to affect the strategic decision of Liao.In the past three years, Emperor Yelvjing of the Liao Dynasty made more tours, among which there were three hunting activities to the west.

And Yelu Wuzhi, after proposing the last strategy to Yelujing, died of his injury in the spring of Qianyou 13 years, adding another brilliance to Yang Ye's meritorious service.From Gao Mohan, Yelu Cong, Yelu Talie to Yelu Wuzhi, a great battle caused the death of four famous officials and generals in the early years of the Liao Dynasty.

The death of Yelu Wuzhi was a huge loss for the Liao Kingdom. His prestige and meritorious service were so high that he was the No. 1 Liao official.For the passing of this good minister who supported him and assisted him, Yelujing was very sad, and finally gave him extremely lofty honor for his funeral.

On the whole, the external environment of Liao Kingdom can be said to be good, and the bad internal situation has also been improved and gradually stabilized.However, there are still hidden worries within it. The conflict of succession to the throne that has lasted for 30 years cannot be resolved by a bloody cleansing.

Although the rebellion three years ago solved a large number of political enemies and greatly increased Yelvjing's personal authority, the contradictions within the royal family did not disappear, and the bloody killings made many people alienate Yelvjing.The most important thing is that the strength of the inner four tribes as the core ruling group has been greatly weakened, which is not a small hidden danger.

At the same time, in the past few years, there have been several turmoil among the many tribes in Mobei controlled by the Liao State. Although they were all quickly suppressed, it also proved that its control over the subordinate tribes has declined.Even the Jurchen tribe in the Northeast had envoys who went through numerous obstacles to pay homage to Liu Chengyou in Tokyo. Although it did not represent the entire Jurchen tribe, it was a good omen for the big man.

What made Yelujing even more upset was his brothers, Yelu Deguang had five sons in total, except for the younger brother Yelu Bishe who was more down-to-earth and obedient, they were not very peaceful.

The third brother, Yelu Tiande, was killed in the early years because of his participation in the rebellion against Yelu Ruan. Yelufu Sage hoped to unite with him to conspire for great things, and promised to seal the Moxi area to him.

But he was resolutely rejected, and at the same time he wrote back to reprimand him. One thing Yelufu Sage still understood very well. The rivalry between brothers is still limited to the line of Yelude Guang, and the throne cannot allow collateral stealing.

However, taking advantage of the opportunity of Yelv Xiyin's rebellion, Yelufeng Sage really controlled a certain amount of power in the northwest. When the chaos was settled, for Yelujing, this younger brother gave Yelujing another headache.

Another one is Anping Wang Yelv Dilie. He has a deep relationship with Yelu Xiyin and others. Although he did not participate in any real way in the end, Yelujing was quite dissatisfied.For the brothers, Yelvjing actually valued them very much and had high expectations, but they all cared about the throne.

In addition, during the recovery after the war, the Liao Kingdom increased its plundering of the Bohai area, which also aroused the dissatisfaction of the original Bohai nobles.Since its annihilation, the Liao Kingdom has always adopted a soft and pacifying policy towards the survivors of the Bohai clan, and gradually digested and assimilated it, retained its power status as aristocrats, and accepted almost all its land and people.

Therefore, this sudden squeeze unsurprisingly aroused public resentment. In the winter of the 13th year of Qianyou, a rebellion broke out in the old land of Bohai Sea. When the rebel army was at its peak, there were [-] people.However, the Liao Kingdom has been in operation for many years, and even if the foundation of its rule cannot be described as solid, it cannot be shaken by a mob composed of Bohai survivors.However, within two months, it was pacified by Gao Xun, who stayed behind in Tokyo in Liao Kingdom.

Speaking of which, after such an extremely intense war with the big Han, where life and death were fought, Yelvjing instead adopted an attitude of reusing some Han ministers.For example, Gao Xun, because he defeated the Guo Tingwei army who had landed in Liaodong and drove them all back to the other side of the Bohai Sea, ensuring the peace of Liaodong, was promoted by Yelvjing to stay behind in Tokyo after the war.In terms of employing people, Emperor Liao was really courageous sometimes.

And after such a rebellion, the Liao Kingdom did not dare to carry out the oppressive policy on the former land of Bohai Sea, and took advantage of the situation to appease.However, through this chaos, many hostile elements who jumped out were also eliminated, and through the plundering of them in the early stage, the financial aspect was also eased to a certain extent.However, fundamentally speaking, this has a great negative impact on the rule of Liao.

In this way, after three years of turmoil, it was not until this year that Liao Kingdom really settled down.However, because the wound was too deep, the wound had to continue to be licked.
(End of this chapter)