Yelü Xian

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Yelü Xian was a member of the Liao imperial family, the second son of Emperor Shizong Yelü Ruan and Empress Huaijie Xiao Sagezhi. In 951, when he was four, the Huoshendian coup broke out and both of his parents were killed. An attendant wrapped the child in felt and hid him in a pile of firewood, allowing him to escape. The upheaval left deep physical and psychological effects; he thereafter suffered chronic illness, described as a wind disorder.

After his cousin-uncle Emperor Muzong Yelü Jing became emperor, Yelü Xian was raised in Yongxing Palace. Muzong drank heavily, neglected government, killed attendants indiscriminately, and was known as the “Sleeping King.” As Yelü Xian grew, a circle of civil and military supporters formed around him. Yelü Xianshi, an important member of this group, advised him not to discuss government lest he arouse Muzong's suspicion. Yelü Xian followed the advice. He established a residence at Wangyunchuan, north of present-day Chicheng in Hebei, and quietly cultivated supporters.

Accession and Consolidation of Imperial Power

On March 12, 969, Yelü Xian visited Emperor Muzong, who told him that he was now grown and could be entrusted with state affairs. The next day Muzong was killed by attendants. Yelü Xian immediately rode to the imperial encampment with Feilong Commissioner Nüli, Attendant-in-Ordinary Xiao Siwen, Southern Administration Privy Commissioner Gao Xun, and about one thousand armored cavalry. Reaching the camp at dawn, he wept before Muzong's coffin, accepted the officials' urging to take the throne, received the honorific Tianzan Emperor, and adopted the era name Baoning.

Jingzong faced plots among princes and powerful in-laws, including Prince Taiping Yansage, Xiao Haizhi, and Prince of Song Xiyin, and his supporter Xiao Siwen was murdered. Jingzong combined suppression with leniency, even posthumously honoring Yansage as imperial uncle after his death. Because imperial clansmen were unreliable, Jingzong relied on supporters such as Gao Xun, Nüli, and Yelü Xianshi, placing them in important offices. He long tolerated abuses by Nüli and others, despite impeachment, and only in 978 executed Gao Xun and Nüli for involvement in Xiao Siwen's murder, after which he appointed the capable Shi Fang as chief councillor.

Government and Reform

Jingzong attempted to reverse the disorder inherited from Muzong. In judicial affairs, he punished dereliction in palace security after Muzong's assassination, personally reviewed prisoners' cases, and released those found innocent. In 971 he restored the Bell Court, abolished under Muzong, so poor people again had a channel for grievances, and ordered a bell cast with an inscription explaining the institution's abolition and restoration. He also restored the Drum Office for Direct Appeals.

He abolished a customary form of collective punishment imposed on uninvolved siblings. When a servant falsely accused Prince of Wu Yelü Shao, officials requested an investigation of the prince; Jingzong refused to encourage such false denunciations and instead executed the accuser. In 973 an attendant named Shiluli accidentally touched a sacred standard and under the law faced death, but Jingzong reduced the punishment to flogging and released him. His law enforcement generally combined severity and leniency, though contemporaries criticized him for being too slow in dealing with some rebels left from the Muzong era.

Jingzong markedly expanded the use of Han Chinese officials in the central government. Gao Xun was made Southern Administration Privy Commissioner and Prince of Qin. Han Kuangsi, son of Han Zhigu, served as Supreme Capital and Southern Capital governor and received the title Prince of Yan, an appointment significant because the Southern Capital post had previously been held by Khitan imperial clansmen. Han Kuangsi's later military defeat at Mancheng, however, revealed an error in Jingzong's judgment. Jingzong also consulted the Han official Shi Fang about government and historical precedents. In 976 he restored the Ministry of Rites examination office at the Southern Capital to administer examinations and recruit Han officials.

Militarily, Jingzong promoted Yelü Xiuge and Yelü Xiezhen. Yelü Xiuge defeated the Song at the Gaoliang River in 979 and was appointed Yuyue. Yelü Xiezhen, recommended by Xiao Siwen, impressed Jingzong with forthright answers on government; the emperor married him to a niece of the empress and entrusted him with forces on the southwest frontier. Their careers helped prepare the later military successes of Shengzong's reign.

Later Years and Death

On October 13, 982, Yelü Xian died at a traveling palace in Yunzhou, present-day Datong, Shanxi, while out hunting, aged thirty-five. His testament ordered Prince of Liang Yelü Longxu to succeed him and directed that military and state affairs follow Empress Xiao Chuo's decisions. In 983 he received the temple name Jingzong and posthumous title Emperor Xiaocheng; in 1052 the posthumous title was expanded to Emperor Xiaocheng Kangjing. He was buried at Qianling in present-day Beizhen, Liaoning.

Yelü Xian was the second son of Emperor Shizong, Yelü Ruan, his childhood name Mingyi, born on the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of Tianlu 2 (1 September 948) to the Empress Huaijie of the Xiao clan. He was only a few years old when Shizong was murdered, and was saved by being wrapped in felt and hidden among firewood, though he suffered lasting illness from it and was afflicted with palsy after taking the throne. He was raised in the Yongxing Palace and later built a residence at Wangyunchuan, which grew into a settlement and was afterward made Wangyun county.

Under Emperor Muzong, Yelü Jing, the court neglected government for drink: he feasted without measure and rose at noon, so that the realm called him the Sleeping King; he killed those about him at will and ruled harshly, and rebellion followed rebellion, each put down but at heavy cost to the state. As Yelü Xian grew up, a group of civil and military officials gathered about him, plotting in secret to recover the throne; one of them advised him not to discuss government lest he draw Muzong's suspicion, and he held his tongue thereafter, escaping harm and in the end winning the throne. On the twenty-first day of the second month of 969 he went to court to see Muzong, who told him that he had grown up and that the government could be handed to him; the next day Muzong was killed by his attendants, and Yelü Xian entered the palace with the flying-dragon commissioners and took the throne as Emperor Jingzong.

Under Jingzong the institutions and government of the Liao were considerably reformed, and the empress Xiao Chuo, Xiao Yanyan, took part in deciding military and state matters, so that "all state affairs were decided by Yanyan," setting the stage for the empress dowager's regency in the reign of his son. Abroad, conflict with the Northern Song sharpened in his reign: in 979, after Song Taizong destroyed the Northern Han and advanced on Youzhou, the Liao crushed him at the Gaoliang river, and the two sides fought repeatedly thereafter in Hebei and Shanxi. In the ninth month of 982 Jingzong died at the Jiaoshan lodge in Yunzhou at thirty-five; his eldest son Yelü Longxu succeeded as Emperor Shengzong with the empress dowager Xiao as regent, and the Liao entered its most powerful phase.

Jingzong's domestic policy concentrated on reforming the administration and steadying imperial authority. On his accession he faced problems accumulated under Muzong: powerful clans and nobles, repeated conspiracies and a court without stable administrative order. With the help of Xiao Siwen and Yelü Wuzhi he gradually brought the government into order and began adjusting relations between the tribes and the palace divisions; meanwhile, because of his chronic illness, the empress Xiao was able to take a larger part in decisions, so that the consort clan gained great political weight in this period and the pattern of the Xiao and Yelü ruling together took shape.

Abroad, relations with the Northern Song turned from peace to years of fighting. After destroying the Northern Han in 979, Song Taizong marched on the Yan-Yun region and was crushingly defeated at the Gaoliang river; the two sides then fought repeatedly at Mancheng, Yanmen and the Waqiao pass without either gaining a decisive advantage. When Jingzong died in 982 the Liao had already established the basic arrangement of rule shared by the imperial and consort clans; Shengzong was only twelve at his accession and the empress dowager Xiao held the regency for more than twenty years, in which the Liao reached its height.

On Jingzong's health and manner of governing the sources are fairly consistent. His illness long prevented him from attending to details and many decisions were taken by the empress Xiao Chuo in his place; at the same time he employed such men as Yelü Wuzhi, Xiao Siwen and Han Kuangsi, and the introduction of Chinese officials and Chinese institutions advanced in this period. The Liao's southern and northern administrations were further developed at this stage, suiting the government of both the farming and the pastoral societies within its borders.

Of the foreign wars of Jingzong's reign the battle of the Gaoliang river mattered most. In 979, after destroying the Northern Han, Song Taizong marched on Youzhou, where the Liao generals Yelü Xiuge and Yelü Xiezhen brought relief and gave battle west of the city at the Gaoliang river; the Song were routed and the emperor fled south in a donkey cart. The defeat cost the Northern Song its best chance of recovering the Yan-Yun region at the dynasty's outset, and the war thereafter ran along the Hebei and Shanxi line with the Song mostly on the defensive. In the following years the Liao raided as far as Mancheng and Yanmen with mixed results, until Jingzong's death and Shengzong's accession opened the long negotiations that ended in the treaty of Chanyuan.

Under Jingzong the Liao drew noticeably more on Chinese institutions. The southern administration imitated Tang and Song models with three departments, six ministries and local prefectures to govern Chinese and Bohai populations, while the northern administration kept the old Khitan arrangement for tribal and palace affairs. His reign also saw revisions of the law, reforms of taxation and a strengthening of defenses against the Song about Nanjing, present-day Beijing. These measures link up with the reforms of his son Shengzong, forming one stage in the development of Liao institutions.

After his death the throne passed to his son Shengzong, with the empress dowager Xiao holding the regency for nearly thirty years, during which the Liao concluded the treaty of Chanyuan with the Northern Song and a long peace followed. In the development of Liao institutions, Jingzong's reign stands between the disorder of Muzong's time and the height reached under Shengzong, a transitional stage.

The arrangement by which Jingzong and Xiao Chuo governed together had a lasting effect on Liao political structure. Thereafter Liao empresses generally came from the Xiao clan, and the tradition of the consort clan sharing military and political power with the imperial house became firmer; in diplomacy, the treaty of Chanyuan concluded with the Northern Song under Shengzong, exchanging annual payments and a settled border for long peace, rested on the strength established in Jingzong's reign.

Accounts of Jingzong come chiefly from his annals in the History of Liao and related biographies. Succeeding as a son of Shizong, he ended the disorder of Muzong's reign and prepared the Liao's height under Shengzong; his chronic illness and the empress's share in decisions raised the political standing of the consort clan further, a feature recurring in late Liao politics.

He reigned thirteen years, in which both the internal government and the frontier defenses of the Liao were put in order, laying the foundation for the long stability of his son Shengzong's reign.

His tomb, Qianling, belongs with Shengzong's Qingling to the system of Liao imperial tombs.

Major Activities

Political Reform

Jingzong restored the Drum Office and Bell Court for petitions and grievances, abolished collective punishment of uninvolved siblings, personally reviewed cases, and released innocent prisoners. These measures helped stabilize government after the Muzong era. The History of Liao summarized the period by saying that from Baoning onward “everyone hoped for good government.”

Employment of Han Chinese Officials

Jingzong brought Han Chinese officials into central institutions on an expanded scale. Gao Xun served as Southern Administration Privy Commissioner and Prince of Qin, while Han Kuangsi held the Supreme Capital and Southern Capital governorships and was created Prince of Yan. Jingzong consulted Shi Fang on historical lessons of government and restored the Ministry of Rites examination office in 976. These measures furthered institutional change in the Liao.

Military Affairs and Liao-Song Relations

Liao-Song relations shifted from limited peace to major war. In 979 Emperor Taizong of Song destroyed Northern Han and, against the advice of ministers, advanced toward the Yan-Yun region. Liao forces first blocked the Song before Youzhou and then Yelü Xiuge and others crushed the Song army at the Gaoliang River, where the Song emperor was wounded and fled. In October 980 Jingzong personally invaded Song territory and defeated Song forces at Waqiao Pass. Fighting paused after Jingzong's death.

Promotion of Commanders

In the later part of his reign Jingzong elevated Yelü Xiuge and Yelü Xiezhen. Xiuge's relief of the Southern Capital and victory at the Gaoliang River earned him imperial rewards and the office of Yuyue. Xiezhen's direct discussion of contemporary affairs won Jingzong's confidence, marriage ties with the empress's family, and command over southwestern forces. Both continued to play major roles under Shengzong.

Personal Relations

• Father: Emperor Shizong of Liao, Yelü Ruan
• Mother: Empress Huaijie Xiao Sagezhi
• Cousin-uncle: Emperor Muzong of Liao, Yelü Jing
• Empress: Xiao Chuo, also known as Xiao Yanyan
• Eldest son: Emperor Shengzong Yelü Longxu
• Second son: Prince of Liang Yelü Longqing
• Third son: Prince of Chu Yelü Longyou
• Fourth son: Yelü Zhengge, died young
• Eldest daughter: Guanyinnü, Princess of Qi, married Xiao Jixian
• Second daughter: Changshounü, Princess of Wei, married Xiao Paiya
• Third daughter: Yanshounü, Princess of Yue, married Xiao Hengde
• Fourth daughter: Yelü Shuge, daughter of a Bohai consort, without a princely title
• Fifth son: Yelü Yaoshinu, died young
• Yelü Xianshi: old retainer from Jingzong's princely household; advised him to avoid political discussion under Muzong; later Northern Administration Privy Commissioner
• Gao Xun: supporter in the accession; Prince of Qin and Southern Administration Privy Commissioner; later executed for involvement in Xiao Siwen's murder
• Nüli: supporter in the accession and senior palace commander; later put to death for concealed armor and involvement in Xiao Siwen's murder
• Han Kuangsi: son of Han Zhigu; governor of the Supreme and Southern Capitals and Prince of Yan; defeated at Mancheng
• Shi Fang: Han Chinese chief councillor consulted by Jingzong on government; also Privy Commissioner and Northern Administration chief councillor
• Xiao Siwen: supporter of Jingzong's accession; Northern Administration Privy Commissioner and chief councillor; murdered in 969
• Yelü Xiuge: commander and victor at the Gaoliang River; appointed Yuyue
• Yelü Xiezhen: commander of southwestern forces and later Northern Administration Privy Commissioner
• Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi: hostile ruler and principal opponent in the Gaoliang River and Waqiao Pass campaigns
• Yansage: Prince Taiping; involved in rebellion and later posthumously honored as imperial uncle
• Xiao Haizhi: imperial in-law; involved in Xiao Siwen's murder and executed
• Xiyin: Prince of Song; stripped of status for plotting rebellion

Historical Assessment

Liao / Contemporary

The History of Liao praised the Baoning era as a turn toward expectations of better government and described Jingzong as capable of trusting appointees and enforcing reward and punishment. It also criticized costly support for Northern Han, strategic misjudgments, failure to punish Han Kuangsi promptly, rejection of good advice, and favor shown to the Buddhist monk Zhaomin.

Song and Yuan Periods

Song historians focused heavily on the Gaoliang River and Waqiao Pass wars; accounts of the Song emperor's difficult escape indirectly reflect the strength of Liao forces under Jingzong. The Yuan compilers of the History of Liao treated his reign as a recovery from Muzong's disorder. The Qidan Guozhi noted both the family catastrophe of his youth and his persistent ill health.

Ming and Qing Periods

Ming and Qing historians often viewed Jingzong's expanded employment of Han Chinese officials and restored examination institutions as part of the Liao's institutional transformation. Qing scholars such as Li E paid attention to his restoration of petition and judicial institutions. Wang Fuzhi discussed the Liao victory at the Gaoliang River in analyzing Emperor Taizong of Song's rash advance and underestimation of the enemy.

Modern and Contemporary

Modern historians including Cai Meibiao have treated Jingzong's reign as a transition from disorder to stability and as laying groundwork for Shengzong's high point. Li Xihou has emphasized his employment of Han Chinese officials and restoration of the examination office. Some scholars also argue that Jingzong's chronic illness increased Xiao Chuo's role in government and had lasting effects on Liao politics.