In March of the first year of Datong, the situation in the Central Plains became more and more chaotic, and countless people rose up, which has become a trend of burning the plains.

The Southern Tang Dynasty and Shu are also constantly testing the bottom line of Liao.

In particular, the state of Shu, following the original Later Jin Xiongwu Jiedu envoy He Zhengjian to kill the Liao envoys, and surrendered to the Hou Shu with the land of Qinzhou, Jiezhou, and Chengzhou (Note 1). In February, the Later Shu Qinzhou Propaganda Envoy Li Jixun and Xingzhou Assassin Liu Jing attacked Guzhen (Note 2).

Then He rebuilt the request that the Shu army and the soldiers of Chengzhou and Jiezhou jointly disperse the pass (Note 3) and prepare to take Fengzhou (Note 4).

Houshu immediately transferred 37,000 Shannan soldiers to help, and He Jianjian and others led the army to attack Fengzhou, but they did not fight.

In March, Hou Shu ordered Sun Hanshao, the envoy of Shannan Xidao Jiedu, to lead his troops to Fengzhou and set up a large camp to prevent the Liao soldiers from counterattacking Guzhen and cutting off the Liao army's road to Xingzhou (Note 5).

Sun Hanshao led an army of 20,000 troops stationed in Guzhen and attacked Fengzhou again, which was in danger.

The Southern Tang Dynasty did not stop, and the Southern Tang Emperor Li Jing continued to transfer the original army of Fujian to the north, which seemed to have the intention of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. There are countless rebel armies in various places who have attached themselves to the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Hedong was even more unstable, and after Jianxiong stayed, Liu met with the Khitan in the Ming Dynasty and let Luo Conglang, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, preside over the affairs of the state. Liu Zhiyuan sent an envoy Zhang Yanhong and others to Jinzhou to announce that he had ascended the throne, and Luo Conglang imprisoned all the people he sent. Who knew that the general Yao Keyu killed Luo Conglang, elected Zhang Yanhong as the acting queen, and returned to Liu Zhiyuan. Zhao Xi, the right-hand counselor who was appointed by Yelu Deguang to envoy Jinzhou and was responsible for looting the people's money, was also killed by the people after Luo Conglang's death.

After Baoyi stayed, Zhao Hui also reversed, burned the edict given to him by Yelu Deguang, beheaded the envoy of Liao, and sent Zhao Ju, a native of Hejian, as an envoy, and went to Jinyang with a watch seal and took refuge with Liu Zhiyuan. According to the news sent back by Xizuo, Liu Zhiyuan was overjoyed when he saw Zhao Ju, and said: "The land of the throat belongs to me, and the world is not enough!"

Zhao Ju took the opportunity to persuade Liu Zhiyuan to lead his troops south as soon as possible to respond to the will of the people in the world.

Liu Zhiyuan laughed and agreed, and appointed Zhao Hui as the envoy of the Baoyi Festival, Hou Zhang as the envoy of the Zhenguo Festival, the commander of the Baoyi Army Mabu, and Wang Yan as the Jiangzhou Defense Envoy and the deputy commander of the Baoyi Army Mabu.

After hearing the news, Yelu Deguang was furious and sent the general Gao Mohan to attack Zhao Hui, but he was repelled by Zhao Hui.

At this time, news came from Zhaoyi again, and in Gao Fang and Wang Shouen's planning, he commanded Li Wanchao to lead the troops to kill Zhao Xingqian, and recommended Wang Shouen as the acting Zhaoyi to stay behind. Wang Shouen killed the Khitan envoy and led the feudal town to surrender to Liu Zhiyuan.

The food and salary of the 300,000 soldiers and horses of the Liao army, because there are too many chaotic soldiers in the Central Plains, can no longer be collected by threshing grass, and the grain and grass of the Liao army in various places are in an emergency. As for Zhao Yanshou's proposal to transfer 300,000 troops to resist the Southern Tang Dynasty and Houshu, it was also delayed again and again because of grain and grass.

"I didn't expect that the Central Plains would be so difficult to control!" In the Chengqing Palace, Yelu Deguang sighed, "Ladies and gentlemen, what is the best plan?"

"Don't worry, give me a soldier and horse, and I'll go and pacify Xichuan!"

"Yes, aren't they just some southern barbarians? Who doesn't accept it, kill them all. Haven't we Khitans always been like this?"

"Kill all these southern barbarians, the whole world is the pasture of our Khitans!"

......

The Khitan generals in the hall rubbed their fists one by one and asked Yelu Deguang for his life.

And the officials of the Central Plains were silent one by one.

Yelu Deguang glanced at everyone, pointed at Zhao Yanshou and said, "King Wei (Note 6), what do you say?"

Zhao Yanshou cleared his throat and said, "The so-called soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first. The Central Plains has been in turmoil for many years, and now it is already exhausted, and the people of Li are also hungry, so how can they have grain and grass to support the soldiers of the Great Liao? Although the Great Liao Iron Cavalry is invincible in the world, it must not fight with the thieves and soldiers hungry, right?"

As soon as the words came out, many Khitan generals who were not satisfied with Zhao Yanshou stopped talking one after another.

Lack of grain and grass is a common phenomenon for the Liao army, the Liao army is different from the Central Plains soldiers and horses, people can still support a few meals less, but the horses are fed with less concentrate, and they will lose fat immediately. Is the Great Liao Iron Cavalry without war horses still the Great Liao Iron Cavalry?

Now the Liao army has brought no less than hundreds of thousands of war horses into the Central Plains, and the grain and grass needed to feed these hundreds of thousands of war horses is not a small amount. The Central Plains is no better than the grassland, the grassland is vast and sparsely populated, and there is a large amount of forage for war horses to eat.

Most of the Central Plains are fields, which simply can't provide so much forage, let alone soybeans and even eggs for feeding war horses.

Zhao Yanshou then said: "Although I have a large number of soldiers and generals, compared to the Central Plains, the number is still far inferior, and now there are no less than a million thieves who have rebelled around, how many soldiers and horses, how much grain and grass do you need to pacify these thieves?"

Not to mention Houshu, Southern Tang, and Hedong.

Although we now have the Central Plains, the Central Plains is so big, and although we have 300,000 people, if there is a group of men and horses here and a group of people and horses there, scattered all over the Central Plains, the army will be overstretched and unbearable.

In the long run, the minister was worried that the 300,000 soldiers and horses of our Daliao would suffer heavy losses.

Your Majesty, if the 300,000 soldiers and horses of our Great Liao really suffer heavy losses, what should we do with the land outside the fortress? What should we do with the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun? How many soldiers and horses can we muster together on the grassland?

Now the grassland is still stable, because His Majesty's tiger power to pacify the Central Plains has shocked the group. If there really is that day, the minister will not only worry about the Central Plains. ”

Yelude nodded secretly, of course he knew that 300,000 Liao soldiers crossed the Yellow River in the south, and almost all the available soldiers on the grassland were exhausted.

Zhao Yanshou looked around and saw that no one objected to his opinion, and then said: "Therefore, the minister thinks that it is better for the 300,000 army to return north as soon as possible than to be empty in the Central Plains like this."

It is not a good idea to set up another emperor for the Southern Dynasty and let the Han people check and balance the Han people. ”

As soon as these words came out, the entire court was in an uproar, and everyone was talking. Many Khitan generals jumped out to accuse Zhao Yanshou, saying that he was uneasy and kind, and he wanted to be the emperor.

Yelu Deguang raised his hand to stop the rioting court, and then turned his head to look at Xiao Han: "Xiao Aiqing, what do you think?"

Xiao Han thought for a while, stepped forward and replied: "The Han people are difficult to govern, and the minister thinks that General Zhao's opinion is quite pertinent, and the minister agrees with General Zhao's opinion. Moreover, the minister thought that the Central Plains that my Da Liao soldiers had laid down with blood could not be given to the Han people in vain.

The minister thought that the important ministers of the Great Liao should be left to assist the newly established emperor to ensure that the Central Plains would always be loyal to our Great Liao. ”

Xiao Han's meaning is different from Zhao Yanshou's, Xiao Han is reminding Yelu Deguang that the Han emperor can be established, but he must be a puppet of Da Liao. He saw that the reason why Yelu Deguang asked Zhao Yanshou first was that he actually had a plan to return to the north in his heart.

Zhao Yanshou glanced at Xiao Han sideways, and felt bitter in his heart, with Xiao Han's words, he was afraid that his thoughts about the Emperor of the Central Plains would be disappointed again. After all, he has great achievements in war, and his troops are also strong, Yelu Deguang will not rest assured that he will be the puppet emperor.

Note 1: Qinzhou, northwest of present-day Qin'an, Gansu.

Jiezhou, southeast of present-day Wudu, Gansu.

Chengzhou, now Chengxian County, Gansu.

Note 2: Guzhen, now Hui County, Gansu.

Note 3: Sanguan, southwest of present-day Baoji, Shaanxi.

Note 4: Fengzhou, now Fengxian County, Shaanxi.

Note 5: Xingzhou, now Luoyang, Shaanxi.

Note 6: Zhao Yanshou had been renamed King of Wei from King Yan at this time.