釋氏稽古略 3.426

3.426

清泰三年六月。河東節度使北面總管石敬瑭。既還鎮晉陽。陰有自全之計。初帝欲使敬瑭移鎮鄆州。今東平路也（兗域）。給事中李崧呂琦等皆力諫以為不可。帝從樞密直學士薛文遇之言。以敬瑭為天平節度使制出。兩班相顧失色。敬瑭曰。我不興亂。朝廷發之。安能束手死於道路乎。都押衙劉知遠曰。明公據形勝之地。士馬精彊。若稱兵傳檄帝業可成。掌書記桑維翰曰。公能推心契丹何患無成。敬瑭意遂決。表帝養子不應承祀請傳位許王。帝怒手裂其表抵地。制削奪敬瑭官爵。以張敬達兼大原四面排陳使。率諸將討之。敬瑭表契丹稱臣。以父禮事之。許以割地請授。九月契丹主太宗德光也。將五萬騎號三十萬至晉陽戰。唐兵大敗。十一月契丹主作冊書。命敬瑭為大晉皇帝。築壇於柳林即位。大赦制改長興七年（明宗年號）。為天福元年。潞王知石敬瑭即皇帝位。遂與曹太后劉皇后雍王重美及宋審虔等。携傳國寶登玄武樓。自焚而死。皇后積薪欲燒官室。重美諫曰。新天子至必不露居。他日重勞民力。死而遺怨將安用之。乃止。后與重美（潞王子也）俱死。是日晚晉高祖入洛陽止于舊第。唐兵解甲待罪。晉帝慰而釋之。乃命劉知遠部署京城。知遠分漢軍使還營。舘契丹主於天宮寺。城中肅然無敢犯令。十二月晉帝追廢潞王為庶人。以馮道同平章事。

In the third year of Qingtai, in the sixth month, Shi Jingtang, military commissioner of Hedong and commander-in-chief of the northern front, having returned to his post in Jinyang, secretly harbored plans for his own preservation. Initially, the Emperor wished to have Jingtang transferred to govern Yunzhou, the present-day Dongping Route (in the territory of Yan). Li Song, Lü Qi, and others of the supervising secretaries all remonstrated vigorously, considering it impermissible. The Emperor followed the words of Xue Wenyu, auxiliary academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs, and an edict appointing Jingtang as military commissioner of Tianping was issued. Both ranks of court officials looked at one another and turned pale. Jingtang said, "I did not start a rebellion; the court has provoked it. How could I bind my hands and die upon the road?" Liu Zhiyuan, metropolitan supervisor of the guard, said, "Your Excellency occupies strategically advantageous terrain; your soldiers and horses are elite and strong. If you raise troops and circulate a manifesto, the imperial enterprise can be accomplished." Sang Weihan, secretary in charge of records, said, "If Your Excellency can open your heart to the Qidan, why worry that it will not succeed?" Jingtang's resolve was thereupon fixed. He submitted a memorial stating that as an adopted son, the Emperor ought not to carry on the imperial ancestral sacrifices, and requested that the throne be abdicated to the Prince of Xu. The Emperor was enraged, tore his memorial with his own hands, and cast it to the ground. An edict stripped Jingtang of his offices and titles, and Zhang Jingda was appointed concurrently as battle array marshal of the four quarters around Taiyuan to lead the various generals in suppressing him. Jingtang sent a memorial to the Qidan declaring himself a subject, serving them with the etiquette due to a father, and promising to cede territory in requesting their investiture. In the ninth month, the Qidan ruler, Taizong Deguang, led fifty thousand cavalry—claiming to be three hundred thousand—and arrived at Jinyang to do battle. The Tang army suffered a great defeat. In the eleventh month, the Qidan ruler composed a patent of investiture, appointing Jingtang as Emperor of the Great Jin. An altar was built at Liulin, where he ascended the throne. An amnesty was granted, and an edict changed the seventh year of Changxing (the reign era of Mingzong) to the first year of Tianfu. When the Prince of Lu learned that Shi Jingtang had ascended the imperial throne, he went with Empress Dowager Cao, Empress Liu, Congmei the Prince of Yong, Song Shenqian, and others, taking the heirloom state seal, climbed the Xuanwu Tower, and burned himself to death. The Empress had piled firewood, wishing to burn the palace halls. Congmei remonstrated, "When the new Son of Heaven arrives, he will certainly not live in the open. In the future, he would heavily burden the people's labor. What is the use of leaving behind resentment when we die?" She then stopped. The Empress and Congmei (son of the Prince of Lu) both died. That evening, Gaozu of the Jin entered Luoyang and stopped at his old residence. The Tang soldiers took off their armor and awaited punishment; the Jin Emperor comforted and pardoned them. He then ordered Liu Zhiyuan to deploy forces in the capital. Zhiyuan dispatched the Chinese army units back to their barracks, and accommodated the Qidan ruler at Tiangong Monastery. The city was solemn and peaceful, and no one dared to violate orders. In the twelfth month, the Jin Emperor posthumously demoted the Prince of Lu to a commoner and appointed Feng Dao to serve concurrently as grand councilor (tong pingzhangshi).