釋氏稽古略 3.496

3.496

初河東節度使兼中書令劉崇。漢高祖母弟也。高祖即位。以崇為太原尹北京留守。漢隱帝遇害欲起兵南向。聞迎其子贇為帝乃止。曰吾兒為帝。吾又何求。及周太祖代漢殺贇於宋州。崇大怒。是日即皇帝位於晉陽。國號漢。稱乾祐四年。二月遼主聞北漢立遣招討使潘聿撚。遺其子劉承鈞書。漢主使承鈞復書言。本朝淪亡。欲循晉室故事求援請兵。遼主大喜。夏四月漢主使鄭珙致遼書稱姪請行冊禮。遼帝命燕王述軋。冊命漢為大漢神武皇帝。更名旻。

Previously, Liu Chong, Military Commissioner of Hedong and concurrently Secretariat Director, was the younger brother of Han Gaozu by the same mother. When Gaozu ascended the throne, he appointed Chong as Prefect of Taiyuan and Defender of the Northern Capital. When Emperor Yindi of the Han was murdered, he wished to raise troops and march south, but hearing that his son Yun had been welcomed to become emperor, he stopped, saying: "My son is becoming emperor; what more could I seek?" When Zhou Taizu replaced the Han and killed Yun in Songzhou, Chong was furious. On that day, he ascended the imperial throne in Jinyang, naming his state Han and calling the era the fourth year of Qianyou. In the second month, the Liao ruler, hearing that the Northern Han had been established, sent Pacification Commissioner Pan Yulian with a letter to his son Liu Chengjun. The Han ruler had Chengjun reply, stating: "Our dynasty has fallen and perished; we wish to follow the precedent of the Jin royal house to seek aid and request troops." The Liao ruler was overjoyed. In summer, the fourth month, the Han ruler dispatched Zheng Gong to deliver a letter to the Liao addressing himself as nephew and requesting the performance of an investiture ceremony. The Liao emperor ordered Shuzha, King of Yan, to invest the Han [ruler] as Shenwu Emperor of the Great Han, and he changed his name to Min.